The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, June 26, 1898, Page 25

THE AN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, JUNE 26, 1898. STAMPEDE OF MINERS AND ADVENTURERS OVER CHILCOOT PASS. The rush {s so great that the men carrying their outfits to the summit form a regular procession, stepping in each others footprints. By constant walking a man with his pack may now reach the top in about forty-five In returning to the flat some of the men sit upon a sack and toboggan down in man steps aside to rest, but the procession keeps moving incessantly. At the summit he leaves his pack and returns for another load. The trolleys seen in the picture are the new lines used for carrying freight baskets to the summit. ninutes. about six minutes. Occasionally a The picture is drawn from a photograph taken by The Call's special Alaskan correspondent. Co00000D0OD0O0OD0O0000D00000000000O0000000000000O0000000000000000O s a very vivid idea of 0Oo0o000OO0O0OO0OOO O fully understand the situation which led up to the all’s Bluff, reference e made to events which ately preceded that bloody The Confederates flushed with the victory gained at n a few months previous and nion forces were correspondingly ed. The Southern forces had made numerous significant small raids into Maryland and West Virginia, un- of aff til McClellan, Rosecrans and Garfield sobered them by defeat. ways cautious, ga McClellan, al- was at that time en- d in the herculean task of creating army out of the rabble of Bull Run t number of green volunteer Knowing that unless the raids were hecked they would grow in force un- der the skilled and enterprising Con- federate commanders, McClellan has- tened the organization of his troops and stationed numerically strong corps at vulnerable points along the upper Potomac River as a cover to Wash- ington, which was the Confed te 8O and which could be taken if Me- Clellan’s lines could be crushed at some vital point. The immediate southern front of Washington was too quickly strengthened with earthworks and large bodies of troops for the probable success of such a dash, but such a re- sult might be po at the more vul- nerable points on the upper Potomac. The corps of observation was a large division which occupied the Maryland side of the Potomac for some thirty miles, covering one of the largest and easiest of Washington's “back doors.” It was under the command of General Charles P. Stone, a skillful Massachu- setts officer of the regular army, with a brilliant Mexican war record, whose headquarters were at Poolesville, some few miles back from Edwards' and Cofirad’s ferries, both of which he protected by mixed infantry and artil- lery pickets. Across the Potomac, some three miles away, lay the aristo- cratic, wealthy and, more important still, strategically valuable town of sburg, the center of a network of tending west into the Shena: doah Valley, south into the great val- ley of Virginia (meaning Richmond and communications), and eastward to the Potomac below Washington. The Confederates held Leesburg with a fairly strong force, easily reinforcea- ble from the main army of Virginia, centering at Manassas Junction to the south. In their hands Leesburg was a daily and hourly center of large and small movements and might, at a day's notice, be the grand base for handling an army corps to be Iaunched at Mary- land and Pennsylvania citles and rail- roads, or Washington itself. Therefore it was a standing menace to McClel- lan. In McClellan’s hands it meant the clearing of all Northern Virginia of raiding parties and forcing the enemy back upon his main lines, but more important yet, it would be a fatal fac- tor upon the right flank of any Confed- erate column passing northward up the great Shenandoah Y»llev. over into Maryland and Pennsylvania, as Lee and Jackson passed later toward An- tietam and Gettysburg. and the cav- alry into the rich York Valley of Penn- sylvania more than once, capturing and destroying troops and supplies. and striking at Washington on one hand and at West Virginia on the other. Accordingly, in October, 1861, General McCall, a veteran officer, with 30,000 men, left the outer defenses of Wash- ington on the Virginia side and by a rapid, well-executed movement reached Dranesville. At once every Confederate knew that Leesbure, lying straight westerly from Dranesvilie, was the ob- jective point. General Stone was to co-operate by a movement of his division across the Potomace, occupy Leesburg and to hold it if possible and at least create a di- version sufficlent to make cCall's movement a certain success. To make this crossing of General Stone’s divis- ion rapidly it was necessary to occupy simultaneously several of the ferries covering the space of some miles. The usual flat scow, propelled by poles, which constituted the regulation Vir- ginia “ferry,” was, of course, wholly fn- adequate for any quick crossing of numbers. General Stone, however, had would be furnished him, o oL D e day before the Bluff General Stone car::t:&l)e tgg g&(ldf lery picket of the New York Battery at Conrad’s ferry, and calling me, ythg lieutenant in command of the section BAKER'S DEATH AT BALLS BLUFF. By an eye witpess, W. M. BRAMHALL at the head of the California Volunteers in this atack and the action described by one of the par- Colonel Baker was one of the best known Cali- the stubbornness of the contest. (two guns), rode slowly along the river A bank. i he told me view of an ng we migh if we ever snould (so dis: ot mander) he would show y feature the land yland and the Virginia ides, the river itself and the long islanl a little down stream known as Harrison’s Island, and whicn divided the river into two unequal parts. He was so explicit as to how each detail was to be carried out that it was im- pressed even on my green mind that something was going to happen in a short time. At a certain point he showed me the exact, place to embark our suns and we did embark them there on the morrow. He seemed uneasy and though saying that all needful boats would be on hand the event proved that that was the precise reason for his un- easiness, for the boats never came at all. The general left me at our camp on our return and ordered that all the men be kept within camp limits, whereby I knew something was going to happen at once. and we were not surprised when two companies of Massachusetts Volunteers marched to the river during the night, nor at the lively fusillade we heard an hour or so later after Captain Philbrick drove the enemy’s pickets in and pushed them rapidly up to Lees- burg. There re-enforcements forced Philbrick back slowly. He fought coolly and resisted stubbornly to gain time, availing himself of timber and hillocks to make repeated stands, so that when he was forced quite back to the river he found enough men of the Sixteenth, Nineteenth and Twentieth Massachu- setts, Baker's California Regiment and Cogswell’s Tammany (New York) Regi- ment to hold the position. These troops had been steadily poured into the place and took a scow across the other branch of the river, landing at the foot of the precipitous, thickly wooded bluff called Balls Bluff. Up this infantry scrambled, until, be- fore noon, about 1900 troops were in a well chosen and welloccupied position, awaiting the arrival of General Baker. ‘With the first of the main body of the infantry went gallant young Lieuten- ant French of the regular artillery with his two mountain howltzers. General Stone crossed with one or more bri- gades at Edward’s ferry, some four or five miles further down the stream. Soon, a strong attack was made by the enemy under the command of the veteran general, “Shanks” Evans, rein- forced by troops from Leesburg. The gghting, though in the woods, was very hot. During the morning an orderly reach- ed us with orders to report at once to General Baker at the crossing place on the Maryland side, and we were soon there. The scene was intensely excit- irtg. The one solitary scow was mak- ing slow trips carrying loads of eager infantry over toward Virginia and bringing back loads of wounded and dead soldiers. Colonel Baker, though outwardly calm, and giving impromptu orders with the steady coolness of the old sol- dler and frontiersman, was inward- ly raging, for the fight across the river on the bluff was growin= hotter and hotter. He saw that the wounded were accumulating faster than reinforce- ments could replace them, that Evans was receiving heavy reinforcements, and that he, Baker, was on the wrong side of the river for a commanding general who meant to fight. Calling the artillery officers he ordered the guns to cross before any more infantry, for word came that French was wounded seriously. as were most of his men who were not killed outright, and the two mounted howitzers had stopped barking. Discovering that I was ranking first lieutenant, he gave me the charge of embarking the artillery and went him- self over to the battle. Upon arriving at the foot of the bluff, it was found so steep that we dismounted the one gun and pulled, pushed, slided and somehow got it to the top of the bluff. There was a lull in the volley firing, though a steady crack of sharpshoot- ers’ guns from behind trees and out of their tops denoted that the Mississippl rifiemen who had been placed there to pick off our officers were doing their work. Baker, cool, collected, but with eyes of flame, was everywhere. His was a notable figure, tall though rather portly, but erect and soldierly. His uni- form sat well upon his manly form and distinguished him from the volunteer officers, who seemed out of place in the misfit clogfhes. His bright color and beautiful white hair made him a con- spicuous mark for the Mississippians” fire as well as for the loving recognition of his beloved Californians and all of his brigade. But his mind was calm and clear, his perception instantaneous and accurate me minutely e on both the Ma 0C000000O0O 00000000000000000000000O0N0D0O00O00000D0OO00O000O00OO0O00O00OO0O0O0OO0O00O00OO0DO and he divined that Evans was working round our flanks with numbers which now greatly exceeded ours. So Baker, going himself and sending others, threw out strong bodies on each flank, when, his disposition made, he quietly awaited what he knew was coming, a rush in front by brigades and v squeeze of regiments on each As part of the disposition of his troops, he, beckoning me to follow, ad- vanced calmly to the front in the rec- tangular clearing of a few acres which was surrounded on all sides by large timber, and which being the only open ground was necessarily the principal fighting ground. He asked my opinion kindly, as an old officer to a young one, whether a cer- tain position in front of the center of our line and some yards in advance of it, with a slight roll of the ground, sug- gesting the idea of shelter, would do. It was all alike to me. Anything would do for the little I knew. We were soon in battery, and by his order—he meant to force the fighting and inter- rupt that heavy reinforcement which Evans was bringing on our flanks—we opened on the woods in front. In a second, all the “bottomless pit” seem- ed to open in front and on both sides of us, and before ten rounds were fired the gun was silent, with all but two of the men killed or wounded. Baker, now bareheaded, hav- ing thrown his hat away, sprang to the gun, call- ing for volunteers and immediately took post to load or ram (I for- get which), and Cogs- well, Lee and Hincks, lieutenant colonels and majors—I am pained to have for- gotten their illustrious titles—carried ammu- nition, sponged, load- ed, rammed and fired till, when nearly "all the ammunition was gone, a frightful vol- ley on one flank, fol- lowed by our line crumpling up there under heavy charge, across and all tangled up with our front lines, stopped their firing. Baker’s orders flew fast and clear. Colonels rushed to their regiments, the crushed flank was reformed and re- enforced and presently Evans' men went back, whirling just as ours had done. Then the same thing occurred on the other flank, with the same eventful result. But Baker’s men were melting away much faster than re-en- forcements could arrive, while Evans had all the Confederate army to draw upon, as McCall had been recalled without Stone having been notified. It was a question of staying to be killed, surrendering or cutting our way out. A brigade was coming at us. Baker calmly ordered the charge and in an instant was dead before us, rid- dled with bullets. A wild fight with bayonets, clubbed muskets and bare hands, with the en- emy now in among us, his men, who loved him in life, saved his dear body in death and bore it off the field. W. M. BRAMHALL. —————e CARING FOR A CAMERA IN THE KLONDIKE. INCE the return of hundreds of men who took cameras with them to Alaska last winter there has been great lamentation at the small number of pictures produced. Not that the exposures were not made, but successes were so few. One man who recently took rolls of 300 films to a well known photographer to develop failed to get a single picture except on those exposed during the fall of last ear. z “The shutter didn’t work very well,"” he said, by way of explaining the bad results. And that has been the universal com- plaint. But how could the shutter be expect- ed to work when it was not treated right? Of course that was the cause of the trouble, for most of the unruly shutters have worked perfectly since being brought back. In this connection a little timely ad- vice to those contemplating taking a camera to the Klondlk? next winter will prove very valuable. An old pho- tographer who has spent two winters in Manitoba, where it gets as cold as it does in Alaska, says the best thing to do is to get a shutter without a spiral spring. Or, better still, don't use a shutter at all, but make all exposure, except when there are moving objects, with the cap. ‘Which advice is very good, provid- ing it is a professional who is going to do the work. Straight spring shut- ters are hard to handle, and to use the cap requires great skill at judging time. The amateur can only use the spiral spring shutter such as is put into most hand cameras. In order to make this work prop- erly and accurately in very cold weather one important bit of commen sense is necessary. And this is: NEVER TAKE YOUR CAMERA INTO A WARM ROOM. Leave it in its case out in the snow if you can do no_better. The physical conditions that indicate this are ve: imple. Suppose the cam- era is in perfect condition and has been used satisfactorily out in a tem- perature of about 20 below zero. It must follow that the spiral spring must soon become of the same temperature. But this does not affect it, providing no dampness strikes it. But suppose the cold spring be car- ried into a warm room, which is sure to be moist. Instantly this moisture condenses on the cold spring, the same as.the drops collect on the outside of a pitcher of ice water on a summer day. Even in this there is no harm, for it will be found that the shut- ter, with the con- / densed moisture still clinging to the spiral /// spring, be carried out of o doors at once 00 it freezes [¢) and fails to \Q\' work. Sp if (&) you have to use a spiral spring O shutter fix up a place O where you can leave it O~ out of doors all winter. Zero temperature will not hurt it if it is kept dry. RUSH OF BOAT BUILDING ABBOTT C OVER 25 THE CHILCOOT PASS - ON A WHISTLING TROLLEY Up-to-Date Methods Used by the Spring Stampede of Cold- Hunters Into the Klondike. EVER before in the history of the world has so much inventive ingenuity been devoted to the transportation problem as has been done in conquering the Chilcoot Pass. The problem that confronted the in- . ventors is unparalleled. An icy wall ,over a thousand feet high and thou- sands of tons of freight waiting to be hauled to the top. The owners of the freight ready and willing to pay almost any price providing the freight was moved quickly. There was no time to figure on put- ting up an elaborate plant. Something must be produced that could be erected in a few weeks, with inexpensive ma- terfal, and at the same time be prac- tical. There was thousands of dollars re.dy to back any idea that seemed feasible. As usual, American inventors have proved themselves equal to the occa- sion, for the result of a few months’ work is the creation of the most mar- velous transportation devices in exist- ence. Engineers of the Old World stand aghast at such daring originality, such bold and practical application of the most simple principles. And when the “roads” were in work- ing order such scenes were enacted on the icy slopes of grim Chilcoot as were never before witnessed in the history of the world, and most likely never will be again. The descriptions of the scenes, even when from the lips of those who were there, hardly seem real. And yet no writer of romance ever penned anything half so wonderful. Mr. P. Bernhard, whose residence is 510 Fulton street, this city, is one of the very few men who left San Francisco this year, went over the Chilcoot Pass as far as Lake Bennett, and came back again. Mr. Bernhard's return was to get medical treatment, and he made the round trip from this city in a little over eight weeks. He is now In good health £y < again and will sk fg\+ reached the bot- tom of “Chilcoot Pass early in April,” said Mr. Bernhard, o‘(‘ when speaking of his trip, g@ “and was so surprised at the many things I saw that I hard- P 1y knew what to do. It was right in the height of the rush. Such crowds of gold hunters and such piles of freight, such apparent confu- sion, ‘and yet everything going on as smooth as possible. “There was a party of seven of us all bound for Dawson, and not one of us knew anything about the kind of life we were thrown into. But it didn't take us long to learn, because we were willing to take advantage of other peo- ple’s experience. Trolley roads, ice stairs, slides, packers and customs offi- cers were the principal problems that confronted us. “We found four trolley roads over the Chilcoot Pass and a couple of slides THE OTHER SIDE a2 O for sleds. We had plenty to choose from for the transportation of our goods. “The most wonderful of these roads was the one called the ‘Scales’ road. It simply carried goods from the bottom of the pass to the top. All there was to it was a heavy cable stretched from the top of the pass to the bottom. On this cable were buckets, swung onto wheels, that were hauled to the top of the pass by a steam engine. There were two buckets and each could carry about 500 pounds. They made the round trip in about fifteen minutes and were kept busy all cay long. There were no supports to this cable, except at the ends, and in one place it swung about 300 feet above the ground. This cable road charged 5 cents a pound to take freight from the bottora of the pass to the top. “The other big trolley road was known as the Dyea and Klondike Transportation Company and made a business of carrying goods from Can- yon City to Lake Iindermann, for which they charged 7% cents a pound. This road was laid on poles about fifty feet high and the boxes ran on a wire cable in the same manner as on the Scales road. FEach box could carry 100 pounds and they had hundreds of boxes. The goods were carried in the boxes only as far as the summit, when the company transferred them to pack- ers who took them to Lake Bennett. “The other, cable road was much the same as the others, except that it ran close to the ground and ,was quite slow. This was worked by a gasoline engine. “The fourth contrivance was simply a pulley drum and gasoline engine at the summit of the pass and enough rope to reach the bottom. Sleds were hitched onte this rope, which was wound around the drum, and it pulled to the top. For ?’$ this service 4cents a pound O was charged. 90 There were also a S number of other schemes of a similar = character, but all working about the same way and charging about the same for service. Plenty of Indians were loafing around, anxious to carry freight for any sum they could get. . them 0 K Their business has been abso- lutely ruined, but they have only themselves to blame for it. Those that do .get work make it a point to carry all they can possibly lift. 1 have seen some fellows going up the trail as easily as if they were empty handed, with six sacks of flour on their back. Whenever a man gets hold of some light stuff he fastens it on some way, even if it makes a bun- dle three times his own size. “After considering all these plans we determined to do our own carrying. We figured that we could save about $75 by the operation. And we suc- ceeded in about three days and I en- joyed my part of it. First we sledded all our goods from Dyea to Sheep Camp. Then we took them all to the Scales and commenced the climb. = Of course it meant several trips up and down the pass. “By taking our place in the line of men climbing the pass it would take from thirty-five to forty-five minutes to reach the top if we didn't stop to rest. Some men took several hours to reach the top. They could go only a few hundred steps, when they would have to stop and rest. How such men could expect to stand the hardships of the country is more than I can under stand. “After we had one load of stuff at the top and went back for another we had our fun. Of course, the snow hadn’t even started to melt and walk- ing down was bad. To overcome this we simply slid down. . “The surface is too steep and slip- pery for a sled or anything hard, so I used to take a bundle of grain sacks and tie them together, so as to make a soft seat. Placing these under me I would push off from the top and slide into space like lightning. The first time I tried it I wished I was back as soon as I started, but after a short dis- tance I began to feel the exhilaration of it and it was fine. There was a good deal of bumping, but the sacks saved any hard shocks and I flew along like lightning. I tell you it was fine. It used to take .bout six minutes to go from top to bottom. I enjoyed every trip I made. “When we had all our stuff at the top our next problem was the British customs officers. But we had been told what to do and really had no trou- ble and got off easy. We made out a list of our stuff, item for ilem, but did z gl g t «$ D:t oln all of our o stuff; not more than a & tnird. Taking \fi this to an officer I pointed out our pile of goods and handed him the list. Without even looking at our stuff he did a & ¥ ‘X& little multiplication and said, WY ‘Twenty dollars and 40 cents I (@) paid the money in exact change, but before handing me a receipt he said, ‘Now $5 for sinkerage.” “‘Handing over $5 I asked him what ‘sinkerage’ was. “‘For this, he answered, as he dropped it into his own pocket. Of course I said nothing, but took the re- ceipt, knowing that we were about $50 ahead of the Canadian treasury as it was. A man who was just behind me refused to pay sinkerage and the of- ficial simply made him open his pack-, age and he had to pay about $50, when he could have gotten off with $25. ‘“When we reached Lake Bennett the boat building ..as at its greatest How many m.n were there I cannot tell, but the country -or over a surface of several square miles was simply. cov- ered with boats in various stages -of; completion. And the hammering and the sawing. I can hear it yet. I am sure no boom cit, ever created such a noise. From a €'stance it was a dulli roar and near by it was simply deaf-{ ening. “It was while we were going down; the slope to Lake Lindermann that I got hurt by a sled running into me.' But I kept on and went as far as Lake Bennett before I was compelled to take to my bed. A complication of trou-| bles then set in and I had to go back! to Lindermann for medical treatment, | ‘When I was able the doctor advised| me to go back to San Francisco for a slight operation. I didn’t slide down Chilcoot this time, but I got here all right and am all well now. You will{ see me back in Alaska soon. I wish: I was there now, for it is the liveliest! place on earth. —_—————————— Troy, with the ruins BSchliemann explored, has been presented to the/ Imperial Osmanic Museum of Antiqui- ties at Constantinople by the owner' of: Hissarlik, the Englishman, Frank Cal« verley. b do e OF THE SUMMIT. Drawn from a photograph taken \gy The Call's speclal Alaskan correspondent., OVE, LAKE BENNETT. THIS IS THE GREAT FEATURE OF THE STAMPEDE ON|