GREAT NORTH-WEST

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18444, 4 January 1922, Page 8

GREAT NORTH-WEST

SEARCH FOR GOLD. LIFE OP THE PROSPECTOR. Ho prospector, or tho man who inhabits wild places for the purpose _of malting ■valuable mineral discoveries, is generally looked upon by people “outside’’ as a lunatic for leading a life of such unspeakable hardship ‘ and discomfort, or as a ne’er-do-well, disliking work or worry, and choosing this method to got away'from both, writes a special correspondent in tho London Mail. Such theories are false. Tho life of a prospector is not fraught with fearful hardship. His bed of spruce boughs and the fur blanket covering at night in tho coldest part of the winter seem to him to be the' height of comfort'; and the beans, cooked over-night and warmed up for breakfast next morning, taste far better to him than does the elaborate menu of the London restaurant to the- man about town. 1 / But the prospectors life is not entirely one of eating beans and sleeping on a comfortable bed. His most serious disadvantage is that he has a lot to. do and not enough time to do it. Take the average man going off prospecting. Ho is going up a certain river to a point four hundred miles away. He starts off gaily, with perhaps four dogs and his year’s outfit. His only method of getting there is to “track” his boat, which means walking up the riverbank, hauling it by a light lino. After encountering endless difficulties, mud banks in which it is impossible to “track,” rapids, rocks, and high-cut banks, he gets to his destination and' unloads his boat. But he has taken at least a month to get up there—a month gone of the short summer in which prospecting must be done. It is now the end of June. He put® up his tent near th© bank, and during the next two months is busy prospecting. He wanders around, living on dry meat and bannocks, berries and beans. He works at night and sleeps during- the hottest part of the day. when the mosquitoes are worst. He must always sleep under a mosquitobar, and generally has to wear a headnet, which is unpleasant while travelling through thick bush or working with pick and shovel. Ho “punches” a great many holes, “pans” many sandbars and tho heads of many streams, but he finds nothing. Comes September, the hunting season. He puts in most of the month killing enough meat for himself and his dogs. If he has caught no fish for his dogs, he has to kill a great deal of meat, and, unless he has struck a very good game country, that is not easy to do, as a team will eat up a moose a week, mighty though that beast be. Then he has to build a cabin—a few days’ work, even if the logs are handy, and he has to get this done before the fall of snow, as he must chink the logs with moss, and plaster tho chinks with mud. Then comes the first fall, about the third or second week in September. A miserable time for moccasined feet, with damp flakes of snow falling most days. During the winter he does chiefly three things. He punches more holes in likely places in the ground. He " runs a trap line” to get a few furs to keep himself in cash; and he eats up his winter’s supply of food. When the spring comes again, he has to go back to the trading post for more stuff. He has .washed out all his prospect holes and found no good “pay,” perhaps a few “ colours ” (gold dust). He is lucky if he has struck a country where he can. kill enough meat to feed his dogs all winter. If not, ho must, fish most of the summer. He must have his dogs to trap. He must trap for imoney for next year’s outfit. It is a vicious circle. What is left of bis poor short little summer for prospecting? The Klondike rush, with its hundreds of tragedies, death by frost, scurvy, drowning, and other violent or unpleasant forms (for scurvy cannot be called “violent”), gives many people the impression that life in the Arctic is one contipued round of death; from these and other causes. A few go under hero, and there, of course, but most men, after being nearly caught once or twice, get extremely careful. Most of the tragedies due to freezing come from absolute' lack of experience or that contempt which results from familiarly. The most dangerous things to freeze, apart from the body, are the hands. A man with frozen fingers cannot light a fire, and if badly frozen cannot thaw them out _in any way without a companion to help him. He is properly “up against 'it.” The easiest to freeze badly are tho feet. Frequently this will happen and tho owner knows nothing about it till he gets alongside a fire and they begin to hurt. A frozen toe will always freeze again easier than before. That the face, will freeze in winter travelling is inevitable and of no consequence. The nose and the cheek bones are the main sufferers The chincan be protected by a handkerchief and the forehead must be protected by wearing tfie cap down to the eyebrows. The beard is best kept short, if not shaved, then clipped with scissors, otherwise it\ will accumulate so much -ice that it will take a man 15 minutes to get into a cup of tea. Besides, he wets his clothing thawing it, which is dangerous. The clothing a man wears must depend entirely on tho individual. He must keep warm, but not sweat profusely; if he does, the minute he ceases his running or hauling, he will freeze. Tanned moose hide, smoked on the inside, makes splendid clothing, warm, supple, and 'comfortable, light, and porus,, but absolutely wind proof. The only footwear is the moose hide moccasin. With' a moose skin shirt and breeches, a coat of drill or light canvas is sufficient for any windless day in the interior. Thus equipped, the traveller need fear no great discomfort, for “adventures” in the North are not daily events, and any really bad situations are due to unforeseen ill-luck or to ignorance on the part of the man whom they befall. Men who have' lived long in tho country rarely'have “thrilling” experiences.