"Come on, Jim," they says, "we'll be rollin' in gold before you can say U.S. Geological Survey!" We near busted our asses that fall working, and not just mining neither: we needed cash for the trip and to buy supplies when we got there, so we did most any job that paid. Finally we got enough and somewhereabouts in November we went aboard the Betty Lou, which took us to Juneau in Alaska Territory.
That place was the seat of the territorial government of the largest territory in the Union, but you wouldn't know it if you saw it. Far as I could tell, that place had more sled dogs than men! So we go into town, and the only reason we didn't blow all our money right there in the "local establishments" is the fact that I was carrying it. So we gits ourselves some sleds and dogs, picks and shovels, guns and ammo, and other stuff. We bought some food too, enough to tide us over till we sets up camp. With all our supplies packed into the sleds, we hitched up the dogs and rode north through the freshly fallen snow.
After some days, maybe even a week or two, my memories ain't so clear, we made it to the Yukon River. There was several camps already set up along the river, so old Aaron Steele convinced all of us to keep moving. Damn, it was cold! Finally, we made it to another river, so I says to the guys, "Look here, you all can keep movin' if that's what you all want, but as for me, I'm staying right here." I've since learned the name of that river was the Pelly (a tributary of the Yukon, if ya know your geography). So anyway, that's where we set up camp. Ed Jacobson and what's-his-face Creely went around to drive in the stakes marking our claim, while me, Aaron, Erik (who's daddy, he proudly told us, was a Norweigan), and the rest of the guys fashioned a sort of hut to protect us from that damn cold.
Anyways, that's just how things went; we found a small town a ways down the river. We went up to the hillside and dug our picks in. Man, the ground was like a rock! It seemed to take forever to dig just through the dirk. We learned us a trick, though. Y'see, if we tried to pick through the frozen dirt, we got nowhere; but if you start a fire over the spot early in the morning, the ground would thaw. So we got through the dirt, and we got to the rocks and we kept digging. Then one day, sometime in spring, I think, we found that tell-tale white streak of quartz in the rock.
Well, that sight just whipped us into a frenzy, we was just like a bunch o' sharks; we tore that rock to pieces. None of us slept for a week, it seemed, but still no gold. We started losing hope. One night, while we was asleep, there was a tremendous crash that scared the bejesus outa me. Oh my God, I thought, the mine's gone and collapsed! I got up and got a lantern, and ran to the mine so fast I beat the rest of 'em by a good half a minute. When I reached the entrance, I found it still open; I knew we could always redig, if it'd only par-way caved in. So I entered the mine, real cautious, and I see's the walls fallen apart 'bout halfway in. I goes a bit closer, and I catches me a glance o' the most glorious sight, a glimmering of pure beauty; there it was, a chunck of gold the size of my fist! We all shouted for joy, and we celebrated until dawn.
Somewheres around then, I noticed that something changed. Everybody got real suspicious, and nobody trusted anybody. Some of the guys started sleeping with their gold, and some thought they'd be killed in their sleep for it. I have to admit, even I got caught up in it all. To say that the competition for gold was fierce is to say a stampedin' herd of cattle is goin' for a stroll. I didn't think things could get worse.
I was wrong. Word spread about the gold we was diggin', and before we knew it, there was five or seven new camps set up 'round ours. I know we was pretty paranoid, but these new guys was up to no good. At night, just after dark came, I seen 'em, two or three, standing 50 yards away watching our camp.
Sometime, late summer or thereabouts, Aaron was supposed to go down the river to the town to buy supplies, but he tells me that morning, "Jimmy, I feel sick as hell to my stomach today. Why don't you run into town for me?" I knew he was fakin' it, but I went just the same. Sometimes a guy just wants to be alone. So I got the canoe, and put it out on the river. That Aaron's busy diggin' up my ore, I thinks to myself. I just know it.
So I went to town, got some supplies and come back. I'd hardly reached the shore when I saw Ed. He was as pale as a ghost. "What's wrong, Eddie?" I says. He starts sayin', real slow, "Aaron was in the mines with Erik and Johnny. The supports of the mine broke and there was a cave-in. When I neared the entrance, I saw some of the supports had been cut. They're dead, Jimmy; somebody killed 'em."
I told Eddie to get in the canoe. I paddled all the way back to town, never stopping once. We got to town, sold the canoe and supplies and bought us each a horse. We rode south on the new rode, and never since and never again will we go back.