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Ten Thousand Miles with a Dog Sled / A Narrative of Winter Travel in Interior Alaska

Chapter 39: Transcriber's Notes:
By Hudson Stuck
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AdventureAmerican LiteratureTravel Writing

About This Book

An account of numerous winter journeys through Alaska's remote interior by dog sled, combining vivid descriptions of snowbound landscapes, weather, and travel techniques with practical notes on routes and summit crossings. The narrative presents encounters with indigenous communities and white settlers, observing customs, hardships, and hospitality. Interwoven reflections consider the region's climate, mineral prospects, and limited agricultural potential, while candid commentary addresses governance, law enforcement difficulties, and the harmful impact of alcohol. The work balances travel detail, human observation, and appeals for improved administration and protection of native peoples.

Map of the Interior of Alaska, Showing Journeys Described in this Book

FOOTNOTES:

[A] This was written before the writer learned the superior protection afforded by amber glass.

[B] See illustration, p. 374.

[C] In December, , a determined effort was made by the better element of the little handful of white people in this town to secure the withdrawal of the licence of this saloon. The justice of the peace, the government school-teacher, the postmaster, and others went up to Fairbanks (a week's journey over the trail) and opposed the granting of the licence in court. It was shown that the white men of the locality were so reduced in numbers that the business could not be carried on at a profit unless liquor was sold, directly or indirectly, to the Indians. But because by hook and by crook the names of a majority of one or two of all the white residents of the precinct were secured for a petition in favour of the licence (two or three were secured by telegraph at the last moment) the judge held that he had no option under the law but to grant the licence. So, on the one hand, it is a felony to sell liquor to Indians, and annually thousands of dollars are expended in trying to suppress such sale, while, on the other hand, a man is licenced to sell liquor when it is shown that he cannot make a living unless he sells to Indians; that is to say he is virtually granted a licence to sell to Indians. This note is not intended to reflect upon the judge who granted the licence, although all his predecessors have not put that construction upon the law, but upon a law open to that construction.

[D] This was written some two years before the opportunity came. On the 7th of June, 1913, the writer and three companions reached the summit of Denali. ("The Ascent of Denali," Charles Scribner's Sons, 1914.)

[E] In 1913 it was finally destroyed by fire.

[F] I take pleasure in naming Mr. U. G. Myers as the United States commissioner in question and Mr. Jack Robinson as the deputy United States marshal, and I mention their names the more readily because Mr. Myers, after his long and excellent service, has just been removed for political reasons. (May, 1916.)

[G] The "claim" on a creek on which gold is first found is called "Discovery"; the claims above are numbered one, two, three, etc., "above" and the claims below, one, two, three, etc., "below."

Transcriber's Notes:

Obvious punctuation errors repaired.

To aid the reader in finding the illustrations and not interrupt the flow of the text, the List of Illustrations links to the illustration itself instead of the page listed.

The remaining corrections made are indicated by dotted lines under the corrections. Scroll the mouse over the word and the original text will appear.