A True Gold Rush Adventure: Call of the Klondike

SKAGAWAY, ALASKA. 6TH AUG. 1897Dear Mrs. Pearce:—…The trail from here to the summit—about 18 miles—is sickening, and it is nothing to have half a dozen horses down at once. From the summit on its an open & easy country. A series of small lakes, connected, will enable us to make rapid progress with our things in canoe, and then a six mile pack lands us at a lake which forms the head of the Yukon. While it looked very bleak for us for awhile I think now, we shall get our outfit thro by Sept. 1st, wh[ich] allows ample time for getting down the river before it freezes. We have undertaken a big task, but I now think we can safely count ourselves through. Hundreds of men & horses arrive on every steamer, and the trail is lined with men staggering under every pound they can pack. Lots of men have lost their nerve, sold out for a song, and started back for Seattle. Our boats (taken apart) are daily moved forward with our camps. No one who has't experienced this trip can understand the obstacles to be overcome: its like an army campaign as one has to take clothing and a years provisions with one. While we have to work very hard there is no cause or worryment on your past as you might realize if you could see the amount of food we stow away at each meal. Mail is very uncertain, and while we will write you at every opportunity, you had better not write Stanley until we can give you some positive address…With kind regards to Mr. Pearce, I am,Sincerely YoursMarshall BondSKAGAWAY BAY, AUG 9. 1897 Dearest Mother, Many happy returns of the day. Bond tells me he wrote you the other day.We are going through slowly but surely and working like fiends. I think nothing of making my 16 miles a day and am feeling fine. I have come down today to find a horse we had left behind and drive him up to camp, 12 miles from here.This is an exciting life and I seem to be living a new life. Last night while looking up at the stars rolled snugly up in my sleeping bag I saw the grand Northern lights shooting up from a semicircle above the mountain and looking exactly like huge search lights shifting and cutting into space. It made me feel that now we were nearer the presence of our Maker than I had ever been before and I felt how small & trivial our small troubles & pleasures had been.I am happy and ambitious, am confident of making a name for myself, and should I not find fortune it will make a man of me, and should I get through this trip I shall be able to understand anything in the world. Dearest love to you and all, dont worry about me if you dont hear.I am the toughest looking customer you ever saw absolutely filthy & glad of it.Your devoted son—S.H. Pearce