human
Look it over, he said.
gpt
I tell you there's some stirring stuff in that, and just the bald reports of the enumerators' trips leave the stories of explorers in the shade.
human
What's that one you've struck?
gpt
It's the enumerator from the district of Chandler,
human
Go ahead and read it aloud, Barnes said,
gpt
I can go on with these schedules just as well while you do.
human
read the boy,
gpt
That would be fearful, said Barnes,
human
There seems to have been mighty little wood for that up there, Hamilton remarked,
gpt
Did you ever snow-shoe?
human
Once, answered Hamilton,
gpt
Well, said the editor,
human
They all seem to have had their own troubles, said Hamilton, who had been glancing down the pages of the report:
gpt
That was up in the Tanana region, wasn't it?
human
Yes, answered the boy,
gpt
It's fearful to think of, the other commented;
human
But why do it in winter? asked Hamilton.
gpt
It's hot up there in summer, I've heard, and driving in the warm weather is pleasant enough; there's no hardship in that!
human
You can't drive where there are no roads, and you can't ride where there are no horses. Then the time available is short.
gpt
Why is it so short?
human
You haven't a railroad going to every point in Alaska, Barnes pointed out,
gpt
In the spring, Hamilton said,
human
I reckon you don't know much about Alaska, the older man remarked.
gpt
When the snow thaws, the creeks overflow, and the rivers become raging torrents. You can't ride, and if you walk, how are you going to cross a swollen river, filled with pieces of ice the size of this room? Those Alaska rivers are huge bodies of water, many of them, and there are no bridges.
human
How about boats?
gpt
You mean traveling on those ice-filled rivers? It couldn't be done.
human
But as soon as the ice goes out?
gpt
That's pretty well into June, to start with, and then you would have to pole up against the current all the way, and the currents of most of the rivers are very swift. Did you ever pole a boat up against a swift mountain river?--I thought not. Suppose, by very hard work, you could make two or three miles an hour up stream,--at that rate how long would it take you to go up to the highest settlement? And then you would have to go all the way down again and ascend the next stream; and even then more than half the settlements would be on streams and creeks you could not get to with boats because of falls, of rapids, of long portages, and things of that kind.
human
I guess they couldn't use a boat, said Hamilton,
gpt
Ride what? Dogs? Or reindeer? I suppose you mean to take a horse up there?
human
That's what I was thinking of,
gpt
How would you get him up there? Take him in a dog-sled the preceding winter? You know a horse couldn't travel on the snow like a dog-team. And if you did get him up to the starting point during the winter, on what would you feed him? Dried salmon? That's all there is, and while it makes good enough dog-feed, a horse isn't built that way. There's no hay-cutting section up there, and your horse would starve to death before you had a chance to ride him. And even supposing that you could keep him alive,--I don't believe you could ride him over the tundra swamps; there is no horse made that could keep his footing on those marshy tussocks.
human
I see you're right, said Hamilton,
gpt
I hadn't thought of all that.
human
There are horses in the towns of southern Alaska, because, you know, there is one narrow strip that runs a long way south, and there the weather is not severe. But the north is another matter entirely. The pay that you would have to offer in order to lure the men away from the gold-diggings would be enormous. No, it had to be a winter job, and in the Geography section--where I was last year--it took us all our time to estimate satisfactory enumeration districts for Alaska.