Jasper County Democrat, Volume 2, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 September 1899 — Mutually Surprised. [ARTICLE]

Mutually Surprised.

There must have been about four hundred people at Lake Bennett, writes Mr. Secretan, In his entertaining book, “To Klondyke and Back,” making four hundred different varieties of deathdealing conveyances, for each had to construct his own boat for descending to the Yukon River. The owner of a little wheezy, portable sawmill, Which was puffing away day and night, tearing spruce logs to pieces for one hundred dollars a thousand feet, was getting rich. Anything that would float was at a premium. Once in a while you would see something resembling a boat, bnt not often. As a general rule, the soapbox and coffin combination was the most popular patteru. Some men could not wait to be supplied by the wheezy sawmill, but went In for whipsawing on their own account. One man stands on top of the log, and the other below, ans the saw is then pushed up aud down along a chalk mark. A story Is told of two “pardners” who commenced whlpsawlng. After working a while, till his tired muscles almost Claused duty, the lower one excused himself for a moment, and having hired the first man he met to take bis place In the pit, disappeared. The sawing proceeded until the uppermost “pardner,” all unconscious that he was working with an entire stranger, bethought him of a device to rest Making some ordinary explanation, he got down from the log and quickly hired an Indian to take his place at the saw. The “pardners” were mutually surprised to meet each other shortly afterward In an adjacent saloon.