Show LETTER a 0 january I 1 chulk 48 I 1 wrangell alaska pear dear mom it its s just another one of these winter nights around the of january im sitting in the boat while its resting on its side at a 45 angle I 1 im in nibbling on a cold hot cake that I 1 salvaged from the bilge of the sunken WILMARTH the dough is very salty and very black from bilge grease I 1 have half a pound of coffee coffe e and acan a can of milk that by chance some P passing assing indians gave me ah but th there ere is meat in the woods tomor row I 1 shall ishall see just a little poem I 1 wrote the hair from my mink skins fell away now for which I 1 receive ni no 0 pay I 1 in loafing loafing the live line long day oh the hair from my mink skins fell away to start off a little streak of bad luck I 1 soaked ten mink skins in soapy water by mistake at the tune of about 25 to 30 dollars a piece oh here I 1 am in an ice covered bay my boat is broke down and I 1 can t move away oh here I 1 am in an ice covered bay I 1 returned and found the ice and cut and sunk her today that took pi place ace about the middle of trapping season some where a round new years when ever that was I 1 suppose it s past by now though I 1 left the sunken boat at close of day I 1 tried a short cut 0 er a mountain pass to reach my part ner ten miles away without a light lost and without a compass oh I 1 crawled and gro groped ped till down of day I 1 was half frozen and the blizzard was strong myself I 1 dragged like a bag of clay while the wolves close by sang a woeful and pressing song I 1 was sighted by noon nooh next day by indians not far away they fed and sheltered me they filled my gaunt belly with hudson bay tea my trapping days ceased long ago with bad luck dancing to and fro here I 1 sit farther in the hole than I 1 was three long months ago that was a bit of my g general beneral run of luck I 1 ive ve never spent a night like it before in my life and I 1 hope never again to have to after the indians raised my sun ken boat and towed it to a little better anchorage I 1 lived with them until they left A few days later I 1 had to return to where I 1 was trapping and pick up my traps I 1 left a skiff up there so I 1 could re turn in it III show you how I 1 mean by an map I 1 hav ent en t any thing to do anyway I 1 hope that I 1 im in not taking up too much of your time if it I 1 am you could come back tomorrow and take another lesson let s not take this torn foolish ery to heart now I 1 expect this letter to dissolve sink or blow up with me ine before I 1 ever get it mailed any how after I 1 had picked up my traps and got to the place marked skiff the wind was blowing big beautiful swells in ten feet high a little too large for my seven foot skiff load ed with traps and me darkness had done fell all around me by now strange noises and imaginary sparkling eyes were glaring right smack at me you no what I 1 done I 1 done set them there seven dozen traps around in a ring and I 1 gets dab smack in de middle and pro ceede to lite up a fire which only took me four hours to do in the rain my luck changed that night the next morning the water was calm and I 1 rowed for about four hours without sinking reached home and devoured a cold hot cake seems 1 ke I 1 in living in a crazy house with this d boat lying on her s de I 1 have got the fire going tho that s about the only thing that isn t ruined I 1 haven t seen a soul for about ten days now sure hope there s some body left in this world I 1 had two big long lovely letters wr aten that I 1 had figured on mail ing in to you I 1 wrote them when things were going a little smoother I 1 think you would have enjoyed reading them more than this one but I 1 suppose the crabs are ex hi biting them at davy jones well I 1 in going to quit writing for two night 1 ive ve got some more worrying to do one thing about it when you receive this letter if 11 you do these present troubles will be in the past boy that last sen tence sounds good today is about the I 1 in safe and sound in point baker at the present A couple of days ago a fellow from point baker brought all of my mail out and every thing and boy did I 1 have a swell christ mas right on the beach all by my self first of all I 1 opened the radio and got it to pla playing ying and is it a swell one just perfect well by that time I 1 was so excited I 1 t open things fast enough every thing you sent was just what I 1 needed and did that flash light ever come in handy mine was corn plemely ruined and no batteries the only thing I 1 t use was the razor blades I 1 almost got drunk on the fruit cake but it sure was good I 1 ate a bottle of peaches while I 1 was opening every thing one thing I 1 did throw away was that dam astrology book the last one said I 1 would have good luck in november and december I 1 ve got the boat so it will float now I 1 t ve got to be towed into wrangell soon as some one comes along I 1 have to get up every two hours during the night and pump I 1 the boat out so I 1 wont be getting much sleep but I 1 dont mind it helps me keep my girlish figure i well im listening to the radio and I 1 swear that the radio Is a lot imore more company than a wife could be and its it s not near the trouble I 1 hope that I 1 can do a few things for you someday that I 1 have al ways wanted to do I 1 haven t anything to do while I 1 im m waiting for someone to come in that will tow me to wrangell but pump the boat out it will be a week before the mail boat comes in again so maybe be in wran gell before that and ill mail this I 1 hope I 1 ve written enough to please you this time ill quit for this time and maybe I 1 can think of some more to write before I 1 mall mail this A fellow just came along in a nice big boat and said that he would tow me into Wt wrangell angell in the morning and said I 1 could pay him whatever I 1 thought it was worth and whenever I 1 got the money pretty good huh so ill send him about 50 00 it will take us about eight hours if the weather is good I 1 im in going to stay up all night and be ready as he wants to leave at five write more from wrangell happy day mom here I 1 am in wrangell and I 1 just got the boat on the grid and am I 1 relieved we had a rough trip and I 1 had to pump the boat by hand and I 1 im m sure tired to night I 1 went up to the shipyards and it 11 cost me around four hundred dollars dolla rs to have the boat re corked so it wont won t leak I 1 m pretty tired mom so it if you 11 par don me for a while be getting back to the garden as I 1 ve got to let the hem her down on my bloomers the fellow that towed me to wrangell was sure swell and went out of his way to bring me in there are still some pretty good people left in the world alaska too whenever I 1 meet some one like that it always reminds me of apte mckellar goodbye mom love son mr M r and mrs barnard castagno of grantsville Grants ville and mr and mrs andrew cartwright of tooele thoele re turned last week from a vacation spent in mexico arizona and cal fornia in bishop california they were house guests of mr and mrs leo castagno |