Fully supplied and well equipped and with all necessary provisions for the expedition, they took the Montreal-to-Vancouver train, then a steam-boat right up to Skagway where for $100.00 they had the services of a Native porter right up to Long Lake, 32 miles (50 k) farther. Two members of the group, Drolet and Vadeboncoeurs, decided not to continue on the same road to Dawson City and they found work in the area there. Dubé and Goodzu, his Italian friend, got onto a barge which was transporting animals destined to be butchered. They helped the barge driver to keep an eye on the cattle in exchange for their meals and transportation to Dawson City. After a six-month trip full of misadventures, they arrived at their destination and found work as carpenters and prospectors.
However, bad luck seems to follow them. Ill and discouraged, Dubé missed his family while he recuperated during a long convalescence. From January 1896 Dubé and Goodzo worked at their mining concession on the Bonanza Creek but they had little success; also they worked for wages on another mining concession along the Younger River. Bad luck continued: the dykes which had been constructed, broke down and the water carried the grit and gravel which had been accumulating in the boxes. In the spring of 1897, while the Great Gold Rush had just begun, they left this corner of the country where they had had so much hope of succeeding.
Ref. Empriente vol. 11, p.22
No comments:
Post a Comment