The Wrangell Sentinel

ALASKA WOMAN HIKES 17 MILES TO VOTE FOR DIMOND
Hiking 17 miles over trailless mountains and valleys to vote for Anthony J. Dimond, at Yentna post-office, at the Murray & Harper placer camp; then tramping 21 miles more, and catching a road commission truck for a 23-mile ride into Talkeetna and the Alaska Railroad to Anchorage. Mrs. M. A. Trepte, hardy Alaskan mother, accompanied by her thirteen-year-old daughter, Eleanor, arrived in Anchorage recently.

"It was no killing task," Mrs. Trepte told the Anchorage Times. "We just kept on steadily, placing one foot after the other and got to the point on the road where we caught the truck. Mr. Trepte turned back, and I came on in with my daughter, and brought some of the gold dust we mined during the summer. Our daughter is to leave next week for Winlock, Washington, to enter St. Mary's Academy to continue her schooling.

"During the summer we mined our placer properties on the high mountain creek, far above timber-line, eight miles beyond Bird Creek. Mr. Trepte located the placer on the creek last season, and for two months shoveled in there and we cleaned up enough with the aid of one sluice box to more than beat wages.

"While my husband was mining, I was busy at our little home. True, we had no companions outside our family and there were no neighbors closer than Bird Creek, eight miles away, but we were well and very much occupied with our work, and were happy, and never missed a meal, and have enough to start out for the winter. We will go trapping up the Yentna this winter, my husband and I, and we hope to come out with a bunch of furs, and be prepared to resume the placer mining next season on a good scale and with more equipment. The ground on which we mined on our new creek, which we call Dutch Creek, is only about three feet deep, and carries satisfactory pay. More such pay streams might be located if men went searching for them.

"We have a little sheet iron covered cabin at our lofty camp and we are very comfortable there. We had considerable game, including birds, and plenty of food in the cache, which we took in last spring. Bears did not bother us, probably due to the fact we have three big dogs running about the camp, and the smoke and activity possibly did a lot to discourage any marauders.

Mrs. Trepte is a rugged athletic woman of middle age, and keen over the outdoor life. After about two weeks she and Mr. Trepte will outfit for their winter trapping up the Yentna, and will hit the trap line in good season.