Ruby, AAA
July 9, 1914

Dear Mother,

There is nothing much of particularly pleasant interest to write about but, as there is a steamer due today and the letter will doubtlessly reach you in comparatively quick time, I drop you a few lines to let you know how unfortunate (compris-tu?) I am.

I am writing this while I am waiting for the water to boil to do my washing.

By the time this letter will have reached you I suppose you will know what circumstances I am in. I explained it all in a previous letter to Lucy which I told her to show to you.

Don't worry about my starving. Far be it from me to do such a thoughtless act. But I really believe that if I ate much of the bread that I made I would surely die of congestion of the bowels. I make good graham bread with baking powder and good baking powder biscuits but "sacre" what awful yeast bread! The cause of it was, I think, that I did not have a good starter. The next time I try to make bread I shall mix a potato with the starter. The only meat that I eat is fish. Eating beef at 50 cents per pound would soon bankrupt me. There are rabbits and grouse here but they are not usually killed until fall. I eat white fish, salmon and trout. It is fish, fish, fish and some more fish; it keeps my mind busy trying to devise some knew scheme to make the fish palatable. Whenever I want a fish I take some fisherman's boat and go down to his fish wheel and select my fish. These men make a business of drying fish which they sell for dog feed at 25 cents per pound. They sell about one ton of fish per year.

Now I will explain to you about my losing my job. Your good opinion of Bower has not at all been augmented by what has occurred I know. By the way that he wrote to me I understood that he could give me work although he advised me against coming. Now I find he cannot even give me work. If he had any common sense he would have asked his partners whether they were willing that I should work for them before he wrote me. I believe, though, that if the pay had been good they would have retained me. As it was when I left them they were merely making wages. So I can hardly blame them for firing me. I believe that Bower is a better miner than his partners although a poor business man.

As I expected Alaska is not very good, either for the working man or business man.

If I wanted to go outside this fall I could borrow the money from Bower. But I shall try my hardest not to return home broke. I may make this my home permanently. There will be opportunities here although none are evident now. I am beginning to be of the opinion that the hardware business is a good business and if I can find a good town and have some money will try my luck. They say that hardware and sheet metal work are two of the best businesses in the country.

I may get work in a few days "longshoring". Longshoreman get $1.00 per hour but do not have steady work.

I expect to go about a hundred miles south of Fairbanks this winter with Bower and three Dogs.

There are any amount of dogs in this country. When a boat lands at an Indian village there are a hundred dogs to meet it.

By the way, I have not seen darkness for a month. The sun is down about two hours in a day.

If I ever have the opportunity I shall study law. I am beginning to see how a knowledge of it will help a man no matter what business he is in.

My water is boiling so if I want to do my washing I had better close.

Write me how you are and how the garden and fruit was this year.

R. Alexander
Ruby, AAA