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 OVERLAND kUUTE TO KLONDIKE 
 
ALASKA 
 
 AND THE 
 
 KLONDIKE GOLD FIELDS 
 
 CONTAINING 
 
 A FULL ACCOUNT OF THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD; ENORMOUS 
 
 DEPOSITS OF THE PRECIOUS METAL; ROUTES 
 
 TRAVERSED BY MINERS; HOW TO 
 
 FIND GOLD; CAMP LIFE 
 
 AT KLONDIKE 
 
 Practical Instructions for Fortune Seekers, Etc., Etc 
 
 INCLUDING A 
 
 JRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF THE GOLD REGIONS; LAND OP 
 
 V^ONDERS; IMMENSE MOUNTAINS, RIVERS AND 
 
 PLAINS; NATIVE INHABITANTS, ETC. 
 
 BY A. GHARRIS 
 
 TuK Wbli^Known Authok and Tkavbxa* 
 INCLUDING 
 
 Mrs. Eli Gage's Experiences of a Year amonsf the Yukon Mining 
 
 Camps; Mrs. Schw^atka's Recollections of her husband as 
 
 the Alaskan Pathfinder; Pro^c Side of Gold 
 
 Hunting, &s seen by Joaquin Miller, 
 
 the Poet of the Sierras 
 
 EMBELLISHED VITH MANY ENGRAVINGS REPRESENTING 
 MINING AND OTHER SCENES IN ALASKA 
 
1 V '^ 
 
 165708 
 
 t..tcr„I „ccorfl„g ,„ Act of Cooposs, i,. u,c your ,.S<,7 , ,,y 
 
 G. W. BBRTRON, 
 
 I. .he omcc <,f U.0 Librarian of Congr™,, „, W„,Ui„g,„„, „. ^ 
 
 All Rights Rcsrrvrcl 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 KLONDIKE is tlic magic word that is tlirillinjj the whole 
 country. It stands for millions of gold and great for- 
 tunes for hundreds of miners, who have risen from 
 jxiverty to affluence in the brief piriod of a few months. Thou- 
 .sands are reading of fortuius made in the Klondike Gold 
 Fields, and thousands of others arc turning their Iol^I ir^ eyes 
 toward the new Kl Dorado. 
 
 The old Spanish dreams of a wonderful realm jmewherc 
 in the Western Continent, matie of gold and prc<-ious stones, 
 ■seem almost on u.c point )f !)eing realized. Not since 1849, 
 when the iiU;rvellous discoveries of gold were made in Cali- 
 fornia, has there been such excitement among all classes of 
 people. 
 
 Everybody wants to know the real facts concerning the new 
 discoveries. On every hand there is an eagerness for the 
 most reliable information, which is furnished by this new and 
 comprehensive work, containing a full description of Alaska 
 and the Gold Regions. The author writes from personal ex- 
 perience and observation, as he has been an eye-witness of 
 the .scenes, incidents and facts which he describes anil narrates. 
 
 The work gives a complete account of the rise of the gold 
 fever, the excitement produced by the news of unlimited 
 deposits of the precious metal ; the rush of miners seeking 
 fortunes at Klondike ; hasty preparations for the long and 
 perilous journey ; and the formation of companies eager to 
 take possession of the region abounding in untold wealth. 
 The thousands of prospectors hurrying to tnc Gold Fields give 
 us a picture of the rush to California when the di.coveries of 
 gold were made in that State in 1849. 
 
 .Hi) 
 
m 
 
 Iv 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 How to get there h a question fully answered in this vol- 
 ume. The different routes arc described, together with the best 
 modes of transportation. This work tells you what is required 
 for the trip ; the clothing, food and implements that are needed ; 
 the hardships and dangers to be encountered ; the difficulties 
 arising from extreme cold in winter, and all the trying expe- 
 rienccj awaiting the gold-seekers. 
 
 Alaska is a land of wonders. It is a vast region and one 
 of the least known, yet one of the most remarkable countries 
 in ^he whole world. Its history is fully related ; its purchase 
 by our Government from Russia; its slow development and its 
 peculiar characteristics. It has vast tracts of primeval forests; 
 mountains of aivful sublimity ; rivers that rival the largest in 
 other parts of the world ; Arctic snows and summer foliage 
 and flowers ; deep carions and grand water-falls ; solitudes 
 peopled only by polar bears and other fur-bearing animals ; and 
 weird scenes that startle the beholder and fill him with awe. 
 
 These are all vividly described, together with the towns and 
 setiiements ; the appearance, habits and customs of the native 
 inhabitants ; the climate in different parts of the country, and 
 the progress of civilization up to the present time The min- 
 eral resources and wealth of Alaska are fully treated, showing 
 it to be a country' rich in natural products. Its important 
 fisheries and possibilities lor agriculture are all set forth, to- 
 gether with its industries, including its famous traflfic in seals. 
 
 How to mine for gold is a subject on which the informa- 
 tion is most complete and valuable. The reader follows the 
 miners to their camps ; learns the process by which they extract 
 the precious metal from the recesses where it is stored ; how 
 it is separated from the ore ; what machinery is employed, 
 and what are the most successful methods for obtaining the 
 coveted prize. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 
 
 A Country Frozen by the Lapse of Time— Discovery of Gold Not New — 
 News is Flashed Over the World and Creates a Furore— Old Dig- 
 gings are Soon Abandoned— Effect of the Find on the People of the 
 United States and on the Money Centres of the World— Region 
 which may Properly be called the Land of Gold once Thought so 
 Worthless the Russians Offered to Give it Away for Nothing- 
 Testimony as to the Richness of the Deposits— The Popular 
 Demand for Information as to the Country, its Inhabitants, 
 Scenery, Resources and the Like— Camp Life and Experiences . . 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 17 
 
 SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 
 
 Arrival of the Portland with more than a Ton of Gold on Board — 
 Miners Tell of their Marvelous Strikes — Gold and the Aborigines 
 - First Griiat Gold Craze— Prospecting in Early Days— Rich Gold 
 Discovery on Bonanza Creek— Argonauts Flock to the Steamers 
 — Scenes at the Wharves — Companies Formed in Response to 
 the Rush— Millions of Money and Thousands of Men— Craze in 
 Wall Street— Royalty Affected— Money in Grub-stakes— Joaquin 
 Miller Under Way—" Lucky " Baldwin After Mother Lode- 
 Bright and Dark Sides of Story 33 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 "STRIKE IT RICH" ON KLONDIKE. 
 
 Gold-seekers who " Made their Pile " in the Placers— Tales Brought 
 Back by Returning Argoaauts— Fabulous Stakes made by Novices 
 —The "Tenderfoot " Has His Day— Clarence J. Berry, the " Barney 
 Barnato " of the Diggings— His Wonderful Streak of Luck— Gives 
 the Credit to His Wife— Captain McGregor's Wonderful Panning 
 Results— Fortune Favors fin Indiana Boy — Some of the Dark Sides, 
 by People who Saw Them —Miners Go Insane— Death on the Glacier 
 —Hard Work aL 1 Lack of Supplies— Advice of a California Pioneer 75 
 
 (V) 
 
 - 
 
vi CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 HOW TO GET THERE. 
 
 Main Routes to the Klondike— By Water and Land — Voyage via St. 
 Michael's— Trip Up the Yukon— Choice of Trails via Juneau and 
 Dyea— In by Chilkoot Pass— Over the Chilkat- The White Pass 
 Route— Lieutenant Schwatka's Trail via Taku— Ry Way of Fort 
 Wrangel and Lake Teslin— Railroads vSuggested— The ' ' Rack ^^oor " 
 Route — Up the Copper River — By Moose Factory and ChcstLiavrid 
 Inlet— Other Trails — Telegraph and Telephone— Postal Service- 
 Outfits for Miners — List of Necessaries 
 
 129 
 
 *s,i' 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 A LAND OF WONDERS. 
 
 Laud of the Midnight Sun — Great Distances — Primitive Conveyances — 
 Terrors of the Arctic Regions — World of Wonders — Dangers of 
 Travel — A Great (Ilacier — A Frozen Cataract — Beautiful Scenery 
 — Rush of Torrents — Marvelous Sunsets — Great Yukon River — 
 Canon of Lewis River — Dominion of the Frost King — Towering 
 Volcanoes — The Winter Moon — A Country of Romance — Totem 
 Poles — Salmon Fisheries — Vast Solitudes — The .\laskan Natives. . 
 
 1S2 
 
 CHAPTER \T. 
 
 WOMEN AT THE MINES. 
 
 Scnemes for Obtaining Wealth— Mrs. Gage and Mrs. Schwatka in the 
 Frozen North — The Mosquito Pest— Juneau and the Lynn Canal — 
 Climbing the Mountains — Difficulties of Mining— Scarcity of Game 
 — ^The Scurvy Terror — Morals of Klondike Mining Camps- 
 Female Enterprise — Scarcity of Amusements— Sisterhood of St. 
 Anne— The Four-leaf Clover — Bridal Trip to Klondike — Romance 
 of Joseph Ladue — Women's Klondike Syndicate— A Lucky Seam- 
 stress 
 
 210 
 
 CHAPTER Vn. 
 
 POET OF THE SIERRAS' VLSION. 
 
 Rushes oflF to the Diggings at the First Report— Mining in '49— Goes 
 in to Rough It— Carries His Own Pack, Pick and Pan— Wdl Hunt 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 vil 
 
 for a Good Job— Coming Back With Bed-rock Facts — Contradicts 
 Some Horse Stories — Schemes of the Pioneers — Not a Pistol in the 
 Crowd — One Way to Get Bear Meat — Recalls Other Big Strikes — 
 On Mary Island — With Father Duncan's Flock — No Jail Nor Police 
 at Metlakahtia — Hay on the Klondike — None Coniinjj Frori Yukon 
 — Frolic with Indian Children 245 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 HISTORY AND PURCHASE OP ALASKA. 
 
 One of the Happiest Deals Ever Made by American Statesmen — 
 Seward's Glory — His Prophecy on Retiring to Private Life Verified 
 — Comparatively Few People in the Territory — Story of the Early 
 Days of Russian Occupation — The First Massacre — Country Once 
 Offered to the United States for Nothing — Appropriation for 
 Money to Pay for the Tract Opposed by Congress Bitterly — Efforts 
 to Provide Country with a Government — Interior containing Gold 
 Fields once thought Worthless vas Parceled Out in Thirds between 
 as many Nations — Recent History 256 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 TOPOGRAPHY. 
 
 Country of Vast Extent and Remarkable Features — Like an Ox's Heal 
 Inverted — Yukon District Described as a Great Moorland — Its 
 Archipelag'o a Wonderland of Immense Mountain Peaks — Legends 
 of the Indians are Many — Tributes of Visitors to the Wilderness 
 Magnificent Auroral Displays — The Reports Brought Back as to the 
 Differences of Temperature — Mr. Wcare Gives Some Interesting 
 Information — Bitter Cold in the Region in Which the Mines are 
 Located 281 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 
 
 Agricultural Industries in Alaska— Vegetables and Small Fruits in the 
 Southeastern Portion— Grasses and Fodder — Panorama of Blossoms 
 in the Short Summer — Seasons in the Yukon Basin — Sea Otters 
 and Fur Seals — Food Animals and Carnivorae — Moose and Caribou 
 — Value of Pelts — Fish of the Territory — Salmon Canning and 
 
vlii 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Salting — A Dog Fish Story — Birds of Alaska — Among the Ceta- 
 ceans — Moequitos and Gnats — Weather Bureau Report — Tempera- 
 ture at Klondike— Aniinals and Vegetation in British Columbia . . 
 
 29& 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 INDUSTRIES AND INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 Chief Occupations of the Natives and the Settlers — The Four Remark- 
 able Seal Islands — How the Animals Have Been Ruthlessly 
 Slaughtered— When the Fur is at Its Best— The Great Fishing Plants 
 of the Country — Alaska the Home of the Salmon — Cod and Otlier 
 Fish Abound — Trapping and Hunting on the Decline — Current 
 Belief that the Outlook for Lumbering is Not Good — Probability 
 that this Opinion may be Reversed by Later Discovery — Trees on 
 the Islands — Agricultural Development one of the Great Needs at 
 the Present Time — Land Simply Needs Tilling — Vegetables and 
 Berries Grown in Quantities — Reports of Travelers 324 
 
 CHAPTER Xn. 
 
 RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 
 
 Tecord as a Fur Country — State of Development Twenty Years Ago— 
 How the Golden Treasures were Discovered and Developed — Re- 
 port of Geological Survey Expert Spurr — Professor Elliott's Review 
 — Alaska Richer than Klondike — West of the Coast Range — Mint 
 Director Preston's Views — United States Leads the World in Gold 
 Production — From the Alaska Mining Record — Value of Yukon 
 Gold — Cook's Inlet Diggings — Some Scattered Streaks — Experts 
 in the Field—John W. Mackey Quoted — Other Mineral Resources — 
 Canadian Report 349 
 
 CHAPTER Xni. 
 
 GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 
 
 Antiquity of Placer Mining — How Nature has Filled the Gravel with 
 Gold — Selecting a Locality — Building a House — Out Prospecting — 
 Thawing the Ground — How to Distinguish Gold from other Minerals 
 — Pyrites, Mica, Black Sand — Mechanical Assay — Locating the 
 Claim — Local Customs — Commissioner Herrman's Digest — Getting 
 Out the Gold — Mining in Winter — Work Along the Yukon — Sluic- 
 
CONTENTS. ;^ 
 
 ing for Gold — Dry Placer Miners — Dredgiug for Gold— Old Miner's 
 Advice — Gold-bearing Quartz — How Gold Came to Klondike — 
 Banks and Banking 376 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 RESUME OP MINING LAWS. 
 
 Law and Order — Fees for Mining — Rights of Miners — Quartz Mining — 
 Surveys and Reservations — Voice of the Press — Penalties Imposed 
 — Call for United States Troops — Size of Claims — Canadian Laws . 402 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 GOLD CRAZES OF OTHER DAYS. 
 
 Mining Excitements in Other Countries — Australia and South Africa lay 
 the Old World under Tribute — Outbreaks of the Fever in America 
 — Early Case in North Carolina — Stampede of '49 — "Pike's Peak 
 or Bust " — Recollections of the Argonauts — The Rocky Belle Camp 
 Craze — Rush to Stevens' Claim — Excitement About Tombstone — 
 Placers in Baja, California — Harqua Hala Diggings — Randsburg and 
 Its Boom — Comparisons with Klondike — What the Early Stampedes 
 Cost in Cash and Life 422 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 SIDE-LIGHTS. 
 
 'Oddities and Freaks of the Klondike Craze — To the Gold Fields via 
 Baloon — Bicycles for Argonauts — Swim or Slide — Fancy Stock 
 in Dogs — Chopping Wood to Pay Passage — Grub-stakers and 
 "Angels" — Schemes of Worn-out Prospectors — Clairvoyants as 
 Gold-finders — .' ing Stocks and Sharpers — Magic in the Name — 
 Barber's Syndicate — Sleuths to the Yukon — Samples of Argonauts 
 — Freaks of "Tenderfeot " — Bogus Bureaus — Hard Work to Keep 
 Gold — Gamblers and Miners — Type of a Miner's Paper 440 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 CAMP LIFE AND MORALS. 
 
 Mining Towns in the Alaskan Wilderness Similar to Other Rude Com- 
 munities, with such Peculiarities as are Bom of Climatic and Tope- 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 graphical Features — All Have Their Social Amenities— The liible 
 and Shakespeare Appeal to the Literary Tastes of the Fortune 
 Seekers — Watching of Proj^erty Early a Necessity — Sharpers Lose 
 no Time in Getting in Their Work -Gamblers also Flock Toward 
 the Yukon to Intercept the Returning Miners and I'leece Them — 
 Whiskey Trade Flourishes in the WiUls 
 
 453 
 
 CHAPTKR XVIU. 
 DOMESTIC LIFE IN THE WILDS. 
 
 Miners' Experiences not those of a mere Romantic Sojourn in the 
 Wilderness — Absence of Conveniences and Comforts — The Older 
 Towns Antiquated and, during the Gold Craze, Overcrowded — 
 Graphic Pictures of Skaguay, Dawson City, Circle City, and Camp 
 Lake Linderman — Hotel Project for the Territory that Promises to 
 be the Means of Furnishing a Larger Quota of Comforts — Women's 
 Influence on the Domestic Life — Some of Those Who Grace the 
 Camps with their Presence, and the Particular Line of Work ti) 
 ■which they Devote Themselves — Sisters of Mercy for the Sick and 
 Dying, and vSisters of Cookery for the Well 465 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 ETHNOGRAPHY. 
 
 Census of Alaska— Russian Estimates of Population — Classification of 
 the Indians — History of the Thlinkets — Characteristics Suggestive 
 Oi' Asiatic Origin — Savage Customs Largely Abandoned — Chilkats 
 and their Traits — Hootzanoos and " Hoochinoo ' ' — The Sitkans and 
 Stickines — Among the Aleuts 478 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 NATIVE RELIGION AND TRAITS. 
 
 The Alaskan Indians a People of Curious Customs and Habits — Are 
 Intelligent, Inventive, and Imitative — Are Adepts in the Vices of 
 the White Men Who Visit Them— Are Natural-born Drunkards and 
 Gamblers— Totem Poles Their Pride in the Olden Times— The 
 Significance of these Barbaric Symbols of the People — Are Rich in 
 Oral Traditions — The Theological and Cosmological Belie'"of the 
 
CONTKNTS. jd 
 
 Indians— Odd Notions of the Aboriginal Thinkers— Samples of the 
 Rites Practiced — Cannibalism and Shamanism — Law and Home 
 Life — Description of the Innuits of the North liil 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 SPREAD OK THE CHRISTIAN FAITH. 
 
 Empress Catherine Takes the Initiative in Bringing a Purer Religion to 
 the Savages — Work of the Early Russian Missionaries and the Pro- 
 gress of Their Work — Schools Early Established — Introduction of 
 the Luthern Church Due to the Efforts of Commercial Bodies to 
 Provide for Their Employes — Sad Result of the Transfer of the 
 Territory to the United States — Deed Interest shown By the Natives 
 — Some Striking Literature from the Wilds — Methodists Follow the 
 Presbyterians in Their Missions — Great Hope for the Future. . . . 
 
 503 
 
 CHAPTKR XXII. 
 
 HRITISII COLUMBIA AND NORTHWEvST TERRITORY. 
 
 F.agion is One of Vast Extent and Diversified Features — Has a I^L^ynifi- 
 cent Ocean Frontage — A Land of Great Riverswhich Afford Internal 
 Highways — Greatest of All is the Columbia — Has a Large Ocean 
 Trade Even Now — Experiments in Fruit Growing Successful — Con- 
 struction of Railways Has Given an Impetus to Development — Many 
 Districts Famous for Their Grain and Others for Their Mineral 
 Deposits — Gold Mines in Abundance — Klondike Within the Cana- 
 dian Territory — Some of the Mines Now Worked — Silver Not 
 Wanting 516 
 
 CHAPTKR XXIII. 
 ADVENT OF WINTER. 
 
 Confirmation of Stories About the Wealth of Klondike and Alaska— 
 Perils of the Passes — Dark and Bright Sides of the Picture, as Seen 
 by Argonauts — New Diggings Opened — Copper River and Cook's 
 Inlet — New Strikes in the Yukon Basin — Two Experiences in Cross- 
 ing Chilkoot Pass — Over the Wliite Pass — Belated Gold Seekers 
 Camping on the Trail — Woes of the Horses — New Routes — Tram- 
 way at Dyea — Via the Snow Train — At St. Michael's — In Dawson 
 and Skagway — Glacier Slide aud Flood — Mt. St. Elias Scaled . . 
 
 52V 
 
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 'Jft' 
 
5 
 
 o 
 
 X 
 
 
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 u; 
 
 f United States Snrvev.) 
 
OFFICIAL MAP OF THE KLONDIKE AND YUKON REGION. 
 

 WMt from 150 Qrcfnirtch 
 
 REGION. 
 
 (United States Survey. > 
 
A Country Frozen 1 
 is Flashed Ove: 
 Abandoned — B 
 on the Money 
 called the Lane 
 to Give it Aw 
 Deposits — The 
 Inhabitants, Sc 
 euces. 
 
 ALASKA is 
 and the 
 capped and 
 of mythological 
 formed into the ( 
 these hardy sold 
 wonders than th( 
 led his band of j 
 
 There is this ( 
 of the North ai 
 nothing conjectu; 
 led his band into 
 edge that the tre 
 women wno brj 
 fortunes in Alasl< 
 It is a mere mat 
 the fields. 
 
 What is more 
 Alaska, has pro\ 
 as rich in deligl 
 2 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 Land of the Argonauts. 
 
 A Country Frozen by the Lapse of Time — Dificovery of Gold Not New — News 
 is Flashed Over the World and Creates a Furore — Old Diggings are Soon 
 Abandoned — Effect of the Find on the People of the United States and 
 on the Money Centres of the World — Region which may Properly be 
 called the Land of Gold once Thought so Worthless the Russians Offered 
 to Give it Away for Nothing — Testimony as to the Richness of the 
 Deposits — The Popular Demand for Information as to the Country, its 
 Inhabitants, Scenery, Resources and the Like — Camp Lii^ and Experi- 
 ences. 
 
 ALASKA is the land of the Nineteenth Century Argonauts ; 
 and the Golden Fleece hidden away among its snow- 
 capped and glacier-clad mountains is not the pretty creation 
 of mythological fame, but yellow nuggets which may be trans- 
 formed into the coin of the realm. The vast territory into whicft 
 these hardy soldiers of fortune penetrate is no less replete with 
 wonders than the fabled land into which Jason is said to have 
 led his band of adventurers. 
 
 There is this difference, however, between the frozen land of 
 of the North and the fabled land of mythology. There is 
 nothing conjectural about Alaska or its golden treasure. Jason 
 led his band into an unknown country without the certain knowl- 
 edge that the treasure he was seeking was there. The men and 
 women wno brave the perils of the wilderness to seek their 
 fortunes in Alaska, go with a certainty that the treasure is there. 
 It is a mere matter of finding it when once they have reached 
 the fields. 
 
 What is more the Land of Gold, as we may properly term 
 Alaska, has proved and will prove to tourist and prospector 
 as rich in delights and marvels as the land which has come 
 2 17 
 
im 
 
 ah£ 
 
 saa 
 
 18 
 
 LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 
 
 down to us in legend. It seems to be a spot chosen by nature 
 as a field of adventure. The person, therefore, who goes from 
 the South to the Yukon Valley will be sure to find, even though 
 disappointed in the quest for which primarily he went, enough 
 of the beautiful and martelous to pay him for his trip. 
 
 Frozen by Lapse of Time. 
 
 And first a word about this land of bleakness and grandeur. 
 Captain Butler, an English officer who crossed the great country 
 some little time ago, writes in the most enthusiastic terms of its 
 scenery, and one cannot do better than quote his picturesque 
 words. Says he : 
 
 " Nature has here graven her image in such colossal charac- 
 ters that man seems to move slowly amid an ocean frozen rigid 
 by the lapse of time — frozen into those things we call mountains, 
 rivers and forests. 
 
 " Rivers whose single length roll twice 2,000 miles of shore 
 line ! Prairies over which a traveler can steer for weeks without 
 resting his gaze on aught save the dim verge of the ever-shifting 
 horizon ! Mountains rent by rivers, ice-topped, glacier seared, 
 impassable ! Forests whose sombre pines darken a region half 
 as large as Europe ! 
 
 "In summer a land of sound ; a land echoed with the voices 
 of birds ; the ripple ui running water ; the mournful music of 
 the waving pine branch ! In winter a land of silence ; its great 
 rivers glimmering in the moonlight, wrapped in their shrouds of 
 ice ; its .still forests rising weird and spectral against the auroral 
 lighted horizon ; its nights so still that the moving streamers 
 across the northern skies seem to carry to the ear a sense of 
 sound." 
 
 The land thus strikingly described has been deemed since 
 early in 1887 the ICldorado where nature has apparently strewn 
 
LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 
 
 19 
 
 al charac- 
 -ozeii rigid 
 nountains, 
 
 s of shore 
 s without 
 r-shifting 
 
 ier seared, 
 egion half 
 
 he voices 
 music of 
 
 its great 
 
 u'ouds of 
 
 le auroral 
 
 streamers 
 
 sense of 
 
 led since 
 \y strewn 
 
 her golden gifts most lavishly. It is to this land that thousands 
 have wended their way in the hopes of wresting from their 
 hidden beds enough of these treasures to lift them to opulence. 
 
 Not a New Discovery. 
 
 The knowledge of these gold fields in the North is not new. 
 From early in the days of the Russian occupation it has been 
 known that there were vast deposits of the precious metal in 
 Alaska, practically under the Arctic Circle. 
 
 Year by year the gold fields have attracted adventurous for- 
 tune seekers, who have gone thither in ever-increasing numbers. 
 Following the discovery of the rich deposits in the Klondike 
 region, however, there has been an influx of peoi)le into these 
 frozen wilds, such as has never been known before. 
 
 The first chance discovery was for a long time virtually held 
 in secret, not intentionally, but because the lack of transit facil- 
 ities made it difficult to get the news to civilized communities. 
 When at length, however, the story of the find was brought 
 south, and with the story was brought specimens of nuggets and 
 gold dust which had been found, the news was put upon the 
 wires and flashed through the length and breadth of the land, 
 and the excitement caused gave every promise of a repetition of 
 the memorable scenes which made Cariboo and Cassiar famous 
 a generation ago. 
 
 In New York, in Chicago, in London, in Paris, throughout 
 the world, the attention alike of rich and poor, was directed to 
 the marvelously rich, but almost wholly unknown wilds of 
 Alaska. People talked of the days of '49 and devised a new 
 .slogan, "The days of '97." The rich immediately began to 
 organize new companies and map out new enterprises, such as 
 made fortunes for thousands in doys of other gold excitements ; 
 and multitudes of the poor, dissatisfied with their opportunities 
 
20 
 
 LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 
 
 in districts longer settled and better improved, made haste to 
 provide their outfits and take passage to the Yukon. 
 
 In former days it was " Pike's Peak or Bust." Now the 
 watch-word became " On to the Klondike." 
 
 In the gold mining regions of Alaska there were, in 1893, not 
 
 ^ ^A.N 
 
 "^ PA CtFIC 
 OCEAN 
 
 KADIAC 
 
 MAP OF 
 
 •AND ITS- 
 
 GOLD FIELDS 
 
 mc»rethan about 300 miners all told. This number was doubled 
 practically the following year. Owing to the glowing reports of 
 successful operators, the number of miners attracted by 1895 was 
 3000. Probably twice that number of miners and prospectors 
 invaded the country in 1896. 
 
 In 1897 came this furor that caused the Klondike district to 
 rank with the great historical gold fields of the world. This 
 
LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 
 
 21 
 
 2 haste to 
 Now the 
 1893, not 
 
 CITY 
 
 ITISH 
 
 doubled 
 *cports of 
 1895 was 
 :).spectors 
 
 istrict to 
 d. This 
 
 year witnessed the greatest influx of people into the territory on 
 record, and there was every prospect that the year following 
 would see the number quadrupled, possible many times over. 
 
 Old Diggings Abandoned. 
 
 And in the excess of enthusiasm and the wild hurrah raised 
 when the new fields on the Klondike were discovered the old 
 diggings were virtually abandoned. For ten years, at least, men 
 worked placers in the Yukon district. Leaving Juneau early in 
 the spring, they went out over the Chilkoot Pass and down the 
 little chain of lakes on the other side, making long portages, it 
 is true, and enduring some hardships, to the Yukon River. They 
 i -turned to Juneau in the fall, year after year, bringing with them 
 from $2000 to 53500 each in gold dust, the product of the 
 summer's work. 
 
 But they were improvident, these men who won gold from 
 the beds of rivers, and when the spring came they were stranded 
 financially, many of them without a grub-stake, but they " won 
 out " some way and got back again to return — unless they had 
 crossed the divide forever — and repeated the same old story of 
 excess and extravagance. 
 
 They never grew money wise, these grizzled veterans of the 
 rocker, the gold pan, the pick and the shovel, but after all they 
 are of God's people. 
 
 Quartz lodes were worked in ten or more districts, some of 
 which are large and contain many district claims. The U:n dis- 
 tricts referred to are as follows : Sheep Creek region, which 
 yields ore containing silver, gold and other metals ; Salmon 
 Creek, near Juneau, silver and gold ; Silver Bow Basin, mainly 
 gold ; Douglas Island, mainly gold ; Fuhter Bay, on Admiralty 
 Island, mainly gold ; the Silver Bay mining district, near Sitka, 
 gold and silver ; Besner's Bay, in Lynn Canal, mainly gold ; 
 

 22 
 
 LAND OF THE ARGONAUT >. 
 
 Fish River mining district, on Norton Sound ; Unga district and 
 Lemon Creek. 
 
 But the furor over Klondike brought revolution. A change 
 came over the spirit of the miners' dreams. 
 
 This country has been seized with the gold fever many times 
 in the last half century, but never since yellow deposits were 
 discovered in the Sacramento Valley was there such universal 
 interest as was displayed over the discovery of gold on the 
 Yukon and the Klondike. In many districts men and women 
 talked of nothing else than of the new find. They were enthusi- 
 astic beyond bounds. 
 
 Experienced miners who had spent years in Alaska came to 
 the front with words of caution and advice to let these enthu- 
 siasts know that the road to wealth in the Alaskan gold fields 
 was even more beset with hardships in the way of cold, hunger 
 and toil than the fields to which they were accustomed, and 
 with which they had become dissatisfied. The friendly counsel, 
 however, was disregarded. The one cry was " On to the Klon- 
 dike," and one and all were apparently seized with the mad fever 
 to leave civilization and seek wealth in the wilds. 
 
 Made His Blood Boil. 
 
 " What makes my blood run faster in my veins is to think 
 that I have walked all over that gold and that now others are 
 digging it. It prevents me from sleeping at night. 
 
 The speaker was Francois Mercier, a resident of Montreal, 
 who can claim the honor of having been one of the first band 
 o^ ^ardy pioneers who raised the American flag over the now 
 c . brated gold fields of Alaska, and who spent seventeen winters 
 in *■ t desolate country. 
 
 Thousands besides Mercier found it difficult to sleep, and 
 Alaska suddenly arose from an obscure district, which had oftefl 
 
LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 
 
 28 
 
 district and 
 
 A change 
 
 nany times 
 
 
 posits were 
 
 1 
 
 1 universal 
 
 ^ 
 
 Id on the 
 ind women 
 
 ' "^M- 
 
 re enthusi- 
 
 1 
 
 ■-Pi 
 
 a came to 
 
 V'iS: 
 
 ese enthu- 
 
 si- 
 
 gold fields 
 
 >* 
 
 ■•"i 
 
 >ld, hunger 
 
 1 
 
 omed, and 
 
 '■■.■'H 
 
 ly counsel, 
 
 ■ :■* 
 
 the Klon- 
 
 '^: 
 
 mad fever 
 
 
 s to think 
 3thers are 
 
 Montreal, 
 first band 
 ■ the now 
 -n winters 
 
 leep, and 
 had oftea 
 
 i 
 
 been called the " back dooryard of the United States," into the 
 most talked of region of America. People then began to learn 
 something of the history, the resources, the climate and the 
 future of the country. 
 
 They were surprised to find that this vast territory, which was 
 purchased in 1867 by Secretary Seward for half a cent an acre, 
 had already paid ;$ 1 03 ,000,000. This was the returns of thirty 
 years on an investment of 5/. 200,000. This enormous sum 
 they then learned had been derived from furs, herring, salmon, 
 cod, ivory, whalebone and gold. Gold, of course, was the most 
 interesting item. 
 
 They found at the time of the last census the United States had 
 taken out 1^76,000,000 in the precious metal. They found that 
 since then the mines of the country had enriched the world's 
 gold supply by about ;^27,ooo,ooo. 
 
 Came Like a Whirlwind. 
 
 It is no wonder, therefore, that the discovery of gold in the 
 Yukon region should have come like a whirlwind among the 
 people and that there should have been such an exodus from the 
 southern States to the frozen regions of the North. The figures 
 that cam.e to light then about the Alaskan territory were giant 
 figures, but they were the exact truth. 
 
 From the days when the Czar of Russia, in his zeal for dis- 
 covery, sent hi? 'i">:nions to find the fabled land of Vasco da 
 Gama to the tir.K, of the discovery, the regions lying under the 
 Arctic Circle had wooed but few, and those few were those who 
 had drifted thither from adjacent territory. The real settlement 
 of Alaska may, in a sense, be called the influx of people that 
 resulted from the ^^xdtement incident to the discovery of gold 
 on the Klondike. 
 
 It was an ea*'./ ^natter to compute what had come to the 
 
24 
 
 LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 
 
 United States from Alaska up to that time, but it was then said 
 throughout the land, and in thousands of organs, that the sum 
 which would be added to the world's wealth within a few years 
 by this territory passed all surmise. Thus hope fanned conjec- 
 ture and desire. The wealth to be expected was thought to be 
 a pile of money as mountainous and as sublime as the country 
 itself. 
 
 It is of interest to note in this connection that this territory of 
 Alaska which was not then declared to be the world's storehouse 
 of gold, was once offered to the United States by the Emperor 
 Nicholas, of Russia, for nothing, if our government would 
 merely pay for the transfer papers and agree by thus accepting 
 the gift from Russia to bar England from coast territory on the 
 Pacific. It is also of interest to note that almost similar propo- 
 sitions were repeatedly made, for the simple reason that no one 
 suspected that enormous wealth lay hidden under the snows of 
 this Arctic region. 
 
 Precaution of the Russians. 
 
 More properly speaking, some did suspect the existence of the 
 boundless treasure. But those who did, discretely kept it to 
 themselves, so that the news did not reach the people who might 
 have profited by it. 
 
 It is a singular fact that the existence of gold in quantities 
 along the tributaries of the Yukon was known to a few men a 
 century and a half ago. The truth has been held back by the 
 fur trading companies. They were not after minerals, and they 
 feared the ruin of their industry, which was in itself a gold mine. 
 Trappers, explorers, and men who lived with the Indians were 
 forbidden to tell what they knew on pain of death. 
 
 The Russia Fur Company did summarily shoot one man who 
 grew excited with drink and blabbed. That death is still remem- 
 
LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 
 
 25 
 
 
 bcred in Alaska, having been passed from mouth to mouth, as 
 is the manner of unlettered peoples. Other fur companies have 
 done nothing to develop the country and have kept their lips 
 sealed. They foresaw the effect of a torrent of immigration, 
 Such things cannot be hidden, however. The secret is out at last. 
 
 No, such things cannot be kept hidden. They came out, and 
 the world had the secret as r.oon as the first ship from the North 
 reached Seattle with the men who had "struck it rich," and 
 brought back with them evidence of their good luck in the shape 
 of gold dust and nuggets. 
 
 Then a state of affairs resulted comparable with the days of 
 '49. It was said that the world's richest deposit of gold had 
 been discovered. To the average man in the coast States, who 
 had been nurtured virtually on stories of vast fortunes easily 
 made in California, this news was not more acceptable than 
 exciting. 
 
 It was true that the Yukon region was 2000 miles away, across 
 a trackless desert, over snow-bound mountains, and through 
 passes beset with dangers. But the fabulous tales of wealth that 
 were brought south made the distance and the danger practically 
 sink into insignificance and stimulated all with a desire to brave 
 the unknown and investigate for themselves the great mineral 
 belt in the Klondike region. 
 
 Evidence of Authorities. 
 
 This popular excitement was backed up by the testimony of 
 men competent to speak of the country and its resources. They 
 declared unqualifiedly that the gold districts on the Yukon and 
 Klondike were but a speck in the gold territory of Alaska. 
 They said that the placer mining which had resulted in such 
 wealth thus far, was but an indication of the larger wealth to be 
 acquired by a different process of mining. 
 
26 
 
 LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 
 
 When the miners find it no longer profitable to wash out the 
 gravel they can attack the conglomerate, where they will be 
 able to accomplish something by hand labor. Finally, there is 
 the original source of gold, the veins in the hills. These must 
 be of enormous value. They must lie untouched until the 
 proper machinery for obtaining the gold is erected. A clear, 
 scientific, and authoritative explanation of the geological condi- 
 tions of the Klondike and neighboring gold-bearing rocks is 
 furnished by Professor S. F. Emmons, of the United States 
 Geolological Survey. Professor Emmons said : 
 
 " The real mass of golden wealth in Alaska remains as yet 
 untouched. It lies in the virgin rocks, from which the particles 
 found in the river gravels, now being washed by the Klondike 
 miners have been torn by the erosion of streams. These parti- 
 cles, being heavy, have been deposited by the streams, which 
 carried the lighter matter onward to the ocean, thus forming, b}* 
 gradual accumulation, a sort of auriferous concentrate. 
 
 Richness of the Soil. 
 
 " Many of the bits, especially in certain localities, are big 
 enough to be called nuggets. In spots the gravels are so rich 
 that, as we have all heard, many ounces of the yellow metal are 
 obtained from the washing of a single panful. That is what is 
 making the people so wild — the prospect of picking money out 
 of the dirt by the handful literally." 
 
 Hardly had the news of the great find been flashed over the 
 world when Director of the Mint Preston was asked for his views 
 as to the Alaskan gold fields and their influence. His words 
 but added fuel to the flames that were then consuming the 
 masses. Said he : 
 
 "That gold exists in large quantities in the newly discovered 
 Klondike district is sufficiently proven by the large amount 
 
LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 
 
 27 
 
 recently brought out by the steamship companies and miners 
 returning to the States who went up into the district within the 
 last eight months. 
 
 " So far 51.500,000 in gold from the Klondike district has 
 been deposited at the mints and assay offices of the United 
 States, and from information now at hand there arc substantial 
 reasons for believing from $3,000,000 to $4,000,000 additional 
 will be brought out by the steamers and reti:rning miners sailing 
 from St. Michael's the last of September < r early October next. 
 
 " One of the steamship companies states that it expects to 
 bring out about $2,000,000 on its steamer sailing from St. Mich- 
 ael's on September 30th, and has asked the government to have 
 a revenue cutter to act as a convoy through the Behring Sea. In 
 view of the facts above stated I am justified in estimating that 
 the Klondike district will augment the world's gold supply in 
 1897 nearly $6,000,000." 
 
 Demand for Information. 
 
 As might be expected, the prominence given to Alaska by the 
 discovery of the gold fields, resulted in a demand for a detailed 
 statement of information as to the country in all its relations. 
 So little was the country known, however, and so meager were 
 the reports that had been brought to civilized communities con- 
 cerning it, that the multitude found it difficult to obtain the 
 information desired. 
 
 How were they to get there ? What was there of interest or 
 of importance connected with the history and purchase of the 
 country ? What could be learned of the various industries of 
 the territory? What of the fauna and flora? What of the 
 mineral wealth. Under what conditions and amenable to what 
 laws would the prospectors have to work ? What outfits were 
 required for safety, comfort and convenience ? What conditions 
 
28 
 
 LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 
 
 of domestic life would those who left thoir homes in the south 
 have to face in the unknown regions to which they contemplated 
 going ? What of the topography of the country they would 
 have to traverse ? 
 
 These ?nd a thousand of other things became matters of 
 prime importance, and it is to place such information in the 
 hands of the public that this volume is issued. 
 
 A Land of Wonders. 
 
 Literally the land of Alaska is a Land of Wonders, a land dif- 
 fering markedly in its natural features from the districts of the 
 south and bound to excite the admiration and awe of visitors by 
 its natural features. These are so unlike the natural phenomena 
 to be beheld in other parts of United States territory that the 
 person who ventures into the region of the gold fields will find 
 himself practically in a new world. 
 
 As will be seen in the following chapters, it is a country ot 
 almost boundless extent where the rivers, the mountains, the 
 plains, the glaciers, everything, is in keeping with the distances 
 that have to be traversed by the tourist or the prospector. It is 
 a land of strange sights and stranger experiences, where much 
 that is never dreamed of in the south will h<: found to be the 
 commonplaces of an unknown people. As will be seen in the 
 following pages, it is the land of sunless c'.^ys and moonless 
 nights ; where Nature apparently has transposed the natural 
 order of things, as is observed in southern latitudes, and inaugu- 
 rated a new regime for visitors to wonder and marvel at. 
 
 Everything is mapped out on a gigantic scale and is clothed 
 in such a way with its covering of ice and snow, and its strange 
 forcstation, and is overarched with such peculiar skies, that the 
 voyager will not marvel less at what he sees than, to revert 
 again to the opening passage from mythology, Jason and his 
 
LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 
 
 2f» 
 
 band of adventurers marveled at what they are supposed to h.ive 
 seen in the fabled land of the Golden Fleece. 
 
 The Lesson of History. 
 
 The story of the history and purchase is not without its touch 
 of romance and its lesson of wisdom. There is certainly food 
 for thought in the narrative of a region so boundless in extent 
 that was once thought so valueless as to be offered as a gift, 
 owing to the ignorance of the people owning it as to its actual 
 wealtii. Secretary Seward always maintained that it was his 
 crowning glory to have purchased the Alaskan territory. He 
 and his staunch supporter, Senator Charles Sumner, always 
 declared that the countiy had a future which would make it a 
 profitable investment for the United States to purchase it at a far 
 higher figure than had to be given. 
 
 The wisdom of their decision in the matter was shown within 
 a few years after the transfer was made from Russia to the 
 United States, and, as will be set forth in a chapter to follow, 
 long before ever gold was discovered in the Klondike region the 
 purchase money of the United States was returned over and over 
 again, and the wisdom of Seward and his friends was established 
 beyond a doubt. 
 
 Incident to the purchase and transfer of the territory, grave 
 international questions arose which are well worthy of the atten- 
 tion of any one interested in the history of the country and the 
 development of its latest possession. These are all carefully set 
 forth in the following pages and will be deemed an acceptable 
 contribution of information by those who, influenced by the ex- 
 citement incident to the recent discovery of gold, may wish to 
 invade the northern regions. 
 
 The fauna and flora of the territory, too, are of deep interest, 
 especially from the fact that for many years one of the chief 
 
ni^i 
 
 30 
 
 LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 
 
 w 
 
 sources of wealth in the country was the furs. The Russians, 
 who first owned the country, were not slow to recognize the 
 value of the fur-bearing animals and to develop the industry of 
 hunting tliem for their pelts. Following the initial steps taken 
 by the Russians, John Jacob Astor sent his army of hunters and 
 trapper?, into the northwest and carried the business far beyond 
 the limits ever dreamed of by the Russians who began it. 
 
 Of late years, however, trapping in Alaska has, in a measure, 
 fallen into abeyance, and in those regions where the miners have 
 begun their work the difficulty of securing f'^esh meat has caused 
 them to drive away all game from the districts invaded. Still it 
 is of importance to those likely to go to the gold fields to know 
 that there is still ample field for the hunter, and that fortunes arc 
 even yet to be made in trapping the animals for their furs. 
 
 Touching on furs Mr. Olgivie writes : 
 
 " The principal furs procured in the district are the silver-gray 
 and black fox, the number of which bears a greater ratio to the 
 number of red foxes than in any other part of the country. The 
 red fox is very conirrjn, and a species called the blue is very 
 abundant near the coast. Marten, or sabie, are also numerous, 
 as are lynx ; but otter are scarce, and beaver almost unknown. 
 
 Value of the Fox Skins. 
 
 " It is probable that the value of gray and black fox skins 
 taken out of the country more than equals in value all the other 
 fuis. I could get no statistics concerning this trade for obvious 
 reasons. 
 
 " Game is not now as abundant as before mining began, and 
 it is difficult, in fact impossible, to get any close to the river. 
 
 "A boom in mining would soon exterminate the game in the 
 district along the river." 
 
 Directly connected with the discovery of gold and of vast 
 
 'i 
 
 aj 
 
 d| 
 tl 
 ii 
 
LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 
 
 31 
 
 The 
 very 
 
 importance to prospective miners, there is much to be learned 
 relative to the necessities of those visiting the territory. Prime 
 among these items of interest is the matter of getting to the 
 diggings. Many have been deterred from making the trip by 
 the reported inaccessibility of the gold-bearing region, and the 
 interminable stretches of the country that have to be traversed 
 by all who seek fortunes in the wilds. 
 
 Route after route has been mapped out until there is scarcely 
 a way by which it would be possible to go from Sitka to the 
 Yukon, that has not been laid down as more or less practicable. 
 It is safe to say that many of the routes outlined for the benefit 
 of the public are thoroughly impracticable. The mere enumera- 
 tion and explanation of the many courses prospective miners 
 may follow, is not less an item of interest than of importance. 
 
 Features of the Journey. 
 
 To reach the distant fields, it will be necessary for any one to 
 take an ocean voyage on landlocked arms of the sea, traverse 
 trackless prairies, skirt mountain ranges, thread rivers lined with 
 falls and rapids, that are a constant menace to life, andeven^in a 
 region for a large share of the year covered with an unbroken 
 blanket of ice and snow, go in sledges or on snow-shoes in a 
 way that adds to the fatigues and dangers of the journey. 
 
 Many are the wild schemes that have been devised by so-called 
 " tenderfeet," of getting from civilization to the camps, and those 
 who have had their interest awakened to the extent of wishinir 
 to undertake the journey to Alaska, will welcome a careful state- 
 ment of the most desirable ways of getting there, and an outline 
 of the principal courses which may be followed in the under- 
 taking. 
 
 Another matter of importance, and one that is replete with 
 interest and romance, is the domestic life of the mining rc<rion. 
 
32 
 
 LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 
 
 The camps of the North, thus far at least, have been unique in 
 the great mining enterprises of the world. It is probable that 
 the days '^f '97 will be attended by no such forms of life and 
 forms of depravity as marred the days of '49. Many women, 
 and these in a large measure women of culture and education, 
 have gone to the north to grace the camp life with their pres- 
 ence. They have gone, however, with a legitimate and lonor- 
 able purpose in view, and the inaccessibility of the region, and 
 the dangers and hardships that are reported to attend the jour- 
 ney to the diggings have had the result of keeping away the lawless 
 classes. 
 
 Camp Life Comparatively Pure. 
 
 As a consequence, camp life is pure and better i" every way 
 than it was in the days of the gold excitement in California, and 
 those who read the following pages will be pleased with the 
 remarkable contrast that is pointed out. 
 
 Immediately on the discovery of gold and its announcement 
 to the world, grave questions arose as to the international 
 boundary between the United States and the British territory, and 
 it became a matter of importance to miners and prospectors to 
 study the mining laws of two countries, partly to provide against 
 pp' ' •, ' annoyance and partly to protect their individual inter- 
 *..<-;. V A the opposite sides of the boundary line different sets of 
 law. and regulations were in force, and miners were expected to 
 obsci-ve the laws obtaining in the respective districts. That these 
 laws were often disregarded, goes without saying. 
 
 Canada, in a grasping spirit of gain, proceeded without delav 
 to modify her mining laws for her own benefit and to the detri- 
 ment of Americans who went to the Klondike district. The 
 old dispute as to boundary and territorial jurisdiction arose, and 
 for a time there was the prospect of a grave international dis- 
 pute. Not content to live and let live, Canada undertook to 
 
 
niquc in 
 iblc that 
 life and 
 women, 
 duc.'ition, 
 icir pres- 
 d I'onor- 
 gion, and 
 the jour- 
 le lawless 
 
 very way 
 
 )rnia, and 
 
 with the 
 
 unccment 
 crnational 
 itory, and 
 )ectors to 
 Ic against 
 lual inter- 
 ■nt sets of 
 pceted to 
 'hat these 
 
 lout delav 
 
 Itlie detri- 
 
 lict. The 
 
 [rose, and 
 
 tonal dis- 
 
 ,'rtook to 
 
 33 
 
r 
 
 ■m 
 
 84 
 
 LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 
 
 If 
 
 impose a tax on all Americans crossing the real or alleged boun- 
 dary line, and this measure was bitterly opposed by the miners. 
 
 Would Keep the Gold. 
 
 Further than this, the Dominion Cabinet devised a scheme to 
 limit the flow of gold to the United States from the diggings, 
 and this too caused a protest in the entire region, from the fact 
 that a large percentage of tii ts were Americans who had 
 
 gone thither on the mere chant f winnir^ fortunes, and who 
 naturally objected to being taxed for their enterprise and to 
 being placed in leading strings as to the disposition of whatever 
 they might acquire. In the following pages a digest of the min- 
 ing laws of both countries, together with the history of the con- 
 tention that arose and its development to the time of publication, 
 is given : 
 
 In the wild rush for the diggings incident upon the news 
 coming to the more settled States, thousands of people with no 
 experience whatever in mining life set out immediately to tempt 
 fortune in the territory. Many of the outfits they provided for 
 themselves were very curious, and it became necessary for those 
 furthering the enterprise of the fortune seekers in a commercial 
 way, to make a schedule of the necessary outfits they should 
 provide for themselves. 
 
 For the most part these specially devised outfits received pub- 
 lication in the daily press, and then from lack of novelty were 
 allowed to fall into abeyance and practically be forgotten. As a 
 result, many of those who took their traps and started for the 
 overland journey from Juneau and St. Michael's, found themselves, 
 when on the way, prav-^tically destitute of the things which expe- 
 rience showed to be necessary for effective work. 
 
 The fortune seekers were likewise equally without knowledge 
 of the methods of working claims, should they secure them 
 
LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 
 
 3A 
 
 2d boun- 
 : miners. 
 
 heme to 
 liggings, 
 
 the fact 
 vho had 
 and who 
 
 and to 
 vhatever 
 the min- 
 the con- 
 )Iicatii(jn, 
 
 le news 
 with no 
 o tempt 
 'ided for 
 or those 
 imercial 
 should 
 
 ed pub- 
 ty were 
 As a 
 for the 
 nselves, 
 h expe- 
 
 )wledge 
 : them 
 
 
 .-f 
 
 -ft 
 
 'fi 
 
 Very few of the thousands who took their way to the Klondike 
 region, knew the first thing of how to mine gold. They were 
 obliged to trust to fortune and pick up from those already in the 
 field the rudiments of the new calling to which they proposed 
 to devote themselves. Many, to their sorrow, deplored the fact 
 that ignorance or oversight had led them to overlook this im- 
 portant preparation for their work. 
 
 " If I had had but a manual telling me what to provide and 
 how to do the work on arriving at the diggings, I should have 
 deemed myself a fortunate person." This was a saying of 
 almost daily occurence wherever the work of mining was under- 
 taken by " tenderfeet" from the south. Naturally they worked 
 at a disadvantage as compared with the men of experience, 
 who flocked to the new fields from Weare, Circle City and 
 other camps whce mining had been followed for a length of 
 time. In the following pages all this information, which those 
 who early flocked to the diggings lacked, has been gathered 
 together for the instruction and convenience of those who may 
 propose to make the journey in the future. 
 
 Food Question Paramount. 
 
 Food is the great problem of life in this district. Cold docs 
 not cause much worry, for men can wrap themselves warmly 
 enough to guard against loss of life from exposure, but few 
 things grow in that northern clime and there is a lack of animal 
 food which can be sacrificed to support the life of man. Hence 
 enormous prices arc charged for provisions. 
 
 Reports sent back by the miners in the Klondike region show 
 that potatoes are twenty-five cents a pound and bacon forty 
 cents. These arc the cheapest articles of diet, and others sell 
 at proportionate prices based upon the cost of their transporta- 
 tion to the gold fields as well as upon their power to sustain life. 
 
36 
 
 LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 
 
 Starvation is the real danger that confronts the miner who 
 goes there in search of gold. Although ten dollars a day is 
 paid for labor, no man is given work unless he brings some 
 provisions with him, this being due to the fact that the claim owner 
 cannot afford to supply his workman with food nor even sell 
 him any from his own scanty store. 
 
 The rapid growth in the population of Alaska has made this 
 problem seem of sufficient importance to Congress to appropri- 
 ate $5000 to pay for an investigation of the food resources, and 
 in addition, under the present law, the experiment stations which 
 will be established will be entitled to $15,000 per annum for 
 
 their support. 
 
 Field for Enterprises. 
 
 Apart from all consideration of the discovery of gold and the 
 excitement incident to it, the Territory of Alaska has a deep 
 interest for Americans In many lines of commercial enterprise. 
 The remoteness of the country and its inaccessibility, owing to 
 poor methods of transit, has thus far had the effect of shrouding 
 the region m a certain mystery, which lack of Interest, appar- 
 ently, has not cleared away. The rise of the Klondike fever 
 has opened up to the public the fact that the gold fields are only 
 one of a number of interests that claim attention. This is 
 shown by such reports as the following, which was made by one 
 who spent many years in the interior of the country. 
 
 " It is a prevalent idea that the Alaskan Terntor)' produces 
 only gold and things of the sea, but this is wrong. Even in 
 Klondike, which is far removed from the mollifying influences of 
 the Japanese current, hardy \egetables grow in profusion, 
 although cauliflower and asparagus will not ripen. Hay is as 
 high as a man's head. When the country comes to be better 
 known it will be found capable of making many things for 
 humanity now unthought of. 
 
 if 
 
 V 
 
 '1 
 
■;i 
 
 ner who 
 1 day is 
 ys some 
 m owner 
 :ven sell 
 
 lade this 
 ippropri- 
 rccs, and 
 ns which 
 num for 
 
 1 and the 
 ; a deep 
 nterprise. 
 
 wing to 
 irouding 
 t, appar- 
 ike fever 
 
 arc only 
 This is 
 by one 
 
 broduces 
 I Even in 
 lences of 
 [ofusion, 
 iiy is as 
 |e better 
 |ngs for 
 
I <« 
 
 1^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 CHILKOOT PAS? SHOWING SNOW-CAPPED MOUNTAINS 
 
 W Jii 
 
L\ND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 
 
 37 
 
 " Altliough for some undiscovcrablc reason, reports have gone 
 abroad that there is no game, the faet remains that there is 
 plenty of it. Moose, elk and cariboo, or the American reindeer, 
 abound. Every river is stocked with fish. No man should 
 starve who has a hook and a flint-lock musket. When we were 
 school children we used to read of the musk-oxen of Alaska, 
 but none are there. The musk-ox is not found in America any- 
 where west of the great continental divide, or Rocky Mountains." 
 
 Another Fine Possibility. 
 
 Professor Allen thinks Alaska has before it a great future as a 
 stock-raising country, and declares that stock can be raised there 
 as successfully as in Montana or Wyoming. At present, how- 
 ever, there are practically no domestic animals in the country, 
 the chief being reindeer. Explorers will experiment and learn 
 what domestic animals are best adapted to the climate. 
 
 Sheep, pigs and goats can live there with proper treatment, 
 and it is thought that, in the islands of the coast, they will 
 flourish all winter on the wild grasses, even if left to their 
 own devices. Farther north and in the interior it is probable 
 they would have to be sheltered during the two or three months of 
 the severest weather. Poultry can probably be raised to advantage. 
 
 It has been the aim in the following pages to gather together, 
 from every possible source, such information relative to the min- 
 eral wealth, the fisheries, the agricultural development, the 
 ethnology of the country and all similar lines of interest such as 
 would naturally be sought by a public whose interest had been 
 aroused by the recent developments in the Territor}^, and to give 
 as fully as possible the story of the rise of the Klondike fever, 
 with all the wealth of romantic experiences and fortunate dis- 
 coveries that has been made public since Alaska stepped so 
 prominently into notice. 
 
lli t^ 
 
 38 
 
 LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 
 
 ^1 
 
 li! 
 
 . ! 
 
 w -H 
 
 
 The narrative, in a sense, will of necessity read like a chapter 
 of fiction, for the camp life of the Klondike, like the camp life 
 of similar regions, has its light and shade, its amenities and 
 hardships, its peculiarities and its streaks of fortune, that will 
 ever be of interest to those who have a love of the unusual and 
 the unexpected. Miners' experiences, in a dist^rict so remote, 
 must ever have the element of oddity, and this, coupled with 
 the peculiar characteristics of life in a region which is little less 
 than a new world, makes the story of the Yukon, as the follow- 
 ing pages will show, one virtually of romance. 
 
 What Gold Seekers Will Find. 
 
 The Argonauts of 1898 will see that their contemplated 
 journey is as likely to be one of good luck as of disappointment ; 
 that the journey is as likely to be one of delight as of hardship; 
 and that, while they are leaving home with all its comforts and 
 conveniences, and society with its pleasures, for a country devoid 
 for the most part of the experiences of ordinary life, they are 
 going to a wilderness, nevertheless, in which they will find, dis- 
 guised it may be, cut short it may be, a fair quota of what they 
 have been used to. 
 
 Further, the Argonauts of 1898 will not be content with the 
 answers to their questions that literature will give them. They 
 will want and long to read the great unwritten book of Alaska on 
 the plains and glaciers, along the rivers and passes of the vast 
 territory. Their desire will simply be whetted by printed stories 
 and their longing will be that of Joaquin Miller. Says the Poet 
 of the Sierras : 
 
 " You want to ask questions. You wonder why the other 
 islands of black-white mountains, a thousand of them on either 
 hand, so stupendous, so steep, so sublimely majestic, mysterious, 
 solemn and silent, are so voiceless, so utterly empty and still. 
 
 /, 
 
 2' 
 
LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 
 
 39 
 
 '♦ You want to ask questions of Alaska, but Alaska is tic 
 sphinx with a forehead of gold. We have now steamed up the 
 straits and out and away from under the mantle of fire and gold 
 that hung above Juneau and Douglas City — a mantle woven in 
 some sort from the smoke and chemicals of the great gold mine 
 — and the morning is crisp, blue, white, clear as a bell. 
 
 " If one cared to look on the gray side of the situation, he 
 might easily write of the location and all the land about " the 
 abomination of desolation." But, on the contrary, the scene is 
 grand, grand, sublimely grand, and the air is sweet, healthful 
 and invigorating as wine. The heavens' breath smells wooingly 
 here. You never saw snow so white anywhere as here. 
 
 " White as snow ; whiter than any miller can whiten. This 
 is because this is a land of granite ; no dust in the air as in Cali- 
 fornia or Colorado ; no tall trees to scatter bits of bark and 
 leaves and litter through the air and over the snow. One con- 
 stantly thinks of the transfiguration all along this land of white- 
 ness and blue ; white clouds, white snow, blue seas and blue 
 skies. Heavens ! Had I but years to live here and lay my 
 hand upon this color, this fearful and wonderful garment of the 
 most high God I " 
 
 « 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 .1, 
 
 I'. 
 
 |)i i[ 
 
 Spread of the Klondike Fever. 
 
 Arrival of the Portland with More than a Ton of Gold on Board — Miners 
 Tell of their Marvelous Strikes — Gold and the Aborigines — First Great 
 Gold Craze — Prospecting in Ear'y Days — Rich Gold Discovery on 
 Bonanza Creek — Argonauts Flock to the Steamers — Scenes at the 
 Wharves — Companies Formed in Response to the Rush — Millions of 
 Money and Thousands of Men — Craze in Wall Street — Royalty Affected 
 — Money in Grub-stakes — ^Joaquin Miller Under Way — "I^ucky" 
 Baldwf.'* After Mother Lode — Bright and Dark Sides of Story. 
 
 WHEN the steamer Portland reached Seattle from St. 
 Michael's, Alaska, on July 17, 1897, bringing not 
 only the verified news of the great gold discoveries in 
 the upper Yukon region, but nearly a million and three quarters 
 in gold "dust" as freight, beside a cabin full of bronzed miners 
 to bear witness to the Golconda-like find, not only the Pacific 
 coast, but the whole northern country as well, whether British 
 or American, began to go stark, staring mad over the well-nigh 
 incredible reports from the new diggings. Some of the miners 
 had with them 57 5, 000 and even twice that sum, and not a man 
 had less than $3000, every ounce taken from the placers of the 
 Klondike within the year. 
 
 ^ 
 
 Over a Ton of Gold. 
 
 More than a ton of gold was on board the steamer as It 
 came up the sound. In the captain's cabin were three big 
 chests full of the yellow " dust," and the large safe had no 
 room for more of the precious nuggets which had been taken 
 out of the ground in less than three months of last winter. 
 In size the nuggets ranged from that of a pea to a guinea 
 hen's egg. 
 40 
 
SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 
 
 41 
 
 i 
 I 
 
 « 
 .» 
 
 Surely, it was enough to set the land wild with excitement. 
 
 And yet, it was no news there was gold in and near Alaska, and 
 
 in fabulously paying quantities. The marvelous tales of wealth 
 
 sent out by the California pioneers were no less wonderful than 
 
 those brought back by men who had braved the last cold season 
 
 in the frigid mineral belt. The great Klondike strike was made 
 
 in the early winter of 1896-97, but nothing was known of It in 
 
 the United States until June 15, 1897, when the Excelsior 
 
 arrived in San Francisco laden with Klondike miners who were 
 
 in turn laden with gold. Then came the Portland and the 
 
 " craze. 
 
 " Chechockoes " Make Their Piles. 
 
 In speaking of the miners who came out on the Portland, 
 
 ")tain Kidston was enthusiastic. 
 
 These men," said Captain Kidston, "are every one what the 
 Vukoners call ' Chechockoes ' or newcomers, and up to last 
 winter they had nothing. To-day you see them wealthy and 
 happy. Why, on the fifteen days* trip from St. Michael's 1 
 never spent a pleasanter time in my life. These fortunate people 
 felt so happy that anything would suffice for them, ami I could 
 not help contrasting them with the crowd of gold hunters I 
 took with me on the last trip up. They were grumblers, with- 
 out a cent in the world, and nothing on the boat was good 
 enough for them. Some of these successful miners do not even 
 own claims. They have been working for other men for $ i 5 a 
 day, and thus have accumulated small fortunes. Their average 
 on this boat is not less than $10,000 to the man, and the very 
 smallest sack is $3000. It is hck' ' y C. A. Branan, of Seattle, 
 a happy young fellow just eighteen years old. There is no 
 country on earth like the Yukon." 
 
 Gold has been a familiar metal to the Alaskan aborigines for 
 a time that is old even in their legends, but, lacking civilization, 
 
42 
 
 SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 
 
 I' : 
 
 w : 
 
 they lacked also the knowledge of the highest use of the pre- 
 cious metal, and the yellow nuggets which they gathered from 
 the beds of their Arctic streams played no other part than that 
 of savage ornaments until the land passed under the dominion 
 of the white man. 
 
 The earliest white voyagers to the Aleutian coasts had their 
 cupidity kindled, like the soldiers of Cortez and Pizarro, by the 
 bits of gold shining here and there among the barbarous trap- 
 pings of the natives who came, half-menacing, to the iron-girt 
 coasts to barter with them for the rare treasures of sharp knives 
 and gaudy fabrics, but, beyor. i the trivial ounces secured in 
 shcrewisc trade, it was years after white sails had become familiar 
 sights, winging their intricate way among the devious channels 
 of the island-dotted coast, that civilized men began to think it 
 worth the peril to brave the dangers of the iron land in quest of 
 the golden stores Nature had so lavishly treasured in the strong- 
 ho^dc; of her cliffs and torrents. 
 
 Behring Found Gold. 
 
 When Behring, after whom the great Northwestern sea beyond 
 the Aleutian Island is named, discovered and explored the 
 Alas'ian coast in 17.41, he found gold, but he found, as befitted 
 the climate and people, more furs and, with auriferous supplies 
 nearer home in the convict-worked mines of the C'ar's domain, 
 the country was granted for fur-gathering purposes alone by the 
 Emperor Paul to the Russo-Anierican Fur Company, and with 
 it remained until the Seward purchase in 1867 transferred it to 
 the United States for a consideration (long since repaid in full) 
 of ;^7, 200,000. 
 
 Mineral riches were hinted at, however, by the early explor- 
 ers. In 1885 the director of the mint credited Alaska with 
 ^300,000 in gold and i520oo in silver, most of the precious 
 
 'M 
 
 ■'H 
 
 
SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 
 
 43 
 
 .he pie- 
 
 '8 
 
 id from 
 
 M 
 
 lan that 
 
 m 
 
 aminion 
 
 1 
 
 ad their 
 
 m 
 
 , by the 
 
 $ 
 
 us tr ap- 
 
 
 ron-girt 
 
 :J|f 
 
 p knives 
 
 :'^ 
 
 :urcd in 
 
 4 
 
 familiar 
 
 '■( 
 
 ;hannels 
 
 , ; 
 
 think it 
 
 ■A 
 
 quest of 
 
 "i 
 
 : strong- 
 
 ■ -'iM 
 
 beyond 
 »red the 
 
 befitted 
 supplies 
 domain, 
 .' by the 
 
 nd with 
 ;d It to 
 
 in full) 
 
 explor- 
 ca with 
 precious 
 
 
 metal coming from Douglas Island. In 1896 the total output 
 of lode and placer mines in Alaska was put at 154,670,000 and 
 in 1897 the gold output, it is estimated, will reach 510,000,000, 
 or nearly twice that of Colorado in 1802. 
 
 The first great gold craze in the extreme Northwest came in 
 185S. The Kootenai region was famous a few years ago, per- 
 petuating the fame of the Fraze^ River mines. The Cariboo 
 region on the fifty-third parallel, proved a steady and constant 
 producer. Placers vvere also worked on the Peace river. In 
 the 6o's there was a period when the annual production oi the 
 northwest province exceeded $2,000,000, the highest figure 
 being 53,735,850. Through the exhaustion of the known 
 deposits, however, the product fell off until, in 1890, it was less 
 than half a million. 
 
 Prospecting in 1883. 
 
 Charles McConky, Ben Beach, George Marx and Richard 
 Poplin set out from Juneau in the spring of 1883 to prospect 
 the interior for gold. The rich d. posits which were making the 
 Trcadwell mine famous had stiniulated inquiry among practical 
 miners, and science had answered that the mother lode lay 
 somewhere waiting to be tapped in the fastnesses of the giant 
 Rockies. The quartette meant to find it. Crossing the divide 
 in the early spring, they reached tie lakes which constitute 
 i\ e he.id waters of the Yukon River, while they were yet frozen, 
 ana remained there building their boats preparatory to going 
 down the river as soon as the opportunity availed. The boats 
 built and the ice haxing disappeared, they continued their 
 journey on the unknown waters of the Yukon. 
 
 Upon arriving at the mouth of Stewart River and being favor- 
 ably impressed that their fortunes lay in that direction, they 
 proceeded to stem this stream in the hopes of finding things 
 
 ■#" 
 
"^ 
 
 44 
 
 SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 
 
 ! 
 
 more favorable, as they hod seen nothinj,^ that they had con- 
 sidered diggings up to that time. They had traveled about four 
 miles up this river when they came to a bar that carried gold 
 of a fine order, and then continued up the river, finding many 
 bars which were afterwards worked to the satisfaction of the 
 owners. 
 
 Dr. C. F. Dickenson, of Kadiak Island, which lies just at the 
 
 A PROSPECTOR S TENT. 
 
 mouth of Cook's Inlet, says : " When I left Kodiak, two weeks 
 ago, the people were leaving all that section of country and 
 flocking in the direction of Klondike. In a way, the situation is 
 appalHng, for many of the industries a.e left practically without 
 the means of operation. 
 
 " Mines that were paying handsomely at Cook's Inlet have 
 been deserted. 
 
 ^1 
 
 % 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 
weeks 
 ■y and 
 ition is 
 'ithout 
 
 3 
 
 O 
 
 X 
 u 
 
 I— • 
 
 < 
 
 ;^ 
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 1—4 
 
 y. 
 
 u 
 
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 r 
 
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 3 
 
 -1 
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 H 
 
 tfi 
 
 W 
 
 H 
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 o 
 
 o 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 1 
 
SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 
 
 43 
 
 .1 
 
 Jl 
 
 '''% 
 
 a 
 
 'y^' 
 
 J 
 
 ■ -^'' 
 
 y 
 
 ■■I, 
 
 ■— « 
 
 .-^*& 
 
 u, 
 
 % 
 
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 o 
 
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 J 
 
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 'A 
 
 
 X 
 
 ';f 
 
 H 
 
 
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 1— • 
 
 if 
 
 75 
 
 1 
 
 Oi 
 
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 W 
 
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 % 
 
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 Uh 
 
 ■^-^a 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 'S 
 
 r< 
 
 
 >-H 
 
 
 ;-> 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 Cti 
 
 ^^^1 
 
 
 
 
 " In my opinion there are just as good placer diggings to be 
 found at Cook's Inlet as in the Klondike region. 
 
 " Tltcre is not a foot of ground in all that country that does 
 not contain gold in more or less appreciable quantities. 
 
 " There is room there for thousands of men, and there is cer- 
 tainly no better place in the world for a poor man." 
 
 There is good reason for believing from the reports of men 
 well acquiiintcd with the whole region that there is gold to be 
 found anywhere in Alaska. The streams flowing into the great 
 salt channel which bounds the coast below Sitka bear many 
 auriferous evidences, and several of them, as for example in the 
 neighborhood of Fort Wrangel, have been worked successfully 
 heretofore. Some, indeed, have been literally "washed" out. 
 
 J. W. McCormick's Strike. 
 
 The richest gold placers in the upper Yukon were discovered 
 by a white man in August, i8o6. The find was due to the 
 report; of Indians. J W. McCormick, a Scotchman, who had 
 been in the employ of William Ogilvie, Dominion Land Surveyor, 
 for seven years in the same region, was the lucky prospector, 
 lie located a claim on the branch of the Klondike, which has 
 since become known to fame as l^onanza Creek. McCormick 
 located late in August, 1896, but had to cut some logs for the 
 mill to get a few pounds of provisions to enable him to begin 
 work on his claim. The fishing of Klondike having totally failed 
 him, he returned with a few weeks' provisions for himself, his 
 wife and brother-in-law (Indians'* and another Indian in the last 
 days of Augurt, and immediately set about working his claim. 
 As he was very short of applianr.es he could only put together 
 a rather defective apparatus to wash the gravel with. The gravel 
 itself he had to carr}- in a box on his back from thirty to one 
 hundred feet. Notwithstandmg this the three men, working 
 
rr 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
 1' 
 
 hi 
 
 I 
 
 PLACER MINING ON THE KLONDIKE RIVER. 
 
 Hfil 
 
 46 
 
 I 4 
 
SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 
 
 4i 
 
 very irregularly, washed out $1200 in eight days, and McCormick 
 asserts with reason that had he had proper faciHties it could have 
 been done in two days, besides having several hundred dollars 
 more gold which was lost in the tailings through defective 
 apparatus. 
 
 On the same creek two men rocked out $y$ in about four 
 hours, and it is asserted that two men in the same creek took 
 out ;^4008 in two days with only two lengths of sluice boxes. 
 
 A branch of Bonanza named Eldorado has prospected mag- 
 nificently, and another branch named Tilly Creek has prospected 
 well ; in all there are some four or five branches to Bonanza 
 which have given good prospects. There were about one hun- 
 dred and seventy claims staked on the main creek in the summer 
 of '97, and the branches are good for about as many more, 
 aggregating say three hundred and fifty claims, which will 
 require over one thousand men to work properly. 
 
 Spread of Klondike Fever. 
 
 The Klondike fever spread wherever telegraph wires and 
 newspapers disseminated the wonderful news of the marvelous 
 diggings. 
 
 The Londoner, educated to gold fevers by the Rand and 
 Barney Barnato, began besieging the trans-Atlantic transporta- 
 tion companies for intelligence about Alaska and the gold region 
 of his own Northwest Territory. Experienced gold miners from 
 South Africa thought the/ saw a bigger st-ike than the one which 
 had lured them to the Cape of Good Hope. The new Canadian 
 Trans- Atlantic line began work at once on a fleet of new boats. 
 
 In America, capitalists and poor men, Argonauts and " tender- 
 icet" went well-nigh crazy — literally daft with the mania for 
 gold. In the cities of the Pacific coast employes in all industries 
 threw down their tools and abandoned their pursuits to go to 
 
IT 
 
 48 
 
 SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 
 
 ■ij 
 
 h 
 
 k 
 
 1: 
 
 iiJ 
 
 I 
 
 : I 1, .j 
 
 ! >f". 
 
 ■■■1 ''y 
 
 •I (; ' 
 
 1 ;:,' 
 
 1 
 
 1*1) 
 
 ;:y 
 
 'i|9l 
 
 Alaska and dig in the river bed for the shining nuggets. In 
 Tacoma and Seattle telegrams were received from New York 
 and London inquiring how many hundred men could be 
 equipped on short notice for a journey to the gold fields. The 
 street car employes of Tacoma, at a mass meeting, selected nine 
 men to go to the Klondike for the benefit of the rest to prospect 
 and locate claims, and raised a sufficient sum to equip and main- 
 tain them. 
 
 Hardly had the news of the Klondike strike got fairly started 
 in its meteor-like circuit of the country than Seattle and Tacoma 
 began to fill with men and women hurrying to the diggings. 
 In a week beds could not be had at the hotels, and still the 
 throngs of gold-seekers poured in from all directions except the 
 West, and struggled and schemed and, in a bloodless way, fought 
 for fabulous priced chances to sail for the Yukon mines. First 
 cabin, steerage, 'tween-decks or " on deck " — it was all one to 
 these feverish Argonauts so long as they found themselves 
 under way to Eldorado. 
 
 Scene on •* Steamer Day." 
 
 Here is a sample description of a Tacoma scene on " steamer 
 day," August 7th, when the Willamette cast off for Alaska: 
 
 " The most excited and largest crowd of people that has ever 
 gathered on the ocean docks in this city, on any occasion, 
 gathered to-day to see the steamer Willamette off for Alaska. 
 Four hundred people boarded the vessel here, and their friends 
 and relatives and thousands of sight-seers gathered to see the 
 start. The passengers came from all parts of the State and a 
 sprinkling from all over the United States. The baggage was 
 carried mostly on horseback, only a few mules being used. 
 The pack trains marched through the city in droves, and Grand 
 Army men said it reminded them of war times. 
 
 
SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 
 
 49 
 
 "All sorts of outfits for makinj^^ money were taken aboard, 
 from a baker)- to gambling tables. Nearly every person aboard 
 has a list of from six to three dozen persons who had been 
 promised letters. Fathers parted from families and young men 
 
 from their sweethearts at 
 the docks. Not a few of 
 the men have pledged 
 their families and friends 
 that the}' will not return 
 from the I'^ldorado of the 
 North, until they have 
 amassed a fortune, if it 
 takes ten years to accom- 
 plish it. 
 
 "Aboard this vessel, 
 Tacoma sent forward its 
 first installment of physi- 
 cians and surgeons to the 
 Klondike. The doctors 
 will dig for nuggets, if 
 they cannot get patients." 
 Here is another scene 
 on "steamer day," de- 
 scribed by an eye-witness : 
 " The Alki started for 
 Alaska this afternoon with 
 125 passengers, 800 sheep 
 OFF FOR THE MINES. and 50 horses. Crazed 
 
 with the gold fever and the hope of reaching Klondike quickly, 
 the passengers bade good-bye to thousands on shore, who were 
 crazed because they could not go. Food, comfort, sleep were 
 ignored in the fierce desire to get to the gold fields. Those 
 
 ^ 
 
i 
 
 i; f'^ 
 
 50 
 
 SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKIC FEVER 
 
 i 
 
 1; 
 
 ii: 
 
 1, 
 
 1 
 
 who could not go to Alaska stayed on the dock all day, shaking 
 hands with those who were going, and gazing with eyes of chagrin 
 and envy on the lucky ones as the steamer started for the North. 
 " There was grim pathos in the scene on the dock while the 
 goldhunters were waiting for permission to go on board. Some 
 were taking passage who would surely never leave Alaska alive. 
 They had heard stories of the returned miners, that health was 
 an absolute requisite in the terrible climate of the Klondike 
 district. They smiled and knew better. 
 
 The Ruling Passion. 
 
 " One man said he was suffering from lung trouble, but that 
 he might as well die making a fortune as to remain on the shores 
 of Puget Sound and die in poverty. 
 
 " Not an inch of room was left on the Alki. It was tested to 
 its utmost capacity. Excited men, drunk with visions of fortunes, 
 were huddled among the sheep, horses and baggage. Space 
 was valuable, and a cattle pen had been constructed on the main 
 deck, which had hitherto been reserved for passengers. The 
 sheep were put on board only after the crowd had been driven 
 back from the steamer. On the main deck the horses and ^heep 
 will stay until the journey by water is ended. When port is 
 reached the pen will be reduced to its original state and the 
 lumber put to new use." 
 
 The same day the Willamette steamed out of Tacoma the 
 Queen sailed from Seattle with 400 passengers for Dyea. And 
 over twenty steamers were then due to sail before September i.st 
 and passage on any one was already at a premium. New 
 charters were being made daily and three schooners and even 
 two scows were pressed into service in Seattle the day the Queen 
 sailed. It is estimated Seattle has supplied already 3500 pros- 
 pectors and Tacoma 1600. 
 
 i 
 
 

 SPREAD OF THE KT-ONDTKE FEVER. 
 
 51 
 
 ihaking 
 chagrin 
 North, 
 hile the 
 Some 
 :a alive, 
 ilth was 
 'londike 
 
 but that 
 c shores 
 
 cstcd to 
 
 fortunes, 
 
 Space 
 
 he main 
 
 The 
 
 n driven 
 
 id jheep 
 
 port is 
 
 and the 
 
 oma the 
 a. And 
 mber ist 
 1. New 
 and even 
 le Queen 
 oo pros- 
 
 ill 
 
 I 
 
 Chicago became a centre for Klondike news and outfitting at 
 the start of the craze. Over five hundred men had cither left 
 the Windy City, or were practically ready to leave, for the 
 Klondike, at the end of the first week in August, and the fever 
 had only been in the air three weeks. All sorts and descriptions 
 of men were in the ranks of prospectors — lawyers, doctors, 
 merchants, bankers, farmers and city men, stahvart giants and 
 men whose physique gave promise rather of a grave beside the 
 trail than of lasting long enough to " wash " a fortune out of the 
 frozen Alaskan gravel. And there were women, too, in plenty, 
 considering the hardships to be encountered, who were just as 
 anxious to get into the wilderness to locate claims as any man 
 who wore boots in the crowd. 
 
 Deny Women and Weaklings. 
 
 In fact, so great did the rush of women and of men of seem- 
 
 Fingly weak physique become, that many transportation agents at 
 
 last refused to book any but those evidently the most robust, 
 
 lest they should die enrcute to Dawson. This order was later 
 
 revoked as to women. 
 
 Among those who went from Chicago in early August were 
 William H. Hubbard, in the party of Mrs. Eli Gage and her 
 brother, \\'. W. W^eare, going to Dawson to take the manage- 
 ment of the banking system to be established by the North 
 American Transportation and Trading Company in every mining 
 camp in Alaska ; Dr. G. ]•:. Meryman, Gustave Peterson and his 
 two sons, Daniel Wright. Joseph Roman, F. J. Richardson, 
 Mortimer Stevens, Dr. C. W. Chamberlain and wife, F. M. 
 Sessoies and wife, F. H. Searle, E. H. Craig and Miss Alice 
 Ross. Miss ^vlinnie Goddard, the well-known organist and 
 pianiste of Aurora, 111. ; IMiss Grace Allaire, daughter of the 
 late Dr. Allaire, of the same city, and Mrs. Ira W^ Lewis, of 
 
52 
 
 SPREAD OF THK KLONDIKI-: FEVER. 
 
 Dixon, III., were three refined and dainty who left with a party 
 of Ciiicago to cast in their lot with the masculine argonauts in 
 the land of frozen gravel and marvelous " pans." 
 
 Montreal sent out three parties the first and second weeks in 
 August, numbering alt(^gether some fifty men. They were in 
 charge respectively of I'>nest Genest, representing the Canadian- 
 Yukon Company; C. J. McOuaig, for the Montreal-London 
 Gold and Silver Development Company, limited ; and W. II. 
 Scroggie, the St. Catherine Street dry-goods merchant, whoso 
 companoins were princip.illy liis employes. 
 
 Ex-Governor John II. McGraw and General K. M. Carr left 
 Seattle for Alaska on the first steamer out after the Portland 
 arrived with its golden cargo — as luck would have it, the steamer 
 was the treasure boat, the Portland itself They went as the 
 representatives of the Yukon, Caribou, Jkitish Columbia Gold 
 Mining Development Company, limited, capital $1,000,000. 
 J. Pklward Atldicks, of Delaware, is the head of the company 
 and Senator John L. Wilson is interested in it. 
 
 Craze in Wall Street. 
 
 On July 31st, so early had the Klondike fever reached the 
 great money centres of the land, the following report from Wall 
 Street was sent over i^he country : 
 
 " Wall Street has been seized by a genuine ' '49 ' gold fever 
 as a result of the discoveries in the Klondike. Men who have 
 mined and made money ; men who have mined and lost money ; 
 men who have always thought they might speculate a little in 
 mining, and men who have had a complete abhorrence of minini; 
 ' — all seem to be affected the same way. More than half a dozen 
 banking concerns, antl as m.uiy individuals in Wall Street, whose 
 Standing in the financial world is the very best, have act»ially 
 turned away from $5000 to $125,000 each which clients and 
 
 
1 a party 
 onauts ill 
 
 weeks in 
 y Were ill 
 Canadian- 
 il-London 
 KJW. II. 
 nt, whose 
 
 Carr left 
 Portland 
 le steamer 
 nt as the 
 nbia Gold 
 1 ,000,000. 
 company 
 
 ichcd the 
 rom Wall 
 
 old fever 
 A' ho have 
 t mone\-; 
 little in 
 of minini; 
 If a dozen 
 ci, whose 
 J actually 
 ients and 
 
 MINERS' CAFMXS NRaR DAWSOX CITY 
 
 
 jJR 
 
: I 
 
 h 4 ! 
 
 •1 ■! 
 
 -I 
 ■i 
 
 i 
 
 i.1 
 
 'I 
 
 1 ' 
 
 I 
 
 t 
 
 5.1 
 
 '■1 
 
 < 
 
 < 
 
 < 
 
 33 
 
 'J 
 
 i !• 
 
SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 
 
 53 
 
 u 
 
 5 
 
 customers wished to invest, under their guidance and supervision 
 in the great gold fields of Alaska. Laoenburg, Thalman & Co., 
 H. L. Horton & Co., Kean, Van Cortlandt & Co., R. 1'. Lounds- 
 bcrry & Co., and Charles Head & Co., are some of these firms 
 who have more money offered them for investment in the Klon- 
 dike than they have desired. The prejudice against mining is 
 waning. Only recently bankers who dabbled in mines were 
 looked upon with about as much suspicion by their customers 
 and the money world as a bank clerk or cashier who regularly 
 played fare, roulette and the races. Rut that is wearing off and 
 the best concerns are beginning to mine in one way or another. 
 Among these various down-town banking and business houses 
 who are cither interested in the Klondike, who have sent a rep- 
 resentative there for themselves or customers, or who have made 
 up thtir minds to do so, are R. P. Lou idsberry & Co., N. Cnig- 
 gcnheim Sons, Kean, Van Cortlandt a: Co., Nicholas Chemical 
 Compuin)-, M. B. Ilollins & Co., H. L. Ilorton & Co., Charles 
 Head & Co., and Seligman & Co. 
 
 Heard from Grub-stakers. 
 
 Seven men living near Trenton, N. J., " grub-.staked " by busi- 
 ness men of Trenton and merchants of Philadelphia, started in 
 April for the Alaska gold fields. \V. J. Hibbcrt headed the 
 expedition. He writes that they have laid claim to eighty miles 
 of dredger land, and have received a grant of twenty-one placer 
 claims, which will be added to the dredger lands. He says that 
 the ground is rich, and within a mile and a half of their claim 
 a man by the name of Lereno, after working five days, found, 
 on clearing up, that he was worth $40,000 in gold. Another 
 
 * story told by Hibbert in his letter is that another miner, after 
 
 ^two months' work, was $ 1 50,000 to the good. 
 
 Daniel Guggenheim, of the firm of M. Guggenheim & 
 
 
 I 
 
54 
 
 SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 
 
 
 ■i ''! 
 
 II : 
 
 I'l i. 
 
 
 Sons, who has large smelthig interests, when seen at his Long 
 Branch cottage, confirmed the reported discoveries in the Yukon 
 country, and prophesied that the new fields would yield far in 
 excess of even present roseate indications. He said : 
 
 ** For some time my firm has had expert mining engineers at 
 work in Alaska, and their reports leave no doubt that the Yukon 
 gold fields will prove the richest in the world. My opinion is 
 that as soon as the country has been opened up and shipping 
 facilities furnished the output of gold will be simply enormous. 
 As the proGUCtion of gold increases silver will be enhanced 
 in value. This I regard as certain." 
 
 English Royalty Affected. 
 
 English royalty fell before the golden idol of the Klondike. 
 No less a personage than the Duke of Fife, son-in-law of the 
 Prince of Wales, subscribed to an incorporation formed in Lon- 
 don for the purpose of exploring the Klondike region and pur- 
 chasing such mines as its accredited representatives may decide 
 are worth the investment. 
 
 The enterprise will be known as the Klondike Exploration 
 Company, limited. It is stated that the company in which the 
 Duke of Fife is interested will operate along lines similar to 
 the British South Africa Company. 
 
 But great as was the number, considering the time available 
 for catching a good hard case of the Klondike fever, who had 
 succeeded in getting away for the diggings in person before the 
 marvelous news from the Northwest was yet a month old ; thc\ 
 were but a fraction of the total, who had fallen ready victims 
 to the " placer malady." 
 
 Many hundreds of men and many more hundreds of women, who 
 were crazy to own some kind of an interest in the wonderful gold 
 fields, but who were prevented by other business, b;' family cares, 
 

 
 IS Long 
 i Yukon 
 
 
 d far in 
 
 
 neers at 
 
 
 2 Yukon 
 
 
 >inion is 
 
 
 shippinL^ 
 
 
 lormous. 
 
 , ■■= 
 
 nhanced 
 
 
 SPREAD OK THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 
 
 55 
 
 Klondike, 
 w of the 
 in Lon- 
 .nd pur- 
 y decide 
 
 jloration 
 lich the 
 milar to 
 
 Lvailable 
 
 /ho had 
 
 fore the 
 
 i ; the\ 
 
 victims 
 
 len, who 
 ful gold 
 y cares, 
 
 by sickness of a strictly pathological kind, by poverty, or by 
 other insuperable reasons, from taking personal part with the 
 adventurers going into the Klondike, had syndicated their money 
 with their friends and arranged to send " grub-stakers " into the 
 new Galconda, hoping thus vicariously, at least, to partake of 
 the profits, if thev could not share in the hardships and the 
 hazards of gold seeking. 
 
 It is estimated that at least five times as many people put up 
 their money on " grub-stakes" as attempted to become advent- 
 urers in person, and it would require a much larger figure to 
 express th.e probable ratio of the money applied to outfitting 
 representative prospectors and the cash spent in personal equip- 
 ment by intending argonauts. 
 
 Besides this, in estimating the prevalence of the gold craze in 
 terms of dollars and cents, account must be taken of the mush- 
 room-like appearance of "Mining Co-operations " and " Placer 
 Syndicates " and "Poor ]\Ien's Chances," to say nothing of the 
 host of legitimate incorporated mining or prospecting or develop- 
 ment concerns, which by presenting shares at low figures, draw 
 tens of thousands of dollars from thousands of pockets into their 
 coffers and which quite as emphatically represented the virulence 
 of the Klondike fever as did the steamer li.sts, or the names of 
 those who meant to brave the Chilkoot Pass with the slogan 
 )f " Klondike or Bust." 
 
 Table of New Companies. 
 
 No better illustration of the extent and vigor of the Klondike 
 eiazc can be given than is exhibited in the following table of 
 companies organized or in process of formation for the develop- 
 ment of the gold fields in the upper ^'ukon region. The total 
 capitalization of the different syndicates foots up ;j5 164,5 12,500. 
 After allowing for the regular syndicate grain of salt, the 
 
 V.-5 
 
 (V'^ 
 #■ 
 
r I 
 
 m^^^m^m^m^ 
 
 56 
 
 SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 
 
 remaining total is stili vast enough to indicate that no small 
 portion of the American temperate zone has gone daft over the 
 reported strikes in the Arctic mountains. 
 
 The stream of humanity, setting toward the north pole, is a 
 veritable exodus toward a new Land of Promise. Up to August 
 8th, over 8000 men arc officially repor; ed to have started for the 
 Klondike, or made arrangements to do so. 
 
 Statistics of Millions. 
 
 li 
 
 Uf 
 
 
 1 if^ I 
 
 Here are the naked figures : 
 
 Companies. 
 
 Town. 
 
 Bohemian Klondike Syndicate Baltimore . . 
 
 Three Syndicates Boston . . . 
 
 Cudahy-Healy-Yukon Klondike Mining 
 Company Chicago . . . 
 
 Alaska Transportation and Development 
 
 Company Chicago . . . 
 
 Transportation and mining company in 
 
 processor organization, not j'et named . Chicago. . . 
 
 Wilkins Syndicate Cleveland. . 
 
 Unnamed syndicate Cleveland . . 
 
 Two companies Cripple Creek 
 
 Alaska-Klondike Gold Mining and De- 
 velopment Company Col. Springs. 
 
 Council Bluffs Mining and Exploration 
 Company Council Bluffs 
 
 Six companies Denver . . . 
 
 Indiana Mining Company Indianapolis 
 
 General Mining and Developing Co. . . Kansas City . 
 
 Herald Employees Lexington . 
 
 Lincoln Gold and Improvement Co. . . Lincoln . . . 
 
 Acme Development Company Hew York , 
 
 Yukon-Caribou British Columbia Gold 
 Mining Development Company . . . New York , 
 
 Northwest Mining and Trading Company. New York . 
 
 Exploration Syndicate New York . 
 
 Mj. who 
 Capital- have left 
 izatiou. for gold 
 
 fields. 
 
 Not decided 120 
 
 150,000 
 
 25,000,000 
 
 5,000,000 
 
 100,000,000 
 
 4,000 
 
 400 
 
 300,000 
 
 1,000,000 
 
 150 
 500 
 
 30 
 
 100,000 
 
 8 
 
 2,825,000 
 
 35 
 
 200,000 . 
 
 , 
 
 Not tinned. 
 
 10 
 
 3,000 
 
 12 
 
 50,000 
 
 11 
 
 150,000 
 
 100 
 
 5,000,000 . 
 
 
 5,000,000 . 
 
 » , 
 
 100,000 . 
 
 , 
 
SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 
 
 57 
 
 1, Ore. -v 
 l.Ore. [ 
 1. Ore. J 
 
 500,000 520 
 
 1,200 . . . 
 
 r)0,ooo . . . 
 
 1,000,000 . . . 
 
 900 .. . 
 
 The Gold Syndicate New York . . 5,000,000 . . 
 
 The New York and Alaska Gold Explo- 
 ration and Trading Company New York . . 1,000,000 . . . 
 
 Norse- American Gold Company (Ltd.) . New York . . 750,000 . . . 
 
 The Philadelphia and Alaska Gold Mining 
 
 Syndicate Philadelphia . 500,000 52 
 
 Alaska Gold Company Pittsburg . . , 1,000,000 . . . 
 
 Pittsburg- Alaskan Company Pitisburg . . . 25,000 
 
 Four transportation companies Portland, Ore. 
 
 Two trading companies Portland, 
 
 Six mil' ing companies Portland. 
 
 Register employees Richmond, Ky. 
 
 McDonald Syndicate St. Louis . . . 
 
 Minnesota-Ontario Gold Mining Co. . . St. Paul . . . 
 
 Klondike Mining Company, St. Paul . . St. Paul . . . 
 
 Yukon-Klondike Mining and Investment 
 Company St. Paul . . 5,000,000 . . . 
 
 Eight companies San Francisco . .SOO.OOO 1,400 
 
 Unnamed syndicate San Francisco . 1,000,000 . . . 
 
 Klondike Commercial and Transportation 
 Company Seattle .... 1,000,000 3,500 
 
 SeattleandYukon Commercial Company. Seattle .... 1,000,000 . . . 
 
 Alaska Transportation Company. . . .Seattle .... 100,000 . . . 
 
 Dodwell and Corlill Steamship Company. Tacoma. . . . 250,000 1,600 
 
 Twenty-one syndicates Tacoma. . . . 755,000 . . . 
 
 Old Miners Catch the Fever. 
 Old miners on the Pacific slope supplied some of the earliest 
 victims of the fever and some of the first recruits in the rapidly- 
 swelling army of the gold seekers. The rush to the Klondike 
 seriously affected the mine owners on the mother lode in the 
 vicinity of Senora, Jackson and Sutter Creek, California, and 
 threatened to cause the closing down of the mines in Calaveras, 
 Amador and Tualumne counties. A large party of skilled 
 miners from this region sailed from San Francisco for Alaska on 
 August 7th, and another party was then forming which expected 
 to go in by way of Dyea before the winter grasp of September 
 was upon the passes. The Oneida and Kennedy mines, near 
 
 te 
 >" 
 
 
Il i'i 
 
 I- !' 
 
 i> 
 
 
 I,: • 
 
 h M * 
 
 Ji'llhllll?'^ 
 
 
 iSlil/'ii'Jii,'^ ■■■•;■,' 
 
 '''mmB\ ' ''''I 
 
 ■■!•'. '-i' 
 
 ,11' 
 
 if 
 
 --'v'si'' A HF'il 
 
 ,.:,iJ,:( 
 
 
 
 Ki i 
 
 w i 
 
 ■■■tf 
 
 I'l'iilt'.vii, r%m 
 
 mi 
 
 >;r nMff 
 
 u 
 if) 
 < 
 .J 
 •< 
 
 (i< 
 o 
 
 H 
 
 fti 
 <" 
 
 Pl! 
 
 >^ 
 
 ai 
 W 
 
 H 
 D 
 O 
 
 (/I 
 
 H 
 W 
 
 w 
 u 
 
 ifi 
 
 &8 
 
SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 
 
 5^ 
 
 Jackson, had lost the majority of their men before the news by 
 the Portland was ten days old. 
 
 Joaquin Miller Among the First. 
 
 Nor was the rush to the new diggings confined to the wage- 
 earning miners. One of the first of the *49ers to respond was 
 Joaquin Miller, " the Poet of the Sierras." The steamer Port- 
 land made port from St. Michael's with its wonderful cargo ot 
 yellow dust and nuggets on July 17th, and on the 26th of the 
 same month the venerable and veteran miner of the earliest 
 California and Nevada and Idaho gold fields had forsaken his 
 cozy home nestled among the foothills of Oakland, and was 
 steaming out of the harbor of Victoria, B. C, on the good ship 
 City of Mexico, bound with pick, pan and pack like any other 
 lover of roughing it, on the long road to Dyea and over the 
 Chilkoot Pass to the Klondike. 
 
 Some of his impressions cnroute will be found elsewhere in 
 this volume, and their bright, buoyant wording shows the Klon- 
 dike fever could set the blood throbbing as fiercely in senile 
 veins as in the arteries of the most recklessly sanguine lad of a 
 " tenderfoot " that ever went to the mines to learn that al) is not 
 gold that glitters. One of the aged poet's fancies was to pack 
 his own outfit in arid earn his living by day's work, and to make 
 his election sure he carried a ridiculously small sum of money 
 with him, though he had a buckskin bag all ready for the 
 " dust " he expected certainly to find even more lavishly distri- 
 buted in the Yukon valley than in California in the golden days 
 when the bed of every stream held a yellow^ fortune. 
 
 E. J. Baldwin, of San Francisco, better known as " Lucky " 
 Baldwin, millionaire hotel man, miner, landowner, turfman and 
 orange grower, himself a California argonaut of the days of '49, 
 who had had hard attacks in his time of the Washoe and 
 
 I' 
 
 t. 
 
I' r I 
 
 V V 
 
 I; 
 
 IK 
 
 If! 
 
 I.* « 
 
 '8 1 
 
 .; I 
 
 m <i 
 
 
 Iri !'<; 
 
 J 
 
 :^i 
 
 li. 
 
 ■ '^ 
 
 ?! !J"' 
 
 60 
 
 SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 
 
 Frazcr River gold fevers, was another of the first " big " men on 
 the coast to catch the Alaska fever. 
 
 The millionaire announced his intention to go to the Klon- 
 dike, not to seek the great nuggets and coarse grains of gold 
 found in the creek beds, but to find, if possible, the ledge, the 
 mother lode from which all this treasure comes. He will not 
 go in until spring, however. 
 
 " I will not stop at Klondike," said he, " but will push right 
 into the mountains, where I am sure there must be rich quartz 
 ledges. Ample machinery will be shipped to Dawson or else- 
 where, if I succeed in locating a paying claim. I think the big 
 fortunes will be made in the quartz districts and not in the 
 placers, which will be sure to give out if so many thousands of 
 people will persist in rushing into the country. 
 
 " I am going next spring," continued Mr. Baldwin, " and 
 expect to take twenty-five or thirty husky young men with me 
 who can work and endure the hardships. I am seventy-one 
 years old, but still feel strong enough to do a little prospecting. 
 It is also my intention to take a lot of machinery along for lode 
 mining. My notion of the situation there is that the placer 
 mining they are carrying on is an indication that there is gold in 
 large quantities back in the mountains. I shall hunt out these 
 deposits, and, equipped with modern machinery, will do a regu- 
 lar mining business. I am convinced the gold is there ; conse- 
 quently, I will be taking no long-risk chances." 
 
 " Lucky's " Idea of an Outfit. 
 
 Mr. Baldwin also gave his ideas of the provisions a man 
 starting to the Klondike should provide himself with. He 
 excluded coffee and ham from the supplies, would fill a box with 
 articles of this sort, giving the amount for one month's use : 
 
 Chocolate, 7^/ pounds, or tea, 3-^{( pounds; rolled oats, yy^ 
 
n 
 3 
 O 
 
 < 
 
 a, 
 
 :5 
 
 3 
 

 
 C/1 
 
 W 
 
 
 
 71 
 
 . D 
 
SPREAD OF THE KT^ONDIKE FEVER. 
 
 61 
 
 pounds; navy beans, 22'/^ pounds, or bacon, 37 ^j pounds; 
 
 flour, 30 pounds ; salt, '^' pounds ; pickles, 60 cents' worth ; 
 
 cayenne pepper, ^:^ pounel for eighteen months, four cakes dry 
 
 yeast. 
 
 Wonderful Letter of G. H. Cole. 
 
 Some of the stories told about the marvelous golden wealth 
 of the Klondike would be ami)lc excuse for the worst recorded 
 cases of the fever. Here is one written from Dawson l .l\' by 
 G. H. Cole to his wife in Seattle, which speaks for itself Mr. 
 Cole says : 
 
 "This is a wonderful c >untry. There is enough gold here to 
 load a steamboat. Lots of men have made all they want since 
 last fall, and gone out. There is hardly a day but there is from 
 one to half a dozen come from the mines with all the gold they 
 can carry. One man had so much he had to get several men t^> 
 help Kun carry it out. He gave the mine to a friend to do what 
 he wanted with it. He was a Seattle man. 
 
 " .Some of the men who have been out to the mines say there 
 is more gold here than they ever saw in their lives, and some of 
 the old miiicrs, who have been in most all the mining countries 
 in the worM, say it beats anything they ever saw. Around 
 some of the camps they have it piled up like farmers have their 
 wheat, and in other camps they have all their cooking utensils 
 full of gold and standing in corners as if it were dirt. Some 
 are taking out ^100,000 a day. Old miners say there has been 
 enough gold located to dig up for the next twenty years." 
 
 Many and queer are the schemes that have grown out of the 
 Klondike craze, and the more and the queerer they are the more 
 virulent is the attack. The very air is full of schemes ; some 
 alluring, some preposterous, more merely audacious. The gold 
 fever marked the heyday of the dreamer and the enthusiast, not 
 to say the crank. 
 
 E! 
 
62 
 
 SPREAD OF THK KLONDIKK FKVI'R. 
 
 Hii 
 
 But some attention is worth paying to these projects of vision- 
 aries if for no other reason than to show how far-reaching and 
 insidious is the Klondike mania — for dreamers have Httle merit 
 unless there are enough of people who believe in dreams. 
 
 " If I were to give you the details of some of the schemes 
 that have been submitted to me recently for making money in 
 the Klondike," said one Chicago capitalist, "you would think 
 some insane asylum had been thrown open, and the inmates 
 turned loose. Some of the ideas are not bad in themselves, but 
 are impracticable owing to the conditions of the country. Others 
 arc simply the rankest form of lunacy, while others yet arc 
 downright swindles. People who would not even think of sug- 
 gesting a fraud in connection with ordinary business have no 
 hesitation in boosting up a fraud in a mining boom. As a rule, 
 however, the irresponsible schemers are merely wild-eyed cranks, 
 who have an honest confidence in their own plans." 
 
 Traps for Ready Money. 
 
 Inventors, speculators, promoters, and prospectors are going 
 about like modern genii with propositions for making everybody 
 immensely rich. Acquiring great wealth depends solely upon 
 immediate use of a little ready money. Shares in the Consoli- 
 dated Trans-Alaskan Gopher Company, offered at one dollar each, 
 will return dividends of ten dollars a minute as soon as the com- 
 pany gets to work. The idea is to take contracts for tunneling 
 claims with trained gophers. Nothing is impossible, nothing 
 chimerical. 
 
 Men with seedy garments and faces bearing all too plainly the 
 marks of hunger and want, rub elbows with portly, well-fed 
 individuals and talk glibly about millions to be had in various 
 ways. Newspapers are full of advertisements calling for finan- 
 cial aid in developing Alaskan projects, offices of transportation 
 
SPREAD OK THE KLONDIKI?: FKVKR. 
 
 63 
 
 lines arc besieged by hundreds of impecunious beings who seek 
 to make their wits pay the price of passage to the Eldoiado, 
 and on every street corner people are encountered with Klondike 
 schemes in varying forms of development. Women have the 
 craze as badly as men ; and some of their hobbies are, if any- 
 thing, even more outlandish. 
 
 But while the schemes and yarns of visionaries, charlatans and 
 cranks are worth laughing at for their absurdity or avoiding for 
 their concealed rascality, there is another side to the story which 
 appeals to earnest men with almost irresistible force. That is 
 the record of the men who have " struck it rich " in the placers 
 of this very Klondike — of the men who have gone in poor and 
 come out in a few short months, or even weeks, rich for life ; of 
 the men who took stock in the tales of the fabulous wealth wait- 
 ing in that frozen Yukon valley gravel to be " washed " out, and 
 who, with wise forethought, prepared themselves for a fierce 
 battle with the Arctic elements and then braved the hardships 
 and privations of the wilderness to emerge in time laden with 
 their golden fruits of victory. 
 
 From Alaska Mining Record. 
 
 Elsewhere in this volume will be found a more detailed account 
 of those who " struck it rich" on the Klondike; to show that 
 there is a bright side to the picture, the following from the 
 Alaska Mining Record, of Juneau, of June 30th, is sufficient. It 
 relates to the arrival of Jack Hayes, the mail carrier from the 
 Yukon. : 
 
 " Much excitement prevails all through the Yukon district over 
 the Klondike discoveries, and all kinds of stories of the riche; 
 there are told, many of which Mr. Hayes says are true. It is 
 true that two tenderfeet, railroad men from Los Angeles, Cal. — 
 Frank Summers and Charles Clemens — have struck it rich. 
 
 
1 
 
 f'i 
 
 64 
 
 SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 
 
 They went ir. a year ago and located on the Klondike last fall. 
 Clemens sold li's interest for ^35,000 cash, and his partner, 
 Summers, held en two weeks later and got 550,000. The 
 money to pay the men was taken out of the dump which had 
 been litu^d from the shaft on the claim during the winner. These 
 two men had each panned out ;^2 500 on their claim while pros- 
 pecting it. The man that bought Clemens' interest bound the 
 bargain with a $232 nugget which had been taken from the 
 Klondike. Neither man had had any experience in mining. 
 
 " Alec McDonald took one pan from his claim which tipped 
 the scales to the tune of $800, and offered a wager of ;$iooo 
 that he could pick his dirt and in twenty minutes get a pan that 
 would go over 100 ounces (^$1600). No one cared to cover the 
 wager. 
 
 " Dick Lowe is pamiing for a living, and is takmg out the 
 modest sum of ^100 a dagr. 
 
 " Two * tenderfeet ' finnw Qiicagc, aamed Wier and Beedaer, 
 leased a piece of gronanxu for shEtxr days, paid a royalty of 
 $10,000, and divided S- ),ooo. Tie imners have only advanced 
 up the Klondike nine miles, and atlBat distance there are several 
 claims that will produce $i.c •)iece. 
 
 Assays Eno i mu nsky Rsch. 
 
 The latest reports from thi^ coid gold ciraie consist of speci- 
 mens which were sent to Califomis^ fir ^say tests, and they 
 show enormous returns of gold. 
 
 The gold fiml, however, in this Alaskan Territory is not new. 
 although the facts are just beginning to be appreciated by the 
 public. The unanimous verdict of investigators in this northern 
 country has always been that gold abounded in great quantities, 
 but the difficulty has been to get it out and away with any 
 degree of profit. Mining on a small scale has been practically 
 

 SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER 
 
 65 
 
 IncW; 
 
 the 
 Ihern 
 |ities, 
 
 any 
 :ally 
 
 impossible. The adventurer without money would have no 
 chance to strike it rich, even if he could manai^e to raise the 
 sum necessary to take him to the countr}'. The rigors of the 
 winter preclude ;.ny work in that season, and the absence of any 
 commercial fcicilitics in the new mining; districts prevents any 
 digging that is not coimected with some large org; iii'.ed plan. 
 But for the company or individuals with capital and enterprise 
 the prospect seems to be of the best. The introduction of 
 improved machinery — which has pd ready begun — and the en- 
 largement of til': transportation facilities on the long Yukon 
 River will soon bring these golden riches within easy reach 
 
 of the States. 
 
 Natural Exaggerations. 
 
 The stories of finds, however, must be taken with usual 
 reservations. There will be natural exaggerations not only of 
 the richness of the gold but of the character of the hardships 
 that must be endured. Alaska is no balmy California. There 
 is no comforting warmth most of the }'ear to su.stain the spirits of 
 tlie wearied seeker after wealth. The battle for gold there includes 
 a battle with a hostile n.iture which ha-^ guarded her treasure house 
 with icy blasts for all these centuries. It is 110 place for the lag- 
 gard if all reports be true. I)u" for the man of courage and deter- 
 mination it seems to be a land v( great promise. 
 
 One of the evidences of the Klondike craze is freighted with 
 ill omen to the owners of salmon canneries and of whalin'f 
 vesseU:. Startling rumors have come from tln; north th..t 
 partic.^. of fishermen and sailors are coming across country 
 from the mouth of the Mackenzie River into the Klondike, and, 
 should this prove true, many vessels now staunch and trim will 
 be rotting on the Arctic coast when the snows of next winter 
 have cleared away. 
 
 At Ilerschel Island, which is situated in the Arctic Ocean 
 

 66 
 
 Sh^^EiD OV THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 
 
 li 
 if 
 
 near the moull of the Mackenzie River, a large number of 
 salmon fishers have ip.ade their headquarters. During the 
 summer months, when tlie Mackenzie River is open, these fisher- 
 men, in their myriad of small craft, go up the river in quest of 
 salmon. There arc a number of canneries on the Mackenzie, 
 Over lOO deep-sea vessels are annually needed to bring the sea- 
 sons pack down from the Arctic. It is b.I;:vcd the fishermen 
 and crews which went north to bring back the pack have heard 
 of the wonderful gold strikes and, taking the provisions with 
 which their vessels were stored have deserted and struck out for 
 the gold fields. 
 
 Owners of whaling vessels which winter at llerschel Island 
 are as much alarmed as arc the canning companies. There are 
 at least 300 men belonging to the whaling fleet, and it is proba- 
 ble that they and the fishermen are now delving into the Klondike 
 
 soil for gold. 
 
 Days of '49 and '97. 
 
 In many ways the " days of '49 " in California and the " days 
 of '97 " in the Klondike are alike. To the average man the 
 treasures of the coast State were seemingly as inaccessible as 
 those of the Yukon and its tributaries. The one lay beyond 
 ?ooo miles of trackless desert; and snow-clad mountains beset 
 with savage hordes whose bloody welcome to the gold seeker 
 narked the trail from the Missouri to the coast with the whitening 
 bones of "pale-face" prospectors ; the other lies 7000 miles by 
 v\'ater, or 4000 miles by land and water, from civilization, beyond 
 mountain passes as hazardous to scale as those of the Swiss Alp.s 
 and guarded from the greed of man by the icy rigors of the Arctic 
 climate hardly less effectually than were the; riches of California 
 by the sanguinary red man. 
 
 The tales of fabhxl wealth which set the worUl crazy to go to 
 the California min< s wer<i not less wonderful than those which 
 
 S 
 
SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 
 
 67 
 
 as 
 
 kcr 
 
 returning argonauts bring from the upper Yukon country, and 
 both are confirmed by the yellow nuggets whose mute testimony 
 t< ) the modern Cathay is unimpeachable. And the excitement in 
 America is greater than in the wildest days of the South 
 African or the Australian strikes. 
 
 Iioth in California and in the Klondike, the first mining was in 
 placers, " poor man's mining," because no expensive machinery 
 is required — only a pick, spade and pan, with nature's sluiceway 
 of a nearby stream for water. 
 
 7\nd, again, the "tenderfoot" often struck it rich where the 
 old miner had trouble to find enough "dust" to buy his daily 
 food. 
 
 It was ■ , ■' man's gold mine. Nature had no favorites. 
 
 No wci'i.Uer people went gold crazy. 
 
 Fever Reaches a Climax. 
 
 The symptoms of the climax of the first attack of the Klon- 
 dike fever came relatively soon after the yellow malady became 
 epidemic. The fever began on July 27th, 1897 ; by August iSth 
 the worst was over, and the tens of thousands of poor men who 
 wanted to be rich in a hurry, and of rich men who wanted to be 
 richer, of adventurers who were always ready for anything excit- 
 ing, and of level-headed business men who had been crazy for 
 only a few brief days over the marvelous tales or wealth to be 
 had for the washing, had begun to convalesce and reason that if 
 the Klondike was really as fabulously rich as it was reported to 
 be, there would likely be some gold left at the diggings when 
 spring came, and the perils to health and even life on the long 
 journey "in" were somewhat diminished by mild weather. 
 
 Would-be argonauts who could not get passage to Dyea or 
 Juneau on the overcrowded steamers began to content themselves 
 perforce to stay at home ; and weary and disgusted prospectors, 
 

 ^' ! 
 
 r SI 
 
 ■ ^ 
 
 n 
 
 I' t 
 
 t*i 
 
 
 68 
 
 SPREAD OF THE KEOXDTKE FEVER. 
 
 who liad been stranded ])y the stampede ;it the mouths of the 
 mountain passes, began to i)0ur baek to winter amid ereature 
 comforts in the liomes of civilization, and pack up at leisure for 
 another venture in the spring. People found time to get cool, 
 and they took it. 
 
 Tkit what a craze it was while it lasted I I'A'en the da}-s of 
 '49 were fairly eclipsed b)' the universality of the gold insanity 
 of '97. Every city in the Union contributed t*) the horde of 
 gold hunters pressing and pushing and scrambling on to the new 
 h'ddorado. Even the little liamlcts 01 the land sent their cjuota, 
 and men swarmed by thousands around the whar\es of San 
 h^'ancisco, Portland, Tacoma, and Seattle, and "put up" their 
 last cent for a fighting chance in the mad rush for the Yukon 
 placers. Canada sent its thousands through the States and along 
 its own routes, and across the Atlantic the fever spread 'till even 
 the great house of Rothschild was infected and sent a confiden- 
 tial agent to inspect the wonderful gold fields in its behalf. 
 
 London Gets the Craze. 
 
 A London correspondent of a New York newspaper wrote in 
 these words on August ist: 
 
 "Were it not so late both in the London and the Yukon sea- 
 son, the fashionable thing for society young men to-day would 
 be to make up a party to dare the dangers of the Chilkoot Pass 
 and explore the Yukon River, even at the risk of gold-laden 
 aristocrats meeting mythical pirates on their homeward journey. 
 The goUl fever has spread here fu' wider than the narrow limits 
 of so-called London societ)', and tliere vvould have been a mad 
 rush to the diggings from ICngland of all the men and l)oys who 
 could beg, borrow, <»r steal S200 had not one or two explorers 
 sounded a shriek of alarm, and the I'^.migration Information Office 
 issued a plain warning to the effect that it would be quite useless 
 
 \i 
 
in 
 
«!■ 
 
 I. i 
 
 il 
 
 if 
 
 
SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 
 
 GO 
 
 to start hence before next April. Meanwhile such terrible pict- 
 ures are Ixini; painted, in colors laid on so thickly, and the 
 deadly periis of White Horse Rapids and Chilkoot are so strongly 
 emphasi/etl that thoughtful men are not without the keen sus 
 picion that the worthy Canadians are doing their best to scare 
 awa\- intruders and keep their own treasure at home." 
 
 New York and Chicago. 
 
 New York and Chicago had the fever hard. Men who had 
 mined and made money, men .vhu nad mined and lost money, 
 men who had always thought the\- would like to speculate in 
 mining, and men who had abhorred the very word, were stricken. 
 l^ankcrs, brokers, business men and nonentities, from James R. 
 Keene to phiin J(^hn Smith, went wild. Ikfore July was out, 
 companies representing an aggregate capitalization of j> 1 8,000,000 
 had been organized in New York City alone to traffic, or dig, or 
 grub-stake in the Yukon Basin. 
 
 Men who were blind on every other subject saw the wonderful 
 Alaskan rainbow of promise and rushed off to find tlie pot of 
 gold at its Klondike end with the infuitilc assurcUicc of the tot 
 in the nurserv tale. 
 
 Perhaps the date of the placer discovery — coming at the 
 close of a period of general business depression, had something 
 to do with the virulence of the fever. Anvwa\-, ;. f )rtni"ht after 
 the news of the strike steamed into port the countrx' w..s .stark, 
 staring, raving mad. "Klondike" was the topic at the lunch 
 counters, men talked " outfits " on the street cars and " L " trains, 
 women found themselves abandoning the f ishions to read up on 
 routes and fares to Dawson City, farmers drove to town in the 
 middle of a " hay day" to hear the latest frou" " the diggings," 
 and technical mining phrases l)ecame the cant of the day. 
 
 Nothing could head off the enthusiasm of the horde of would-be 
 
 
r 
 
 UnM~- 
 
 
 70 
 
 SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 
 
 miners. They sailed out cf the Pacific coast ports, crowded like 
 animals in and upon vessels known to every sailor as long unsea- 
 worthy, and periled their lives over the " Boncyard of the Pacific" 
 or through the devious, rock-studded, fog-enshrouded channels 
 of the Sitka route ; they trusted to captains who had never been 
 out of sight of land and to pilots who had never sailed the courses ; 
 they heard, unmoved, warnings of deadly hardships enroute and 
 of probable starvation at the mines ; they gave up good positions 
 and spent small fortunes for transportation, and with scuppers 
 awash sailed away in death traps to the frozen North, 
 
 So reckless did the mad stampeders to the Klondike become 
 at last that the highest public officials were forced to take notice 
 of the epidemic folly and try to head it off. 
 
 1 
 I 
 
 I' > 
 
 Secretary Bliss' Warning. 
 
 Secretary of the Interior Bliss, on August loth found it neces- 
 sary to issue the following warning, a state paper almost without 
 a precedent on this continent : 
 
 " To Whom It May Concern: In view of information received 
 at this department that 3000 persons with 2000 tons of baggage 
 and freight are now waiting at the entrance to White Pass, in 
 Alaska, for an opportunity to cross the mountains to the Yukon 
 River, and that many mor" are preparing to join them, I deem it 
 proper to call the attention of all who contemplate making that 
 trip to the exposure, privation, suffering, and even danger inci- 
 dent thereto at this advanced period of the season, even if they 
 should succeed in crossing the mountains. To rccxh Dawson 
 City, when over the pass, 700 miles of difficult navigation on the 
 Yukon River without adequate means of transportation will still 
 lie before them, and it is doubtful if the journey can be com- 
 pleted before the river is closed by ice. 
 
 " I am moved to draw public attention to these conditions by 
 
SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 
 
 71 
 
 the gravity of the possible consequences to people detained in the 
 mountainous wilderness during five or six months of an arctic 
 winter, where no relief can reach them, however great the need. 
 
 "C. N. Bliss, 
 " Secretary of the Interior." 
 The I Ion. Clifford Sifton, Canadian Minister of the Interior, 
 had already issued a notice to the public of the Dominion that 
 the government would not be responsible for getting provisions 
 into the Yukon during the coming winter tantamount to warning 
 the gold seekers to stay out till spring. 
 
 Mad Rush Goes On. 
 
 Yet, in the face of all these official warnings, chronicled and 
 .•ipread broadcast by the same press and in the same columns in 
 which the other Klondike news was dail}- printed, twenty-one 
 steamers, ^hrce sailing vessels and two scows, each laden to tlie 
 utmost carrying capacity, had put out from Pacific coast pc:ts 
 for Alaska before the warnings were a fortnight old. 
 
 The North American Transportation and Trading Company 
 repeatedly issued publi«- warnings of the hazards attending an 
 attempt to get into the mines during the remainder of the season 
 of 1897, and finally raised the fare for the last trip of the 
 steamer Portland to 51000, only guaranteeing to get passengers 
 to Dawson City by way of St. Michael's by June 15, 1898. 
 Yet the passenger list was full of names of men who were 
 willing to spend a winter in the Yukon ice or on the cheerless 
 shores of Norton Sound, even at that price. 
 
 And those who could not muster patience to go by that route, 
 with Secretary Bliss' warning ringing in their ears, swarmed at 
 the wharves where other steamers were preparing to start 
 with their herded loads of self-deluded gold-seekers, and paid 
 $500 bonus, where they couW find a taker, for the privilege of 
 
n 
 
 SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 
 
 M 
 
 i t 
 
 n% 
 
 the voyage to overcrowded Dyea or Juneau. They knew the 
 
 Canadian mounted police were on guard at the passes over the 
 
 mountains, turning back all who had not a year's provisions in 
 
 their outfits, but they bid high for the chance to go, just the 
 
 same. They knew they stood a chance of having to winter at 
 
 Juneau or Dyea, and eat up their supplies, but they spent their 
 
 last cent to get there, just the same. It ceases to be a " play " 
 
 rush for gold and became the wild exodus of a rabble in which 
 
 men totally unfitted for the rough work and hardships of the 
 
 miner's life, and unmindful that failure would be the lot of 
 
 hundreds, and that many would find graves among the frozen 
 
 placers or along the desert trails, joined with the enthusiasm of 
 
 devotees. 
 
 Said by P. B. Weare. 
 
 " There is barely a chanv^e of any of the gold-seekers getting 
 across the divide so as to reach the Klondike region this year, to 
 say nothing about the perils of the long trip beyond, but still the 
 rush goes on," says P B. Weare, of the North American Com- 
 pany, early in August. " We advise the people now not to 
 attempt to get to Dawson City this year, but it doesn't seem to 
 be any use talking. We hear from our representatives in Alaska 
 and they say it is no use trying to stop the march — in some 
 cases to certain death." 
 
 " They go on the theory that the first there will be first 
 served," said John Cuhahy in speaking of the race for wealth ; 
 " but I believe some of the first to go now will be the first 
 dead." 
 
 Still the rush to the harvest of hardship and death went on. 
 
 Then the shock of disillusion came, and it brought some peo- 
 ple tc their senses. Word came back from the North that gold- 
 seekers were making famine on the bleak Alaska mountains as 
 
 Winter storms had begun to obliterate 
 
 fast as they knew how. 
 
SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 
 
 r.1 
 
 the trails and bury the passes. Old timers said again tlie reek- 
 less argonauts eould not get through to the Klondike, and th/.t 
 Arctic teiiipests wtnild cut off their return and force them to fight 
 for life all winter in fmiine-stricken cam])s — and this lime the 
 
 warning was heeded. 
 
 Is 
 
 The object lesson from Dyea which was shown to the world 
 on the morning of August loth was too fearful not to be heeded. 
 
 Misery at Dyea. 
 
 Hal Hoffman, writing from Juneau undci date of August T,d, 
 said (;f Dyea and Skagway, the ports at the head of lynn Canal, 
 these graphic and awful words : 
 
 " These are the last salt water ports and the points of debark- 
 ation for the mountain trails and passes. The number of Indians 
 and whites and packers and horses is totally inadequate to move 
 the vast quantities of freight over the mountains, and a blockade 
 that is dai!)' assuming more formidable proportions has resulted. 
 
 "Tons of supplies are piled high on the beach, and they will 
 likely remain there for an indefinite length of time, lu'cry 
 incoming steamer dumps scores of excited gold seekers and tor.o 
 of freight on the beach. The confusion is indescribable. Much 
 of the freight is dumped on a long sand spit at Dyea at low tide, 
 as there are no wharfs ;vt that place. Before the supplies can be 
 sorted, claimed, and removed, the tide has risen and ruined or 
 carried entirely away large (juantities of supplies. 
 
 " By far the largest portion of the supplies must be packed 
 over the passes by their owners if they are packed at all. Only 
 about one hundred and fifty Indians, fifty white men, and ten 
 horses are now packing over the Dyea trail. It is good to be 
 an Indian now at Dyea. He is making at least ten dollars a 
 day. He lets the palefaces in search of gold bid against each 
 other for his services as a packer, and calmly takes up the burden 
 
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 74 
 
 SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 
 
 
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 of the highest bidder. His squaw and his children also carry 
 heavy packs up the sU;vp mountain trail. 
 
 " The white man with his ten horses is making $ioo per day. 
 It is estimated that there will be fifty additional white packers 
 and forty more horses on the trail in a wei;k or ten days, but on 
 the other hand the rush still keeps up, and the end is not insight. 
 The end is too far away to see. It is back in New York, Chicago, 
 and San Francisco, and has not started yet. Every man who 
 has set foot in Juneau, Dyea, or Stagua has friends back East 
 who are coming. 
 
 " When the rivers freeze overland travel to Dawson must .stop, 
 except at the greatest peril, till spring smiles again. The Yukon 
 and Lewis have been known to freeze by the middle of August, 
 but while this is an exception it is more than a possibility. Unless 
 an unexpectedly large number of hor.ses and packers arrive soon 
 many men will camp on the route to the Yukon, and eat the 
 supj)lies in idleness through the long winter. 
 
 " Many men are .starting for the Yukon with inadequate sup- 
 plies and little money. It takes gold to hunt gold. One can 
 hardly make a necessary .step on the journey here without it 
 costing $io for each step. 
 
 Timber Runs Short. 
 
 " There is a great scramble for timber at Lake Bennett, with 
 which to build boats. A little saw mill there is capable of an 
 output of 800 feet of lumber per day. Ten dollars per hundred 
 was first asked, and now twenty dollars for lumber. Tlie whip- 
 saw of gold-seekers is heard throughout the woods. Owing t<r 
 the great rush there must be more delay at the lakes. 
 
 " Prospectors in the Valley of Yukon have returned here from 
 Dyea, and will wait till spring before attempting to make the 
 Klondike. But not so the tenderfoot. He is swarming for thv 
 
SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 
 
 75 
 
 summit in many instances with an outfit unsuitable in kind and 
 quantity. He is leaving here every day with pretty red, frail 
 two-wheeled carts and wheelbarrows, piled high with much super- 
 fluous baggage which he cannot hope to push over the mountain 
 trails. 
 
 " His vehicle will smash, and his supplies scatter and break 
 before he is out three hours from Dyea. But you can't make 
 
 NATIVES OF ALASKA BUILDING HOUSES. 
 
 him believe it. He is so excited he can't or won't listen to 
 reason. His one idea is gold and he is going after it with sacks 
 and carts to bring it back in. As these outfits pass through the 
 .streets from wharf to wharf old prospectors laugh. 
 
 " It looks as though the Canadian customs officials will have 
 an opportunity to report back to their goxcrtinKiit that they arc 
 unable to collect customs duties without reinforcements. 
 
 f 
 

 IB 
 
 76 SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 
 
 "All the incoming gold hunters are incensed at the action of 
 the Canadi ii authorities, at Ottawa, in levying a duty on supplies 
 they are taking into the mines. The rougher element among 
 them is intemperate in its language, and has made threats to 
 ignore the customs officials, peaceably if possible, but forcibly if 
 necessar}'. 
 
 " The general prospect, as vie\V("d from the border of the l.uul 
 of gold at this time, is that the route to the Yukon will be strewn 
 with bones as well as blasted hopes. 
 
 Hurts Alaska Industries. 
 
 " The Klondike cra/.e is having a disastrous effect on the 
 industries of Alaska. The great salmon cannery at Chilkat has 
 been com2)elled to close down from lack of fishermen in the 
 middle ot a \er)- fine season. Nearly every white man in the 
 cannery deserted and started for Dawson Cit}'. Manager Mur- 
 ray tried to get men to take the vacant places, but soon gave up 
 the attempt. 
 
 " Men ;.re iiisultnl now when asked to work for a cannery. 
 
 " The Klondike fe\er is at a very high pitch in Alaska, as well 
 as elsewhere. The Chilkat canner}' is controlled by the Alaska 
 Packers' Association, which operates nearly all the canneries on 
 the coast. ICmployes are leaving the canneries for the Klondike. 
 The probabilit)- is that work at nearly all of them will be aband • 
 oned soon, owing principally to a lack of fishermen. 
 
 "At Dougliis Cit)', across the channel, about fifty men have 
 given notice to cpiit work next pay day. They are emplo)'ed in 
 the big Treadwell Gohl Mine and INIills. Others are leaving 
 without notice and heading for Klondike. l-A'cry shift one or 
 more man are missed. It is feared that so many desert that the 
 mines and mills cannot be worked. 
 
 " The fever has also seized the men in the mines and stamp 
 
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SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 
 
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 mills at Bcrncr Bay, A lar^^e number have thrown up their jobs 
 there and started for the Klondike." 
 
 Could anything better express the utter folly of some of ll:e 
 j^old-seekcrs, who were probably types of a large class, thim 
 this, clipped from a letter written from Dyea ? 
 
 " Such is the innocence of some of the ' tenderfoot ' jjrospec- 
 tors that they have taken bicycles to Dyea. They have found 
 the park commissioners neglected to boulevard the trail to Daw- 
 son and the bicycles being, even in an extremity, unfit for food, 
 are now very cheap." 
 
 One of the possible and much-feared episodes in the Klon- 
 dike sensation may yet add a bloody page to the history of 
 North Pacific navigation, and cause to be re-enacted in American 
 waters some of the fierce buccaneering scenes of the Straits Settle- 
 ments on the Spanish Main. 
 
 Chinese Pirate Scare. 
 
 Word was received early in August by the officials of the 
 North American Transportation and Trading Company that a 
 band of Chinese pirates had been organized for the express pur- 
 pose of intercepting and looting the steamer Portland on its last 
 tn*^ down from St. Michael's in October, 1S97. It was known 
 that a large number of Klondike miners intended to come out in 
 the Portland, bringing their dust with them, and the last com- 
 pany shipment of gold would also be brought down on the same 
 boat. Altogether, it had been reported, about $2,000,000 of 
 yellow treasure would be aboard, and the company officials were 
 informed a pirate crew recruited from the Highbinders in tlie 
 Chinese slums of San Francisco, aided by a few renegade white 
 men, would lie in wait to loot and destroy the treasure ship and 
 murder its crew and passengers at some point between .St. 
 Michael's and Dutch Harbor. 
 
 
78 
 
 SPREAD OK THE KI-ONDTKE FEVER. 
 
 P. B. VVcaiv, of the company, communicated his fears to 
 Secretary of the Treasury Gage, and the latter at once ordered 
 Commander I loopcr, of the Revenue Service, to send a cutter to 
 convoy the treasure ship safely into the Pacific. 
 
 The Portland is a staunch vessel, well armed and carries a 
 good crew, and when aided by the fighting tars of the Bear or 
 Rush, is expected to not only come through safely but to give the 
 Mongolian marauders a hot reception if they venture out. 
 
 Craze Is Epidemic. 
 
 Another effect of the Klondike fever was to cause a similar 
 malady of strictly lOcal extent to break out in a dozen places 
 which had not had a case of genuine gold fever in years. 
 
 California promptly "saw" the Klondike and "went it one 
 better" with some remarkable strikes in the Trinity County 
 placers. The largest nugget reported was said to be worth 
 ^42,000, and weight 2400 ounces. Little Rock, Arkansas, 
 went wild over the reputed rediscovery of some old Spanish 
 mines in the neighborhood. Nevada got a latter-day Washoe 
 shock in an old mine in Elko County. The Kootenai and Cari- 
 boo districts suddenly discovered that they contained mineral 
 enough to warrant a population of 100,000 in a few years, and 
 hearalded the fact to the world. Colorado got up a boom over 
 some sylvanite quartz at Silver Cliff, an old camp. Rat Port- 
 age, Ontario, suffered a depopulating exodus over some reported 
 rich finds in the Rainy Lake and Seine River country. Dead- 
 wood put in a claim to notice by announcing a new lead in 
 Ragged Top, which assayed $1048 a ton in gold. Altoona, 
 Pennsylvania, temporarily forgot the coal rumpus while it dis- 
 covered gold ore going $625 a ton on Tussey Mountains. 
 Elizabethtown, Kentucky, got up a little excitement over a gilt 
 bottomed farm near Summit. Columbia, Missouri, ran across 
 
SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE EEVER. 
 
 79 
 
 a lot of gold in the banks of Dry Creek. Ashland and Mari- 
 nette, Wisconsin, came in neck and neck with stories of gold 
 discoveries. Marquette, Michigan, found it was roosting on top 
 of a gold lead forty feet wide and hadn't suspected it before. 
 Peru came to the front with a revival of the famous mines of the 
 Incas. Mexico owned up to having gold in the Yaqui country. 
 Russia declared there were fabulously rich new mines in 
 Okhotsk, just across from Alaska. And China came in late in 
 the game and announced the biggest find of all. 
 
 It mattered not that the Missouri gold was pronounced pyrites 
 and some of the other "discoveries" mere stock jobbing 
 schemes — it showed how the fever spread. 
 
 About Bogus Stock Companies. 
 
 A word to the people who did not catch the stampede craze 
 hard enough to get them out of the country, but who are left 
 behind with the " Alaska Mining and Klondike Development 
 Stock Companies : " 
 
 The man who goes in person to the Klondike takes great risks, 
 but his success or failure will depend largely on himself in the 
 long run. At any rate, he knows what he is staking on the 
 issue. But the man who would stay at home and still be a 
 Klondiker has to reckon not only with nature, but with rascals. 
 
 There will be stock companies innumerable, organized ostensi- 
 bly to exploit the Northwest. Some will do it. They will be 
 directed by men who will set honestly about the business of trade 
 and transportation and mining, who will handle honestly the 
 funds intrusted to them, and who, by enterprise and square 
 dealing, will make dividends for the stockholders. 
 
 There will be other companies organizetl to exploit the pockets 
 of the people at home. They will not move a boat, they will 
 not grub-stake a miner, they will not sell a shovel, a pick, or a 
 
 1^^ 
 
i 
 
 ^ 
 
 80 
 
 SPREAb OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 
 
 pan. Their directors will get money from the unsuspecting and 
 use it for their own purposes. If the boom holds out and grows 
 to sufficient size they will play the part of the adventurers who 
 turned the city of Panama into a modern Babylon with the money 
 contributed by the people of France. 
 
 In short, sending capital into the Klondike will be even more 
 precarious than going yourself, for the risks of nature will be 
 added to the risk of man's rascality. 
 
 Yet capital is needed in the Klondike, and those who send it 
 there under the proper sort of management will make legitimate 
 profits, and possibly big ones. 
 
 I! 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 •« Strike it Rich*' on Klondike. 
 
 Gold-seekers who " Made their Pile " in the Placers — Tales Brought Rack 
 by Returning Argonauts — Fabulous Stakes made by Novices — The 
 "Tenderfoot" Has Ilis Day— Clarence J. Berry, the " Barney Bnrnato " 
 of the Diggings — His Wonderful Streak of I^uck — Gives the Credit to 
 His Wife — Captain McGregor's Wonderful Panning Results— Fortune 
 Favors an Indiana Boy — Sjuie of the Dark Sides, by People who Saw 
 Them — Miners Go Insane— Death on the Glacier — Hard Work and Lack 
 of Supplies — Advice of a California Pioneer. 
 
 THAT men, even a few, have "struck it rich" and " made 
 their pile" on the Klondike, or anywhere else on the 
 
 Upper Yukon, has put the whole question of gold pros- 
 pects in Alaska beyond cavil or doubt with the masses, for the 
 coming close season at least. Much good advice will be given 
 — and wasted — before the ice moves in 1898 in the upper chan- 
 nels in the Alaskan rivers, but not a word of it, nor all of it 
 together will be potent to overcome the attraction there is in tiic 
 list of those who have washed fortunes out of the frozen Klon- 
 dike gravel. 
 
 That tons and more of new gold, a million and three-quarters 
 of dust and nuggets, that the Portland brought in July, m\(.l the 
 luen who had " struck it " who came with her, and the stories 
 they told of other lucky ones who were still washing away at 
 the auriferous soil — these things settled it. Alaska is I^ldorado 
 and the cry is " Klondike or Bust." 
 
 It seemed strange as the passengers landed from the Portland 
 to gaze upon a small satchel tightly grasped in a brown hand, 
 and realize that it contained probably ovrr 5io,(X)0, the reward 
 of untold hardship. The blanket securely strapped and the 
 leather gripsack seemed favorite packages for the yellow metal. 
 
 6 81 
 
 m. 
 
82 
 
 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 
 
 
 This time of '97, unlike all other times, Fortune played no 
 favorites. 1897 on the Klondike was the " tenderfoot's " yeat 
 for gold. The inexperienced men have been the lucky ones, 
 individuals in several instances taking out approximately $150,- 
 000 in two months and a half, while the old miners, after 
 spending years and suffering hardships and privations innumer- 
 able in the far Northwest, had only a few thousands to show for 
 all their pains and perils. 
 
 Clarence Berry's Strike. 
 
 Clarence J. Berry, of I'resno, California, was one of the luckiest 
 of the " tenderfeet ; " in fact, his strike was a proverb in the 
 entire region, and he is known among the Yukoncrs as " the 
 luckiest man on the Klondike," and tiie " Barney Barnato of the 
 Klondike," though he is unlike the South African Crcusus in all 
 but luck. A few years ago, Bcrrv said, he did not have enough 
 to pay house rent, and did not dare ask Ethel. Bush, of Fresno, 
 to share his poverty. But he brought back from the Klondike, 
 on the Portland, ;^i 30,000 in gold nuggets, and the prettiest wife 
 in the territory and a lulpmeet, too, for Mrs. Flhcl Ikrry, nee 
 Bush, didn't begin the honeymoon under the midnight sun by 
 asking her husband for pin-money. Not she. She just took a 
 pan and washed out ;i8 10,000 or so on her own account. 
 
 Clarence Berry was described by Mrs. Kli Gage, who was a 
 passenger with him and his wife on the Portland, as being " the 
 most modest millionaire," she ever saw. But he was willing to 
 talk Klondike after he had turned his dust and nuggets over to 
 Wells. Fargo & Co., at Seattle, on July 17th. 
 
 " Yes, I am a rich man," said he, " but I don't realize it. My 
 wife and little ones will, though, I took out my g;old last win- 
 ter in box lengths twelve by fifteen, and in one length I found 
 the sum of ^10,000. The second largest nugget ever found ia 
 
STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 
 
 8) 
 
 Alaska was taken out of my claim. It weighed thirteen ounces 
 and is worth 5230. Why, I have known men to takeout $1000 
 from a drift; claim, and some have taken out several thousand. 
 This gold was found in pockets, and it is not an ordinary thing 
 to make such marvelous finds. 
 
 " Yes, there is plenty more of gold there. I expect to take 
 many more thousands from my r'ltitn ; others on this boat expect 
 to do the same. Those who have i >oil claims will undoubtedly 
 be millionaires in a few years. The gold will not give out for a 
 long time. There is room f( • more miners in Alaska, but they 
 must be strong men, must have money, and should know about 
 mining. The hardships are man; , Some will fail to make for- 
 tunes, where a few arc successful. A man may have to prospect 
 for many years before he finds a good claim. That means tl/at 
 he needs money and strength to help him along ; but if he sticks 
 to it he will come out all right." 
 
 Captain McGregor's Big Pans. 
 
 Captain John G. McGregor, of Minneapolis, Minn , a placer 
 miner for thirty years, and one of the pioneers at Confederate 
 Gulch, Montana, has been in the Klondike a year. In August 
 he wrote home that his men were washing gravel that occasion- 
 ally goes $3000 to the pan, and that *$iooo is common. lie 
 has several miners working for him, and expects to bring out as 
 his own profits next June not less than $1,200,000. 
 
 Frank Phiscator, of Gallen, Indiana, came in on the Portland 
 with $50,000, which he washed out in forty days. He left 
 Indiana a year before for the Pacific Slope to begin life anew, 
 having failed in the frolt business. He had never heard of the 
 Alaska gold mines until he reached Seattle, which place he 
 reached "broke." He was grub-staked by a friend who went 
 through from Michigan with him, and together they started for 
 
 m 
 
 
 #: 
 
84 
 
 STRIKK ir RICH ON KLONDIKE. 
 
 
 
 ti 
 
 ! I .i 
 
 the new ICUlonido. l"'<>r days after the)' left Circle City they 
 were lost in a biindinj^'' storm, and for three days found refuge in 
 a liole in the hardened snow. They reached the Klondike in the 
 dead of winter, and when the weather moderated they were pre- 
 pared for business. In forty days they sluiced and washed out 
 ^125,000 of gold, of which Frank received as his share $50,000. 
 
 William Stalley and C. Wordcn were Phiscator's companions, 
 and they dividetl $75,000 between them. 
 
 William Sloane, a merchant of Nanaimo, B. C, went North 
 for pleasure one year ago. Me had no money. A friend in- 
 duced liim to go to Klondike. He came back with $52,000, 
 the amount he received for his claim. lie says he will not re- 
 turn, but advises others who want gold to go. 
 
 Dougal M'Arthur's Romance. 
 
 Young Dougal M 'Arthur came down from Klondike wiih 
 $25,000 in dust and a story no one could doubt. He said : 
 
 " I left the good ol<l country when a mere boy, determined, if 
 possible, to carve out a fortune for myself. Coming to America 
 I drifted from place to place with varying success and finally, six 
 years ago, determined to try my luck in Alaska. It was hard 
 working at first, but I soon got used to it, and I determined to 
 st;iy there until I struck something that would pay me for my 
 trouble. 
 
 " At rorty-milc camp I made some money and then I drifted 
 over to Circle City. There I did not do so well, but I kept peg- 
 ging away, believing like Micawber, that something would turn 
 up after a bit. Well, last f dl came the news of a tremendously 
 rich strike on the Klondike. We — that is, my partner, Neal 
 McArthur and myself — pulled up stakes and started for the new 
 discovery. Neal went ahead and was fortunate in locating a 
 good claim. My part of the work consisted in hauling our pro- 
 

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STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 
 
 85 
 
 visions and camping outfit over the snow and ice to the new 
 location. I was compelled to make two trips, and it was the 
 hardest work I ever did in my life. 
 
 " I reached Dawson City finally just two days before Christ- 
 mas. Xeal had prospected the claim and found it rich beyond 
 our fondest anticipations. Before we could begin work there 
 
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 D 
 
 Q 
 2 
 D 
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 O 
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 z 
 
 I— I 
 
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 D 
 
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 s 
 
 SCENE NEAR D.\WSON CITY. 
 
 was an offer to buy it and we sold out for $50,000. It was a 
 lucky turn of the wheel of fortune for us. Without practically 
 a stroke we cleaned up $25,000 apiece. 
 
 " Now we are going home to see our people. i\Iy own folks 
 have not heard from me in a long time, and maybe they think I 
 am dead. It will be a joyful home-coming for all." 
 
 W*, 
 
I 
 
 J 
 
 86 
 
 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 
 
 Ill 
 
 ii>' 
 
 :! 
 
 Among the first people to come back to civilization were Mr. 
 and Mrs, Lipton, who, though they had been at the diggings 
 only since April, 1896, returned with ;^6o,ooo. Most of the 
 party were " tenderfeet," and had spent but ont season at the 
 mines, yet some of them had taken out from ;^ 10,000 to $25,000 
 in a few weeks. In the nine miles advance up the Klondike, it 
 is said, tliere arc several mines that will yield over $1,000,000, 
 one piece of ground on the Eldorado, forty-five feet wide, having 
 yielded $90,000. The Beiry claim has produced $145,000 in a 
 few months, and there is a pile of gravel on the dump, ready to 
 be washed as soon as sufficient water can be obtained, which 
 contains as much more. 
 
 Sample " Piles " on the Portland. 
 
 Among the passengers on the Portland, July 1 7th, Clarence 
 Berry, Frank Phiscator, and Frank A. Kcllar, of Los Angeles, 
 each had from $35,000 to $100,000. Henry Anderson and Jack 
 Mordcn, of Chicago ; William Stanley, of Seattle ; and R. Mc- 
 Nulty and N. E. Pickett, each had at least $20,000. M. Mercer, 
 J. J. Hillerman, and J. Moran, had each from $12,000 to $1 5.000. 
 The average pile of dust on board the Portland was probably 
 $12,000, and these people, the captain said, are only a handful. 
 
 Michael Hickey, of Great Barrington, Mass., brought down 
 $60,000, which he had taken from Klondike placers in the last 
 eighteen months. Hickey is a widower. He left Great Barring- 
 ton for Alaska in the spring of 1 896. In his letters home he 
 has not complained about the hardships he has met. He spent 
 the winter of 1896-97 in the gold regions. 
 
 William Stanley, of Seattle, "struck it" rich. He came down 
 with $90,000. His two sons are in the Klondike, looking after 
 their claims, out of which they hope to make at least $300,000. 
 
 Henry Anderson, a native of Sweden, had no money when 
 
STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 
 
 87 
 
 he left Seattle two years ago. Now he has 1^45,000 and states 
 that he received it for a half interest in his claim. 
 
 Pack Home, a pugilist who use to work for variety theatres 
 on Puget Sound for ten dollars per week, displayed ;^6ooo, the 
 result of a year's work. 
 
 T. J. Kelly and son, of Tacoma, went north in the fall of 
 
 1896. The father brought back ;^ 10,000 and the son is holding 
 
 the claim. 
 
 Gold Breaks the Gripsack. 
 
 John Wilkinson, a passenger on the Portland, had his gold in 
 a leather gripsack, and in carrying it out of the social hall of the 
 steamer, in spite of the fact that he had three straps around the 
 bag, the main handle piece broke, and he had to secure a broader 
 strap before he could carry his treasure ashore. 
 
 Henry Anderson, another passenger, refused to talk, hurrying 
 aft to get away, but it was said by his companions that he 
 brought down 565,000, and that he had a claim like a river 
 of gold. He sold out a half interest for ;^45,ooo cash. In 
 six hours' shoveling he secured 1025 ounces from his claim. 
 
 Thomas Moran, of Montreal, brought out as the proceeds 
 of five years' work $20,000, and still has interests in several 
 claims. Moran will go back. Victor Lord, an old Olympia 
 logging man, brought out $10,000 after four years on various 
 parts of the Yukon. He owns a half interest in two claims, and 
 will return in the spring. M. N. Murcier, of Shelton, Mason & 
 Co., came out with about $160,000. 
 
 Among the passengers via the Portland were Fred. Price, 
 August Galbraith, L. B. Rhoads, Thomas Cook and Alexander 
 Orr. Each one had fron $5000 to $12,000. Joseph Ladue, 
 the owner of the townsitc of Dawson City, was also aboard. 
 Land is selling there, he reported, at $5000 a lot. 
 
 Fred. Price, v/ho brought out a snug fortune, said : " I was 
 
 I' 
 
88 
 
 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 
 
 Ii| 
 
 ii» 
 
 ii < 
 
 located on the Bonanza with Harry McCulIough, my partner. I 
 brought down $5000 in gold dust and made $20,000, which is 
 invested in more ground. There were good stakes on the boat 
 coming down — from $5000 to 1^40,000 among the boys. I 
 refused ;^25,ooo for my interest before I left. My partner 
 remains, and I shall return in the spring after seeing my family 
 in Seattle. I was in the mines for two years. One can't realize 
 the wealth of that creek. There are four miles of claims on the 
 Eldorado, and the poorest is worth $50,000. The Bonanza 
 claims run for ten miles, and range from $5000 to $90,000." 
 
 August Galbraith said : " The development of Alaska has 
 only just begun. If I were not an old man, I would have 
 remained where I was. There is no doubt in my mind that all 
 of the country for hundreds of miles around Dawson is rich in 
 gold. It is the best place that I know of for a poor man to go. 
 If a man has $300 when he starts, well and good, for it may be 
 useful if he should not be fortunate the first season." 
 
 ? 'I 
 
 i 
 
 J 
 
 II ' 
 
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 II I 
 ill 
 
 III 
 
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 nil 
 
 Mil 
 
 ill' 
 
 Rock Lined With Gold. 
 
 L. B. Rhoads said: "I am located on Claim 21, above the 
 discovery on Bonanza Creek. I did exceedingly well up there. 
 I was among the fortunate ones, as I cleared about $40,000, but 
 brought only $5000 with me. I was the first man to get to 
 bedrock gravel and to discover that it was lined with gold dust 
 and nuggets. The rock was seamed and cut in V-shaped 
 streaks, caused, it is supposed, by glacial action. 
 
 " In those seams I found a clay which was exceedingly rich. 
 There was a stratum of pay gravel four feet thick upon the rock, 
 which was lined with gold, particularly in these channels or 
 streaks. The rock was about sixteen feet from the surface." 
 
 Alexander Orr, who brought out $12,000 in dust, said: " In 
 vvinter the weather is extreu.ely cold at Dawson, and it is neces- 
 
STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 
 
 89 
 
 sary that one be warmly clad. The thermometer often goes 
 sixty or seventy degrees below zero. Ordinary woolen clothes 
 would afford little protection. Furs are used exclusively for 
 clothing. Dawson is not like most of the large mining camps. 
 It is not a " tough " town. Murders are almost unknown. A 
 great deal of gambling is done in the town, but serious quarrels 
 are an exception. Stud poker is the usual game. They play 
 $1 ante and oftentimes ;^20o or $500 on the third card." 
 
 Thomas Cook expressed himself as follows : " It's a good 
 country, but if there is a rush, there is going to be a great deal 
 of suffering. Over 2000 men are there at present, and 2cxx> 
 more will be in before the snow falls. I advise people to take 
 provisions enough for eight months at least. If they have that, 
 it is all right. The country is not exaggerated at all. The 
 mines at Dawson are more extensive and beyond anything I 
 ever saw." 
 
 William Sloan, of Nanaimo, B. C, sold his claim for ;^ 5 2,000 
 and came home to stay. A man named Wilkenson, of the same 
 place, had ;^40,ooo. 
 
 The smallest sack of gold among the Yukoners aboard the 
 Portland on July 17th was ;^3000. It belonged to C. A. 
 Branan, of Seattle, a youth of eighteen years. 
 
 Over 5>ioo,ooo for a Boy. 
 
 The richest strike was made by a twenty-one-year-old boy 
 named George Hornblower, of Indianapolis. In the heart of a 
 barren waste known as Boulder Field he found a nugget for 
 which the transportation company gave him 1^5700. He located 
 his claim at the find and in four months had taken out over 
 $100,000. 
 
 Henry Lamprecht wrote from the Klondike to say that there 
 are n.."les of rich pay dirt all through the region. Men have 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 "M 
 
90 
 
 STRIKE IT RICH 01^ KLONDIKE". 
 
 'ii 
 
 w 
 
 ■I * 
 
 taken a tub of water into their cabin and with a pan " panned 
 out " ;$2000 in less than a day. This is said to be equal to 
 about ;$40,ooo a day in the summer with sluice boxes. They 
 get from ;$io to ;gioo a pan average and a choice or picked pan 
 as high as ^250, and it takes about thirty minutes to wash a pan 
 of dirt. 
 
 Three hundred thousand dollars' worth of gold from the 
 Klondike found its way to Minnesota in the possession of Peter 
 Olafson and Charles Erickson, two Scandinavians, who returned 
 to Two Harbors after putting in five years in Alaska. 
 
 A little over five years ago the two men, aged twenty-seven 
 and thirty years, respectively, were employed in the blacksmith 
 shops of the Duluth and Iron Range "Railroad at Two Harbors. 
 They heard of the gold fields in Alaska and decided to go there 
 and seek a fortune. For three years they labored in vain, but 
 two years ago they discovered a rich placer bed on the Stewart 
 River, and later located claims on the Klondike. In the two 
 years they say they cleaned up 1^150,000 each. 
 
 A new mint record for one day's receipts at the San Francisco 
 Mint was made August 3d, when $3,775,000 in gold was 
 deposited at the branch mint for coinage. This represented the 
 accumulation of six weeks. Three-quarters of a million of this 
 was owned by the Alaska Commercial Company and was mainly 
 from the Klondike. A large portion of the balance was also 
 from the rich northern placers, and was deposited by various 
 miners and smelting companies to whom it had been sold. This 
 is said to be the largest sum deposited at a mint in a single day. 
 
 Allan McLeod's Big Stake. 
 
 Allan McLeod, of Perth, Scotland, came back with $92,500. 
 His hands and feet were tied up in bandages, and his clothing 
 was ragged and dirty as a result of a long sojourn in Alaska. 
 
 •■■t 
 
STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 
 
 01 
 
 He looked anything but prosperous, yet in liis pocket reposed a 
 draft for ;$92,500, and an attendant took care of a deer hide sack 
 heavy with gold nuggets. 
 
 Mr. McLeod is a baker by trade, a restaurant cook and pro- 
 prietor by circumstance, a gold miner by accident and a rich 
 man by luck. Inflammatory rheumatism, contracted in the gold 
 fields, made a temporary cripple of him and rendered his journey 
 painful, yet he had a light heart as he pictured the surprise he 
 would give his old friends in Scotland when he landed with his 
 
 treasure. 
 
 Sold Out For $5,000. 
 
 "I went to Alaska early last summer," said Mr. McLeod, 
 " with a crowd of miners who came up the Sound from San 
 Francisco. I was out of money and work, or I doubt whether 
 I would have accepted the offer they made me to go along as 
 cook. We reached Cook's Inlet June 20th, and things looked so 
 discouraging we went back to Juneau. There we bought sup- 
 plies and started for Dawson City, 750 miles away. We camped 
 there, and I did the cooking for the boys. They did very well, 
 but the gold fever took them farther east, and I remained to cook 
 for another gang of miners. I made good wages, and finall}' 
 had enough to start a restaurant. In two weeks I sold the place 
 for 1^5000, and went placer mining with a half-breed for a 
 partner. 
 
 " We had good luck from the start, and I would have remained 
 but for a severe attack of inflammatory rheumatism. It would 
 have killed me but for the nursing of my partner. He carried 
 me most of the way to Juneau, where I got passage on a fishing 
 schooner to 'Frisco. I am satisfied with what I've got in money, 
 and hope to get rid of my rheumatism before long. Great for- 
 tunes are being found by many men, and no one knows the ex- 
 tent of the gold fields that are constantly developing." 
 
 ^ 
 
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 92 
 
 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 
 
 A San Francisco j)aper, under date of July 23d, prints the fol- 
 lowing: 
 
 " Five French Canadians who were successful on the Klon- 
 dike, and are now bound for Montreal, are at the Commercial 
 Hotel in this city. They came from Seattle, having reached that 
 city by the steamei Portland. They could not get the prices for 
 their nuggets that they .vanted there, nor will they accept the bid 
 made by the Sclby smelting works in this city. As the San 
 Francisco mint is closed pending the change of administration, 
 these five miners will carry their bullion to Philadelphia and ex- 
 change it there for coin of the United States." 
 
 J. O. Hestwood Sees Millions. 
 
 J. O. Hestwood, of Seattle, is a typical returned Argonaut. 
 He is a small man, weighing not over 140 pounds, and has light 
 blue eyes, clear skin and a firm square jaw. He has been a 
 preacher, teacher and lecturer, having delivered lectures all over 
 the coast of Alaska to pay his way up there. He spent three 
 years in the territory before his great opportunity came. He 
 was at Glacier Creek when the news was brought down of the 
 immense strike in Bonanza Creek. Here is his story in his own 
 words, which give an admirable idc?^ of the way the mines are 
 worked : 
 
 "With hundreds I rushed to the new fields. After a few days 
 I became disgusted and started to leave the country. I had 
 gone only a short distance down the river when my boat got 
 stuck in the ice and I was forced to foot it back to Dawson 
 City. 
 
 "Well, it was Providence that did that. I purchased claim 
 No. 60, below Discovery claim, and it proved one of the richest 
 pieces of ground in the district. My claim will average 16 or 17 
 dollars to the pan, and in addition to what I have already taken 
 
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STRIKE ir RICH ON KLONDIKK. 
 
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 out, there is at least 5- 50,000 in sij^Oit. Last season I workeu 
 thirty men, and I inteml to employ more next year," 
 
 B. \\\ Shaw, a former insurance man of Se.ittle, writing; from 
 Klondike, says he does not expect to be believed when he says 
 he counted five five-gallon oil cans full of gold dust in one 
 cabin, the result of a 
 winter's work by two 
 men. He adds that 100 
 ounces have been taken 
 out of a single pan, 
 
 William Kulju sold 
 his claim for $25,000, 
 brought down 1000 
 ounces of dust and 
 started home for Fin- 
 land, 
 
 Fred, Lendescen went 
 to Alaska two years ago, 
 and in July brought 
 down $13,000 in dust, 
 besides having an in- 
 terest in a claim. 
 
 Greg Stewart sold his 
 
 share in 
 $45,000, 
 
 a claim for 
 
 ONE OF THE FIRST SETTLERS. 
 
 'ihomas Flack brought along $6000 in dust - for expenses, 
 and said he had refused $50,000 for his share of a claim, out 
 of which his partners realized, respecti^'ely, $50,000 and $55,000. 
 
 J, B. Hollingshcad had $25,000 in dust to show for two years' 
 work. 
 
 M. S. Norcross said : " I was sick and couldn't work, so I 
 cooked for Mr, McNamee, Still I had a claim on the Bonanza, 
 

 
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 ,liy|l ll !ili!l l ,|IWJI,!l l llH. !l 
 
 Ea 
 
 
 S M 
 
 94 
 
 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 
 
 but didn't know what was in it because I couldn't work it. 1 
 sold out last .sprini^ for $io,ooo, and was satisfied to get a chance 
 to return to my home in Los Angeles." 
 
 John Marks reported thus about his " pile : " "I brought 
 i& 1 1,500 in gold dust with me, but I had to work for every bit 
 of it. There is plenty of gold in Alaska — more, I believe, than 
 the most sanguine imagine — but it cannot be obtained without 
 great effort and endurance." 
 
 This is Talbot Fox's story : " I and my partner went into the 
 district in 1895 and secured two claims. We sold one for 
 ;$45,ooo. I brought 300 ounces, which netted ^5000. Every- 
 body is at Dawson for the present. The district is apt to be 
 overrun. I wouldn't advise anyone to go there this fall, for 
 people are liable to go hungry before spring. About 800 went 
 over the summit from Juneau, 600 miles, so there may not 
 be food enough for all." 
 
 Riches on the American Side. 
 
 F. G. II. Bowker, a Yukoner of six months' standing, brought 
 out ;jg40,000 and the information that the placers were richer on 
 the American than on the Canadian side of the boundary line. 
 
 Wonderful tales are told of the great richness of the Klondike 
 placers. More than one man reports having obtained ;;iiooo 
 from a single pan washing, while reports of yields of $500 and 
 $600 to the pan are numerous. An ordinary pan of gravel will 
 weigh twenty-five pounds and a yield of $1000 worth of gold 
 means sixty-two ounces, or nearly one-sixth of the entire bulli 
 in precious metal. The average is said to be fifty dollars to the 
 pan, and this is phenomenal when it is taken into consideration 
 that the California pan washer was well pleased with a aniforni 
 product of three dollars to a washing, and could niakv money 
 with a yield running as low as fifty cents. With thi.i kind of 
 
STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 
 
 95 
 
 field to work in, it is small wonder that claim-holders gladly pay 
 fifteen dollars a day for common labor, and arc un:iblo to get 
 anything like a fair supply at that. It is only men who are 
 " broke" who are willmg to work for wages. 
 
 Fever Strikes the Navy. 
 
 Lieutenant John Bryan, of Lexington, who is on the revenue 
 cutter Rush, stationed at Unalaska, Alaska, watching the seal 
 fisheries, writes under date of July 9th to relatives in Kentucky 
 that the Alaska gold fields are not overestimated. I) - says tlie 
 placer mining is in the old bed jf i'hc Yukon River. He says : 
 
 " You dig no deeper than fifccen feet into the rivei bed when 
 you strike a strata of pure gold nuggets among the stones. 
 There are eighty claims already taken, each 5,000 feet long and 
 the width of the river bed. 
 
 " The great obstacle in reaching the gold field;; is the uncom- 
 fortable mode of travel. Steamers go no further than the mouth 
 of the Yukon, and you have to walk the 1000 miles or pay the 
 extraA'agant fare asked by the company, which runs a small boat 
 up the river and finally lands you near the gold fields. 
 
 "All who are fortunate enough to r:ach the counti/ arc cer- 
 tain to find employment, even if they do not strike a claim, 
 which at present they could avoid only b}' not looking for it. 
 The poorest miners will pay fifteen dollars a day for help op 
 their claims, but it will cost five dollars per day to live unless 
 you take your provisions with you." 
 
 The Ueutenant says he has the gold fever bad!} , and if it wert, 
 not for the fact that he is in the government scr\i(.e he would go 
 to the new Eldorado. 
 
 The Toronto Globe says editorially of the Klondike situation : 
 
 " While there is probably much exaggeration in the stories 
 that are brought back from the Yukon, it is only necessary to 
 
 %' 
 
^f 
 
 I h'i 
 
 96 
 
 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 
 
 iii 
 
 read the cali.i official reports of Mr. Ogilvic, the wcll-lciiown 
 officer of the Gcoloj^ncal Survey, to realize that it is equally 
 possible that there is no exaggeration in them at all. Mr. Ogil- 
 vie's notes read like passages from Monte Cristo. Writing on 
 December 9, 1 896, he said : ' Bonanza Creek and tributaries are 
 increasing in richness and extent until now it is certain that mil- 
 lions will be taken out of the district in the next few years. On 
 some of the claims prospected the pay dirt is of great extent 
 and very rich. One man told me yesterday that he had washed 
 out a single pan of dirt on one of the claims on Bonanza and 
 found fourteen dollars and twenty-five cents. Of course that 
 may be an exceptionally rich pan, but five to seven dollars per 
 pan is the average on that claim it is reported, with five feet of 
 pay dirt and the width yet undetermined ; but it is known to be 
 thirty feet even at that ; figure the result at nine to ten pans to 
 the cubic foot, and 500 feet long — nearly ;^4,ooo,ooo at five 
 dollars per pan. One-fourth of this would be enormous. 
 Another claim has been prospected to such an extent that it is 
 known there is about five feet pay dirt averaging two dollars per 
 pan, and width not less than thirty fi:ct. L^nough prospecting 
 has been done to show that there are at least fifteen miles of this 
 extraordinary richness, and the indications are that we will have 
 three or four times that extent, if not all equal to the above, at 
 least very rich.' " 
 
 V 1 
 •r 
 
 Captain McGregor's Story. 
 
 Captain John G. McGregor, of Minnesota, went into Alaska 
 la'^t March, and the last of letters to his relatives came from the 
 land of gold June 14th. This was before the rush of the fortune 
 hunters had begun or before, in fact, much was known of the 
 Dawson City diggings. Notwithstanding that fact, the letter 
 contains estimates of wealth which distance far and away any of 
 
STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 
 
 97 
 
 the hitherto published accounts of the yield from Alaska's glit- 
 tering sands. 
 
 " We have washed ;$3000 to a single pan," says the captain, 
 in one of his letters. This is almost incredible. It would be 
 quite so in fact were it not for his well-known reputation. He 
 has been a mining expert for thirty years, and much of that time 
 has been engaged in the very work he is now doing — placer 
 mining. 
 
 Up to date the world's record has been $1000 a pan. This 
 was in Montana at Montana Bar. There was a group of prop- 
 erties in what was known as the Confederate Gulch, and every 
 100 feet for half a mile along the shore produced $1000 a pan 
 for every washing. The year was 1868. Captain McGregor 
 owned those properties then, and does now, so that in the present 
 instance his word must command a good deal of respect on that 
 
 ground alone. 
 
 Results of Prospects. 
 
 His attention was directed to the Yukon valley basin some 
 time ago, and a year ago last March he sent two m(;n who had 
 been in his pay for a number of years out to prospect. He 
 heard from them from time to time, but the message he waited 
 for did not come until last March. Then the word he received 
 caused him to form a party immediately. He had had his prep- 
 arations all planned, and within a very short time was breasting 
 the mountain snows in the Chilkoot pass. He could not wait for 
 the warm season, and made the trip successfully, though at the 
 expense of considerable suffering by members of his expedition. 
 On his arrival he immediately assumed charge at the claims 
 which had been located and staked out by his men, with the 
 result that he uncovered the tremendously rich find he reports. 
 
 Captain McGregor began his prospecting immediately after the 
 war. He came into control of the Confederate Gulch properties 
 
 7 
 
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 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 
 
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 shortly after his start, and most of the gold taken out was 
 washed under his direct management. The gulch was then 500 
 miles from the borders of civilization, and each installment of 
 the yellow stuff had to be escorted down to the railroad by 
 armed bodies of 200 or 300 men. The metal was packed in 
 beer kegs and so carried without trouble. 
 
 The captain is a Scotchman and has all the caution and con- 
 servatism characteristic of the nationality. Coming from such a 
 source, the character of his statement is far superior to the 
 report which might be brought from some prospector or from 
 entirely irresponsible parties. Captain McGregor has had men 
 in his employ and prospecting var'cus regions since the seventies. 
 He is now looking for quartz, and will undoubtedly, later on, 
 place himself at the head of some very important deep-earth 
 operations. 
 
 Placer mining will pay when not more than twenty-five cents 
 
 is realized on a pan. The operation is very generally familiar, 
 
 iven to those who know nothing about mining. The earth 
 
 Abashed in the Confederate Gulch was so dazzlingly heavy with 
 
 gold that it seemed as if it were nearly pure, so it can be 
 
 imagined what description the wash from the Klondike soil must 
 
 take on. 
 
 How Berry Got His Stake. 
 
 Clarence Berry, the " Barney Barnato " of the Klondike, tells 
 a thrilling story of his experience. 
 
 Berry was a fruit raiser in the southern part of California. He 
 did not have any money. There was no particular prospect that 
 he would ever have any. He saw a life of hard plodding for a 
 bare living. There was no opportunity at home of getting 
 ahead, and, like other men of the far West, he only dreamed of 
 the day when he would make a strike and get his million. This 
 was three years ago There had then come down from the 
 
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 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 
 
 frozen lands of Alaska wonderful stories of rewards for men 
 brav'e enough to run a fierce ride with death from starvation and 
 cold. He had nothing to lose; and all to gain. He concluded 
 to face the danger. His capital was forty dollars. He proposed 
 to risk it all — not very much to him now, but a mighty sight 
 three years ago. It took all but five dollars to get him to 
 Juneau. He had two big arms, the physique of a giant and 
 the courage of an explorer. Presenting all these as his only 
 collaterals, he managed to squeeze a loan of sixty dollars from a 
 man who was afraid to go with him, but was willing to risk a 
 little in return for a promise to pay back the advance at a fabu- 
 lous rate of interest. 
 
 Jun-^au was alive with men three years ago who had heard 
 from the Indians the yarns of gold without limit. The Indians 
 brought samples of the rock and sand and did well in trading 
 them. A party of forty men banded to go back with the 
 Indians, l^erry was one of the forty. Each had an outfit — a 
 year's mess of frozen meat and furs. It was early spring when 
 the first batch of prospectors started out over the mountains, 
 and the snow was as deep as the cuts in the sides of the hills, 
 the natives packed the stuff to the top of Chilkoot pass. It 
 was life and death every day. The men were left one b}' one 
 
 along the cliffs. 
 
 Disaster to the Outfit. 
 
 The timid turned back. The whole outfit of supplies went 
 down in Lake Bennett. The forty men had dwindled to three 
 — Eerry and two others. The others chose to make the return 
 trip for more food. Berry wanted gold. He borrowed a chunk 
 of bacon and pushed on. He reached Forty Mile Creek within 
 a month. There was not a cent in his pocket. The single 
 chance for him was work with those more jDrosperous. His pay 
 was 5ioo a month. It was not enough, and, looking for better 
 
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STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 
 
 101 
 
 pay, he drifted fron one end of the gulch to the other, always 
 keeping his shrewcd eye open foi a chance to fix a claim of his 
 own. There was a slump in the prospects of the district and 
 he concluded to go back to the world. 
 
 The slump was not the only 
 reason. There was a young 
 woman back in Fresno who 
 had promised to be his wife. 
 Berry came from the hidden 
 world without injury and Miss 
 l-:thcl D. Bush kept her 
 pledge. They were married. 
 
 Berry told his bride about 
 the possibilities of Alaska. She 
 was a girl of the mountains. 
 She said she had not married 
 him to be a drawback, but a 
 companion. If he intended 
 or wanted to go back to the 
 I'^ldorado, she proposed to go 
 with him. She reasoned that 
 he would do better to have 
 her at his side. His pictures 
 of the dangers and hardships had no effect upon her. It 
 was her duty to face as much as he was willing to face. 
 They both decided it was worth the try — success at a bound 
 rather than years of common toil. Berry declared he knew 
 exactly where he could find a fortune. Mrs. Berry convinced 
 him that she would be worth more to him in his venture than 
 any man that ever lived. Furthermore, the trip would be a bridal 
 tour which would certainly be new and far from the beaten tracks 
 of sighing lovers. 
 
 A MINER IN HARD LUCK. 
 
 U 
 
 
 % ,4-. 
 
T 
 
 102 
 
 STRIKJE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Berry reached Juneau in May, 1896. They had 
 little capital but lots of determination. They took the boat to 
 Dyea, and the rest of the journey was made with dogs. They 
 slept on a bed of boughs under a tent. They reached Forty- 
 Mile Creek a year ago in June, three months after they were 
 married. They called it their wedding trip. 
 
 Off for the Discovery. 
 
 Klondike was still a good way off, and it was thought at rirst 
 that the claims closer at hand would pay. One day a miner 
 came tearing into the settlement with most wonderful tales of the 
 region further on. His descriptions were like fairy tales from 
 "Arabian Nights " — accounts fitting accurately the scenes in 
 spectacular plays, where the nymph or queen of fairy land bids 
 her slaves to pick up chunks of gold as big as the crown of a 
 hat. Berry told the tale to his wife. She said she would stay 
 at the post while he went to the front. There was no rest that 
 night in the camp. Men were rushing out pellmell, bent on 
 nothing but getting first into the valley of the Klondike and 
 establishing claims. Mrs. Berry worked with lier husband with 
 might and main, and before daylight he was on the road over 
 the pass. There were fifty long miles between him and fortune, 
 and he worked without sleep or rest to beat the great field 
 which started with him. He made the track in two days. He 
 was among the first in. He staked Claim 40, above the Dis- 
 covery; which means that his property was the fortieth one 
 above the first Aladdin. It was agreed that each claim should 
 have 500 feet on the river — the Bonanza. This was the begin- 
 ning of Berry's fortune. He then began to trade for interests in 
 other sites. He secured a share in three of the best on Eldorado 
 Creek. There is no one living who can tell how much this 
 property is worth. It has only been worked in the crudest way. 
 
STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 
 
 103 
 
 yet five months netted him cnougli to make him a rich man the 
 rest of his life. There are untold and inestimable millions where 
 the small sum from the top was taken. 
 
 Berry gives all the credit of his fortune to his young wife. It 
 was possible for her to have kept him at home, after the first 
 trip. She told him to return — and she returned with him. It 
 was an exhibition of rare courage, but rare courage rarely idils. 
 The wedding trip lasted about fifteen months. Berry says it was 
 worth $1,000,000 a month. This estimate is one measured in 
 cold cash — not sentiment. 
 
 One day while they were working the claim on Eldorado 
 Creek, Mr. and Mrs. Berry gathered ;^S95 from a single pan of 
 dirt. This dust they have saved in a pan by itself. 
 
 Mrs. C. C. Adams' Letter. 
 
 Mrs. Chester C. Adams, who went from Tacoma to Dawson 
 City last April, writing under date of June 17th, says that miners 
 were then coming into Dawson City daily with all the gold dust 
 they could carry. It was considered a small matter to have 100 
 pounds. Many were bringing this amount in as a result of seven 
 or eight months' working of claims on shares. 
 
 Other men brought to Dawson from 200 to 500 pounds of 
 gold dust, and Mrs. Adams makes the startling statement that one 
 man had brought in 1300 pounds, which would amount to over 
 ;^ 2 50,000. 
 
 Her husband estimated that the steamer then loading at Daw- 
 son would take over $2,000,000 to St. Michael's, from which 
 point it will be brought out by the steamers Portland and Excel- 
 sior on their next trips down. They are due between August 1 5th 
 and September ist. 
 
 Mrs. Adams declares the whole truth regarding Klondike has 
 not been told and cannot be, because people would not believe 
 
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 < 18 
 
 m^ 
 
104 
 
 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 
 
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 I i 
 
 it. She tells of new discoveries this spring on the Stewart River 
 and Henderson Creek and the creeks emptying into them. 
 
 High water had prevented complete prospecting, but when she 
 wrote it was known that some dirt considerably above bed rock 
 would run $io and $12 per pan. Bed rock cannot be reached 
 until winter. 
 
 Miners are also preparing to do more thorough work on 
 Chicken, Mastodon, Miller, American, Last Chance and other 
 creeks, on which men formerly took out as high as $30 per ilay 
 each. These creeks were deserted by last fall's rush to the 
 Klondike. 
 
 When she wrote new creeks were being found and prospected 
 in all directions from Dawson, and every day witnessed a stam- 
 pede of men to one or another of them. 
 
 She speaks of an overland trip as one of pleasure rather than 
 hardship when properly made. 
 
 Ship Gold in Barrels. 
 
 Warren Shea, of New Whatcom, Wash., a reputable and re- 
 liable man, writes from Klondike to his brother, S. Shea, of New 
 Whatcom, and says the next boat to leave the gold field will 
 bring out dust and nuggets in barrels. 
 
 Two days after the boat that brought out the miners, who 
 arrived on Puget Sound -'.board the steamer Portland, left Daw- 
 son City one of the largest stores at that place was closed and 
 the building was turned into a gold packing warehouse. So 
 great a quantity of gold was offered for shipment that it was 
 decided to pack it in barrels holding about twenty-two gal- 
 lons. 
 The barrels have heretofore been used for packing salt fish. 
 
 An interesting letter from Captain J. F. Higgins, of the steamer 
 Excelsior, describing his last voyage to Alaska, is as follows : 
 
 "Kl 
 ous otl 
 long. 
 
STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 
 
 105 
 
 " Bonanza Creek dumps into Klondike about two miles above 
 the Yukon. 
 
 "Eldorado is a tributary of the r)onanza. There arc numer- 
 ous other creeks anc' .ributaries, the main river being 300 miles 
 long. 
 
 PUGET SOUND AND MT. RAINER. 
 
 "The gold so far has been ^-^ 
 taken from Bonanza and Eldo- 
 rado creeks, both well named, for '^ 
 the richness of the placers is 
 truly marvelous. 
 
 "The Eldorado, thirty miles long, is staked the whole length, 
 and as far as worked has paid. 
 
 "Each claim is 500 feet long and is worth half a million. 
 
 "So uniform has the output been that one miner, who has an 
 interest in three claims, told me that if offered his choice he 
 would toss up to decide. One of our passengers, who is taking 
 $1000 with him, has worked 100 feet of his ground and refused 
 
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106 
 
 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 
 
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 $200,000 for the remainder, and confidently expects to clean up 
 $400,000 and more. 
 
 '* He has in a bottle $212 from one pan of dirt. 
 
 " His pay dirt while being washed averaged ;$2 50 an hour to 
 each man shoveling in. 
 
 " Two others of our miners who worked their own claims 
 cleaned up $6000 from the day's washing. 
 
 "There is about fifteen feet of dirt above bed rock, the pay 
 streak averaging from four to six feet, which is tunneled out 
 while the ground is frozen. 
 
 " Of course the ground taken out is thawed by building fires, 
 and when the thaw comes and water rushes in they set their 
 sluices and wash the dirt. 
 
 Sold Out for $45,000. 
 
 "Two of our fellows thought a small bird in the hand worth 
 ? large one in the bush and sold their claims for ;$45,ooo, getting 
 1^4500 down, the remainder to be paid in monthly installments 
 of ;^ 1 0,000 each. 
 
 " The p irchascrs had no more than $5000 paid. They were 
 twenty days thawing and getting out dirt. 
 
 "Then there was no water to sluice with, but one fellow made 
 a rocker, and in ten days took out the $10,000 for the first 
 instalinicnts. So, tunneling and rocking, they took out $40,000 
 before there was water to sluice with. 
 
 "Of course these things read like the story of Aladdin, but 
 fiction is not at all in it with facts at Klondike. 
 
 " The ground located and prospected can be worked out in a 
 few years, but there is still an immense territory untouched, and 
 the laboring man who can get there with one year's provisions 
 will have a better chance to make a stake than in any other part 
 of the world." 
 
 
STRIKE IT RICH ON FLONDIKE. 
 
 107 
 
 W. F. Parish, of Chicago, has received from a business asso- 
 ciate in Spokane, Wash.. H. D. Heacoc a, a letter written to the 
 latter by J. F. Wallace, dated Klondike, Northwest Territory, 
 May 14th. It is as follows : 
 
 " I have been here a month or so. There is ?. placer mining 
 camp, discovered last summer and supposed to be as rich as 
 Alder Gulch in Montana. They have got as much as $800 to 
 a pan, and will have out over $2,000,000 this winter. There are 
 three creeks known to be good. Eldorado is the richest, there 
 being four miles without a blank claim, and all selling from 
 ;^ 50,000 to ;$ 1 00,000 each. Some will not sell at any price. It 
 is in British territory, fifty mUcs above Forty Mile Post, on the 
 bank of the Yukon River. Mostly every one has left Circle 
 City and come up on the ice. During the winter provisions 
 were scarce. Boats did not get up hcie last fall on account oi 
 the ice. Flour was ;^i.30per pound, bacon $1.50 per pound, 
 shovels, $20 each. Dogs sold for $200 and $300 each for 
 freighting. Freight cost $1 per pound from Circle City here. 
 Wages are $15 per day. Lumber is $600 per 1000 feet at the 
 mines. Mines are from five to twenty miles from Dawson City, 
 situated at the mouth of the Klondike. Claims are 500 feet in 
 length. Ground frozen from top to bottom and has to be thawed 
 with fire. Mostly drifting diggings about twenty feet deep. 
 Some twenty or thirty claims will open from top. I did not get 
 here in time to locate, so I am still a prospector. Very mild 
 winter ; only seventy-four below zero the coldest. River frozen 
 yet, but expect it to break almost any day." 
 
 'f 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 It 
 
 ¥ 
 
 Inspector Strickland's Report. 
 
 A special from Rcgina, Northwest Territory, says : " Inspector 
 Strickland, of the Northwest mounted police arrived here last 
 night from the Yukon. 
 
108 
 
 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 
 
 W i 
 
 i ^ 1 
 
 !k H 
 
 " Mr. Strickland docs not believe the story of ;?^2 50,000 having 
 been made there by any one man, but says the most liberal truths 
 read like fairy tales. It is hard to say just what is being made. 
 The miners are reticent about their earnings. He says that 
 miners who have come out and staked claims this year, number- 
 ing about 100, have taken or sent away sums varying from $5000 
 to 1^50,000 each, and have kept back considerable sums for 
 development and other investments. Miners from California, 
 Au.stralia and South Africa say that nothing in the world has 
 been struck as rich 
 
 " Inspector Strickland says that if the country fills up as 
 rapidly as it is doing, the two trading companies will not be able 
 to supply food for the inhabitants. Provision^ are not so dear 
 as might be expected : Flour is ;$I2 a hundred ; bacon 40 cents 
 a pound ; canned meats 75 cents and $1, and cariboo and moose 
 flesh is sold by the Indians at 50 cents a pound. Inspector 
 Strickland strongly recommends that no person should go out 
 to the Yukon district without taking with him a year's food, as 
 well as some money, because paying claims are not always found 
 immediately, and there is the long and hard work of building a 
 home. He says that mining is not a picnic. All is hard work, 
 "'''^ood is scarce and requires a great deal of labor. The climate 
 ^ ' ealthy and there is very little sickness. The chief complaints 
 ■.e scurvy, kidney trouble, and rheumatism. 
 
 " Though the winter is eight months long, it is only three weeks 
 
 that the sun is not seen. Miners' wages are fifteen dollars a day, 
 
 but this rate will fall soon if the present rush continues from the 
 
 Pacific coast." 
 
 Finds No Hard Times. 
 
 J. P. Staley, who is working a claim on Bonanza Creek, wrote 
 to C. P. Enright, of Oilman, Ills., as follows : 
 
 "There is no doubt this is the best place to make money in 
 
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STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 
 
 109 
 
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 the world. Sell out and come here. We need live business 
 men. Flour is $ 1 2 a hundred, bacon 40 cents a pound, sugar 
 25 cents a pound, rice 25 cents a pound, any kind of dried fruit 
 25 cents a pound. All kinds of canned fruit, 75 cents a can. 
 Bring fur moccasins with you. They will fetch from $15 to $2$ 
 a pair. 
 
 " Brother Dan and I are working in a mine, or rather in a bed 
 of a creek. We are getting $ 1 5 a day each for ten hours, and it 
 is thought wages will be $25 a day during the winter. It takes 
 about $600 a year each for provisions, blankets, gloves, mocca- 
 sins, etc. We expect to remain here all winter. It is too long 
 a trip to lose the chance of making a stake by refusing to stay. 
 
 " Everbody is pleased with the country. There are no hard 
 times. All have buckskin socks, containing more or less gold 
 dust. There is no other kind of money. 
 
 "During June and the first days of July it was very hot, but 
 under the moss, which is eight inches thick, solid ice is encoun- 
 tered. It has not been dark for over a month, and will not be 
 until the last of September. It is possible to read any time du- 
 ring the twenty-four hours. The sun goes behind the moun- 
 tains about 10.30 p. m. and comes up about i a. m. Old-timers 
 say the winters are not so bad even if the thermometer goes 
 down to 70 degrees below zero. There is no wind. All dress 
 in fur clothing. 
 
 "I expect to work a claim on shares this week and will make 
 plenty of money. No matter how big the stories are you hear 
 of this place they are not big enough. I have received but one 
 letter from home. It was forty-three days on the way." 
 
 Go to Work for Wages. 
 
 Two other letters from men who found it necessary to resort 
 to day labor at the start are interesting reading. 
 
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110 
 
 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 
 
 
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 Hart Humber, a young man who left Rossland, B. C, early 
 last spring and arrived at Dawson City, Northwest Territory, on 
 June 9th, over the Chilkoot Pass route, writes the following : 
 
 " Dawson City, N. W. T., June 18, 1897. — Friend Charlie: 
 After leaving Dyca we had a trip full of hairbreadth escapes and 
 arrived at Dawson City on June 9th. 
 
 " I will start to work to-morrow morning at ;^i.50 per hour. 
 I will work with pick and shovel about three weeks, and will 
 then have a better job with the same outfit and will get an ounce 
 of gold per day ($17). 
 
 " There are at least fifty people going out on the boat to-mor- 
 row, who are *-aking out all the way from ;^ 10,000 to ;^ 100,000. 
 
 " This is undoubtedly the richest placer camp ever struck. 
 The diggings are fifteen miles from Dawson. One Montana 
 man took ;^96,ooo out of forty-five square feet, another took 
 1^130,000 out of eighty-five square feet, and there are many 
 more strikes equally as rich." 
 
 Klondike Will Kill Bryan. 
 
 Lewis W. Anderson, a Tacoma machinist, wrote this to his 
 wife : 
 
 " I have been here a little more than two months and have 
 alrei'-dy secured a quarter interest in a claim for which I have 
 been offered 1^26,000, but out of which I expect to make as my 
 part more than $100,000 in the next year. This for us, you 
 know, is a big thing, and yet there are dozens of men who are 
 making ten times as much. 
 
 " When I arrived my money had almost given out. I had 
 only $31 left, so I worked ten days at sawing lumber at 1^15 per 
 day to get a start. Nothing like this has ever been heard of in 
 the world. Money, that is gold dust, is almost as plentiful as 
 watei There are many hardships to be endured, but I expect 
 
STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 
 
 Ill 
 
 to return to Tacoma next year safe and sound with lots of 
 money. 
 
 " Tell Henry that we will have to change our politics, because 
 the Klondike will kill Bryan and the silver question and the 
 money power of Wall Street will try to demonetize gold. The 
 gold that will come out of here inside of two or three years 
 will make Wall Street more anxious to demonetize gold than it 
 ever was to demonetize silver." 
 
 But in spite of this long list, at best only partial, of men and 
 women who have " struck it rich," there is another side to the 
 question, and fairness towards the reader demands it to have a 
 showing. Let it speak for itself. 
 
 Kestwood Tells of Drawbacks. 
 
 J. O. Hestwood, who brought a small fortune with him to 
 Seattle, in an article telegraphed from Seattle to the Nciv York 
 World, says : 
 
 " Modern or ancient history records nothing so -ich in extent 
 as the recent discoveries of gold on the tributaries of the Yukon 
 River. The few millions of dollars recently turned into the 
 banks and smelters of Seattle and San Francisco from the Klon- 
 dike district is but a slight indication of what is to follow in the 
 near future. When we consider the fact that there is scarcely a 
 shovelful of soil in Alaska and the Northwest Territory that 
 does not yield grains of gold in appreciable quantities, who can 
 compute the value of the golden treasure that the great country 
 will yield in the next few years ? 
 
 " The Yukon River, which forms a great artery flowing 
 !.lirough this frozen, rock-ribbed region for 2600 miles, seems 
 to be a providential highway, opened up for the pioneer gold 
 hunters and their followers, who are numbered by thousands 
 yearly. There is room in that country for 100,000 miners f(^r 
 
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 112 
 
 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 
 
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 TOO years. I do not make this statement from what some one 
 
 else has told mc, or from what I have read. I speak from 
 
 actual experience in that land of gold. I have traveled over her 
 
 rivers of ice and mountains of snow in the springtime for three 
 
 years. 
 
 Perils of the Trail. 
 
 " Four years ago last May, when I first went into that country, 
 little was known of its wonderful possibilities. With a heavy 
 outfit strapped to the backs of Indians, squaws and dogs, I 
 struggled over the trail from Dyea, on the southern coast of 
 Alaska, to Sheep camp, twelve miles distant, which was my first 
 camping place. 
 
 " The softening snow, under the sun's hot rays, rendered 
 traveling difficult, and it was a pitiable sight to watch the half- 
 starved, half-clothed Indians struggling along with their heavy 
 burdens on their backs, climbing the mountain side, frequently 
 breaking through drifted snow and being buried almost out of 
 sight ; wading icy streams, falling trom foot logs and enduring 
 hardships from which death would seem a welcome relief. 
 
 "The endurance of these Indians, or human beasts of burden, 
 was a constant surprise to me. I remember one young buck 
 whose smallest load was 1 50 pounds. His wife was a young 
 squaw, who, with seventy-five pounds strapped to her back and 
 a four-weeks-old child in her arms, struggled up the Chilkoot 
 Pass, where the declivity was so steep that we. were compelled 
 to dig steps in the ice and snow in order to make the ascent. 
 One poor old Indian, I remember, had but half a dozen small 
 cawdle fish and one grouse to subsist on for three days. 
 
 "We were landed on the summit of Chilkoot Pass, 4100 feet 
 above the sea level, at Dyea, in the midst of a terrific snow storm, 
 such as takes place frequently in this pass in the spring of the 
 year, endangering the lives of many who attempt going ovef 
 
it 
 
 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 
 
 113 
 
 it. The blinding snow rendered it dangerous in the ex- 
 treme to attempt the descent from the mountain toward Lake 
 Linderman, the headwaters of the Yukon River, To make 
 matters worse, the clouds settled down on the mountain top, 
 and we dared not leave the camp for more than a few hundred 
 feet for fear we might lose our footing and be plunged over a 
 precipice or into some yawning chasm in the mountain. A mis- 
 step meant death. 
 
 Among the Awful Glaciers. 
 
 '* We took shovels and dug a hole in the ice and snow and 
 spread a tent over it, placing sacks of provisions on the tent to 
 weigh it down so the fierce wind would not carry it away. Our 
 supper consisted of a cup of tea and a few crumbs of bread. 
 Great glaciers were sleeping all around us, but there was little 
 sleep for the weary travelers that night. The glaciers, however, 
 .seemed to be endowed with life and fits of wakefulness, for every 
 now and then we would hear a crackling sound, followed by a 
 noise as of crashing thunder, and 10,000 tons of sleeping giants 
 would be precipitated from the mountain heights and shattered 
 into icy diamonds to feed the roaring torrents in the chasm 
 below. 
 
 " Morning broke bright and clear. There was no wood on 
 the mountain top, and we were compelled to chop up a^ sled for 
 fuel. This was expensive. We tried to breakfast on a pot of 
 half-cooked beans and a little coffee, which would freeze at the 
 slightest provocation. Two sleds were then loaded with pro- 
 visions and started down the mountain. They went with a 
 velocity as if fired from a cannon until they struck the ice in 
 Crater Lake, three-quarters of a mile below. After that every 
 foot of the ground we gained was by the most excruciating 
 labor a human being can be subjected to. 
 
 " Two weeks were consumed in reaching Lake Linderman, 
 8 
 
 I 
 
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 ^R-' 
 
114 
 
 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 
 
 1 r 
 
 rleven miles farther on. Another week had passed before a 
 boat was comj^Icted with which we could make our way down 
 the river. While in camp at Lake Lindcrman one of the party 
 injured his knee, and three times a hunting knife had to be 
 brought into rcqui.sition and incisions made. Only after the 
 most careful nursing was he able to proceed on the journey. 
 Men are often taken with snow blindness in that country and lie 
 helpless for days in their tents, unable to cook enough to sus- 
 tain life. If deserted by their companions in this condition their 
 
 fate is sealed. 
 
 On to Forty Mile. 
 
 " From this point we encountered few difficulties in the way of 
 river transportation until we reached Forty Mile, which is located 
 where the 141st meridian crosses the Yukon. Between Marsh 
 Lake and Lake Lebarge there is sixty miles of river, in which 
 occur the Grand Cafion and the White Horse Rapids. Before 
 reaching Grand Caiion the river is wide and smooth, when all 
 at once the water is forced through the caiion at incredible speed. 
 The canon is a crevice where the mountain has been split in 
 twain, apparently, to make an outlet for the water. The walls 
 are perpendicular on either side, rising to a height of 100 feet. 
 Three miles below is the White Horse Rapids ; the most danger- 
 ous portion of the Yukon River. 
 
 " I simply mention these facts in order that any one who 
 thinks of going into that country may know before hand that 
 the search for gold there is preceded by hardships and privations 
 which they little dream of unless they have penetrated the 
 American land of the midnight sun. But after the dangers are 
 passed the adventurer finds himself in a country rich in mineral 
 resources. 
 
 " Mark you, the country has yet given but a faint indication 
 of its real we ilth. The gold that has been found only points 
 
STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 
 
 115 
 
 
 the way to the true deposits, which will prove to be the wonder 
 of the world." 
 
 John Welch, a former employe in an Indianapolis iron foundry, 
 has written to his mother from Circle City, saying he has been in 
 the Alaskan gold fields for fifteen months and could come home 
 at any time with a few thousand dollars, but he prefers to remain 
 a while longer and return rich. He says that gold nuggets 
 worth from twenty to fifty dollars are being found daily, but 
 many men have become insane from hardships and from dis- 
 appointment. Successful miners are squandering fortunes in 
 reckless extravagance. 
 
 Says Lucky Ones Are Few. 
 
 William Ireland has sent a letter from Alaska which ought to 
 be a warning to men who are hastening to the field without 
 due deliberation. He says : 
 
 "Undoubtedly it is true that some very rich discoveries have 
 been made on the Klondike in the last year or so. I have been 
 in the midst of the excitement and know that a large amount of 
 gold has been taken out. As in California, a few lucky ones 
 have made the killing. 
 
 " Of the 200 miners working near where I am located thirty- 
 one are mine owners and the others laborers. I receive $io a 
 day, and I can work about 165 days during ^^e year. The cost of 
 living, I should say, would average aboii' p2 per day per year, 
 and at this price I enjoy none of the luxuries. I am on an 
 equality with the rest of the workers, only three of whom 
 receive higher wages. 
 
 " The mine-owners are making fortunes. Just how much 
 money has been taken out can only be roughly guessed at, but 
 it is certain that the placers here are exceedingly rich. Those 
 who come from California, if they possess money enough^ may 
 
 
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 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 
 
 succeed in making; a strike, but I would not advise anyone to 
 come up hero witliout a sufficient supply of money to carr)' him 
 over a year. There is plenty of country to prospect in, and the 
 sunmiers are deliLjhtful, so tliat for about five and a half months 
 m the year a miner can work out of doors as well here as in 
 California. Be sure and send a big supply of papers. If I were 
 starting out again, I would carry at least one-third of my load 
 in reading matter. Life in the long months of winter is unbear- 
 ably dull without something to read." 
 
 Kills Himself on the Road. 
 
 There is a story of despair and death from the rush into 
 Alaska gold fields. It comes from Lake Linderma'^ on the 
 Dyea route, and the victim was Frank Matthews, of tie. 
 
 Matthews and his partner, George Folsom, had sa.^.^ crossed 
 the divide, and were rafting their supplies along the lakes toward 
 the Yukon. In the ripids between Lakes Linderman and Ben- 
 nett the raft went to pieces, the supplies were scattered along 
 the river, and Matthews was rescued after a severe injury to his 
 leg. Mis partner placed him in a comfortable position and 
 started back for help. Before going a hundred yards he heard 
 the report of a rifle and was horrified to finri Matthews shot 
 dead. Undoubtedly he committed suicide. 
 
 Miss Mary E. Mellor, superintendent of tlie United States 
 Indian Training School at Unalaska, who came on the Portland, 
 July 17th, said the hardships in the Northwestern gold region 
 are terrible. Summers are short, winters long a. id the supply of 
 food and clothing inadequate. 
 
 " When I left flour was selling at the rate c" $50 a sack, and 
 if the luxury of eggs was indulged in, the consumers paid $4 
 per dozen. Then it must be remembered that each egg of the 
 twelve was not what a Pennsylvania farmer would corL<5ider 
 
I fvf I 
 
 
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 PLACER MINING— HYDRAULIC SYSTEM 
 
 < < 
 
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 • f 
 
 ULU BLOCK MOUSE BUILT L\ 1806 FOR PKOIECTION 
 AGALNST THE INDIANS 
 
 i I 
 
STRIKE- IT RICPI.ON KLONDIKE. 
 
 117 
 
 
 freshly laid. Clothing is also hard to obtain and is high in 
 price, the majority of the gold seekers wearing clothes made of 
 coarse woolen blankets." 
 
 .- . Fred. Moss returned fi"om Klondike to Great Falls, Mont., 
 and said the upper Yukon was a country of starvation, outlawry 
 and death. He had no story about how much he was v.-orth 
 and exhibited no dust. 
 
 J. D. Clements, of Seneca Falls, N. Y., told a story something 
 like Moss'. He said he almost starved to death while prospect- 
 ing. But he brought back $40,000 and said he would return to 
 Klondike in the spring. 
 
 Mrs. Poppy Calls on Mrs. Gage. 
 
 Among ihe many women who called on Mrs. Eli Gage in 
 Chicago before she started for Dawson City was a Mrs. Poppy, 
 whose husband had spent fifteen years in Alaska. Mrs. Gage 
 told her that if her husband had been long in the gold fields, he 
 could probably give her more information than she could. 
 According to Mrs. Poppy, the stories her husband tells indicate 
 that there are some things in Alaska that are quite as valuable 
 as gold, and his experience has demonstrated that some of them 
 are really " worth their weight in gold." At one time when he 
 was in the gold fields he had in his possession 300 ounces of 
 virgin yellow metal, but not enough food to maintain the spark 
 of life in a rabbit. 
 
 E. W. Egalbrecht, who went over Chilkoot Pass in l'"cbruary, 
 wrote back from Dawson City in June, as follows : 
 
 "If I and many another had known anything about the hard- 
 ships and exposures of this trip we would not have gone. It 
 took me three days and half of the nights to reach Pleasant 
 Camp with my outfit, and I will only add that when I slept at 
 •-.he foot of the canon during the last night I awoke to find my. 
 
 
 
 (. £1 
 
118 
 
 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 
 
 camp six inches under w^ater. All my clothes were soaked and 
 my misery was indescribable. My feet especially suffered, be- 
 cause the skin had become very soft from perspiring in the rub- 
 ber boots, and sore from walking, so that I suffered excruciating 
 pain at times. I also suffered much from nausea, not being able 
 to accustom myself to the food. The everlasting odor of bacon 
 and beans that clung to everything took away my appetite. The 
 poorest hut in civilization seems like a palace, but people never 
 know when they are well off. 
 
 " I have worked hard all my life, but it is nothing compared to 
 what one has to accomplish on a trip like this. Snow and ice 
 all around wherever one looks, and one's face feels as though he 
 was being whipped, but we had to push on if we did not want to 
 perish. 
 
 "At Sheep Camp we found about 200 miners, mostly from 
 the Mexico and Al-Ki, all of whom were unable to proceed to 
 Stone House, owing to the stormy weather. However, the wind 
 died out, and now began some climbing up a steep mountain 
 trail, with 100 pounds on the sled, as much as the strongest man 
 could pull, otherwise he would be dragged backward. I tell 
 you one's limbs tremble with the horrible exertion. Such a trip 
 takes from two to three hours, and we made three of them. 
 
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 li t 
 
 No Laughter in the Camps. 
 
 " We were allowed thirty minutes for a lunch of frozen beans 
 and a pipe of tobacco, and then forward again. If after such a 
 day's work you pass through a camp you hear no laughter, but 
 see only pale, tired faces. Everthing is quiet, and you might 
 kick their hands and they would not move out of your way. 
 
 " Fourteen hundred feet up a steep incline, step by step, with 
 your feet firmly planted down and your pack on your back, you 
 push on. If you slipped there would be no stop until you 
 
 4j'' 
 
mi 
 
 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 
 
 119 
 
 reached the bottom. In this way our journey continued for 
 .some time. We had many narrow escapes, and suffered severely 
 from cold, but arrived eventually at our journey's end — Klon- 
 dike, the land of promise and of gold." 
 
 Mrs. Julia Cook, of San Francisco, received the followinc; 
 letter, via the Portland, from her husband, at Dawson City: 
 
 "At last, at last, we reached here to-day. What we have 
 lived through I will not trust to pen and paper ; the many little 
 crosses on the road here — they count up over a hundred — speak 
 only too plainly of the innumerable dangers of this terrible jour- 
 ney. Let us rather pass over our experiences in silence, for 
 surely we are fortunate to have reached here. Now we must 
 get to work. 
 
 "The news of the gold strike, though I feared it might be, is 
 not exaggerated. On the contrary, all the stories are surpassed 
 by the facts. There are fellows here of doubtful calling who 
 since last fall have gathered in 'ver $100,000. Two brothers 
 have over $150,000. 
 
 " We were in a great hurry to get here, and now learn that for 
 a month work cannot be begun in the mines, ilthough 'he roses 
 and the most beautiful flowers are blooming. Still we can dig 
 down but a few inches without striking ground frozen har 
 rock. There is all kinds of work going on in this mushroom 
 city, still there are plenty of idle men. " 
 
 't> 
 
 Hurley's Pay-Dirt Swept Away. 
 
 James Young, General Agent at Milwaukee for uie Gieat 
 Northern Railroad, received a Klondike nugget one day in 
 August from James Hurley, a well-known mining promoter, 
 who was active in operations on the Gogebic iron range during its 
 palmy days. 
 
 Mr. Hurley has had an interesting experience in Alaska. Mr. 
 
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 120 
 
 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 
 
 Young sold him a ticket to that region some months ago, and 
 was surprised to hear from him. 
 
 Accompanying the package containing the piece of metal was 
 a letter from Mr. Hurley which stated that he had not become 
 very rich, although he had acquired more money in Alaska than 
 he ever had before. 
 
 This is not Mr. Hurley's first experience in gold mining in 
 Alaska. He went to tha<- country with several friends as long 
 ago as the yo's. 
 
 Most of {.he miners at that time were so poor they were com- 
 pelled to wash the dirt as fast as possible, that they might get 
 enough gold to exchange at the store for the necessaries of life. 
 
 Hurley and his companions had plenty of money, and they 
 conceived and partly carried out the idea of digging out a pile of 
 the pay dirt, building their cabin up against it and washing it out 
 during the winter, alongside of the fire in the cabin. 
 
 By this plan they expected to keep themselves employed all 
 winter, whereas by the ordinary method they would have to dis- 
 continue operations all through the long winter. 
 
 Just before the winter set in there was a big freshet that 
 washed away the pile of pay dirt that they had been working all 
 summer to secure. 
 
 They were nearly out of money and lost courage. They made 
 their way back to their homes, and Hurley did not return until about 
 a year ago. 
 
 Jerseymen Have Good Luck. 
 
 W. J. Hibbert, one of a party of seven from Trenton, N. J., 
 who went to the Yukon late in 1 896, grubstaked by some Phila- 
 delphia and Trenton merchants, has written back to his " angels" 
 that the seven prospectors have laid claim to a large tract of rich 
 dredger land, and that they will add to that area twenty-one 
 placer claims. 
 
Vl. 
 
 ,!;i- 
 
 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 
 
 121 
 
 He tells some big stories about the luck of the prospectors In 
 that country. One man worked five days, at the end of which 
 time he cleaned up 1^40,000. Another man who had worked 
 industriously two months found at the end of that time that he 
 was $150,000 ahead of the game. . : . . 
 
 J. R. Fitzgerald, of Springfield, O., wrote that a boat which 
 he and his two companions had built was wrecked on the trip to 
 Dawson City, and they lost everything they had ; but he had 
 some friends connected with the /Alaska Commercial Company 
 and vvent to work at ten dollars a day as soon as he got there. 
 He said the most dangerous places are the caiion, White Horse 
 Rapids, and Leads River, many people being drowned at those 
 three places. 
 
 Fitzgerald said that reports as to the richness of the Klondike 
 fields have not been exaggerated, and he knows of as high as 
 $1000 worth of dust being taken out of a single pan, while some 
 claims now pay as high as $12,000 to $15,000 a day. 
 
 The prospectors are locating new claims eveiy day, which seem 
 to be paying as well as the old. He said that miners frequently 
 came down from the diggings loaded with sacks of dust weigh- 
 ing from 100 to 300 pounds. He said that one eastern young 
 man sold his claim for $30,000 and died of heart disease just as 
 he was about to board the steamer on the return trip. 
 
 Perish on the Glacier. 
 
 Few of the tales of hardship endured by gold seekers in the 
 Arctic si-rpass in thrilling sadness the story of the deaths of 
 Charles A.^ Blackstone, George Botcher and J. \V. ivialinque, ex- 
 pert miners from Seattle, who were killed on the glacier last 
 April. The three men went north on the steamer Lakme in 
 March, 1 896. For a tln^e they were at Cook's Inlet, and later 
 they went 10 Circle City. They remained in the district until 
 
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 122 
 
 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 
 
 
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 March of this year, but fortune did not favor them, and March 
 25th they started back to Seattle, intending to go to Foi'tage Bay, 
 an arm of Prince William Sound, March 27th they 'vere seen 
 on the glacier by a Mr. Gladhouse and by a Swede named Peter- 
 son. They were never seen alive afterwards. 
 
 Before Blackstone left this city he asked a friend, Georg'^ Hall, 
 to look out for his wife and family should anything happen him. 
 When word reached this city that the three men had left Circle 
 City and had not made connections with the steamer at Portage 
 Bay Hall went to Alaska to investigate. He easily found traces 
 of the men. They had lost their way and had ascended that 
 terrible mountain, coming out on the wrong side of the glacier. 
 Mr. Hall found how Blackstone, Botcher and Malinque, after 
 searching the top of this perpendicular cliff, had crawled under a 
 
 ledge of ice. 
 
 Miners Frozen to Death. 
 
 The following statement was found on Blackstonc's body: 
 
 " Saturday, April 4th 1897. — This is to certify that Botcher 
 froze to death on Tuesday night. J. W. Malinque died on Wed- 
 nesday forenoon, being frozen so badly. G. A. Blackstone had 
 his ears, nose and four fingers on his right hand and two on his 
 left hand frozen an inch back. The storm drove us on before it. 
 It overtook us within an hour of the summit and drove us before 
 it. It drove everything we had over the cliff except blankets and 
 moose hide, which we all crawled under. Supposed to have been 
 40 degrees below zero. On Friday I started for Salt W'ater. I 
 don't know how I got there without outfit. On Saturday after- 
 noon I gathered up everything. Have enough grub for ten 
 days, providing bad weather does not set in. Sport was blown 
 over the cliff. I think I can hear him howl once in awhile." 
 
 The bodies of Malinque and Botcher were never found. 
 
 H. Juneau, of Dodge City, Kansas, who was one of the 
 
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STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 
 
 123 
 
 founders of the town of Juneau, had something to say of the 
 dark side of life in Alaska, in these words : 
 
 " I have found the country full of disappointments, and I don't 
 want to paint the picture too bright. Enough has not been said 
 of the dark side. 
 
 "It is no place for men of weak constitution. The hardships 
 to be encountered require the strongest hearts and sinews as 
 well. 
 
 " I have seen nothing published of the fact that a large portion 
 of the country is covered with a moss and vine which contains 
 sharp thorns, like porcupine quills, with saw edges. These will 
 penetrate leather boots, and when once in the flesh nothing but a 
 knife will remove them. These are worse than the mosquito 
 pest. 
 
 "Another thing which must not be overlooked is I'^^he total lack 
 of law in the interior. When only Indians and a few prospect- 
 ors were in the country there was little need of courts, but with 
 the ^reat influx of mixed humanity lawlessness is almost sure to 
 break out. 
 
 "Alaska is a country on edge. It is so mountainous. Basins 
 are mainly filled with ice. The wtather is always hard in great 
 extremes. Where there is no ice there is moss and devil's club, 
 the latter a vine that winds around everything it can clutch. 
 Persons walking become entwined in a network of moss and 
 devil's club, and passage is extremely difficult and 'tortuious' as 
 well as tortuous." 
 
 It; 
 
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 Leave Good Claims for Better. 
 
 The opinion of Mrs. E,li Gage on the Klondike situation is 
 interesting .eading, for her opportunities to know have been 
 exceptional. She says : 
 
 " There are many claims along the best known creeks that 
 
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 124 
 
 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 
 
 have been abandoned. The prospectors would be digging on 
 them contentedly, earning big money every day. There would 
 then come a report from some neighboring place of fabulously 
 rich finds, and there would follow at once a wild rush. In this 
 way sites that paid moderately were passed in the search oi 
 others that would banish poverty in a month. The two kings of 
 the region were wise enough to profit by the craze which carried 
 
 VERTICAL SECTION OF A QUARTZ MIXE. 
 
 the men along, and they bought claim after claim along the 
 Bonanza and the Eldorado. I do not think any man on earth 
 can guess how muc/ these men are worth to-day. They would 
 be millionaires to stay at home the balance of their lives and 
 sell interests in the mines they now have in operation. 
 
 " Experts say that the best mines are still to be found. It is 
 an old saying that the existence of the placer mine merely 
 shows that not far away the mother rock must be found. It 
 
 I 
 
Ill 
 
 TOTEM POLE, FORT WRANGEL, ALASKA. 
 
~ * "r^"^**,, 
 
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 THOUSANDS OF SEALS— ST. PAUL ISLAND, ALASKA 
 
 P I! 
 
STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 
 
 12: 
 
 looks as if the gold in the loose dirt about the creeks liad been 
 brought down from the mountains by some great glacier. The 
 men who have gone in, and are going in, have no capital for 
 machinery and the placer mining is the only kind they can 
 undertake. The late comers and the men with money for 
 machinery will probably seart h for quart/, veins and get bigger 
 fortunes with but comparatively small expenditures. It is 
 reported by government officials and everybody else that the 
 whole country is gold producing, and the work of 10,000 men 
 who will be able to get there within the next twelve months will 
 not begin to exhaust the resources. 
 
 Advice of a '49er. 
 
 No better words to close a chapter on the " luck " and experi- 
 ences of the Klondike argonauts have been written than these 
 from a '49er who " made his pile" before California was a State, 
 and who still sympathizes with each one of the "thousand" 
 gold seekers in the Arctic wilds who believes he is the " one " 
 who is predestined to have fortune thrust upon him in the Yukon 
 valley. He says, this snow-capped veteran of the early placers: 
 
 " It was this belief that encouraged the multitude of '49, and 
 populated California with refugees from every quarter of the 
 globe , it was the same idea that sent the tide of a tumultuous 
 humanity into the deserts of Nevada to hunt for silver ; it was 
 the same egotism that starved on Fraser River and shivered in 
 the blizzards of Cariboo ; it was the same spirit that went up 
 against the false hope of Panamint, and wandered helplessly 
 across the hot sands of Lower California. 
 
 " So it will be this time ; so it has ever been from the going 
 out of Ishmael ; and so it will ever be until men cease to care 
 for gold — subduing the love of riches, which the wise man has 
 said is the root of evil. 
 
 ♦ 
 
 
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 STRIKE IT RICH OH KLONDIKE. 
 
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 " Of course, the effort to deter these men from hazarding 
 their lives and risking their fortunes in the Arctic is merely 
 perfunctory. Even those who are advising that the wolf ot 
 Unalaska be permitted to howl undisturbed do not expect that 
 the beast will long enjoy that privilege. 
 
 Survival of the Fittest. 
 
 " The weaklings may perish, as the advisory board of editors 
 predicts, but the strength, the bone and sinew and the brawn of 
 this movement will pull through, barring the accident that the 
 litany refers to as ' battle, murder and sudden death.' 
 
 " These are of the stuff that builds commonwealths and per- 
 petuates races of men. These are of the lineage that followed 
 the Vikings ; the ancestors of these conquered with William 
 and crossed the storm-lashed Atlantic to subdue a wildern^ ^s 
 and found an empire. 
 
 " These are the kind of men they Waiit, whether they return 
 from the Yukon burdened with wealth or as poor as they went. 
 There's good leather in the stock that v/ill come out of that 
 frozen desolation, and it will work up into excellent material in 
 a land where energy compels prosperity, and industry is rewarded 
 with contentment. 
 
 " Suppose it is true that hardships must be endured in this 
 quest? Are they any more dishearteiiing than those which the 
 poor man faces in the overcrowded cities ? 
 
 " Let it be conceded that the climate is rigorous. The winters 
 of Minnesota are almost as severe, and the thermometer often 
 registers as low in Quebec and the northern cities of Europe. 
 
 " The climate of Alaska may be deadly at certain seasons of 
 the year if the inhabitant exposes himself to its clemency, but 
 
 4 
 
 the mortality resulting from such foolishness will not, under the 
 most favorable circumstances, equal the record of the recent 
 
STRIKK IT RICH ON KI.ONDIKE. 
 
 127 
 
 " hot spell " in New York, Chicago, St. Louis and throughout 
 the Middle West. 
 
 "As for starvation, there is less danger of that unhappy con- 
 summation in a mining camp than there is in the most opulent 
 ' centre of civilization,' 
 
 Makes Light of Journey. 
 
 " The distance and the difficulty of reaching the mines ol 
 Alaska have been urged as an obstacle to be seriously considered 
 by those who contemplate this adventure. 
 
 ' As a matter of fact, it is a less arduous journey from Ncv/ 
 York to Dawson City than from Sandy Hook to Johannesburg. 
 SteavTiers comfortably fitted are plying between San Francisco and 
 St. Michael's, at the mouth of the Yukon, and thence to Klondike. 
 
 " The voyage is long, true, and somewhat expensive ; but, 
 aside from these natural consequences of a trip to the Arctic, 
 there is no valid reason why anyone who wishes to go there 
 should be discouraged. 
 
 "As for the tedium of the voyage, that can be endured in 
 anticipation of the varied excitement that awaits the traveler at 
 the end of his journey, and the expense that may attend the trip 
 must be hopefully borne in the certainty of a manifold return 
 when the industry and ability of the adventurer is put to the 
 test ill the land of the long twilight. 
 
 " The most encouraging information that has come out of the 
 ' north with the homing millionaires is the assertion that a miner 
 in Alaska does not need to know anything about mining. If all 
 accounts are accurate, in fact the less a man knows about ' for- 
 mations,' ' strata,' ' deposits,' or ' dips, spurs, and angles,' the 
 more likely he will le to strike it rich." 
 
 " It is the tenderfoot who finds the plethoric ' pockets ' of the 
 Klondike placers. As soon as he has been in the country long 
 
 
 i^ 
 
 
123 
 
 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 
 
 
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 enough to think he knows all about it, his ' luck ' forsakes him 
 and it is time for him to come home. The 'tip' of a Freiberg 
 expert on the Yukon isn't worth the icicles on his Vandyke 
 Touting on the sixty-fourtli degree of north latitude is not as 
 absolute as it is at Ingleside. 
 
 " A great many people arc encouraged to believe that the 
 stories of hardships and privation in the diggings are exaggerated 
 because several women have weathered an Arctic winter — some 
 of them have lived for two and three years in Circle City and St. 
 Michael's. But this is no criterion of a possible mildness of cli- 
 mate in tha^ region. 
 
 " Last season a woman old enough to adm't her age climbed 
 Mount Shasta, and, within a thousand feet of the apex, was com- 
 pelled to shame the young men of the party into renewed exer- 
 tion by guying them on their lack of pluck and endurance. The 
 circumstance that women can withstand the rigor of the Arctic 
 is no evidence that a man would not succumb to it, for it is a 
 physiological fact that women may display a more commendable 
 fortitude under stress than her masculine congener. 
 
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 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 How To Get There. 
 
 iVIain Routes to the Klondike — By Water aud Land — Voyage via St. Michael's 
 — Trip Up the Yukon — Choice of Trails via Juneau and Dyea — In by 
 Chilkoot Pass — Over the Chilkat — The White Pass Route — I^ieutenant 
 Schwatka's Trail via Taku — By Way of Fort Wrangel and Lake Teslin 
 — Railroads Suggested — The "Back Door" Route — Up the Copper 
 River — By Moose Factory and Chesterfield Inlet — Other Trails — Tele- 
 graph and Telephone — Postal Service — Outfits for Miners — List of 
 Necessaries. 
 
 THOUGH in a sense all roads lead to the Klondike, the 
 gold-seeker does not become especially interested in a 
 choice of routes until he reaches the Pacific seaboard. 
 Then, whether he be at San Frascisco, Portland, Seattle, Tacoma 
 or Victoria, the problem of "how to get there" becomes an 
 engrossing one. Time, money and danger and the season of 
 the year must all be considered, and the question is too often 
 more perplexing than the unposted traveler can successfully 
 grapple alone and hope to get the best solution. At the present 
 time, in addition to the established routes, there are dozens of 
 projected transportation schemes in the air, all possible to 
 develop into untility on short notice. The wise argonaut, 
 then, when settling upon his itinerary, will consult th.e latest 
 sources of information — railroad and steamship literature and 
 the folders and guides of land transportation concerns — and 
 make up his mind accordingly. 
 
 Two Main Routes. 
 
 In a general way there are two main routes into the gold fields 
 — the one entirely by water, via St. Michacrs and the Yukon ; 
 9 129 
 
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136 
 
 HOW TO GET THERE. 
 
 w *■ 
 
 Bi > \i 
 
 the other by water and land, via steamer to Fort Wrangel or 
 Juneau, and then over the passes and down the rivers to Daw- 
 son City. 
 
 The former is only available during the " open " season, for 
 the Yukon River, throughout the greater portion of its course, 
 is closed by ice from September to May. When the river is 
 open, however, this route, though the longest in point of time and 
 distance, has certain advantages, especially in the line of comforts, 
 for it avoids the hazards of the mountain passes and the perils 
 of the inland rapids, as well as the arduous labor of the 
 portages as yet inseparable from the overland routes ; and the 
 traveler is reasonably sure of three " square " meals daily and a 
 warm, dry bed at night. To people who have money and 
 reasonable leisure, and who are not used to roughing it, these 
 are advantages not to be lightly foregone. 
 
 On The Overland. 
 
 The latter, the overland route, is shorter in time and distance, 
 but more laborious, and, if the traveler has much of an outfit, 
 and the " boom " prices for " packing " keep up, not less 
 expensive than the water way. It has the somewhat dubious 
 advantage, as things are now, of being measurably " open " all 
 the year round. But to those who know what a mountain 
 pass in Arctic weather means — rain, snow, hail, mud, ice, 
 glaciers, fords, upsets, wrecks, perilous days of Sisyphean 
 toil and deadly nights in sodden clothing on frosty beds — there 
 will easily be apparent the dark side of the overland route. By 
 St. Michael's and the Yukon, the traveler will find most things 
 done for him , by the mountain passes and the upper rivers he 
 will have to do most things for himself and the " tenderfoot " is 
 apt to find his troubles multiply as he presses forward, till only 
 the most stalwart and the stoutest hearted will get through to 
 
HOW TO GET THERE. 
 
 131 
 
 the modern Ophir with heart or health to seek the fortunes 
 iiidden in the gravel. 
 
 There is still another overland route than those via Juneau, 
 Dyea, or Wrangel. It is termed expressively the " back-door" 
 route or " inside track," and is simply the old Hudson Bay trunk 
 line to the North. It goes from Calgary, in Alberta, by railroad, 
 stage or wagon, and canon to Fort Macphcrson at the mouth of 
 the Mackenzie River, and then by the Peel River, leading south- 
 ward to the gold fields. 
 
 The time via St. Michael's is from thirty-five to sixty days in 
 the summer season ; via Juneau, Uyea or Wrangel, from sixty 
 days upward according to the season ; by the "back door" route 
 from sixty to ninety days. 
 
 Sailing to St. Michael's. 
 
 St. Michael's may be reached by the steamers of any of the 
 great commercial companies from San Francisco or Seattle, 
 though up to the present time the bulk of the transportation 
 business has been in the hands of the North American and the 
 Alaska companies, the old-time rivals for the trade of the Yukon 
 country. The former owns the stores along the Yukon River, 
 and has been a practical monopoly except where it has come in 
 contact with the agents of the Alaska Commercial Company. 
 
 Dutch Harbor, in the Aleutian Archipelago, is the first port 
 made on he outward trip to St. Michael's. Here the company 
 owning the scaling privilege on the Pribyloff Islands has a coal- 
 ing and supply station. It is 1800 miles on the way to the gold 
 fields. Then away to the north, 800 miles through Behring Sea 
 and past the seal islands to St. Michael's. The journey has so 
 far been a pleasant one, unless the weather has been stormy. 
 The one great peril of this route lies in that portion of the sea 
 known as " the Boneyard of the Pacific," from the vast number 
 
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132 
 
 HOW TO GET THERE. 
 
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 of ships which have t^^onc down beneath its treacherous surface, 
 and which is still one of the most dan<j^erous spots known to 
 northern navit^ators. Tliis once passed, tiie other Hazards of the 
 long voyage can hapi)ily be made light of 
 
 On St. Michael's island. 
 
 St. Michael's, on the island of the same name, near the mouth 
 of the Yukon, used vo be a Russian fortification, and some of the 
 old Russian buildings are still standing ; but for many years it 
 has been the transfer ai:d forwarding point for all goods going 
 into or coming out of the interior. Both the commercial com- 
 panics doing inisiness on the river have warehouses here. During 
 the two or three months of open navigation it is a place of con- 
 siderable activity. T'kmi f^onmumication ^'s cut off, and it ^■oes 
 into the long, uneventful night of winter. 
 
 The inhabitants of St. Alichael's are the white resident employes 
 of the companies, the collector of customs, several missionaries, 
 and a number of traders. There are several hundred I'^skimos 
 on the island. The surface of the country immediately sur- 
 rounding St. Michael's is gently rolling, and in summer it is 
 cf)vercd with u great growth of grass, having more the appear- 
 ance of Nebraska prairies than of an Arctic region. A series of 
 six or seven low, cone-shaped liills ^cross the shallow estuary 
 are extinct volcanoes. In all the landscape there is no timber, 
 nor are there trees anywhere near Behring Sea. 
 
 At St. Michael's passengers and freight are transferred from 
 the ocean liners to the river steamers. These run down the 
 coast sixty miles to the north mouth of the great Yukon, a river 
 larger than the Alississippi and navigable for boats of light draught 
 for 2300 miles above its mouth, and there begins the long journey 
 v.p stream to Dawson City and the golden placers. 
 
 The source of the Yukon is in the Rocky Mountains and in British 
 
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 HOW TO GET THERE. 
 
 13.^ 
 
 territory, at a point northeast of Sitka. The river drains prac- 
 tically the same territory in its headwaters as the Stickine, Peace, 
 Columbia and Frazcr rivers, all well known for many ycnrs to 
 treasure-hunters because of the great placers in their valleys. It 
 was natural, therefore, to expect that gold would be found along 
 the main channel of the Yukon or some of its tributaries. Ex- 
 plorers were sent out from two bases. One set went up the river 
 from its mouth, traversing the whole of Alaska from the west to 
 east. 
 
 Fine gold dust, in small quantities, was found at the mouth of 
 the Porcupine River, a stream that joins the Yukon about lOO 
 miles west of the boundary, and also near the mouth of P'orty- 
 Milc Creek, most of whose course lies in Alaska, but which 
 crosses into British territory before emptying into the big river. 
 Fort Cudahy is situated here, and Circle City, where there were 
 other mining camps, is about fifty miles further west. These 
 places are about 800 or 900 miles from the sea, if one travels by 
 steamboat, and in the winter arc completely cut off from the outer 
 world. The discoveries above the Porcupine arc the cause of the 
 present rush of gold hunters — they are the richest placers in the 
 
 world. 
 
 Stop at Fort Yukon. 
 
 The first point of more than passing importance on the journey 
 up the river is Fort Yukon, a misnomer as to the " I'cirt," as is 
 the case with all the stations on the lower river. As stations in 
 the wilderness, most trading posts were fortified after a fashion 
 in the early days, and this custom led to dignifying them b}- the 
 term " fort." Fort Yukon was established bv Robert Bell as a 
 post of the Hudson Bay Company, he assuming that it was in 
 Canadian territory. lie made a mistake of 300 miles, measured 
 by the river. Hudson Bay Company held the post until it was 
 warned away by an American officer. 
 
 
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 HOW TO GliT THERE. 
 
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 Here the argonaut finds himself fairly under the Arctic circle. 
 In June and July he will sec the sun twenty-four hours without 
 a break, and all along the river at this time he can read a paper 
 at any time of day or night without a lamp. 
 
 Above I'ort Yukon is the once important town of Circle City, 
 formerly a mail station and a thriving post, but now practically 
 depopulated by the stampede to the Klondike gold fields, higher 
 up the stream. Circle City stands on a dead-level plain, twenty 
 feet higher than the river at the ordinary stage of water. In the 
 distant background is a low range of purple hills, which marks 
 the dividing line between the Birch Creek district and the river. 
 On the opposite side from the town the river runs away into space, 
 with no very well defined shore line. 
 
 It is a town of log huts, square and low, with wide projecting 
 eaves and dirt roofs. Two men would get out the logs, build 
 the cabin and " chink " it with the abundant moss in two weeks ; 
 and before the Klondike fever such a house would rent for fif- 
 teen dollars a month (in gold dust) or sell for ^500. But the 
 inhabitants have fled and most of the cabins are empty. From 
 the present outlook hardly a do/.cn white persons, and perhaps 
 a dozen Indians, will be left in the town during the coming 
 winter. In April it had i 500 white residents. It also had dogs, 
 unlimited quantities of them, worse pests than mosquitos, but 
 the call for dogs in "packing" miners' outfits over the south- 
 eastern passes materially reduced the supply. A good dog is 
 worth ;^ioo in dust in Circle City. 
 
 Gold on Birch Creek Claim. 
 
 The rich discoveries of gold on Mammoth and Mastodon 
 Creeks and many gulches which terminate in these creeks all 
 tributaries of Birch Creek, "just over the divide," gave Circle 
 City its first boom. Many wise men among the miners prophesy 
 
 h. I ;« 
 
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 HOW TO GET THERE. 
 
 135 
 
 that when the surrounding country is carefully prospected, its 
 
 diggings will be found equal to the Klondike, and Circle City 
 
 will again become a formidable rival of Dawson City. 
 
 At Forty-Mile, or Fort Cudahy, across the boundary line in 
 
 the British territory, the next important stop, some gold was 
 
 found by the expedition mentioned heretofore. This place was 
 
 named for John Cudahy, of Chicago, of the North American 
 
 Transportation and Trading Company, and was for years the 
 
 company's headquarters on the upper river. It contains about 
 
 200 log cabins of the prevailing Yukon style — square, low, flat, 
 
 and dirt-roofed — the companies offices, a fjw stores and saloons, 
 
 and a hotel or two. Whiskey is worth ten dollars a quart, or 
 
 fifty cents a drink, and half a dollar will buy three loaves of 
 
 Yukon bread. 
 
 Arrive At Dawson City. 
 
 Passing Fort Reliance, the next stop is Dawson City, the 
 metropolis of the gold fields, the Mecca of the 'p/cr, the thres- 
 hold of the Klondike treasure house. This new town and trad- 
 ing post, though barely six months old, is already the busiest 
 town on the river. " Old Joe " Ladue, as he is locally and 
 unappropriately named, 'for he is not old at all, the owner of the 
 town site, was being kept busy selling town lots at $5000 each 
 when he made up his mind last summer to run back to New 
 York and claim for his bride the sweetheart who had been wait- 
 ing for him to " make a stake " under the Midnight Sun. 
 
 There were said to be 3000 people in Dawson City in July 
 and that number has been greatly increased since by the influx 
 of men with the gold fever who had had prescribed " Klondike 
 refrigeration" as a remedy for the almost hopeless malady, 
 Dawson City will probably have to winter 12,000 to 16,000 
 people, and there has been general fear that there would be great 
 suffering there this winter in consequence of lack of supplies and 
 
 ills 
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 HOW TO GET *I*HERE. 
 
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 shelter for the ^reat rush of unprcpar'icl prospectors. And 
 winter at Dawson City bei^ins in September. However, strenu- 
 ous effort was made up to the last moment by the commercial 
 companies to ^et in provisions against a possible famine, and as 
 many of the later ars^onauts carried in fairly good and liberal 
 outfits, it is hoped the long season of cold may pass without 
 general disaster. 
 
 A miner who came in on one of the late steamers, described 
 Dawson City as wild with speculation. lie said : 
 
 "Speculation is already the ruling idea. A purchaser inspects 
 a claim that he thi.iks he would like to buy. lie offers just 
 what he thinks it is worth. There is no skirmishing o\'e- 
 figures ; the owner accepts or refuses, and that is the end of it. 
 With this claim goes the season's work. By that I mean the 
 great pile of earth that may contain thousands or may not be 
 worth the expense necessary to run it through the sluice. That 
 is a chance one must take, however, and few have lost anything 
 by it this season. 
 
 " It may be said with absolute truth that Dawson City is one 
 of the most moral towns of its kind in the world. There is 
 little or no quarreling, and no brawls of any kind, though there 
 is considerable drinking and gambling. Every man carries a 
 pistol if he wishes to, yet few do, and it is a rare occurrence 
 when one is displayed. 
 
 Around The Gaming Table. 
 
 " The principal sport with the mining men is found around 
 the gambling table. There the)' gather after nightfall and play 
 until late hours in the morning. They have some big games, too, 
 it sometimes costing as much as fifty dollars to draw a card. A 
 game of js2000 as the stakes is an ordinary event. But with all 
 that, there has not been any decided trouble. If a man is fussy 
 
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 HOW TO OET THERE. 
 
 and quarrelsome, he is quietly told to get out of the game, and 
 that is the end of it. 
 
 " Many people have an idea that Dawson City is completely 
 isolated, and can communicate with the outside world only once 
 every twelve months. That is a mistake. Circle City, only a fe\/ 
 miles away, has a mail once each month, and there we have our 
 mail addressed. It is true, the cost is pretty high — a dollar a let- 
 ter and two dollars for paper — yet by that expenditure of money 
 wc are able to keep in direct communication with our friends on 
 the outside. 
 
 [The Canadian authorities I;ave since established a po.st-oflfice 
 at Dawson City, with regular service. — Ed.] 
 
 In the way of public in.stitutions, our camp is at present with- 
 out any, but by the next season wc will have a church, a music 
 hall, school-house and hospital. This last institution will be 
 under the direct control of the Sisters of Mercy, who have 
 already been stationed for a long time at Circle City and Forty- 
 Mile Camp." 
 
 Mines Not At Dawson. 
 
 The general impression that the mines are at Dawson City is 
 erroneous. They are twelve to fifteen miles up the Klondike 
 River, and are easily reached by poling up the stream in summer 
 or sledding over its frozen surface in winter. 
 
 Dawson City is under the British Government, and its laws 
 are enforced by the famous mounted police. 
 
 Inspector Strickland, of the Canadian mounted police, who 
 came down from Alaska on the Portland, said : 
 
 " When I left Dawson City there were 800 claims staked out. 
 We can safely say that there was about ;^ 1,500.000 in gold 
 mined last winter. The wages in the mines were fifteen dollars 
 a day, and the saw mill paid laborers ten dollars a day. 
 
 " The claims now staked out will afford employment to about 
 
 I 
 
tii 
 
 HOW TO GET THERE. 
 
 130 
 
 5000 men, I believe. If a man is strongs 'lealthy and wants 
 work he can find employment at good wages. Several men 
 worked on an interest, or what is termed a " lay," ;ind during 
 the winter realized $5000 to $10,000 each. The mines arc 
 from thirty-five to 100 miles from the Alaska boundary." 
 
 Inspector Stiickland paid the miners at Dawson City a com- 
 pliment, saying " they do not act like people who have suddenly 
 jumped from poverty to comparative wealth. They arc very 
 level headed. They go to the best hotels and live on the fat of 
 the land, but they do not throw money away, and no one starts 
 in to paint the town red." 
 
 Price List at Dawson. 
 
 He gave the following price list as a sample of the cost of living 
 in Dawson City: Flour, $12 per hundredweight. Following are 
 prices per pound: Moose ham, $1 ; caribou meat, 65 cents; 
 beans, 10 cents; rice, 25 cents; sugar, .?5 cents; bacon, 40 
 cents; potatoes, 25 cents; turnips, 15 cents; coftee, 50 cents; 
 dried fruits, 35 cents ; tea,$i ; tobacco, $1.50 ; buticr, a roll, $1.50 ; 
 eggs, a doz:n, $1.50 ; salmon, each, $1 to $1.50; canned fruits, 
 50 cents ; canned meats, 75 cents ; liquors, per drink, 50 cents ; 
 .shovels, $2.50; picks, $5 ; coal oil, per gallon, $1 ; (.'veralls, 
 151.50; underwear, per suit, $5 to $7.50; shoes, $5; rubber 
 boots, $10 to 515. 
 
 The latest reports are that these figures are still maintained, 
 despite the great amount of supplies brought in by the commer- 
 cial companies, and it is expected they will go higher rather than 
 lower before spring comes around again. 
 
 Whisky is fifty cents a drink, and some of the saloons are said 
 to be making $6000 to $8000 a day. There is some gambling, 
 though not of a bloodthirsty kind, and chips are commonly $500 
 a "stack," 
 
 
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140 
 
 HOW TO GET THERE. 
 
 Should the argonaut decide to jp^ in by the Juneau and Dyca, 
 or " mountain" routes, hu will find the trail byChilkoot Pass the 
 one most talked of, antl will probably this fall decide to try his 
 fortunes by that way, thou^di the spring and |)eriiaps the winter 
 even may find the Chilkat, the Taku and the White Pass routes, 
 or even the Lake Teslin trail, becoming favorites. 
 
 Right here the gold-iumter, having fixed on his route, needs 
 to make vrrv sure of one other thing — iiis " outfit." When 
 he leaves Dwa or Juneau he leaves civilization and all its adjuncts 
 of stores and traders behind him. From Dyea to Dawson he 
 must depend on his outfit for practically everything lie has to 
 eat, drink and wear and for every tool and appliance with which 
 to build or re.nair any article needed for the long journey by trail 
 and stream, 7Q0 miles, to Dawson. 
 
 Via Chilkoot Pass. 
 
 iffif tfiae- " omfe ■"' is all right, the prr-spector engages Indians at 
 Bteeai 110 pack ifc goods in a dugout ,inA tow them to the head 
 of camoe navic:"-nnn on the Dyea I<i\er which is about six miles. 
 If poc-"ible tlie Indians should be liired to pack the goods over 
 the C 't Paj*s to Lake Linaerman, about twent\'-two or 
 
 twenit}"-tinree nniics. The old rate for this work was from {\vc to 
 sixteen ccntB a pTrnimd. out the great starrp^de of prospectors lias 
 caused theprrce to risieto twenty-onse and even twenty-two cents, 
 and even at that almrtst prohibitive figure it is often impossible 
 for prospectors to hire mative carriers, and as a result they have 
 to pack their outfits ( t r themselves. A Chilkoot Indian will 
 carry from 250 ti) y,o pounds over the pass, but even the 
 strongest white man can "tote" little UK^'e than 100 pounds, 
 anil consequently when the Indians fiil him, has to make" ilouble 
 trips," that is, take a paek a mile or iwo, cache it and return for 
 another one, and keep this tedious and heart burning labor up 
 
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 141 
 
 until the last article lias been wearily tlrojjped on the shores o\ 
 Lake Lindtrman. 
 
 Many pack horses have been taker, to Dyea for use on tlie 
 Chilkoot Pass trail, and dogs are also to be experimented witl; 
 this winier in liauling supplies. 
 
 From the head of canoe navigation a \ve!l-derined trail le;uls 
 to the canon at the summit. The first day's camp is made at the 
 entrance to the caiion ; the next day's camp is well along in that 
 formidable pass at a natural curiosity known as the " Stone 
 House," a much frequented camping ground for packers. The 
 place affords good shelter in stormy weather ;uid, as it is ver}- 
 frequently impossible to cross the Divide on stormy days, pack- 
 ers have here a good place to wait for fair wc;ather before attempt- 
 ing the fearful toil of the ascent. 
 
 An early start is necessary in crossing the Divide, the great 
 Peraier Glacier, for it is urgent that the march should be made 
 in one day in order to camp three or four miles beyond the 
 Divide, where there are sticks and moss for a fire. 
 
 Passing the Divide. 
 
 Dr. 1\. O. Crewe describes the "passing" in these graphic 
 words : 
 
 " Having arrived at the foot of the now almost perpendicular 
 mouniain of ice and half thawed snow, we struggle upwards, some- 
 times up to our knees in ...ush, sometimes clingmg with hands and 
 feet to the slippery mountain, /^i^zagging from one side to the 
 other until about half way up the ascent we drop our \r.uks and 
 survey the rem.ainder of our journey uj) the glacier. On our left 
 hand further progress is impossible ; a perpendicular wall of dee[) 
 blue ice towers up a thousand feet above the actual pass ; on (jur 
 right, we notice a pile of broken rocks that have crumbled from 
 the cliff that lorms the right hand side of the cafion. Towards 
 
 
 
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 HOW TO GET THERE. 
 
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 these rocks we slowly pick our way, over which we slowly wend 
 towards the base of the the cliff, and, having {gained this com- 
 paratively comfortable foothold, our progress is quite easy and 
 fairly rapid. Iwcr keeping along the base of the cliff, ever get- 
 ting nearer the crest of the ridge, we have little difficulty in 
 managing our somewhat bulky pack, and almost before we are 
 aware of it we have crossed the Divide and are over the most 
 laborious part of our journey. 
 
 Off For Lake Linderman. 
 
 " Of course, if more than one trip is necessary the assent will 
 consume much more time. One should easily make the journey 
 from Dyea to Lake Linderman in three days with an ordinary 
 pack if * double tripping ' is unnecessary. After resting awhile 
 on the summit of Chilkoot Pass, admiring the magnificent 
 grandeur of the scene we begin our decent to the lake ; turning 
 a little towards the left after coming over the divide we follow 
 the trend of the hills which lead us down towards the North 
 and we are very soon able to see Crater Lake (the actual source 
 of the Yukon). Skirting the right hand shore of this lake, wc 
 soon find ourselves in a well defined ravine, with a well worn 
 trail running down the right hand side of the little stream that 
 finds its way from Crater Lake and empties into Lake Linder- 
 man. As soon as we find a convenient place to pitch our tent, 
 we make ready for camping, and thoroughly enjoy a hearty meal 
 followed by a well-earned refreshing sleep. The following morn- 
 ing, as early as possible, we break camp and start with our pack 
 toward Lake Linderman. A few hours of easy walking will 
 bring us to the lake, where we must at once break camp and 
 prepare to go the balance of the way by water." 
 
 The next thing, after getting safely over the pass, is to build a 
 boat. Four men who are handy with tools can take a standing 
 
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 HOW TO CxET THERE. 
 
 143 
 
 'i 
 
 spruce, saw out lumber and build a boat large enough to carry 
 them and their 4000 pounds of provisions all in a week. It 
 should be a good, staunch boat, for there are storms to be en- 
 countered on the lakes, and rapids, moreover, that would shake 
 a frail craft to pieces. The boat should have a sail that could be 
 raised and lowered conveniently. 
 
 Some enterp .ising men have built a saw mill on the shores of 
 Lake Linderman, and sell boats or lumber. A boat large enough 
 for four men and their outfits costs 1^75. Lumber is worth 5 100 
 a 1000 feet, and 500 feet is enough for a boat. 
 
 From the end of navigation on Lake Linderman a trail leads 
 over to Lake Bennett, making a portage of a mile and a half. 
 There is a river between the lakes, but the rapids are so danger- 
 ous none but the most fool-hardy attemj* to run them, and many 
 lives and a great amount of property have- been lost in the reck- 
 less ventures. Some gold-hunters who go in by Chilkoot Pass 
 make a raft at Lake Linderman, sail it down to the portage and 
 abandon it there, and carry their goods to Lake Bennett, where 
 there is excellent timber for boat building. 
 
 Dow^n Lake Bennett. 
 
 With boat built one starts from the head of Lake liennett on 
 the last stage of the trip — a sail of 600 miles tlown stream (not 
 counting lakes) to Dawson City, at tlie mouth of the Klondike. 
 With fair weather, at the evening it the second day, one reaches 
 Miles canon, the beginning of the worst piece of wc^tcr on the 
 trip. The voyager has passed through Lake Ik'nnett a i'! Lakish 
 and Marsh lakes. At Jie head of Miles canon begins three 
 miles of indiscribaljiy rougli water, which terminate in White 
 Horse Rajaids. 
 
 During the rush of gold-hunters it is probable there will be 
 men at Miles canon who will make a business of taking; boats 
 
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 HOW TO GET THERE. 
 
 
 
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 through the rapids, and unless one is an experienced river man 
 it is economy to pay a few dollars for such service, rather than 
 to take the greater chances of losing an outfit or even a life, for 
 many have been drowned at this passage. Probably ten per 
 cent, of the men who attempt the rapids are drowned. 
 
 Even lowering an empty boat through the rapids, with a rope 
 fastened to each end of it, very often results in the loss of the 
 boat, which is at this point of our journey exceedingly valuable. 
 
 In Miles Canon. 
 
 Miles Canon, which is also called Grand Canon, is the first 
 dangerous water that the navigator encounters. Although this 
 section of the river has a normal width of more than 200 yards, 
 it is confined for a distance of three-quarters of a mile to a space 
 hardly fifty feet across, with perpendicular walls of red volcanic 
 rock. This canon is broken in one place — about midway — by 
 a circular enlargement of the channel, which causes a whirlpool 
 of wonderful suction on each side of the river. 
 
 After the rapids comes Lake LaBarge, a beautiful sheet of 
 water thirty-five miles long, and in this connection a suggestion 
 is desirable. Near the foot of the lake, on the left side, is a 
 creek coming in which marks a good game country. A year 
 ago, and in previous seasons, moose, were plentiful there and in 
 the rugged mountains near the head of the lake there always 
 have been good hunting grounds for mountain sheep. A delay 
 of a week either in this locality or almost any of the small 
 streams that flow into the succeeding 200 miles of river, for the 
 purpose of laying in a good supply of fresh meat, is worth con- 
 sidering. Moose meat that can b-;: preserved until cold weather 
 sets in will sell for a fancy price. 
 
 There is another suggestion to consider before arriving at 
 Sixty-mile. All along that part of the river arc many timbered 
 
HOW TO C.KT THKRK. 
 
 145 
 
 islands, covered with tall, straight spruce. W'*-!! such an influx 
 of prospectors as is expected at Dawson City before winter 
 begins, building logs will be in great demand. Cabin logs ten 
 inches in diameter and twenty feet long sold at Circle City last 
 year, in raft, at three dollars each. With an increased demand, 
 and with better mines, the prices at Dawson City may be much 
 higher. Four men can handle easily a raft of 500 or 600 such 
 logs. Getting them out would be a matter of only a week or 
 two. 
 
 From Lake LaBarge the journey is through Thirty-mile River, 
 the Lewis River, i 50 miles to Five-Finger Rapids, thence to the 
 Yukon at Fort Selkirk and then down stream 2 SO miles to Daw- 
 son City. 
 
 Gold in Hootalinqua. 
 
 Within a few hours' run below Lake LaBarge is the Hoota- 
 linqua River, which drains Teslin Lake, the largest body of 
 water in the Yukon basin. This river has long been a locality 
 of great interest to prospectors because of the wide distribution 
 of gold in its bars and tributaries. The metal is found every- 
 where on the whole length of the stream, but seems rather elu- 
 sive when it comes to the test of actual mining. It has been 
 prospected and worked sporadically for fifteen years, and in all 
 that time the only Hootalinqua gold of any consequence taken 
 out was found on Lewis River, a few miles below the mouth of 
 the former stream, at Sassiar bar, where something like $ i 50,000 
 was mined. It is deserted now for the better mines of the 
 Alaskan side. 
 
 Five-Finger Rapids is one of the two or three obstructions 
 that interfere with the free navigation of the ri\er. A ledge of 
 rock lies directly across the stream with four or five openings in 
 it that afford a scanty outlet for the congested current. The 
 largest passage and the one common!)' used is the one at the 
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 146 
 
 HOW 10 GET THERE. 
 
 right shore. There is a considerable fall, but the water is not 
 badly broken, the gateway being succeeded by several big waves, 
 over which a boat glides with great rapidity, but with a smootli 
 and even motion. Shooting this rapid is an cxhilerating expe- 
 rience, but with careful management is not considered dangerous. 
 
 A few miles above Five-Finger Rapids is George Mc- 
 Cormick's old Indian trading-post. This is now abandoned by 
 the "venerable" George ; he was the first man on the Klondike. 
 A mile or so beyond McCormick's trading-post, (which by the 
 way is very poorly stocked with anything, except Indian trad- 
 ing articles), on the right-hand side of the river, before turning 
 to the Five-Finger Rapids, you see evidence of McCormick's 
 shrewdness and enterprise. Mr .as drifted a hole in the side of 
 the mountain, and when prospectors last passed this point he 
 was taking out good specimens of coal. 
 
 Next below Five-Finger Rapids are the Rink Rapids, so 
 nam.ed by Lieutenant Schwatka, because of their musical 
 rhythm. To run the Rink is mere child's play. 
 
 And now all the danger points in the Chilkoot Pass route 
 are passed. It is clear sailing to Dawson City. 
 
 Past Fort Selkirk. 
 
 The first trading-post and settlement of white men to be 
 encountered on the river is at Fort Selkirk, opposite the mouth 
 of Pelly River. Thence, it is a little more than a day's run 
 down to Sixty-Mile, and it takes less than a day to go from 
 Sixty-Mile to Dawson City. 
 
 Dr. Crewe says of Felly River : 
 
 "We will just run across the river and see hi)w old man 
 Harper is getting along at Fort Selkirk. He has been in the 
 Yukon Valley, trading first with the Indians and then with the 
 white men, ever since the Alaska Commercial Company estab- 
 
 
 «># 
 
HOW TO GET THERE. 
 
 147 
 
 Hshcd trading-posts along the river. Before this time, I believe 
 he was employed by the Hudson Bay Comjiany as a post-trader 
 at one of the northern stations. Wishing good-bye to our 
 Selkirk friends, a quick uneventful run of 120 miles brings us 
 to Stewart River. Gold was first discovered in the Yukon 
 Valley on this river. The prospects for the future of Stewart 
 River are as bright and hopeful as for any of the creeks that 
 are known to contain gold." 
 
 Colorado Miner's View. 
 
 The words of a Colorado miner, who went in by the Chil- 
 koot Pass in the early summer and wrote back of his experi- 
 ences, are worth reading as a j^ractical man's summing up of the 
 case. He says : 
 
 " I think that the difficulties and dangers of the Yukon trip 
 have been much exaggerated. The cold up there is intense, but 
 is dry and a man does not suffer from it as would be supposed. 
 I spent one winter on the Yukon. The thermometer went down 
 to seventy-five degrees below zero, but the coldest day I e\'er 
 saw in my life was in Chicago last January. 
 
 " The Chilkoot Pass is only 3000 feet high, and that isn't any 
 height at all to a man used to mountains. With a good sleeping 
 bag a man may sleep out of doors there all of the winter. In 
 the interior there is very little snow. I did not find it over six 
 inches deep. In the dark part of the year there is almost always 
 enough of twilight to see by. 
 
 " Of course, a man who would kick about a crumpled rose 
 leaf on his couch would have a hard time in Alaska, but a man 
 who is a man could get along all right up there." 
 
 A company has been formed in Chicago which propo:-':3 to 
 build four or six small steamers of light draft which will be 
 launched in Lake Linderman, and will run in the chain of lakes. 
 
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 the Lewis River and the upper Yukon River. The same corri' 
 paiiy will build tramways, after the pattern of those in use by the 
 Hudson Hay Company over the old route from tlie North, to 
 overcome the difficulty of transportation at portage points. 
 
 The boats will go to their destination in parts, and will be put 
 together on the waters of Lake Linderman. They will be pro- 
 vided with all the comforts tliat make steamboat traveling enjoy- 
 able, and will be of sufficent tonnage to carry a considerable 
 amount of freight on each trip. 
 
 Witl; the proposed wagon road that the Dominion Government 
 and the Canadian Pacific Railway are figuring on, it is thought 
 there will be little trouble in reaching the gold fields, and those 
 who are caught on the Klondike when the lakes and rivers are 
 frozen over can get out by way of the northern route, which is 
 through Edmonton. 
 
 Over Chilkat Pass. 
 
 The Chilkat trail leads over the Chilkat Pass and is about 
 125 miles in length from the head of Chilkat Inlet to where it 
 strikes the waters of Tahkeena River. This was the old trail 
 used by the Indians to and from the interior, and leads all the 
 way through to old P'ort .Selkirk by land. "Jack" Dalton has 
 used this trail at times in taking horses and live stock to the 
 mines, portaging to the Tahkeena, then by raft down that river 
 to the Lewis, thus proving that the Tahkeena is navigable for a 
 small stern wheel steamer for a distance of some seventy miles. 
 
 I"or the last three years several California and English com- 
 panies have been studying the lay of the land between Chilkat 
 and Circle City, with a view to establishing a quicker and more 
 practicable way of transportation to the rich gold fields along the 
 Yukon. Goodall, Perkins & Co. have made a thorough investi- 
 gation of the matter. Captain Charles M. Goodall said : 
 
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 *' The rich find in the Klondike district will probably result in 
 some better means of transportation, though the roughness of 
 the country and the limited open season will not justify anybody 
 in building a railroad for any distance. Recently we sent several 
 hundred sheep and cattle to Juneau, and from there to the head 
 of navigation by the steamer Alki. Dalton, the man who dis- 
 covered the trail across the country from Chilkat River to Fort 
 Selkirk, is taking the live stock to the mines. His route lies 
 from the head of navigation through Chilkat Pass and across a 
 route which is over a prairie several miles to the Yukon River, 
 near Fort Selkirk. At this time of year the prairie is clear, and 
 bunch grass grows on it in abundance. 
 
 " I believe this will ultimately be the popular route. People 
 could go over it in wagons, as the prairie is level and the roads 
 good. Stations could be established, ,iS was done on the plains 
 in i<S49. It would be easy to go down the river in boats from 
 where Dalton's trail strikes it to Dawson City and the other 
 mining camps. 
 
 " The plan to build a traction road over Chilkat Pass from Dyea, 
 the head of navigation after leaving Juneau, to Lake Linder- 
 man, is not a good business proposition. It has been talked of 
 and the rest of the plan is to have steamers to ply from Lake 
 Linderrr:an through the other lakes to the ^'ukon. But to do 
 this two portages would have to be made on account of the fills 
 in the river, and these would be enormously expensive." 
 
 
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 By the White Pass. 
 
 The White Pass is considered by many one of the best that 
 cuts the mountains of the coast. It is at least looo feet lower 
 than the Chilkoot and little higher than the Taku. It is reporteil 
 timbered the entire length. Its salt water terminus is alxnit 
 eijihty-five miles north of Juneau, and ocean steamers can run 
 
150 
 
 HOW TO GET THERE. 
 
 ; 
 
 
 up to the landing at all times, where there is a good town 
 site, well protected from storms. The pass lies through a box 
 canon surounded by high granite peaks and is comparatively 
 easy. The first seven miles from salt water lie up the bottom 
 lands of the Skagway River through heavy timber. Then 
 for about seven miles farther the way is over piles of boulders 
 and moraines which would prove the most expensive part of the 
 tr^il. This trail would not exceed thirty-two miles in lengtli, 
 and would strike Windy Arm of Tagish Lake or Taku Arm 
 coming in farther up the lake. AH of this part of the lake is 
 well timbered and accessible to Lake Bennett and its connec- 
 tions. White Pass could be used as a mail route any month in 
 
 the year. 
 
 Trail Open July iGth. 
 
 The Alaska Searchlight publishes a letter from William Moore, 
 at Fourteen-Mile Camp, Skagway, Alaska, stiting that the White 
 Pass pack trail to the summit of the pass was opened for travel 
 July 1 6th. On reaching the summit the traveler steps upon al- 
 most level country, the grade to the lakes being twenty fjet to 
 the mile. The distance from salt water to the Too-Clii L:ike is 
 thirty miles, and from salt water to the head of Lake Bennett, 
 the distance is forty-five miles. Both routes from the summit 
 are through rolling country, for the most part open, with plenty 
 of grass for feeding stock, water and sufficient timber for all pur- 
 poses. From salt water to the summit, stock and pack horses 
 can be driven through easily. 
 
 C. H. Wilkinson, on behalf of the British- Yukon Company, 
 has made an offer to the Minister of the Interior to build a wagon 
 road through the White Pass for $2000 a mile. The distance is 
 about fifty miles. About eight miles of the road would be very 
 tlifficult to build. It would take $7000 a mile, being all rock 
 excavation, to construct this eight miles. 
 
HOW TO GET THERE. 
 
 151 
 
 
 At the rate the people are flocking into the new gold region 
 of the Yukon country, somctliing will have to be done soon to 
 provide a way of getting provisions into the mining district. 
 
 If this road were built Victoria could be reached from the 
 Yukon district in about fourteen days. The Minister has taken 
 the matter into consideration. 
 
 Mr. Wilkinson is also authority for the statement that the 
 company has completed arrangements for placing a fleet of be- 
 tween ten and twenty steamers on the Yukon River in the spring, 
 and will probably make an effort in the direction of a narrow 
 guage railway over the pass. 
 
 Survey for Railroad. 
 
 George W. Garside, a well-known engineer, formerly in the 
 employ of the Canadian Government, has recently completed the 
 survey of sixty-two miles of railway running from Skagway Ray 
 over the White Pass to Lake Tagish, and thence to the upper 
 Hootalinqua River. He is employed by the Rritish-American 
 Transportation Company, said to be amply supplied with funds 
 with which to complete the undertaking. It is said work will 
 begin in the spring of 1898. The new route will be 100 miles 
 longer than that at present followed by miners going into the 
 Yukon basin overland from Dyea. 
 
 The route surveyed leaves tide water at Skagway Bay, close to 
 Dyea, and runs in a northerly direction over the summit by 
 White's Pass, through which a trail has just been completed. 
 The new trail is 1000 feet lower than Chilkat Pass, at which so 
 much hardship is encountered by prospectors. The route will 
 eliminate all the danger of the White Horse Rapids and Miles 
 Canon, where now portages of from one to three miles are made, 
 and where so many gold hunters have lost their all, in having- 
 their supplies turned out of the boat into the water by the bowlders 
 
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 now TO (;et thp:re. 
 
 The report of the engineers on the project has been filed. 
 It endorses the plan as practical but costly. Skagway IJay has 
 a fine natural harbor, and is good anchorage for vessels of any 
 size. I'Vom the harbor the j^roposed railroad will follow the 
 Skagway River to its head, wliich is near the stimmit of the pass. 
 
 The grade is variable. The first four miles the ascent is 
 gradual. The next seven miles of the route is difficult and even 
 dangerous. In three more miles of easier grade the summit is 
 reached. The descent to Tagish Lake, about tweiity miles, is 
 gradual and the total fall less than 400 feet. The surface of the 
 lake is 3200 feet above the sea. 
 
 Route by Taku Pass. 
 
 A new route to the Klondike (and it must no"; be forgotten 
 that *' Klondike," as a destination, means anywhere in the great 
 gold-lined Yukon l^asin) has been proposed by Mrs, hVetlerick 
 Schwatka, the widow of the great Northwestern I'athfinder. It 
 is by way of the Taku Inlet, River and Pass. Lieutenant 
 Schwatka discovered the pass and tried it. 
 
 According to Mrs. Schwatka, who has spent much of her 
 time in Alaska and who is familiar with a large part of the 
 country, the Taku Pass will prove to be a bonanza to the first 
 trading company that establishes a system of pack trains through 
 it to Juneau, the base of supplies for the mining region. It is 
 besides the easiest route for the miners themselves and a shal- 
 low-draft steamer that could be brought to run on Taku River 
 would leave only ninety miles of land to be crossed. 
 
 Mrs. Schwadca spoke of the Taku route in these words : 
 
 " Lieutenant .Schwatka explored the Taku River and Pass 
 several years ago. Me tried to get the people of Juneau to es- 
 tablish a pack train line* through the pass, to connect with a 
 steamboat on the inlet. That was before there was much travel 
 
 N4_ 
 
HOW TO GKT rilKRK. 
 
 153 
 
 to Juneau, and the people of the tlirivin^ village did nut believe 
 it would p.iy them. Now it certainly would, but I liave not seen 
 a word about the pass in any of the newspapers, and tlicre ap- 
 pears to be . "most no travel through it. 
 
 " In fact, the pass contains an excellent railroad grade, and it 
 would cost a comparatively small sum to build and equip a road. 
 The current of the river is strong and there are frequent floods, 
 but a light draught steamer would have no diPficulty in ascciiding 
 it and making connections with the road to Juneau. It would 
 be an easy matter to get supplies from Juneau then. The 
 Canadian Pacific comes so near to that country it seems as if it 
 could profitably build a line through the pass and connect the 
 two branches by steamer. 
 
 '• Lieutenant Schwatka made a map of the region, which I 
 think I shall have published. I Fe made the trip up the river by 
 canoe and reported the current there very swift and strong. I 
 am certain that the Taku route is the easiest for persons going 
 from Juneau, however. 
 
 " r>om Taku to Lake Teslin it is ninety miles over level 
 prairies, and the country from Lake Teslin is an open valley. 
 With the aid of pack horses the Taku route is by far preferable." 
 
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 Details of the Route. 
 
 The Taku Pass route may be briefly described as beginning at 
 Juneau, thence up the Taku River to its end, where the portage 
 of ninety miles is made by pack to the Teslin or Aklene Lake, 
 the route through which is northwesterly. Arriving at the 
 farther end of the last mentioned waterway the trip is by heavy 
 canoes along the Hootalinqua or Teslin River to Lewis River, 
 which joins the Yukon at I^^rt Selkirk. From the latter [)lace 
 Ilawson City and other mining places are reached by the 
 Yukon. 
 
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 HOW ro GET THERE. 
 
 Williatii A. Tnitt, professor of electrical engineerinjr at Dela- 
 ware College, and P. I. Packard, of Wilmington, Del., are at the 
 heail of a party enroutc to survey a line for a railroad to be 
 built by an luistern syndicate through Taku Pass to Lake 
 Teslii''. 
 
 Another route, whose promoters say is the best highway to 
 
 SCENE IN ALASKA NEAR THE COAST. 
 
 the gold fields from the coast yet discovered, is by way of the 
 Lake Teslin, or Aklena Lake trail, and starts in American terri- 
 tory at I'ort Wrangel. It leads up the Stickine River and Tele- 
 graph Creek from Wrangel to Glcnora, a distance of 1 26 miles. 
 The Stickine is navigable for stern-wheel steamers of four or 
 
now TO GET THERE. 
 
 155 
 
 five feet drauj^ht, and it is believed the chaiine/ of Telegraph 
 Creek can easily be made ample for the s.iine boats all the way 
 to Glenora. The provincial government is at work improving 
 the route. 
 
 The only point of peril in the water part of this route will be 
 in the rapids in the Stickine River, but the trouble here is 
 handily overcome vt present by making fast heavy lines to trees 
 on the banks and warping the boat up or t!(iwn tlie dangeious 
 passages. 
 
 I''rom Glenora the route will traverse a ncwly-tliscovereil pass 
 and then straight ac.oss the smooth table land to Lake T".slin. 
 Thence it is plain sailing down the Ilootalinqua River, a tribu- 
 tary of the Lewis, by the Lewis to Fort Selkirk and thence on 
 the broad Yid<on to Dawson City. 
 
 Five-Finger Rapids. 
 
 The only danger on this part of the route is the Five-lMnger 
 Rapids, where so many prospectors and so much property have 
 been lost. The Canadian (lovernment will appropriate a sum 
 of money to blow out the dangerous rocks at this point and 
 clear the river of dangerous obstructions. This route avoids 
 White Horse Rapids and Miles Canon, the most dangerous spots 
 in the river routes. The total tlistance to Dawson City via 
 Tele<^raph Creek will be approximately 1780 miles. 
 
 John C. Galbreath, for many years a resident of Telegraph 
 Creek, has been directed by the British Columbia government to 
 open this new route and $2000 will be expended on it immeiliatel)'. 
 Even now the trip to the gold fields, it is said, can be made with 
 less danger and more quickly by this route than by any other. 
 It is open usually until the middle of October and sometimes as 
 late as November. 
 
 It is also proposed to build a branch from Telegrajih Creek to 
 
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 156 
 
 HOW TO OKT THERE. 
 
 Dcasc Lake, which connects with the upper waters of the Mac- 
 kenzie River. 
 
 The "back door" route, or " inside track " from civilization to 
 the Klondike di^gin^s, is the old Hudson liay Company's "trunk 
 line," and has been in use nearly a century. It is said to possess 
 many advantages, except perhaps in the matter of distance, over 
 any of the other land anil water trails. 
 
 Arj^onauts gointj in at the " back door " will go to lulmonton, 
 in Alberta, 1772 miles from Chicago, via the Canadian Pacific 
 Railroad, and thence by stage or wagon to Athabasca Landing, 
 luimonton is on the Saskatchewan River and the portage to the 
 landing places the traveler on the banks of the great Athabasca 
 River and at the head of a continuous waterway for canoe travel 
 to Fort Macpherson, at the north mouth of the Mackenzie River, 
 from which point the Peel River lies south to the gold regions. 
 From lulmonton to Fort Macpluison is 1882 miles. 
 
 Only Two Big Portages. 
 
 There are only two portages of any size on the route — that 
 from ICdmonton to Athabasca Landing, over which there is a 
 stage and w^gon line, and at Smith Landing, sixteen miles, over 
 which the Hudson Bay Compan)' has a tramway. With the 
 exception of five other portages of a few liundred yards there is 
 a fine down-gr. J.e water route all the way. Wherever there is 
 a lake or long stretch of deep water navigation, the Hudson Buy 
 Company has small freight steamers which ply during the sum- 
 mer months between the portage points. 
 
 From lulmonton a party of three men with a canoe should 
 reach Fort Macpherson within sixty days, provided they are 
 strong and of some experience in that sort of travel. 
 
 P'xpcrienced travelers recommend that the canoe be bought at 
 home unless it is intended to hire Indians with large bark canoes 
 

 
 
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 for the trip. liirch-bark canoes can be purchased large enough 
 to carry three tons, hut are said to be unreliable unKss Iiuli.ins 
 arc taken along to doctor them and keep them from getting 
 water- logged. The Hudson liay Company will contract to take 
 freight nt)rthward on their steamers until the close of navigation. 
 A recent letter from a missionary says the ice had only com- 
 menced to run on September 30, 1.S96, in the Peel River, the 
 waterway from l''ort Macpherson to the gold fiekls. If winter 
 comers on the traveler can change his canoe for .- ds and dog 
 trains. 
 
 Advantages to Traveler? 
 
 The great advantage claimed for the "back d. or" route is 
 that it is ail organized line of ctniniunication. 'liavclers need 
 noi ^arry any more food than will take them from one Iludsctn 
 liay post to the next, and there is abundance of tish and wild 
 fowl along the route. They can also get assistance at the posts 
 in ca.se of sickness or accident. 
 
 If lucky enough to make their "pile" in the Klondike, they 
 can come back by the dog-sled route in the winter. There is 
 one mail to Fort Macpherson in the winter. Dogs for teams 
 ran be b<;ught at any of the Hudson liay j)osts, which form a 
 c hain of roatlhouses on the trip. 
 
 Parties traveling alone will need no guiiles until tlu.)' get near 
 I'ort Macpherson, the route from lulni«)nton being so well defined. 
 
 It is estimated that a party of three couUl provide tluinseKcs 
 with food for the canoe trip of two months for thirty-five dollars. 
 Pork, tea, flour and baking powder would sufifice. 
 
 Parties should consist of three men, as that is the crew of a 
 canoe. It will take 600 poumls of food to carry three men over 
 the route. The padilling is all done down stream e.xcept when 
 they turn south up Peel River, and .sails shoul(' be taken, as there 
 is often a favorable wind for dajs. There are large scows on the 
 
 
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 158 
 
 HOW TO OET THERE. 
 
 line manned by ten men each, and known as " stur^^eon heads." 
 They are hke canal boats, but are punted along, and are used by 
 the Hudson liay people for taking supplies to the forts. 
 
 It is estimated $200 jier man will be sufficient for expenses 
 via this route, and that two months, and possibly six weeks, will 
 be an ample estimate of time. 
 
 Another all-Canadian route to the Klondike is proposed, to 
 enable ICastern Canada to compete in transportation, traffic and 
 trade with the I'acific coast. It includes a railway to Moose 
 Factory, at the foot of James Bay, and a line of steamers thence 
 to the western end of Chesterfield Inlet, a distance of 1300 miles. 
 The rest of the journey would be mainly by the Mackenzie and 
 Yukon rivers, and it is estimated that in summer it could be 
 made in seven da}'s from Toronto. Between Hudson Bay and 
 the Yukon it is believed the only piece of railway it will be neces- 
 sary to construct is 200 miles or so between the head of Chester- 
 field Inlet and Great Slave Lake. 
 
 Offers Fine Steamers. 
 
 The late managing owner of a line of steamers on the great 
 lakes has examined the reports as to the waterways through 
 Great Slave Lake and the Mackenzie and Yukon rivers, and 
 offers to undertake to equip the route with a new style of steam- 
 ers, which, while spacious and economical, would develop a 
 reliable speed of twenty miles an hour in slack water. A model 
 of an ice boat has been prepared for winter navigation of these 
 waters. 
 
 The plan for reaching Hudson Bay is the construction of a 
 railway from Missanabie to Moose I'\'iclor}-, to be operated by 
 electricity furnished by the water power of the Moose River, 
 
 The proposed route to Hudson Bay is disputed by Quebec, 
 which is desirous of securing the western connection for itself, 
 
HOW TO CiE'l" IHERK. 
 
 159 
 
 and having already constructed a r.iihvay to Lake St. John, to 
 within 300 miles of J;ime.s ]^ay, is read}', with a certain amount 
 of Government aid, to extend it to Moose Factor)- by wa}' of 
 the valley of the Ashuamouchouan River. 
 
 J. ]\I. C. Lewis, a civil engineer, has proposed to the Interior 
 Department, at Washington, a route from the mouth of the 
 Copper River, b)' which he says the Klondike may be reached 
 by a journey of a little over 300 miles from the coast, a great 
 saving in distance over the other mountain routes. He sa}'s the 
 trail could be opened at small expense. 
 
 The route which he proposes will start inland from the mouth 
 of the Copper River, near the Miles Glacier, twenty-fi\e miles 
 east of the entrancv; to I'rince William Sound. He sa\'s the 
 Coj)per River is navigable for small steamers for man)' miles 
 beyond the mouth of its principal eastern tributar)', called on 
 the latest maps the Chillyna River, which is itself navigable for 
 a considerable distance. From the head of na\igation on the 
 Chillyna, Mr. Lewis says, either a highway or a railroad could 
 be constructed without great difficult)' (jr very heavy grades, 
 through what the natives call the " low pass," probably the 
 Scoloi Pass, l-'rom the pass the road would follow the valley of 
 the White River to the point wlicre it empties into the Yukon, 
 on the etlge of the Klondike gold fields. 
 
 "Uncle Sam's" Survey. 
 
 " Uncle Sam " lias had his eye on short routes to Alaska for 
 sometime. In 1886 a bill was introduced in Congress " to facili- 
 tate the settlemont and develop the resources of the Territory 
 of Alaska and tc open an overland commercial route, between 
 the United States, Asiatic Russia and Japan." 
 
 The Interior l)ei)artment referred the subject to Director 
 Powell of the Geological Survey for a report, which was made 
 
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 HOW TO GET I'HERE. 
 
 us comprehensive as the knowledge possessed by the survey of 
 the topography of the country, through which the road would 
 have to pass, would permit. 
 
 In the beginning of his report Director Powell says : 
 
 " Information on record bearing on the question does not indi- 
 cate any greater obstacles to the construction of such a line 
 than those already overcome in trans-continental railroad build- 
 ing, and the construction of the proposed line must be pro- 
 nounced feasible, 
 
 " From the geographic knowledge available a tentative line 
 may be indicated extending from the Northern Pacific Railroad 
 in Montana northward to Behring Sea, about 2800 miles in 
 length." 
 
 This tentative line, divided into three grand divisions, is as 
 follows : 
 
 1. From some point on the Northern Pacific Railroad in Mon- 
 tana to the headwaters of the Peace River. 
 
 2. From the headwaters of the Peace River to the headwaters 
 of the Yukon, 
 
 3. From the headwaters of the Yukon to some point on the 
 shore of Behring Sea. 
 
 Straight to Klondike. 
 
 It will be observed that the proposed route would take the 
 road right through the Klondike gold field. 
 
 From Montana northward through British Columbia as far 
 as the Peace River, Director Powell considered two routes, which 
 he calls plains and valleys, respectively, their names indicating 
 their character. His preference was for the valley route. 
 
 First, it would have a decided advantage in distance. 
 
 Second, it would afford easier grades. He admitted the pros- 
 pect for local business over the two routes appeared to be in 
 
 iS*"^ 
 
HOW TO v-^ET THERE. 
 
 161 
 
 favor of the plains route, " unless important mining districts 
 should be developed on the other line." 
 
 From the Northern Pacific Railroad to the Canadian Pacific 
 Railroad by the valle\- route is about 325 miles, and to connect 
 Southern Alaska indirectly with the railway system of the United 
 States via the Canadian Pacific Railroad would require the con- 
 struction of only 840 miles of line, which is exactly the distance 
 from Baltimore to Chicago by the Pennsylvania line. 
 
 One of the most perplexing problems of transportation to 
 which the gold craze gave rise, in the first months of the epidemic, 
 was to find steamers fu' the sea \o\-age either to Juneau or St. 
 Michael's. The regular transportation companies used all their 
 own boats and all that they could hire, and even then were unable 
 to accommodate 'ill who wanted passage, and private enterprise 
 undertook the hazardous trips in almost anj' old tub that would 
 float long enough to get out of the harbor. 
 
 The experiences of the season, however, and the demand for 
 passage on the first boats to go North in 1898, which set in as 
 early as the first week in August, set the steamship men hustling 
 to be leady for the expected rush in the spring. 
 
 More Steamers Next Spring. 
 
 Manager C. 1 1. Hamilton, of the North American Transporta- 
 tion and Trailing Compan)-, announce that his company has let 
 a contract to Cramps, the Philadelj)hia shipbuilders, for the con- 
 struction of two 2000-ton steel steamers. They will be the finest 
 steamers on the Pacific coast, and will be used exclusively on the 
 .Seattle-St. Michael's run. They will have accommodations for 
 200 first-class and 500 second-class passengers. 
 
 The American .Steel Barge Company, of West Superior, Wis- 
 consin, arranged with a sj-ndicate interested in the Alaskan gold 
 fields to construct s::veral small vessels on the whaleback plan to 
 
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162 
 
 HOW TO GET THERE. 
 
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 navigate the Yukon. Arrangements are being made to open the 
 shipyards of the company at Everett, Washington, and the plant 
 at West Superior may be used to get out some of these little 
 ships. 
 
 The whaleback steamer Everett, which carried the American 
 contributions to the East Indian famine, one of the largest whale- 
 back freighters afloat, will be remodeled to accommodate pas- 
 sengers and put on the San F'rancisco-Alaska route, making 
 regular trips to the Yukon with gold-seekers who prefer the 
 water route to the diggings. 
 
 Expert River Men. 
 
 In preparation for the spring rush up the Yukon River, and 
 over the divide wii h supplies, a Canadian firm has been hiring 
 lumbermen and river men from the Ottawa region. There is 
 every indication that by the opening of na\ igation on the u])per 
 Yukon there will be abundant work for expert river men in 
 transporting supplies to the Klondike. 
 
 A Seattle company has been organized to build a sea-going 
 steamship, and also a light draft steamer for the river business 
 between St. Michael's and Dawson City. 
 
 The Puget Sound Tugboat Company will i)ut a steamer on 
 the Yukon in the spring to carry freight and passengers from 
 St. Michael's to the Klondike. 
 
 The Pacific Coast Steamship Company is arranging ro use all 
 its available boats on the northern route to Juneau in 1898, and 
 may decide to make several additions to its fleet. 
 
 Both the North American and Alaska companies are adding 
 to their facilities for taking care of traffic in the spring and 
 expect to be fully equipped for the great rush of gold-hunters 
 and supplies when the time comes. The North American has 
 ordered several new ocean and river steamers. 
 
 
 11 i 
 
HOW TO GET THERE. 
 
 163 
 
 Steamboat men in Seattle estimate that, beginning about the 
 first of April, a large steamer can leave Puget's Sound'for Alaska 
 daily with all the passenger and freight accommodations crowded. 
 
 Several new steamer companies are already in the field and 
 the promise has been made that next season wil! see a reduction 
 in the rate of fare. But unless the reports received from the 
 gold fields during the winter indicate that the richness of the 
 placers has been exaggerated and that they give signs of peter- 
 ing out, the rush to the mines in the spring will surpass anything 
 the world has ever seen. 
 
 Transportation companies assert that those who are waiting 
 until spring to go North will be very much disappointed if they 
 expect a reduction in fares. That some companies will be organ- 
 ized to make trips at reduced rates there is no doubt, but the 
 regular steamship lines say the fare will be the same. 
 
 Secretaiy Hamilton, of the North American Transportation and 
 Trading Company, spoke of the fares in the spring as follows : 
 
 " In my opinion the fare to St. Michael's will not be less than 
 ;^200 in the spring. Transportation facilities will be improved, 
 but fares will not be less." 
 
 The Pacific Coast Steamship Company officials were equally 
 sure the fares would stay up. 
 
 Will Pay To Come Back. 
 
 "he companies generally assert that in the early spring they 
 will be carrying to the sound hundreds of passengers who have 
 wintered in the vicinity of Dawson City. All will have money 
 and will be in a position to pay the present fares, which 
 are considered reasonable. The majority of the miners who 
 stay during the coming wint( - will undoubtedly come out by 
 way of St. Michael's. They will not care to undergo the hard- 
 ships of the trip over the pass. 
 
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164 
 
 HOW TO GET THERE. 
 
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 The first ship from New York to June;, i with gold-hunters 
 and supplies sailed late in iVugust, going around the Horn. 
 The fare to Juneau was $175. Several other sailing vessels are 
 expected to leave New York for Juneau with miners during the 
 winter. 
 
 A great demand for small boats arose on the Pacific Coast be- 
 fore the season closed, the argonauts thinking to save time on 
 the overland journey by taking their boats with them. Several 
 styles of boats that could be shipped " knocked down " at once 
 came to the front, and several firms began making specialties of 
 these handy craft. One that will carry a ton costs about ;$i8, 
 and weighs about 200 pounds. It is taken apart with no pieces 
 more than six or seven feet long and packed for shipping. The 
 principal objection to these boats is that the Indians and packers 
 dislike to contract to carrv them over the mountains on account 
 of their awkward shape. One builder has worked out a model 
 for a galvanized iron boat that can be carried in sections fitting 
 together like a "nest" of custard dishes, and can be put to- 
 gether with small bolts. A canvas folding boat that would 
 carry two tons would be available on the Yukon. A keel, ma.st 
 and some additional bracing could be added after reaching the 
 
 interior. 
 
 Wagon Road to Yukon. 
 
 The Canadian Pacific Railway and Dominion Government are 
 conferring with a view to opening up a wagon road to the Yukon 
 from lulmonton. Such a road is feasible, and would be only 
 between 800 and 900 miles long, passing through a rich aurifer- 
 ous country, The object is to give a short and safe road for 
 prospectors and to make it possible to maintain winter commu- 
 nication. 
 
 A joint resolution was reported favorably for the United States 
 Senate Committee on Territories on July 22d, authorizing the 
 
 
HOW TO GET THERE. 
 
 165 
 
 
 construction ot toll roads in Alaska. The resolution authorizes 
 the Secretary of the Interior to ^rant ri^ht of way 200 feet wide. 
 Franchises are to be limited to twenty years. The rates of toll 
 i.:c to be api;rovL:d by the Secretary of the Interior. 
 
 One of the features of the stampede to Klondike via Dyea 
 has been the number of burros, cayuses, mules and horses taken 
 up to sei*ve for jacking over the Chilkoot, Chilkat and White 
 Passes! Ilunilreds have been sent through, and their owner.; in 
 many cases had contracts in their pockets for all the freight they 
 could expect to handle at from thirteen to nineteen cents a pound. 
 Old mountaineers, however, think the liorses, and especially the 
 mules, will prove a fiilure as a venture, for their hoofs will cut 
 up the road, which has been barely good enough for human feet, 
 so far, and this, in such a moist climate as that of autumn in 
 Southea.stern Alaska, will soon make the trails impassable for 
 beast or even, perhaps, for man. 
 
 There are a few horses in the Yukon country, and one of the 
 
 largest pack trains ever brought into Dawson City, Robert 
 
 Krook, of Dawson City, says, was brought over the frozen 
 
 river Yukon by thirteen horses and as many sleds all the way 
 
 from Circle Cit}'. Feed, however, is expensive, and the horses 
 
 are easily rendered useless. If water gets on the top of the ice 
 
 and the horses or mules get wet feet, they are practically ruined 
 
 for all time, as their hoofs split wiien the water freezes, crippling 
 
 th.e animals. To avoid this, moccasins arc used and ha\e proved 
 
 partially successful. 
 
 Dogs for Burdens. 
 
 Dogs are the choice beasts of burden on the overland routes 
 during the long frozen season, and their points of merit have 
 been recognized b)' a decided stiffening of prices in the canine 
 market. Good dogs, are worth from $100 up, $200 for a fine 
 brute not being an unusual price. There is not much danger of 
 
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 HOW TO GET THERE. 
 
 the supply running far behind the demand, however, even at 
 Dyea, for tf there is anything Alaska is "long" on besides 
 winters and mosquitos, it is dogs. 
 
 Robert Krook says that Eskimo dogs will draw 200 pounds 
 each on a sl(,'d, so that six dogs will draw a year's supplies for 
 one man. I le, however, puts in the provis'i that the sleds 
 should not have iron runners, because the snow sticks to the 
 iron and increases the friction so much that the dogs cannot haul 
 more than 100 pounds apiece. With brass runners this draw- 
 back is obviated. 
 
 Moccasins on Dogs. 
 
 Sometimes the feet of the dogs get sore, and then the Indians 
 fit moccasins on them ; as soon, however, as the tenderness is 
 gone from their feet the dogs will bite and tear the moccasins 
 off. In speaking of the dogs, ]\Tr. Krook saiil that they need 
 no lines to guide them, aid are very intelligent, learning readily 
 to obey a command to turn in any direction or to stop. They 
 have to be watched closely, as they will attack and devour sti res 
 left in their way, especially bacon, which must be hung up out 
 of their reach. At night, when camp is pitched the moment a 
 blanket is thrown upon the grountl thc\- will run into it and 
 curl up, neither cuffs nor kicks sufficing to budge them. They 
 lie as close up to the men who own them as possible, and the 
 miner cannot wrap himself up so close that they won't get under 
 his blanket with him. They are almost human, too, in their 
 disinclinations to get out m the morning. 
 
 Where sleds cannot be used the dogs will carry fifty pounds 
 apiece in saddlebags slung across their backs pannier fashion. 
 Nature has fitted these dogs for their work, and so mastiffs and 
 St. Bernards are not as serviceable. The two latter breeds can- 
 not stand the intense cold so well, and, though at first they will 
 draw the sleds cheerfully, their feet cannot resist the strain and 
 
 
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 168 
 
 HOW TO GET THERE. 
 
 begin to bleed so freely that the clogs are useless. The pads 
 under the feet of the Ivskinio dogs are of tougher skin. 
 
 Reindeer are to he entered as rivals of the I'2sc[uimo dogs. 
 Twenty sturdy bucks have been selected fn^m the United States 
 Government's reindeer herd ai; Teller's Station and will be taken 
 to Circle City. The design is to materially decrease the cost of 
 overland transportation in winter, for the benefit of the miner. 
 
 Much care has been exercised in the selection of the herd, 
 and not one of its members is less than four and one-half feet 
 in height and seven feet in length. The minimum weight of 
 these bucks is 250 pounds, but some of them are twenty-five to 
 fifty pounds heavier than the lightest. All are vigorous, healthy 
 and in good working condition, ll'eir antlers, which curve 
 gracefully backward, are about two and one-half feet in length. 
 Their general color is a soft seal brown, .^hading into black on 
 the legs, which are covered with short, glos.sy hair, to which the 
 snow does not adhere. 
 
 A prime advantage of the reindeer over the dog is the fact 
 
 that he paws away the snow and secures his own food, instead 
 
 of having to add his rations to the weight of his burden. Many 
 
 a pioneer prospector, traveling by dog team, has been placed in 
 
 a position in which his dogs have become useless from lack of 
 
 provisions. Had these unfortunate pilgrims been provided with 
 
 reindeer teams, such an emergency would not, in all probability, 
 
 have arisen ; and in case of threatened starvation the traveler's 
 
 means of transportation would have furnished him with a liberal 
 
 quantity of meat. 
 
 Bicycles for Yukon. 
 
 One of the most novel and absurd of all the schemes oftrans- 
 l^ortation fostered by the stampede to the Yukon diggings is the 
 Klondike bicycle, theoretically adapted to carry one man and 500 
 pounds of outfit, but practically useless because there is not a 
 
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HOW TO GET THERE. 
 
 169 
 
 piece of the wheelmen's "good roads" in the territory. Yet 
 some " tenderfect " have been seen in Seattle armed and equipped 
 with jujt that thing. But it is to be hoped they were not typical 
 " tenderfeet." 
 
 The Klondike is promised close communication with the world 
 in a short time. The Alaska Telegraph and Telephone Company 
 has been incorporated in San Francisco to construct a telegraph 
 line from Juneau and Dyea to Dawson and Circle City. The 
 capital stock is ;$ 100,000. The work of construction is to be 
 pushed and it is hoped the line will be in working order before 
 winter. The estimated length is 10,000 miles. 
 
 The line will be a novelty, as no poles will be used except in 
 crossing canons and rivers. The wire, which will be of large 
 guage, pure copper, will be heavily coated with insulating sub- 
 stance and will be laid along the ground. Stations will be estab- 
 lished at every fifty miles. It is thought that this line will answer 
 perfectly for the present. 
 
 How it will be Built. 
 
 D. E. Bohannon, the chief of construction of the line, ex- 
 plained its details as follows : 
 
 " Our method is very simple. The line is to be constructed 
 on the same plans as the ordinary military line used by armies 
 for war purposes. We have a wire a quarter of an inch thick 
 and covered with kerite insulation, which has proved able to 
 stand the rigorous climatic conditions prevailing in Alaska. 
 
 " The wire is wound upon large reels, the same as an ordinary 
 telegraph wire, and these coils are to be placed on dog sleds and 
 dragged over the ice and snow. As we go along the reels will 
 simply pay out the loose wire and run it along the ground, and 
 thus our line will be through in something like six weeks, the 
 time consumed in the ordinary tramp over the country." 
 
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 170 
 
 HOW TO GET THERE. 
 
 ! 
 
 The Dominon Government has niiuK- ai)plication to the United 
 States Government to he permitted to huild a telegraph Hne from 
 a navigable point on I. inn Canal, Alaska, to Tagish, across the 
 summit, a distanci- of nearly lOO miles, so that communication 
 may be had with the interior of the Yukon all the year around. 
 It is said that the application will raise a new question only comp.ir- 
 able to that whit h was involved in the establishment of the 
 mixed mail route in Alaska, which g.ive rise to so much talk. 
 
 The Klondike will not be so badly off for mails this winter. 
 The monthly letter mail which was started by the United States 
 Government the first of July, 1897, will be continued, and there 
 will be oil',' round trip a month to Circle City until July i, 1898. 
 The Canadian Government has also arranged for po»itid service 
 to Dawson City. 
 
 The scheme of the United States postal service is interesting. 
 
 Between Seattle and Sitka the mail steamers ply regularly. 
 
 Between Sitka and Juneau there is a closed pouch steamboat 
 
 service. .Seattle makes up closed pouches for Douglas, Fort 
 
 Wrangel, Juneau, Killisnoo, Ketchikan, Mary Island, '^itka and 
 
 Metlakatlah. 
 
 Service from Sitka. 
 
 Connecting at Sitka is another sea service between that point 
 and Unalaska, 1400 miles to the west. This service consists of 
 one trip a month between Sitka and Unalaska from April to 
 October and leaves Sitka immediately upon arrival of the 
 mails from Seattle. Captain J. 1^. Hanson is acting clerk. From 
 Unalaska the mails are dispatched to .St. Michael's and thence t<r 
 points on the Yukon. 
 
 The Postofficc Department has perfected not only a summer 
 but a winter star route service between Juneau and Circle City 
 The route is overland and by boats and rafts over the lakes and 
 down the Yukon, and is 900 miles long. A Chicago map 
 
 I < 
 
 
'V 
 
 HOW TO (;KT rilKRK. 
 
 171 
 
 named Ik-dcloc carries the summer mail, :nakin^ five trips 
 between June and November, and is paid ;S500 a trip. Two 
 Juneau men, Frank Corwin and Albert Hayes, (prate the 
 winter service, ami tiravv for each roinul trip 51700 in ^old, 
 Al)<)ut 1200 letters are carried on each trip. 
 
 FOREST .SCENE NEAR SITKA. 
 
 The Canadian mail to Dawson City will be carried by the 
 mounted police from D)-ea to Skagway. 
 
 In the expectation that the boom in Alaskan and North 
 British mining stocks will be one of the wildest in the hi.story of 
 
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 172 
 
 HOW TO GET THERE. 
 
 the world, and that the stock exchanges of London, New York, 
 Chicago and San Francisco will be willing to pay handsomely 
 for inside and speedy news from the centre of excitement on the 
 Klondike, some capitalists have conceived the idea of establish- 
 ing a carrier-pigeon service between Seattle or Victoria and 
 Dawson and Circle Cities, with Juneau as the "way station " in 
 the flight. The experience of Nanscn, the Arctic explorer, with 
 carrier pigeons in the ice fields surrounding the North Pole, has 
 demonstrated the practicability of using these birds in Alaska 
 during the coldest months. 
 
 Plan of the Service. 
 
 The idea is to transfer a numbei of " breeders " to Victoria, 
 the nearest telegrapl:ic station to the Klondike district, and also 
 a number of them to Juneau and Dawson City, in the heart of 
 the new Eldorado. It is believed that after the birds shall have 
 been properly trained by frequent flights over the country 
 between Dawson City and Juneau, they will be able to cover 
 that extent of territory in about twenty-four hours. The birds, 
 whose home cotes are located in Victoria, it is believed, can 
 reach that place in less than thirty hours after being released at 
 Juneau, a trip that is seldom made in less than three or four 
 days by steamboat, although on one occasion it was made from 
 Sitka in forty-nine hours. With such a line of communication 
 opened up it ought to be possible for a message written in the 
 frozen interior of Alaska to reach the most distant parts of the 
 world within a few days. 
 
 A carrier pigeon, which was taken from Portland, Ore., on 
 the steamer Fllder, to Dyea, returned to Portland on August 9th 
 with the following message : 
 
 " Dyea, Aug. 7th. Arrived safely here last night. All well 
 on board. T. C.vin." 
 
 J 
 
HOW TO GET THERE. 
 
 173 
 
 
 In preparing to make the long overland journey into the 
 Klondike, one of the things of most importance to be considered 
 and one in which the " tenderfoot " left to himself, is most apt to 
 make a serious blunder of omission, is the " outfit." 
 
 There are all sorts of tistes and so there are all sorts of out- 
 fits, but the following table, prepared by a man of ample experi- 
 ence and good appetite, will serve as a sample for preparing a 
 list of the articles necessary for a complete outfit for a year in 
 the Klondike diggings : 
 
 CLOTHING: — 3 suits lieavy woolen undervcar, 6 pairs heavy woolen 
 stockings, 2 pairs blanket-lined mittens, i licuvy Mackinaw coat, 2 pairs 
 Mackinaw trousers, 2 dark woolen overshirts, i heavy sweater, i heavy 
 rubber-lined top coat, 2 pairs heavy hip rubber boots, 2 pairs shoes, i 
 Canadian toque, 2 pairs extra hea"y blankets, i suit oil skins, 2 pairs 
 heavy overalls, i suit buckskin underwear, towels, needles, thread, wax, 
 buttons. 
 
 FOOD: — 350 pounds flour, 200 pounds bacon, 150 pounds beans, 10 
 pounds tea, 75 pounds coffee (browned), 5 pounds baking powder, 25 
 pounds salt, 150 pounds assorted dried fruits, 100 pounds evaporated vege- 
 tables an<l dried ineats, 10 pounds soap, 3 tins matches, 5 pounds sac- 
 charine, citric acid. 
 
 HARDWARE:— I long-handled shovel, I pick, i ax, duplicate handles, 
 5 pounds wire nails, .^j pounds pitch, 3 pounds oakum, 2 large lilcs, hammer, 
 jackplane, brace and hits, large whipsaw, hand sa ,v, 150 feet ^^-incb rope, 
 drawknife, chisel, jackknife, whetstone, hand ax, shaving outfit, frying pan, 
 kettle, Yukon stove, bean pot, two plates, cup, teapot, knife, fork and six 
 spoons, 2 buckets, 2 minois' gold pans. 
 
 ARMAMENT : — Repeating rifle, 40-S2, reloading tools and 100 rounds 
 brass shell cartridges, i large hunting knife, fishing tackle, snow spectacles. 
 
 CAMPING OUTFIT : — Heavy canvas tent, .Sxio, pegs and guy ropes, 
 I liPavy-lined canvas .sleeping-bag, rubber blanket, mosquito netting. 
 
 These supplies will weigh about 1350 ])ounds and will co.st 
 about $225 ac Seattle, or at Juneau, if the rush of gold-hunters 
 has not exhausted the suppi}'. 
 
 It is important to pay attention to a sufficient stock of anti- 
 scorbutics, for scurvy is the scourge of Arctic residence. 
 
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 174 
 
 HOW TO GET THERE. 
 
 The shaving utensils listed may cause some to smile, as they 
 think the Klondike is no place for " frills," but the experience of 
 sojourners in those regions of long and intense cold is that a 
 smooth face is a positive comfort. The breath's moisture con- 
 gealing in moustache and beard is well nigh as painful a trial in 
 winter in Alaska as the mosquitos in summer. It is comfort 
 rather than style to shave. 
 
 In making purchases the argonaut should bear in mind that 
 the very best of everything is none too good and will more than 
 repay the outlay in the long run. The clothing and food in 
 particular should be first quality throughout. 
 
 One of the most indispensable items in the list is the sleeping 
 bag, with an outside covering of heavy duck and lined with 
 warm lamb's wool. It is fixed up with handles, so that in case 
 of necessity it can be swung up in trees. 
 
 Hip rubber boots are another necessary article, in addition to 
 which a pair of heavy miner's boots is generally taken. 
 
 Native Costume. 
 
 Many miners adopt the native costume — and it is comfortable 
 as well as highly serviceable and picturesque. 
 
 The boots, usually made by the coast Indians, are of several 
 varieties. The water boot is of seal and walrus skin, while the 
 dry weather or winter boot is of all varieties of styles and 
 material. The more expensive have fur trimmed legs, elabo- 
 rately designed. They cost from $2 to $^ a pair. Trousers arc 
 often made of Siberian fawn skin and the skin of the marmot, or 
 ground squirrel. The parka, or upper garment, is usually of 
 marmot skins, trimmed with wolverine around the hood and 
 lower edge, the long hair from the sides of the wolverine being 
 used for the hood. This hair is sometimes five or six inches in 
 length and is useful in protecting the face of the wearer. Good, 
 
 t.,i< 
 
HOW TO GET THERE. 175 
 
 warm flannels can be worn under the parka, and the whole outfit 
 
 will weigh less than the ordinary clothes worn in a country where 
 
 the weather gets down to zero. The parka is almost cold proof. 
 
 But it is expensive, ranging in price from $25 to $100. Blankets 
 
 and fur robes are used for bedding. Lynx skins make the best 
 
 robes. Good ones cost $100. But the cheaper robes can be 
 
 made of the skins of bears, mink, red fox and the Arctic hare. 
 
 The skins of the latter animal make warm socks to be worn with 
 
 the skin boots. 
 
 A Cheap Outfit. 
 
 Outfits can be purchased more cheaply than the sample given 
 heretofore, by lopping off some of the articles. Here is the bill 
 of one in which each article was of first-class quality, no groceries 
 nor armament being included : 
 
 3 suits heavy woolen underwear, at |4 50 I13 50 
 
 4 pairs heavy stockings, at 40 cents i 60 
 
 2 pairs German socks, at|r.i5 2 30 
 
 I pair hunting stockings i 25 
 
 I heavy sweater 4 50 
 
 I lighter sweater 2 35 
 
 I leather fur-lined coat, short 7 00 
 
 I pair jeans trousers, lined with flannel 300 
 
 I Mackinaw coat 3 00 
 
 I pair Mackinaw trousers 2 50 
 
 I suit buckskin underwear 1200 
 
 I pair hip rubber boots 5 25 
 
 I pair heavy miners' boots 5 00 
 
 I pair heavy overshoes 210 
 
 4 blankets, at I2.40 9 60 
 
 I pair leather-lined mitts i 20 
 
 1 pair woolen mitts i 00 
 
 I sleeping bag 12 50 
 
 I sleeping cap 75 
 
 4 canvas carrying bags 2 cx> 
 
 Tools, including two miners' pans, picks, shovels, axes, 
 
 saw, file, knife 7 32 
 
 Total I99 73 
 
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 176 
 
 HOW TO GET THERE. 
 
 Some men buy sheepskin coats and vests, horsehide coats and 
 trousers at $i8 a suit and extra supplies of "jumbo " undercloth- 
 ing. Some other men, remembering only the outfits carried to 
 Harqua Hala or Leadville, squeeze all their supplies into a ;$ioo 
 bill, but it is safe to say their frugality is " penny wise and pound 
 foolish." 
 
 Here is a list of provisions sufficient for one man for a month, 
 made by an expert. [He probably was not a heavy eater. — Ed.] 
 
 20 pounds flour, with baking powder, 12 pounds bacon, 6 pounds beans, 
 S pounds desiccated vegetables, 4 pounds butter, 5 pounds sugar, 4 cans milk, 
 X pound tea, 3 pounds coffee, 2 pounds salt, 5 pounds cornmeal, pepper, 
 mustard. 
 
 One of the m?n who has " been there " has the following to 
 say of the cost of the provisions a prospector should take with 
 him : 
 
 " No one should venture into the region without some cash 
 and a sufficient supply of provisions to last eight months. One 
 should buy these things in Juneau, and he should start out with 
 something like the following: 400 pounds of flour, 100 pounds 
 of beans, 100 pounds of bacon, 100 pounds of sugar, 10 pounds 
 of tea, 30 pounds of coffee, 1 50 pounds of mixed fruit, salt, 
 pepper and cooking utensils. The whole outfit can be purchased 
 well within S90. The cost of conveying this stock of provisions 
 to the headwaters of Lake Linderman will average about ^i 5 per 
 100, but even that makes it considerably cheaper than the same 
 goods can be purchased in the mining camp. 
 
 Value of Salt. 
 
 Just how valuable salt sometimes becomes in the gold fields 
 is illustrated in a story told by a miner who lately returned from 
 there. His party ran out of that useful article, and it seemed 
 that they would die without it. They came across another party 
 
 ! 
 

 HOW TO GET THP:Rf:. 
 
 177 
 
 that had salt, but refused to part with it. A pitched battle was 
 about to begin for possession of the salt, when some t)ne sug- 
 gested that those who owned the salt were not overly flush with 
 gold dust, while those who had no salt had plenty of gold. It 
 was then arranged that gold should be weighed against the salt, 
 and this was done. 
 
 And after this story of the salt, which needs not to be taken 
 with a grain of that condiment, it is well to reiterate to every 
 gokl hunter going out to winter in the Klondike fields : 
 
 " Take your own grub — and plenty of it." 
 
 Food in Compact Form. 
 
 To those who find something terrifying about a heavy outfit, 
 with packers' prices over the passes at twenty cents a pound and 
 upwards, it may be suggested that many staple articles of food 
 have been prepared in the utmost condensed or concentrated 
 forms for the use of soldiers in the field, and will no doubt be 
 equally as nourishing. to prospectors, while enabling them to carry 
 extensive supplies in small bulk. 
 
 For instance, a cup of tea or coffee is crowded into the size 
 and form of a ({uinine capsule, a mince pie is the size of a cough 
 drop, and other (.Iclicacies are in proportion. Soup " buttons " 
 are prepared in the same way, with meat, vegetables and season- 
 ing all ready for hot water. A loaf of bread is compressed into 
 the size and shape of a soda cracker, which swells up to normal 
 size when put in hot water. Ten pounds of vegetables are put 
 into one-pound can, and a cubic ounce of desiccated beef is 
 ec^ual in nourishment to several jxnmds of fresh meat. 
 
 Prospectors who go out by the St. Michael's route, if they 
 
 purpose wintering on the Klondike, or in Upper Alaska, will not 
 
 need to take so elaborate a provision supply by the amount of 
 
 at least three months' cons'vnption, but they had better keep 
 
 12 
 
 
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178 
 
 HOW TO GET THERE. 
 
 'i 
 
 pretty close to the clothing, hardware, armament and camping 
 schedules. They will find it advisable not to omit the food item 
 altogether unless they have good assurance that the supplies 
 brought in by the trading companies will be ample. 
 
 Robert Krock's Advice. 
 
 Lest any should think too much stress has been laid on the 
 matter of supplies to be taken into the Klondike, these words 
 of Robert Krook, the young Swedish miner, who returned from 
 Dawson City during the summer, are given in full : 
 
 " Every one who goes to Alaska must rely mainly on two 
 establishments for supplies. Even those who have a good outfit 
 will find it often necessary to patronize one or other of the stores. 
 Prices are on an iverage three times as high as at Juneau or St. 
 Michael's, and four to five times as steep as in San Francisco. 
 When the winter is nearly over and supplies begin to run short 
 prices are, as a consequence, raised. Toward the close of last 
 winter, before the new supplies came up the river, prices were 
 doubled. 
 
 "All through the winter men arrive at such mining towns as 
 Dawson City, bringing with them from one to two tons of food 
 and clothing. They go up the streams and peddle their goods, 
 taking care to lose nothing for their time and trouble. 
 
 "To one blacksmith shop all miners must go or .send when 
 they have tools to be repaired, or when they need anything 
 made to order which the stores cannot supply. 
 
 " Dawson City can boast of two good practicing physicians — 
 Police Surgeon Willis and another doctor who went from Circle 
 City to Dawson last year. They carry their own supplies of 
 staple drugs and medicines, so as to be able to compound their 
 own prescriptions. Ordinary remedies are to be obtained at the 
 two trading stores. 
 
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HOW TO GET THERE. 179 
 
 " I think it well to mention that the credit system has been 
 entirely done away with in Dawson. No one can make a pur- 
 chase of any kind without the necessary cash in the shape of dust. 
 Of course it must not be understood that we would let a man 
 starve, but on the other hand, no one mu.st expect to be sup- 
 ported by the generosity of the people. We are all hard workers 
 up there, and if any man will work he can always make a living. 
 
 "The impression seems to prevail that the mines are close to 
 
 Dawson City. That is a mistake. The rich creeks are fifteen 
 
 miles off, and it is a day's journey to reach them. The camp 
 
 there is as pretty a place as one desires to see. The white tents 
 
 and huts of the miners are scattered along the banks of the 
 
 creeks or built on the mountain sides, as convenience or fancy 
 
 dictated." 
 
 Medicine Chest. 
 
 Another thing which all prospectors should be careful to take 
 along is a medicine chest. Doctors are few, distances long and 
 emergencies of health or limb often most urgent in the Yukon 
 mining camps. 
 
 Here is a list of contents of a medicine chest, whose cost is 
 
 within *sio, and every article of which is useful in the wilderness. 
 
 Quinine pills 50 
 
 Compound cathartic pills 50 
 
 Acetauilid tablets 3 dozen 
 
 Chlorate potash i box 
 
 Mustard plasters 6 
 
 Belladonna plasters 6 
 
 Carbolic salve 4 ounces 
 
 Chloroform liniment 8 ounces 
 
 Witch hazel I pint 
 
 Essence ginger 4 ounces 
 
 Paregoric 4 ounces 
 
 Laudanum i ounce 
 
 Borax 4 ounces 
 
 Tincture iodine i ounce 
 
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 180 HOW TO GET THERE. 
 
 Spirits nitre 2 ounces 
 
 Tincture iron i ounce 
 
 Cough mixture 8 ounces 
 
 Toothache drops i bottle 
 
 Vaseline i bottle 
 
 Iodoform 2 drams 
 
 Lint 2 yards 
 
 Assorted bandages Ji dozen 
 
 Rubber adhesive plasters 2 feet 
 
 Absorbent cotton 4 ounces 
 
 Monsell's salts for hemorrhages — In quantities in accordance 
 with the person's liability to attacks of the trouble. 
 
 Health and the Klondike. 
 
 As a rule, no one in ordinary health and strength need fear 
 to winter in the Klondike or to risk the hardsliips incident to 
 getting there, merely on account of the Arctic cold. The brac- 
 ing effect of the northern climate will probabK' prove beneficial 
 to many. Snow and ice are in themselves rather unpleasant 
 than unhealthful. Scientific records have well established that 
 longevity increases as residence is advanced from the equator 
 towards the poles. There is more risk of disease in a voyage to 
 Panama or India than in one to Behring Strait or I lerschel Island. 
 
 But weak hearts and weak lungs cannot face northern blasts. 
 Rheumatism unfits for such tests. People of purely sedentary 
 habits take big chances on the overland trails and in the gulches. 
 Weak eyes would be severely tried and, perhaps, blinded '/y the 
 glare of the snow-clad land. Physical exhaustion, colds, 
 scurvy, rheumastism and snow blindness are the ills chiefly to be 
 dreaded by the Alaskan gold-hunters, and any who are subject 
 to troubles of the heart, throat or lungs should stay religiously 
 away from the Klondike. The medicine chest would be a futile 
 resort for them, and some volunteer sexton would likely do for 
 them the last earthly office before the Alaskan spring bloomed 
 in May. 
 
 I ■ 
 
 • ! I 
 

 HOW TO (}ET THERE. 
 
 181 
 
 But now that the daring prospector is in the Klondike and 
 washing out the precious dust, his next thougiit will be, as his 
 " pile " grows, to get out and back to the baked meats, and flesh 
 pots of civilization. Hear what Mrs. Frederick Schwatka, who 
 had much personal experience in Alaska, and got the benefit of 
 much more vicariously from pioneers returning from the wilder- 
 ness, has to say about " how to get out : " 
 
 " This getting back is a formidable undertaking that appalls 
 so many. They choose rather to remain whole winters doing 
 practically nothing that brings in more than a bare existence. 
 In getting out it is necessary to make progress against the 600 
 miles of swift river current. Rowing is out of the question, 
 walking and poling being the methods used. The poles are 
 about twelve feet long and made of seasoned spruce saplings 
 and sharpened at the butt end. Sometimes an iron spike is put 
 in, otherwise it must be sharpened two or three times a tlay. 
 Two polemen stand in bow and stern. To stand all day in a 
 wabbling, cranky boat, and work like a beaver until six or seven 
 hundred miles are traversed at about fifteen miles a day is in 
 itself a formidable undertaking. Then the great pass must be 
 scaled without any assistance, for there are no Indians now to 
 help. Here it is that many a discouraged miner has given up all 
 hope and found a grave in the ice-covered mountains. It is the 
 thought of again seeing something of civilization and the outside 
 world that buoys up the traveler by this difficult trail." 
 
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 CHAPTER V. 
 
 A Land of Wonders. 
 
 I/snd of the Midnight Sun — Great Distances — Primitive Conveyances — Ter 
 rors of the Arctic Regions — World of Wonders — Dangers of Travel — A 
 Great Glacier — A Frozen Cataract — Beautiful Scenery — Rush of Tor- 
 rents — Marvelous Sunsets — Great Yukon River — Caiion of Lewis River 
 — Dominion of the Frost King — Towering Volcanoes — The Winter 
 Moon — A Country of Romance — Totem Poles — Salmon Fisheries — Vast 
 Solitudes — The Alaskan Natives. 
 
 THE man who goes from southern latitudes to seek his for- 
 tune in Alaska will leave fiimiliar scenes for a land of 
 wonders. His first experience will of necessity be one of 
 surprise. He will find a country of new people, new scenes, 
 and new modes of life. 
 
 Every one who has visited the land about which so much has 
 been written and printed relative to the gold findings tells the 
 same story of the matchless grandeur of the territory. With 
 few exceptions all give the same report of the peoples and mar- 
 vels there to be seen 
 
 It is the land of the midnight sun and the mid-day moon ; of 
 salt water intruding hundreds of miles into the country, between 
 mountains that overhang it in such a way as to excite a feeling 
 of awe ; of the Aurora Borealis, the displays of which are more 
 magnificent than are ever witnessed in southern regions. It is a 
 land of majestic mountains, c( vast inland seas, of stupendous 
 glaciers, compared with which those of the old world are but 
 trifling affairs. It is a land from which thundering icebergs come 
 plunging into the sea and float off in their glory of inimitable 
 splendor. It is a land of exceeding wealth in fish, in timber, in 
 minerals. And, above all, it is the land in which many think the 
 182 
 
 H 
 
 S ^ ! 
 
A LAND OF WONDERS. 
 
 183 
 
 mother lode of the gold supply of the Western Continent is to 
 be found. 
 
 One of the first things that will be forced upon the visitor 
 will bo the fact that Alaska is a country of magnificent distances. 
 It is nine times the size of the New England states ; twice the 
 size of Texas and three times as large as California. It stretches 
 more than looo miles from north to south, and extends west to 
 the extreme limit of the Aleutian Islands. 
 
 Few people in the United States, probably, are aware of the 
 fact that the gold fields which are attracting so much attention 
 are pretty nearly on the medial line of the United States from 
 cast to west. From Sitka, for instance, westward to the limit of 
 the Aleutian Islands, it is nearly 3000 miles ; and eastward from 
 the same point it is not over about 3500 miles to the most east- 
 erly coa.st of Maine. 
 
 The name of the country itself is simply a designation for the 
 immensity of its territory — a wonder. It is a corruption of the 
 Indian name Al-ay-kc-sa, which was given by the native island- 
 ers to the mainland, and which signifies "great country." As a 
 matter of fact, the territory contains nearly 6oo,000 square miles ; 
 and it is thus nearly one-fifth as large as all the other states and 
 territories of the Union combined. It would make more than 
 twelve «?tatcs the size of New York. 
 
 Poor Transit Conveyances. 
 
 These enormous distances soon impress themselves upon the 
 traveler, and the sense of interminable space is accentuated by 
 the lack of ordinary transit facilities, Alaska is a land in which 
 the steam train i.s not known, and it may safely be said that a 
 large proportion of the people living in the country have never 
 heard of such a thing as a railroad. Even horses and wagons 
 are virtually things unknown. The country has too rigorous a 
 
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 381 
 
 A LAND Ol' WONDERS. 
 
 climate for the successful use of any beasts of burden other than 
 clogs. Hence, dogs as pack anini.ils and as steeds for sledges 
 have become one of the chief i)ossessions of the people. 
 
 These vast stretches of country arc also observable in the 
 marked differences of climate. Southern Alaska is really a dif- 
 ferent country than the more northern districts in which the gold 
 field.s of the Yukon have been found. William II. .Seward some 
 years ago, writing from Berlin, makes use of these words: "\Vc 
 have seen of Geru'iany enough to show that its climate is neither 
 so genial, nor its soil so fertile, nor its resources of forests and 
 mines so rich as those of southern Alaska." 
 
 Akin to Norway. 
 
 In climate and all physical features southeastern Alaska is but 
 a repetition of southern Norway. It enjoys, however, a greater 
 wealth of forests. In latitude, configuration, temperature, rain- 
 fall and ocean currents it is identical. Norwegians, therefore, 
 could be transplanted to Sitka and its neighborhood, and, barring 
 the lack of improvements of the old world, would scarcely real- 
 ize that their location had been changed. During the thirty-six 
 years that the Russians kept meteorological records in Sitka the 
 mercury went below zero but four times. 
 
 A comparison here may be of interest. St. Johns, New- 
 foundland, is literally beset by icebergs in --ummer, and its har- 
 bor in the winter time is virtually frozen solid. Yet Sitka, which 
 is ten degrees north of it has always an open roadstead, and it is 
 only the ends of the longer fiords that are ever covered by ice. 
 
 Again it is pointed out that Sitka Castle, which is three miles 
 north of Balmoral Castle, in Scotland, has a higher average win- 
 ter temperature than the highland home. In southern Alaska 
 the snow rarely lies on the ground at the sea level. The mist 
 and rains reduce it to slush almost as quickly as in Kentucky or 
 
A LAND 01' WONDERS. 
 
 1C5 
 
 the District of Columbia, the isothermal equals of this region. 
 We hear much of snow shoes in connection with iMaskan life, 
 and yet skating is one of the rarest of pleasures for the 
 Sitkans. 
 
 It is a different matter, however, when one pierces the interior 
 and wends his way over the mountain tops or through the valleys 
 or along the mighty streams tc? the gold fields. As one ascends 
 farther north, with the change of scenes comes a change of air, 
 till in the neighborhood of Dawson City, Circle City, Klondike, 
 and the other mining camps, it is no unusual thing for the mer- 
 cu'-y to fall from sixty to ninety degrees below zero. 
 
 Nine m.- nths of the year in these ncrthern regions the ground 
 is frozen to the depth of twenty-five or thirty feet as solid as a rock. 
 Even in summer, which there is virtually but three months, the 
 ground rarely thaws out more than from two to two and a half 
 inches. 
 
 People who invade these northern districts find that a new 
 mode of life is forced upon them. The clothing which would be 
 comfortable even in Sitka no longer furnishes adequate warmth, 
 and as a result, those who can do so, usually adopt the native 
 costume, and dress largely in furs. 
 
 Wonders to Marvel At. 
 
 The voyager, be he excursionist or miner, thus finds an endless 
 variety of things to admire, to wonder at and to ponder over. 
 He will scarcely believe his senses or realize the fact that in sail- 
 ing up the vast inland arms of the sea, which extend often hun- 
 dreds of miles toward the interior, to which he is bound, he is 
 really riding on salt water, mere inlets of the Pacific Ocean. It 
 scarcely seems possible to one that he can glide along day after 
 day and week after week, if need be, without encounterir.^.' a 
 single wave or a single ripple to disturb the motion of the vessel, 
 
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 A LAND OF WONDERS. 
 
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 and yet, at the same time, be all the time on the ocean and have 
 the benefits of an ocean trip. 
 
 Those who have made the journey over Alaskan waters say 
 the only realizing sense they have of the character of the voyage 
 is the voracious appetite engendered, without the accompaniment 
 of the much dreaded monster — sea sickness. 
 
 The islands, too, by which the vessel glides, will be a constant 
 source of wonder. One will marvel how, and when, and why, 
 these islands past which he rides were formed — islands, some of 
 them no larger than a good sized house, and others large enough 
 to be empires in themselves. 
 
 Channels a Menace. 
 
 Not infrequently the traveler has to pass through narrow and 
 serpentine passages, which can only be navigated at slack and 
 high tide on account of the teriffic current which rushes through 
 the straits at other times. These channels are often hundreds of 
 miles in length and as straight as an arrow. Many of them are 
 almost unfathomable in depth and are banked on cither side by 
 perpendicular and 'gigantic mountains, whose untrod summits are 
 clothed in ice and clouds. 
 
 The impression given the traveler is very much the same as 
 that afforded by the somewhat similar scenery of upper Norway. 
 In a general ^j'^nse there is the same bleakness observable on the 
 mountains, a somewhat similar stunted vegetation and an almost 
 identical invasion of the mainland by the sea. But what the trav- 
 eler will not find in Norway or in any other part of the world are 
 the matchless glaciers that, in common acceptance, are one of the 
 most remarkable features of Alaska scenery. 
 
 The traveler will see a number of them on his way to Juneau, 
 glittering in the distance and apparently bleak and inaccessible. 
 As he gets farther into the country, these glaciers become 
 
 li 
 
A LAND OF WONDFRS. 
 
 187 
 
 greater in size and more numerous. It ha5? been said that the 
 largest glacier in Switzerland would ivt make more than a 
 respectable sized nose if it could be transferred bodily, to the 
 face of one of these sleeping giants iii the fastnesses of Alaska. 
 
 The Great Muir Glacier. 
 
 Here, again, a comparison will be of service to enable one to 
 appreciate the wonders of Alaska scenery. Of the Norwegian 
 glaciers, which may be most fairly used for comparison with the 
 Muir, the Jodtesalbrae, the largest glacier in Europe, lies three 
 degrees north of the Muir, at an elevation of 3000 feet above 
 the sea. It covers 470 square miles. 
 
 The Muir glacier drains an area of 800 square miles, and the 
 actual ice surface covers about 350 square miles. The mass of 
 it is thirty-five miles long and from ten to fifteen miles wide, and 
 lies but a few hundred feet above the sea level. It is fed by 
 twenty-six tributary streams, seven of which are over a mile in 
 width. 
 
 If all their affluents were named and counted, as in Switzer- 
 land, the Muir might boast two hundred branches or tributary 
 glaciers in its system. The mountain gateway, two and a half 
 miles wide, through which it pours to the sea. is formed by 
 spurs of Mt. Case, 3510 feet high, and Mt. Wright, 4944 feet 
 high. All the mountains in the immediate vicinity of the glacier 
 average from 40CO ^o Cooo feet in height. 
 
 For further comparison it may be pointed out that the 
 Svartisen, the snow glacier of the Norway coast, about eight 
 degrees north of the Muir and on the line of the Arctic circle, 
 is an ice mantle forty-four milos long and from twelve to 
 twenty-five miles wide, occupying a jjlati^au 4000 feet above the 
 sea. The Swiss glaciers, all lying <*roni 4000 to 6000 feet 
 above the sea are like those of Mt. Ranior, and in no way to be 
 
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188 
 
 A LAND OF WONDERS. 
 
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 compared with the Muir, twenty of whose arms exceed the Mer 
 de Giace in size ! 
 
 Apropos of the Muir glacier one cannot do better than to 
 quote V few words from the lamented Kate Field on Alaskan 
 glaciers in general and the Muir glacier in particular. Says 
 she: 
 
 " Soon after leaving Wrangcl, the first Alaskan glacier ."s seen 
 in the distance, looking like a frozen river emerging from the 
 home of the clouds. The sea is glassy, and a procession of 
 small bergs, broken away from the glacier, float silently toward 
 the south. It is Nature's dead march to the sun, to melt in its 
 burning kisses, and to be tran.splanted into happy tears. Wild 
 ducks fly past, and from his eyrie a bald-headed eagle surveys 
 the scene — deeply, darkly, beautifully blue — apparently con- 
 scious that he is the symbol of the Republic. 
 
 " There iire glaciers and glaciers. In Switzerland a glacier is 
 a v^ast bed of dirty air-holed ice that has fastened itself, like a 
 cold porous-plaster, to the side of an Alp. Distance alone 
 lends enchantment to the view. In Alaska a glacier is a won- 
 derful torrent that seems to have been suddenly frozen when 
 about to plunge into the sea. Down and about mountains wind 
 these snow-clad serpents, extending miles inland, with as many 
 arm^ -otimes as an octopus. 
 
 A Frozen Niagara. 
 
 " Wonderfully picturesque is the Davidson glacier, but more 
 extended is the Muir glacier, which marks the extreme northerly 
 points of pleasure travel. Imagine a glacier three miles wide 
 and three hundred feet high at its mouth. Think of "T^iagara 
 Falls frozen stiff, add thirty-six feet to its height, and you have 
 a slight idea of the terminus of Muir Glacier, in front of which 
 your steamer anchors ; picture a background of mountains fifteen 
 
 

 A LAND OF WONDERS. 
 
 180 
 
 thousand feet high, all snow clad, and then imagine a gorgeous 
 sun lighting up the ice crystals with rainbow coloring. 
 
 "The face of the glacier takes on the hue of aquamarine, the 
 hue of every bit of floating ice, big and little, that surrounds the 
 steamer and makes navigation serious. These dazzling serpents 
 move at the rate of sixty-four feet a day, tumbling headlong 
 
 MOUNTAIN SCENE IN ALASKA. 
 
 into the sea, and, as it fcills, the ear is startled with submarini; 
 thunder, the echoes of wiiich resound far and near, Dowr., 
 down, down goes the berg, .uid woe to the boat in its way when 
 it again rises to the surface." 
 
 If* the tide is right, the traveler will hear the thunder-'ng crash 
 caused by the icebergs breaking off from the glaciers and 
 
 
 
 
 
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 190 
 
 A LAND OF WONDERS. 
 
 tumbling into the water. It is no unusual thinj^ for a vessel on 
 these inland arms of the ocean to be literally in a sea of ice. 
 
 A Picture of Beauty. 
 
 This is declared to be one of the most beautiful pictures man 
 ever witnessed, and many of the thousands of people, who have 
 left southern latitudes to wend their way into the fastnesses of 
 Alaskan territory have written home in the most glowing terms 
 of the wonders, witnessed, . *" ially In the ocean part of their 
 journey. Of these descriptn. none, perhaps, is more striking 
 or will convey a better idea of what travel in these solitudes 
 really is than the words of Miss Skidmore, who threaded the 
 wilderness and wrote a book on her expcrie^^ces Says she : 
 
 " Life on the waveless arms of the ocean as a great fascina- 
 tion on one of these Alaskan trips, and, crowded with novelty, 
 incidents and surprises as each day is, the cruise seems :;il too 
 short when the end approaches. One dreads to get to land 
 again and end the easy, idle wandering through the long archi- 
 pelago. 
 
 " The voyage is but one protracted marine picnic, and an 
 unbroken succession of memorable days. Where in all the list 
 of them to place the red letter or the white stone puzzles one. 
 The passengers beg the captain to reverse the engines, or boldly 
 turn back and keep up the cruise until the autumn gales make 
 us willing to return to the region of earthly cares and responsi- 
 bilities, daily mails and telegraph wires. The long nightless 
 days never lose their spells, and in retrospect the wonders of the 
 northland appear the greater. 
 
 " The weeks of continuous travel over deep, placid waters, in 
 the midst of magnificent scenery, might be a journey of explora- 
 tion on a new continent, so different is it from anything else in 
 American travel. Seldom is anything but an Indian canoe met. 
 
 
A LAND OF WONDERS. 
 
 191 
 
 For days no sign of settlement is seen along the quiet fiords, 
 and making nocturnal visits to small fisheries, only the unbroken 
 wilderness is in sight during waking hours. 
 
 " The anchoring in strange places, the going to and fi"0 in 
 small boats, the queer people, the strange life, the peculiar fas- 
 cination of the frontier and the novelty of the whole thing 
 affects one strangely. Each arm of the sea, and the unknown, 
 unexplored wilderi. 2ss that lies back of every mile of shore, 
 continually tempt the imagination." 
 
 No one can give so good an idea of the marvels and delights 
 of this strange and virtually unknown country as those who 
 have actually made an extended journey ir. it, and no apology, 
 therefore, is made for the insertion of a passage written by 
 another traveler, who, like Miss Skidmore, went where few readers 
 of this book have been privileged to go. Speaking of the won- 
 derful scenery of the country the writer says : 
 
 " It is, perhaps, a little remarkable that the marvelous pano- 
 rama of fantastic peaks, rushing streams, huge glaciers and mad- 
 dened cataracts in no way lessens the enjo)'ment or appreciation 
 of the mountains by the-sja, that pass in review during the trip 
 
 to Alaska. 
 
 Through Noisy Torrents. 
 
 " In one case the traveler is rushing onward, literally at rail- 
 way speed, now passing through the shoulder of a mountain, and 
 now round the base of another, sometimes through primeval 
 forests, sometimes by the side of a noisy torrent or deep cafion, 
 and sometimes through a secluded valley ; and in the other 
 instance he is gliding along the deep but placid waters of the 
 landlocked arms of the Pacific Ocean, on the undisturbed sur- 
 face of immeasurable depths, \viiile the snow capped heights au 
 within pistol shot of where he sits, and the rugged precipices fall 
 sheer into the depths almost at his side. 
 
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 192 
 
 A LAND OF WONDERS. 
 
 "The entire length of this inland passage of over looo miles 
 is heavily timbered. Great avalanches of snow have swept down 
 the mountains here and there, and in their devastating tracks 
 long streaks of timber have been mowed down. At intervals, 
 little Indian villages dot the shores, resting most picturesquely 
 upon narrow shelves just at the edge of tide water, Through- 
 out the whole stretch of country, travel by land is almost impos- 
 sible owing to the dense timber and underbrush that cover its 
 
 surface." 
 
 By Another Witness. 
 
 One who nas traveled far and wide (the Marquis of Dufferin 
 and Ava) pithily describes the trip through these waters : 
 
 " Such a spectacle as its (British Columbia) coast line presents 
 is not to be paralleled by any country in the world. Day after 
 day, for a whole week, in a vessel of nearly 2000 tons, we 
 threaded an interminable labyrinth of watery lanes and reaches, 
 that wound endlessly in and out of a network of islands, prom- 
 ontories and peninsulas for thousands of miles, unruffled by 
 the slightest swell from the adjoining ocean, and presenting at 
 every turn an ever-shifting combination of rock, verdure, glacier 
 and snow-capped mountains of unrivalled grandeur and beauty. " 
 
 H. Juneau, one of the founders of Juneau, Alaska, gives a 
 similar account. Says he : 
 
 " Along *"he seacoast Alaska presents a grand and picturesque 
 view for miles in extent, from an ocean steamer. It is a good 
 idea to get acquainted with Alaska and enjoy its scenery. It is 
 a grand country to visit, and its scenery surpasses any mountain- 
 ous scenery in the world. Travel on water can be provided foi 
 in comfort.and be enjoyed without great risk of danger. 
 
 " Alaska is a country on edcrc. It is so mountainous. Basins 
 
 are mainly filled with ice. The weather is always hard in great 
 extremes. Where there is no ice there is moss and devil's club. 
 
A LAND OF WONDERS. 
 
 193 
 
 the latter a vine that winds around everything it can clutch. 
 Persons walking become entwined in a network of moss and 
 devil's club, and passage is extremely difficult and 'torturous' 
 as well as tortuous." 
 
 Miss Skidniorc has ;.nothcr interesting passage relative to the 
 beauties to be seen on the trip north from Sitka. Speaking on 
 the straits and narrows, she says : 
 
 " The tourist should not miss any part of this scenic passage ; 
 the near shores, the forested heights and the magnificent range 
 of peaks around the Stikines delta, composing one of the noblest 
 landscapes he will see. The sunset effects in the broad channels 
 at either end arc renowned, and possessor of a Claude Lorraine 
 glass is the most fortunate of tourists. 
 
 Marvelous Sunrise Effects. 
 
 " He who has seen the sunrise lights in the narrows has seen 
 the best of the most marvelous atmospheric effects and color 
 displays the matchless coast can offer. It is a place of resort 
 for eagles, whose nests may be seen in many tree tops, and is a 
 nursery for young gulls, who float like myriad tufts of down in 
 the still regions. 
 
 " A hedge of living green rises from the water's edge, every 
 spruce twig festooned with pale green mosses. At low tide 
 broad bands of russet sea weed frame the islets and border the 
 shores, and fronds, stems and orange heads of the giant kelp 
 float in the intensely green waters. 
 
 " The tides, rushing in from cither end, meet off Finger Point, 
 whose two red spar buoys are prominent in the exciting naviga- 
 tion. The tide-fall varies from fourteen to twenty-three feet, 
 and salmon, entering with the tide, turn aside at the red spar 
 buoys, clear an islet, manoeuvre to the foot of the falls, leap its 
 eight feet at high tide and swim to a mountain lake." 
 
 13 
 
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 A LAND OF WONDERS. 
 
 Nor is the clement of the wonderful lost as one leaves these 
 deep inlets of the sea and penetrates into the interior fastnesses. 
 One leaves in a measure the stunted, yet luxuriant, forestation 
 of the southern and coast districts for a bleaker and more repel- 
 lant landscape. l?ut the great water courses, such as the Yukon 
 and the Klondike, with their numerous tributaries, in a sense 
 t;d<e the place of the salt water inlets. The rivers alone would 
 suffice to give a fair idea of the immensity of the country. And 
 right here a word about the Yukon. 
 
 What the Amazon is to South America, the Mississippi to the 
 central portion of the United States, the Yukon is to Alaska. 
 
 It is the great inland highway of the country. It makes it 
 possible for the explorer to penetrate to the very heart of this 
 
 unknown region. 
 
 This mighty stream rises in the Rocky Mountains of British 
 Columbia, and the Coast Range Mountains in southeastern 
 Alaska, about 135 miles from the city of Juneau, which is the 
 present metropolis of Alaska. It is only known, however, as the 
 Yukon River at the point where the Pelly River, the branch that 
 heads in British Columbia, meets with the Lewis River, which 
 heads in southeastern Alaska. This point of confluence is at 
 Fort Selkirk, in the Northwest Territory, something like 125 
 miles southeast of Klondike. 
 
 Giant Among Rivers. 
 
 The Yukon River proper, therefore, is 2044 miles in length. 
 From Fort Selkirk it flows northwest 400 miles and touches the 
 Arctic Circle. Thence it bends in a southward course for a dis- 
 tance of 1000 miles and empties into Behring Sea. The mighty 
 stream drains more than 600,000 miles of territory and dis- 
 charges at least a third more water into Behring Sea than the 
 Mississippi River discharges into the Gulf of Mexido. 
 
i ^; 
 
 A LAND OF WONDERS. 
 
 195 
 
 ] 
 
 At its mouth it is sixty miles wide. As far inland as 1 500 
 miles it widens out from one to ten miles. Throughout its 
 course it is dotted with inland islands, more than 1000 of these, 
 it is said, sending the course of the stream in as many different 
 directions. The stream thus merits being considered as a geo- 
 graphical wonder, and from mouth to head there is scarcely a 
 point devoid of interest to the traveler. 
 
 SCENE ON THE YUKON RIVER. 
 
 Like most of the great streams of Alaska the navigation of 
 the river is attended with danger, and the sense of constant peril 
 affords one of the pleasures of the excursionist's trip to the inte- 
 rior. Only natives who are thoroughly familiar with the rivcr 
 are intrusted with the piloting of boats up the stream during tht 
 
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 193 
 
 A LAND OF WONDERS. 
 
 season of low water. Even at the season of high water there 
 are places where the stream is so shnllow that it is not navigable 
 by sea -going vessels ; but only by flat-bottom boats of a carry- 
 ing capacity of from 400 to 500 tons. 
 
 Canon of Lewis River. 
 
 As an illustration of the danger incident to this river travel, a 
 few words may be quoted relative to the canon of the Lewis River, 
 which were written by or_e who recently made a trip to the inte- 
 rior. Says he : 
 
 "Before reaching the canon, a high cut bank of sand on the 
 right hand side will give warning that it is close at hand. Good 
 river men have run the canon safely even with loaded rafts ; but 
 it is much surer to make a landing on the right side and portage 
 the outfit around the caiion three-quarters of a mile and run the 
 raft through empty. 
 
 " The sameness of the scenery on approaching the canon is so 
 marked that many parties have gotten into the cafion before they 
 were aware of it. Below the canon are the White Horse rapids — 
 a bad piece of water ; but the raft can be lined down the right 
 hand side until near the White Horse, three miles below. This 
 is a box canon about a hundred yards long, and fifty in width, a 
 chute through which the water of the river, which is nearly 600 
 feet wide just above, rushes with maddening force. 
 
 " But few have ever a tempted to run it, and four of them 
 have been drowned. Of two men who made the attempt in 
 May, '88, nothing was found save a bundle of blankets." 
 
 Reference has been made to the intense cold of the northern 
 regions where gold abounds, and it must be borne in mind that 
 during the winter season, which is practically nine months of the 
 year, the Yukon is absolutely frozen solid and thus closed to 
 travel. The Frost King asserts his dominion and locks up all 
 
 lij 
 
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 A LAND OF WONDERS. 
 
 197 
 
 I 
 
 approaches with impenetrable ice. Only for ten or twelve weeks, 
 that is, from the middle of June to the early part of September, 
 is the river for use in travel, except by way of sledges drawn 
 by dogs. 
 
 When, however, in the early spring the bonds of ice are riven, 
 a never-ending panorama of extraordinary picturesqueness is 
 unfolded to the voyager. The banks of the stream are then 
 fringed with flowers and carpeted with the all-pervading moss or 
 tundra, as it is called. Then birds in countless number and of 
 infinite variety in plumage, sing out a welcome to the traveler 
 from every tree top. One may pitch his tent wherever ho likes 
 in midsummer, and a bed of roses, a clump of poppies cr a 
 bunch of blue bells will adorn his camp. 
 
 Above all the Glaciers. 
 
 One is never allowed to forget, however, that high above this 
 brief paradise by the river side, which for a time is almost of 
 Li-opical exuberance, the giant glaciers sleep in the summit of the 
 mountains above the bed of roses. With the first days of Sep- 
 tember, and here the traveler will experience a deep sense of 
 regret — everything is changed. The bed of roses has disap- 
 peared before the ice breath of the Winter King. This, as has 
 been said before, often sends down the mercury to from eighty 
 to ninety degrees below zero. 
 
 The birds, as might be expected, hie themselves southward. 
 The white man has to take to his cabin anr i]-j Indian to his 
 hut, and even the bears are early driven away from the field and 
 begin their sleep of nine months. Throughout all northern 
 Alaska, from September on, the rivers are but ribbons of ice, 
 marking off the mountains, and the plains, and the forests, which 
 are all alike covered with a coat of snow. 
 
 As might be expected from the general configuration of the 
 
 
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 198 
 
 A LAND OF WONDERS. 
 
 land, Alaska Is a country of fine waterfalls. The most remark- 
 able of these leap from the cliffs along Cook's Inlet, and the 
 alteration of snow peaks, volcanoes, forested slopes and fertile 
 prairies make a continually changing and charming picture to 
 
 the eye. 
 
 A Land, of Volcanoes. 
 
 Go where you will you will find snow-clad peaks, glaciers, 
 cliffs, and ferreting their way through the country, innumerable 
 streams, the courses of which are often partially blocked, resulting 
 in waterfalls and rapids that would be regarded as sights worth 
 long trips were they anywhere else in the world than in the 
 distant and, as it is commonly supposed, forbidding territory of 
 Alaska. There is a whole line of volcanoes, curving down to 
 the southwest and joining those of Kurile Islands and of Japan, 
 which complete the Pacific's " ring of fire," as it is called. ■ 
 
 Brilliant auroral displays are mostly to be witnessed in August 
 and at such times mirages frequently appear. By refraction, the 
 ice floes are often magnified into ice cliffs looo or more feet high, 
 apparently barring a ship's advan.ce or retreat. Many attempts 
 have been made by photographers to secure a sharp negative of 
 a mirage, but it is difficult to do so. The lines of glimmering 
 ice cliffs leave no definition or shadow, but waver and fade 
 quickly. The reflected light from these glaciers and snow fields 
 is thus often a bar to the most experienced photographer. 
 
 The world has been given, however, one great hoax in the 
 way of a picture of an Alaskan mirage. This was the so-called 
 Phantom or Silent City, which was issued in 1889 ^Y Rchard 
 Willoughby. Thousands of prints of a cloudy negati\e of 
 Bristol, England, were sold on his statement that he had seen 
 and photographed the city from Glacier Bay. 
 
 It is with the advent of the Winter King that the Alaskan 
 dogs come in play so conspicuously. And a w.rd about these 
 
 
ii 
 
 A LAND OF WONDERS. 
 
 199 
 
 dogs, which are really one of the wonders of Alaska, will be 
 of interest. They really seem not dofjs at all, but animals closely 
 related to the wolf 
 
 Strange as it may seem, they arc all natural burn thieves, or 
 nothing. They are all prone to enjoy what is commonly called 
 a " scrap," and they usually celebrate the arrival of newcomers 
 by a general fight. Men who have spent years in the Alaskan 
 wilds say that the dogs will steal anything from a pair of boots 
 to a side of bacon, and in doing so will evince as great a degree 
 of cunning and cleverness as the most expert thief who ever 
 plied his calling in a metropolitan city. 
 
 To be on the safe side in the matter of their possessions, all 
 the miners have adopted the p' m of "caching" their harness, 
 clothmg, etc. This is done by erecting a strong house upon 
 posts twelve or fifteen feet above ground for the safe keeping of 
 all such articles. 
 
 Anifp.als With Cracked Barks. 
 
 A peculiar thing connected with these dogs is the fact that 
 they are all animals with cracked barks. In other words, their 
 attempts at barking are simply a source of the most unheard dis- 
 cord. The howling of wolves, it is said, is pleasant music com- 
 pared with the howling of these dogs at night. 
 
 What is more, on the slightest provocation, in the dead of 
 night, some dog will raise an apology for a bark, and every 
 animal within a radius of five miles will join in the general up- 
 roar. Alaska is not obliged to wait for the Fourth of July for 
 discord. The dogs can make it on short notice at any time. 
 
 To the stranger in Alaska the sunlit nights and the moonlit 
 days will for a long time be a source of constant wonder. Old 
 Sol, when he is on ducy, which, it must be remembered, is only 
 part of the year, is no laggard in Alaska. He rises before three 
 
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 200 
 
 A LAND OF WONDERS. 
 
 o'clock in the niornin{^ and keeps steadily at work until fully 
 
 eleven o'clock at night. In the gold regions, therefore, during 
 
 the mining months, there are a few short hours only when it is 
 
 not sunshine. 
 
 Luna Takes Precedence. 
 
 During the long winter months, however, Sol takes a back 
 seat and Luna takes precedence. Then there is an era of moon- 
 lit days. Miss Anna Fulcomcr, a plucky University of Chicago 
 girl, adverts to this peculiarity — one may say wonder — in a letter 
 written from Circle City, in the heart of the gold region. She 
 says : 
 
 "While teaching at Circle City I went to school by the light 
 of the setting mooii — that was about nine o'clock in the morn- 
 ing — and went home ?t noon by tlie light of the rising moon. 
 Literally I have lived in moonlight for the last year. ^Moonlight 
 and cold. Still, the temperature last winter was not as intense as 
 usual. The coldest we had it was only si.xty-fivc degrees below 
 zero, and that for Alaska in the northern latitudes was mild 
 weather. Tt was quite cold enough, however, to make one feel 
 the need of genuine Alaskan cl >thing, good shelter and good 
 solid food. 
 
 " I pity the people who come here under the delusion that 
 mining life in Alaska is anything comparable with what it was 
 during the gold excitement in California. Ther^ they had mild 
 weather, in which people could comfortably camp out. But 
 people here must come with the expectation of meeting cold and 
 hardship and possible suffering." 
 
 That many of the miners who penetrate into the wilderness in 
 the hopes of amassing wealth do meet hardship and suffering is 
 now an old stor>\ The following words taken from the Alaskan 
 Searchlight are in point at this time. Says the writer, who made 
 the trip from Juneau to the Yukon in January : 
 

 A LAND OF WONDERS, 
 
 201 
 
 "The miner of Alaska looks to the Yukon country for a repro- 
 duction of the scences of the Cassiar and Caribon districts. That 
 along that river and its numerous tributaries there are millions 
 of dollars hidden in the sands or locked within the mountains" 
 rock-bound walls there can be no doubt. 
 
 "For several years the more adventuresome of our placer 
 miners have been going to that Mecca of the North — h^trty-Miie 
 Creek. Many of them have returned after one or two season's 
 sojourn none the richer, save in experience ; others have struck 
 it rich and made for themselves snug little fortunes ; and a thou- 
 sand others are wintering there now hoping that next summer 
 may bring them that good luck for which they have so long 
 waited. 
 
 " Day after day, and season after season, the miners toil cheer- 
 fully at the bars and old water courses of the creeks and rivers 
 which form part of the Yukon system, and every year sees their 
 numbers increased, and every fall a larger quantity of gold finds 
 its way to the mints, and every spring the Alaskan steamers bring 
 several hundreds to join the fortune hunters of the interior, 
 Forty-Mile being the objective point of all going to the Yukon 
 
 gold fields." 
 
 Country Has Its Romance. 
 
 And this country so wild, so new, so unexplored, so lately 
 brought to the notice of the civilized world, virtually is not with- 
 out its evidence of romance in the way wf memorials that point 
 to former activities that now no longer exist, or mark the spot 
 of disaster or suffering. As fir back as 1883 a forest of totem 
 poles rose in the great lodges of the Stikines village. In 1893 
 only a half dozen remained, and the "show pair" guarded a 
 cottage which replaced the ancestral lodge. One of these guards 
 relates the legends of the builder's family and the other that of 
 his wife. 
 
 
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 202 
 
 A LAND OF WONDERS. 
 
 Here and there on the route f»'om southern Alaska to the gold 
 fields the traveler will find si nilar relics, deserted hearths of a 
 bygone day. This seems stiangc in a country so lately invaded 
 by the white man. And this juxtaposition of the unknown, the 
 unexplored and the relics of former peoples and former explo- 
 rers will ever be a cause for wonder. 
 
 Speaking of totem poles, it may be said thnt this is one of the 
 
 favorite occupations of the Indians. The traveler will be amused at 
 
 the totem poles which arc to be found wherever an Indian village 
 
 dots the landscape. The natives make them by cutting down a 
 
 good sized straight tree, dressing it to the desired size and then 
 
 carving it in a very rude way with the figures of birds, Indian 
 
 warriors and other fantastic shapes, which very much resemble 
 
 Chinese carvings. 
 
 Totem Poles Come High. 
 
 After these poles have received a sufficient amount of labor and 
 .skill they are raised and planted on end before the owner's huts. 
 Great value is attached to some of them, and the Indians who, 
 strange to say, from their uncivilized condition, arc the shrewdest 
 of money makers, will not infrequently ask from ,$iooo to ;^2000 
 for a pole. This they consider a very reasonable price, and they 
 are somewhat surprised when the traveler, who places no value 
 on these rude works of art, smiles at what he deems exhorbitant 
 ligures which they place upon them. Mentioning the Stikines 
 River naturally brings mention of the marvels of the fishing pro- 
 duct of Alaska, owing to the fact that a large r tlmon cannery is 
 located there. To one who has been accustomed to fish in 
 southern waters, baiting a hook and pullinpr out an occasional 
 fish, it would be nothing less than wonderful to sit down by the 
 side of the Yukon or the Klondike or the Lewis or the Stikines 
 rivers to fish for salmon. Fish not infrequently are so thick in 
 these waters as virtually to impede navigation. 
 
 Si i 
 
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 A LAND OF WONDERS. 
 
 203 
 
 ■ :|4; 
 
 Salmon make their way up the Yukon in shoals looo or more 
 miles, and are caught by the natives, or rather taken by the na- 
 tives, by the ton. No Alaskan Indian would ever think of fish- 
 ing with hook and line, or even spearing fish. 
 
 They will wait until the shoals come up the river. Then par- 
 ties of Indians will get on cither side of the stream with branches 
 of trees, sticks and the like and beat the water, thus driving the 
 fish to the shallow places. Here other Indians will be stationed 
 with common pitchforks, and will stick and hand out the fish in 
 quantities that would make them a drug in the southern market. 
 These fish are often of an exceedingly large size, and when dried 
 or otherwise cured make the staple of the native diet. 
 
 Greatest Salmon River. 
 
 It is worthy of note as one of the wonders of Alaska that 
 the country has the greatest salmon stream in the world. This 
 is the Karluk River. The stream rises on the west coast of 
 Kadiak, and is sixteen miles long, (v n loo to 600 feet wide and 
 less than six feet deep. These figu. ' is pointed out, give the 
 dimensions of che solid mass of salmon that 'sed to ascent the 
 Karluk to a mountain lake before canners came with gill riots in 
 1884. 
 
 The largest cannery in the world is at Karluk. There usd 
 to be 1 1 00 employes, and over 200,000 of forty-eiidit one- 
 pound tins, containing 3,000,000 salmon, was the output. A 
 single haul of the seine in this river has reached 17,000 salmon. 
 Yet each ebb-tide then left thousands of stranded fish to ('" on 
 the banks and bars. 
 
 In the palmy days of the canning industry the canners 
 enjoyed a monopoly without tax, license or any government 
 interference. The nearest United States commission was 700 
 miles away. Stores, employes and pack were conveyed to and 
 
 
 
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 204 
 
 A LAND OF WONDERS. 
 
 from San Francisco in the canncrs' own vessels, and the huh 
 dreds of Chinese, Greek, Itahan, Portugese and American work- 
 men constituted the most untrammelled community anywhere 
 to be found under one flag from May to September of each year. 
 
 Won't Cure Their Catch. 
 
 Often the supply of fish is so large that the natives will not 
 even take the trouble of caring for their catch ! The fish are 
 simply piled up and allowed to rot for compost. It might be 
 mentioned right here that one of the favorite dishes of the native 
 Alaskans would be a marvel to southerners of a more refined 
 taste. They will cut off the heads of the salmon, put them in 
 a hole, bury them and leave them for weeks to rot. Then there 
 will be a general gathering of the clans, and the deposit of the 
 fish hole will be opened, and the unsavory mess will be parceled 
 out to be eaten by the natives as a delicacy. And nobody calls 
 stinking fish ! 
 
 In this wilderness of mountains, with their snow-capped 
 peaks ; plains, with their almost barren and desolate features ; 
 and rivers, with their almost endless, tortuous courses, where, 
 until recently, and by recently one means the time of the pur- 
 chase of the country from the Russians, few ever ventured, the 
 traveler will be surprised at the almost utter absence of game. 
 He would naturally suppose that where the white man has been 
 for so short a time, would be a sportsman's heaven. The con- 
 trary, however, is true. Here in this wilderness, there is almost 
 an utter absence of game for the reason that the miners, who 
 have been ?t work there, finding it impossible to get fresh meat 
 from the south, and wearying of canned goods, have literally 
 driven game from every locality into which they have set their 
 foot. The result is somewhat curious. 
 
 There are in Alaska districts comprising hundreds of S' i uare 
 
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 206 
 
 A LAND OF WONDERS. 
 
 miles that are solitudes in the strictest and truest sense of the 
 word. The white men have not been induced to settle there, 
 natives have moved away, and all the animals have been driven 
 away to such an extent that, barring insects, there is no indica- 
 tion of life in the territory. Solitude and silence reign supreme. 
 If there is a sound, it is due to the wind sweeping down the 
 pulleys, upturning trees or something of that sort. 
 
 It is worthy of notice that while Alaska may, in a certain 
 sense, be said to be the home of the Aurora Borealis or North- 
 ern Lights, and displays are frequently seen covering the entire 
 northern sky with a brilliancy of color that it would be worth 
 going hundreds of miles to see, electrical storms are something 
 of a rarity in Alaska. A cyclone is a thing unknown. 
 
 Still, in the summer season the rain-fall is marked, but it 
 comes without the attending electrical disturbance that is so 
 common a feature in southern latitudes. This may possibly be 
 due to the comparative dryness of the northern air. The dry- 
 ness by the way has the effect of tempering the air and mitigat 
 ing the intense cold. 
 
 Cold Scarcely Noticed. 
 
 Even with the thermometer at eighty or ninety degrees below 
 zero at Dawson City, Circle City or any of the other mining 
 camps, the intense cold is really not noticed. It would seem 
 ve y strange to a person used to southern weather to hear a 
 .lative or a person who had lived for a series of years in Alaska, 
 talking about ito being a warm day or a rnild day, with Ihe ther- 
 mometer at sixty-five below. Yet, this peculiar characteristic of 
 the weather, extreme dryness with extreme cold, makes this a 
 common saying among the people. 
 
 No chapter on the Land of Wonders, as we have called 
 Alaska, wou! 1 be complete without reference to the mosquitos, 
 
A LAND OF WONDERS. 
 
 207 
 
 which arc one of the greatest nuisances of the country. The 
 Yukon mosquito is a giant among insects and is king of his 
 tribe. It may seem like a yarn, but it is said to be an actual 
 fact that the mosquito actually hunts and kills bears along the 
 Yukon River. 
 
 Lieutenant Schwatka, the well-known explorer, who visited 
 the Yukon some years ago, is authority for this statement. He 
 assures us that the bears, under stress of hunger, sometimes 
 come down to the river in mosquito time, and are attacked by 
 the insects, who sting them about the eyes and cause them to 
 go blind and die of starvation. A prominent Yukon miner, who 
 has spent years in the country, has published the statement that 
 he has known mosquitos to bite through a thick moose skin 
 mitten. 
 
 The natives, who are born and bred to the nuisance, are 
 
 forced to smear themselves with grease and soot to keep off the 
 
 pests. Often miners are forced to resort to the same expedient 
 
 or to work with helmets of gauze to protect themselves from the 
 
 bites. 
 
 Natives of Great Interest. 
 
 Apart from any consideration of scenery, industries oi re- 
 sources, the natives themselves will ever be a source of interest 
 if not of wonder to the voyagers. Shrewd and enterprising in 
 their way, they are yet children of nature and have all sorts of 
 notions that will strike the stranger as odd if not ludicrous. 
 
 Chatham Strait, foi- instance, is a playground of inferior whales, 
 grci-t totemic creatures, which the Indians believe were once 
 bears, but going to sea wore off their fur on the rocks and had 
 feet nibbled off by other fishes. The all-mischievous raven, they 
 s?y, often creeps down the whale's throat, and causes such agony 
 that the whale ruslies to the shore and vomits the intruder on 
 the beach. Paintings and carvings showing the demon in tl:e 
 
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 208 
 
 A LAND OF WONDERS. 
 
 whale's body are often taken as proof that the Indians have a 
 Jonah legend, and are of direct Asiatic descent. 
 
 Another of these old Indian legends that is constantly told to 
 strangers concerns the all-present glacier. They say that in 
 their fathers' time, which may be taken as an indefinite or indc 
 terminate period anywhere from fifty to a thousand years, the 
 
 SCENE IN SOUTHERN ALASKA. 
 
 ice reached as far as Bartlctt's Bay. About 1 860 it was in line with 
 Willoughby Island. The Indians say that long, long ago the gla- 
 cier advanced and swept away a city on the sands at the base of the 
 mountains, where the Beardsley Islands now rise. They say it 
 came down in a day and did not go away in ten years, and tell how 
 the ice floods descended, ploughed up the fields, destroyed their 
 houses, as the Corner glacier once devastated its valley. 
 
 H» i • 
 
 '^■.. 
 
A LAND OF WONDERS. 
 
 209 
 
 'rf 
 
 Again they say, a great wave rushed in from the ocean, swept 
 away the village near Bartlett's Bay, mowed down the trees with 
 icebergs, and left no living thing. They say further that a 
 glacier once crept down and damned up their best salmon 
 stream. Two slaves were then offered up to the evil god that 
 caused the mischief. 
 
 Tell Legends as Facts. 
 
 Legends like these, told as positive fact, coupled with odd 
 ways of thought and dress and action, make the Indians an 
 interesting study. They seem in a sense fitting denizens of the 
 wilds of the territory. An ampler account of these Indians, 
 however, will be given in the chapter on ethnology. 
 
 In conclusion, it may be said that one of the wonders of 
 Alaska is the Treadwell mine, on Douglass Island, near Juneau. 
 This is the largest quartz mill in the world, and one well worthy 
 of a visit from anyone wishing to know the process of operation 
 followed in that particular form of mining. It should also be 
 remembered that it is only a short walk from Juneau to the 
 placer mines, so that those who do not wish to penetrate into 
 the barren wilderness of the North in search of adventure or 
 wealth, but who wish to see placer mining and know how it is 
 done without the hardships incident to the long overland journey 
 on snow shoes or on sledges drawn by dogs, can have their 
 curiosity gratified and can gain the information desired on a jaur'" 
 for pleasure. 
 
 14 
 
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 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Women at the Mines. 
 
 Schemes for Obtaining Wealth — Mrs. Gage and Mrs. Schwatka in the Frozen 
 North — The Mos(inito Pest — ^Juneau and the I^ynn Canal — Climbing the 
 Mountains — Difficulties of Mining — Scarcity of (iame — The Scurvy 
 Terror — Morals of Klondike Mining Camps — Female Enterprise — 
 Scarcity of Amusements— Sisterhood of St. Anne — The I'our-lcaf Clover 
 — Bridal Trip to Klondike — Romance of Joseph I<aduc — Women's* 
 Klondike vSyndicate — A Lucky Seamstress. 
 
 THE gold mines on the Klondike are not without their 
 romance, and by this is meant, not the romance of specu- 
 lation and adventure, but the romance of real life in 
 which the gentle sex figure. The poet Compbell, years ago 
 wrote the couplet : 
 
 ' ' The world was sad ; the garden was a wild : 
 And man, the hermit, sigh'd — till woman smiled." 
 
 Some Klondike Campbell sighed, and women all over the United 
 States smiled. At least they were among the first to catch the 
 gold fever and brave the dangers and the hardships of the Alas- 
 kan wilds. 
 
 What is more, they contracted the craze just as badly as the 
 men, and many of their enterprises and their hobbies were no 
 v/hit less out-of-the-way and outlandish than those of their 
 brethren. From Maine to California women of enterprise and 
 courage, many of them of education and gentle birth, flocked to 
 the North in the wild rush to secure wealth by a lucky stroke. 
 
 Women who had never known hardship in any form, did not 
 hesitate to leave comfortable homes and brave the unknown. 
 From the very outset the officers of the great transportation 
 companies received a numerous mail from the women of the 
 
 210 
 
 Itlh 
 
WOMEN AT THE MINES. 
 
 2:i 
 
 country, making inquiries as to the outfits necessary for them, 
 and the cost of transportation, and what they would likely have 
 to undergo in carrying out their projects to penetrate to the inte- 
 rior of the gold region. 
 
 Women with Great Schemes. 
 
 Many of these women came with schemes by which the)- 
 hoped to attain wealth, not by mining and prospecting, but by 
 catering to some real or fancied needs of the miners. Others 
 again expressed their determination to become prospectors and 
 bona fide miners. Not a few did not hesitate to admit that they 
 were going to the unknown country in hopes of meeting some 
 miner who had made a happy hit and amassed a fortune, whom 
 they might captivate by their charms and thus secure at once 
 both husband and opulence. 
 
 Conspicuous among these women who lent the charm of their 
 presence to camp life were several women of note, who, actuated 
 by different motives than the great mass, made the long, perilous 
 journey over the snow-clad plains and mountains, and up the 
 dangerous rivers as far as Dawson City, Circle City ;uid Klon- 
 dike. Some of these had lad previous experience of Alaskan 
 summers and winters, and knew what it was to live in moonless 
 nights and sunless days. Several of them left their homes with 
 the avowed determination of wintering in the fastnesses of the 
 North. 
 
 Among these women conspicuous for their social position may 
 be mentioned Mrs. Eli Gage, wife of the son of Secretary Gage 
 of the United States Treasury. Mrs. Schwatka, wife of Lieu- 
 tenant Schwatka, the well-known explorer, and Miss Anna Ful- 
 comer, who first went to Circle City, under the auspices of the 
 United States Government, to teach the Indians and gather facts 
 for the Smithsonian Institution. A word from such women will 
 
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 1 
 
212 
 
 WOMEN AT THE MINES. 
 
 Oll.!!'^i i ^!i 
 
 l!!11!I 
 
 be deemed welcome to those members of the sex who may have 
 it in mind to brave the perils of the North. 
 
 Mrs. Eli Gage came from St. Michael's on the ship which 
 brought the Klondike argonauts back to civilization. Her hus- 
 band, who is prominently connected with the North American 
 Company, is the man who traveled 1500 miles overland last 
 winter and brought out of the centre of Alaska the first reliable 
 news of the wonderful strike in the Klondike region. He is a 
 stockholder in many valuable claims in that vicinity. 
 
 Mrs. Gage returned in August to the far Nortwest to join her 
 husband, with whom she will spend the winter at Dawson City. 
 She was accompanied by W. W. Weare, second vice-president 
 of the North American Transportation and Trading Company, 
 and several friends of herself and her family were in the party. 
 
 They "went in" by way of Juneau and the Chilkoot Pass, 
 the brave young wife making light of the perils incident to the 
 800-mile journey over the icy mountains and in an open boat in 
 Arctic weather, to join her husband at the Klondike capital. 
 
 Voyage in a Yacht. 
 
 A specially constructed yacht was built for the party m 
 Toronto, planned and fitted out expressly for the various exigen- 
 cies of the voyage from Lake Linderman to Dawson. It was 
 shipped in sections to Dyea, and thence was "carried" over 
 Chilkoot Pass and put together on the shores of Lake Linderman, 
 whence the long water voyage began. It was provided with 
 many comforts and even luxuries to make the journey as little 
 like the rough, hard experiences of rafting or canoeing as possible, 
 and still was far from being suggestive of the winter luxury of 
 the elegantly appointed home in Chicago which Mrs. Gage 
 abandoned to share with her pioneer husband the rigors of a 
 close season in the polar climate of Dawson City. 
 
 'i ;i= 
 
WOMEN AT THE MINES. 
 
 213 
 
 But her home on I'-vanston Avenue was, in her mind, at least, 
 the most unimportant of the man)' things Mrs. Gage left behind 
 her in Chicago when she started on tljc year-long trip into the 
 northern wilderness. Iler fifteen-months' old baby was thought 
 too young to undertake the hard, hazardous journey, and was left 
 with friends while the young mother hastened off to the Klondike 
 to be once more with her husband. When she sees her darling 
 again the baby lips will have learned the use of speech to wel- 
 come her, and the tiny feet will know how to fly to greet her 
 
 comings. 
 
 Tells of the Gold. 
 
 In speaking of her trip down on the Portland in July, Mrs. 
 Gage said : 
 
 " It is almost impossible to tell how much money the Portland 
 brought into the States. The boat was filled with returning 
 miners and prospectors, and the smallest deposit in the ship's 
 safe was $15,000 in dust and nuggets. There were many others 
 — so many that the captain's room was like the treasure store of 
 a king. It was literally filled with gold in all forms, and while I 
 sat in the midst of the wealth it occured to me that the old trade 
 of buccaneering had missed a rare chance in not waiting by the 
 sea road for this load of gold. 
 
 Mrs. Gage says there is a wonderful quantity of gold in the 
 Yukon field and any man who has $500 for "grub-staking" a 
 claim need have no fear in going to the Klondike region in hopes 
 of a rich harvest, for he is sure of gaining it. 
 
 Even though a man go poorly equipped and supplied, he rarely 
 receives poor treatment from the hands of his neighbors, and 
 may find plenty of work to do which will enable him to earn 
 from $1$ to $12 per day. 
 
 Mrs. Gage speaks well of the people who make up the popu- 
 lation, dwelling on the fact that they are a class who may be 
 
 
 
4^ I 
 
 iMi' 
 
 214 
 
 WOMEN AT THE MINES. 
 
 U ( 
 
 
 trusted, and that they form a desirable community. The valley 
 of the Yukon is not populated with such men as constitute a 
 large part of western mining camps. 
 
 One thing Mrs. Gage particularly emphasizes. It is that there 
 is absolutely no truth in the report of famine. It has been said 
 that starvation would overtake many who went to Alaska this 
 fall, but Mrs. Gage is firm in her belief that enough supplies are 
 being taken from Seattle and San Francisco by the two trading 
 companies in Alaska. 
 
 "Those in charge of the business of these concerns," she said, 
 "are making amph preparations for the coining winter. They 
 fear no famine, and the individual miners are taking advice and 
 are already supplying themselves with necessities. There is gold 
 enough in Alaska for everyone." 
 
 Reverting again to the marvelous golden treasures of Alaska, 
 Mrs. Gage said with enthusiasm : 
 
 " Four great Alaskan miners came down with us, and a more 
 than inu.resting sight was to go down into the great safe on the 
 shi]) and see the bags of gold dust. There have been many for- 
 tunes found i'.i Alaska, yet there is gold enough to satisfy every- 
 one. 
 
 " Mr. Gage is at Dawson and will not return until spring. He 
 
 is constantly busy and likes the life. Since my arrival in Seattle 
 
 I heard that a man whom he had ' grub-staked ' has dug up gold 
 
 worth ;^3 5,000 in three months on a small clami. If a man goes 
 
 out there without money he can very svion earn it, for wages 
 
 paid, even fnr common labor, in all the region range from jSi5 
 
 to jSl/ per day." 
 
 No Fear of the Trip. 
 
 Just before leaving Chicago for Dawson City, Mrs. Gage said ; 
 
 ■' My husband and I were separated over a year, and he sper.t 
 
 the time in a log cabin at Circle City while I lived in Chicago. 
 
 *<-- i.ri 
 
WOMEN AT THE MINES. 
 
 215 
 
 I 
 
 This year I luive dc cided to go to him. I am not afraid of the 
 trip. I have been to Alaska and I know the stories of hardship 
 are much cxagtrcratcd. If one is well prepared for the journey 
 there is really no great danger. There is no use for doctors in 
 Alaska." 
 
 Mrs. Gage is not a large women, but she said she never enjoyed 
 better health than in Alaska, despite the cold. 
 
 " It is such a dry cold one hardly feels it," she said. " And 
 I am not at all afraid. Women are always safe in the Yukon. 
 Although beer and liquors arc sold, the men are rarely disord- 
 erly and those who do become outrageous are quickly put in 
 order by the majority. Dress, cmploN'ment and other circum- 
 stances make the men of the Yukon often to look and seem 
 uncouth and coarse, but at heart they arc noblemen, .'uid this is 
 in no way more agreeably shown than by their courteous and 
 gentle treatment of women. But women going to the Klondike 
 must make up their minds to live in a primitive way, and be pre- 
 pared to endure hardships incident to a new and Arctic country." 
 
 Mrs. Gage's Outfit. 
 
 Mrs. Gage's outfit in many things is like that ot .i man going 
 in to " rough it " in the wilderness, and her brother, of course, 
 looked out for the food supplies for the journey. Yet, it may 
 be of interest to women who think of going to the Klondike 
 overland to know that this dainty daughter of wealth carried for 
 daily wear two short heavy skirts of waterproof cloth marie a 
 la bicycle skirt, a heavy fur coat, warmly lined ^md with pockets 
 enough for a man, besides a lined hood attachment to be drawn 
 over the head and face in cold or stormy weather, several pairs 
 of stout boots, warm leggings and overshoes a mackintosh and 
 a fleece-lined sleeping-bag. Then there was plenty of the soft- 
 est, warmest underwear in the hamper, and at Juneau Mrs. Gage 
 
 
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 2ie 
 
 WOMEN AT THE MINES. 
 
 will supply herself with reindeer hide boots, made with the 
 soft down inside, long, tight and loose, which will answer either 
 to keep out the water in case of accident necessitating wading 
 ashore or during a possible wet experience on a portage or 
 going over the Chilkoot Pass, or to keep out the cold if at any 
 time the more civilized boots and leggings fail to meet the 
 demands of the Arctic temperature. 
 
 " Not a powder-box nor a curling-iron the outfit," Mrs. Gage 
 said, with a merry laugh, as she enumerated the list of her bag- 
 gage, or " luggage," as she preferred to term it, not inappro 
 priatciy, because it would have to be " lugged " so far and often, 
 " and only a small hand-mirror. Women don't have to ' dress 
 up ' to be appreciated on the Yukon, I assure you." 
 
 Mrs. Schwatka no Novice. 
 
 Mrs. Frederick Schwatka was no novice in Alaskan experi- 
 ences. She had been there with her husband and had been over 
 much of the ground that it is necessary for the prospectors to 
 traverse on their way from the coast to the gold fields. She 
 was fairly familiar with the various routes commonly followed 
 by explorers and miners, and she expressed herself to the effect 
 that the Taku Pass would prove to be a bonanza to the first 
 trading company that established a system of pack trains from 
 the Taku Inlet through to Juneau, which is the base of supplies 
 for the mining region. 
 
 Besides being the easiest route for the miners themselves, it 
 was, she thought, preferable, because a shallow draft steamer 
 could be brought to run on the Taku river, which would leave 
 only ninety miles of .and to be crossed to get to Juneau. 
 
 Mrs. Schwatka, in discussing the difficulties of the journey 
 from southern Alaska north, said that her husband had explored 
 the Taku River and Pass a number of years a^jo and that he tried 
 
j i»'- 
 
 'A^' 
 
 WOMEN AT THE MINES. 
 
 217 
 
 
 to get the people of Juneau to establish a pack train line through 
 the pass to connect v/ith a steamboat on the inlet. That, she 
 said, was before there was much travel through Juneau. The 
 people of the then thriving village did not believe that it would 
 be a success financially. 
 
 Grounds for Her Belief. 
 
 Now she thought there was no doubt whatever that it would 
 be a paying venture and would be a boon to the multitude of 
 people who were pressing on to the gold fields. Said she : 
 
 " In fact, the pass contains an excellent railroad grade, and it 
 would cost a comparatively small sum to build and equip a road 
 through the ninety miles between Juneau and the inlet. The 
 current of the river is strong and there are frequent floods, but 
 a light draft steamer would have no difficulty in ascending it and 
 making connec*^'ons with the road to Juneau. It would be an 
 easy matter to get supplies from Juneau then. The Canadian 
 Pacific comes so near to that country it seems as if it could 
 profitably build a line through the pass and connect the two 
 branches bv steamer. 
 
 " Lieutenant Schwatka made a map of the region, which 1 
 think I shall have published. He made the trip up the river by 
 canoe and reported the current there very swift and strong. I 
 am certain that the Taku route is the easiest for persons going 
 from Juneau, however." 
 
 Mrs. Schwatka, like most people who have had any lengthy 
 experience in Alaska, had much to say of tiie great territorial 
 pest, the mosquitos. This nuisance — not nuisance, evil is a bet- 
 ter word — cannot be overlooked by those who purpose to leave 
 the States for the plains and mounta.ns cf Alaska. 
 
 " The pest," said she, " is not soobservable, of course, very early 
 in the spring or late in the fall, but during the mining months the 
 
 
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 218 
 
 WOMEN AT THE MINES. 
 
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 mosquitos are simply intolerable. The Indians even, who are 
 hardened to them, have to go about in summer with their hands 
 and faces smeared with pitch and lampblack. The ordinary 
 mosquito netting is no protection whatever, because the mosquitos 
 force their way through It. 
 
 Mosquito Bites Fatal. 
 
 " Many of the miners, in addition to adopting the plan of the 
 Indians and anointing themselves with pitch and lampblack, work 
 in summer with their heads in a wire frame covered with close 
 netting. I have even known persons to die merely fiom the 
 bites of the mosquitos. 
 
 " This is something for the women who purpose to try their 
 fortunes in the gold fields to take into consideration. They will 
 find it is no place, either in summer or winter, for either the 
 dress or manners to which they have been accustomed in their 
 southern homes. 
 
 " Imagine, for instance, a society belle, or a woman who has 
 had gentle rearing and been accustomed all her life to the ordi- 
 nary convenience and comforts of civilized life, going into the 
 wilderness of a country about which we know very little, don- 
 ning the costume largely of the natives and subjecting themselves 
 to all the hardships and privations necessarily incident to a resi- 
 dence in that country. Especially imagine such a v/oman smear- 
 ing her face with soot and grease by way of cosmetic and wearing 
 over her coiffure a helmet that would put to the blush in point of 
 looks and inconvenience the shields commonly worn by the men 
 who stand behind the bat in the game of base ball." 
 
 Speaking from personal experience, Mrs. Schwatka continued : 
 
 " In the summer it is so hot in the river regions that even 
 the moose are driven away, and it is practically impossible to 
 get game there, in spite of the reports that are sent out. It will 
 
WOMEN AT THE MINES. 
 
 219 
 
 not take a very great increase in the white population to kill oft" 
 all the game there is. The Indians are pretty careful and don't 
 kill any more than they need for food, but it will not be that way 
 with the whites. 
 
 " The salmon do not ascend the Yukon as far as the Klon- 
 ulke, cither, and fishing in that region is not nearly as good as 
 it is made out to be. It Mould be taking a great risk to go 
 there depending much on the natural resources of the country 
 for food, 
 
 " Prospecting in Alaska is altogether different from what it 
 was in California. There is as much difference between the 
 mountains in Alaska and the most mountainous parts of Cali- 
 fornia as there is between the latter and the Indiana avenue 
 pavement. California is a flat plain compared with it. All of 
 the Indians up there die of consumption, partly brought on by 
 the climate and partly by the hardships they have to endure. 
 
 Steps in the Ice. 
 
 " Why, I have seen these Indians, who are used to the coun- 
 try, come in with packs from the very same passes which the 
 miners are now crossing with welts across their backs from the 
 pack straps almost as thick as my wrist. Their h.ands would be 
 torn and lacerated horribly. The only way they can get through 
 at all in the winter is by cutting steps in the ice." 
 
 Mrs, Schwatka gave many interesting recollections of what 
 she had experienced and witnessed in Alaska. Adverting to 
 the climate she continued : 
 
 " About the middle of August heavy frosts kill all vegetation, 
 and the country begins this early to take on an Arctic aspect. 
 Furious gales begin to blow from the north, which continue 
 with little cessation all winter. In September or October, at the 
 latest, the river is frozen hard, and sledging, as in the Arctic, is 
 
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 220 
 
 WOMEN AT THE MINES. 
 
 the only mode of travel in the country until the great spring 
 freshets in May set the rivers free. As you can readily see, the 
 journey to the gold fields by this route is not only a very long 
 one, but a very expensive one, and wholly impracticable for 
 numbers in winter. The average miner and prospector must 
 enter Alaskan fields by a shorter and more accessible route, 
 even though the hardships encountered are gTeater, 
 
 For a number of years past, miners going to and from the 
 placer gold fields at Forty-Mile Creek, and Dawson City, and 
 Circle City, have used the Chilkoot Pass, outfitting at Juneau, 
 the principal towi.; of the territory. The Chilkatand White 
 Passes have never been as popular with the miners as the Chil- 
 koot. Therefore, I shall speak of the Chilkoot, as they are all 
 quite similar. 
 
 " From Juneau the Lynn Canal is entered at Chilkat Harbor. 
 This is the most northerly channel in the inland passage route. 
 Thir Lynn Canal is divided by a long peninsula. The southern 
 side is Chilkat and the northern Chilkoot. It is up Chilkoot 
 Inlet miners ascend, and thence canoe up a rapid, glacier-fed 
 mountain stream known as the Dayay. They are then at the 
 foot, or near the foot, of the great pass. This so-called pass is 
 really i o pass at all, but a precipitous climb of over 3500 feet up 
 bare, rugged rocks, and over great snow peaks, and across 
 treacherou'^ glacier ice. 
 
 Must Climb by Hand. 
 
 " So steep is the ascent that the hands of the climbers must 
 be used to help pull themselves up. No white man can carry 
 unaided the necessary amount of provisions and material required 
 even to keep him from starvation until he can reach the mines. 
 For this reason they rarely make the journey alone, but always 
 in parties. 
 
 u 
 
" K 
 
 WOMEN AT THE MINES. 
 
 221 
 
 " It is necessary to bargain with the Chilkat Indians to act as 
 porters and carriers over the trail. They have in the past car- 
 ried loads of I oo pounds at from ;$io to $15 a load. Those 
 they take over the dangerous and difficult trail to the top of the 
 mountains or down to the first lake, which forms the source of 
 the great Yukon River. Here again obstacles are met with, and 
 it now becomes necessary to build a whipsawed boat, and the 
 little timber to be found is unsatisfactory and stunted." 
 
 Mrs. Schwatka had also much to say of the prospects of the 
 people who went there and what they would have to expect. 
 She was satisfied that there were great hopes for the man of 
 pluck, energy and perseverance ; but she was also convinced that 
 it was policy even for people of this stamp to go expecting worse 
 than had commonly been represented at the time when she was 
 interviewed. Said she : - 
 
 " I believe that a great deal of gold is going to be found along 
 White River also. That is in Alaska, and not much prospecting 
 has been done there yet, I understand. When I was last in. 
 Alaska, five years ago, the so-called ' Klondike ' was an unknown 
 and untalked of region and almost unheard of. Lieutenant 
 Schwatka explored the country, and brought back a good many 
 photographs and maps of it which are very interesting. I believe 
 the Klondike is nothing more than a little creek, which, as it was 
 about the first place in that region where gold was found, gave 
 its name to the whole region, and has assumed the importance 
 of the Yukon River itself in the eyes of the people who read 
 about it. 
 
 " I have already spoken of the lack of work during the long 
 winter season. It must not be understood that no work can be 
 done, then, for many miners spend the winter prospecting in 
 places where it would be impracticable in summer. On some 
 submerged bar they build a fire, and when it burns down they 
 
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 222 
 
 WOMEN AT THE MINES. 
 
 pick and shovel out the gravel as flir as the warmth has penetra- 
 ted. This is repeated until they sink a shaft to bedrock, in 
 summer the water pouring through the loose gravel prevents 
 deep shafting except by expensive works. 
 
 Mining Very Difficult. 
 
 " Again in summer the work of the miner is difficult. As I 
 have said, the interior country is tundra land — that is, the earth 
 is frozen to a great depth, never entirely thawing out. Wherever 
 the sun strikes the surface great pools of muddy water are 
 formed, and this prevents any sort of prospecting. These pools 
 of stagnant water breed great swarms of mosquitos and gnats, 
 which make it desirable to cover the head with mosquito netting, 
 or, better still, adopt the Indian method, and smear the hands 
 and face with a mixture of grease and soot, which prevents the 
 pests from biting. 
 
 "At some seasons in this country they are in such dense 
 swarms that at night they will practically cover a mosquito net- 
 ting fairly touching each other, and crowding through any kind 
 of mesh. I have heard it asserted by people of experience that 
 they form co-operative societies and assist each other through 
 the meshes by pushing behind and pulling in front. Others again 
 say they are too mean for such generous action." 
 
 In Mrs. Schwatka's opinion, Juneau was bound to be the most 
 important trading centre of Alaska for the mining district, and 
 she thought that it was eminently desirable that capitalists with 
 the means at their disposal should take steps without delay to 
 make more sure and ample the food supply of the Yukon Val- 
 ley. The main reason why she insisted on this was, that the 
 game had largely been driven awa)' from the mining districts 
 and that it was a menace to the health of those who had cour- 
 age to penetrate the wilds to have to live week after week and 
 
 
WOMI^N AT THE MINES. 
 
 22.^ 
 
 month after month on dried fish, as the Indians do, or on canned 
 goods exclusively. 
 
 Speaking of the scarcity of game in the Yukon Valley, Mrs. 
 Schwatka said : 
 
 The great Yukon Valley has but little game in it during the 
 summer, for the mosquitos drive all game to higher altitudes, 
 b'ormerly during the winter season a living could be made by 
 experienced hunters in bringing moose and caribou meat to 
 camp. I heard one miner say, who had spent four winters on 
 the Yukon, that he had seen moose and caribou so numerous 
 on the bald hills above timber limit, in the present gold-field 
 district that they gave the snow a mottled gray appearance. 
 
 ' Of course these have now disappeared with the advance of 
 civilization, and fresh meat of any kind is now at a premium. 
 To illustrate how abundant this game was but a few years ago, a 
 hunter captured a couple of young moose and they were made 
 great pets among the miners during the long winter. 
 
 "This scarcity of game of all kinds," continued Mrs. Schwatka, 
 "coupled with the great number of people entering the country, 
 will in the near future be productive of great suffering, unless 
 positive and decisive steps are taken to make the food supply 
 ample and sure, as I have said. Tin and canned goods are very 
 high in price, and it seems a wrong to the miners that, for a lack 
 of ample transportation facilities, which, in my opinion, might be 
 easily provided, they are subjected to the dangers of the diet 
 they have to put up with. 
 
 Scurvy a Terror. 
 
 " Scurvy is one of the greatest evils of camp life, and this is 
 engendered and fostered by the diet the men and women in 
 the Klondike region have thus far had to endure. It is only 
 a hearty man who, in face of the hardships and privations 
 
 
 
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 224 
 
 WOMEN AT THE MINES. 
 
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 to which the mining community is subjected, can survive 
 the six or eight months of dim twilight of the winter season, 
 with the thermometer ranging anywhere from forty to ninety 
 degrees below zero." 
 
 Mrs. Schwatka thought that great care should be taken by 
 those who tempted fortune in the wilds of Alaska in the 
 matter of providing a suitable outfit. She was convinced 
 that a great many had gone and would likely go, who were 
 little fitted to the experiences they would have to face, but, 
 said she : 
 
 " Those who are determined to go should not only take the 
 necessary winter clothing, but be prepared to invest in Arctic 
 furs — a reindeer coat, suitable boots and leggings, and a fur 
 sleeping bag. Skins of the temperate zone do not make the 
 best clothing for this purpose. A reindeer sleeping bag will keep 
 one warm in the severest weather and is a necessity, especially 
 if one is to try to pass the winter in a tent, as I have heard 
 many will do. 
 
 " Even the Indians of the country take extra precautions in 
 preparing their lodges in winter, building houses of brush and 
 locrs. With proper clothinrr and plenty of nutritious food the 
 in this land is easil 
 
 probk 
 
 ily 
 
 Warning to the Sex. 
 
 In conclusion Mrs. Schwatka wished earnestly to give warning 
 to her sisters who were likely to seek their fortunes in the 
 unknown country. She said she did not wish to discourage 
 those who thought it to their interest to brave the perils, but 
 considering all things, and speaking from her own hard experi- 
 ence, she thought that the average woman would find it more to 
 her interest, and certainly more to her comfort, to leave the 
 dangers incident to the extremes of climate, dangers of diet, and 
 
\jV«' 
 
 !/*. 
 
 WOMEN AT THE MINES. 
 
 225 
 
 hardships cf travel to the men, who arc better able naturally to 
 support wh it will have to be undergone. Said she : 
 
 "To keq) from freezing it requires the same sort of clothing 
 that the Arctic explorers wear — all furs and no woolens. The 
 fur coats arc made by the Esquimeau.x from skins brought over 
 from Siberia, and it is likely that they will cost a great deal more 
 than they ever did before. 
 
 "Alaska is a poor place for women and noplace at all for children. 
 Of course, many women are able to endure hardships and fatigue 
 just as well as the men, and it might not be so bad for them to 
 go there in summer. It is a fearfully hard life there at best." 
 
 Miss Anna Fuleomcr, like Mrs. Schwatka, has had a former 
 experience in Alaska. She is of Norse descent, and is thoroughly 
 imbued with all her race's traditional love of adventure. As 
 said above, she went to Alaska on her second trip as a Govern- 
 ment emplo}-c, receiving a good salary ; id being screened from 
 many of the hardships to which other women who went to the 
 Alaskan gold mines were subjected. But she, li^e the rest, 
 became touched with the craze for gold, and determined to leave 
 her school in Circle City, which, soon after the Klondike fever 
 broke out, became virtually a deserted town, and try her 
 fortunes Vvith the rest of the prospectors. 
 
 Got a Man for Nothing. 
 
 So she hired a dog for $30, agreeing to pay $75 if anything 
 happened to the animal, and had a man thrown in for nothing. 
 A few days after her determination to quit Circle City, she w as 
 on the trail of the gold-seeking throng. It did not take her a 
 great while to discover that it is not all gold that glitters, and 
 before she had been many days on her enterprise her hopes were 
 a good deal like Alaskan weather, so far below zero, that she 
 could scarcely read the thermometer. Some of her experiences 
 15 
 
 
 
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 WOMEN AT THB: MINES. 
 
 can best be tolil in her own language. Said she relative to the 
 difficulties of beginninj^ her enterprise : 
 
 "A dog, a dog, my kingdom for a dog," is the general cry 
 here. Morses have practically proved a failure here as a means 
 of transportation. They have to be housed in tents in which a 
 fire is kept. The dogs, however, live on ne.xt to nothing, and 
 often make quite astonishing time. We had a visitor at the 
 house I am living in, some time ago, who came on a dog sledge 
 eighty miles in nineteen hours, without once stopping. Another 
 man came here 240 miles in five days. 
 
 " The relative value placed on men and dogs is shown by the 
 fact that I could get an experienced man for my trip to Klondike 
 for nothing, but had to pay $30 rental for a dog, and had to 
 make a contract to pay $75 if anything happened to the animal. 
 The hopes of hundreds here rest on their ability to get a bob- 
 tailed dog. When I set out on my gold-finding enterprise I 
 found that my case was not an exception." 
 
 Good Word for Morals. 
 
 Miss Fulcomer has a very good word to say for the morals of 
 the Klondike mining camps. During her year of residence at 
 Circle City she knew of no murder being committed, and of very 
 little lawlessness of any sort. The miners, she said, practically 
 make a law unto themselves, and woe betide the man rash 
 enough or dishonest enough to violate the unwritten code. 
 Continuing, she said : 
 
 "One of the peculiar features of the new camp is the lack of 
 shooting, due to the fact that the Canadian government does not 
 permit men to carry firearms. Police disarm miners when they 
 enter the district, so that there is not r.ny of the lawlessness and 
 crime which marked early placer mining in California. There is 
 much gambling and play is high. 
 
WOMEN AT THE MINES. 
 
 227 
 
 " ' Lawyers and other disturbers of the peace ' arc kept out, 
 and tliis is the reason assigned for the quiet and /der that 
 prevail. 
 
 " The camps arc in no sense to be compared with the camps 
 in California during the gold fever there," says Miss Fulcomer. 
 " Their inaccessibility in a large measure protects them from 
 desperate characters. It is a 900-mile trip over the snow from 
 Juneau to the gold fields, and it is a hardy person who would 
 enter upon a trip that none but Arctic explorers ordinarily would 
 undertake. The climate, too, makes living out of doors impos- 
 sible, and it costs money to live under shelter. These condi- 
 tions, as you will readily understand, help to keep away mere 
 
 adventurers. 
 
 Side-tracked in Desolation. 
 
 " But it is a dreary place to be side-tracked in. The average 
 miner and prospector is buoyed up by the knowledge that there 
 is gold in abundance on the Yukon, and the hope that he may 
 make a fortune quickly. For the rest of one's personal experi 
 ence, the less glowing accounts that are given the better." 
 
 Like Mrs. Schwatka, Miss Fulcomer wished to emphasize the 
 fact that Alaska in the mining regions is anything but a paradise. 
 She said she pitied the people who came there under the delusion 
 that mining life there was anything to be compared with that 
 which obtained in California in the days of the gold excitement 
 in that State. There were only four months in the year, she 
 said — May, June, July and i\ugust — when mining was possible, 
 and even then the ground thr.wed no more than two or three 
 inches. The rest of the time the soil was virtually like a solid 
 rock, and to make matters worse the thermometer was likely to 
 be from ninety to ninety-five degrees below zero. 
 
 " One of the great causes of suffering here," she said, " is 
 that Americans put on their heaviest clothing almo.st as soon as 
 
 
 
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 228 
 
 WOMEN AT THE MINES. 
 
 they get here. The result is that when nr^ular winter weather 
 set:- ii: and the thermometer gets down to eighty or ninety degrees 
 below zero, they nearly perish. This, with the difficult}' of get- 
 ting good, fresh, wholesome living, makes the Yukon gold region 
 anything but an Eldorado. 
 
 " This," Miss Fulcomcr explains, " is not because there is not 
 gold at Klondike — there is gold in abundance, dirt rich enough 
 on some claims to yield from ;^ioo to $500 per pan ; but it is 
 mined with difficulty, mined in a small way, mined slowly, so 
 that for the average experienced digger the profits are swallowed 
 up in the expenses. Men who have been mining at other points 
 in Alaska and the British Dominion virtually abandoned their 
 old claims, owing to t)ie craze over Klondike, hurried there and 
 staked ofif their claims and are holding or working them. This 
 was early m the movt^nent, and consequently newcomers have 
 to be content winh the ii-tSLvings of the old men in the work." 
 
 First 03 Cross the Divide- 
 Dawson Qty at the -nane the Klondike fever broke out in its 
 full intensity, ktti a pcupuiation of 2500 souls, and of these only 
 thirty-three were wonESL To Mrs. Tom Uppy belongs the 
 unique distinction of l^nesm^ the first to cross the divide and go 
 into the new Klondiki; caaop. -Slie is describe^' ^a a little, lithe, 
 brown-haired, brown-eyed waman, to whom fear is practically 
 unknown. Unhke many of th£ women in the camp, she, for a 
 long time clung to her costuirtf of civilization, dressed neatly 
 and even .st\'lishly. She foUowtic: her husband and her husband's 
 fortunes, and did not think she was doing anything out of the 
 way in braving the same perils he was obliged to face. Said she, 
 when asked about her trip and her life in the gold region : 
 
 " I was the first 'vhite woman on the creek and the only one 
 in our camp. There was anotlier one mile from us, Mrs. Berry. 
 
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 WOMEN AT THE MINES. 
 
 229 
 
 She was the only white woman I had to speak to while we were 
 at camp. When we got to Eldorado Creek we lived in a tent 
 until Mr Lippy got our log cabin built. It is twelve feet by 
 eight, eight logs high, with mud and moss roof and moss between 
 the chinks, and has a door and window. Mr. I-ippy made the 
 furniture — a rough bed, tab!c. and some stools. We had a 
 .stove — there are plenty of stoves in that country — and that was 
 all we needed. The cabin was cozy and warm. I looked after 
 the housekeeping and Mr. Lippy after the mining. 
 
 " Everything we had to eat was canned. Things were canned 
 that I never knew could be canned before. Of course, we 
 missed fresh food dreadfully, but we kept well and strong. We 
 had no fresh milk or meats or fruits or eggs. 
 
 Dearth of Amusements. 
 
 " Amusements ? Well, nobody bothered much about amuse- 
 ments. Iweryone was busy and kept busy all the time. I did 
 my work. Mining is hard work — one doesn't pick gold off the 
 ground. It is genuine toil, and when Mr. Lippy finished he 
 wanted to rest. All men were about alike on that point. 
 
 " Ea.sliiun .' Well, we were not entirely cut off from the fash- 
 ionable world. People were coming in all tin- time. We got 
 fashion papers, a few months old, to be sure, but still they ki'{)t 
 us fairly up to time." 
 
 Most people who have taken interest in the report of tlu: Klon- 
 dike region will remember Jo.seph Ladue, who owns the site of 
 Dawson City. On returning to Plattsburg, New York, e.irly 
 last Augu.st Mr. Ladue had some interesting gossip about women 
 at the mining camps. Several of those who had faced the dan- 
 gers of the journey to Klondike, he said, were doing well and 
 would likel) be large gainers by tlieir enterprise. Said he : 
 
 •• There are women there who own property. Susie Lamar is 
 
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 230 
 
 WOMEN AT THE MINES. 
 
 one She is a single woman who came from Germany. She 
 ha^' been cooking for me and my partner. I guess she lias done 
 pretty well. I pay her $40 a month right along. 
 
 " Lottie Barnes also owns property there. She came over the 
 divide two years ago and settled on Second avenue. She was 
 formerly in Circle City. 
 
 "There is also a Mrs. Willis, who has quite a history. She 
 went in with my party two years ago. In the party were Ellis 
 Turner, from Schuyler Falls ; William Lamay, George .Vlulligan 
 and myself. She joined our party at Juneau, where she had been 
 working in the laundry. She is about forty-five years old, a 
 blonde, stout and rugged. She pulled her own sled weighing 
 250 pounds from L.-ike Linderman through to Lake Labargc, 
 about 700 miles. 
 
 Women of Enterprise. 
 
 " Before she came there she was stewardess on the steamer 
 Willipaw, when I first met her. She went first to Circle City, 
 where she started a laundry and bake shop. She did pretty 
 well. I think she got fifty cents a loaf for bread — pound loaves 
 made from wheat flour. She went out two years ago as a nurse 
 for the steamship company. I think she went as far as San 
 Francisco. She returned the next spring. That time she 
 brought in herself, with the aid of two dogs, about 750 pounds, 
 including a sewing machine. 
 
 " That was not the fir.>>t sewing machine brought in. Mrs. 
 Behan, wife of a banana trader, brought in the first machine about 
 twenty years before. Two years ago I suppose there were prob- 
 ably forty or fifty sewing machines in the country. 
 
 " There were pianos there. The pianos and organs were 
 principally in the dancc-iiouses and theatres at Circle City." 
 
 Klondike is not much of a place, as the reader will readily 
 
 i 
 
 i. 
 
 if •■■■. . 
 
 nil is" !7 
 
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 WOMEN AT THE MINES. 
 
 231 
 
 
 understand, for style, but once in awhile there is a " boiled shirt " 
 to be seen there, and to Mrs. J. V. Wills, of Tacoma, is due the 
 honor of introducing the first one. She is described as a women 
 of iron will, whose husband is a gun or locksmith an*"! virtually 
 a cripple from rlicumatism. His illness made it impossible for 
 him to undergo the dangers of the journey and penetrate to the 
 frozen North, but his wife said s)ie would go for him, and go she 
 did. 
 
 She settled at one of the mining camps and for two years made 
 so little money that she was practically disheartened. Then the 
 Klondike mines were discovered and Mrs. Wills w as among the finst 
 to join a party of cattle men and hurry to the new region. She 
 began her career in Alaska as a washerwoman ; then she went 
 to work as a cook for the Alaska Commercial Company, at Daw- 
 son City, and received fifteen dollars a day for her services. 
 
 Her Experience a Romance. 
 
 When she joined the throng heading for Klondike she asserted 
 her determination to abandon the work she had been doing and 
 take a claim. She did so, and in a few weeks struck it so rich 
 that instead of being a poor washerwoman she was worth a 
 quarter of a million dollars. 
 
 While doing washing Mrs. Wills introduced the first "boiled 
 sliirt" into the Yukon gold camp and paid $2.50 for the box of 
 .starch with which she starch<'>' it. Her first assistant m the 
 laundry was a squaw, to whom Mrs. Wills paid four tlollars a 
 day and bo;n-d. Her little log cabin cost her thirty-five dollars a 
 month and her su[)i)l}' of wood for the winter cost ;$225. A 
 twenty-five-cent washboard cost lier si.\ times that amount, and, 
 while she made a small fortune washing and baking bread, Mrs. 
 Wills complains that the trading company got most of it. Mrs. 
 Wills parts her hair on the side like a man and is stout and jolly. 
 
 
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 11 
 
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 232 
 
 WOMEN AT THE MINES. 
 
 She is fifty years of age and is industrious and a good business woman. 
 The Catholic Church has long had a representation in the 
 frozen wilds of the North, but almost immediately when the 
 Klondike gold fields were discovered, two Sisters of Mercy, 
 young women from Lachine, in the Province of Quebec, headed 
 their way for San Francisco on their errand of mercy, braving all 
 the seventies of an Arctic winter, that they might render such 
 service in the camp life that might be demanded of them. The 
 two young women belonged to tlie Sisterhood of St. Anne. 
 When tlu-y started they did not expect to be able to go any fur- 
 ther than vSt. Michael's, completing the journey at the earliest 
 
 possible moment. 
 
 Mercy Their Motive. 
 
 When the girls started there were already thirteen sisters of 
 the Ortler of St. Anrje in Alaska, some at St. Michael's, others 
 at Holy Cross and St. Joseph, and the remainder at Circle City. 
 At this latter town the sisters run a hospital, and it was to work 
 in the hospital for a time and then push on farther into the wil- 
 derness that these two brave young women undertook their haz- 
 ardous journey. 
 
 Importation of young women into Northern Alaska as wives 
 for the miners is the jjrojcct one elderly dame laid before the 
 officials of the North American Transportation and Trading 
 Compan}-. She figured that at least 200O of the lo.ooo hardy 
 prospectors in the Klondike would like to get married right away 
 and would be willing to pay a good price for the proper kind of 
 helpmeets. 
 
 "I am organizing a compan}'," she saitl, "and want your 
 indorsement. You can make money off the transportation and 
 board of the women, and the commissions from the miners will 
 insure my compaii)' a big profit. Now, I want you to take some 
 of the stock in pay for the passage of myself and two or three 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 11 
 
WOMEN AT THE MINES. 
 
 233 
 
 agents while wc run up there to make arrangements and — ." 
 But Mr. Weare shut her off and made his escape. 
 
 Charlotte Smith, the Eastern sociologist, wants to transplant 
 4000 or m^ore working women from sweatshops and factories to 
 Klondike camps. Hers is not a money-making scheme — she is 
 laboring solely in what she thinks the best interests of humanity. 
 Transposition from a life of drudgery, with a bare pittance in the 
 way of wages, to homes in Alaska would, in Miss Smith's 
 opinion, be a blessing which thousands of women would be 
 glad to embrace. To carry out her plans funds are needed, but no 
 big subscriptions thus far have been reported. In the meantime 
 an enrollment is going on of those women ■\\ho are nillingto 
 take their chances in the frozen North, 
 
 W' 
 
 %\ 
 
 ^.^ 
 
 
 Went for Business. 
 
 Another woman wanted to get ^2000 to use in organizing a 
 company to locate gold placer claims. S'le was endowed with 
 powers of clairvoyance and could unerringly point out hidden 
 deposits of precious metals. She had done so with great suc- 
 cess in California and Colorado, and would now like to try her 
 hand in Alaska. Suggestion that clairvoyance should enable 
 her to pick out a backer was taken as a personal insult, and .she 
 departed in high dudgeon. 
 
 There is a touch of romance an :1 good fortune in the story of 
 Mrs. Capt. Ilealy. She went to the Klondike region a poor 
 woman and soon became a mine owner. Opposite the Klondike 
 River on the rock)' cliffs that project into the Yukon is the 
 pioneer quartz mine of the country*. It was at this poinV that 
 what is known as the greait copper Ixlt crosses the river. Cap- 
 tain Healy of the North AnaKrican Transportation and Trading 
 Company, a coupic of years ago, located on a ledge afrer a very 
 s.«rj>orficial examination of it. 
 
234 
 
 WOMEN AT THE MINES. 
 
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 Quartz mines were at that time practically ignored, and after 
 a while the captain forgot the circumstance of his owning a 
 claim, and made a trip on the company's business to Sixty- Mile. 
 It was on this trip that he recalled the circumstance of his own- 
 ing the claim, and, while passing it, made the remark : 
 
 " It's good-looking rock," said the captain, "but I don't think 
 I will bother with it. There will be plenty of time for consider- 
 ing quart/.." 
 
 "Aren't you going to claim it?" asked Mrs. Mealy. 
 
 " No ; I don't care to bother with it — not now." 
 
 " If you don't w^mt it, I do. I will locate it and pay for the 
 assessment work. ' 
 
 " Well, it's your mine, then." 
 
 Mrs. Healy Begins Work. 
 
 And so Mrs. Healv re-located it, and thev set a man to work 
 out the first assessment and took samples of the ore. Mrs. 
 Healy named it the Four-Leaf Clover, so if anyone sees it 
 quoted in the mining exchanges, away up pretty high, he may 
 know it is her mine. 
 
 They gave the samples to the assayer and they show from $H 
 to $i6 to the ton in gold, in addition to a good percentage in 
 copper. The vein is eighty feet wide. 
 
 Early in August, Miss Georgia Osborne, of Jacksonville, 111., a 
 miss of twenty-two summers, accompanied by Mrs. M. L. 
 Keiser, of the same place, set out for the Klondike diggings. 
 Mrs. Keiser said she had scaled the Alps and knew how to 
 rough it, but Miss Osborne had had no experience of that sort, 
 but was brave enough to face the dangers without question. 
 
 Miss Mary Elizabeth Mellor, Superintendent of the United 
 States Indian Training School at Unalaska, Alaska, took a trip 
 to the Klondike regions, and for a time experienced all the 
 

 WOMEN AT THE MINES. 
 
 235 
 
 dangers and hardships of camp life. She returned to Senttle on 
 the steamer Portland, early in July of the present }'ear, and in 
 speaking of the short summers and long- winters of the northern 
 wilds, of tne scarcity of food and inadequacy of the clothing 
 supply, touched upon the hardships of the miners an i said 
 their sufferings were often something terrible. She said : 
 
 " When I left flour was selling at the rate of JS50 a sack, 
 and if the luxury of eggs was indulged in the consumers paid 
 $4 per dozen. Then it must be remembered that each c<^g of 
 the twelve was not what a Pennsylvania farmer would consider 
 freshly laid. Clothing is also hard to obtain and is high in price, 
 the majority of the gold-seekers wearing clothes made of coarsg* 
 woolen blankets." 
 
 Romance of Courtship. 
 
 Clarence J. Berry is commonly called the Barney Barnato of 
 the Klondike, and his bride the belle of the mining district. The 
 couple made one of the most fortunate strikes at the dig- 
 gings, lie took out 1^130,000 from the top dirt of one of his 
 claims in five months, all of which was clear profit, barring 
 $22,000 which he paid to his miners. His wife, the bride of but 
 a short time, was ecjually as energetic and fortunate. She had 
 her own claim and is reported to have lifted out $10,000 or 
 more in her spare moments. 
 
 Berry and his wife went to the Klondike on their honeymoon. 
 They were gone but fifteen months, came back wealthy to San 
 Francisco, the happy possessors of claims that are supposed to 
 be worth millions of dollars. And behind these millions oi dol- 
 lars there is a pretty romance which is worth relating : 
 
 Berry was a fruit raiser in the southern part of California. 
 He did not have any money. There was no particular prospect 
 that he would ever have any. He saw a life of hard plodding 
 
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 236 
 
 WOMEN AT THE MINES. 
 
 for a bare livint^. There was no opportunity at home for get- 
 tiug ahead, and, like other men of the far West, he only dreamed 
 of the day when he would make a strike and get his million. 
 
 This was three years ago. There had then come down from 
 the frozen lands of Alaska wonderful stories of rewards for men 
 brave enough to run a fierce ride with death from starvation and 
 cold. He had nothing to lose and all to gain. He concluded 
 to face the dangers. 
 
 His capital was $40. He proposed to risk it all — not very 
 much to him now, but a mighty sight three years ago. It took 
 all but five dollars to get h'tn to Juneau. He had two big arms, 
 the physicjue of a giant and the courage of an explorer. Pre- 
 senting all these as his only collaterals, h managed to squeeze 
 a loan of $60 from a man who was afraid to go with him, but 
 was willing to risk a little in return for a promise to pay back 
 the advance at a flibulous rate of interest. 
 
 Pluck Carried Him Through. 
 
 Juneau at that time was alive with men who had heard from 
 the Indians of rich finds of gold, and had seen samples of the 
 rock and sand which they had brought. A party of forty men 
 was formed and Berry was one of the forty. Each took a com- 
 plete outfit and a year's mess of frozen meat and sufficient furs, 
 packed the stuff to the top of the Chilkoot Pass and pushed on 
 toward the interior. Thirty-seven of the forty turned back in 
 despair, but Berry was one of the three who had pluck enough 
 to hold out, he being obliged to borrow bacon and other sup- 
 plies to get through, and landing at the diggings without a cent 
 in his pocket. 
 
 He reached P'orty-Milc within a month and began work at 
 $100 a month. He soon secured a claim and on finding him- 
 self on the highway to wealth sent word tc> Miss Ethel D. Bush, 
 
 i.i 
 
WOMEN AT THE MINES. 
 
 287 
 
 to whom he was engaged, telling her of his good fortune and 
 holding her to her pledge. Berry then went for his bride, ana 
 soon the couple were on their way back to the diggings. 
 
 They both decided it was worth the tr)' — success at a bound 
 rather than years of common toil. Berry declared he knew 
 exactly where he could find a fortune. Mrs. Berry convinced 
 him that she would be worth more to him in his venture than 
 any man that ever lived. Furthermore, the trip would be a 
 bridal tour which would certainly be new and far from the 
 beaten tracks of sighing lovers. 
 
 A Remarkable Bridal Trip. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Berry reached Juneau fifteen months ago. They 
 had but little capital, but they had two hearts that were full ol" 
 determination. They took the boat to Dyea, the head of navi- 
 gation. The rest of the distance — and distances in Alaska are 
 long — was made behind a team of dogs. They slept under a 
 tent on beds of boughs. 
 
 Mis. Berry wore garments which resembled very much those 
 of her husband. They came over her feet like old-fashioned 
 sandals, and did not stop at her knees. They were made of seal 
 fur, with the fur in.side. She pulled gum boots over these. 
 Her skirts were very short. Her feet were in moccasins, anc) 
 over her shoulders was a fur robe. The hood was of bearskin. 
 This all made a very heavy garment, but she heroically trudged 
 along with her husband, averaging about fifteen miles each day. 
 They reached Forty-I\Iile Creek a year ago in June, three months 
 after they were married. They called it their weehling trip. 
 
 lierrv built for his bride a lo<, house, leaxiivj; siini)!\' holes for 
 doors and windows. The thermometer was then getting to from 
 forty to fifty below zero. 
 
 Mrs. .Berry trudged through the nineteen miles of hard snow 
 
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238 
 
 WOMEN AT THE MINES. 
 
 and took her place in tlie hut with her husband. There was no 
 floor, but the .snow bank. It cost the couple J^300 a thousand feet 
 to {^et firewood hauled, and there was but little chance to use fuel 
 save to thaw out the moose and caribou which the Indians 
 peddled. 
 
 The bride and groom kept warm by cuddliny; — a thing some- 
 what unknown in civilized communities, but absolutely necessary 
 with the mercury disappearing in the bulb, and wood worth its 
 weight in gold. They endured all the hardships without com- 
 plaining, since by this time they knew they had reached the 
 golden pot at the tip of the rainbow. 
 
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 All Credit to His Bride. 
 
 Berry gives all the credit of his fortune to his young wife. It 
 was possible for her to have kept him at home after the first trip. 
 She told him to return — -and she returned with him. It was an 
 exhibition of rare courage, but rare courage fails. The wed- 
 ding trip lasted about fifteen months. Kerry says it was worth 
 ;^ 1, 000,000 a month. This estimate is one measured in cold 
 cash — not sentiment. 
 
 The new gold king and queen made the first strike of a year 
 ago in November. They were working along Eldorado Creek, 
 a branch of the Bonanza, which empties into the Klondike about 
 two miles above Dawson City. Their site was the fifth one 
 above where the first discovery had been made in this particular 
 region. It took nearly a month to get into paying dirt, but 
 wher the vein was opened it was simply awful. 
 
 The first prospect panned two and three dollars to the pan. It 
 grew suddenly to twenty-five and fifty dollars to the pan, and 
 kept increasing. It seemed they had tapped a mint, and one 
 day Mr. and Mrs. Berry gathered no less than J^595 from a single 
 pan of earth. This they saved in a sack by itself, and the peo- 
 
 
 it 
 
WOMEN A'l' THE MINKS. 
 
 239 
 
 pie who have listened to tlie strange stories of thi- younrj man 
 and his youn^^ wife liave no fear that they liavi- lieen mistaken. 
 
 Many Catch the Fever. 
 
 Thirteen women left Seattle for Alaska very soon after the 
 Klondike fever broke out, and with them went the Rev. h^ither 
 Stippick, who had for years been stationed at Circle City. 
 Among the women were Mrs. Holmcr Chase, Miss l^iuline Kel- 
 logg, Mrs. C. \V. Romley, all of Chicago. They all declared 
 they were going to the new ICldorado, not for pleasure, but to 
 seek their fortunes, the same as the men who had undertaken 
 the journey. 
 
 One of the most striking instances of good luck at the dig- 
 gings in which the woman is in any way concerned, was that of 
 Ulry Gaisford, a Tacoma barber. Heartbroken, it is reported, 
 over a wayward wife, he fled from his Tacoma home and sought 
 to bury himself in the Klondike camps. He arrived there 
 penniless, and within eighteen months found himself the sole 
 owner of a Klondike placer, which is conservatively estimated 
 as being worth $1,000,000. Within a few days after beginning 
 to work on his claim the barber had taken out ;$ 50,000. 
 
 Ulry, it is said, brooked the conduct of his wife as long as he 
 could, and then furnished her the money, on her request, with 
 which to secure a legal separation. This formality completed, 
 Ulry hied hmi to the wilds of Alaska, where he and his com- 
 panions were shipwrecked while navigating the Pelly River, and 
 provisions and clothing were lost. With absolutely nothing left 
 but the clothing on their backs, almost all became disheartened 
 and returned to civilization. 
 
 He pressed on, for a time working in a saw mill and later 
 running a little barber shop in Circle City. It is with the trifle 
 he .saved from his barber shop and some money he saved in a 
 
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 logging enterprise on the Yukon that he filed a claim on the 
 Klondike. 
 
 Mention was made above of Joseph Ladue, and there is a 
 pretty romance connected with his marriage and good fortune. 
 Many years ago, it is reported, he became enamored of a Miss 
 Anna Mason, of Schuyler Falls, and they soon became engaged 
 to be married. 
 
 The parents of the young woman objected on account of 
 Ladue's lack of financial resources, and he went out to the Black 
 Hills during the mining craze in that region. He was lucky and 
 struck it rich. He corresponded with his sweetheart, and at last 
 he thought he had enough money to return and claim the bride. 
 
 Lost a Fortune. 
 
 Leaving the mines, he tarried at Dead wood, was enticed into 
 a gambling game, and his fortune passed into the pockets of 
 sharpers. He wrote his affianced and told her the facts, adding 
 that he was going to Alaska to make another fortune and hoped 
 she would wait for him. Correspondence was kept up and the 
 young woman remained constant to her faithful and adventurous 
 lover 
 
 Wlien he visited his old home two years ago he was already 
 prosperous, but he was not satisfied with his accumulations, and 
 it was decided to postpone the marriage awhile longer. 
 
 He returned to his sawmill and trading post on the Yukon, 
 and when the rich gold discoveries there brought him wealth 
 beyond what he had dreamed of, he shaped matters as soon as 
 possible to return and fulfill his long engagement. The parents 
 are satisfied with his worldly prospects at last, and the wedding 
 was celebrated at Schuyler Falls lately. That quiet hamlet was 
 in a fever of excitement over the nuptails which crowned this 
 romance in real life. 
 
WOMEN AT THE MINES, 
 
 These cases are but a fcw*of the many which might be cited 
 as illustrations of the interest women have taken in the gold 
 craze, and the earnestness and determination with wiiich they 
 have entered upon their life of hardship, toil and often i)rivation. 
 It is these women who are largely responsible for the high 
 morals observable in the mining camps in the Klondike region. 
 As said by Miss Fulcomer in the interview given above with her, 
 the morals of the Alaskan camps arc in no sense to be compared 
 with those of the mining camps of California in the days of the 
 excitement there. This in a measure is due to the fact that the 
 diggings are so remote and the journey to them is attended with 
 such hardship and danger, that the looser class are deterre I from 
 threading the wilderness to the camps. Thus, only women of 
 nerve and enterprise, who have some legitimate purpose to sub- 
 serve, have thus far made the trip to the diggings. 
 
 If the gold excitement continues i obody contends thr.t this 
 state of affairs will last, as it never has in former periods of min- 
 ing excitement. But thus far, on the Klondike, the women ad- 
 venturers have brought only romance, good morals, and comforts 
 to districts where they have been needed. 
 
 Women as Promoters. 
 
 Scores of women, some of them good-looking and of seeming 
 lefinement, have announced their willingness to marry anybody 
 in the shape of a miner who has made a lucky strike, and in 
 evidence of good faith have put their names ami house addresses 
 on record. Others want to visit the Klondike as cooks, as 
 nurses, as domestics, in any capacity so long as they can get 
 there without outlay for fare, and with prospect of big wages at 
 the end of the trip. 
 
 Women appear also as promoters of mining and development 
 projects. Some of them can talk intelligently about the country 
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 242 
 
 WOMEN AT THE MINES. 
 
 and its prospects, and have a convincing way of setting out their 
 propositions. Ore, a httle keener than her competitors in the 
 hunt for the dollars of the public, has sprung a plan by which 
 stock may be paid for on the installment basis at the rate of 
 twenty-five cents a week a share. In the spring — most ot these 
 good things are going to come off in the spring — experienced 
 prospectors will be grub-staked and sent into the Klondike to 
 look for a paying claim. The company has nothing as yet in the 
 way of assets save expectations, but these are very big and 
 strong. 
 
 A midwife advertises for a partner to furnish money to open a 
 hospital in Dawson City. " On an investment of $5000," she 
 says, "I will guarantee a yearly income of $50,000 sure, with 
 the chance of making double this." 
 
 Fictitious Klondike stocks, with the quotations regulated by 
 clock mechanism, have made their appearance in some of the 
 bucket shops frequented by women. It is simply the substitu- 
 tion of Klondike for the old names on the tape, but the gamesters 
 stake their money on the turns with as much eagerness as if the 
 figures were wired from a genuine .stock exchange in Alaska, 
 and there is an observable spurt in the business. *' If I can win 
 ;^iooo here I'm going to the real Klondike just as quick as I 
 can," said one woman customer in a La Salle street shop. While 
 she was speaking a whirl of the wheel wiped out her margin, and 
 she hustled around to borrow car fare to pay her way home. 
 
 Mrs. John A. Logan Interested. 
 
 Early in August, 1897, Mrs. John A. Logan was asked to 
 become the president of an association of New York women 
 organized to send a business expedition to the Klondike. The 
 promoters of the enterpri.se were Mrs. Kliza P. Connor and Mrs. 
 S. W. McDonald, both newspaper workers. The aim of the 
 
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WOMEN AT THE MINES. 
 
 243 
 
 association was to send women to the Yukon. Mrs. Logan was 
 to attend to the work at the New York end of the line. 
 
 A Women's Klondike Syndicate was also organized about the 
 same time in New York. Miss Helen Varick Boswell was 
 president, and among the patronesses were Mrs. Jennie June 
 Croly, Laura Weare Walters, Des Moines, Li. ; Mrs Sarah E. 
 Bierce, Cleveland ; Mrs. William Creighead, Dayton, O. ; and 
 Mrs. Sarah Thompson, Delaware, O. 
 
 "We expect to leave New York on March i, 1898," said 
 Mrs. McDonald, one of the officers, "and a Pullman sleeping 
 car, or two cars, if forty people join us, will be chartered from 
 New York to Seattle, and will be occupied exclusively by the 
 members of the expedition. Three meals a day will be furnished 
 on the cars and all fees and tips will be defrayed by the party. 
 The distance is 3310 miles, and we will make it in seven days. 
 
 Details of the Journey. 
 
 " From Seattle to Sitka, another thousand miles, we go by 
 steamer, and it will take us four days. From Sitka to Klondike 
 is an overland route of 700 miles. We will make a short stay 
 at Sitka in order to complete the outfit of the expedition, which 
 will be ordered by telegraph on leaving New York. 
 
 " We may decide not to go over the Chilkat Pass, but to take 
 the Schwatka route instead ; we will decide that question at 
 Sitka. We will travel by caravans when we leave Sitka, where 
 the vans will have to be taken to pieces and carried on horseback 
 over the pass ; so will the tools and provisions. 
 
 "On the other side of the pass the vans will be refitted and 
 the journey continued as when leaving Sitka. When we reach 
 the lakes rafts will be built from timber on the banks and the 
 rafts will float people, horses and vans across. For twenty per- 
 sons there will be five vans, each with four horses, and three of 
 
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 244 
 
 WOMEN AT THE MINES. 
 
 the vans will be fitted with portable sleepers to accommodate 
 seven persons each. The two other vans will be used for pro- 
 visions, with sleepin<j bunks in front. For those wishing to 
 sleep alone tents and army cots will be provided." 
 
 Romance of a Seamstress. 
 
 Mrs. Chester Adams, of Winlock, a small sawmill town in 
 Western Washington, has written a letter from Dawson City in 
 which she says that the steamer leaving there early in July for 
 St. Michael's carried $2,000,000 in gold. She promised her 
 friends to write the truth about the Klondike stories that have 
 been printed telling of the great wealth of the Alaska gold 
 fields. Her letter confirms all that has been said, and Mrs. 
 Adams says half has not been told. 
 
 She went to Dawson City with a view to making a few hun- 
 dred dollars at dressmaking. In the first three days she cleared 
 up $90 with her needle. She says she was the first woman 
 in the diggings that could fit a dress, and, while there are no 
 " bones " or " waist binding or canvas " or other articles about 
 which women know everything and which go into a dress, Mrs. 
 Adams .says prices are kept up, ranging about as follows : Five 
 to ten dollars for a plain Mother Hubbard, six ilollars to twelve 
 for an empress, eight dollars for a plain wool skirt, ten dollars to 
 an "ounce" for a waist. These prices are simply for making 
 the goods up, and Mrs. Adams says she and her partner have 
 more work than they can do. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 P6et Gf the Sierras' Vision. 
 
 Rushes ofF to the Diggings at the Firsl Report — Mining in '49 — Goes in to 
 Rough It — Carries His Own Pack, Pick and Pan — Will Hunt for a Good 
 Job — Coming Back With Bed-rock I'acts — Contradicts Some Horse 
 Stories — Schemes of the Pi&ueers — Not a Pistol in the Crowd — One Way 
 to Get Bear Meat— Recalls Other Big Strikes— On Mary Island— With 
 Father Duncan's Flock — No Jail Nor Police at Mctlakahtia — Hay on 
 the Klondike — None Coming From Yukon — Frolic with Indian Children. 
 
 yOAQUIN MILLER, " the Poet of tlic Sierras," known so 
 I long and well to admirers on two continents by his twin dc 
 J plume that his real name, Cincinnatus Heine, has become 
 more obscure than another man's " alias," was one of the first 
 of the old California argonauts to catch the Klondike fever. 
 
 As a youth he was a miner in the rich placer beds and along 
 the gold-laden lodes of the Sierras, and again in 1862 he was in 
 the rush to Salmon River, when Idaho and Montana were found 
 to be gold fields. 
 
 The news of the marvelous finds on the upper Yukon was 
 more than he could .«'*":'nd, and July 26th, little more than a week 
 after the arrival of the Portland with its golden store, found him 
 on board the steamer City of Mexico, upward bound for Juneau, 
 Dyea and the Klondike. 
 
 Goes In to Rough It. 
 
 In a letter to the Chicago Tribune, dated enioute in the Gulf 
 of Georgia, the poet wrote of his Arctic quest and its object in 
 these words : 
 
 " I have been asked, as I have asked so many of our party, 
 what c' '.ipment T have for the route over to the mines, and you 
 may also want to know. 
 
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 246 
 
 POET OF THE SIERRAS' VISION. 
 
 " Briefly, then, I have twenty pounds of bacon, twelve pounds 
 of hardtack, half a pound of tea, I have a heavy pair of blan- 
 kets, the heaviest socks, undei clothing, boots, a rubber blanket, 
 a mackintosh, a pound of assorted nails, loo feet of small rope, 
 a sail, and an ax. My pack is forty pounds all t(>ld. I have a 
 pocketknife and an iron cup, a thermometer, and about $ioo. 
 
 " I hope to build a raft, carry my own pack over all the places, 
 and travel hastily on ahead and alone. You see I have spent 
 years alone in the mountains and have been in almost all the 
 * stampedes ' for the last forty years, and I know what I am 
 about. 
 
 " Of course, I am not doing this for fun, but for the informa- 
 tion of poor men who mean to go to the mines next spring. 
 This is what those who pay me to take this trip want and what 
 I have promised to do if it can be done without too much risk 
 of life or limb. I shall report exactly all the desired details as 
 I go along. I am to apply for work at the first mines I reach 
 and report exactly, work or not work, wages, hours of work — 
 everything, in fact, that a man of small means needs to know. 
 
 Will Hunt for a Job. 
 
 " If I make this trip thus equipped, find work and good wages 
 and all that sort of thing, why, any other man who wants to can 
 do it. For I am about fifty-five years old and a bit lame of the 
 leg. Of course I may have to change some of my plans, may 
 join a party and go down in a boat instead of on a raft, and so 
 on ; but I am going to ask for work at all events, get it if I can, 
 and do it, for I am an old miner and can do almost twice the 
 work of a new man. Certainly I can do more good just now in 
 that way than by describing clouds, snow peaks and Polar bears, 
 although, of course, I shall not all the time keep my face to the 
 earth, even though my feet do cleave solidly to it. 
 
POET OF THE SIERRAS' VISION. 
 
 247 
 
 " After having got right down to the bed-rock of the cold, 
 frozen facts, I shall take the steamer at Dawson and return 
 straight to San Francisco. So you see my forty pounds will be 
 about all I absolutely need. But the ' stayer ' will not follow 
 my example in this. Still, I am bound to say right here that it 
 does not at this distanc. look like practical common sense 
 to waste so much time and strength in getting in supplies by this 
 land route when they are bringing thousands of tons by the 
 water route. However, 1 am sent out to tell of things as I find 
 them, and shall give plain facts, neither opinions nor advice. 
 
 " More than all this, if I find the mines limited, either in area 
 or thickness, my first duty is to let the world know. I shall 
 write again when we get to Alaska, also again from the other 
 side, or base, of the so-called 'terrible pass.' But once launched 
 on the swift river and link of lakes flowing the other way, there 
 will be only a monthly mail. Yet, if we find anything of great 
 importance in the way of facts we will find some means of sending 
 it back. If we do not find plenty of faint-hearted fellows coming 
 back, even after crossing the mountains, it will not be in line 
 with other excitements from '49 up to this hour." 
 
 Refutes Some Horse Tales. 
 
 According to Miller, the stories that horses were not available 
 in crossing the mountains were not founded on fact, for he wrote 
 of there being many horses on the steamer, all intended for use 
 in going over Chilkoot Pass. 
 
 The poet was reminded, b)' some of the stories he heard at 
 Seattle and Victoria, of the men who discovered the Salmon 
 River mines ni Idaho in 1862, and who sent outrunners and 
 posted notices to keep the people from rushing in and sh iring 
 the treasure with the discoverers. " St;irvation and intolerable 
 hardship" was the awsome argument used then, but history 
 
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248 
 
 POET OF THE SIERRAS' VISION. 
 
 t II 
 
 recorded that nobody really starved, though a number perished 
 in the snow. 
 
 He writes in this vein : 
 
 " It would seem that those on the outside, as well as those on 
 the ' inside ' have been most willing if not eager to keep all new- 
 comers in the dark. The men who have horses and all sorts of 
 comfortable equipment are those who live along here — Seattle, 
 Port Townsend, and so on — and are mere nearly in touch with 
 the inside. Frankly and truly, eac'i wlay I come upon some sort 
 of evidence that those who know the most are playing the same 
 old game that we of the Idaho and Montana mines played a third 
 oi a century ago." 
 
 Not a Pistol in the Crowd. 
 
 The poet was struck by the wide difference, in bearing and 
 dress, between the gold-hunters of '49 and those of '97. When 
 he wrote he had not seen a pistol among the scores of men 
 aboard bound for the mines, though there were rifles and shot 
 guns in plenty, and he argued well from this for the figure the 
 prospectors would cut when they got into the diggings. "A 
 miner of to-day looks more like a bicyclist than a booted and 
 crimson shirted argonaut " was his happy way of expressing the 
 eminently peaceful appearance of his companions. 
 
 One passenger on the City of Mexico, a Californian, had an 
 outfit whose extremes were a frying pan and a gilt-edged copy 
 of Shakespeare. 
 
 The poet pricks the starvation bubble thus neatly : 
 
 " One man returning from the mines told me this morning that 
 he always had to keep the bacon up on a high pole, and had to 
 grease the pole, for the bears were so bad that they would tear 
 the cabin down, and even climb the pole if they could. Now, it 
 seems to me that while the bear up the pole was eating the bacon 
 
pljjfti 
 
 POET OF THE SIERRAS' VISION. 
 
 249 
 
 a man of reasonable wisdom could get a little of the bear if 
 starving." 
 
 Though he disclaims any direct knowledge o*" the reputed 
 strikes, the poet cannot forbear some characteristic observations, 
 thus : 
 
 " You have no doubt read daily of great strikes. I will not 
 add to the fever by uttering what I have heard all along the line. 
 I am almost certain, however, that the mines are immensely rich. 
 At the same time, let it be borne in mind that only a few millions 
 have been brought to light. True, only a few men have a hand 
 in the work as yet, but when I hear it said on all sides that these 
 are the richest mines ever found it sets me to looking back. At 
 first in the Idaho mines about a dozen men in Baboon's Gulch 
 took out more gold and in less time than any dozen or so in the 
 Klondike. The Klondike has given up only $3,000,000 or 
 $3,000,000, but Alden Gulch yielded more than $100,000,000 
 from 1863 to 1873. The McGregor Company took out $2,000,000 
 in ninety days from Mount Gulch. They built a boat and took 
 it down the river to St. Louis armed with Winchesters. 
 
 " At the same time, the mines are so different and the means 
 of working the mines so difficult that they never could be worked 
 at all if not marvclously rich. No one ever heard before of $500, 
 $800, or $1000 to the pan." 
 
 These notions of a veteran gold-seek<T are at least worth con- 
 trasting with some of the awed ideas of " tenderfeet." 
 
 On Mary Island. 
 
 From Fort Wrangel, Alaska, Miller writes again to the Tribune 
 as follows : 
 
 " Mary Island, the place of customs and the postoffice, lies to 
 the left of this mighty river, so like the Columbia, so like the 
 Hudson, only ten times its size and impressiveness, and right 
 
 
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 260 
 
 POET OF THE SIERRAS' VISION. 
 
 before us lies what the prospectors who come and go with us 
 call a mountain of gold. Men, especially an ex-Federal Judge 
 who is with us. say it is the richest piece of ground in the 
 world, and that the famous Treadwcll Mine, with all its millions, 
 is but a babe in arms in comparison with this mountain of 
 quartz and gold that lies right in our path as we push on from 
 the Custom House toward the gold fields of the Klondike. 
 
 " But it is an Indian reservation, and the Indians, a community 
 under the leadership of a wise and good old Scotchman, known 
 as Father Duncan, are reputed to be by far the best and most 
 wise on the continent, and so the Government is loath to disturb 
 them. More than that, it is a point of honor to keep strict faith 
 with them, for they are guests of ours." 
 
 With Father Duncan's Flock. 
 
 Then he draws a pretty pen picture of this peaceful Indian 
 settlement, thus : 
 
 " You see, Father Duncan had a difference with the Canadian 
 authorities about his converts, and begged the United States for 
 an Island where his people could live apart from miners and 
 travelers with rum, tobacco and bad ways of other sorts, and as 
 he had a great and good name as a civilizer, we gave him the 
 island. This was in the early eighties. In the early nineties 
 gold was found all along the steep, starry new home of the 
 Indians from the tide wash to the snow that caps the peaks. 
 
 " Many efforts and appeals to dislodge the Indians have been 
 made, but the Indians are so humble, and virtuous, and kindly 
 disposed that they are pretty safe unless a very incompetent man 
 comes to be at the head of this department at Washington. A 
 decision was rendered only quite recently entirely favorable to 
 these simple savages. 
 
 " Their little city, Metlakahtia, is fairer to see from afar off 
 
 ii 
 
POET OF THE SIERRAS VISION. 
 
 251 
 
 as well as close at hand, than almost any city of the white man's 
 side ; clean streets, a church that is almost a cathedral in state- 
 liness, sidewalks, three or four fire companies, little houses for 
 hose and hook and ladder companies at several points ; in fact, 
 everything that the white man has except a jail, policemen and 
 politicians. 
 
 " * No,' said good Father Duncan with a smile, * we have no 
 need of cither jail or police. As for politicians, we liaveno need 
 of them, and they, perhaps, have no need of us.' " 
 
 "The place is built and maintained on the co-operativ«, plan, 
 
 and is certainly prosperous, for the people are pefectly content. 
 
 and happy, and not one of the several hundred has any no'ion 
 
 of going to th. mines. Let us take note of their condition 
 
 here." 
 
 Raising Hay on Klondike. 
 
 A miner who had spent several winters in Alaska took the 
 raw edge off the climate stories to the poet by telling him the 
 climate at the Klondike was the exact counterpart of that at 
 Metlakahtia. The old Alaskan added : 
 
 " They raise the best hay there I ever saw. I have seen 
 grass as high as my head there in June, and cattle driven in 
 from Juneau to Dawson are in better condition when they arrive 
 than when they are started from the trail." 
 
 Miller said he followed up the cattle story and found it true. 
 
 He found out something about the Chilkoot Pass, also, and this 
 is the way he puts it : 
 
 "And now for news, the newest news about the dread moun- 
 tain pass, which, according to all received accounts, was to be 
 undertaken only at the peril of life and limb. Well, men all 
 along here at the Indian villages and postoffices where wo find 
 men to talk to, tell me that the true news was not one-quarter 
 as bad as published ; that last winter two mails were brought 
 
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 252 
 
 POET OF THE SIERRAS' VISION. 
 
 this way by English mail-carriers and three by American mail 
 carriers, making the monthly mail trips over the sky-scraping 
 glaciers and impassable pass as regularly then in the midwinter 
 as they make it now in the midsummer. 
 
 " More than this, Mr. White went, almost a month ago, to cut 
 a trail below and around the so-called death trap, and now it is 
 comfortable. It is three or four miles longer, but it is of easy 
 grade and a good, safe pack trail four feet wide. 
 
 "The first five miles is already a wagon road, so you see, as I 
 prophecied on leaving Seattle, there was a whole lot of big 
 stories told for the benefit of the far-off poor man who was try- 
 ing to get to the mines. 
 
 "The nearer we approach ^.he less formidable are all the 
 obstacles before us. The walk of Jericho arc already down and 
 wc have not once trumpeted. 
 
 "Why, if this keeps on, in thirty days more we will enter the 
 Klondike country at Dawson in palace cars." 
 
 None Coming from Yukon. 
 
 Then, almost as he had penned the cheerful words, there 
 came a shock to him and all the other 497 souls on board the 
 City of Mexico. Let him tell it in his own graphic way as he 
 wrote it to the San Francisco Examiner : 
 
 "A strange, a pathetic scene took place a little time ago. In 
 the mildness of all this stillness, solitude, might and majesty of 
 nature, we met a steamer, the Alki, San Francisco, coming right 
 down upon us out of the clouds and snow. She had come from 
 Dyea, the nearest possible point for ships to the Mecca of all 
 good gold-hunting pilgrims. She came straight on as if to take 
 us in her arms. Seeing that there was news and good news for 
 all, she lay right alongside. The great ships ground their sides 
 together. Our eager gold-hunters came on the decks by hundreds. 
 
 IHi 
 
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 In 
 of 
 ht 
 
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 POET OK THE SIERRAS' VISION. 
 
 253 
 
 "News? News? What is the news from Klondike? 
 
 " Not the ghost of news from there, good or bad, thousands 
 had gone forward and down the great river Yukon, but not a 
 single one returned. A good sign, perhaps, but it was as if 
 questioning the dead. And they were so few and .so reserved 
 and faint of speech and action, com.pared to our own great big- 
 hearted and open-handed men, begging for news from the gold 
 fields, that it was as if we had landed Charon's ship and de- 
 manded the secrets of his dead. 
 
 No Bacon nor Bread. 
 
 "Only one bit of news did they have to tell, and that was 
 doleful enough ; not a bit of bacon or bread at the trading posts 
 ahead of us ; and the Klondike, where there are plenty of sup- 
 plies at some price, away over Juneau, on and on, hundreds of 
 miles beyond the glittering mountains of snow before us. Men 
 looked each other in the face, for many of the miners in their 
 haste to get forward had brought no supplies at all, but expected 
 to outfit at the posts at the base of the mountains, antl that is 
 why some will not sleep to-night. They will have to turn back 
 or wait for the traders' ships to come from far away. 
 
 "It would seem that more men have gone into the mines by 
 this mountain route than had been believed. Vit think how 
 many are coming. We hear that ships by the score had been 
 chartered and every berth taken in them by the time we were 
 setting out. They will be along here the next week or the next, 
 and likely enough lots of them, like some of our own boys, will 
 have no supplies at all. But then, of course, there can be no 
 suffering. There is plenty iu the loads of the more provident, 
 and these waters are always open and ships go up and down all the 
 year. It is not like finding this state of things on the other side 
 of the mountain, but it may make delays for a number of bold, 
 
 
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 254 
 
 POET OF THE SIERRAS' VISION. 
 
 good men, who have neither patience nor money to spare." 
 The poet had a charming experience with some Indian chil- 
 dren on Mary Island. He wrote to the Examiner: 
 
 " I was walking out of the edge of town, trying to get a 
 knowledge of the place, when some children who saw me 
 almost up to my knees trying to get some jack-in-the-pulpit 
 plumes came to look and help if need be, perhaps. Seeing at 
 last what I wanted, they nimbly came into the brush and nettles 
 and elder bushes and got all I could hold in my two hands ; great 
 heaps of yellow, fragrant wild plumes, set off by red elder- 
 berries. Now, when I got my wild flowers well in hand I said : 
 ' Thank you, my little lady ; now, what is your n^me ? ' 
 
 Five Cents and Ten Cents. 
 
 " She was about seven or eight. She put her fat little hands 
 behind her, and, turning about a great deal, her eyes down to 
 the plank walk, where we now stood, she was silent. Then I 
 said again : 
 
 " ' What is your name, my good little girl ? ' 
 
 " She turned about a great deal more, with her eyes held to 
 the levels, and then said : 
 
 " ' Ten cents, ten cents.* 
 
 " I offered her ten cents, but she would not take it. Then I 
 offered her a quarter, but the little brown hands were in hiding 
 and would not come out, coax as I might. Then I turned to 
 another little girl, her sister, perhaps, and said : 
 
 " ' What is your name, little girl ? ' 
 
 " She was not so shy, but, lifting her tiny black eyes to mine 
 .said: 
 
 " ' Five cents, five cents.' 
 
 ** I offered her the quarter, but she tried to dig her little big 
 toe into a crack in the plank, turning her bushy black head to 
 
POET OF THE SIERRAS' VISION. 255 
 
 me. smiled, and tried to laugh a little, but she would not put out 
 her hand. When the whistle blew I hastened aboard the 
 steamer, they following at a little distance. Then, having a 
 moment to spare, I turned and said again : 
 
 " ' Now pretty, what is your name ? I like you and would 
 hke to tell my friends about such a good little girl. Please 
 now, what is your name ? ' ' 
 
 " ' Ten cents, ten cents,' she answered. 
 
 " 'And her name ; what is your little sister's name ? ' 
 
 '"Five cents, five cents.' 
 
 " I laid some little bits of coin on a stump and ran away for 
 the steamer, and I reckon I never will know whether they 
 wanted money or not, but an. inclined to believe their names 
 were Ten Cents Ten Cents and Five Cents Five Cents " 
 
 
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 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 History and Purchase of Alaska. 
 
 One of the Happiest Deals Ever Made by American Statesmen — Seward's 
 Glory — His Prophecy on Retiring to Private I^ife Verified — Compara- 
 tively I'cw People in the Territory — Story of the Karly Days of Russian 
 Occupation— The First Massacre — Country Once Offered to the United 
 States for Nothing — Appropriation for Money to Pay for the Tract 
 Opposed by Congress Bitterly — P.fTorts to Provide Country with a Gov- 
 ernment — Interior containing Gold Fields once thought Worthless was 
 Parceled Out in Thirds between as many Nations — Recent History, 
 
 LITTLE as is known of Alaska among the sisterhood of 
 countries having a pL ce in history, its records go back 
 early into the Eighteenth Century and arc more replete 
 with interest and romance, than most people suppose. 
 
 Its discovery was due to Peter the Great's craze for explora- 
 tion, and from the time Vitus Bering sailed by commission of 
 the Czar to find the fabled land of Vasco da Gama, to the days 
 when the Klondike fever broke out ia its intensity and became 
 the talk of the world, it has ever, in some form or other, had 
 something of a conspicuous place in the public mind. 
 
 The purchase of this vast tract Ijy the United States was one 
 of the happiest deals our statesmen have ever negotiated. The 
 country was bought from Russia in 1867 at the ridiculously low 
 figure of less than half a cent an acre. From the very outset 
 the investment has been a paying one^ as is clearly shown by 
 Dr. Ball's figures. 
 
 Alaska paid a net profit of eight per cent, on the purchase 
 price during the first five years it was owned by the United 
 States. The government leased two tiny seal islands, which 
 alone paid four per cent, on the original cost of the entire terri- 
 tory, which was ;$/, 200,000. 
 
 256 
 
'^yt^ 
 
 HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 
 
 257 
 
 In addition to the profit returned by the fisheries and the seal 
 islands and the mining of baser metals, the output of the gold 
 mines before ever Klondike was thought of, yielded to the 
 United States a sum far greater than the purchase price. As an 
 indication of the profit of the fisheries it may be pointed out 
 that in six years, from 1884 to 1890, the salmon industry 
 alone yielded ;^7, 500,000. 
 
 Few There to Work. 
 
 In considering these figures relative to the profits of this great 
 and virtually unknown country, it must be borne in mind, that it 
 is one of the most sparsely settled regions in the world. In 
 1 893 there was but one inhabitant to each nineteen square miles. 
 Thus far in the history of our country it has been a territory 
 practically without a government, and only of late, since the gold 
 fever broke out, has the general public given it much attention. 
 A review 'fits history therefore will be acceptable to the reader. 
 
 It was i 1728 that Vitus Bering discovered the straits sepa- 
 rating Asia and America, and it was in 1741 that he started out 
 to find the fabled land. He had two vessels on this journey 
 which were separated in a storm about the latitude of 46 degrees 
 north. Bering sailed northeast and reached Kayak Island on 
 St. Elias Day, July 17, 1 741. 
 
 There he saw xl named the great mountain, touched at the 
 Shumagins, and was wrecked on the Comandorski Islands. 
 There, too, the commander died. But the scurvy-stricken crew 
 survived and reached Kamschatka, with the pelts of the sea otter 
 on whose flesh they had lived. The sight of these furs stimu- 
 lated traders, and from that day on Alaska had something of an 
 interest for the Russians. 
 
 Tschirikow reached the coast near Sitka and sent a boat's 
 crew to explore the bay. The party spent six days in recon- 
 17 
 
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 258 
 
 HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 
 
 'II '■ 
 
 noitcrin^r and at the end of that time a search party was sent 
 after thciii. The natives at this time were defiant and paddled 
 out to the ship, and raised such a din on shore as probably was 
 never equaled in the region. 
 
 Gregory Shelikofif, a rich Siberian merchant, was practically 
 tlie first to establish a regular post in the country. This was 
 done in 1783, on Kadiak Island. A regular trade was then 
 estal)lished with the Russians in Siberia. Baranof pushed his 
 enterprise also when he started it in May, 1 799, in every pos- 
 sible way. He reached Sitka Sound and built a stockaded post 
 three miles north of where the present city of Sitka stands. An 
 imperial charter, with monopoly of the yVmerican possessions for 
 twenty years, was also obtained by Resanol, the son-in-law of 
 ShelikofT, and Baranof now became the virtual head of the Rus- 
 sian-American Fur Company, in which eventually nine rival 
 Siberian firms were consolidated. In this great concern several 
 members of the Imperial family were stockholders. 
 
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 The First Massacre. 
 
 Such was the discovery of Alaska, and such the founding of 
 its capital, Sitka. The old fort at Sitka was destroyed in 1802, 
 and all, save a few Russians, who found refuge on a British trading 
 ship, were murdered. At the time of the calamity Baranof was 
 absent, but he returned two years later, in the month of August, 
 with 800 Aleut and Chugach hunters. At the sight of Baranof 
 and his band the Indians, who had murdered the Russians, fled, 
 and, retreating through the country, destroyed villages wherever 
 they came upon them. 
 
 Soon afterward, Baranof contemplated building a fort on the 
 Columbia, but, through Rcsanof, he opened trade with the 
 Spanish colonies in California. Rcsanof, whose wife had died, 
 paid court to Donna Concepcion Argeuello, daughtc. of the Al- 
 
HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 
 
 259 
 
 cade of San Francisco Bay. They were betrothed, and it was 
 while on his way to St. Petersburg to obtain the Czar's consent 
 to their marriage that Resanof died in Siberia. 
 
 It was about this time in the history of Alaska that the Fur 
 King, John Jacob Astor, began to figure. Baranof was sus 
 picious of him and his many ships, and distrusted the New York 
 trader's offer of a permanent alliance of interest. 
 
 It is worthy of note here that Baranof was the first man to 
 
 attempt agriculture in this barren region. He established a 
 
 regular agricultural colony. He was popular among the natives, 
 
 who uniformiy called him " Master," and apparently none of the 
 
 Russian governors ofthe country after him were (juiteso acceptable 
 
 to the Indians. 
 
 Emperor Nicholas' Offer. 
 
 American interest in Alaska, of course, dates from the negotia- 
 tions which terminated in the purchase of the country. The 
 Emperor Nicholas always had a warm spot in his heart for the 
 American nation, and in 1844 he offered to the United States the 
 entire Alaskan territory for the mere cost of transfer, if President 
 Polk would maintain the United States line at 54 degrees and 40 
 minutes and thus shut out I{!ngland entirely from frontage on the 
 Pacific. This generous offer, however, wa.s not accepted, owing 
 to diplomatic considerations. 
 
 Again, in 1854, the country was offered to the United States, 
 and .still again in 1859, when $5,000,000 was refused. From 
 1 86 1 to 1866 surveying parties traversed a good portion of 
 Southern Alaska, choosing a route for a telegraph line to PvUropc, 
 via Bchring Strait. The success, however, of the Atlantic cable 
 in 1866, after the failure in 1859, ended this project, and the 
 cable line to the west was abandoned. 
 
 Then, seeing that the government evinced so little interest in 
 the great country to the nor^^h, about whose resources there was 
 
 
 
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 260 
 
 HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 
 
 a great difference of opinion, a California commercial syndicate 
 proposed to lease and then purchase the entire country in 1864, 
 and still again in 1866. This project went so far as to receive 
 serious consideration at St. Petersburg. 
 
 It was at this time that Secretary Seward took uj) the matter 
 of the purchase of Alaska. Seward always deeply appreciated 
 Russia's tacit alliance in sending its fleets to the harbors of San 
 Francisco and New York in 1863, and keeping them there at 
 that critical time, when France and Fngland were on the point 
 of recognizing the Richmond government. This sense i)f grati- 
 tude on the part of Seward is, in a sense, responsible for our 
 possession of Alaska and its priceless gold fields to-day. 
 
 When the Czar intimated that he wished to sell Russian 
 America to any nation, excepting England, Secretary Seward 
 entered into negotiations with Baroi^ Stoeckl in February, 1 867. 
 The following March a treaty of purchase was sent to the Senate. 
 This was reported on April 9th, was ratified on May 28th by 30 
 yeas to 2 nays and was proclaimed by President Johnson on June 
 20, 1867. 
 
 To Senator Charles Sumner is due the honor of giving the 
 permanent name to Alaska. This, as was shown in a previous 
 chapter, is simply the corruption of the Indian word meaning 
 "great country." But the natives gave the name to Captain 
 Cook, and Sumner apparently chose the name from its connection 
 with the explorer, whom he admired. 
 
 'i<«M 
 
 Im : ! *J 
 
 Honor for Garfield. 
 
 It is also an interesting fact that the intention was to make 
 General Garfield, one of the martyr Presidents, the first governor 
 of the territory. It was further proposed to divide the great 
 tract purchased into six territories. All these schemes, however, 
 fell through. 
 
 i ill 
 
HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 
 
 201 
 
 
 Immediately upon the purchase of the country military occu- 
 pation was decided upon. General Lovcll II. Rousseau, as 
 commissioner on the part of the United States, and Captains 
 Pestschouroff and Koskul, on the part of Russia, met at Sitka 
 on October 1 8, 1 867. Three men-of-war, the Ossipee, the James- 
 town and the Resaca, and General Jefferson C. D.ivis and 250 
 regular troops were in waiting. 
 
 At half-past three o'clock that afternoon, Maksoukoff and vice- 
 governor Gardisoff and the commissioners met the United States 
 ofilcers at the foot of the governor's flag-staff. The formality of 
 tra'rsfer was short and simple. The men-of-war fired a double 
 national s.ilute, as did also the land batter)-. Tlu; Russian flag 
 was lowered and the Anu-ric.m fl ig was raised, and the coiuUr)- 
 which has proved thus far such a source of wealth, and which 
 promises to be the mo.st prolific gold bearing region in the world, 
 was American propert)-. The only speech n-corded as having 
 been made at the time was that of Captain Pestschouroff, who 
 said, as he advanced and the Russian flag fell : 
 
 '* General Rousseau, by authority of His Majesty, the ICm- 
 peror of all the Russians, I transfer to you, the agent of the 
 United States, all the territory and dominion now possessed by 
 His Majesty on the continent of America and in the adjacent 
 islands, according to a treaty made between those two powers." 
 
 Territory is Accepted. 
 
 General Rousseau, metaphorically speaking, accepted the 
 gigantic territory, and his little son slowl)' raised the new flag. 
 Following this formal tender and acceptance, Prince MakasoukofI 
 gave a dinner and ball. The ships were dressed in bunting, and 
 there was a display of pyrotechnics. 
 
 That day ended all Russian dominion in the western conti- 
 nent, and there was an immediate exodus of all Russians who 
 
 
 
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262 
 
 HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 
 
 I'Si 
 
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 I'M 
 
 »IJ 
 
 
 were able to leave the country. The Russian Government soon 
 offered its subjects free transportation across the Pacific to the 
 Amoor settlements, and within a comparatively short time there 
 was scarcely a Russian to be seen on Alaskan territory. 
 
 This transfer of the country resulted almost immediately in 
 an important change. The Russians used the Julian calendar, 
 and this gave way to the Gregorian calendar, and a day was 
 dropped from the Sitkan records, to correct the difference of 
 twenty-four hours between the Russian day, coming eastward 
 from Moscow, and our day, going westward from Greenwich. 
 
 Soon after the American occupation of the 'and scientists 
 began to evince an interest in the country and, during the 
 sunmier of 1 86/, Prof George Davidson and eight other eminent 
 .specialists made a tour of investigation of southeastern Alaska. 
 It is an interesting fact that their report and Senator Sumner's 
 .speech were the two strong arguments Secretary Seward offered 
 for the purchase of Alaska in " Russian America." 
 
 Appropriation was Opposed. 
 
 Despite the fact that this valuable tract of land was purchased 
 for half a cent an acre, there was the bitterest opposition to the 
 appropriation of ;^7, 200,000 in gold, equal to about ;^ 10,000,000 
 in paper at that time, to pay for the territory. It was not till 
 July 14, 1868, that the House agreed by vote of 98 to 49, and 
 the drafl was handed to Baron Stoeckl. 
 
 As in most great government deals, the cry of corruption was 
 raised, and it was alleged that there had been misappropriations 
 and private gain in the negotiations. As it has been put relative 
 to this alleged corruption, there was a " winter of investigation 
 following a winter of contest and ridicule." 
 
 Connected with the purchase and early occupation of the 
 country some pleasant reminiscences are recorded. Mr. Seward, 
 
 i)ii 
 
HISTORY AND I'URCHASl-: OK ALASKA. 
 
 2m 
 
 rcturninfT to the United States by way of Kootznahoo, visited 
 the country and addressed the citizens in the Lutheran Church 
 at Sitka. He made a trip to the Taku glacier, visited the min- 
 ing camps of the Stikine River and Fort Wrangel, and, as he 
 afterwards expressed himself, was convinced of the wisdom of 
 his course in purchasing the country from Russia. 
 
 Lady Franklin, too, visited Sitka in 1 870, going there on the 
 troop-ship Newbern, and, with her niece, Miss Cracroft, was the 
 guest of the Commandant on the Kekoor. The following year 
 the discovery of gold caused excitement to the garrison life, and 
 the army pay vouchers were sunk in mining experiments at 
 Sitka. The efforts then made, however, were as profitless as 
 were those made at Juneau ten years later. 
 
 Garrison is Withdrawn. 
 
 On June 14, 1877, the last garrison of United States troops 
 left Sitka, and the control of the military department over 
 Alaskan affairs came to an end. It was but a few months there- 
 after that the Indians had destroyed all the government property 
 outside the stockade. They thrcr'cned a general massacre, and 
 appeals were sent to Washington for protection. This cry for 
 help, however, was unheeded. 
 
 The residents at the .stockade were besieged in the old fur 
 warehouse. A last desperate appeal came from Victoria, and 
 finally Captain Holmes A' Court hurried to their relief, without 
 orders or instructions. But for this act of bravery and assump- 
 tion of responsibility, it is probable there would have been a 
 general massacre of all the Americans then living in Sitka. 
 
 From that time a man-of-war has constantly been stationed in 
 southeastern Alaska, and the commanding officers have virtually 
 been naval governors of the place. 
 
 Between the time of the transfer of the country from Russia 
 
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264 
 
 HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 
 
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 to the United States and of the passa^'c of Senator Harrison's 
 bill, May 13, 1884, which gave the nomlescript tract a skeleton 
 of civil government, thirty bills aiming to j)rovidc some form of 
 government for Alaska were introduced. The Harrison bill 
 finally passed, and gave to the country a governor, a district 
 judge, a marshall, a clerk anil a board of commissioners, with 
 right to enter mineral claims, but distinctly withholding the 
 general land laws. 
 
 In 1867 the Russian archives, manuscript journals, records, 
 logs and account books were transferred from Sitka to the State 
 Department at Washington. These, with Tikhmenieff* 's histor}' 
 of the colony, are among the most interesting relics of the 
 country in our possession. 
 
 Some Account of Sitka. 
 
 A word may here be said about Sitka, the capital and seat of 
 government of the territory of Alaska. It is situated on the 
 west coast of Haranof Island. It is described as the merest 
 apology for a town, but it, of course, has a certain importance, 
 owing to the fact that it is the official residence of the governor 
 and other officers appointed by the United States. Ten years 
 ago it had a population of about looo, of whom only 295 were 
 whites. 
 
 The town is built on a level stretch of land at the mouth of 
 the Indian River. Its main street is named after Lincoln, and 
 extends from the government fort to the old Russian sawmill 
 and the Governor's Walk, which is a beach road built by the 
 Russians. Fronting the harbor is a large parade ground. Con- 
 spicuous among the buildings is the so-called castle, which was 
 mentioned in Chapter V. Here, as everywhere in Alaska, the 
 traveler will find an interesting display of Alaskan totem poles. 
 
 One interesting building in Sitka should not be passed by with- 
 
 t 
 
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HISrORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 
 
 2'^5 
 
 out 
 
 H 
 
 mention 
 
 OUSC. i 
 
 This is the old log structure next to the Custom 
 upied by the Sitk.i Tradinj; Company. It was at one 
 time the old fur warehouse, and many a time in its history it has 
 held pelts to the value of $1,000,000. 
 
 Folhjwinj; tlie transfer of Alaska to the United States .several 
 grave international (jue.stions arose. Among these was that of 
 the international boundary line. This matter really runs back 
 to quite an early period. Succeeding the Nookta Convention of 
 1790, the Northwest Coast became what is termed virgin soil 
 open to free settlement and trade by any people. As a result, 
 three nations claimed it. 
 
 The Russians asserted ownership as far down as the Columbia. 
 Then they willulrew to the fifty-first degree, or appro.ximately to 
 the north end of V uicouver Island. The British Government 
 laid claim to the coast from the Columbia River to the fifty- 
 .second degree ; and the United .States to everything west of tlie 
 Rocky '^ fountains, between forty two degrees and fifty-four 
 degrees forty minutes. 
 
 Treaty of Occupation. 
 
 Then the United States and Great Britain, in order to avoid com- 
 plications, agreed in 18 18 to a joint occupancy of the region. In 
 18 19 the United States bought Florida from Spain, and with it 
 acquired all the Spanish rights and claims on the coast north of 
 the forty-second degree. As ? matter of fact, the United States 
 was now virtually in possession of the region. .Still the British fur 
 traders were pushing westward from the interior and there was 
 likelihood at any time of trouble. 
 
 Two years later, in 182 1, the lunpcror of Russia took a hand 
 in the matter, and by his ukase forbade all foreign vessels from 
 approaching within 100 Italian miles of his possessions in the 
 Pacific Ocean. This brought about the conventions of ,874 
 
 
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 266 
 
 HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 
 
 and 1875 to adjust the rival claims to North American territory 
 and to regulate the trade relations. A treaty was formed with 
 the United States in 1824, and in 1825 a somewhat similar 
 treaty with Great Britain. Russia then agreed to 54 degrees 
 and 40 minutes as the southern limit of her possessions, 
 and allowed the ves.sels of the other two nations to trade freely, 
 without let or hinderance, for the period of ten years. 
 
 Interior Thought Worthless. 
 
 At that time the interior, which, of late, has given such 
 promise as a gold producing country, was uninhabited, and 
 indceci '.\'holly unknown, except to the fur trader. Its resources 
 were not suspected, and it was deemed practically worthless. It 
 was parceled out in even thirds. Russia took that part to the 
 northwest, or what is commonly called the Yukon region. 
 England took the Mackenzie region, and all the country between 
 Hudson Bay and the Rocky Mountains. The Oregon territory, 
 that is, all west of the Rockies and north of 42 degrees fell 
 to the United States. 
 
 Four years later an agreement was made between the United 
 States and Great Britain, by which the occupancy of the North- 
 west coast was indefinitely extended. 
 
 President Tyler, in his annual message to Congress in 1843, 
 declared that the United States' rights appertained to all between 
 42 degrees and 54 degrees 40 minutes. At that time slave 
 interests were being negotiated relative to Texas. To gain 
 the State without interference, Calhoun was discussing a 
 settlement with the British Minister, with the forty-ninth parallel 
 as the Oregon boundary. 
 
 The British Minister, however, rejected the proposition as his 
 predecessor had done in 1807, wLen Jefferson had made pro- 
 posals on i^ractically the same lines. 
 
 
 
histor: AxND purchase of alaska. 
 
 267 
 
 Then arose the so-called " Fifty-four Forty " fight. These 
 words became a political slo<^an, and Polk was elected as the 
 champion of the cause. Polk took occasion in his inaugural 
 message to say : " Our title to the country of Oregon is clear 
 and unquestionable." and in his first message he reiterated the 
 statement : "All of Oregon or none." 
 
 " Tlie boundary question has been fought over time and again 
 and it may be well in this connection to give the exact words of 
 the treaties of 1884 and 1885, by which the Russian possessions 
 are defined : 
 
 " Commencing from the southernmost point of the island, 
 called Prince of Wales Island, which point lies in a parallel of 
 54 degrees 40 minutes north latitude, and between 131 and 133 
 degrees of west longitude (merician of Greenwich), the said line 
 shall ascend the channel called Portland Channel, as far as thf" 
 point of the continent where it strikes 56 degrees of north lati- 
 tude ; from this last mentioned point the line of demarkation 
 shall follow the summit of the mountains situated parallel to the 
 coast as far as the point of intersection of 141 degrees of west 
 longitude (of the same meridian) ; and finally from the said 
 point of intersection the said meridian line of 141 degrees in its 
 prolongation as far as the Frozen Ocean. 
 
 'iK. 
 
 Ik. 
 
 "Wr^f 
 
 ",\f'$f 
 
 ^' 
 
 The Boundary Line. 
 
 "With reference to the line of ilcmarkation laid down in the 
 preceding article it is understood (i) that the island called Prince 
 of Wales Island shall belong wholly to Russia (now b\' this 
 session to the United States). (2) That whenever the sunuiiit 
 of the mountains, which extend in a direction parallel to the coats 
 from 56 degrees of north latitude to the point of intersection of 
 141 degrees of west longitutle, shall jjrove to be of the distance 
 of more than three marine leagues from the ocean, the limit be- 
 
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 268 
 
 HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 
 
 tween the British possessions and the line of coast which is to 
 belong to R ussia, as above mentioned (that is to say, the limit of 
 the possessions ceded by this convention), shall be formed by a 
 line parallel to the winding of the coast, and which shall never 
 exceed the distan''-2 of ten marine leagues therefrom. 
 
 It is an item of historical interest that, for the last twenty-eight 
 
 KILLING SEALS ON ST. PALL ISLAND. 
 
 years of Russian ownership of Alaska, the thirty mile strip, as it 
 was called, was leased to the Hudson Bay Company, which paid an 
 annual rental for the terri. »ry which Canada now claims as her own . 
 Dr. G. M. Dawson, of the Dominion Geological Survey, in 
 1887 and iSSS invented a new map showing the boundary line 
 claimed by his government, as drawn by Major-General R. D. 
 Cameron. This narrows the thirty-mile strip to five miles in 
 some places, and absorbs it entirely as part of British Columbia 
 in others. 
 
HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 
 
 269 
 
 i ij 
 
 This Cameron line includes all of Glacier Bay, Lynn Canal, 
 and Taku Inlet, It also incorporates all of the Stikine River, 
 and, ignoring the channel known as Portland Channel, it strikes 
 to tide water at the head of Burroughs Bay, and follows Behm 
 Canal and Clarence Strait to Dixon Entrance. 
 
 By this map Canada lays claim to a large strip of territory 
 about which there has been the bitterest contention, among other 
 spots, the island which the United States used for a military post 
 and then for a custom house for twenty years, and even Mary 
 Island, where the United States Custom House now stands. 
 
 Claiming all the Alaska coast up to 56 degree by this arrange- 
 ment, the late Sir John Robson, premier of British Columbia, 
 even suggested that the United .States yield up the small remain- 
 ing strip of mainland between 56 degree and St. li^lias, for cer- 
 tain concessions in sealing matters. 
 
 It is to be noted that all Canadian maps are now drawn ac- 
 cording to the Cameron line, and, that Canadians, realizirg the 
 advantages of possessing this territory, are loud in their assertion 
 of claims about which apparently the United States is apathetic. 
 
 Russians Find Gold. 
 
 Apropos of the Klondike gold fields one recalls the fact that 
 it was the discovery of gold that awakened the Russians' interest 
 in 1862. The leasing of the thirty-mile strip to the Hudson 
 Bay Company did away with the necessity of precisely marking 
 a boundary line. The Russians showed very little interest in the 
 matter until the gold discovery. 
 
 It was incorporated in the Russian-American Company's lease 
 that all mineral land should belong to the Crown, and following 
 Ihe report of the discovery of gold, the Czar ordered Admiral 
 Popoff to send a corvette from Jaoan to see if the British miners 
 were on Russian soil. Possibly his Imperial Majesty had in 
 
 I 
 
 I. 
 
 
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 A 
 
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 270 
 
 HISTORY AM) PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 
 
 h »i 
 
 ,'*. 
 
 mind some tax similar to that which Canada has recently imposed 
 upon all the American miners in the Klondike re<^ions. 
 
 Apropos of the boundary quarrel San Juan Island nearly 
 caused a war between Great Britain and the United States. 
 According to the Oregon Treaty of June 5, 1846, both countries 
 claimed ownership. The treaty did not specify whether the 
 JDOundary line should pass through Canal de Haro or Rosario 
 Strait. As a result, James Douglass and Governor Isaac Stevens 
 both claimed jurisdiction of the island. 
 
 The matter came to an issue in consequence of jK-tty quarrels. 
 An American citizen shot a British pig, the owner of which did 
 not think that Jiiioowas an equivalent. Sentiment waxed hot 
 over the matter. The sheriff of Whatcom County sold Hudson 
 Bay Company sheep for taxes. General Harney dispatched 
 troops to the scene of trouble and established a military i)ost on 
 one end of the island in 1859. This was just about the time the 
 British and American Boundary Commissioners had begun their 
 work of peaceable settlement. 
 
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 M 
 
 -1 » 
 
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 m 
 
 5"' n 
 
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 War Ship on Guard. 
 
 A British war ship was stationed guard. The garrison was 
 increased and General Scott came from Washington and offered 
 joint occupation until the boundary line should be definitely de- 
 cided. For two years a company of United States soldiers held 
 the southern end of the island and an equal number of British 
 blue jackets the northern point. The two garrisons had as 
 pleasant a time as the circumstances would permit, exchanging 
 visits and entertaining each other as best they could. 
 
 Then came the treaty of Washington in 1871. The Emperor 
 of Germany as arbitrator decided that de Haro was the main 
 channel and the water boundary. In obedience to this decision, 
 the British withdrew in November, 1872, carefully replanting 
 

 HIS'lORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 
 
 271 
 
 gardens iind leaving everything as nearly as possible as they 
 found it. 
 
 San Juan, by the way, is an important point, commanding the 
 straits, and its thousand-feet-high hill makes one of the most 
 effective batteries in the world. As might be expected, the 
 diplomats who had the settling of this controversy split hairs, 
 the representatives of each country doing their best to secure 
 permanent right to the important military point. The importance 
 placed upon this island by the British may be gleaned from these 
 words of Lord Russell : 
 
 " San Juan is a defensive position in the hands of Great 
 
 Britain. It is an aggressive position in the hands of the United 
 
 St'i.tes. The United States may fairly be called upon to renounce 
 
 aggression, but Great Britain can hardly be expected to abandon 
 
 defense." 
 
 Mr. Seward's Glory. 
 
 The discovery of gold on the Yukon in 1897, and the exodus 
 of people from the southern States into the wilderness to seek 
 their fortunes, recalls the words of Secretary Seward, and con- 
 firms their wisdom. A public dinner was given him on retire- 
 ment to private life, and in the course of the evening the question 
 was asked him : 
 
 " Mr. Seward, what do you consider the most important ad 
 of your official life ? " 
 
 " Sir," said the secretary, without a moment's hesitation,"! 
 think the purchase of Alaska was by far the most important 
 official act of my life. It will take two generations, however, for 
 the public to appreciate the value of this ])urchase." 
 
 The old statesman was right. It has taken two generations 
 and the world is now convinced of the truth of Seward's \vords. 
 It may safely be said that it was Seward's crowning glory ti> add 
 to his country's domain a new empire of such vast e.xtent and of 
 
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 3W'.«!: 
 
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 272 
 
 HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 
 
 
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 % 
 
 such untold wealth. An empire whose very name signifies 
 great country or continent, and whose mountains are supposed 
 to hold the mother lode of the gold supply of America. 
 
 Early last August when the gold fever was at its height the 
 boundary question naturally came up again, especially in Cana- 
 dian circles. R. W. Scott, Secretary of State, at Ottawa, Ontario, 
 was then interviewed regarding the statement from Washington, 
 which claimed that Great Britain, in its official maps, had drawn 
 the boundary line on the Pacific coast so as to deprive the 
 United States of hundreds of miles of territory adjoining the 
 Klondike regions. 
 
 He said he had gone into the question when a member of the 
 Mackenzie administration in 1878, and the point now raised was 
 discussed then. 
 
 " The treaty of St. Petersburg of 1825," said he, ** defines the 
 line dividing Russian territory, now Alaska, from l^ritish by a 
 line drawn north from the foot of Prince of Wales Island 
 through Portland channel until it struck the mountains, when 
 the method of delimitation was set forth. 
 
 " The map will show that a line running north from the foot 
 of Prince of Wales Island must go through the Behm Canal, 
 and that to reach Portland Canal the line would have to go east 
 through the open sea a considerable distance before it could 
 reach Portland channel or canal. 
 
 .I'll. 
 
 nil 
 
 
 The British Contention. 
 
 •• The British contention as shown by the dispatches of George 
 Canning to Sir Charles Bagot, when British Ambassador at St. 
 Petersburg, '> ;hat Portland Canal was to be in British territory 
 and that th«. ords ' Portland Canal ' in the convention was a 
 mistake for 'ii' iim Canal,* or else that what is now called Port- 
 land Canal was not then so called. 
 
HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF AI.ASKA. 
 
 273 
 
 This is supported by the physical impossibility of running a 
 line due north through Portland Canal from the foot of Prince 
 of Wales Island, so that Canadian maps show the boundary line 
 as running north through the Behm Canal. The difference is 
 great in view of the discoveries of gold, and it can only be 
 settled by an international arbitration, 
 
 " The disputed territory with the ten marine leagues back 
 from the coast added would not, however, embrace the present 
 gold fields of the Klondike, which are clearly in British territory, 
 because they are well east of the one hundred and forty-first 
 meridian, which is the recognized boundary to the north." 
 
 Dispute Will Not Down. 
 
 The claim of Great Britain to a big share of Alaska promises, 
 on account of the gold fields, to occupy a large amount of pub- 
 lic attention for years to come, and it will be of interest to the 
 reader to have the opinion of Secretary Scott, the Canadian 
 representative in the matter, offset by that of an American who 
 can speak as one having authority. The British claim is 
 regarded by American officials in general as preposterous, and 
 it will Hkely cause grave d'plomatic complications between the 
 United States and Great Britain, 
 
 The Senate, before which the boundary question was brought 
 as the outcome of a treaty negotiated by Secretary Olney and 
 Sir Julian Pauncefote, did not place itself on record in the matter. 
 Before a vote was taken Congress adjourned, so that the location 
 of the divisional line, which has been in dispute since 1884, is no 
 nearer settlement than it has been at any period in the last 
 thirteen years. 
 
 General Duffield, Superintendent of the Coast and Geodetic 
 Survey, was a member of the boundary commission. The sur- 
 vey authorized by it has until of late been deemed official. The 
 18 
 
 ;i.;*vaa», 
 
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 -i*'* 
 
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 * «i 
 
 ^ III ' ' 
 
 274 
 
 HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 
 
 following statement, therefore, from General Duffielcl is of value : 
 " Up to 1884 both countries were practically united as to the 
 boundary line from Mount St. Elias to the southeast. Accord- 
 ing to the terms of the treaty between Russia and Great Britain, 
 the United States in purchasing Alaska in 1867 acquired all of 
 Russia's rights. In describing the southeastern boundary the 
 Russian treaty read : 
 
 " The line of demarcation between the possessions of the high 
 contracting parties upon the coast of the continent and the islands 
 of America to the northwest shall be drawn in the following 
 manner : Commencing from the southernmost point of the land 
 called Prince of Wales Island, which point lies in the parallel of 
 54 degrees 40 minutes north latitude and between the 131st degree 
 and the 133d degree of west longitude, the same line shall ascend 
 north along the channel called Portland Channel, as far as the 
 point of the continent, where it strikes 56 degrees of north latitude. 
 
 Fixing Landmarks. 
 
 " From this last mentioned point the line of demarcatlijn shall 
 follow the summit of the mountain situated parallel to the coast, 
 as far as the point of intersection of 141 degrees of west longi- 
 tude of the same meridian, and finally from the said point of 
 intersection, the said meridian line of 141 degrees in its prolongation 
 as far as the frozen ocean, shall form the limit between the Rus- 
 sian and British possessions on the continent of America to the 
 northwest. 
 
 "Wherever the summit of the mountains, which extend in a 
 direction parallel to the coast from 56 degrees north latitude to 
 the point of intersection of 141 degrees of west longitude, shall 
 prove to be a distance of more than ten marine leagues from the 
 ocean, the limit between the British possessions and the line of 
 coast which is to belong to Russia, as above mentiouwd, shall be 
 
HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 
 
 275 
 
 formed by a line parallel to the widening of the coast and which 
 shall never exceed the distance of ten marine leagues therefrom, 
 
 " On all maps from 1825 down to 1884 the boundary line has 
 been shown as in general terms parallel to the winding of the 
 coast and thirty-five miles from it. In 1884, however, an official 
 Canadian map showed a marked deflection in this line at its south 
 end. Instead of passing up Portland Channel this Canadian map 
 showed the boundary as passing up Behm Canal, an arm of the sea 
 some sixty or seventy miles west of Portland Channel, this change 
 having been made on the bare assertion that the words * Portland 
 Canal,' as inserted, were erroneous. 
 
 By this change an area of American territory, about equal in 
 size to the State of Connecticut, was transferred to British terri- 
 tory. There are three facts which go to show that this map was 
 incorrect. In the first place, the British Admiralty, when survey- 
 ing the northern limit of the British Columbian possessions in 
 1868, one year after the cession of Alaska, surveyed Portland 
 canal, and not Behm Canal, and thus, by implication, admitted 
 this canal to be the boundary line. 
 
 Second, the region now claimed by British Columbia was at 
 that time occupied as a military post of the United States with- 
 out objection or protest on the part of British Columbia. Third, 
 Annete Island, in this region, was, by Act of Congress four years 
 ago, set apart as a reservation for the use of the Metlektala 
 Indians, who sought asylum under the American flag to escape 
 annoyances experienced under the British flag. 
 
 ■n^ 
 
 if 
 
 
 Another Change Made. 
 
 "Another change was made at Lynn Canal, the northernmost ' 
 extension of the Alexander Archipelago, which runs north ol 
 Juneau, and is the ^and outlet of the Yukon trade. If the offi- 
 cial Canadian map of 1884 carried the boundary line around the 
 
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 276 
 
 HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 
 
 head of this canal another Canadian map, three years later, car- 
 ried tlic line across the head of the canal in such a manner as to 
 throw its headwaters into British territory. .Still later Canadian 
 maps carry the line, not across the head of the canal, but across 
 near its mouth, some sixty or seventy miles south of the former 
 line, in such a way as practically to take in Juneau, or at least all 
 overland immediately back of it. And the very latest Canadian 
 map, published at Ottawa within a few days, while it runs no line 
 at all southeast of Alaska, prints the lej^end ' British Columbia,' 
 over portions of the Lynn Canal which are now administered by 
 the United States." 
 
 A report was made early in 1897 by United States surveyors 
 as to the boundary line in dispute. It said : 
 
 Effect of Determinations. 
 
 " These determinations threw the diggings at the mouth of 
 Forty-Mile Creek within the territory of the United States. The 
 whole valley of Birch Creek, another most valuable gold-pro- 
 ducing part of the country, is also in the United States. Most 
 of the gold is to the west of the crossing o' the 141st meridian 
 at Forty-Mile Creek. If we produce the 141st meridian on a 
 chart the mouth of Miller's Creek, a tributary of Sixty-Mile 
 Creek, and a valuable gold region, is five miles west in a direct 
 line or seven miles, according to the winding of the stream — all 
 within the territory of the United States. In substance the only 
 places in the Yukon region where gold in quantity has been 
 found are, therefore, all to the west of the boundary line between 
 Canada and the United States." 
 
 It can readily be seen that the claim of the United States is 
 directly opposed to that of the Canadians. It is true that the 
 arbitration of the 141st meridian was favored by the United 
 States surveyors, but some of them were angered at the claims 
 
HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 
 
 27T 
 
 of the English in regard to Lynn Creek and the whole south- 
 eastern boundary, and expressed the belief that the United States 
 would refuse to arbitrate the claims of this portion of the boundary. 
 
 An interesting chapter of Alaskan history is now making, and 
 the prospect is that in the near future the name of Lincoln will 
 be given to a territory or state in the great northwest, as that of 
 Washington was some years ago. There are enthusiastic advo- 
 cates of the movement who think the proposed territory will 
 eventually become a sovereign, if not the banner state of the 
 Union. Any account of the history of Alaska, therefore, should 
 include this possibility by anticipation. 
 
 Long before the great gold discoveries in the Klondike region 
 of the Northwest Territory became known :i movement was 
 quietly inaugurated to divide the great Territory of Alaska. In 
 May active work was begun and the project is now ready for 
 public attention. 
 
 Petitions for division are now in circulation in the interior 
 along the Yukon River, and in all the mining camps, and should 
 reach Washington early in September. The name of Lincoln 
 for the new territory met with a quick response on the part of 
 the hardy miners, who are delighted with the prospect of a 
 territorial form of government that will give them direct govern- 
 mental supervision, land laws and titles, and some incentive to 
 
 good citizenship. 
 
 Recognition of Russia. 
 
 When the purchase was made it was construed by the admin- 
 istration papers as an act of courteous recognition of Russia's 
 friendship in the civil war, it being remembered that a Russian 
 fleet of three vessels appeared in New York harbor during the 
 excitement over the Trent affair, when it looked as if war with 
 Great Britain was certain to result. It was said at the time — 
 and is still maintained in diplomatic circles — that the Russian 
 
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 278 
 
 HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 
 
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 I IX 
 
 
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 admiral had sealed orders, which directed him, in case of war 
 between the United States and Great Britain, to announce 
 Russia's alliance with America, and proceed to capture any 
 British vessel possible. 
 
 How much the purchase of Alaska served as an expression of 
 our gratitude for Russia's assistance at a critical period no one 
 accurately knows. The "true inwardness " of the transaction 
 was kept under cover for diplomatic reasons, but it pleased Great 
 Britain as much then as the developments of the seal fishing 
 controversy, and the uncertainty of the boundary line, at the 
 present date. 
 
 In fact, the " national iceberg," as it was termed in 1867, has 
 been from the beginning a torrid source of unpleasantness 
 between the two great nations of the English speaking tongue. 
 
 Early Day Statistics. 
 
 When Alaska was annexed the population was stated by the 
 Russian missionaries at 33,426, of whom but 430 were whites. 
 The mixed race — termed Creoles — counted 1756, and were the 
 practical leaders, using the Indian tribes for hunting and fishing. 
 Fur trade and the fisheries were at that time the only known 
 resources. As early as 1880, however, the sea otters shipped 
 represented a value of ;^6oo,000, the fur seals over $ i .ofxi ,c '50, 
 the land furs ;^8o,ooo, and the fisheries from ;^ 12,000 to $ » 5,000. 
 
 Mineral riches were hinted at by the early explorers. In 1885 
 the Director of the Mint credited Alaska with ;^300,ooo in gold 
 ^2000 in silver, the chief contributor being the Alaska mill at 
 Douglas City. In 1896 the gold product reached ;^ 1,948,900, 
 showing a gain over 1895 equal to $386,100. For 1897 the 
 gold output is placed by good judges at not less than ;^io,000,- 
 000, which is nearly twice that of Colorado in 1892. 
 
 Small lots of smelting ore — from which some silver is recov- 
 
 I! i!ii 
 
kV 
 
 HISTORY AND TURCHASE OF ALASKA. 
 
 27{r 
 
 crcd — arc shipped to Tacoma for treatment, but the main pro- 
 ducers are the hirge mills on Douglass Island, equipped with 
 stamps, concentrators, and modern appliances for saving gold 
 values. The grade of the quartz mined and worked, as early as 
 1892, showed an average value of ;$2.42 per ton. Tliis material 
 is taken from an immense quarry, which has none of the marks 
 of a glacial deposit. The exposure of the quarry by glacial 
 action is entirely probable. 
 
 What will be Left to Alaska. 
 
 After the division there will be left to Alaska all of the terri- 
 tory along the Northern Pacific sea coast and the Aleutian 
 Islands. This includes all the agricultural lands in Alaska and 
 that part of the territory which enjoys a comparatively mild and 
 equitable climate on account of the well-known influences of the 
 Japan current. The proposed Territory of Lincoln will embrace 
 within its boundaries the valleys of the great Yukon River and 
 its tributaries and the coast along Behring Sea. 
 
 The city of Weare, at the mouth of the Tanana River, 800 
 miles from the sea, and on the Yukon River, as shown on the 
 map, will be named in the act as the seat of government of the 
 new territory. Tributary to the capital on all sides will be the 
 great placer mining gold fields. 
 
 The influx of population into these gold fields is so great that 
 the residents of the interior of the present Alaska, and all who 
 have investments there, are unanimous in their demands for such 
 recognition from the Government as will give them protection io 
 life and property. They are ready for the active development of 
 a rich, great country, too long kept closed. 
 
 There are mines of gold, copper, coal, iron, silver, and lead 
 within the proposed Territory of Lincoln, and to these must be 
 added the recently discovered rich oil fields. 
 
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 280 
 
 HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 
 
 Organization will immediately follow the territorial creation, 
 and it is likely "the delegate from Lincoln " will soon be recog- 
 nized in Congress, He will be on an equal footing with delegates 
 from other territories, and will have a voice in argument, but no 
 vote on roll-call. 
 
 There is political significance, too, to the movement that, in 
 the eyes of many, is of great importance. 
 
 " The people of Sitka have little time and less inclination to 
 ay-end to the affairs of the interior of Alaska," is the complaint 
 thai is most often heard. 
 
 The new division will give to Alaska the coast trade, the great 
 quartz mines of Douglas Island, and all the land in the territory 
 at present known to be adaptable to agricultural purposes — in 
 round numbers 80,000 square miles. The Territory of Lincoln 
 will comprise 500,000 square miles of the interior and northern 
 coast country. 
 
 It is a reasonable supposition that a great deal of wealth will 
 be taken out of these gold fields, and it should not be forgotten 
 that the Canadians and their Government are vigorously extend- 
 ing their settlements and their sphere of influence north and 
 \ est of British Columbia. A subsidy of ;^i 1,000 a mile is about 
 to be given to a railway branching northward from the Canadian 
 Pacific for over 200 mi'eG, which is to be constructed with a view 
 to open up that portion of British Columbia and drawing to it 
 from the interior of Southeastern Alaska whatever trade may 
 develop in that region. The American Government will at least 
 be careful that its political rights and territorial jurisdiction are 
 carefully guarded, in order that the enterprise of its people may 
 have safe opportunity for achievement. 
 
^9^ 
 
 e%- 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 Topography. 
 
 Country of Vast Extent and Remarkable Features— Like an Ox's Head 
 Inverted — Yukon District Described as a Great Moorland — Its Archi- 
 pelago a Wonderland of Immense Mountain Peaks — Legends of the 
 Indians are Many — Tributes of Visitors to the Wilderness — Magnifi- 
 cent Auroral Displays— The Reports Brought Back as to the Differences 
 of Temperature — Mr. Wearc Gives Some Interesting Information — 
 Bitter Cold in the Region in Which the Mines are Located. 
 
 AN account of Alaska naturally includes a description of its 
 topograph 'ical features, somewhat nice in detail than 
 was given in the chapter on the Wonders of Alaska. 
 As was there said, the very name signifies " great country " or 
 continent. And it is a great country, great in every way, cover- 
 ing an area equal to the original thirteen States of the Union, 
 with the great Northwest Territorj'- added. 
 
 Put in other vords, Alaska is as large as all of the United 
 States east of the Mississippi and north of Alabama, Georgia and 
 North Carolina, extending looo miles from north to south and 
 3500 miles from east to west. It is a remarkable fact that the 
 shore line up and down the bays and around the islands, c^ccord- 
 ing to the United States coast survey, measures 25,000 niiles or 
 two and one-half times more than the Atlantic and 1 acific coast 
 lines of the remaining portions of the United States. The coast 
 of Alaska alone, if extended in a straight line, would belt the globe. 
 
 beginning at the north end of Dixon Inlet, in latitude 54 
 degrees, 40 minutes, the coast line sweeps in a long, regular 
 curve north and west to the entrance of Prince William's Sound, 
 a distance of 550 miles. From that point it extends 725 miles 
 south and west to Unimak Pass, at the end of the Alaska penin- 
 sula. At this pass the chain of the Aleutian Islands begins 
 
 281 
 
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 282 
 
 TOPOGRAPHY. 
 
 and extends 1075 miles in a long curve almost across the Pacific 
 Ocean to Asia. 
 
 The dividing line between Asia and Alaska, according to the 
 treaty made with Russia, is the meridian of 193 degrees west 
 longitude. To the north of Unimak Pass the coast has a zig-zag 
 line as far as Point Barrow, on the Arctic Ocean. The general 
 shape of Alaska is thus that of the head and horns of an ox 
 inverted, the mainland forming the head and the chain of the 
 Aleutian Islands the horns. 
 
 The surface of this immense tract falls naturally into three 
 distinct districts. The first is the Yukon, extending from the 
 Alaskan range of mountains to the Arctic Ocean. The second 
 is the Aleutian, which includes the Alaska Peninsula and all the 
 islands west of the 155th degree of longitude. The last is the 
 Sitkan, embracing Southeastern Alaska. 
 
 A Vast Moorland. 
 
 Of the Yukon district, in which most of the gold fields lie, 
 we know comparatively little. Until the hardy miners and pros- 
 pectors were lured into the mountains and plains and along the 
 river beds in the hope of securing fortune, few ever ventured 
 into the region. ' might be expected, little or nothing of 
 scientific valu ...iii. . jm people of this stamp The prospectors 
 and miners in a ' j,e measure have but a single purpose and 
 have been dependent upon the natives, who are familiar with the 
 passes, to conduct them into the interior. No body of scientific 
 men has thus far undertaken a thorough exploration of the 
 region. Only in its greater outlines or details do we know it. 
 
 The "Coast Pilot," a publication of the United States Coast 
 Survey, gives a passage which is worth transcribing, descriptive 
 of the country between Norton's Sound and the Arctic Ocean. 
 It says: 
 
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 O 
 
 a 
 
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 o 
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 Oh 
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 283 
 
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 284 
 
 TOPOGRAPHY. 
 
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 "It is a vast moorland whose level is only interrupted by 
 promontories and isolated mountains, with numerous lakes, bogs 
 and peat beds. Wherever drainage exists, the ground is covered 
 with a luxuriant herbage and produces the rarest as well as the 
 most beautiful plants. The aspect of some of these spots is 
 very gay. Many flowers are large, their colors bright and, 
 though white and yellow predominate, '"•thor tints are not un- 
 common. Summer sets in most rapidly in ,' \d the landscape 
 is quickly overspread with lively green." 
 
 The Aleutian district is for the most part of mountainous and 
 volcanic formation. There are, however, many natural prairies 
 between the mountains and the sea, with a rich soil of vegetable 
 mould and clay, and covered with perennial wild grasses. Speak- 
 ing of grasses recalls the statement of Dr. Kellogg, botanist of 
 the United State Explc ring Expedition. Says he : " Unalaska 
 abounds in grasses, with a climate better adapted for haying than 
 the coast of Oregon." 
 
 The Rev. Sheldon Jackson says that in 1879 at Fort Wrangel 
 he cut wild timothy that would average five feet in height, and 
 blue grass that would average six feet. He measured one stem 
 that reached seven feet three inches. Prof Muir, State Geologist 
 of California at one time, also declares that he never saw such 
 rank vegetation outside the tropics. 
 
 Some Characteristic Features. 
 
 Alaska is remarkable for the boldness of its shores, and its 
 deep water, numerous channels and innumerable bays and har- 
 bors, the ^reat mountainous islands of Vancouver, Queen Char- 
 lotte, Prince of Wales, Wrangel, Bt'ranoff, Chichagoff, and many 
 others forming a complete breakwater, so that it is possible for 
 the traveler to have an ocean voyage of 1000 miles or more 
 without once getting out to sea. Says the Rev. Sheldon Jackson : 
 
TOPOGRAPHY. 
 
 285 
 
 " The labyrinth of channels around and between the islands, 
 that are in some places less than a quarter of a mile wide, and 
 yet too deep to drop anchor ; tlie mountains rising from the 
 water's edge from looo to 8000 feet, and covered with dense 
 forests of evergreen far up into the snow that crowns their sum- 
 mits ; the frequent track of the avalanche cutting a broad road 
 from mountain top to water's edge ; the beautiful cascades, or 
 the glaciers, or the overflow of high inland lakes, falling over 
 mountain precipices or gliding like a silver ribbon down their 
 sides ; the deep gloomy sea fiords, cleaving the mountains into 
 the interior ; the beautiful kaleidoscopic vistas opening up among 
 the innumerable islands ; mountain tops, domed, peaked and 
 sculptured by glaciers ; the glaciers themselves, sparkling and 
 glistening in the sunlight dropping down from the mountain 
 heights like some great swollen river, filled with drift wood and 
 ice, and suddenly arrested in its flow, all go to make up a scene 
 of grandeur and beauty that cannot be placed upon canvass or 
 adequately described in words." 
 
 Archipelago is Divided. 
 
 This great archipelago of Alaska is naturally divided into 
 three portions, the southern portion being in Washington Terri- 
 tory, the central in British Columbia and the northern in Alaska 
 proper. This last was named, in honor of the Czar of Russia, 
 the Alexander Archipelago. It is se\xMity-five miles from east 
 to west and 300 miles from north to south. The aggregate area 
 of these islands is 14,142 square miles. 
 
 To the westward is Kadiak, 600 miles distant, with an area o) 
 5676 square miles ; then comes the Schumigan group, contain- 
 ing 103 1 square miles; and then the Aleutian chain which has 
 an area of 6391 square miles. Then, to the northward, are the 
 Seal Islands, containing, with the other islands in Behring Sea, 
 
 '■4h 
 
 Sf, 
 
 ,|.S 
 
 'v( 
 
n 
 
 ii 
 
 1 1: 
 
 I 
 
 11 
 
 ^-r 
 
 ; 
 
 
 
 V 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 ■ 
 
 11 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 ! 
 
 •• 
 
 .;„ Jar 
 
 MP ' 
 
 I' I 
 
 7 » 
 
 
 '" If ' 
 
 »! 
 
 H 
 
 Pi!*' 
 
 { 
 
 I'* 
 
 
 ?1^, 
 
 •ij* ti: 
 
 
 ni 
 
 280 
 
 TOPOGRAPHY. 
 
 illll 
 
 about 3963 square miles. Thus, it will be seen that the total 
 area of the island of Alaska alone is 31,205 square miles, an 
 extent of territory equal to that of the State of Maine. 
 
 Alaska is also the home of great mountain peaks. It has the 
 highest peaks in the United States. The coast range of Cali- 
 fornia and the rocky range of Colorado and Montana trend 
 together in Alaska and form the Alaskan mountains. Here, we 
 may notice the fact that the old atlases misrepresent the range 
 of mountains that is thus formed. It does not continue north- 
 ward to the Arctic Ocean, as was supposed, but turns to the 
 southwest, extending through and forming the Alaskan penin- 
 sula and then gradually sinking into thi> Pacific Ocean. Only a 
 few of the highest peaks are here visible above the water. It is 
 these peaks that form the Aleutian chain of islands, which avf 
 only the mountain tops. 
 
 Island Mountain Peaks. 
 
 The islands of the Alaskan archipelago naturally decrease in 
 size anrl " ^quency as the mountain range sinks deeper and 
 deeper into the sea. Unimak, the most eastern of the chain, is 
 noted for that most magnificent of volcanoes, Shishaldia, 9000 
 feet high ; then comes Unalaska, 5691 feet ; after this Atka, 
 4852 feet; then Kyska, 3700 feet; and finally Attn, which is 
 the most western of the group, and has an altitude of only 3084 feet. 
 
 Alaska has the highest mountain peaks in the United States, 
 and some of them are worthy of special mention. Mount St. 
 Elias towers aloft 19,500 feet; Mount Cook, 16,000 feet; 
 Mount Ciillon, 15,900 feet; Mount Fairweather, 15,500 feet. 
 There are many others, whose altitudes are no less striking. 
 
 In Alaska, too, is to be found the great volcanic system of 
 the United States. Grewingk enumerates sixty-one ^'olcanoes. 
 These are mainly on the Alaskan peninsula and the Aleutian 
 
 Sri 
 
 1* 
 
!♦• 
 
 TOPOGRAPHY. 
 
 287 
 
 Islands, It is said that the violence of the volcanic forces is 
 
 decreasing, and that only ten of these volcanoes are now active. 
 
 Mount Edgecombe, near Sitka, is one of the extinct volcanoes. 
 
 On the Naas River, just across from southern Alaska, there is 
 
 still to be seen a remarkable lava overflow from a volcano in the 
 
 neighborhood. 
 
 Interesting Indian Legends. 
 
 About these volcanoes the fancy of the Indians has linked 
 any number of curious legends. To these children of the wil- 
 derness the volcanoes are little less than living entities and, natur- 
 ally, reasons for their activity have been sought by the savages 
 and have been expressed in some terms of ordinary life. 
 
 Again, it is in Alaska that we find the great glacial system of 
 the United States, chief of which is the great Muir glacier, which 
 has been described in Chapter V. One can hardly go anywhere 
 along the coast of Alaska without finding these great sleeping 
 giants, as they have been called, debouching slowly into the 
 ocean. Their number is literally legion. Prof John Muir 
 describes one of these monsters and his description is worth 
 transcribing, partly from Prof Muir's reputation as a scientist 
 and the accuracy of the facts he marshals, and partly from the 
 picturesque language he uses. The glacier he visited and 
 described particularly was one near Cape Fanshaw. Said he : 
 
 "The whole front and brow of this majestic glacier is dashed 
 and sculptured in a maze of yawning crevasses, and a bewilder- 
 ing variety of strange architectural forms, appalling the strongest 
 nerves, but novel and beautiful beyond measure — clusters oJ 
 glittering, lance-tipped spires, gables and obelisks, bold out- 
 standing bastions and plain mural cliffs, adorned along tiic top 
 with fretted cornice battlements, while every gorge and crevasse. 
 chasm and hollow, was filled with light, shimmering and fulsomp 
 in pale blue tones of ineffable tenderness. 
 
 U 
 
 .» ;•.%«' 
 
 |.i 
 
 
 >>"»! 
 
288 
 
 TOPOGRAPHY. 
 
 ill! 
 
 iS|l''tii» 
 
 n 
 
 " The day was warm, and back on the broad, waving bosom 
 of the glacier water streams were outspread in a complicated 
 network. Each, in its own frictionless channel, cut down 
 through the porous, ice-decaying surface into the quick and 
 living blue, and flowed with the grace of motion and with a ring 
 and gurgle and flashing of light to be found only on the crystal 
 hills and dales of a glacier. 
 
 Reflecting God's Plan. 
 
 " Along the sides we could see the mighty flood grinding 
 against the granite with tremendous pressure, rounding the out- 
 swelling bosses, deepening and smoothing the retreating hollows, 
 and shading every portion of the mountain walls into the forms 
 they were meant to have when, in the fullness of appointed time, 
 the ice-tool should be lifted and set aside by the sun. Every 
 feature glowed with intention, reflecting the earth plans of God. 
 
 " Back two or three miles from the front the current is now 
 probably about 1 200 feet deep, but when we examined the walls, 
 the grooved and rounded features so surely glacial showed that 
 in the earlier days of the ice age they were all over-swept, this 
 glacier having flowed at a height of from 3000 to 4000 feet 
 above its present level," 
 
 The rate of recession of glaciers is one of the unsettled ques- 
 tions of Alaska. It seems, however, that rain withers and breaks 
 away the ice most rapidly. A close watch was kept in July and 
 August of 1 89 1 by Miss Skidmore, who concluded from her 
 observations that the tide had little or nothing to do with the 
 fall of the ice. On many warm, clear days she noticed, when a 
 hot sun fell upon the ice front for sixteen and eighteen hours 
 continuously, there was no sound. After days of silence, on 
 the contrary, came tremendous displays, one-quarter or one-third 
 of the long wall falling away apparently without cause. As a 
 
TOPOGRAPHY. 
 
 280 
 
 general rule, these falls occurred in the middle of the night or 
 at early daybreak. 
 
 Attempts have been made by photographic evidence to deter- 
 mine the recession of the glacier, but with limited success. In 
 this way it has been shown with reasonable sureness that one 
 glacier, at least, retreated looo yards between 1886, when 
 Professor Wright visited it and 1890, when Professor Rcid 
 visited it. Photographs were again taken in 1891, which showed 
 a recession of 300 yards in a year. Professor Muir noted a 
 retreat of a mile between his visits to a glacier in 1 880 and in 1 890. 
 
 The effect of this irregular coast line, with its setting of moun- 
 tain peaks and glaciers, is striking. The surroundings are fasci- 
 nating. The shores are sentineled by gigantic mountains, on 
 whose broad sides recline a dozen or more huge glaciers — 
 amongst them the Davidson. But to reach the greatest of these 
 " frozen Niagaras," Lynn Canal must be retraced to appropri- 
 ately-named Icy Straits, north of which is Glacier Bay, into 
 whose pellucid waters descend Titantic glaciers, king among 
 which is the Muir. 
 
 In matchless beauty and colossal structure it is overpowering 
 to the senses. Here, right in front, a wall of ice nearly two 
 miles long and several hundred feet high, and rising in a glitter- 
 ing cliff out of the waves, marks the end of the Muir Glacier, 
 which is formed by the union of twenty-six tributary glaciers, 
 and the united mass of ice covers 1000 square miles. 
 
 !-■■ .„.,('• 
 
 B 
 
 ,;'-»«V!r; 
 
 A Giant Among Peaks. 
 
 A little further to the north is the Melaspina Glacier, lying 
 beneath a grand circle of snowy peaks, the loftiest of which. 
 Mount St. Elias, is 18,360 feet above the sea. The Melaspina 
 Glacier is a great sea of ice, formed by the junction of many 
 glaciers descending from the mountains. 
 19 
 
 ''v( 
 
 {^^. 
 
■M 
 
 I'll 
 
 Hi] 
 
 t ; i "i 
 
 
 t\^ ■ 1^ 
 
 
 ■I *♦ 
 
 290 
 
 TOPOGRAPHY. 
 
 These rivers of ice, at their confluence, spread out in one vast 
 united ice-sheet, and from this great congealed, constantly mov- 
 ing mass, as it debouches into the sea, huge pieces break from 
 the forefoot and with terrific force, lashing the waters into great 
 waves, drop into the sea, accompanied by loud reports which 
 reverberate like the booming of heavy artillery. From the 
 summit of the Muir Glacier, the eye beholds a frozen world. 
 
 In Alaska also, are to be found numerous boiling springs, 
 veritable geysers, from which the water bubbles up with a tem- 
 perature that is really surprising. There are some large ones 
 south of Sitka, and several more on Percnosna Bay, on Magat 
 Island and at Fort Moller. Boiling springs arc also to be found 
 in numbers on many of the islands, and so hot is the water that 
 gushes from them that for ages the natives have been accustomed 
 to boil their food in them. In the crater of Gorcloi there is a 
 vast boiling spring eighteen miles in circumference. On Beaver 
 Island there is a lake very strongly impregnate with nitre. 
 Some of the springs are likewise touched with sulphur. 
 
 Like the glaciers and the volcanoes, these boiling springs 
 have been subject for marvel on the part of the Indians. Noises 
 proceed from them similar to the roaring of cannon, and it is 
 natural that the unlettered savages, being unable to explain these 
 mysterious phenomena, should surround them with a tissue of 
 their own imagination and resort to legend for an explanation. 
 
 Fine Auroral Displays. 
 
 As part of the natural phenomena of the country, mention 
 must be made of the magnificent auroral displays. Of these, 
 Bancroft gives a pretty description. He describes them " as 
 flashing out in prismatic corruscations, throwing a brilliant arch 
 from east to west — now in variegated oscillations, graduating 
 through all the various tints of blue and green and violet and 
 
TOPOGRAPHY. 
 
 291 
 
 crimson, darting, hashing or streaming in yellow columns, up- 
 ward, downward, now blazing steadily, now in wavy undulations, 
 sometimes up to the very zenith, momentarily lighting up the 
 surrounding scenery, but only to fall back into darkness." 
 
 It is recorded that on the occasion of one of these beautiful 
 auroral displays the air was so thickly charged with electricity 
 that sparks flashed from the points of the soldiers' bayonets. 
 
 In a previous chapter mention was made of the great Yukon 
 River, and it remains here to be saiJ chiefly that the Yukon, 
 while it is the greatest, is only one of many mighty streams. 
 Indeed, in Alaska are to be found some of the largest rivers, not 
 only of the United States, but of the world. The Yukon is the 
 great artery leading from the coast into the interior. 
 
 Its course throughout its 2500 miles of length is marked by 
 features which make it one of the most remarkable water courses 
 on the globe. For the first 1000 miles it varies in width from one 
 to five miles and often, owing to the islands in its course, it is 
 twenty-five miles in width. It is navigable for 1500 miles. Its 
 upper waters are within the Arctic Circle and along its banks live 
 thousands of people who know nothing of its mouth or of its 
 head. To them it is simply an unexplored immensity. 
 
 Climate Extremely Varied. 
 
 Among the other principal rivers of the territory are the 
 Stikine River, 250 miles long ; the Chilkat, the Copper, the Fire, 
 the Nushergak and the Kuskokuim. This last is next in size to 
 the Yukon, and is from 500 to 600 miles in length. The Tananeh 
 is 250 miles in length, and half a mile wide at its mouth, and 
 has a very strong current. Two of Yukon's principal tributaries 
 are the Nowikakat, 112 miles, and the Porcupine. 
 
 The climate of Alaska, owing to the vast extent of the coun- 
 try, is as varied as in the United States. In Southern Alaska the 
 
 ;i 
 
^'^ 
 
 [t..,i 
 
 i'l- 
 
 '■^i^ 
 
 U 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 :;•« 
 
 »« • 
 
 1 1 
 
 If: 
 
 292 
 
 TOPOGRAPHY. 
 
 temperature is so mild as to give no suggestion of the extreme 
 rigor of the north. The greatest cold recorded on the Island of 
 Unalaska during a period of five years was zero. The average 
 for five years at seven o'clock in the morning was thirty-seven 
 degrees above. The average of weather for seven years shows 
 53 clear days, 1263 half-clear days and 1255 cloudy days. This 
 indicates a climate very similar to that of northwestern Scotland. 
 At Sitka the record is not very dissimilar. During a period of 
 forty-three years there was an average of 200 rainy or snowy 
 days per year. During the winter of 1877 the coldest night at 
 Sitka only formed ice about the thickness of a knife blade. At 
 Fort Wrangel, which is at a distance from the ocean and near 
 snow-covered mountains, the climate is colder than at Sitka. 
 And when one reaches the regions of the North, where the gold 
 mines are located, it is no uncommon thing to find the tempera- 
 ture falling from eighty to ninety below zero. 
 
 Testimony of Travelers. 
 
 The mild climate of Southern Alaska is due to the Japan Gulf 
 Stream, which first strikes the North American continent at the 
 Queen Charlotte Islands, in latitude 50 degrees north. At this 
 point the stream divides, one portion going northward and west- 
 ward, along the coast of Alaska, and the other southward along 
 the coast of British Columbia, Washington Territory, Oregon 
 and California. Thus the climate of the States jujt named is 
 made mild and pleasant in precisely the same way that the shores 
 of Spain, Portugal, France and England are made mild by the 
 ocean currents of the Atlantic. 
 
 As the climate is one of the terrors of the country in the 
 popular estimate, the testimony of people who have been in the 
 gold region in recent years will be acceptable to the reader. The 
 prospector is willing to scale mountains, traverse plains, cross 
 
-«,•*. 
 
 TOPOGRAPHY. 
 
 293 
 
 rivers, shoot rapids, and brave a thousand perils, but the thought 
 of living in a country whose temperature is often represented as 
 being comparable with that of a vast refrigerator is appalling. 
 
 Owing to the popular association of the idea of extreme 
 frigidity with the word Alaska, many people will doubtless be 
 surprised to learn that the average temperature in the Klondike 
 region during tlie four coldest months of the year is not ordina- 
 rily much lower than 20 degrees below zero. 
 
 The average winter's snowfall in that part of /».laska is only 
 about two feet, whereas on the coast it is ten times that much. 
 
 Facts from Mr. Weare. 
 
 " The snowfall in the vicinity of Fort Cudahy is only about 
 
 feet during the winter, although it is as much as twenty feet 
 aiong the coast where the influence of the Japan current is felt. 
 
 " It is bitterly cold in Arctic Alaska. There is no denying 
 this. Forty degrees below zero for days at a stretch is not un- 
 common. But they have the same kind of weather in Northern 
 Russia, and one docs not hear any plaints of hardship from there. 
 Peary and other Arctic explorers have spent whole winters hun- 
 dreds of miles nearer to the pole without actual suffering. 
 
 " In Russia and other cold countries the people prepare for the 
 long eight months' winter by building tight log houses in which 
 they keep comfortable over their queer-looking tile staves which 
 give an immense amount of heat from a small bunch of wood. 
 The same thing vdll have to be done in the Yukon country. 
 Frail tents are not suitable shelter in winter. 
 
 " It's too much like a man tiying to get along with a linen 
 duster for a topcoat. If the prospectors are well housed, well 
 clothed, and well fed, they can bid defiance to the cold, and 
 those who are not able to secure these three important items 
 should not tempt f^ite by making the trip." 
 
 hkM 
 
 
 ;'li, 
 
w 
 
 III' 
 
 lit ,. 
 ll 
 
 
 li! 
 
 Hi ' 
 I 
 
 !! 
 
 
 f'.r' 
 
 10. 
 
 «{( 
 
 K j, 
 4 »"> 
 
 
 • '«! 
 
 •■jfai) 
 
 1 i 
 
 
 
 :>\i 
 
 
 
 1^' 
 
 ^: • in, 
 
 if: 
 
 I5f" 
 
 294 
 
 TOPOGRAPHY. 
 
 The following is important as being exact figures direct from 
 the gold region : 
 
 Table Showing Highest and Lowest Temperature at Fort 
 Constantine, Yukon, Jan. ist to May 31st, i8g6. 
 
 
 
 Day 
 
 
 
 Jaiiuan- 
 
 February 
 
 March 
 
 April 
 
 May 
 
 of Mon 
 
 'h High 
 
 Low 
 
 High 
 
 I.ow 
 
 High 
 
 Low 
 
 High 
 
 Low 
 
 Hi-h 
 
 Low 
 
 I . . . . 
 
 , .—24 
 
 -38 
 
 — 20 
 
 —32 - 
 
 - 7 
 
 —26 
 
 II 
 
 —24 
 
 30 
 
 5 
 
 2 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 —29 
 
 -46 
 
 — 5 
 
 — 22 - 
 
 - 1-5 
 
 —16 
 
 9 
 
 —13 
 
 J 9- 5 
 
 5 
 
 3 • 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 —45 
 
 —55 
 
 —11-5 
 
 —43 
 
 12.5 
 
 — II 
 
 19 
 
 — 3 
 
 22 
 
 5 
 
 4- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 -46 
 
 -56.5 
 
 -- 4 
 
 —40 
 
 17 
 
 8 
 
 23 
 
 —23 
 
 32 
 
 II 
 
 5 • 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 —54 
 
 -61.5 
 
 — 5 
 
 — 21 
 
 18 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 -38 
 
 50 
 
 30 
 
 6. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 —50 
 
 -62.5 
 
 
 
 — 15 
 
 13^5 
 
 — X 
 
 6 
 
 —34 
 
 51 
 
 30 
 
 7 • 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 -40 
 
 —61 
 
 4 
 
 — 20 
 
 ^3^5 
 
 —30 
 
 13 
 
 -38 
 
 46 
 
 31.5 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 — 26 
 
 —54 
 
 7 
 
 — 20 
 
 II 
 
 —24 
 
 8.5 
 
 —34 
 
 58 
 
 35 
 
 ■^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 —17-5 
 
 —28 
 
 —17 
 
 —47 
 
 8 
 
 —23 
 
 12 
 
 —31 
 
 65 
 
 28 
 
 .0 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 —12.5 
 
 —25 
 
 —27 
 
 —45 
 
 12.5 
 
 — 20 
 
 15 
 
 -31 
 
 61 
 
 30 
 
 II 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 — 8 
 
 —23 
 
 —45 
 
 —61 
 
 23 
 
 — I 
 
 21 
 
 —21 
 
 60 
 
 30 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 — 9 
 
 —25 
 
 —40 
 
 —62 
 
 34 
 
 2 
 
 20 
 
 —23 
 
 53 
 
 35 
 
 13 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 -14-5 
 
 —32 
 
 -46 
 
 -56 
 
 23 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 - -26 
 
 56 
 
 30 
 
 14 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 —27 
 
 •41 
 
 —3i 
 
 -56 
 
 35 
 
 7 
 
 16 
 
 -^ i6 
 
 55 
 
 29 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 -31 
 
 —42 
 
 —35-5 
 
 —55 
 
 39 
 
 6 
 
 21 
 
 1 
 
 56 
 
 38 
 
 16 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 -26.5 
 
 -36 
 
 •-34 
 
 —50 
 
 31 
 
 10 
 
 39 
 
 20 
 
 55 
 
 33 
 
 T7 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 —22 
 
 —42 
 
 —32 
 
 —47 
 
 39 
 
 19 
 
 45 
 
 31 
 
 54 
 
 30 
 
 It 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 — -':o 
 
 —39 
 
 -26.5 
 
 -56 
 
 34 
 
 2 
 
 48 
 
 30 
 
 59 
 
 28 
 
 19 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 —15 
 
 —26 
 
 —16 
 
 —53 
 
 34 
 
 10 
 
 38 
 
 14 
 
 62.5 
 
 40- 5 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 — 1J.5 
 
 —42 
 
 4 
 
 —20 
 
 33 
 
 14 
 
 33 
 
 20 
 
 55 
 
 37 
 
 21 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 — :^i 
 
 —54 
 
 17.5 
 
 I 
 
 15 
 
 —35 
 
 40 
 
 17 
 
 47 
 
 33-5 
 
 22 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 —45 
 
 -58 
 
 24.5 
 
 10 
 
 '3 
 
 — 20 
 
 16 
 
 — 5 
 
 54-5 
 
 2X 
 
 23 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 —45 
 
 —61 
 
 21 
 
 — 15 
 
 20 
 
 — 5 
 
 28.5 
 
 5 
 
 59-5 
 
 3i 
 
 24 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 .-48 
 
 —60 
 
 25 
 
 — 22 
 
 2': 
 
 3 
 
 34 
 
 19 
 
 65 
 
 33 
 
 25 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 -48 
 
 -56 
 
 — 3 
 
 —15 
 
 28.5 
 
 n 
 
 43 
 
 29 
 
 58 
 
 35.5 
 
 26 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 • —49 
 
 -64 
 
 1.5 
 
 —35 
 
 27 
 
 10 
 
 42 
 
 22 
 
 58 
 
 39 
 
 27 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 .—57 
 
 -65 
 
 — 10 
 
 —41 
 
 24 
 
 -29 
 
 32^5 
 
 6 
 
 61.5 
 
 3' 
 
 28 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 • —44 
 
 —59 
 
 -1S.5 
 
 —41 
 
 21 
 
 — to 
 
 29 
 
 12 
 
 58.5 
 
 33 
 
 29 
 
 . . 
 
 
 
 
 .—18 
 
 —55 
 
 — 10 
 
 —33 
 
 20 
 
 5 
 
 22 
 
 — 8 
 
 55 
 
 26 
 
 30 
 
 3T 
 
 
 
 
 
 .—13 
 .— 8 
 
 —42 
 
 —27 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 7 
 
 — 5 
 —17 
 
 39 
 
 19 
 
 63 
 60 
 
 28 
 
 • 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 30 
 
 Means 
 
 
 
 
 •—30 
 
 -46 
 
 — 12 
 
 —35 
 
 20 
 
 ~ 5 
 
 25 
 
 - 4 
 
 53 
 
 28 
 
 Mr 
 
 1. 
 
 tei 
 
 n. 
 
 M 
 
 [tV 
 
 1.-38 
 
 
 23.5 
 
 
 7-5 
 
 
 10.5 
 
 
 40.5 
 
 
 I 
 
■f 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Flora, Fauna and Climate. 
 
 Aj^ricultural Industries iti Alaska — Vegetables and Small Fruits in the 
 Southedstern Portion — Grasses and Fodder — Panorama of Blossoms in 
 the Short vSummer — Seasons in the Yukon Basin — Sea Otters n;id Fur 
 Seals — Food Animals and Carnivora^ — Moose and Caribou — Vahie of 
 Pelts — Fish of the Territory — Salmon Canning and Salting — A Dog 
 Fish Story — Birds of Alaska — Among the Cetaceans — Mos(|uito3 and 
 Gnats — Weather Bureau Report — Temperature at Klondike — Animals 
 and Vegetation in British Columbia. 
 
 ALASKA, bisected by the Arctic Circle, bounded by a vast 
 coast line and culminating in the loftiest peak of the 
 Rocky Mountain system, possesses a climate of remark- 
 able variations and possibilities. From pleasant Sitka to ice- 
 locked Barrow, from sea-girt Baranoff to the .Alpine crest of St. 
 Elias, from the Torrid summers to the hyperborean winters of 
 the great Yukon basin, almost every extra-tropical range of tem- 
 perature may be noted and almost every kind of meteorological 
 condition experienced. 
 
 The effect of these wide clin'iatic ranges is manifest in the 
 fauna and flora of the territory. The former corresponds quite 
 closely to the sub-arctic type; the latter presents a var' ty of 
 Lnlliance and sobriety at once delightful and astorashin;; The 
 animals belong largely to the fur-bearing species, tiiougii natives 
 of more temperate regions survive and '^ ven thrive with proper 
 care, but vegetation ranges with charming prodigality from the 
 luscious fruits and vegetables of the Southland to the frost-defy- 
 ing firo and spruces of the extreme north. .Agriculture may 
 never be a leading industry of the territory for the season is too 
 short and crops are too uncertain of maturit)-. ^'Lt below the 
 
 295 
 
296 
 
 FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 
 
 f'l 
 
 <t 
 
 
 
 •Irii; 
 
 li- 
 
 h/" 
 
 «i; 
 
 
 IHj 
 
 lis;. 
 
 
 Iiiil: i^t 
 
 Arctic Circle it is easy to grow enough for focd, and even farther 
 north herbs and vegetables of quick growth make a rapid and 
 even rank response during the short, hot summer. 
 
 Alaska, superficially, is either mountain, plain or archipelago. 
 The country between Norton Sound and the Arctic Ocean is a 
 vast moorland with numerous bogs and peat beds. The Yukon 
 basin is a broad, alluvial plain with a rich soil of unknown depth. 
 The islands and the adjacent coasts are generally rocky, but not 
 sterile. Magnificent timber abounds in the uplands and along 
 the lower coasts and summer from the Arctic Circle south is a 
 jubilee of luxuriant herbage and beautiful plants and flowers. 
 
 In the Southeast. 
 
 In the southeastern portion of the territory nearly all the 
 vegetables, herbs,, grasses and smaller fruits of the middle tem- 
 perate zone flourish without stint or extra care. Potatoes, car- 
 rots, beets, parsnips, radishes, lettuce and turnips grow large and 
 sweet. Cabbages weighing seven pounds are on record and ali. 
 " garden truck," in fact, except cucumbers and beans, does well. 
 The best arable land in the territory is in this region, and in 
 several districts agriculture is carried on with considerable suc- 
 cess on a fainy extensive scale. Timothy, blue-joint, wood- 
 meadow, marsh and the Kentucky blue-grass raise rank crops, 
 and clover has done well wherever tried. These afford unex- 
 celled grazing in summer and the best of fodder in the winter 
 for stock. Cattle thrive in this climate, but sheep, despite the 
 excellent feed, suffer from the extreme moisture which rots their 
 hoofs. There is a poultry ranch at Fort Wrangcl. 
 
 This region is noted for its bountiful berry crops. Red and 
 black currants, raspberries, strawberries, huckleberries, Killi- 
 kinick berries, bearberrics, dewberries, hcathberrics, mossbe'-ries, 
 roseberries, salmonberries and cranberries grow abundant'y. 
 
 i'^! 
 
 J l' 
 
^;r^:*\^! 
 
 ,,: -'f 
 
 FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 
 
 297 
 
 The Indians gather the salmonberries for local trade, and large 
 quantities- of cranberries are annually picked and sent down the 
 coast. 
 
 The timber of the southeast is remarkable for its size and 
 general excellence. The spruce, hemlock, red and yellow cedar, 
 poplar, alder, willow, birch, larch and pine abound of great size 
 and general excellence. Nearly all the barrels for the salmon 
 canneries and salteries arc manufactured from the Alaskan spruce 
 and an excellent quality of shingles is also made from the same 
 wood. The yellow cedar, because of its peculiar hardness and 
 lightness is highly prized by the Indians for their paddles, which 
 in the peculiarly dangerous navigation of the intricate and swift 
 waterways, need to be of the best material to insure immunity 
 from serious and often fatal mishaps afloat. 
 
 This yellow cedar is also a very beautiful wood when polished, 
 easy to work, of a bright canary and delightful odor, and is 
 esteemed in the manufacture of furniture and all soi of fancy 
 articles. It possesses also another point of excellence which, 
 being strictly utilitarian, bids fair some day to largely deprive tl: 
 arts of its use. It is one of the few known woods which the de- 
 structive teredo refuses to attack and hence is invaluable for 
 piling. Except for its expensivcncss it would long ago have 
 run the Oregon pine out of the market for this purpose. 
 
 i 
 
 M 
 
 Making a Canoe. 
 
 Out of these great cedars the Southerii Alaskan natives also 
 hew their huge canoes. The task is long and laborious, but the 
 finished vessel ha.s been rightly deemed a work of boat builders' 
 art, and, for the waters where it is used, is unequalled. No 
 journey in these canoes seems long o** hazardous enough to 
 appal the Indian voyageur ; in fact, the natives have been known, 
 on their forays, to paddle in them as far as Puget Sound and 
 
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 298 
 
 FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 
 
 back again. To make a canoe a large and perfectly symmetrical 
 log is chosen and properly beached. The outside is shaped with 
 a heavy axe and then the inside is roughly hollowed out with 
 fire and tools. Then with a small, home-made hand adze the 
 boat carpenter goes over the entire vessel, inside and out, care- 
 fully clipping away until the smooth and perfect outline has 
 been produced throughout. The boat is then steamed by filling 
 it with water into which heated stones are dropped, and the final 
 shaping or " spreading " is given by putting in the cross braces 
 while the wood is thus pliant. Some of these single log canoes 
 are forty-two feet in length. 
 
 A peculiar feature of these southeastern forests, noticed by the 
 first white explorers, and for a time a scientific puzzle, was found 
 in the great number of yellow cedar trees standing outwardly 
 dead and yet not decaying, but sound to the core. It was finally 
 ascertained that this was due to the thickly overshadowing 
 branches of the taller surrounding spruce and hemlock, slowl}' 
 smothering the cedars to death. 
 
 Reserve Lumber Region. 
 
 Alaska is the great reserve lumber region of the United States. 
 William H. Seward, returning from a trip to Alaska, said in a 
 public address : 
 
 " I venture to predict that the North Pacific coast will become 
 a common shipyard for the American continent and .speedily for 
 the whole world. Europe, Asia, Africa, and even the Atlantic 
 American States have ■ ither exhausted or are exhausting their 
 native supplies of timber and lumber. Their last and onl\- 
 resort must be to the North Pacific. Then the country will 
 appreciate these thousands of square miles of cedar, spruce, 
 hemlock and balsam firs." 
 
 Although in the mountainous interior vegetation and fauna 
 
 "■I ri*! 
 
 Iv^Uiiii 
 
FLORA, faun;', and CLIMATE. 
 
 299 
 
 'Hn^ymr^- 
 
 partake of Arctic characteristics, near the sea in the southeast tlic 
 summer is a season of dehcious sounds, and sweet perfumes, the 
 voi'os of birds, ripple of running water, and music of waving 
 branches making it difficult for the traveler to believe that he is 
 in the marches of the Empire of Ice. The flowers and orcJiids 
 are almost tropical in the luxuriance and beauty. 
 
 In the Aleutian Islands the cereals will not mature, though 
 numerous and persistent experiments to that end have been 
 made. Vegetation of speedier growth flourishes in season, and 
 the grasses are especially rank in growth. The state of the 
 stock industry, however, is problematical. The timber of the 
 islands is similar to that of the mainland, both as to variety and 
 size. 
 
 On the Kadiak Islands are great forests and vast grassy plains 
 where cattle thrive with little feeding and shelter. Sheep also 
 do well here, except for a tendency to hoof rot. 
 
 Summer in the Yukon. 
 
 The brief summer in the Yukon Basin, enduring only from the 
 middle of June to the first of September, presents an unending 
 panorama of extraordinary picturcsquencss and beauty. The 
 banks are fringed with flowers, carpeted with the all pervading 
 moss. Birds, countless in numbers, and of bewildering variety 
 of plumage, pipe out a song from every treetop. Let the voy- 
 ageur pitch his tent where he will in summer, a bunch of roses, 
 a clump of poppies, and a bed of bluebells will adorn the camping. 
 
 High above this almost tropii:al floral exuberance, giant glaciers 
 sleep in the summits of ♦:he mountain wall which rises from a 
 bed of blossoms. In September they waken and everything is 
 changed. The roses disr.ppear before the frosty breath from the 
 pealvS, the birds fly to tne southland, and mountain, and plain, 
 hitle for the long winter beneath a sheet of snow. 
 
 
■pi , :-■« 
 
 ^' tip Hi 
 
 
 
 liiiiiiiii ; ^n 
 
 FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 
 
 In the Yukon basin vegetables of the hardier sorts do fairly 
 well. Turnips, radishes and salad plants and even potatoes have 
 been successfully cultivated at St. Michael's and at Fort Yukon. 
 
 At Fort Selkirk, on the British side, gardening has become a 
 science and the results are pleasing in size and variety. The 
 whole Yukon basin raises fine berries and grass, but other crops 
 are hard to mature, and though the fodder is plenty and good, 
 the long winter precludes success in stock raising. It is believed 
 the dairy industry would thrive, however. 
 
 The timber of the Yukon is principally willow, alder, cotton- 
 wood, spruce, low fir, hemlock and birch. North of the basin 
 the growths become stunted and finally disappear. 
 
 Dr. Jackson's View. 
 
 Dr. Sheldon Jackson, Commissioner of Education, has given 
 to the Department of Agriculture, his views of the agricultural 
 possibilities of Alaska as follows : 
 
 " The warmest friends of Alaska do not claim that it is rich in 
 agricultural resources, or that it will agriculturally bear com- 
 parison with the rich valleys of the Mississippi River ; but they 
 do claim that while there are large areas of mountains and unpro- 
 ductive land agriculturally, yet there are valleys and plains 
 where, with suitable care, many of the earlier vegetables, fruits, 
 and grains can be ♦'aised. 
 
 " On Kadiak, on adjacent islands, and on the shores of Cook's 
 Inlet, where there are small Russian Creole settlements, they 
 have for three-quarters of a century supplied themselves with 
 vegetable food from their own gardens. 
 
 " Not only in the mild belt of Southern Alaska, but also in 
 the arctic and subarctic belt of Northern Alaska, various wild 
 berries grow and ripen in profusion (cranberries, currants, rasp- 
 berries, huckleberries, blackberries, strawberries), and there is no 
 

 FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 
 
 301 
 
 question that if the government places Alaska on an equal foot- 
 ing with the other States and Territories in the establishment of 
 one or more experimental stations it will be demonstrated that 
 sufficient vegetables can be raised for the consumption of its peo- 
 ple. And if there is found a section so far north that the profit- 
 able raising of vegetables and grains becomes impossible, that 
 region can be utilized by the introduction of herds of domestic 
 reindeer. 
 
 " Taking Norway and Sweden, where complete statistics are 
 to be had, as a basis of calculation, and applying the same aver- 
 age to Alaska, it is found the country is capable of sustaining 
 9,200,000 head of reindeer, which will support a population of 
 287,500 living like the Laps of Lapland. 
 
 "The stocking of Alaska with tame reindeer means the open- 
 ing up of the vast and almost inaccessible central region of North- 
 ern and Central Alaska to white settlers and civilization and the 
 opening up of a vast commercial industry, Lapland, with 
 400,000 reindeer, supplies the grocery stores of Northern Europe 
 with smoked reindeer hams, smoked tongues, dried and tanned 
 hides, and 23.000 carcasses per annum to the butcher shops. 
 On the same basis, Alaska, with its capacity of 9,200,000 head 
 of reindeer, can supply the markets of North America with 
 500,000 carcasses of venison annually, together with tons of de- 
 licious hams and tongues and finest leather." 
 
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 i 
 
 -Oall's Statement. 
 
 William H. Dall, of the Smithsonian Institution, wrote as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 " I am convinced, after careful inspection, that Alaska is a far 
 better country than much of Great Britain and Norway and even 
 part of Prussia. Excepting for the extreme cold in midwinter of 
 the interior, the Alaskan climate and productions are not unlike 
 
 
 
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 302 
 
 FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 
 
 those of the northwestern part of Scotland or the Shetlands and 
 Orkneys." 
 
 As the Canadian territory contiguous to Alaska is at present 
 the site of the gold craze and contains many of the avenues by 
 which access is had to the British Klondike, the interest attach- 
 ing to this alien region at the headwaters of the Yukon warrants 
 a few words in notice of its flora and agricultural possibilities. 
 
 Surveyor Ogilvie's Report. 
 
 William Ogilvie, Dominion Land Surveyor, reported on this 
 region to the Canadian Department of the Litcrior, as follows : 
 
 " The agricultural capabilities of the country along the river 
 are not great, nor is the' land that can be seen from the river of 
 good quality. When we consider further the unsuitable climatic 
 conditions that prevail in the region, it may be said that as an 
 agricultural district this portion of the country will never be of 
 any value. 
 
 " My meteorological records show over eight degrees of frost 
 on August 1st, over ten on the 3d, and four times during the 
 month the minimum temperature was below freezing. 
 
 "Along the east side of Lake Bennett, opposite the Chilkoot 
 or western arm, there are some flats of dry gravelly soil, which 
 would make a few farms of limited extent. On the west side, 
 around the mouth of the Wheaton River, there is an extensive 
 flat of sand and gravel, covered with small pine and spruce of 
 stunted growth. 
 
 " Along the westerly shore of Tagish Lake there is a large 
 extent of low, swampy flats, a part of which might be used for 
 the production of such roots and cereals as the climate would 
 permit. Along the west side of Marsh Lake there is also much 
 flat surface of the same general character, on which I saw some 
 coarse grass which would serve as food for cattle. Along the 
 
'•t?»l 
 
 FLORA, FAUNA AND CIJMATE. 
 
 30,3 
 
 i 
 
 east side the surface appeared higher and terraced, and is probably 
 less suited to the requirements of the agriculturist. Along the 
 head of the river, for some miles below Marsh Lake, there arc 
 flats on both sides, which would, as far as surface conformation 
 goes, serve as farms. The soil is of much better quality than 
 any heretofore seen, as is proven by the larger and thicker growth 
 of timber and underbrush which it supports. The soil bears less 
 the character of detritus, and more that of alluvium, than that 
 seen above. 
 
 "Some miles down the lake an extensive valley joins that of 
 the lake on the west side. This valley contains a small stream. 
 Around this place there is some land that might be useful, as 
 the grass and vegetation is much better than any seen so far. 
 
 " On the lower end of the lake, on the west side, there is also 
 
 a considerable plain which might be utilized ; the soil in parts of 
 
 it is good. I saw one part where the timber had been burned 
 
 some time ago ; here both the soil and vegetation were good, 
 
 and two or three of the plants seen are common in this part of 
 
 Ontario, but they had not the vigorous appearance which the same 
 
 plants have East. 
 
 In Ogilvie Valley. 
 
 " Northward from the end of the lake there is a deep, wide 
 valley, which Dr. Dawson has named ' Ogilvie Valley.' In this 
 the mixed timber, poplar and spruce, is of a size which betokens 
 a fair soil ; the herbage, too, is more than usually rich for this 
 region. This valley is extensive, and, if ever required as an aid 
 in the sustenance of our people, will figure largely in the dis- 
 trict's agricultural assets. 
 
 " Below the lake the valley of the river is not, as a rule, wide, 
 and the banks are often steep and high. There are, however, 
 many flats of modern extent along the river and at its confluence 
 with other streams. The soil of many of these is fair. 
 
 
 
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 FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 
 
 " About forty miles above the mouth of the Pelly River there 
 is an extensive flat on both sides of the Lewis. The soil here 
 is poor and sandy, with small open timber. At Pelly River there 
 is a flat of considerable extent on which the ruins of Fort Selkirk 
 stand. It is covered with a small growth of poplar and a few 
 spruce. The soil is a gravelly loam of about eight inches in 
 depth, the subsoil being gravel, evidently detritus. This fl.it 
 extends up the river for some miles, but is all covered thickly 
 with timber, except a small piece around the site of the fort. 
 
 Vegetables for Miners. 
 
 " I think ten townships, or 360 square miles, would be a very 
 liberal estimate of all the places mentioned along the river. 
 This gives us 230,400 acres, or, say, 1000 farms. The available 
 lands on the affluents of the rivers would probably double this, 
 or give 2000 farms in that part of our territory, but on most of 
 these farms the returns would be meager. Without the dis- 
 covery and development of large mineral wealth it is not likely 
 that the slender agricultural resources of the country will ever 
 attract attention. In the event of such discovery, however, 
 some of the land might be used for the production of vegetable 
 food for the miners, but even in that case, with the transport 
 facilities which the district commands, it is very doubtful if it 
 could compete successfully with the South and East. 
 
 " The amount of timber fit for use in building and manufac- 
 uring in the district along the river is not at all important. There 
 is a large extent of forest which would yield firewood and timber 
 for use in mines, but for the manufacture of lumber there is very 
 little. 
 
 " To give an idea of its scarceness, I may state that two of 
 my party made a thorough search of all the timbered land 
 around the head of Lake Bennett, and down the lake for over ten 
 
 te'i 
 
FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 
 
 305 
 
 miles, and in all this search only one tree was found suitable for 
 making such plank as we required for the construction of our 
 large boat. This tree made four planks, fifteen inches wide at the 
 butt, seven at the top, and thirty-one feet long, 
 
 " Such other planks as we wanted had to be cut out of short 
 logs, of which some, ten to fourteen inches in diameter and ten 
 to sixteen feet long, could be found at long intervals. The boat 
 required only 450 feet of plank for its construction, yet some of 
 the logs had to be carried nearly 200 yards, and two saw-pits 
 had to be made before that quantity was procured, and this on 
 ground that was all thickly wooded with spruce, pine and some 
 balsam, the latter being generally the largest and cleanest- 
 trunked. 
 
 " The great bulk of the timber in the district suitable for manu- 
 facture into lumber is to be found on the islands in the river, 
 On them the soil is warmer and richer, the sun's rays striking 
 the surface for a much longer time and more directly than on 
 
 the banks. 
 
 Quantity of Timber. 
 
 •' To estimate the quantity of timber in the vicinity of the 
 river in our territory would be an impossible task, having only 
 such data as I was able to collect on my way down. I would, 
 however, say that one-fourth of the area I have given as agricul- 
 tural land would be a fair conjecture. This would give us two 
 and one-half townships, or ninety square miles, of fairly well- 
 timbcrcd ground ; but it must be borne in mind that there is not 
 more than a square mile or so of that in any one place, and 
 most of the timber would be small and poor compared with the 
 timber Oi Manitoba and the easterly part of the Northwest 
 Territories. 
 
 " It may be said that the country might furnish much timber, 
 which, though not fit to be classed as merchantable, would meet 
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 FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 
 
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 many of the requirements of the only industry the country is 
 e\er likely to have — viz. : niinin^."^ 
 
 The nati\i' animal life of iMaska, wiiethcr of Luul or sea, fish 
 or fowl, is in [general that of i northern country with its peculiar 
 climatic conditions. The fur hearing land animals and amphib- 
 ians are imiK-)rt.mt, and the fisheries are not surpassed. The 
 insect life partakes cf a tropical nature and in summer time the 
 pest of mosquitos and gnats is almost unbearable. There is 
 some compensation in the absence of snakes from the territory. 
 
 Alaska's first value in the eyes of civilization w.is in its furs 
 of l.uul and sea, and for a century the fur industries were the 
 ch.ief occupation of the Russian colonists and their aboriginal 
 allies. Only within a decade h;is gold been a rival to furs in the 
 territc.ry. 
 
 The fur [)roducing amphibians are principally the valuable and 
 comparatively rare sea otter and the fur seal, the ambition of 
 e\er)- woii ;n's heart on two continents and the cause of a 
 huntlred y>. ars of international complications. The fur of the 
 sea otter is among the most beautiful and highly prized known, 
 and until within a very few years has brought enormous prices 
 in the London market. Of the fur of the seal it is unnecessary 
 to .speak further than to say th;it <> is still the basis of the most 
 extensive conmierce, and it furnishes a livelihood ashore and 
 afloat to many thousands of hands, and employment to many 
 millions of capital. 
 
 The Sea Otter. 
 
 The sea otter was once abundant along the whole southeastern 
 and southwestern coast of Alaska, how abundant may be 
 gathered from the fact that the estimated total value of all the 
 sea otter skins taken up to 1890 is $36,000,000. The Russians 
 encouraged the natives to slaughter the valuable animal, and the 
 
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 FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 
 
 Yankee fishers and their British brethren were no more inclined 
 
 to mercy or thrift than the Muscovites. Gradually the furry 
 
 amphibian was driven from the southeastern archipelago until 
 
 to- Jay the chief and, in fact, almost the only grounds where it is 
 
 successfully hunted are along the Aleutian chain and to the 
 
 eastward in the neighborhood of Kadiak Island and the mouth 
 
 of the Copper River. 
 
 La Perouse sent the first sea otter skins home to France in 
 
 1788. Their magnificent beauty soon made them the talk of 
 
 the courts of Europe, and as they vvere easily approached by 
 
 hunters in those early days their slaughter grew apace with the 
 
 demand. The female otter is very tender of its young and, 
 
 sailors say, often gathers the little one upon its breast between 
 
 its fore legs and flo.iting on its back on the water, croons a 
 
 lullaby to the baby otter which the hunters aver is almost human 
 
 in its tones, 
 
 Romance of the Otter. 
 
 A bit of romance which colored the lives of the native women 
 in the early days of the Russiun occupation of Alaska was due 
 entirely to the sea otter. The right to hunt them was proscribed 
 to all except natives or the husbands of native wives. As the 
 pursuit was exceedingly profitable and the women not altogetlier 
 bad looking, there came about a marrying epidemic among the 
 white sailors, especially the Scandinavians, which gave the dark- 
 skinned belles a chance to be courted into a home of their own, 
 which it is safe to say they had never enjoyed before. From 
 these unions grew up a race of hardy half-breed otter hunters 
 whose prowess is still famous on the coast. 
 
 The fur seal, ;;^: 7,000,000 worth of whose skins had been 
 taken up to 1890, once had a habitat coextensive? with that of 
 the sea otter, but like the latter has been driven to the westu'ard, 
 and now only an occasional specimen is seen in the waters of the 
 
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 FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 
 
 309 
 
 southeastern archipelago. Its principal Alaskan resting places 
 
 are now the Islr.nds of St. Paul and St. George and the adjacent 
 
 rookeries. 
 
 Other seals which arc r.ative to Alaskan waters arc the hair, 
 
 leopard, saddle and big black seal or maklak. Tliey arc hunted 
 
 by the natives for their skins, but the fur is of small commercial 
 
 value. 
 
 Land Animals. 
 
 The land animals, native to Alaska, include several species of 
 the ibx, the land otter, beaver, brown, black, cinnamon, grizzly 
 and polar bears, mink, marten or sable, lynx, wolverine, muskrat, 
 marmat, ermine, squirrel, moose, caribou, deer, mountain sheep, 
 m.ountain goat, barren ground caribou, musk-o.x and wolf The 
 Esquimo dog, though comparatively domesticated, is also entitled 
 to a place among the native anin\als of tlie tcrritor}'. Some of 
 tile animals enumerated arc of value for their skins or for food ; 
 otters are merely the brute Ishmaels of the wilderness. 
 
 The black, or silver fo.\ (the same species with different mark- 
 ings), is easily the king of the vulpine Alaskans. Traffic in its 
 skins makes up the bulk of the fur trade of the Yukon Basin. 
 They are the highest priced of any of the native fox skins. The 
 red fox is found all o\'er the territory and has even been known 
 to take a voyage over t^ the Aleutian Islands on an opportunely 
 drifting ice cake. Its skin is as cheap as it is plenty. The cross 
 fox, so named because it is a cross between the black and red, 
 is likewise all over the countn*'-, and likewise cheap. The Arctic 
 fox, both white and blue, is found on the mainland and in the 
 Seal and Aleutian Islands. Its skin has little value. General 
 characteristics of the Alaskan foxes are their perpetual famine, 
 their absolutely omniverous taste and their lack of shyness which 
 often leads to unpleasant experiences for " tenderfeet " when 
 camping out. The Alaskan Commercial Company ten years 
 
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 310 
 
 FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 
 
 ago established a " fox farm " on Semidi Island, bringing the 
 
 black, blue and silver colonists from the mainland and leaving 
 
 them to multiply. The venture is said to have proved a financial 
 
 success. 
 
 Otter and Bears. 
 
 The land otter, whose skin has considerable commercial value, 
 both for itself and because, of the ease with which it can be 
 made into an imitation of seal skin, is found along the whole 
 coast, among the isl mds, especially around Kadlak, and in the 
 Yukon Basin. 
 
 The habitat of the beaver is within the timber limit. The 
 demand and supply In this fur are growing less together and the 
 skins are cheap. The old currency of the territory was beaver 
 skins and the denominations are worth recalling as a matter of 
 curiosity. One beaver was worth four mink, two marten or two 
 white fox skins ; a beaver and a half was equal to one red fox 
 and three beaver skins were fair exchange for a land otter. 
 
 The brown bear is found all over the territory, and his pelts 
 are plentiful and cheap. Like all the Alaskan carnivora;, Ik; is a 
 good fisher and can be found hanging around the salmon and 
 trout streams in season. He is the great road maker of the 
 country and his broad trails over plains and through swamps are 
 of no little use to travelers. The black bear is widely at home 
 on the mainland, generally in the timber, and his skin brings high 
 prices. The grizzly bear is found in the southeast. 
 
 The mink, which is common on the mainland, and the 
 marten, which sticks close to standing timber, both supply 
 cheap furs. 
 
 The animals of Alaska are all diligently iiUnted by the Indians 
 and Esquimo for the flesh and for the skins, which form the natural 
 clothing of the aborigines. Those whose flesh is edible, as well 
 as the more valuable fur-bearers, are also the white hunter's 
 
 r 
 
Bl 
 
 FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 
 
 311 
 
 quarries, and the double chase is beginning to tell on the numbers 
 of some of the species. 
 
 The moose and caribou are found in the Yukon basin and now 
 and then furnish a dainty variety to the post trader or the miner 
 for his menu Deer are found mainly in the southeast, where 
 the mountaiii sheep and goat arc also comparative!}' plentiful. All 
 are hunted for their flesh and skins. 
 
 Mrs. Frederick Schwatka says of the game in the Yukon basin : 
 " The great Yukon Valley has but little game in it during the 
 summer, for the mosquitos drive all game to higher altitudes. 
 Formerly during the winter season a living could be made by 
 experienced hunters in bringing moose and caribou meat to camp. 
 I heard one miner say, who had spent four winters on the Yukon, 
 that he had seen moose and caribou so numerous on the bald 
 hills above timber limit, in the present gold field district, that they 
 gave the snow a mottled, gray appearance. Of course these 
 have now disappeared with the advance of civilization, and fresh 
 meat of any kind is now at a premium." 
 
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 Canadian Fauna. 
 
 Dominion Land Surveyor Ogilvie's official report on the fiuna 
 of the Canadian territory adjacent to Alaska is as follows : 
 
 " The principal furs procured in the district are the silver-gray 
 and black fox, the number of which bears a greater ratio to the 
 number of red foxes than in any other part of the country. The 
 red fox is very common, and a species called the blue is v^ery 
 abundant near the coast. Marten, or sable, are also numerous, 
 as are lynx ; but otter are scarce, and beaver almost unknown. 
 
 " It is probable that the value of gray and black fox skins 
 taken out of the country more than equals in value all the other 
 furs. I could get no statistics concerning this trade for obvious 
 reasons. 
 
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 FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 
 
 " Game is not now as abundant as before mining began, and it 
 is difficult, in fact impossible, to get any close to the river. 
 
 *'A boom in mining would soon exterminate the game in the 
 district along the river, 
 
 " There arc two species of caribou in the country ; one, the 
 ordinary kind, found in most parts of the Northwest, and said 
 to much resemble the reindeer ; the other called the ' wood 
 caribou,' a much larger and more beautiful animal. Except that 
 the antlers are much smaller, it appears to me to resemble the 
 elk or wapiti. 
 
 " The ordinary caribou runs in herds, often numbering hun- 
 
 cfreds. 
 
 Bear in Abundance. 
 
 " There are four species of bear found in the district — the 
 grizzly, brown, black and a small kind, locally known as the 
 ' silver-tip,' the latter being gray in color, with a white throat 
 and beard, whence its name. It is said to be fierce, and not to 
 wait to be attacked, but to attack on sight. I had not the pleas- 
 ure of seeing any, but heard many 'yarns' about them, some of 
 which, I think, were ' hunters' tales.' It appears, however, that 
 miners and Indians, unless traveling in numbers, or especially 
 well armed, give them as wide a berth as they conveniently can. 
 
 " Wolves are not plentiful. A fjw of tlv. common gray 
 species only are killed, the black being very scarce. 
 
 " The Arctic rabbit or hare is sometimes found, but they arc 
 not numerous. There is a curious foct in connection with the 
 ordinary hare or rabbit which I have observed but of which I 
 have never yet seen any satisfactory explanation. Their numbers 
 vary from a very few to myriads, in periods of seven years." 
 
 The Alaskan birds include the grouse, ptarmigan, snipe, mal- 
 lard and teal duck, goose, loon, gray and bald eagle, sea parrot, 
 gulls, auks and many other sea fowls. One of the ornithological 
 
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314 
 
 FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 
 
 
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 wonders of tliC territory last year was a pair of liumming birds 
 which nested in Sitka. The sea birds supp'y the Indians with a 
 profitable pursuit gathering their eggs froTi the rocks. The 
 eggs are a staple article of diet with the natives. 
 
 The piscatorial wealth of Alaska ranks next to the furs. The 
 food fishes are numerous, but the salmon easily leads them all 
 in importance, and the canning and drying of this dainty fish 
 make the third industry of th^^ territory, gold being now the 
 first, of course, and furs the second. 
 
 The first salmon cannery was established at Old Sitka in 
 1878, but another was started in 1883 at Kadiak Island, and 
 since that time the canneries and saltcries (though the salmon 
 was never accused of singing like the catfish it still has salteries) 
 have spread all along the coast. 
 
 Species of Salmon. 
 
 The king or " tyee " salmon has the highest standing in the 
 market. Lcsj highly esteemed are tlic silver or red, cohoc, dog 
 and humpback salmon. The cod, which is found all along the 
 south shore, comes next in commercial importance. It much 
 resembles the cod of the North Atlantic. Halibut are found 
 all along the coast, in the channels and to the western extremity 
 of the Aleutian Islands at Attu. No great quantity of this fish 
 is shipped, but the natives catch it in great numbers, smoke or 
 dry the flesh, and esteem it highly for food. Herring are found 
 in immense shoals in the bays and estuaries and throughout the 
 island chains. They supply material to a large oil and fertilizer 
 factory at Killisnoo, the product of which is shipped to the Sandwich 
 Islands. The salmon trout is a fish of magnificent size and fine 
 flavor and mountain trout are caught freely in the southea-t. 
 There are also many other edible fish in the waters of the southeast. 
 
 The uliken, or candle fish is found in the southeastern waters, 
 
FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 
 
 315 
 
 and is highly prized by the Indians for food and medicinal pur- 
 •joses. It is so oily that it cooks to a turn in its own oil and is 
 said to be then a delicious morsel. The oil has a flavor not 
 unlike that of olive, and the natives esteem it highly as a remedy 
 for lung troubles and for dyspepsia. 
 
 It would not be fair to the dog-fish to pass him by without at 
 least a mention. lie is useless for food, even to the strong- 
 stomached native, who deems blubber a delicacy and whale oil 
 a libation to pour to his heathen gods ; but the dog-fish can stand 
 more abuse and make less fuss about it than any other known 
 member of the animal kingdom. When by any ill luck a tourist, 
 fishing off the wharf at Sitka or Juneau, pulls up a dog-fish on 
 his line, some stolid native is sure to beg the prize. The Indian 
 rips the squirming dog-fish, takes out his liver to try out for oil, 
 and flings him back into the water, where he swims off apparently 
 as lively as if he was in the habit of having such things happen 
 every day. It is said that the only dog-fish that was ever killed 
 at Sitka was one which, having been originally delivered by an 
 Indian, insisted on being caught by a white man and hauled up 
 and thrown out to a native, as if in mockery of the 1; tter's de- 
 sire for liver. The Indian thought the joke had been played 
 on him once too often, and smashed the dog-fish's head 
 with a stone. A valuable lubricating oil is obtained from the 
 dog-fish, and the natives use the skin of its belly for sand- 
 paper. 
 
 Finds Vast Fishing Banks. 
 
 The United States steamer Albatross, in making soundings for 
 the Coast Survey, developed vast and thitherto unknown fishing 
 banks all along the Aleutian Chain. It is on these banks the 
 best cod fishing is had. 
 
 Of the cetaceans the whale, beluga or white grampus, and 
 porpoise are found all along the Alaskan coast. 
 
 
 
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 316 
 
 FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 
 
 The regular whale fishing gounds are on the Arctic shore, 
 where Herschel Island, at the mouth of the Mackenzie River is 
 a common station for all whalers. A large American fleet is 
 constantly on the grounds. Black whales often appear in the 
 channels around the Southeastern Archipelago in such numbers 
 as to terrify the Indians who arc out in their canoes. 
 
 The obese walrus, once the principal food supply of the region 
 of Its habital, has been hunted nearly to extermination. 
 
 Many beluga arc taken each season by the Esquimcaux south of 
 Norton Sound, with whom it is a food staple. The porpoise is 
 also a constant object of the watery chase. 
 
 Crabs and clams arc plentiful on the southern coasts, but no 
 oysters are found. 
 
 Insect Pests. 
 
 It would be a vital defect in the story of the animal life of 
 Alaska if no mention was made of the insects which make life 
 a burden in the short, hot summer of the interior. Horseflies, 
 gnats and mosquitos nearl)' drive men and beasts wild. The 
 horsefly is larger and more " pointed " than the insect of the 
 same name in the States. In dressing or undressing it has the 
 pleasant habit of detecting any bare spot in the body and biting 
 out a piece of flesh, leaving a wound which in a few days later 
 looks like an incipient boil. Schwatka reports that one of his 
 party so bitten was completely disabled for a week. "At the 
 moment of infliction," he adds, " it was hard to believe that 
 one was not disabled for life." 
 
 The mosquitos, according to the same authority, are equally 
 distressing. They are especially fond of cattle, but without any 
 reciprocity of afiection. "According to the general terms of the 
 survival of the fittest and the growth of muscles most used to 
 the detriment of others," says the lieutenant in an unusual burst 
 
FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 
 
 317 
 
 of humor, " a band of cattle inhabiting this district in the far 
 future would be all tail and no body, unless the mosquitos should 
 experience a change of numbers." 
 
 Mrs. Schwatka, in speaking of the trials of the miner's life, 
 touches on his sufferings from these insect pests in these words : 
 
 " Again in summer the work of the miner is difficult. As I 
 
 have said the interior country is tundra land — that is, the earth 
 
 is frozen to a great depth, never entirely thawing out. Wherever 
 
 the sun strikes the surface, great pools of muddy water are 
 
 formed, and this prevents any sort of pro.specting. These pools 
 
 of i^cagnant water breed great swarms of mosquitos and gnats, 
 
 which make it desirable to cover the head with mosquito netting, 
 
 or better still, adopt the Indian method, and smear the hands 
 
 and face with a mixture of grease and soot, which prevents the 
 
 pests from biting. At some seasons in this country they are in 
 
 such dense swarms that at night they will practically cover a 
 
 mosquito netting, fairly touching each other and crowding 
 
 through any kind of mesh. I have heard it asserted by people 
 
 of experience that they form co-operative societies and assist 
 
 each other through the meshes by pushing behind and pulling 
 
 in front. Others again say they are too mean for such generous 
 
 action." 
 
 Climale of Alaska. 
 
 The climate of the Alaskan coast regions is much milder, even 
 in the higher latitudes, than it is in the interior or in correspond- 
 ing latitudes on the Atlantic coast. This is easily explainea and 
 understood when the natural forces of production of this milder 
 temperature are contemplated. 
 
 The most important among them is the thermal current 
 resembling the Atlantic Gulf Stream, and known as the Japanese 
 or Kuro Siwo, or Black Water. It has its origin under the 
 equator near the Molucca and Philippine Islands, passes north- 
 
 
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 318 
 
 FLORA. FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 
 
 ward along the coast of Japan, and crosses the Pacific to the 
 southward of the Aleutian Islands, after sending a branch 
 through Ik'hring Sea. On the coast of British Colurr»bia it 
 divides again, one branch turning north toward Sitka, and thence 
 westward to the Kadiak and Shumagin Islands. 
 
 The conipanitively warm waters of these currents affect the 
 temperature of the superjacent atmosphere, which, absorbing 
 the ktent heat, carries it to the coast with all its mollifying 
 effects. Thus the ocer.nic and atmospheric currents cc^mbine in 
 mitigating the coast climate of Alaska, while the almost impene- 
 trable b.irrier of lofty mountains deflects the ice-laden northern 
 gales from the interior. 
 
 The mean winter temperature of Sitka is slightly above 30 
 degrees, while that of Portland, Maine, is about 27 degrees. 
 The lowest in winter in 1889, in Sitka, was 3 degrees ; in Halifax, 
 Nova Scotia, 7 degrees ; and in Portland, Maine, i 5 degrees. 
 
 Weather Bureau Report. 
 
 Undi;r the direction of Secretary of Agriculture James Wilson, 
 Willis L. Moore, Chief of the Weather Bureau, makes public 
 the following : 
 
 " The general conception of Alaskan climate is largely due to 
 those who follow the sea, and this is not strange when we con- 
 sider the vast extent of short line (over 26,000 miles) possessed 
 b)' that territory. 
 
 " The climate of the coast and the interior is unlike in many 
 respects, and the differences are intensified in this, as, perhaps, 
 in few other countries, by exceptional physical conditions. 
 
 " The natural contrast between land and sea is here tremend- 
 ously increased by the current of warm water that impinges on 
 the coast of British Columbia, one branch flowing northward 
 toward Sitka, and thence westward to the Kadiak and Shumagin 
 
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 FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 
 
 Lslands. The fringe of islands that separates the mainland from 
 the Pacific Ocean, from Dixon Sound northward, and also a strip 
 of the mainland for possibly twenty miles back from the sea, 
 following the sweep of the coast as it curves to the northwest- 
 ward, to the western extremity of Alaska, form a distinct 
 climatic division which may be termed temperate Alaska. 
 
 " The temperature rarely falls to zero. Winter does not set 
 in until December ist, and by the last of May the snow has dis- 
 appeared, except on the mountains. The mean winter tempera- 
 ture of Sitka is 32.5 degrees, but little less than that of Washing- 
 ton, D. C. While Sitka is fully exposed to the sea influences, 
 places farther inland, but not over the coast range of mountains, 
 as Killisnoo and Juneau have also a mild temperature throughout 
 the winter months. 
 
 Small Changes of Temperature. 
 
 " The temperature changes from month to month in Alaska 
 are small, not exceeding 25 degrees from midwinter to mid- 
 summer. The average temperature of July, the warmest month 
 of summer, rarely reaches 55 degrees, and the highest tempera- 
 ture for a single day seldom reaches 75 degrees. 
 
 " The rainfall of temperate Alaska is notorious the world over, 
 and not only as regards the quantity but also as to the manner 
 of its falling — viz. : in long and incessant rains and drizzles. 
 Cloud and fog naturally abound, there being on an average but 
 sixty-six clear days in the year. 
 
 " Alaska is a country of striking contrasts, both in climate as 
 well as topography. When the sun shines the atmosphere is 
 remarkably clear, the scenic effects are magnificent ; all nature 
 seems to be in holiday attire. But the scene may change very 
 quickly. The sky becomes overcast, the winds increase in 
 force, rain begins to fall, the evergreens sigh ominously, and 
 utter desolation and loneliness prevail. 
 
FLORA, I'AUNA AND CLlMA'iE. 
 
 321 
 
 •' Nortli of the Aleutian Islands; the coast climate becomes 
 more rigorous in winter, but in summer the difference is much 
 less marked. Thus, at Si. Michael's, a short distance above the 
 mouth of the Yukon, the mean summer temperature is 50 
 degrees, but fnu' degrees cooler than Sitka. The mean summer 
 temperature of Point 15arro\v, tiie most northerl)' point in the 
 Uniteil States, is ^/^.'^ degrees, but four-tenths of a degree less than 
 the temperature ( f tlu; air flowiiig r.cross the summit of Pike's 
 Peak-, Colorado. Tlu; rainfiU of th:e rf>;ist n-gion norlh of the 
 Yukon delta is sm.ill, tliminishing to less than ten inches \\ith'"'\ 
 the Arctic Circle. 
 
 "The climate of the interitu', including in that designatior 
 practically all of the country except a narrow fringe of coasta.' 
 margin and the territor)' before referred to ;is temperate Alaska, 
 is one of extreme rigor in winter, with a l.)rief but relatively hot 
 summer, especially when the sky is free from clouds. 
 
 " In the Klondike region in midwinter the sun rises from 9:3c 
 to 10 .\.M. and sets from 2 to 3 i'. M., the totr.l length of day- 
 li' ht being about four hours. Remembering that the sun rises 
 but a few degrees ;ibo\e the horizon, an ' that it is wholly 
 obscured on a great main' davs, the chara-.ter of the winter 
 months may easily be imagined. 
 
 Temperature or Yukon. 
 
 " We are indebted to the United States Coast and Geodetic 
 Survey for a series of six mon'iis' observations on the Yukon, 
 not far from the site of the present gold discoveries. The obser- 
 vations were made with standard instruments, and are wholl}' 
 reliable. The mean temperature of the months October, 1889, t(^ 
 April, 1890, both inclus',\-e, areas follows: October, 33 degrees; 
 November, 8 degrees ;, December, 1 1 degrees, below 7xto ; Jan- 
 uar)', 17 below zero, February, 1 5 below zero ; March, 6 above ; 
 21 
 
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 322 
 
 FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 
 
 Ajiril, 20 above T'.ic daily mean temperature fell and remained 
 below the freezing point (32 degrees) from November 4, 1889, to 
 AjMil 21, .'890, thus giving 168 days as the length of tlie closed 
 season of 1889— '90, assuming that outdoor operations are con- 
 trolled by temperature only. The lowest temperatures registered 
 during the winter were : Thirty-tw < degrees below zero in No- 
 vember, 47 below in December, 59 below in Januaiy, 55 below 
 in February, 45 below in March, and 26 below in A2)riL 
 
 " The greatest continuous cold occurred in I^'ebruar}-, 1890, 
 when the daily mean for five consecutive days was 47 below zero. 
 
 *' Greater cold than that here noted has been experienced in 
 the United States for a very short timi.', but never has it continued 
 so very cold for so long a time in iliie interior of Alaska. The 
 winter sets in as early -^ September when snow-storms may be 
 expected in the mountaims annjoi p:i— Headway during cnc of 
 
 these storms is imi^os-' .nd the traveler who is overtaken by 
 
 one of them is inLleeti ibrtuiiate ff he escapes with bis life. 
 Snow-storms of great sev<i: 7 occur in any month from 
 
 September to May, inclusive 
 
 " The changes of termpemm ter to summer are 
 
 rapid, owing to the great increase. la jae 1.- ;th of tlie day. In 
 May the sun rises at about 3 a. m. aand set* about 9 p. m. In 
 June it rises about half-past i in the momini: and sets about half- 
 past 10, giving about tv/enty hours of Jayi^ht and diffuse twi- 
 light the remainder of the time. 
 
 " The mean summer temperature in thz interior doubtless 
 ranges between 60 and 70 degrees, according to elevation, being 
 highest in the middle and lower Yukon valleys." 
 
 Dominion Climate. 
 
 Describing the country in the coast range mountains near 
 Taiya Inlet, Dominion Surveyor Ogilvie writes : 
 
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 FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 
 
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 "' It is said by those familiar with the loeality that the storms 
 which rage in the upper altitudes of the coast range during the 
 greater [jart of the time from October to March are terrific, A 
 man caugiit in one of ihem runs the risk of losing his life, unless 
 he can reach shellvf i:i a short time. 
 
 " During the summer there is nearly always a wind blowing 
 from tlie sea up Chatham Strait and Lynn Canal, which lie in 
 almost a stniiglit line with each other, and at the head of L}'nn 
 Canal are Chilkat a.nd Chilkoot Inlets. The distance from the 
 coast down these channels to the open sea is about 3180 miles. 
 
 The; mountains on each side of the water confine the currents 
 of air, and deflect inclined currents in the direction of the axis 
 of tlie channel, so that there is nea.rly always a strong wind 
 blowing up the channel. Coming from the sea, this wind is 
 heavily charged with moisture, which is precipitated when the 
 air current strikes the mountains, and the fUl of rain and snow 
 is conseciuently very lieavy. 
 
 "In Chilkat Inlet there is not much shelter from the south 
 
 wind, which r(,'nders it unsafe ur ships calling here. Captain 
 
 Hunter told me he would rather visit any other part of tlie coast 
 
 than Chilkat." 
 
 Mountec^ Police Report. 
 
 The report of the Canadian Mounted Police shows that on 
 twenty-four days during the winter of 1S96-97, the thermometer 
 p gistered 50 degrees or more below zero. The report con- 
 tii'ues : 
 
 "Apparently the temperature first touched zero on November 
 loth, and the last zero recorded in the sjiring was on /\pril 29th. 
 
 Between December 19th and T'ebruary 6th it nevc r rose above 
 zero. riie lowest actual point, 65 degrees, occurn^d on January 
 27th .'-id on twenty-four days during the winter the temperature' 
 was below 50 degrees." 
 
 
 
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 CHAPIER XL 
 Industries and Industrial Development, 
 
 Chief Occupations of the Natives and the Settlers — The Four Remarkable 
 Seal Islands— How the Animals Have Been Puthlessly Slaughtered-- • 
 When the Fur is at Its Best — The Great Fishing Plants of the Country — 
 Alaska the Ilunie of the Salmon — Cod and Other Fish Abound^Trap- 
 ping and Hunting on the Decline — Current Belief that the Outlook 
 for Lumbering is Not Good — Probability that this Opinion may be Re- 
 versed by Later Discovery — Trees on the Islands -Agricultural Develop- 
 ment one of the Great Needs at the Present Time Land vSimp.'y Needs 
 Tilling — Vegetables and Berries Grown i:i (Quantities — Reports of 
 Travelers. 
 
 ^Mll'v resources of Alaska are, as has been shown in another 
 1 chapter, as diversified and remarkable as the surface of its 
 vast district. With a few noteworthy exceptions, how- 
 ever, these resources are lar<j,ely undeveloped. 
 
 The country is so remote, its fastnesses have been so inaccessi 
 blf, the lack of transit facilities has imposed such a barrier on 
 iniigration, that few aro the hardy souls who have traversed its 
 boundlcs:-- plains, its mi<jhty rivers and its snow-capped mountains; 
 and still fewer are the capitalists who have had the hardihood to 
 .seek the country for investment. 
 
 The result is that in most lines of industry the possibilities of 
 the country are largely a matter of conjecture. 
 
 Two or three occupations received early attention and have 
 been followed systematically. The Russians recognized the value 
 of liie fur-bearing animals and were pioneers in the enterprise 
 that John Jacob Astor made so memorable throughout the North- 
 west. The wealth of fish in the vast rivers of the country also 
 appealed to the commercial sense of the Russians. I'he same is 
 true of the seal islands, from which suc:h revenue was derived in 
 the days of Russiain occupatic^n, 
 
 324 
 
Wmmmmmmmmm' 
 
 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 The mineral wealth of the Territory has only in a Iimi^ed 
 measure tempted the capital of more civilized communities, with 
 the exception of gold mining. The .storj', therefore, of the in- 
 dustries of the country would be a meager one were it not in a 
 large measure told in the language of opinion arid prophecy. A 
 resume is here given of the interests that have claimed attention 
 outside the gold fields, and a forecast of the future on other 
 
 lines. 
 
 The Four Seal Islands. 
 
 The much-talked-of seal islands are one of the features of 
 Alaska. These are four volcanic islands, which lie 220 miles 
 north^ ■■'. ^f Unalaska. The}' are veiled in perpetual mists and 
 fogs ill tUe summer season and are closely hedged round with 
 drift ice in winter. They are absoUiLcly treeless, but are covered 
 with moss and grass, and in the proper season are brilliant with 
 wild flowers. 
 
 Hundreds of thousands of seals gather annually on these 
 islands, and the slaughter grounds, where millions of seals have 
 been killed in the last century, are rarely visited except by those 
 engaged in the business and by a few hard)' tourists. The odors 
 of these roc^keries, as they are called, can be jcrceivcd fir out at 
 sea, and not infre([Mently the !)arl-:ing of the anim;ils is the mari- 
 ner's only guide in the dense fogs that siltle o\-' • he waters. 
 
 No vessels other than those belongin;; to the goxernnunt are 
 allowed to enter or even to approach the harbors. The largest 
 of the islands is called St. Paul, and is twelve miles long and 
 from six to eight miles wide. St. George Island, thirty miles 
 north, is a little smaller ; and between these two lie Otter and 
 Walrus Islands. 
 
 Practicall)' the onl)- inhabitants of th.e islands are the y\leuts, 
 who have rather tidy villages, Greek churches and school houses. 
 The islands are the government reserve, and arc leased by the 
 
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 INDUSTRIAL DP:VEL0PMENT. 
 
 United States Treasury Department for the term of twenty years. 
 It has been said, and that with truth, that for over a century 
 these four islands liave yielded more wealth than any gold mine 
 in the world. 
 
 With the settlement of the northwest coast, however, tlie pros- 
 perity of the islands has somewhat diminished, for the reason 
 that the seals have been exterminated ruthlessly. 
 
 A word here about the discovery of these islands. For forty 
 years Siberian traders hunted for the flibled island of Amik, where, 
 it was believed, the sea bears lived. In 1786 Gerassim Pribylov 
 heard the barking of the animals through the fog and fcnmd the 
 summer liome of the fur seals, It is said that 2,000,000 seals 
 were killed that year, and the wholesale destruction of the animals 
 has practicall)' kept up ever since, barring a short interim when 
 steps were taken of a preventive character to allow the rookeries 
 time to recuperate . 
 
 In 1835 the islands were ringed with ice so that the seals 
 could not land and their offspring died in the surf with their 
 mothers. Some years later the herd was nearly extinct again. 
 In 1844 Sir George Simpson found the company having control 
 over the islands taking from 200,000 to 300,000 skins annually. 
 The market at that time was so overstocked that the skins did 
 not pay for carr^-ing. 
 
 In cases of a glut of the market there have been times when 
 from 700,000 to 1,000,000 skins were thrown into the sea to 
 keep prices up. It was not until about the time of the transfer 
 of the country to the United States that the vast importance of 
 these four little islands was realized. 
 
 Seven Companies at Work. 
 
 No protection was afforded them in 1868, and at that time 
 seven companies had the privilege of devastating the islands and 
 
f» 
 
 
 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 327 
 
 slaughtering the animals, The next year, however, the islands 
 were declared a Government reserve, and a guard of soldiers 
 was stationed there. In 1870 the islands of St. Paul and St. 
 George and the seal fisheries were leased for a period of twenty 
 years to the Alaska Commercial Company, of San Francisco. 
 This company had previously purchased all the buildings and 
 the good will of the Russian-American I'\ir Company through- 
 out Alaska. 
 
 The company was permitted to kill 100,000 se^ls each year, 
 80,000 on St. Paul and 20,000 on St. George, for an annual 
 rental of $55,000. It is believed that the company divided from 
 $900,000 to $1,000,000 profits each year between twelve original 
 stockholders. In 1S90 a twenty-year lease was awarded to the 
 North American Commercial Compan)-. of San Francisco, at an 
 annual rental of $100,000, a tax of $9.62 on each 100,000 skins 
 taken, the islands then to return over a million a year to the 
 Government, or 14 per cent, on Secretary Seward's investment. 
 
 Miss Skidmore points out the fact that pelagic sealing and 
 rookery raiding by the Victoria fleet had so diminished the herd 
 that the lessees were only permitted to take 20,000 animals the 
 first season, and for three seasons, while the seal question was a 
 matter of diplomatic discussion, only the few seals necessary for 
 the food supply of the natives were killed. 
 
 Fur at Its Best. 
 
 The seal fur, she also states, is in its best condition immedi- 
 ately on the arrival of the animals at the islands, but they assume 
 new coat-, in August, so that they are in fine condition when 
 they leave at the end of September, (.hily male se.ils from two 
 to four years of age are killed. 
 
 The bach/;V)rs herd alone, smd the native?- nin in between 
 them dnt'} the watt^, in the early morning, and drive them slowly 
 
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 328 
 
 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 to the killing grounds, where they are dispatched by a blow on 
 the head. They are quickly bled and tlic skins taken to the 
 salting house. 
 
 It may be mentioned as a matter of interest that Miss Anna 
 Fulcomer, with whom an interview was given in another chap- 
 ter, had the privilege of visiting the sl d islands and the killing 
 grounds. She crept up behind a herd of animals as they were 
 sleeping, and softly stroked the ears of a big male. Her caress 
 awakened the animal, and, with hissing and barking, he roused 
 the rest of the herd, and the whole lot scampered off as fast as 
 
 they could. 
 
 The Fishing Industry. 
 
 The fisheries of the ccnuitrv have been one of the le.idin"; 
 sources of wealth to the time of the discovery of gold. Tt is to 
 be remembered that productive as sealing his been, a limit has 
 been reached in that industry which makes it, and. will for some 
 time make it, comp.iratively unproductive. The vast rivers of 
 Alaska. Iscvever, annu,illy teem with a wealth of fish, and the 
 wholesale netting of them seems in nowise to diminish the 
 number. 
 
 These fish vary in kind and are excellmt in qualit) , aiul will, 
 therefore, remain a constant source of wealth to the populace. 
 In .Southern Alaska and along the coast line many ver)' large 
 canneries have long been in o[)eration, and their output has been 
 something remarkable. There is no reason to belicxx that there 
 will be any falling off in this line of occupntion. Thousands of 
 people of every nationality are engaged in the fisheries, the 
 product of which is sent ail over the world. 
 
 Unlike the great mineral wealth of the countr\-, which lies 
 hidden from \iew, and has to await some chance discover}', the 
 fish that abound in the waters are open to view, and hence, there 
 was no dcki)- in the early development of this industry. Besides 
 
-"^■^~" '""'" 
 
 a^ 
 
 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 32{) 
 
 this, the canneries arc for the most part located near the coast 
 line, and hence those engaged in the business were not compelled 
 to go hundreds or perhaps thousands of miles over snow-clad 
 plains and mountains. 
 
 It was not necessary, further, to import into the country 
 expensive machinery, and it was not difficult to get natives and 
 other laborers from all over the world to engage in the work of 
 catching the fish. As a consequence, Alaska soon built up a 
 trade in the line of fisheries that placed it on a rank with the 
 greatest fishing centres of the world. 
 
 Home of the Salmon. 
 
 Alaska is the home, practically, of the salmon, of which there 
 .1' five distinct varieties. It has been pointetl out that the 
 Pacific salmon and the Pacific trout differ so from the Atlantic 
 species that the question has been raised whether there are true 
 salmon or trout on that coast, and whether any game laws can be 
 enforced under sucli names. 
 
 The king salmon is generally called the tyee, whicli means 
 chief. It averages from sixty to eighty pounds in the Stikine 
 River, and often exceeds one hundred pounds in the Yukon. 
 The fisli commonly come in pairs and not in great schools, and 
 hence it is not the whole pack of any cannery. 
 
 The red salmon is the blucback or Oregon Salmon, and is the 
 canners' favorite. It averages from six to ten pounds in weight, 
 comes in schools of vast size, and has flesh of a deep red color. 
 The silv m' salmon is the gamiest of the lot, and is the most 
 beautiful. Its flesh is pale, but has to be cared for almost imme- 
 diately. Otherwise it is unfit for canning purposes. The fish 
 iilways chooses clear water and shows a remarkable agility in 
 leaping waterfdls. 
 
 The humpbacked species is the most abundant. It averages 
 
 
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 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 from five to ten pounds in weight, and has flesh of a pale color 
 
 which cooks soft, and hence is not very desirable for packing 
 
 purposes. This fish has been known to jump falls sixteen feet 
 
 iiigh. In addition to these salmon there are the Dolly Varden 
 
 trout, which follow the s;ilmon in from the sea to devour their 
 
 eggs, and the cut-throat trout, which are often used at the 
 
 canneries. 
 
 Cod in Numbers. 
 
 The cod, which abound in Chatham Creek, are among the 
 more important fish of thr territory. The natives used to receive 
 two cents apiece for the 8ooo or io,ooo fisli of five pound aver- 
 age, which the}' brought in dail)' from their trawls. The cod are 
 dried artificial!)', and an excellent quality of cod liver oil L ,.iade. 
 
 Herring, too, which have been said to decide the destiny of 
 nations, also abound in these waters. They come in great shoals 
 or schools, and it is a matter of record that once in August the 
 mr.il steamer passed through one school for four hours, the water 
 being sil\-ered as far as could be seen with the fish. 
 
 The nali\'es do not take the trouble to fish for them in the usual 
 wa\' with ihc line .md hook or even with nets. They simply rake 
 them out with a l;;th set with naiN', r.nd an Indian or two can 
 usually fill a canor in an h(>\:r or so. The factory crew at Killis- 
 snoo often gets from 300 to 600 barrels of herring at a single 
 haul. Often 1000 b;irrels are seined at once, and it is not a 
 great while since 1 500 barrels were taken b}' one cast of the 
 seine in Sitka Harbor. 
 
 There is every reason to believe that the number of people 
 engaged in the fisheries in 1898 will be greater than in any pre- 
 ceeding year. As is said, the fish come annually in shoals that 
 are simply marvelous in point of extent, and are thus wholly 
 unlike the animals that for a long time afforded a source of 
 revenue to the hunters and trappers. 
 
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 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 It may be said here that hunting and trapping, while still pur« 
 sued ill Alaska, is in a certain sense, a thing of the past. It is 
 true, that the country abounds in foxes and bears that make 
 trapping for a limited number a remunerative source of employ- 
 ment. But the work of the Russians in the early days of the 
 country's history and of the men employed by John Jacob Astor, 
 has largely reduced the number of animals which would make 
 hunting a profit;ible venture for a great number. The great 
 companies of the olden lime live now only in recollection, and 
 it is thought there is little prospect that their activities will be 
 renewed. 
 
 Hunting for sport will doubtless for a long time, chiim atten- 
 tion, but, even this, in the districts invaded by the prf)spectors 
 and miners, is likely to lose its charms, for reason that the lack 
 of fresh meats in the mining camps has virluall)' made every 
 miner and prospector a foe to the animals whose flesh may be 
 used for food. In whole sections of the country, where claims 
 are now being worked, it is almost impossible to find the first 
 sign of game. 
 
 
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 Lumbering Prospects Not Good. 
 
 There also seems to be little prospect for a development of 
 the lumbering industr}-, since there is a marked unwillingness on 
 the part of capitalists to invest money in lumbering camps and 
 machinery unless the timber possibilities are such as to promise 
 good lumber in large a.nounts and under conditions that make 
 its handling not too expensive. This Alaska does not promise. 
 William Ogilvie, who made a thorough investigation of what 
 may be termed the timber lands of Alaska, speaks discourag. 
 ingly of the development of the lumbering industry. He says : 
 
 " The amount of timber fit for use in building and manufac- 
 turing in the district along the river is not at all important. 
 
 ;1... 
 
Si^^E^Ir^E^ 
 
 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 333 
 
 There is a large extent of forest which wouici yield firewood and 
 timber for use in mines, but for the manufacture of lumber there 
 is very little. 
 
 " To give an idea of its scarceness, I may state that two of 
 my party made a thorough search of all the timbered land 
 around the head of Lake Bennett, and down the lake for over 
 tcn miles, and in all this search only one tree was found suitable 
 for making such plank as was rccjuired for the construction of 
 our large boat. This tree made four planks, fifteen inches wide 
 at the butt, seven at the top, and thirty-one feet long. 
 
 " Such other planks as we wanted had to be cut out of short 
 
 logs, of which some, ten to fourteen inches in diameter and ten 
 
 to sixteen feet long, could be found at long intervals. The boat 
 
 required only 450 feet of plank for its construction, yet some of 
 
 the logs had to be carried nearly 200 yards, and two saw-pits 
 
 had to be made before that quantity was procured, and this 
 
 on ground that was all thickly wooded with spruce, pine, and 
 
 some balsam, the latter being generally the largest and cleanest- 
 
 trunked. 
 
 Trees on the Islands. 
 
 " The great bulk of the timber in the district suitable for 
 manufacture into lumber is to be found on the islands in the 
 river. On them the soil ; ; warmer and richer, the sun's rays 
 striking the surface for a much longer time and more directly 
 than on the banks. 
 
 " To estimate the quantity of timber in the \icinity of the river 
 in our territory would be an impossible task, having only such 
 data as I was able to collect on my way down. I would, how- 
 ever, say that one-fourth of the area I have given as agricultural 
 land would be a fair conjecture. This would give us two and a 
 half townships, or ninety square miles, of fairly well timbered 
 ground ; but it must be borne in mind that thert- is not more 
 
 
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 INDUSTRIAL DKVliLOPMKNT. 
 
 til 111 a square mile or so of that in any one place, and most of 
 the timber would be small and poor comprrod with the timber 
 of Manitoba and the easterly part of the northwest Territories. 
 " It may be said that the country mij^ht furnish much timber, 
 which, though not fit to be classed as merchantable, would meet 
 many of the requirements of the only industry the country is 
 ever likely to have, \'v/.., mining." 
 
 Largely a Mining Region. 
 
 The gener.d impression seems to be that, barring an enormou.s 
 fishing industry, and a possibly limited lumbering trade, the country 
 is destined to be largely a mining region. Still, the necessity oi 
 providing food for the miners has forced upon the attention alike 
 of prospectors ;'.nd capitalists the desirability of developing as far 
 as possible in the frozen north some form of r.griculture and gar- 
 dening that will obviate the necessity of tlu mining community 
 living virtually the year round on canned goods that are imported 
 from the south. 
 
 It is true th.at a large portion of the Territor}' is covered a 
 good slir.r.' of the year with fields of iec an! snow, but, while 
 there is a mirkc 1 difference of opinion, there is ground for the 
 belief that the c ountry has a future in an agricultural way quite 
 comparable with its future in other lines. As was shown in the 
 chapter on topography and climate, the shores of Alaska arc 
 washed by an ocean current that sweeps across the Pacific from 
 the coasts of Japan, and, in consequenci-, southern Alaska and 
 much of the coast district h.is a climate comparable with that 
 which makes, for inst.mci', the l^ritish Isles remarkable for their 
 fertility. 
 
 Sitka is no farther north than Ivliiiburg, and the northern- 
 most point of Sweden is nearer the North Pole than the north- 
 ernmost point of Alaska. The great warm current that tempers 
 
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INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 ^35 
 
 the climate of the Alaskan coast makes it, it is claimed by many, a 
 country in which agriculture may he followid as sucorssfuily as 
 in many of the older countries of the world, where the i limate is 
 not essentially different. 
 
 Simply Lacks Tilling. 
 
 It is claimed by many that all that is lacking near the coast is 
 for the soil to be tilled, and that it can be made to produce prac- 
 tically the same products that grow in Norway, Sweden and 
 Great Britain. That the extreme northern plains, where the 
 mercury often fdls to 80 or 90 degrees below 7,ero, and where, 
 even in midsummer, the ground only thaws out two or three 
 inches, can be transformed into an agricultural region, there are 
 few to believe. Rut most people who iiave visited the country 
 believe there are fertile regions enough to support millions of 
 people. 
 
 Baranof, in the early days of tiic Russian occupation of the 
 country cleared fifteen kitchen gardens. I le ripened barley and 
 potatoes and common vegetables, What is more, this has been 
 done every year since. If Alaska is a glacier-abounding and 
 snovv-chid country, it is nevertheless true that fine grasses spring 
 up natunilly on any clearing. Wild timoth}' and coarser grasses 
 commonly grow from three to four feet high, and clover thrives 
 about as lu.xuriantly as it does in more southern latitudes. 
 
 In the neighborhood of Vancouver the natives cultivate pota- 
 toes and a .sort of tobacco. ICach fmiily has its little plantation 
 sheltered away in some nook. I lere they plant their tubers and 
 sow their grain. Even in the barren regions of the north, Daw - 
 son City, Circle City and Klondike, it is a common practice of 
 the miners to grow turnips on the house tops. There the sini, 
 even in the depth of summer, only thaws out the ground two or 
 three inches, but by putting a generous covering of soil on the 
 
 
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 336 
 
 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
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 house tops, so that it gets the heat from the dwelling beneath, 
 little trouble is experienced in maturing vegetables. Apparently 
 what is lost in intensity of heat is made up by the length of the 
 •^eriod which the sun shines. 
 
 Garden Vegetables Raised. 
 
 Since the United States occupation of the country it has been 
 a common practice of residents in the more settled parts to raise 
 radishes, lettuce, onions, cauliflowers, cabbages, peas, turnips, 
 beets, parsnips and celery. Single i)otatoes have been produced 
 weighing as much as a pound and five ounces. Hay is com- 
 monly cured throughout the entire southeastern portion of 
 Alaska, and this has been done since 1805. It is said that by 
 adopting Norwegian methods larger and better crops could be 
 cured. 
 
 By way of comparison it may be stated that wheat is cultivated 
 ill Norway as far north as the 64th degree ; rj'e as far north as 
 thj 69th degree; liarlcy and oats as far north as the 70th degree. 
 Apples, plums and cherries come to maturity there up to the 64th 
 and 65th degrees, while raspberries, strawberries, currants and 
 gooseberries thrive well at the North Cape, which is 71 degrees 
 10 minutes. It is an often forgotten fact that throughout South- 
 ern Alaska, at least, there are two or three weeks of leally hot 
 weather, when the mercury rises as high as 92 degrees. 
 
 Dr. John G. Brady, a Presbyterian missionary at Sitka, 
 expresses the belief that the country has an agricultural future. 
 Says he : 
 
 " The Kake Indians furnished the Russians with potatoes. 
 Some of the natives at Wrangel are clearing off garden patches 
 this year. Much can be done in this direction, for Alaska will 
 furnish vegetables for a teeming population. There are several 
 thousand acres in the neighborhood of this place upon which 
 
INDUSTRIAL DKVELOI'MENT. 
 
 
 tlic fincsl vcgctiiblcs ni;i)' be r.iiscil with ccrtiiinl}'. The soil for 
 the most part is a vegetable mould mixed with saiul. 
 
 " Mr. Smiegh, of this place, has had a garden for the last 
 seven years. He says he has grown cabbages weighing twenty- 
 seven pounds. Me has tried peas, carrots, leeks, parsnips, tur- 
 nii)s, lettuce, radishes, onions, i)otatoes, parsley, celery, horse 
 r.idish and rhubarb. lie has also tried cucumbers and beans, 
 but they did not do well. Cauliflowers cind celery surpassed 
 any he raised in other pl.'-ces. 
 
 " The wild black currants abound in the woods. The tamo 
 currants do well. Gooseberries do well and have a delicate 
 flavor. The cal)bages grow wild and are six or eight inches in 
 diameter. Mr. Burns, who h.is had a garden for the last three 
 years, agrees with Mr. .Smiegh. The strawberry grows wild 
 near Mount Edgecombe." 
 
 Missions in the Wilderness. 
 
 Dr. .Sheldon Jackson, Commissioner of I'.ilucation, who had 
 spent many years traveling the .Alaskan Territor)-, was asked, 
 after the Klondike fever broke out and the grave tlifficulty of 
 supplying the mining colon\' with suitable food became a vital 
 problem, of his viiws of the agricultural possibilities of the coun- 
 try. It was Dr. Jackson, by the wa\-, who, in companj' with 
 .Mrs. McL'arland, took the initial steps in estaiilishing Presb)-terian 
 missions in the wilderness. 
 
 His residence in .Mask.i was protracteil and his work as a mis- 
 sionary took him to so man\- parts of the countr}- that he h,u\ 
 am[)le means to observe climatic conditions and the most desirable 
 places for agricultur.d enter[)rise. lie th( in aighly agreed with 
 those who had the interest of the miners at luart that it was a 
 matter of prime imi)ortance to take- innnediate stei)s for supi)l<;- 
 UKiiting the mining activities with agricultural enterprises thai 
 

 
 m^ 
 
 
 3^8 
 
 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 would limit the possibilities of suffering and disease. Said he : 
 " The warmest friends of Alaska do not claim that it is rich in 
 agricultural resources, or that it will agriculturally bear compari- 
 son with the rich valleys of the Mississippi River ; but they do 
 claim, that while there are large areas of mounta'ns and unpro- 
 ductive land agriculturally, yet there are valleys and plains where 
 with suitable care many of the earlier vegetables, fruits and grains 
 
 can be raised. 
 
 Gardening is Common. 
 
 " On Kadiak, on adjacent islands and on the shores of Cook's 
 Inlet, where there are small Russian Creole settlements, they 
 have for three-quarters of a century supplied themselves with 
 vegetables and potatoes raised in their own garuens. During 
 recent years the government and mission teachers in Southeast 
 Alaska have in some instances had good vegetable gardens. 
 
 In Northern Alaska, less than lOO miles south of the Arctic 
 Circle, the teachers of the Swedish Evangelical mission at Un- 
 alaska in 1891 cleared four acres of ground, on which they raised 
 seventy bushels of potatoes. As that region has a frozen sub- 
 soil covered with a heavy coating of moss, the removal of the 
 moss and the cultivation of the ground will cause the soil to 
 thaw out at a greater tlepth than it would otherwise. So that 
 years of cultivation will cause the ground to yield much more 
 plentifully than when first cultivated." 
 
 Dr. Jackson gave some interesting illustrations of experiments 
 that have been tried in various parts of the country, all going to 
 prove that, difficult and unsatisfactory as agricultural experiments 
 for a time might be, they would ultimately prove a success and 
 be a great blessing. Continuing he said : 
 
 "Jin 1887, on the site of Lake Labugo, on the headwaters of 
 the Yukon, over 2000 miles from Behring Sea, a missionary, 
 passing along, saw ten heads of volunteer wheat, nearly ripe, on 
 
INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 33J) 
 
 the twenty-second of August, in a place where some miners hat! 
 camped the year before and dropped the seed. 
 
 '* Not only in the mild belt of Southern Alaska, but also in 
 the Arctic and subarctic belt of Northern Alaska, various wild ber- 
 ries grow and ripen in profusion (cranberries, currants, raspberries, 
 huckleberries, blackberries, strawberries), and there is no (lues- 
 tion that if the government places Alaska on an equal footing 
 with the other States and Territories in the establishment of one 
 or more experimental stations, it will be demonstrated that suffi- 
 cient vegetables can be raised for the consumption of its people. 
 And if there is found a section so far north that the profitable 
 raising of vegetables and grains becomes impossible, that region 
 can be utilized by the introduction of herds of domestic reindeer." 
 
 Would Introduce Reindeer. 
 
 Dr. Jackson is an ardent advocate of the introduction of rein- 
 deer into Alaska, as a means of solving the transit difficulties. 
 Up to the present time, practically the only means of transporta- 
 tion on leaving the coast, is either to go up the rivers during the 
 brief summer months, or to take the overland trails during the 
 remaining nine P""^nths of the year, using dogs as pack animals, 
 and as steeds for sledges. On the matter of introducing rein- 
 deer into the country. Dr. Jackson said : 
 
 " Taking Norway and Sweden, where complete statistics are 
 to be had, as a basis of calculation, and appl)ing the same aver- 
 age to Alaska, it is found the country is capable of sustaining 
 9,200,000 head of reindeer, which will support a population of 
 287,500 living like the Laps of Lapland. 
 
 " The stocking of Alaska with tame reindeer means the open- 
 ing up of the vast and almost inaccessible central region of 
 No 'hern and Central Alaska to white settlers and civilization, 
 end the opening up of a vast commercial industry. 
 
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 340 
 
 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 ** Lapland, with 400,000 reindeer, supplies the j^roccry stores 
 of northern luirope with smoked reindeer hams, smoked tony;ues, 
 dried and tannetl hides, and 23,000 carcasses per annum to the 
 butcher shops. On the same basis, Alaska, with its capacity for 
 9,200,000 head of reindeer, can supply the markets of North 
 America with 500,000 carcasses of venison annually, together 
 with tons of delicious hams and tongues and finest leather. 
 Surely the creation of an industry worth from $83,000,000 to 
 $ 1 00,000,000 where none now exists is worthy the attention of 
 th ? American people." 
 
 Testimony of Mr. Ogilvie. 
 
 The testimony of William Ogilvie, who made an official report 
 to the Dominion Government of the characteristics of the coun- 
 try, its resources and its possibilities, is of importance, and ex- 
 tracts arc here given from that portion of the report bearing 
 upon feasibility of agricultural enterprises. Mr. Ogilvie is not an 
 enthusiast, and his statements may be taken as an impartial 
 account of the country by one who, trained in methods of obser- 
 vation, combines good judgment with the expedients of enforced 
 policy. As to the Yukon River and its valley Mr. Ogilvie says : 
 
 "The agricultural capabilities of the country along the river 
 arc not great, nor is the land that can be seen from the river of 
 good quality. When we consider further the unsuitable climatic 
 conditions that prevail in that region, it may be said that as an 
 agricultural district this portion of the country will never be of 
 any value. 
 
 " Many meteorological records show over 8 degrees of frost 
 on August 1st, over 10 on the third, and four times during the 
 month the minimum temperature was below freezing. 
 
 "Along the east side of Lake Bennett, opposite the Chilkoot 
 or western arm, there are some flats of dry, gravelly .soil, which 
 
INDUS'PRIAI- DKVKI.OI'MKN'r 
 
 841 
 
 would make a few farms of limited extent. On the west side, 
 
 around the mouth of the VVlieaton River, there is an extensive 
 
 flat of sand and jjravel, covered with small pine and spruce of 
 
 stunted growth. 
 
 Coarse Grass for Cattle. 
 
 "Along the western shore of Tagish Lake there is a large 
 extent of low, swampy flats, a part of which might be used for 
 the production of such roots and cereals as the climate would 
 permit. Along the 'vest side of Marsh I^kc there is also much 
 flat surface of the same general character, on which I saw some 
 coarse grass which would serve as food for cattle. Along the 
 cast side the surface appeared higher and terraced, and is 
 probably less suited to the requirements of the agriculturist. 
 
 "Along the head of the river for some miles below Marsh 
 Lake, there are flats on both sides, which would, as far as surface 
 conformation goes, serve as farms. The soil is of much better 
 quality than any heretofore seen, as is proved by the larger and 
 thicker growth of timber and underbrush which it supports. 
 The soil bears less the character of detritus, antl more that of 
 alluvium, than that seen above. 
 
 " Some miles down the lake an extensive valley joins that of 
 the lake an the west side. This valle}' contains a small stream. 
 Around this place there is some land that might be useful, as the 
 grass and vegetation is much better than any seen so far. 
 
 On the lower end of the lake, on the west side, there is also a 
 considerable plain which might be utilized ; the soil in parts of it 
 is good. I saw one part where the timber had been burned 
 some time ago ; here both the soil ami vegetation were good, 
 and two or three of the plants seen are common ii; this part of 
 Ontario, but they had not the vigorous appearance which the 
 same plants have here." 
 
 Mr. Ogilvie had not a little to say on the forestation of the 
 
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 342 
 
 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 country and its possibilities in the line of lumber. Speaking of 
 the timber lands in the district considered in the passage just 
 quoted, he says : 
 
 " Northward from the end of the lake there is a deep, wide 
 valley, which Dr. Dawson has named ' Ogilvie Valley.' In this 
 the mi.xed timber, poplar and .spruce, is of a size which betokens 
 a fair soil ; the herbage, too, is more than usually rich for this 
 region. This valley is extensive, and, if ever required as an aid 
 in the sustenance of our people, will figure largely in the district's 
 agricultural assets. 
 
 " Below the lake the valley of the river is not as a rule wide, 
 and the banks are often steep and high. There are, however, 
 many flat? of moderate extent along the river and at its con- 
 fluence with other streams. The soil of many of these is fair. 
 
 "About flirty miles above the mouth of the Pelly River there 
 is an extensive flat on both sides of the Lewis. The soil here is 
 poor and sandy, with small open timber. At Pelly River there 
 is a flat of considerable extent on which the ruins of Fort Selkirk 
 stand. It is covered with a small growth of poplar and a few 
 spruce. The soil is a gravelly loam of about eight inches in 
 depth, the subsoil being gravel, evidently detritus. This flat ex- 
 tends up the rive for some miles, but is all covered thickly with 
 timber, except a small piece around the site of the fort." 
 
 An Experimental Station. 
 
 There is every likelihood to believe that in the near future the 
 United States government will have an agricultural experimental 
 station in the valley of the Yukon. The desirability of such an 
 experimental farm growing out of the necessities and the hardships 
 of the mining populace was suggested by P. B. Weare, of the 
 North American Transportation and Trading Company. A 
 mcetinjj was held in Chicago early in August, 1897, at which 
 
 
 '.t y^ 
 
INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 343 
 
 the development of the agrieultural resources of Alaska was ex- 
 haustively discussed. 
 
 Secretary Wilson was present and pled^^ d himself to work for 
 the immediate establishment of such an experimental govern- 
 mental farm in the Yukon valley. He expressed it as his belief 
 that there would be little trouble in getting Congress to appro- 
 priate at least ;^ 1 5,000 for this purpose. So far as he knew, 
 there was no reason why a trial in the line of developing agri- 
 cultural industries in Alaska should not be made early in the 
 spring of 1898. 
 
 Mr. Weare's plan contemplates the sending of a body of ex- 
 perienced farmers from the older and better settled States, and 
 putting into their hands every possible means for testing what can 
 be done in raising grains, fruits and vegetables. Secretar\- Wilson 
 was entirely in accord with ^l:. Weare, and the belief was ex- 
 pressed that within a few years there will be thousands of acres 
 under cultivation at no great distance from the gold fields in the 
 
 Yukon valley. 
 
 Views Thought Utopian. 
 
 Many to whom this plan of establishing a government farm 
 was broached thought the views of Mr. W^eare and Secretary 
 Wilson a little too Utopian. They thought it might be possible 
 to make a great success of farming in Southern Alaska, sa}', in 
 the neighborhood of Sitka, but considered that the climate was 
 too rigorous and the summer season too short for farming to be 
 a success along the Yukon and Klondike rivers. It was generally 
 conceded, however, that it would be a long step towards the 
 solution of the food problem if agriculture could be developed to 
 a large extent in the southern portion of the tcrritor}-, so that 
 the matter of transporting provisions to the camps would not be 
 so costly. 
 
 After the decision to establish the experimental farm had 
 
 
 
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 ili'i 
 
 1 s' 
 
 I V 
 
 nu 
 
 iNinsTKiAi, i)i:\i:i,()PMi:Nr. 
 
 been made, Secretary Wilson cxprcsscil liiinsilf as follows: 
 " I am t;reatly intercsled in llio {Uvi.lopmcnt of Alaska. With 
 the aid of three experiineed men, who arc now in the Yukon 
 countr)', the Department of Agriculture is makint^ extensive in- 
 vestigations, with a view of learning the value of the agricultural 
 resources of tln' principal valle\-s, and it is certain an experi- 
 mental farm will be established within a year near the juiu'tion 
 of the Yukon and Tanano rivers, or in some other favor^iblc 
 
 location." 
 
 Projects of Individuals. 
 
 The same all-important work which the IJniled Stales govern- 
 ment will take upon its hands and push will probably receive 
 great assistance from private entrrprises. Scarcely hi;,d the 
 Klondike fever broken <^ut, and reports as to tlie tlifilculty of get- 
 ting good wholesome fooil at the mining camps had been brought 
 south, when Swan I'rederickson, a hardy Norseman, who had 
 served for years with the Hudson Bay Company, came forward 
 with a j)ro[)osition for a compan)' to be called The Alaska Set- 
 tlement Company, whose :\\\:\ it should be to encourage iniigra- 
 tion and foster agriculture in the country immctliately south of 
 the Yukon. 
 
 Frederickson saiil that he had lived too long in Alaska not to 
 know what he was about, and that he was satisfied that with 
 ample capital and judicious methods of procedure the population 
 of the territory could be greatly increased and thousands of acies, 
 that now are of no use whate\er, could be reclaimed and made 
 to subserve the c:>mfort and happiness of the people. lie said 
 it only wanted pluck, enterprise and perseverance to make Alaska 
 from the southern limit virtually to the Yukon River one of the 
 happiest agricultural regions in America. 
 
 With a capital of $100,000 h'rederickson is positive he can 
 start some thrifty st^ttlcmeiits of Norsemen farmers, and the com- 
 
INDUSTRIAL DFAT.LOl'MENT. 
 
 345 
 
 pany will make j.lcnty of money by a monopoly of town site 
 and commercial privileges. He insists that a gooil business can 
 be clone in raising beef, mutton, hardy vegetables and horse fod- 
 der for the thousands of miners who are pouring into Alaska. 
 The numbei to be fed will increase rapidly from now on, and 
 I'rederickson waxis enthusiastic in discussing the possibilities of 
 his scheme ; but there is no capital yet in sight iui larting the 
 work. 
 
 Farming Not Enticing. 
 
 Farming in Alaska does not sound like a paiticularly enticing 
 proposition, ')• i there are other enthusiasts besides Frtclcrickson 
 who arc pushing tlie idea. They not only maintain that grains 
 and grasses can be raised in some parts of the Territory, but 
 even talk about vegetables and fruits. What's more, they quote 
 Joaquin Miller's letters in support of their scheme. 
 
 Ranch booming in southern California in its palmiest days 
 never had more earnest advocates than these men who are try- 
 ing to develop the agricultural and horticultural possibilities of 
 Alaska. Th'-y have no land to sell there, but they want to go 
 into the farming business under tlie shade of Mount St. Klias or 
 some other fivorcd spot, and would like some capital to make a 
 start on, with big profits later on for all interested parties. 
 
 As a berry-growing region Alaska has greater promise than 
 would be supposed for a countrj' part of which lies beyond the 
 Arctic Circle. At present it is reported there is but one fruit 
 tree growing in that climate, it being a wild crabapple, which is 
 not palatable. Whether or not the hardier forms of apples 
 growing in the Northern States will thi^e and the fruit come to 
 maturity on the prairies along the Yukon is a question, But a 
 great variety of berries do grow, and many of them grow wild. 
 
 Strawberries, cranberries, gooseberries, raspberries and huckle- 
 berries not infrequently attain great size, A berry unknown in 
 
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 III 
 
 (I " i ' -ri 
 
 m 
 
 ill. M,3 ' 1 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 
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 1 * *- 
 
 346 
 
 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 southern regions, the roscberry, which grows on a species of 
 rosebush, abounds in the Alaskan valleys. These berries arc 
 said to be delicious. They grow in large quantities in Russia, 
 where the natives make preserves that they prize most highly. 
 For some time large invoices of cranberries grown in Alaska 
 have been received and sold in the markets of San Francisco. 
 
 It is reasonable to suppose that when small fruits grow wild in 
 such abundance they can be easily cultivated and produce a 
 profitable crop. Indeed, it is believed that more money can be 
 made in raising berries there than in mining gold — at all events 
 there is less risk of loss. Turnips, radishes, potatoes, and cab- 
 bages can be raised in the climate, it is believed. 
 
 IndustrJes Largely Transformed. 
 
 An enterprise was proposed early in August, 1897, with the 
 purpose of making the raising of dogs a distinct and separate 
 enterprise or industry in Alaska, somewhat on the line of Dr. 
 Jackson's proposition to introduce reindeer as a means of solving 
 the transportation problem. The enterprise grew out of the 
 scarcity of sledge dogs on the overland routes. 
 
 A kennel owner offered to furnish a stock of draft dotjs and 
 take in payment part cash and the rest in the stock of the com- 
 pany which he [:.roposed to organize. There was no intention of 
 introducing any of the breeds of dogs commonly found in the 
 Southern States. These it was said would be wholly worthless 
 for the purpose for which animals are needed in Alaska. On the 
 contrary, dogs used in Siberia and other countries too cold for 
 horses, would be imported and bred in such numbers as to sup- 
 ply the demand and make the enterprise a success from a finan- 
 cial standpoint. 
 
 Short as is the history of Alaska, it will be seen that its indus- 
 tries and its commercial enterprises have been practically trans- 
 
 ''3 i;^ '. i 
 
INDUSTRIAT, DEVELOPMENT 
 
 347 
 
 formed since the first days of Russian occupation, and it will 
 also be seen that there is every prospect that the transformation 
 will be still greater during the two or three years, following the 
 discovery of gold in the Yukon Valley, Of the first commer- 
 cial enterprises carried on in the country practicall)' only one 
 survives to-day in a hojieful and remunerative way. Seal fishing, 
 as has been shown, has had its day of rise and decadence. The 
 time was when hundreds of thousands of valuable skins in 
 periods of glutted market were thrown into the sea for the mere 
 purpose of keeping up the prices. To-day while scaling is still 
 carried on, it is carried on in a way so limited as to contrast 
 strangely with the former d'ys of intense activity in this industr)'. 
 
 The Seal Fisheries. 
 
 The same is true of hunting and trai)ping on the mainland. 
 The yearly output is now in no wise .omparable with that of the 
 palmy days of the Russian I'ur Company and the .American Fur 
 Company. The falling away in sealing is due to the wholesale 
 slaughter of the animals, for whose preservation the Government 
 was oblifjed to take the strictest measures. It is alto";ether 
 probable that with a wise policy in limiting the number of seals 
 killed for their furs, sealing may in future years be as profitable 
 as ever. It is not deemed probable that hunting and trapping 
 wild animals on the mainland for their furs will ever be what it 
 once was. 
 
 The fishing industry on the coast and along the ri\ers is 
 bound, it is said, to continue, not merely holduig its own, but 
 developing into ever increasing enterprises. There is much 
 to be hoped for in the limber districts, for despite the adverse 
 ri'ports that have been made on tiu' forestation of the countr\', 
 it must be remembered that there are whole regions where 
 tile white man nas scarcely set foot. What these unknown 
 
 
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 5 
 
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 191' ', '*^ 1 
 
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 348 
 
 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 regions may contain is now a mere matter of conjecture. The 
 history of hjmbering in the United States shows that this industr}- 
 is a mere growth dependent upon exploration and subsequent 
 enterprise. It is not unlikely that lumbering in the wilds of 
 Alaska will dev'clop into something which even the most sanguine 
 to-day little suspect. 
 
 Mining and Agriculture. 
 
 In view of the excitement incident to the discover)^ of gold in 
 the Yukon Valley and the impetus it has given, not merely to 
 the work of prospectors and miners, but to that of scientific 
 investigators, the probability is that the leadmg industry of Alaska 
 for many years to come will be that of mining. And directly 
 connected with and dependent upon it, there is likelihood also of 
 a marked development of agricultural pursuits. 
 
 Until early in 1897, when travelers returned from Alaska and 
 were asked what the chief occupations of the people were, they 
 would say, of course, fishing and hunting. But the mere fortu- 
 nate discovery of golden treasure in the ground will likely give 
 a new trend to the entire development of the country. To shoot 
 and trap and fish was naturally both the amusement and the 
 employment of the Indians and Esquimeaux and such white 
 men as ventured into the country on trips of exploration. 
 
 But with the white man as a hunter for gold instead of for 
 animals, it was a different matter. He came, he saw, he dug, 
 and in digging he found riches. The glittering gold greeted his 
 eyes and the fever of gold fell upon the whole country. It is 
 the common belief that this malady, engendered by good fortune, 
 will shape the destinies of Alaska, and transform it from an 
 unknown wilderness of plains and valleys and mountain peaks 
 and glaciers into one of the most remarkable and important 
 mining and agricultural regions of the world. 
 
 'i!Sv' 
 

 
 for 
 
 11 fT 
 
 chaiti:r XII. 
 Resources and Wealth. 
 
 Record as a Fur Country — State of Development Twenty Years Ago — How 
 the Golden Treasures were Discovered and Developed — Report of Geo- 
 logical Survey Expert Spurr — Professor Elliott's Review — Alaska Richer 
 than Klondike — West of the Coast Range — Mint Director Preston's 
 Views — United States Leads the World in Gold Production — Prom the 
 Alaska Mining Record — Value of Yukon Gold — Cook's Inlet Diggings 
 — Some Scattered Streaks — Experts in the Field — John W. Mackey 
 Quoted — Other Mineral Resources — Canadian Report. 
 
 IN 1 867 most people who freed their minds had only hard 
 things to say of " Ru^^sian America," which the policy of 
 William H. Seward had just incorporated in the territorial 
 area of the United States. Seven millions, even in those days of 
 " war prices," seemed a large sum to throw away, and all but a few 
 long-headed men regarded as clearly thrown away money used 
 to acquire that reputed ice-locked land of bergs and glaciers. 
 They were certain no good thing could come out of it, and their 
 expectations of returns on the nation's investment were circum- 
 scribed by estimates of the interest on the purchase price which 
 the fur industry would probably pay. That there was or ever 
 would be anything in the " great country " except fur, was not a 
 canon of the popular faith. And faith was the largest ingredient 
 in the logic with which Seward supported his project — faith in 
 the still hidden treasures of that vast terra incognita, which, it 
 seems, has waited thirty years for justification. 
 
 Repellant to the immigrant as Alaska ha.-- seemed for most 
 of three decades, it would appear likeK' th.it the region is about to 
 be shown as one of the rich areas of the nation. The gold 
 craze on the Canadian Klondike has not only served to stimulate 
 the news of other gold discoveries in the adjacent United States 
 
 349 
 
1 \i % H 
 
 'I 
 
 ''^>; 
 
 III! 'It,' . if 
 
 lltti'i * *"■ ■ ''« 
 
 
 350 
 
 RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 
 
 territory, but has brought to light before the public the existence 
 of other wealth producing resources within the old Russi.m 
 colony which have hitherto been known or guessed at only by a 
 few, and which promise well for development. 
 
 What arc the resources of Alaska ? 
 
 First, of course, in present importance arc the mineral deposits 
 and here gold is at the head of the list. There is silver, too, as 
 usual, associated with the more precious metal, liesides these 
 there are copper, iron, lead, plumbago, marble, coal, sulphur, 
 bismuth, kaolin fireclay, gypsum and petroleum. 
 
 Allied to these minerals are many gems, among them the 
 famous Alaskan diamonds, garnets, amethysts, zeolites, agates 
 and cornelians. Tussil ivory is frequently found, and it has been 
 claimed by scientific men that tlie ivory fin^,s in the frost beds of 
 Siberia might probably be duplicated in Alaska as the result of 
 systematic prospecting for these treasures of extinct pachyderms. 
 
 Vegetable and Animal. 
 
 The resources of Alaska in the vegetable kingdom cover a 
 |ong list of valuable woods, the cedars especially being unsur- 
 passed. Small fruits are plentiful in the southeastern or Sitkan 
 portion, and experiments within a few years give hopes that 
 agriculture and stock-raising are not impossible industries, but 
 they lack the confirmation of extensive experience. 
 
 In the animal kingdom furs from amphibious and land animals 
 are the principal sources oi wealth. The whale fisheries have 
 hitherto been profitable industries, but the extermination of the 
 •' right " whale by the hunters and the market for oil and " bone " 
 have latterly reduced the value of this industry as a resource. The 
 salmon, which abound in Alaskan waters, have developed two great 
 industries in canning and salting, and the cod fisheries on the great 
 banks along the Aleutian chain are important. There are many 
 

 ff^St-'*?-* 
 
 RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 
 
 351 
 
 other food fishes, also, ample for local consumption, but of a com- 
 mercial value not yet ascertained. It has been said there is 
 "more fish than water in Alaska;" but this may be taken as 
 hyperbole. As to the food animals, a project is under way to 
 introduce reindeer into the country for the value there may be 
 in their hides and meat, but the scheme is still in the experi- 
 mental stage. 
 
 In any estimate of either the resources or the native and 
 natural wealth of Alaska, it should be borne in mind that no 
 systematic development has yet taken place along any lines 
 except the fur and salmon industries. Except in the Sitkan 
 region, the exploitation of the gold area has been more acci- 
 dental than designed, and comparatively no attention has been 
 paid to the other minerals. There are no statistics from which 
 to compile comparative tables, and all statements must perforce 
 parta'.c of the nature of generalities. The Russians had no use 
 for ^ iska except for its furs, and for ten years after the terri- 
 tory i.ad passed from the dominion of the double-headed eagle 
 to that of the one-headed bird of Uncle Sam the nt.-w owners 
 had no definite idea that they had bought anything more valu- 
 able than fur seals and sea otters. 
 
 MMgw| 
 
 
 \: 
 
 Twenty Years Ago. 
 
 In 1877 lionry W. I'LUiott wrote as follows of the new Territory : 
 "At present, however, beyond the fur trade, there is nothing 
 doing whatever in Alaska — no settlers, no mines, no mills. If 
 we ever utilize the spruce and fir timber on tin; Sitka coast we 
 must encourage and foster the effort in the line of ship-building, 
 for this timber is too gummy and resinous for the ordinary use 
 of house-building and furniture-making. If gold or silver is dis- 
 covered in Alaska it must be of unusual richness, or it will never 
 support any considerable body of men up there, so far away 
 
 fell 1. y 
 
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 :.'•>. 1.1 
 
 It 
 
 
 
 ^;4: ill 
 
 ^jii; 
 
 1 
 
 i :|. 
 
 352 
 
 RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 
 
 from the sources of necessary supply. The re])uted Alaska 
 gokl mines are not in Alaska at all." 
 
 Mr, r.lliott was a noted and shrewd observer, and he had had 
 ten years acquaintance with Alaska, but Birch Creek and Forty- 
 Mile were then unheard of, and even the auriferous riches of 
 Douglas Island were not dreamed of. 
 
 Gold on Douglas Island. 
 
 Gold-bearing rock was discovered on Douglas Island in i88o, 
 and the next year the famous Treadwell mine was located ihere 
 in the largest solid body of ore on the Coast. The deposit is a 
 mountain of gold-bearing quartz, worked from the surface like 
 an ordinary stone quarry. The ore only runs from three dollars 
 to seven dollars to the ton, but as it costs one dollar and a quar- 
 ter or less a ton to mill it, the property is considered one of the 
 most profitable mines in the world. The largest stamp mill in 
 the world, running 240 stamps, handles *!ie output. 
 
 Following the location of the Treadwell mines other gold 
 areas were discovered, and it soon became well known on the 
 coast that there was yellow dust in many portions of the "Pan- 
 Handle," and also in the Yukon liasin, though the rigor of the 
 climate and the remoteness of the diggings from bases of sup- 
 plies long kept the country from being developed in response to 
 the impulse of the discoveries. 
 
 Then came the placers around Circle City and Fort Cudahy, 
 and hard after them the marvelous strikes in the Klondike just 
 across the border, and the golden future of Alaska was an estab- 
 lished fact. 
 
 The report on the Yukon gold region by Josiah Edward 
 Spurr, the geological survey expert, who headed a party that 
 made a thorough investigation in Alaska lasc summer, giv(>s new 
 facts about the interioi . It ^ays as to the Forty-Mile gold dis- 
 
 
ip- 
 
 to 
 
 lb 
 
 RESOURCES AND WEATTH. 
 
 353 
 
 trict that in the latter part of 1887 gold was struck in Franklin 
 Gulch, and ever since it has been a constant pa)'cr. The dis- 
 covery of Davis Creek and a stampede from h>anklin Gulch 
 followed in the spring of 1S88. In 1891 gold mining in the 
 interior, as well as on the coast, at Silver How Basin and Tread- 
 well, received a great impetus. The event of 1892 was the 
 discovery of Miller Creek. In the spring of 1893 many new 
 claims were staked, and it is estimated that eighty men took out 
 ;^ 100,000. Since then Miller Creek has been the heaviest pro- 
 ducer of the Forty-Mile district, and until recently of the whole 
 Yukon. Its entire length lies in British possessions. The output 
 for 1893, as given by the Mint Director, for the Alaskan creeks, 
 nil but Miller Creek being in American possessions, was j> 198,000, 
 with a mining population of 196. 
 
 The total amount produced by the Yukon placers in 1894 was 
 double that of the previous year. In 1895 the output had 
 doubled again. 
 
 Forty-Mile district in the summer of 1 896 is described in the 
 report as looking as if it had seen its best tlays, and unless 
 several new creeks are discovered it will lose its old josition. 
 
 Large Profits Reported. 
 
 The Birch Creek district was last su.iimer in a flourishing 
 condition. Most of the gulches were then running, miners were 
 working on double shifts, night and day, and many large profits 
 were reported. On Mastadon Creek, the best producer, over 
 thirty miners were at work, many expecting to winter in the 
 gulch. As to hydraulicking, the report says : *' Some miners 
 have planned to work this and other good ground supposed to 
 exist under the deep covering of moss and gravel in the wide 
 valley of the Mamm- th and Crooked creeks by hydraulicking, 
 the water to be obtained by tapping Miller and Mastadon creeks 
 23 
 
 & 
 
 J>**i 
 
 iik 
 
 0^» 
 
 
SM 
 
 RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 
 
 '» I «( 
 
 III.. . ' * :: 
 
 < \* i 
 
 !i?» 
 
 near the head. It will be several years before the scheme can 
 be operated, because both of the present gulches are paying well 
 and will continue do so for at least five years." 
 
 Expert Spurr's report on the Klondike district is as follows : 
 " With the announcement of gold here in the winter of 1 896- 
 97 there was a genuine stampede to the new region. Forty- 
 Mile was almost deserted. But 350 men spent the winter on 
 the Klondike, in the gulches and at the new town of Dawson. 
 The more important parts of the district are on the Bonanza and 
 Hunker creeks. According to the latest information 400 claims 
 have been located up to January i, 1897 ; about half as many on 
 Hunker Creek. There is plenty of room for many more pros- 
 pectors and miners, for the gulches and creeks which have 
 shown good prospects spread over an area of 700 square miles. 
 The estimated Alaskan gold production for 1896 is $1,400,000. 
 
 Professor Elliott Again. 
 
 It is interesting at this point to see how Professor Elliott's 
 views have changed between 1877 and 1897. Here is what he 
 said last summer of Alaska : 
 
 " My experience in the KlondiKe region leads me to believe 
 that while there is considerable gold in the crevices and along 
 the rivers, washed down for ages from the mountains by attri- 
 tion and the glacial displacements, the ' pockets ' in which large 
 quantities are to be found, including nuggets and much pure 
 gold, are comparatively few. One man may find a ' pocket,' 
 and get thousands from it, while hundreds of others may toil 
 near by for a few dollars' worth of metal a day. I understand 
 there are now about 7,000 people in the Klondike region seek- 
 ing for gold, while hundreds of others are flocking there as fast 
 as possible. Mark my word, you will hear of a lot of disgusted 
 men returning to the States next spring, having failed to ' strike 
 
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 ttri- 
 Irge 
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 fast 
 Ited 
 like 
 
 RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 
 
 355 
 
 it rich,' as they had hoped. I would advise no man who is estab- 
 lished in business here, who is married, or who has any respon- 
 sibility resting upon him, to go to the new gold fields. 
 
 "Alaska is a healthful country, there being no malaria or 
 mountain fever. A curious fact is that any one afflicted with 
 neuralgia or rheumatism is completely cured of it in that cli- 
 mate. The clear, dry atmosphere and the rapid changes of the 
 body's tissues doubtless account for this. One's appetite is tre- 
 mendous in that climate. A man will eat four times as much 
 food as he does here and not feel uncomfortable. 
 
 " There is plenty of fuel, poplar, beech and fir trees lining 
 the numerous streams. Of course, the culling and hauling of 
 timber make it very expensive. Houses are nothing but log 
 huts, two or three feet of which are below ground, with earth 
 banked about the sides and even over the roofs. Eight or ten 
 miners will lie down to sleep on the rude bunks within these 
 cabins, wrapped in their heavy blankets." 
 
 Alaska Richer than Klondike. 
 
 A scientific expert of the Coast Survey, who knows what he 
 is talking about from experience, believes Alaska is richer than 
 the Klondike. He sums up his reasons thus : 
 
 "A study of the map convinces me that the greater part of the 
 gold fields of the extreme Northwest will finally be found within 
 the limits of our territory. I went through Alaska as a member 
 of the boundary commission, and am very familiar with the valley 
 of the Yukon and the surrounding country. The greatest activity 
 in placer mining is now in the British possessions, about fort)' 
 miles east of the 141st meridian, which is our boundary. But if 
 you look at the map and see where gold has been found, you 
 will observe that all the lodes seem to lead into Alaska. 
 
 "There is a certain regularity about gold findings. South of 
 
 '•'^^^ 
 
356 
 
 RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 
 
 SI: 
 
 (llB-i"»^f t ^p 
 
 m!H' 
 
 I 1" 
 
 \m' u i^ 
 
 the Klondike in liritish Columbia is the Cariboo rej^ion, which 
 was the scene of a former gold excitement. Crews on vessels 
 deserted, and there was tlie same sort of a rush, on a smaller 
 scale, that we have seen in the Klondike. Then directly cast of 
 tile ' Pan-Handle ' of our Alaska territory is the celebrated Cas- 
 .siar country. Here are the headwaters of the Pelly River, and 
 the confluence of the Lewis .and the Pelly makes the Yukon. The 
 richness of the Cassiar country has long been known, and it be- 
 longs to the same general trend, geologically speaking, as the 
 Klondike. This trcntl is parallel to the west coast of the conti- 
 nent. Wherever the tributaries of these rivers have been pros- 
 pected gold has generally been found. Fcrty-Mile Creek, Sixty- 
 Mile Creek and liirch Creek are instances in point. The 
 headwaters of all these streams are in a group of mountains, the 
 area of which is probably a thousand square miles. It is mostly 
 unexplored, but largely within the territory of the United States, 
 ami it is probably rich in gold. Of the country farther north we 
 know little as yet, although it is well watered, and belongs to the 
 same mountain range. It is entirely likely that placer mining 
 can be carried on through this country for a distance of 500 
 
 miles. 
 
 West of Coast Range. 
 
 " Besides this trend of gold country parallel to the west coast, 
 it will be observed that there is another remarkable region west 
 of the coast range, which converges into the same Alaskan 
 territory. Beginning at Juneau there is a great deal of quartz 
 mining and near that town the largest stamp mill in the world has 
 been built. The ore is a low grade, yielding only about $2.50 a 
 ton, but it can at that figure be very profitably worked. At 
 Yakutat Bay, right under Mount St. Elias, there is considerable 
 placer mining, and at Cook's Inlet, farther north, still more. 
 Compared with the region in Alaska, which now seems likely 
 
RESOURCHS AND WKALTII. 
 
 367 
 
 to be rich in gold, the California territory was very small. 
 " I am much impressed with the opportunities for prolit in 
 other thinj^s in Alaska besides this t;old. The fisheries of the 
 coast are most remarkable, and when fully developed may yield 
 larger returns than the mines. Then th<; coal, now that a popu- 
 lation is going into tlie country which will want to use it, is a 
 very important thing. Some sy.stem of ea.sy transportation 
 across country, from one river to another, might be profitably 
 established. The inhabitants of the Yukon Valley will always 
 have to draw their food supplies from the outside. That is one 
 of the most desolate regions on the face of the earth. Game is 
 very scarce. The Indi.ui population is slight, which proves how 
 difficult it must be to get food." 
 
 Rich Finds in Alaska. 
 
 F. G. H. Rovvker, one of the returned Yukoners, who brings 
 back nearly $40,000 in gold dust, the result of si.\ months* 
 work, is authority for the statement that on the American side 
 of the international boundary placer fields have been found 
 which even put those of the Klondike into the shade. 
 
 When his party was descending the Yukon on the return from 
 Dawson City the steamship was intercepted b\- a man who 
 desired to send letters and papers back to civilization. This man 
 was one of a party who had gone down the river from Dawson 
 in the hope of locating rich beds of which Indians in the vicinity 
 had been telling. The members of the party were well known to 
 the Yukoners and full credence is given to the .story. 
 
 Bowkerand his associates were told that just acros;^ the Alaska 
 boundary, on the American side, the party had found placer 
 fields fabulously rich in gold. They had staked out claims and 
 begun to work them. 
 
 " Every one of us has taken out thousands of dollars m dust 
 
 
 
 
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 WHi 
 
 
 PI "Hi 
 
 3r)8 
 
 RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 
 
 and nuggets already," said Howker's informant, " and there 
 seems no limit to the gold in sight. It is more abundant than 
 on the Klondike and easier to work, the gold being very near 
 the surface of the ground. We arc all rich already, but we arc 
 going to stay through next winter." 
 
 Further information was conveyed that there were only white 
 men in the new district, and they had the field practically to 
 themselves. They advised Bowker and his companions to for- 
 sake Klondike claims on their return from the States and take 
 claims in the new diggings. 
 
 The point at which the fortunate treasure-hunters arc working 
 is northwest of Dawson and but a few miles west of the bound- 
 ary. Their claims are in a valley of one of the numerous creeks 
 emptying into the Yukon. 
 
 Mint Director's Report. 
 
 Director of the Mint Preston, in a report on the gold of Alaska 
 and the adjoining Klondike territory, which may fairly be con- 
 sidered at the same time as the Alaskan auriferous area, since 
 the lodes and placiers of one are for practical purposes precisely 
 similar to those of the other, says : 
 
 "That gold exists in large quantities in the newly discovered 
 Klondike district is sufficiently proven by the large amount re- 
 cently brought out by the steamship companies and miners 
 returning to the States who went into the district within the last 
 eight months. So far ;$ 1,500,000 in gold from the Klondike 
 District has been deposited at the mints and assay offices of the 
 United States, and from information now at hand there are sub- 
 stantial reasons for believing from 1^3,000,000 to 1^4,000,000 
 additional will be brought out by the steamers and returning 
 miners sailing from St. Michael's the last of September or early 
 October next. One of the steamship companies states that it 
 
 !*!• 
 
RESDI'RCT.S AND WEATTH. 
 
 35!) 
 
 
 »■'«. 
 
 expects to brin^ out about 52,000,000 on its steamer sailing,' from 
 St. Michael's on September 30th, and has asketl the government 
 to have a revenue cutter act as a convoy throuj^h the Ik'hring 
 Sea. In view of the facts above stated, I am justified in estima- 
 ting that the Klondike District will augment the world's gold 
 supply in 1S97 nearly <l6,ooo,ooo. 
 
 Richness of the Klondike. 
 
 "The gold product of the Dominion of Canada for 1896, as 
 estimated by Dr. G. M. Dawson, Director of the Geological 
 Survey of that country, was j52, 8 10,000. Of this sum the 
 Yukon placers, within British territory, were ci edited with a pro- 
 duction of $355,000. The total product of that country for 
 1897 nas been estimated at $10,000,000, an increa.sc over 1896 
 of 57,200,000. I'Vom this the richness of the newly-discovered 
 gold fields of the Klondike is 'evident. 
 
 " Of all the gold-producing countries, of course, the Klondike 
 is at present one of most absorbing interest. It strikes the 
 imagination to-day as California did the minds of the forty- 
 niners. It will add in 1897 possibly $6,000,000 to the gold 
 treasure of the world. 
 
 " Now as to the influence of such addition to the world's 
 gold, the influence it will exert depends mainly on how many 
 years the Klondil. j District shall continue a producer and how 
 large its annual increment to the world's existing stock of gold 
 shall be. There is every reason to believe that Alaska and the 
 adjacent British territory are possibly as rich in gold as was 
 California and Australia when first discovered. I have estimated 
 that the Klondike district will in 1897 produce $6,000,000 worth 
 of gold. It will add to the product from year to year probably 
 for a minimum of one or two decades." 
 
 Mr. Preston calls attention to the fact that the United States 
 
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 300 RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 
 
 leads the world in gold production. He estimates the gold pro- 
 duction of the world for 1896 to have been $205,000,000, of 
 which the United States contributed over 553,000,000. For 
 1897 it is believed the world's gold product will reach at least 
 $240^00,000, an increase of $35,000,000 over 1896. He says : 
 " As an indication of the increase in the world's gold product 
 for 1897 the following table, showing the product of the United 
 States, Australia, South Africa, Russia, Mexico, British India antl 
 Canada for 1896, and the probable output of these countries for 
 1897, is given : 
 
 1S9(). 18!>7. 
 
 United vStates |;.">;5,000.000 |. ;0, 000, 000 
 
 Australia 4(),-J-')0,000 r)2,.')50,000 
 
 South Africa 44,000,000 AG.OOO.OOO 
 
 Russia '..'•2,000,000 25,000,000 
 
 Mexico 7,000,000 <»,0()0,000 
 
 British India r,,S00,000 7,000,000 
 
 Canada 2,S00,0OO 10,000,000 
 
 Total |1S0,S50,000 jS5211),o.j0,000 
 
 " That the world's great product will continue to increase for 
 a number of years to come," says Mr. Preston, " is self-evident, 
 as new mines will be opened up in all parts of the world, and 
 with the improved appliances and methods for extracting the gold 
 contained in the ores it is believed that by the close of the present 
 century the world's gold product will exceed $300,000,000. 
 
 From the Mining Record. 
 
 The Alaska Mining Record, in a summary of the business of 1 896, 
 gives some interesting figures, as follows, about the gold output : 
 
 " The output of the mines of Alaska is difficult of estimation. 
 The vastness of the mining territory, the extremely migratory 
 characteristic of the population and the entire absence of reports 
 and statistics from a great part of the smaller camps render it 
 
 
.'Mi; ■' 
 
 RESOURCES AND WEAITH. 361 
 
 difficult to arrive at a statement approximating correctness except 
 by careful study and watchful attention to every detail. The 
 following estimate is the result of just such work, and is believed 
 to be as nearly correct as is possible, and still represent fully, 
 yet conservatively, the production of gold in Alaska during 1896: 
 
 Total output of quartz mines |2,3")"),000 
 
 Lituya Bay placer mines lo.UOO 
 
 Cook Inlet placer mines 175,000 
 
 Birch Creek district, Yukon mines 1,:?00,000 
 
 Other Yukon districts 800,000 
 
 From several small creeks in various parts of the ter- 
 ritory, worked by arrastas . . 2"), 000 
 
 Total output |4,()70,00O 
 
 "This is an increase over 1895 of $1,670,000. At the same 
 time the number of new discoveries which promise well has been 
 great. These will be more or less productive during the next 
 year, and a corresponding increase is assured. Two new mil!.; of 
 ten stamps each have been erected during the past year, and 
 sixty-five stamps have been added to mills already operating, 
 bringing the number of stamps now dropping in Alaska to 549, 
 of which all but ninety-four are in continuous operation, these 
 latter being closed down by climatic severities during the winter 
 season. As development is carried forward, however, steps arc 
 taken to overcome this, and it is but a question of a short time 
 v/hcn all our mines will run regardless of climate or season. It 
 is quite likely tha*" during the coming summer no less than 250 
 stamps will be added to the present number." 
 
 Value of Yukon Gold. 
 
 Assistant Weigher W. A. Underbill, of the Selby vSmcIting 
 Company, of San Francisco, says the gold from the Yukon is 
 not as valuable as that produced in California. lie states his 
 jioint in these words : 
 
 
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 362 
 
 RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 
 
 " It is a fact that the Yukon gold is not as valuable as that 
 produced in this Stat'^. The nuggets from the Yukon are worth 
 517 and ;^i8 per ounce, and the finer gold dust is worth from 
 $16 to $iy per ounce. The California gold value is about $1 
 an ounce morf^ Its nuggets run from ^i<S to ;55i9, and gold 
 dust never less than $iy per ounce." 
 
 There would seem to be no doubt that gold exists in paying 
 
 quantities in many other portions of Alaska than in the quartzite 
 
 veins of Douglas Island or the placers around Circle City. 
 
 " Color," in fact, is a characteristic of the whole Yukon basin 
 
 and of a great number of valleys and gulches in other parts of 
 
 the Territory. 
 
 At Cook's Inlet. 
 
 George Hall, a Cook's Inlet miner, has this to .say about that 
 region : 
 
 " I want to deny the stories told by ' tenderfcet ' sheep herders 
 and grape pickers, who say that there is no gold in Cook's Inlet. 
 I'll wager that from $400,000 to ;$ 500,000 will be taken out of 
 the Sunrise City district this summer. On Caiion Creek, Mills 
 Creek, Gulch Creek and Bear Creek the various mines are 
 working from five to twenty men, each at $4 a day, and they 
 are taking cut at least $20 a day to the man. Of course, this is 
 not doing as well as the Klondike, but it is a mighty sight better 
 than nothing. 
 
 "The Pelly Mining Company took out 1^45,000 last year, and 
 is working ten men '.his year, who are averaging $20 a day to 
 the man. Wages on the Pelly mine are $4. a day and board. 
 
 "An old practical miner who went to Link Creek, which had 
 been prospected time and again by ' tenderfeet ' and pronounced 
 valueless, took out ;$ 10,000 last fall, and is now working twenty 
 men. There are three or four other claims on Link Creek pay- 
 ing equally as well. Claims on Gulch Creek, which was dis- 
 

 RESOURCES AND V/EALTH. 
 
 363 
 
 covered by a man named Shuffler, were averaging JS20 a tlay to 
 the man on July 4th. 
 
 " We have a prosperous community at Sunrise — about 200 
 population, two general merchandise stores, two saloons and a 
 hotel. It is no country for men who expect to pick up gold by 
 the handful, but is good for practical, hard-working miners." 
 
 Told by a Kadiaker. 
 
 Dr. C. F. Dickenson, a resident of Kadiak, recently wrote : 
 
 " In my opinion there are just as good placer diggings to be 
 found at Cook's Inlet as in the Klondike region. There is not 
 a foot of ground in all that country that does not contain gold 
 in more or less appreciable quantities. There is room there for 
 thousands of men, and there is certainly no better place in the 
 world for a poor man." 
 
 George F. Becker, in an unpublished report made to the geo- 
 logical ^survey of his investigation in 1895 of the coastal gold 
 districts, says that most of the islands of the Alexander Archi- 
 pelago contain gold deposits, yet unworked, that would probably 
 repay very handsomely well-directed efforts of placer mining. 
 These deposits are in the neighborhood of Sitka, and generally 
 on Baronoff and Admiralty Islands, and the beaches of the ad- 
 jacent mainland. Another fairly promising region is in a group 
 of deposits on the Kcnai Peninsula, on the southeast shore of 
 Cook's Inlet, and at Yakutal Bay and the beaches of Kadiak Island. 
 
 Gold and silver have been discovered in the extreme northern 
 portion of the Territory, but no systematic prospect has ever 
 been conducted, and the value of the deposits cannot be estimated. 
 
 In the region of Lake Clark, a newly discovered body of 
 water in the Southwestern mainland, the census agent reported 
 "pay" gold in the creek beds, but said the dust was as fine as 
 flour, and would require special apparatus for working. 
 
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 3(51 
 
 RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 
 
 Professor G. V. Wright, of the Chair of Geology at Obcrlin 
 College, wrote of the general prospect to the Nezc York Journal, 
 as follows : 
 
 " As to the ultimate yield of the mines or the prospect of find- 
 ing more, we have nothing but conjecture to go upon. The 
 geologist who h ivc visitcil the region were not the ones who 
 discovered the gold. What the prospectors have found points to 
 more. The unexplored region is immense. The mountains to 
 the south are young, having been elevated very much since the 
 climax of the glacial period. With these discoveries and the 
 success in introducing reindeer, Alaska bids fair to support a 
 population eventually of several million. The Uiiited States 
 must hold on to her treaty rights with Great Britain for the pro- 
 tection of our interests there." 
 
 Experts in the Field. 
 
 Samuel C. Dunham, expert of the Federal l^ureau of Labor, 
 left for Alaska early in August, under Government direction, to 
 investigate the gold belt and rci)ort this coming winter. His 
 inquiry will cover the extent of the deposits, opportunities for 
 business, for investment of capital, labor, wages, cost of living, 
 climate, best means of reaching the gold fields and kindred 
 subjects. 
 
 The Government at Washington will send a mining expert 
 into the Klondike country next spring to make an estimate as to 
 the probable amount of gold in this region. 
 
 In reaching this conclusion the Treasury Department is follow- 
 ing the precedent established in the case of the gold discoveries 
 in the Rand, South Africa. When those discoveries were reported 
 the Rothschilds sent Hamilton Smith, of New York, to estimate 
 the value of the fields, and he reported ;$ 3,000,000,000 as his 
 estimate. 
 
'^•""""■""•^•"'^ 
 
 
 RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 
 
 365 
 
 mii 
 
 Mining experts doubted the correctness of Mr. Smith's con- 
 clusions on account of the smaUncss of the space occupied by 
 the mines, and the German Government sent Bergath Schmeiser, 
 a noted mining engineer, to make a report. Tlie government of 
 the United States followed Germany's example by sending George 
 
 F. Becker. 
 
 John W. Mackey Quoted. 
 
 John W. Mackey, the la.st of the Bonanza Kings — now presi- 
 dent of the Commercial Cable Company and of the Postal Tele- 
 graph System, and one of the world's great capitalists — knows 
 more, probably, about the vicissitudes of goltl hunting and placer 
 mining than any man in America. lie spoke of the reports of 
 the marvelous richness of the Alaskan and Klondike gohl fields, 
 as follows : 
 
 " I have no reason to doubt them. I ha\e had great confi- 
 dence in the mining possibilities in British Columbia and Alaska 
 — have always believed that those frozen, almost inaccessible 
 regions contain heavy deposits of precious metals. .Some enor- 
 mous ' finds ' of gold have undoubtedly been made there, and 
 yet we know little or nothing of the possibilities of the country. 
 Think of Williams' Creek, for instance, in the Caribou region in 
 British Columbia. As long ago as iS^o something like fift)' 
 millions of gold were taken out. It was placer mining tlu're, 
 just the same as the Klondike. 
 
 "The LTold is right on the surfice. It is a mountainous 
 country, overrun with lava at some remote age, and eenturits 
 ago, probably, the great forces of nature were at work iuid 
 melted the gold in a natural crucible. 
 
 " The particles of gold are now washetl out by the waters, and 
 are generally found along the course of mountain strtams. \'ou 
 will always find the best placer gold near the banks of streams 
 and barren water courses. Scientific mining preserves a much 
 
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 366 
 
 RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 
 
 larger portion of gold dust than formerly, and I presume it de- 
 stroys a great deal of the individuality in a working miner. Thus 
 fir the Klondike region has seen only old-fashioned, primitive 
 mining, the men groveling in the dirt with their hands and wash- 
 ing out the gold dust in a simple pan, picking nuggets with the.'r 
 
 fingers. 
 
 Modern Mining Methods. 
 
 " In time modern mining methods will be carried up to the 
 Yukon country. The recent discoveries prove that it is im- 
 mensely rich. All parts of the country will be opened. Capital 
 will always go where there is a chance for legitimate investment, 
 and transportation facilities will increase as rapidly as the travelers. 
 
 " Whether interest in the Alaskan mines will increase depends 
 on future reports. I see in it something like the excitement of 
 the early '50s over the gold discoveries of the Pacific coast 
 region. The reports of rich individual finds are likely to con- 
 tinue, and the arrival of every ship loaded with fortunate gold 
 hunters will stimulate the imagination, hopes and desires of the 
 would-be gold hunters. We hear nothing of the failures, you 
 know. One man who is lucky is more talked about than a 
 thousand who fail. 
 
 " My experience is, I think, that about one man in ten used to 
 get on in the mining days in California. I do not mean that one 
 man in ten became a millionaire. I mean made a living and a 
 little more. The thriftless and careless ones go to the wall, while 
 the hard workers, who have a definite purpose in view and who 
 cling tenaciously to it, succeed in mining as in other occupations. 
 
 " F , as I said, in placer mining there is a good deal of luck 
 in lo. mg the claim. One man will take out a great deal and 
 anothe: nan nothing. As to the limits of British Columbia 
 mining I cannot say, but I think there are immense gold deposits 
 yet to be found." 
 
 
 ii » 
 
f'v' 
 
 RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 
 
 367 
 
 Henry Ellsworth Haydon, former Secretary of Alaska, speaks 
 of the gold production as follows : 
 
 " From many places in the Pacific coast States miners have 
 been drifting Alaskaward for years, locating pay quartz and 
 placer claims in southeastern Alaska and along the Yukon 
 River and its tributaries, and feeling assured all the time, from 
 ever}' indication, that the wind-blown snow plumes on the 
 moimtain tops waved above crowns of gold. 
 
 A Happy Surprise. 
 
 " Long prior to 1887 Juneau and a comrade went prospecting 
 in Alaska. They were hunting quartz. Paddling along the 
 coast in a canoe, they saw far up a mountain side, which skirted 
 a lonely bay, the glimmer of white outcroppings from the dull 
 gray of the surrounding rocks. They beached their canoe, and 
 after a hard climb reached the spot. The rock was worthless, 
 but the summit was not far off, and desiring to see what was on 
 the other side, the)'' pushed onward until they stood where they 
 could look down into a ravine, through which a mountain stream 
 rushed tumultuously toward the sea. They noted that the bed 
 of the stream was strewn with big white boulders, and curiosity 
 and hope led then; to descend to it and investigate. Joe told 
 me he was breathless when he got there, and they both sat 
 down on the banks and wondered if it were true. 
 
 " Before them, where the crystal water babbled, they saw 
 white rocks veined with gold and inlaid with nuggets, many as 
 large as a thumb nail. They stayed there while their provisions 
 lasted, a few days only, gathering together $14,000 in virgin 
 gold. 
 
 " In the rear of Juneau, on the mainland, is Silver Bow Basin, 
 where some rich placer mines are being worked. Placer mining 
 is carried on in at least eight districts, viz. : Silver Bow Basin, 
 
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 3()8 
 
 RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 
 
 near Juneau ; Sum Duni and Shuck, some distance south ; 
 Latuya Bay, on the coast north of Cross Sound ; Yakutat, 
 Kcnai Peninsula ; the Fish River district, on Norton Sound, 
 at Cook's Inlet, and the Yukon district, including the rivers flowing 
 into the Yukon. 
 
 Placers in Yukon Basin. 
 
 " In the absence of statistics it is difficult to obtain reliable 
 information, but work in these placets continues, which is evidence 
 of success. For ten years at least men have worked placers in 
 the Yukon district. Leaving Juneau early in the spring, they have 
 gone out over the Chilkat Pass and dov/n the little chain of lakes 
 on the other side, making long portages, it is true, and enduring 
 some hardships, to the Yukon River. They have returned to 
 Juneau in the fall, year after year, bringing with them from $2000 
 to $3500 each in gold dust, the product of the summer's work. 
 But they are improvident, these men who win gold from the beds 
 of rivers, and when the spring comes they are stranded finan- 
 cially, many of them without a grub-stake, but they * win out ' 
 some way and go back again to return — unless they have crossed 
 the divide forever — and repeat the same old story of excess and 
 extravagance. 
 
 " They never grow money wise, these grizzled veterans of the 
 rocker, the gold pan, the pick and the shovel, but after all they 
 are of God's people, and I like them. 
 
 " Quartz lodes are worked in ten or more districts, some of 
 which are large and contain many district claims. The ten dis- 
 tricts referred to are as follows : Sheep Creek region, which 
 yields ore containing silver, gold, and other metals ; Salmon 
 Creek, near Juneau, silver and gold ; Silver Bow Basin, mainly 
 gold : Douglas Island, mainly gold ; Fuhter Bay, on Admiralty 
 Island, mainly gold ; the Silver Bay Mining District, near Sitka, 
 gold and silver ; Besner Bay, in Lynn Canal, mainly gold ; Fish 
 
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 RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 
 
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 River Mining District, on Norton Sound ; Unga District and 
 Lemon Creek." 
 
 The undeveloped and almost unthought t)f mineral resources 
 of Alaska, other than gold, deserve a passing glance. Another 
 year or two will, perhaps, give some statistics of deposit and 
 production which are lacking now. 
 
 Copper promises to be a valuable and important resource of 
 the territory. It is found pure or "virgin " in many places and 
 has given its name to the little known Copper River. A valuable 
 deposit of bronze copper has been worked for ye.irs. 
 
 An expedition has been organized to go out from Tacoma and 
 Port Townsend to explore a rich copper field, in which there is 
 believed to be also much gold, which is known to exist along 
 the Copper River. I'or many years past gold, copper and furs 
 have been brought out of that region by Copper River Indians, 
 and exchanged with traders for firearms and food. The Copper 
 Indians are a ferocious tribe, and during the last few years have 
 become well equipped with guns and ammunition. Knowing 
 the value of their rich stakes, and that the ingress of w^hite men 
 would mean their retirement, the Indians have steadfastly refused 
 to permit a single white man to explore their country. livery 
 man making the attempt has been told to keep out, and when 
 he persisted has been killed. 
 
 After the Copper. 
 
 The Copper River tribe numbers nearly looo, and as they 
 have been well able to carry out their threats, no attempt to 
 molest them has been made in recent years. Now, however, it 
 is intended to teach these natives that white men must eventually 
 be allowed to prospect and take out the mineral riches of their 
 domain. 
 
 One hundred men, heavily armed, will compose the expedition. 
 24 
 
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370 
 
 RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 
 
 
 
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 They will be led into the Copper River section by Judge Joseph 
 Kuhn, who has been collecting data regarding Copper River 
 for years, and was the originator of the project. The Indians 
 will not be molested unless they attack the exploring party. 
 Traditions of the last sixty years have ascribed great mineral 
 wealth to the Copper River country. At Sitka, it is said, that 
 in 1831 a Russian trader invaded that section with eight men. 
 They were killed when within two days' march to the seacoast. 
 Coal of fair quality exists in good quantity in several parts of 
 Alaska. At Coal Harbor an ample supply of a rather poor 
 quality of lignite has been worked in a spasmodic way for some 
 time. A semi-bituminous lignite is mined along the northern 
 coast by whalers for use on the spot. It makes steam quickly, 
 but the quantities of ash and cinder are something of an 
 objection. A glossy, semi-bituminous lignite, which .steams well 
 and is mined without much labor, is found near Kilisnoo, and 
 good coal exists on Silkinak Island. A new coal mine has just 
 been opened six miles from Fort Cudahy, and will be promptly 
 developed to supply fuel to the river steamers. Coal is also 
 mined in the Pelly River country. 
 
 Lead and Other Riches. 
 
 Lead is found on Whale Bay and Kadiak Island, and there are 
 indications of paying deposits in the interior. A mine on the 
 l^Msh River has been opened for working by a San Francisco 
 company. 
 
 Graphite abounds about I'ort Clarence. Marble exists in 
 inexhaustible quantities. 
 
 Petroleum has been found in what are believed to be paying 
 quantities on a lake near Kadmai Bay. Samples sent down for 
 analysis were of marvelous richness, and a company has been 
 formed to handle the product for the Alaskan mining camp.s. 
 
im 
 
 RESOL'RCKS AND WllAI/rH. 
 
 871 
 
 in 
 
 en 
 
 A San Francisco expert, just rcturnctl from Alaska, sums up 
 the resources as follows : 
 
 "There are other discoveries awaiting the pioneers of Alaska 
 than that of gold. Iron and coal abound in these rugged 
 mountains, and the necessity of development will be imnudiath- 
 apparent. The source of a new commerce will be established. 
 An impetus will be given to the manufacturing interests of the 
 Pacific Coast, and the community wealth will receive a more 
 substantial benefit than could possibly accrue Irom individual 
 accumulation of riches." 
 
 Canadian "Blue Book." 
 
 The Canadian Government has issued a " Blue Book " on the 
 Klondike, extracts from which deserve a place here. It says : 
 
 " It is beyond doubt that a considerable number of i)ans of 
 the dirt on different claims have turned out ox-cr S200 worth of 
 gold, while those which run from ten dollars to fift)' dolku's ha\'e 
 been very numerous. In the line of these finds further south is 
 the Cassiar gold fields, in British Columbia, so the presumption 
 is that we have in our territory along the easterl)' watershed of 
 the Yukon a gold-bearing belt of indefinite width and upward of 
 300 miles long, exclusive of the British Columbia part of it." 
 
 " Gold is not the only miner.d wealth of the ^'ukon, it appears. 
 Mr. Ogilvie states that cop[)er has been found on the Ton-dac 
 Creek, above I'ort Reliance, imd several small \eins ha\'e been 
 found in the vicinity. With better facilities it may become, he 
 says, a valuable feature of the country. A small seam of asbes- 
 tos was also found a short distance from I'ort Cudahy, and as 
 there is quite an area of serpentine in that neighborhood, asbestos 
 of commercial value may yet be found. 
 
 " Still another valuable feature is the coal fields which the dis- 
 trict possesses. On Coal Creek, about seven miles up, overlying 
 
 *: 
 
372 
 
 RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 
 
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 a coarse saiulstonc and under tlrift clay and <;ravcl, a scam of 
 twelve feet six inciies has been discovered. It is certain that 
 coal extends along the valley of the Yukon from Coal Creek, ten 
 or twelve mile down, and from Coal Creek up to Twelve-Mile 
 Creek, which flows into the Yukon about thirty miles above 
 Fort Cudahy. Coal is also found in the upper part of Klondike 
 and on other creeks." 
 
 Gold-bearing quartz, the report states, has been found in Cone 
 Hill, which stands midwa}'in the valley of the Forty-Mile River, 
 a couple of miles above the junction with the \'ukon. The 
 quantity in sight surpasses that of the famous Treadwell mine on 
 the coast, and the quality is better. Were it on the coast the 
 Treadwell would be diminutive beside it. 
 
 Not far from Cone Hill a ledge had been found last spring on 
 the Chindindu Pvivcr (known in the district as the Twelve-Mile 
 Creek), by an American expert prospecting for the North Ameri- 
 can Transportation and Trading Company, which the expert said 
 he had never read of or seen iuiything like in the world. He 
 had spent years of liis life in the best mining districts of the 
 United States, and he assured Mr. Ogilvie that this section of 
 country promised better than any he ever saw before, and he 
 was going to .pend the rest of his life there. 
 
 By Governor Mclntc^h. 
 
 Governor H. C. Mcintosh, of the Northwest Territory, which 
 includes the Canadian Yukon, says the Klondike diggings will 
 reach $10,000,000 in the season of 1897. In a recent interview 
 about the new camp, Governor Mcintosh said : 
 
 " We are only on the threshold of the greatest discovery ever 
 made. Gold has been piling up in all these innumerable streams 
 for hundreds of years. Much of the territory the foot of man 
 ha;; never trod. It would hardly be possible for one to exag- 
 
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 RKsoirRCKs AM) \vi:.\i;rn. 
 
 .*{7:{ 
 
 ^cratc the richness, not only of tlie Klontlike, but of other dis- 
 tricts in the Can.idian Yukon. At the same time, the folly of 
 thousands rusliing in there without proper means of subsistence 
 and utter ignorance of geographical conditions of the country 
 should be kept ever in mind. 
 
 "There are fully 9000 miles of these golden waterways in the 
 region of the Yukon. Rivers, creeks and streams of every size 
 and description are all rich in gold. I derived this knowledge 
 from many old Hudson Bay explorers, who assured me that 
 they considered the gold next to inexhaustible. 
 
 " In 1894 I n).idea report to Sir John Thompson, then premier 
 of Canada, who died the same year, at Windsor Castle, strongly 
 urging that a body of Canadian police be cstablishcil on the river 
 to maintain order. This was done in 1S95, and the British out- 
 post of Fort Cudahy was founded. 
 
 Prospect in Other Streams. 
 
 "I have known gold to exist there since 1889, consequent upon 
 a report made to me by W. Ogilvic, the government explorer. 
 Many streams that will no doubt prove to be as rich as the Klon- 
 dike have not been explored or prospected. Among these I 
 might mention Dominion Creek, Hootalinqua River, Stewart 
 River, Liard River and a score of other streams comparatively 
 unknown, 
 
 " It is my judgment and opinion, that the 1897 yield of the 
 Canadian Yukon will exceed $10,000,000 in gold, Of course, 
 as in the case of the Cariboo and Cassiar districts years ago, it 
 will be impossible accurately to estimate the full amount taken 
 out. 
 
 "There is now far in excess of ;$ 1,000,000 remaining already 
 mined on the Klondike. It is in valises, tin cans and lying loose 
 in saloons, but just as sacredly guarded there and apparently as 
 
 
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 374 
 
 RESOURCES AND WI^ALTH. 
 
 safe as if it were in a vault. Already this spring \vc have official 
 knowleciy^e of over ;$2,ooo,ooo in gold having been taken from 
 the Klondike camps. It was shipi>ed out on the steamships 
 Excelsior and Portland. 
 
 " Incidentally I may say we have data of an official nature 
 which lead us to believe th;)t the gold output of the Rossland 
 and Kootenai districts for 1897 will be in excess of $7,000,000. 
 I should have said, and I have no hesitancy in asserting, that 
 within the course of five }-ears the gold yield of the three dis- 
 tricts named will exceed that of either Colorado, California or 
 South Africa." 
 
 A more complete statement of the seal and salmon industries 
 will be found in another chapter. 
 
 Adds to our Knowledge. 
 
 In these days when every scrap of information regarding 
 Alaska and the gold discoveries is eagerly sought, and the greed 
 of gold is Icatling many to almost certain destruction, it is well 
 to consider what is a rcC(^c ning feature of the gold craze. The 
 finds in the upper Yukon country can at best benefit only a 
 limited number of people in a direct manner, while the educa- 
 tional value of the gold discoveries to all civilized nations really is 
 unlimited. Only a fe\v- weeks ago Alaska in general and the 
 Klondike region in particular were comparatively unknown. The 
 maps contained only indefinite outlines of the more important 
 streams and mountain ranges, and as to places of human abode, 
 with the exceptions of a few in Southern Alaska, none was re- 
 corded. Look at the change now. Chilkoot Pass, D}'ea, Lake 
 Linderman, Bonanza Creek, Circle City, Fort Cudahy, St. Mich- 
 ael's, Dutch Harbor, etc., are on everybody's lips, and many who 
 could not locate St. Louis accurately on the maps talk of the 
 Klondike River as familiarly as of the Mississippi. 
 

 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 Gold Mining in Alaska. 
 
 Antiquity of Placer Mining — How Nature has Filled the Gravel with Gold 
 — Selecting a Locality — Building a House — Out Prospecting — Thawing 
 the Ground — How to Distinguish Gold from other Jlinerals — Pyrites, 
 Mica, Black Sand — Mechanical Assay — Locating the Claim — Local 
 Customs — Commissioner Ilerrman's Digest — Getting Out the Gold — 
 Mining in Winter — Work Along the Yukon — Sluicing for Gold — Di-> 
 Placer Miners — Dredging for Gold — Old Miner's Advice — Gold-bearing 
 Quartz — How Gold Came to Klondike — Banks and Banking. 
 
 ^T"0 history has recorded, nor has t" idition handed down, 
 ^ >j whether the first gold which excited man's admiration 
 and afterward his cupidity was a nugget of the virgin 
 metal or only glittering, yellow dust. Probably it was the former 
 and quite likely the lump was a large one. But since that primi- 
 tive time the thirst for gold then created has grown more 
 insatiable till famishing mankind in the search for the precious 
 metal has 'iterally changed the face of nature over a good 
 portion of the known world. 
 
 Probably the first man to make a " strike " valued the nugget 
 mainly because it was large and bright, but small(M- bits of th? 
 same brilliant substance came ere long to have a recognized 
 value proportioned to their size, and when at length some 
 unusually long-headed antedeluvian hit upon the fict that a 
 pound of gold dust could be made into one lump just as large 
 and just as brilliant as a nugget of the same weight the day of 
 "dust'" had dav.-ned. And the da\' of dust was the daj- when 
 men began to " wash " the golden sands of the ancient river 
 beds and lay up for themselves treasures on earth. 
 
 Placer mining, in which the gold found " free " in the gravel 
 beds is washed clean of earthy dross, is essentially " poor 
 
 375 
 
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 xP. 
 

 GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 
 
 II il ' 
 
 mi- 
 
 . '5<«>i 
 
 •^'H)5, 
 
 
 
 
 
 l!i|:. Mill 
 
 I- 
 
 man's" mining. It needs few tools and little capital, and there 
 is no hindering patent on the process. It has been folio .v^ed 
 from the CcirHest times and in much the same manner in all 
 parts of the world. Nations which had nothing else in common 
 were alike in their methods and tools for placer mining. The 
 pans and panning described by Mungo Park were practically 
 identical with those of the " days of '49," and the prospector of 
 '97 in the Klondike needs no other types of tools than are in 
 use by the rude native minors of every gold bearing region on 
 earth. 
 
 In the shallow diggings or placers nature has for ages been 
 performing the work for which the quartz miner must invent all 
 manner of machinery and employ a vast amount of capital and 
 skilled labor — the disintegration of the gold-bearing rock and 
 the concentration of the metal. Consequently, the unskilled 
 laborer, whose capital is his own strength and a few of the sim- 
 plest tools, is able to extract, on a remunerative scale, immense 
 quantities of gold which, unc'er its original condition, spread 
 through quart/, and other hard rocks, would have needed vast 
 amounts of capital and much machinery for its elimination, and 
 in many instances would not have repaid the outlay. It is easy 
 to see wh\ ■ cers are " poor men's " mines. 
 
 Exhausting the Surfacings. 
 
 The exhaustion of the shallow placers of the older gold fields 
 is fast approaching, that class of mining being abandoned in 
 those regions in America almost entirely to the patient Chinese. 
 Yet it should not be forgotten these shallow washings have often 
 led the miner to the very door of vast storehouses of wealth in the 
 veins in the hills and mountains. In California, in New South 
 Wales and in Victoria deep leads were nearly all discovered by 
 prospecting the f>urf;vcing. From this the Alaskan miner will 
 
 
tten 
 the 
 uth 
 by 
 will 
 
 GOIJ3 MINING IN ALASKA. 
 
 
 understand that liowever rich his placer claim may be, it is, more 
 than that, the likely guide post to a still vaster treasure, and he 
 will be able to understand why " Lucky " Baldwin intends to turn 
 his great experience and ample resources to the locating of the 
 " mother lode." 
 
 But the majority of the men now in or going into the Alas- 
 
 HYDRAULIC MINING. 
 
 kan diggings or the Klondike have neither taste, time nor means 
 to hunt for the " mother lode." They have taken it for granted 
 tiu^ nature has extracted the yellow metal from the rocks for 
 th '•■■, ;md they want the benefit of her bounty in a hurr)', ami 
 all t iicy can get of it. 
 ^ The first thing for the prospector to do js to pick out a likely 
 
 
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 'Vfii I 
 

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 378 
 
 GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 
 
 locality to prospect. Judgment and technical knowledge and 
 experience all count for something in making this choice, but 
 they arc not infallible. The novice may have better luck than 
 the old-timer, and it is worthy of note in this connection that old 
 minors arc firm believers in " luck." The experiences of the last 
 two years in the Yukon Basin would seem to go far to confirm 
 their faith. 
 
 A K.an just back from Dawson T' " vith ;$ 100,000 in dust to 
 his credit told this story : 
 
 " Men who had scarcely one dollar six months ago are now 
 bonanza kings carrying ;$ 5 0,000 in gold dust and owning claims 
 that they would not sell for that amount. It is simply chance 
 or luck and nothing else. Dozens of worthy fellows have 
 worked hard and not " struck " anything yet, while others have 
 literally stumbled into their good fortunes. Last November a 
 man went out on the creek with others to stake a claim. He 
 was so drunk that he scarcely knew — much less cared — where 
 he was or \\ hat he was doing, but he staked. Now, he can com- 
 mand his hundreds of thousands." 
 
 Building a House. 
 
 Having selected a locality the next thing is to build a house, 
 or hut, for the daily life of a prospector or miner on the Yukon 
 is rough and hard, and a warm home is absolutely essential to 
 the health and cheerful spirit without which hs cannot hope to 
 succeed. If there are four men in the party, the building need 
 not take more than a day. Architecture is all " out of the 
 same log" in that region, and any house will do for a model. 
 Four log walls well chinked with the abundant moss, a dirt roof 
 and a chimney are the main essentials. 
 
 Then, out for " color." 
 
 Prospecting in this land of long winters is generally conducted 
 

 GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 
 
 37'J 
 
 to 
 
 of 
 
 in the season when everything is locked ia frost. During the 
 short summer the streams are full of rushing water, and pros- 
 pecting except along the banks is difficult and often impossible. 
 The absence of water might be deemed a drawback in winter 
 prospecting, but the novice will quickly learn that it t;ikes but a 
 little water to wash out a sample pan, and that amount can 
 easily be obtained by melt.'ng snow or ice. !\Ioreover, to an 
 expert placer miner, water is not a necessity. lie pans dry. 
 The Alaskan "dust" is very coarse averaging nearly a wheat 
 grain in size. This makes ea.sy panning. 
 
 Mrs. Frederick Schwatka gives a none too alluring picture of 
 this stage of the Yukon miner's experience in these words : 
 
 " There isn't very much said about the kind of ground that 
 the gold hunters have to prospect over in the river regions. It 
 is frightfully hard to travel. In the winter it is all ice and in 
 the summer it is buried deep with drift wood and debris from the 
 spring floods till it is almost impassable. Ail the rivers are 
 flooded every spring and fall and the waters carry off huge pieces 
 of frozen banks." 
 
 But the Alaska argonaut knew all this before he started, so he 
 
 is not disheartened. 
 
 Thawing the Ground. 
 
 In hunting for gold prospectors dig a hole down to bed rock, 
 
 which is generally found at a depth of from fifteen to eighteen 
 
 feet. In the Yukon Basin they have to melt the ground, a few 
 
 inches at a time, as they dig. The first twelve feet or so of earth 
 
 is non-auriferous. Under it lies a stratum of coarse gravel three 
 
 feet or more in thickness, which is rich in the precious metal, 
 
 most of it being in the shape of small nuggets or grains. It is 
 
 called " dust," but it is much coarser than the dust found in other 
 
 parts of the world. Some of it is so large that a big percentage 
 
 can be picked out by hand as the gravel is brought up out of the 
 
 L 
 
 
 
380 
 
 GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 
 
 rt'-'n<ii 
 
 
 
 
 
 H 
 
 tiM- 
 
 IH * 
 
 hole, but the general practice is to sluice or pan wash it. 
 
 The feeble suns of the short summer do not thaw ovit the 
 frozen ground to its full depth in the Yukon Basin, and it has to 
 be softened by building huge fires, which are kept going night 
 and day until the earth is in such shape that the miners can force 
 their way through it with picks. This done, a number of holes 
 are dug on each claim, but even then when the gold gravel is 
 taken out it is in frozen chunks resembling small masses of con- 
 crete. By making these holes in the summer the miners are 
 enabled to work underground a portion of the winter and thus 
 prepare for an early wash-up when the spring thaw comes in 
 June. To ta^'e advantage of this the gravel which has been 
 dug out during the winter has to be again softened by fire before 
 it can be put through the sluices or pans and the gold separated. 
 
 The gravel is packed in a kind of clay, which makes a con- 
 glomerate like concrete, through which, when frozen, the strongest 
 man cannot force a pick. When this gravel is thawed it is broken 
 up with picks and thrown in a big he?ip with shovels. It varies 
 ■r depth from fourteen to twenty feet, and it is richest in gold 
 close to the bed rock. This is because gold is heavier than 
 gravel and settles toward the bottom of any bar or bank in which 
 it has accumulated. It is almost unnecessary to say that in sinking 
 the holes or shafts every foot of the ground must be prospected 
 for "pay dirt." This part of the prospecting consists simply in 
 washing out pans of the gravel or sand ; if gold is found the 
 claim should be " located " or staked out at once. 
 
 
 How to Tell Minerals. 
 
 It is necessary to remind the novice that all is not gold that 
 glitters. Since the days when the earliest Virginian explorers 
 sailed back to England with a ship-load of yellow sand under 
 the delusion that they had a cargo of gold, "tenderfeet" have 
 
 m 
 
 
 
ipi't^' '■ 
 
 GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 
 
 381 
 
 been easily misled, when seeking gold, by irc^i and copper pyrites 
 and by mica. How to distinguish these natural counterfeits is 
 worth knowing. 
 
 Iron pyrites, or bisulphide of iron, is a brass-yellow mineral 
 occurring in small cubical crystals. It is easily discriminated. 
 When strongly heated it is attracted by the magnet, while gold 
 never becomes magnetic. Gold is malleable antl iron pyrites 
 brittle. Gold may be cut in flakes, pyrites not. Heated in 
 nitric acid pyrites dissolves with effervescence and abundant red 
 fumes, gold is unaffected. The specific gravity of gold is about 
 four times that of iron pyrites. Mercury absorbs gold dust, but 
 not iron pyrites. 
 
 Copper pyrites, or yellow copper ore, the principal source of 
 copper, is a deep brass-yellow colored mineral with a strong me- 
 tallic lustre. Its primitive crystalline form is the regular tetra- 
 hedron. It crumbles freely under the hammer, and yields to 
 the knife ; but instead of giving a solid chip as gold would, pro- 
 duces only dust. Heated on charcoal before the blowpipe it 
 loses its yellow color and fuses into a dull black globule. Mi.xed 
 with carbonate of soda and a little l^orax and subjected to the 
 blowpipe it will yield a button of met;dlic copper. 
 
 Mica is a yellow, glistening mineral of foliated structure, and 
 semi-metallic luster. It is much lighter than gold and becomes 
 flakey when heated to redness and loses its lustre on cooling, 
 whereas gold would remain unchanged. 
 
 Black Sand. 
 
 In assaying the gold sand of rivers, streams, and beaches of the 
 Pacific coast, some difficulty is occasionally ni'.t with from the 
 specular and titanic iron known technically as bhick sand. Plati- 
 num and iridium are often found in the same sands. lM)llowing 
 are convenient methods of testing these sands : 
 
 
 
 'tffSg*: 
 
 
 
 if:. 
 
 
 w^i 
 
 ^ 
 
 '^ 
 
 III 
 
 
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 ^rm^:' 
 
flTT 
 
 5r:| 
 
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 .k 
 
 M M 
 
 
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 382 
 
 GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 
 
 For Atwood's test, take lOO to looo grains and attack with 
 
 aqua rcgia in a flask ; cool for thirty minutes, dilute with water 
 
 and filtt.-r. If gold is present it will be in solution in the filtrate. 
 
 Evaporate the filtrates to dryness, add a little hydrochloric acid 
 
 and rcdissolve the dry salt in warm water ; add to the solution 
 
 so formed, protosulphate of iron, which will throw down the gold 
 
 as a fine, dark precipitate. Dry and burn over the lamp. Mix 
 
 residuum with three times its weight of lead, fuse, scarify and 
 
 cupel. 
 
 Me.':hanical Assay. 
 
 The mechanical test or assay of auriferous sands is of the 
 utmost practical value, and may be thus described as scientifically 
 performed, it being understood this is only a working test, and 
 does not give all the gold as shown by a careful fire assay : Put 
 2000 grammes in a pan or, better, in a batea, and wash care- 
 fully until the gold begins to appear. Use clean water, and 
 when the pan and the small residue are clean, pour off most of 
 the water and drop in a globule of pure mercur}'' and a piece of 
 cyanide of potassium. As the cyanide begins to dissolve, impart 
 a rotary motion to the dish — best done by holding the arms stiff 
 and moving the body. As the mercury rolls over and ploughs 
 through the sand, under the influence of the cyanide, it will col- 
 .*ect all the particles of free gold. When all has been collected, 
 transfer the mercury carefully to a small porcelain cup or ^est 
 tube, and boil with strong, pure nitric acid. When the mercury 
 is all dissolved, the acid is poured off, more nitric acid is applied 
 cold and rejected, and the gold is then washed with distilled 
 water and dried. The second washing with nitric acid is to re- 
 move any nitrate of mercury. 
 
 The resulting gold is not pure, but has the composition of the 
 natural alloy. To purify it, melt it with silver, hammer it out 
 Uiin, boil twice with nitric acid, dry and heat it to redness. To 
 
GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 
 
 383 
 
 calculate the assay, take each of the original 2000 grammes to 
 mean a pound and decimals of a gramme to rncan decimals of a 
 pound. Multiply the value of gold by the fraction of a gramme 
 produced, and the result will be the value of the gold in a ton. 
 In this same connection it may be noted that it is important, 
 in estimating the value of purchased gold dust to examine care- 
 fully to see if there is any counterfeit or " bogus " dust present. 
 If all from the same locality the dust will have a uniform color. 
 A fair .sample of the whole lot of dust under inspection should 
 be placed in an evaporating dish and nitric acid poured upon it 
 It any reaction takes place there is foreign matter present. 
 
 Locating the Claims. 
 
 If the prospects indicate a claim that will pay for working, 
 the miner's first step is to locate the claim. 
 
 The manner of locating placer mining claims differs from that 
 of locating claims upon veins or lodes. In locating a vein or 
 lode claim, the United States statutes provide that no claim shall 
 extend more than 300 feet on each side of the middle of the 
 vein at the surface, and that no claim shall be limited by mining 
 regulations to less than 25 feet on each side of the middle vein 
 at the surface. In locating claims called " placers," however, 
 the law provides that no location of such claim upon surveyed 
 lands shall include more than 20 acres for each individual claim- 
 ant. The supreme court, however, has held that one individual 
 can hold as many locations as he can purchase and rely upon 
 his possessory title ; that a separate patent for each location is 
 unnecessary. 
 
 A patent for any land claimed and located may be obtained 
 in the following manner : "Any person, association* or corpora- 
 tion authorized to locate a claim, having ckiimed and located a 
 piece of land, and who has or have complied with the terms of 
 
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 ii 
 
 
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 (lOM) MININC. IN ALASKA. 
 
 the law, may file in the proper land office an application for a 
 patent under oath, showing such compliance, together with a 
 plat and field notes of the claim or claims in common made by 
 or under the direction of the United States surveyor general, 
 showing accurately the boundaries of the ch;im or claims, which 
 
 GUARDING HIS CLAIM. 
 
 shall be distinctly marked by monuments on the ground, and 
 shall post a copy of such plat, together with a notice of such 
 application for a patent, in a conspicuous place on the land 
 embraced in such plat, previous to the application for a patent 
 on such plat ; and shall file an affidavit of at least two persons 
 
,'". I 
 
 tit'-? 
 
 GOLD MININC; IN ALASKA. 
 
 .'Wf) 
 
 ♦.hat such notice has lucn (hily posted, and shall file a copy of 
 the notice in such land office; ami shall thereupon he entitletl 
 to a patent to the land in the manner following; : 'Flu- registrar 
 of said land office upon the filing of such application, plat, field 
 notes, notices and application, shall publish a notice that sucli 
 application has been made for a period of sixty days, in a news- 
 paper to be by him designated, as published nearest to such 
 claim ; and he shall post such notice in his office: for the same 
 period. The claimant at the time of filing such application, cr 
 at any time thereafter, within sixty days of publication, shall file 
 with the registrar a certificate of the United States surveyof 
 general that ;$ 500 worth of labor lias been expended or improve- 
 ments made upon the claim by himself or grantors ; that the 
 plat is correct, with such further description by rcfcretice to natural 
 objects or permanent monuments as shall identify the claim and 
 furnish an accurate description to be incorporated in the patent. 
 At the expiration of the sixty days of publication, the claimant 
 shall file his affidavit, showing that the plat and notice have been 
 posted in a conspicuous place on the claim during such period of 
 publication." 
 
 If no adverse claim shall have been filed with the registrar of 
 the land office at the expiration of said sixty days, the claimant 
 is entitled to a patent upon the payment to the proper officer of 
 ;^5 per acre in the case of a lode claim, and ^52.50 per acre for 
 
 a placer. 
 
 As to Local Customs. 
 
 The location of a placer claim and kee[)ing possession thereof 
 until a patent shall be issued are also subject to local customs, 
 about which the wise miner will thorouglily inform himself. In 
 Alaska the holder of a claim is required to do at least i". lOO 
 worth of work on his claim every year for five years to get an 
 absolute title to it. He has the privilege of doing the entire $500 
 25 
 
 »i 
 

 
 4 ■! 
 
 
 .186 
 
 GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 
 
 worth of work at once if he chooses to do so, and on proof of it 
 may ^^ct liis patent. The man who locates a claim is allowed a 
 full year before he puts up his location notice for working the first 
 assessment, during which time his right is absolute and is also 
 negotiable. A. purchaser fulfilling the obligation entered into 
 by the discoverer enjoys the same rights. 
 
 In Alaska and in the Klondike the first miners in a district 
 hold a meeting and fix the size of the claims, and also agree as 
 to how much work shall constitute an assessment. The miners 
 also elect a register. 
 
 The size of a claim, as fixed by agreement among the miners 
 of any particular locality, is a section of the creek of a certain 
 length — sometimes 200 feet — and it extends from rim to rim in 
 width. The reason of this variableness in the size of claims on 
 the different creeks is that on some a greater length is required 
 to make them worth a man's while to work them. The paying 
 deposits may be scattered so a mar; could make wages only by 
 working here and there over a large territory. Of course, the 
 conditions surrounding the first discovery made on a creek are 
 the basis for fixing the size of a claim on that stream. The dis- 
 coverer of a new field is allowed two claims, while others are 
 permitted to take but one at a time. However, when a locator 
 has worked out his assessment of a few days' work he is at 
 liberty to take another. 
 
 Commissioner Herrman's Digest. 
 
 Commissioner Herrman, of the United States Land Office at 
 Washington, briefly digested the law bearing on placer claim;: as 
 follows : 
 
 " When you patent a claim it is necessary for you to be a citi- 
 zen of the United States or to have declared your intention of 
 becoming one. 
 
 '^,Mil_M 
 
mmmmammm^ 
 
 ■w 
 
 GOLD MININCx IN Ar.ASKA. 
 
 387 
 
 " This l.'iw, however, is of little consequence when placer dij.; 
 ging is concerned. Under our laws anybody is privileged to 
 dig out gold wherever it is found. When it conies to taking out 
 a patent for the land the miner will have exhaustetl the super- 
 ficial supply of gold and moved on. 
 
 " There is practically no need of taking out patents for placer 
 mining. The miner comes along, sees a likely piece of ground, 
 digs up a few panfuls, extracts the gold, if there is any, stays 
 there till he has obtained as much ^ s he can from that piece of 
 ground with his primitive implements, and then moves on to 
 another likely piece. 
 
 " Pretty soon along comes the quart/, miner with his machin- 
 ery and takes out a claim for a piece of ground which the placer 
 miner may have worked superficially." 
 
 As to locations on the Klondike, see the chapter an " Mining 
 
 Laws." 
 
 Getting Out the Gold. 
 
 Now comes the hardest part of the miners' work — getting out 
 the golden treasure. 
 
 In summer in Alaska about the only tools required in the 
 placers are a pick, shovel and gold pan, about the size of a small 
 dish pan and made of copper or white enameled iron, preferably 
 the latter because the relief enables the miner to see the gold 
 more distinctly especially when it is in fine specks. The miner 
 squats beside the water, dips water into the pan, oscillates it with 
 a motion that can only be acquired by experience, and gradually 
 sloughs out the wat'^r, dirt, gravel, etc., retaining the gold in the 
 pan. Gold being the heaviest substance it is, of course, the 
 easiest to retain in the pan. If it be in the shape of nuggets, 
 the miner picks them out of the pan with his fingers ; if the 
 gold be in small particles, fine gold or " flour " gold, he dries 
 the pan in the sun and carefully brushes the deposit into a 
 
 I' 
 
 
 
 If 
 
 w 
 
 TO" 
 
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 I 
 
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 IM, 
 
 388 
 
 GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 
 
 piece of buckskin or other material used Tor carrying the pre- 
 cious metal. Some miners prefer the cradle to the pan for get- 
 ting gold. 
 
 It is nearly always desirable, but not always possible, to have 
 a sluice. This sometimes is very primitive. It may be only a 
 gully bottomed with cobblestones, or plank troughing, with 
 riffles or cleats at intervals across the bottom. In either case, 
 the gold-bearing dirt or gravel is thrown in while water is run- 
 ning through the sluice. The current is supposed to carry away 
 the worthless rocks and dirt, allowing the gold to sink to the 
 bottom. If the gold is in finely divided particles, the sluice is 
 made tight and quicksilver is placed above the riffles, which 
 envelops antl holds the gold dust. No two mines are exactly 
 alike, and the manner of working them has to be varied to suit 
 
 the circumstances. 
 
 Mining in Winter. 
 
 In placers in winter in Alaska and in the Klondike, practically 
 all the year round, it is necessary to melt the frozen auriferous 
 gravel by means of huge fires in order to make it possible to 
 work it with a pick. Formerly miners used to thaw out the 
 whole area of their claims down to bed rock. Now they sink a 
 shaft to the bottom of the gravel, and tunnel along underne?*:!! 
 in the gold-bearing layer. As the tunnel is all the way through 
 the solid frozen eartii, no shoring is required, and the only 
 expense for timber is for fuel. 
 
 The way in which the tunneling is done is interesting, as it 
 has to be carried on in cold weather, when everything is frozen. 
 The miners build fires over the area which they wish to work-, 
 and keep them lighted for the .space of about twenty-four hours. 
 Then, at the expiration of this period, the gravel will be melted 
 and softened to a (.Icpth of })t.-rhaps si.K inches. This is then 
 takeii f^if and other fires built, until the gold-bearing layer is 
 
 I' 
 
e pre- 
 )r get- 
 
 ) have 
 311 ly a 
 ;. with 
 r case, 
 is run- 
 y away 
 to the 
 luice is 
 , which 
 exactly 
 to suit 
 
 ictically 
 Irifcrous 
 sible to 
 out the 
 sink a 
 lcrner*".h 
 hrou^h 
 
 le 
 
 only 
 
 , as it 
 
 fro/.cn. 
 
 () work, 
 
 hours. 
 
 melted 
 
 is then 
 
 layer is 
 
 GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 
 
 389 
 
 reached. When the shaft is down so far fires arc built at the 
 bottom, against the sides of the layer, and tunm Is made in this 
 manner. Dry wood is piled against the face of the drift, and 
 then other pieces are set slantwise over the heap of fuel. As 
 the fire burns, the gravel falls down from above and gradually 
 covers the slanting shield of wood. The fire smoulders away 
 and becomes charcoal ourning. It is when it reaches this con- 
 fined stage during the night that its heat is most effective against 
 the face of the drift. Next day the miner finds the fice of his 
 drift thawed out for a distance of from ten to eigliLcen inches, 
 according to conditions. He shovels out dirt, and if only part 
 is pay dirt lu- puts onl\- that on his dump. Thus, at the rate of 
 a few inches a di\y, drifting out of precious gravel goes on, and 
 the dump is slowly added to imtil spring, when the torrents 
 come down, and the washing and sluicing antl cradling begin. 
 
 Work on the Yukon. 
 
 The mines of the Yukon are of a class by themselves, and it 
 is necessary to follow new methods for getting the gold. To 
 begin with, the ground is frozen. From the roots of the moss, 
 which often is more than a foot thick, to the greatest depth that 
 ever has been reached, the ground is as hard as a bone. The gold 
 is found in a certain drift of gravel, which lies at varying depths, 
 often as flir down as twenty feet. Only that portion, of the gravel 
 just above hard pan — by which is usually me;!' it clay — carries 
 gold in any quantity, and in favored localities this particular gravel 
 is extraordinarily rich. In fact, there is more free gold found 
 within the same space, t.d<ing the whole district through, than 
 ever was found anywhere in placers. Toward the heads of the 
 creeks, and likewise toward the original source of the mineral, 
 the gravel is found nearer the surface than i\i places further down 
 the streams. It is also coarser gold, but, on the other hand, it 
 
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 390 
 
 GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 
 
 covers a narrower strip of the va.ley. Going down the creeks, 
 
 the deposit is spread out over a much wider area, and is deeper 
 
 in the ground. The gold is in smaller particles, but the quantity 
 
 may be as great as anywhere. As in nearly all placer mines, 
 
 the low places of what has formerly been the bed of tlu; creek 
 
 are the richest, the deposits decreasing in quantity toward the 
 
 outer edges. 
 
 Another Description. 
 
 Land Surveyor Ogilvjc gives the following description of a 
 method of placer mining in vogue across the border : 
 
 "The process of placer mining is about as follows: After 
 clearing all the coarse gravel and stones off a patch of ground, 
 the miner lifts a little of the firmer gravel or sand in his pan, 
 which is a Inroad, shalUnv dish, made of strong sheet-iron ; he 
 tlum puts in water enough to fill the pan and gives it a few rapid 
 whirls and shakes ; this tends to bring the gold to the bottom on 
 account of its great specific gravity. The dish is then shaken 
 and held in such a way that the gravel and sand are gradually 
 washed out, care being taken to avoid letting out the finer and 
 heavier parts that have settled to the bottom. Finally all that is 
 left in the pan is whatever gold may have been in the dish, and 
 sor.ic black sand which almost invariably accompanies it. This 
 black sand i.s nothing but pulverized magnetic iron ore. 
 
 "Should the gold thus found be fine, the contents of the pan 
 are thrown into a barrel containing water and a pound or two of 
 mercury. As soon as the gold comes in contact with the mer- 
 cury it combines and forms an amalgam. This process is con- 
 tinued until enough amalgam has been formed to pa}' for 'roast- 
 ing' or 'firing.' It is then squeezed through a buckskin bag, all 
 the mercurj' that comes through the bag being put back into the 
 barrel to serve again, and what remains in the bag is placed in a 
 retort, if the miner has one, or, if not, on a shovel, and heated 
 
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 ,.J-3«»^« 
 
 GOl.D MINING IN ALASKA. 
 
 39 V 
 
 until nearly all the mercury is vaporized. The gold then re- 
 mains in a lump with some mercury still held in combination 
 with it. This is called the 'pan' or 'hand' method, and is never, 
 on account of its slowness and laboriousness, continued for any 
 length of time when it is possible to procure a ' rocker,' or to 
 make and work sluices. 
 
 Sluicing for Gold. 
 
 " Sluicing is always employed when possible. It requires a 
 good supply of water, with sufficient head or fall. The process 
 is as follows : Planks are procured and formed into a box of 
 suitable width and depth. Slats are fi.xed acro.ss the bottom of 
 the box at suitable intervals, or shallow holes bored in the 
 bottom in such order that no particle could run along the bottom 
 in a straight line and escape running over a hole. Several of 
 these boxes are then set up with a considerable slope, and are 
 fitted into one another at the ends, like a st< pipe. A stream 
 of water is now directed into the upper end of l v_ highest box. 
 The gravel having been collected, as in the case of th .ocker, 
 it is shoveled into the upper box, and is washed downward b)' 
 the strong current of water. The gold is detained by its weight, 
 and is held by the slats or in the holes mentioned ; if it is fine, 
 mercury is placed behind the slats or in these holes to catch it. 
 
 " In this way about three times as much dirt can be washed 
 as by the rocker, and consequently three times as much gold 
 can be .secured in a given time. 
 
 " A great many t)f the miners spend their time in the summer 
 in prospecting, and in the winter resort to what is called ' burn- 
 ing.' They make fires on the surface, thus thawing the ground 
 until the bedrock is reached. The pay dirt is brought to 
 the surface and heaped in a pile until spring, when water can 
 be obtained. The sluice boxes arc then set ujd and the dirt '"'^ 
 
 
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392 
 
 GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 
 
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 washed out, thus enabling the miner to work advantageously 
 and profitably the year round." 
 
 Captain J. F. Higgins, of the steamer Excelsior, one of the 
 Alaska boats, wrote to a friend in San Diego the following story 
 of good luck in the Yukon placers : 
 
 " There is about fifteen feet of dirt above bedrock, the pay 
 streak averaging from four to six feet, which is tunneled out 
 while the ground is frozen. Of course, the ground taken out is 
 thawed by building fires, and when the thaw comes and water 
 rushes in they set their sluices and wash the dirt. Two of our 
 fellows thought ;> small bird in the hand worth a large one in 
 the bush and sold their claims for $45,000, getting 1^4500 down, 
 the remainder to be paid in monthly installments of ;$io,ooo 
 each. The purchasers had no more than $5000 paid. They 
 were twenty days thawing and getting out dirt. Then there was 
 no water to sluice with, but one fellow made a rocker, and in 
 ten days took out the ;|S 10,000 for the first installment. So, tun- 
 neling and rocking,they took out $40,000 before there was water 
 
 to sluice with." 
 
 Dry Placer Miners, 
 
 Machines known as " dry placer miners " are in use in various 
 southern diggings and may be expected to make their appear- 
 ance in Alaska and the Klondike soon, where it is believed they 
 would be peculiarly well adapted to the conditions imposed on 
 mining by the climate. A feature of some of these dry washers 
 is that, urUke sluicing or hydraulicking, they will effect a separ- 
 ation of the gold from the black sand. 
 
 The principle in these dry washers is that of the air blast re- 
 moving or blowing the fine sand or dast from the fir;ely j ulver- 
 ized material which is fed upon a panning table of perforated 
 metal covered with cloth and crossed by copper riffles. The 
 sand and earthy dust are blown away, the gangue rolls down 
 

 GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 
 
 893 
 
 Lst rc- 
 
 (ulvcr- 
 
 I) rated 
 
 The 
 
 I down 
 
 the incline over the riffles, and is dischar<:;cd as tailings, and 
 the gold settles on the cloth behind the riffles and is removed in 
 the daily "clean up." A small size of dry washer is made for 
 prospectors. 
 
 A combination sled and gold "rocker" is being largely sold. 
 It is about six feet long, eighteen inches wide and the runners 
 stand up about ten inches. Th*^ "bed," when taken off, consti- 
 tutes a "rocker" of a form approved by miners. It is claimed 
 that 300 pounds of provisions, besides a miner's outfit of tools 
 
 can be carried on it. 
 
 Dredging for Gold. 
 
 One of the now schemes for getting the gold out of the Yukon 
 is to dredge the river bed. A company has been formed to 
 carry out the work, and intends beginning work in the great river 
 in the spring. The promoter argues that the gold deposits of 
 the rivers and creeks are the results of the washing down by 
 high waters and the carrying down of let; floes. Upon this as- 
 sumption the argument is made that in the deeper cliannel the 
 gold has sunk lower, and, as the dredgers will work down to 
 bed rock, the belief is that the result of pumping from the bottom 
 will be proportionately richer. 
 
 An experiment is being conducted in I'razicr River in the use 
 of centrifugal pumps on barges to pump up the earth along the 
 bottom of the river and wash out the gold that has been deposi- 
 ted there for ages. The nozzles of these pumps, which are 
 screened to prevent big bowlders from being taken in, are for:cd 
 to the bottom of the r'\'er, and as the sand and water reach the 
 top of the barge tl ey are carefully screened, so that all the gold 
 is secured. If tlvj experiment proves a success it will revohu 
 tionize placer mining. 
 
 A report on the Bircli Creek district, issued during the summer 
 of 1 897, says : 
 
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 394 
 
 GOLD MINLNG IN ALASKA. 
 
 " Some miners have planned to work this and other good 
 ground supposed to exist under the deep eovering of moss and 
 gravel in the wide valley of the Mammoth and Crooked Creeks, 
 by hydraulicking, the water to be obtained by tapping Miller and 
 Mastadon Creeks near the head." 
 
 A machine has recently been invented, intended to use Alaska 
 petroleum if it can be had in sufficient quantities, and if not, oil 
 brought from the States or from Ontario, by means of which it 
 is expected to thaw the frozen gravel and drift in the placer beds, 
 and vastly cheapen and expedite the process of gathering the gold. 
 The machine is so light that one man can easily handle and 
 move it from place to place. 
 
 The fuel oil is contained in a tank which is mounted on wheels, 
 
 and is provided with a blower to force air into the tank and oil 
 
 out. A lead of pipe runs under a piece of sheet iron, usually 
 
 three feet long by twenty inches wide, which has beveled s!des. 
 
 Beneath the cover is a coil of perforated pipe through which the 
 
 oil makes its escape an;l is burned. It is so arranged there is 
 
 always a downward draft, and the force of the flame is continually 
 
 against the ground. 
 
 Old Miner's Advice. 
 
 Here is some good advice by an old miner to " tenderfeet," 
 who are apt to stampede easily and be led to run after false gods : 
 
 •' If you have once got a claim that is paying a fairly satisfac- 
 tory amount of gold stick to it. You are just about as apt to 
 strike a rich pocket there as anywhere else, and it is much better 
 to be taking out even a comparatively small sum regularly than 
 to spend your time roving from one place to another, and get- 
 ting next to nothing anywhere. You have got to have perse- 
 verance, ana be willing to plod in this pursuit, as well as in any 
 other, if you want to succeed in it." 
 
 It is advice worth pondering and heeding. 
 
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 HYDRAULIC MINING WASHING OUT TllK GOLD. 
 
 396 
 
 
 
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 396 
 
 GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 
 
 Placers, wherever found, arc indications of gold-bearing veins 
 in the neighborhood. Alaska is believed to be no exception to 
 the apparent rule. That rich quartz will be found in the high- 
 lands of the Territory there seems to be no good reason to 
 doubt, and the day when the subterranean mining industry will 
 be the principal resource of the " Seward Purchase " may not be 
 far distant. As usual, the first craze was over the placers, but 
 the extraordinary richness of the surfacings attracted the atten- 
 tion of men of capital, and their agents are already in the field 
 prospecting for gold-bearing quartz. The sequence of develop- 
 ment in new gold fields is always the same — first, the men with 
 pans to gather the riches on the surface ; next, miners with " long 
 Turns"; third, hydraulicking, and then, (juartz mining under- 
 ground. Alaska ma)- break the record for getting into the 
 
 fourth stage. 
 
 How Gold Came to Klondike. 
 
 Professor Frederick Wright, writing of " How Gold Came to 
 the Klondike," says : 
 
 " Little is known about the geology of the Yukon River, where 
 the Klondike mines have been found. Iking placer mines, the 
 gold may have been transported many miles. The means of 
 transportation are both glaciers and rivers. The Klondike region 
 is on the north side of the St. Elias Alps. Alaska was never 
 completely covered with glacial ice. The glaciers flowed both 
 north and south from these summits. Dawson and Professor 
 Russell both report well-defined terminal moraines across the 
 upper Yukon Valley. The source of the Klondike gold, there- 
 fore, is from the south. 
 
 Placer mines originate in the disintegration of gold-bearing 
 quartz veins or mass like that at Juneau. Under subaerial agen- 
 cies these become dissolved. Then the glaciers transport the 
 material as far as they go, when the floods of water carry it on 
 
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 GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 
 
 397 
 
 still further. Gold, beinj^ heavier than the other materials asso- 
 ciated with it, lodges in the crevasses or in the rough places at 
 the bottom of the streams. So to speak, nature has stamped 
 and panned the gravel first and prepared the way for man to finish 
 the work. The amount of gold found in the placer mines is 
 evidence not so much perhaps of a very rich vein as of the dis- 
 integration of a very large vein. 
 
 " The ' mother lode ' has been looked for in vain in California, 
 and perhaps will be so in Alaska. But it exists somewhere up 
 the streams on which the placer mines are found. The discovery 
 of gold in glacial deposits far away from its native place is 
 familiar to American geologists. 
 
 " It is evident, however, that in Alaska the transportation of 
 gold has not gone so far." 
 
 General Duffield, Superintendent of the Coast and Geodetic 
 Survey, also inclines to the glacier view. He says : 
 
 " The gold has been ground out of the quartz by the pressure 
 of the glaciers, which lie and move along the courses of the 
 streams, exerting a tremendous pressure. This force is present 
 to a more appreciable extent in Alaska than elsewhere, and I be- 
 lieve that as a consequence more placer gold will be found in 
 that region than in any other part of the world." 
 
 Dr. Everett's Views. 
 
 Dr. Willis E. Everett, of Tacoma, says : 
 
 " Alaska was once under glaciers, and the gold now found un- 
 doubtedly comes from glacial action, primarily, which has been 
 going on for many centuries. The miners are finding, however, 
 that what they usually consider bed rock is only a false bed rock, 
 and that underneath there is .still another bed rock, with larger 
 lumps of gold than are found on the first. I believe that the 
 country in the interior, back of Klondike, will furnish enormous 
 
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 34 
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 398 
 
 GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 
 
 quantities of gold, and that the rich strikes already made are but 
 a small beginning. The district will prove to be about 300 miles 
 square," 
 
 This theory of Dr. Everett would seem to be borne out by 
 the experience of a young Chicago "tenderfoot" who, being un- 
 learned in miner's traditions, not only dug down to hard-pan, 
 but went straight on through the clay and found a fabulously 
 rich deposit of "dust" and nuggets. Had he been an old miner 
 he would have stopped at hard-pan and the treasure would not 
 have been uncovered. 
 
 Professor Emmon's Theory. 
 
 Professor S. F. Emmons, of the Geological Survey, says : 
 "The real mass of golden wealth in Alaska remains as yet un- 
 touched. It lies in the virgin rocks, from which the particles 
 found in the river gravels now being washed by the Klondike 
 miners have been torn by the erosion of .streams. These parti- 
 cles, being heavy, have been deposited by the streams, which 
 carried the lighter matter onward to the ocean, thus forming, by 
 gradual accumulation, a sort of auriferous concentrate. Many 
 of the bits, especially in certain localities, are big enough to be 
 called nuggets. In spots the gravels are so rich that, as we 
 have all heard, many ounces of the yellow metal are obtained 
 from the washing of a single panful. That is what is making 
 the people so wild — the prospect of picking money out of the 
 dirt by the handful literally." 
 
 Gold-bearing quartz is plentiful in the southeastern portion of 
 Ala.ska, around the great Alaska-Trcadwell and Alaska-Mexican 
 mines and their smaller likenesses. Such quartz has been found 
 in Cone Hill, midway in the valley of the Forty-Mile, and vague 
 reports of quartz finds worth working have come in from other 
 sections which the winter's prospecting is expected to verify. 
 
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 .'" -,. ' 
 
 GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 
 
 ,399 
 
 of 
 ;an 
 
 lier 
 
 And in the spring, too, " Lucky " l^aldwin starts out to find the 
 " mother lode." There is no doubt that Knle mining w ill be 
 carried on in the Alaskan mountains when the country is .settleil. 
 
 Banks and Banking. 
 
 After the miner on the Wikon has dug and panned out his 
 gold, although the country is full of naturally honest men and 
 of others as honest as a wholesome fear of Judge Lynch can 
 make them, his next thought will be where he can stow it away 
 and keep it safe till he gets ready to carry it back to civilization. 
 Heretofore he has deposited it, if he banked it all, with Captain 
 Healy in his safe at Circle City. Next year he will have bank- 
 ing facilities of approved pattern at his very door. 
 
 The North American Transportation and Trading Company 
 has decided to carry out the plan of establishing five, and possi- 
 bly six, banks on the Yukon, at Dawson City, Fort Cudahy 
 Circle City, Fort Get There and St. Michael's. W. H. Hubbard, 
 of Chicago, went into the basin via the Chilkoot Pass in August 
 to complete the arrangements for opening the institutions. Be- 
 fore leaving for Alaska, he saic. : 
 
 "The banks will be primarily banks of exchange. We shall 
 accept gold dust and sell exchange on Chicago, New York and 
 San Francisco for it. In Chicago we shall accept currency and 
 issue letters of credit to those going into the mines. 
 
 "As I understand it, gold dust is the only ' currency ' in the 
 interior of Alaska. It passes current for $17 an ounce, iis 
 market value being a trifle more than that amount. Gold dust 
 is used even in petty transactions, as there is not enough silver 
 for change. A miner going into a saloon for a drink takes out 
 his bag of dust, lays it on the bar, and the saloon-keeper weighs 
 the fifty cents or one dollar and hands back the change. All 
 supplies are paid for in like manner. 
 
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 400 
 
 GOLD MININO IN ALASKA. 
 
 *' Loans by the banks will be a later consideration. No 
 doubt traders will flock in and all kinds of business established. 
 The merchants there as elsewhere probably will need accommo- 
 dations, and where their standing; warrants it we shall let them 
 have money. The banking business is in enibrj-o. My work 
 will be to estublisi} it at the five posts which the North American 
 Company has founded." 
 
 The Canadian Government has under consideration a project 
 for the establishment of a "treasure house " at Dawson City in 
 which will be .stored the miners' gold and for which they will 
 receive drafts on United States or Canadian banks for the full 
 market value of their " dust." 
 
 If the gold is .stored in a central place, under this proposed 
 plan, the officials of the law will find the task of preserving 
 order greatly simplified, for the miners will not be under the 
 necessity of carrying arms, nor will the rougher sort likely 
 spend as much gold in riotous living. It will, of course, be 
 necessary for the government to take great precaution to insure 
 the safety of the gold, but the presence of fifty or a hundred 
 mounted police and three or four Maxim guns will be a great 
 deterrent to the envious antl greed)-. 
 
 Wells, Fargo & Co. will likely establish an office in Dawson 
 
 City in the spring. 
 
 Effects of Discovery. 
 
 Touching the effect of the discovery of gold in Alaska, 
 Director of the Mint Preston, said : 
 
 "It is too early to determine. We cannot expect to see 
 any material effect in the London market, where gold is quoted 
 every day, until a }'ear or two have passed. 
 
 "I should judge from all accounts that the discoveries of the 
 Klondike region would add a tremendous amount of gold to the 
 world's stock. The tendency of this will be, of course, to 
 
C.OT.i) MININd IN At-ASKA. 
 
 401 
 
 increase the value of silver, but I cluui)t if it will very greatly 
 raise its market value. At any rate, we must wait from one to 
 two years to determine that. 
 
 " It is unfair to assume tiiat the increase in the value of silver 
 resulting from the discovery of gold in Alaska will be anything 
 like that which resulted in the early '50s from the discoveries in 
 California and in Australia. At that time the sui)ply of silver 
 in the United States was almost nil, and there was very little 
 silver coinage. At the present time, however, there is so much 
 silver that the world, as the markc;t has indicated this week, does 
 not know wlnit to do with it. There cannot be expected, there- 
 fore, a very high jump in the price of silver under any discovery 
 
 of gold." 
 2G 
 
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 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Resume of Mining Laws. 
 
 Law and Order — Fees for Mining — Rights of Miners — Quartz Mining — 
 Surveys and Reservations — Voice of the Press — Penalties Imposed — Call 
 for United States Troops — Size of Claims — Canadian Laws. 
 
 IN gold mining the law may be the survival of the fittest, but 
 it is not the rule of the strongest. Every ^jhase of the 
 work is hedged around by legal enactments, and the miners 
 are obliged to observe as much red tape, away (out in the wilder- 
 ness, thousands of miles from civilization, as a citizen would in 
 New York or Chicago. 
 
 On the American side of the boundary line all mining opera- 
 tions are subject only to the United States mining laws and the 
 general laws of the State of Oregon, as they existed in 1S84, 
 when i'nC law providing a civil government for Alaska was 
 passed. 
 
 That law provided "that the general laws of the State of 
 Oregon now in force are hereby declared to be the law in said 
 district, so far as the same be applicable and not in conflict with 
 the provisions of this act or the laws of the United States." 
 
 Thus the laws of Oregon in force May rp, 1884, are the laws 
 of Alaska. As a matter of fact, however, little attention to 
 niceties of detail is ever paid. In a larr:e sense, the law of 
 the miners is an unwritten code, but that code is kept within the 
 legal statutes. 
 
 On the Canadian side of the boundary — that is, in Klondike — 
 the mining laws of British Columbia are in force. For the con- 
 venience of readers who may contemplate trying their fortune'- 
 in the great Northwest a digest of tlie mining laws of both coun- 
 tries is herewith given. 
 
 4()2 
 
RESUMI': OF MINING LAWS. 
 
 403 
 
 Ike— 
 con- 
 :une': 
 coun- 
 
 The Placer Mining Law of the United States, from the Revised 
 Statute:^, provides as follows : 
 
 The term " placer claim " as defined by the Supreme Court of 
 the United Slates, is : " Ground within defined boundaries which 
 contains mineral in its earth, sand or gravel ; ground that in- 
 cludes valuable deposiis not in place, that is, not fixed in rock, 
 but which are in a loose state, and may in most cases be collected 
 by washing or amalgamation without milling." 
 
 The manner of locating placer mining claims differ from that 
 of locating claims upon veins or lodes. In locating a vein or 
 lode claim, the United States Statutes provide that no claim shall 
 extend more than 300 feet on each side of the middle of the vein 
 at the surface, and that no claim shall be limited by mining regu- 
 lations to less than 25 feet on each side of the middle of the vein 
 at the surface. In 'ocating claims called " placers," however, 
 the law provides thai no location nf such claim upon surveyed 
 lands shall include more than 20 acres for each individual claim- 
 ant. The Supreme Court, however, has held that one individual 
 can hold as many locations as he can purchase and rely upon 
 his possessory title ; that a separate patent for each location is 
 
 unnecessary. 
 
 Proof of Citizenship. 
 
 Locators, however, have to show proof of citizenship or inten- 
 tion to becoiue citizens. This may be done in the case of an 
 individual by his own affidavit : in the case of an association in- 
 corporated by a number of individuals b}' the affiflavit of their 
 authorized agent, made on his own knowledge or upon informa- 
 tion and belief; and in the case of a company organized under 
 Lhe laws of any State or Territory, by the filing of a certified 
 copy of the chaKer or certificate of incorporation. 
 
 A patent for any land claimed and located ma}- be oljtained 
 in the following manner : " Any person, association or corpora- 
 
 •M: 
 
 -**ss«»» 
 
 i 
 
 j^vsii} t- 
 
 •ifi«: : 
 
 

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 J, 
 
 
 
 1! 
 
 
 
 
 
 J; '''''in 
 
 404 
 
 RlOSUMl': (,)F MINING LAWS. 
 
 tion authorized to locate a claim, having clainietl and located a 
 piece of land, and who lias or have complied with the terms of 
 the law, may file in the proper land office an a])plication for a 
 patent, under oath, showing such compliance, together with a 
 plat and field notes of the claim or claims in common made by 
 or under the direction of the United States Surveyor General, 
 showing accurately the boundaries of the claim or claims, which 
 shall be distinctly marked by monuments on the ground, and 
 shall post a copy of such plat, together with a notice of such 
 application for a patent, in a conspicuous place on the land em- 
 braced in sucli plat, previous to the application for a patent on 
 such plat ; and shall file an affidavit of at least two persons that 
 such notice has been duly posted, and shall file a copy of the 
 notice in such land office ; and shall thereupon be entitled to a 
 patent to the land in the manner following : 
 
 Publishing of Notices. 
 
 "The registrar of said land office upon the filing of such appli- 
 cation, plat, field notes, notices and affidavits, shall publish a 
 notice that such application has been made, for a period of sixty 
 days, in a newspaper to be by him designated, as published 
 nearest to such claim ; and he shall post such notice in his office 
 for the same period. The claimant at the time of filing such ap- 
 plication or at any time thereafter, within sixty days of puolica- 
 tion, shall filv^ with the registrar a certificate of the United States 
 Surveyor Gener il that $$00 worth of labor lias been expemled 
 or improvements ipade upon the claim by himself or grantors ; 
 that the plat is correct, with such further description by refer- 
 ence to natural objects or permanent monuments as shall identif}' 
 the claim and furnish an accurate description to be incorporated 
 in the patent. At the expiration of the sixty days of publication, 
 the claimant shall file his affidavit showing that the plat and 
 
 '//hr 
 
 'X4 
 
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 RESUME OF MINING LAWS. 
 
 405 
 
 notice have been posted in a conspicuous place on the claim dur- 
 ing such period of publication." 
 
 If no adverse claim shall have been filed with the registrar of 
 the land office at the expiration of said sixty days, the claimant 
 is entitled to a patent upon the payment to the proper officer of 
 $5 per acre in the case of a lode claim, and $2.50 per acre for a 
 placer. 
 
 The location of a placer claim and keeping possession thereof 
 until a patent shall be issued are subject to local laws and customs. 
 
 It will be seen from the following that the Mining Laws of 
 British Columbia differ somewhat in detail from those of the 
 United States, but are desigmxl to cover essentially the same 
 points and subserve the same purpose. The Canadian Statute*! 
 make these provisions : 
 
 Placer ^^ining — Registration and Fees. 
 
 At the close of the second sitting of the Canadian Cabinc^ 
 it was announced that the Government had decided to im> 
 pose a royalty on all placer diggings on the Yukon in addition 
 to ;^I5 registration fee and $100 annual assessment. The royalty 
 will be 10 per cent, each on claims with an output of $500 or 
 less monthly, and 20 per cent, on ever}' claim yielding above 
 that amount monthly. Besides this ro\-alty it has been decided 
 in reirard to all future claims staked out on other streams or 
 livers, that every alternate claim should be the property of the 
 Government, and should be reserved for public jnirposes and 
 sold or worked by the Government for the benefit of the revenue 
 of the Dominion. 
 
 For " bar diggings" — A strip of land 100 feet wide at high- 
 water mark, and thence extending into the river at its lowest 
 water level. 
 
 For " dry diggings " — 100 feet square. 
 
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 RESUME OF MINING LAWS. 
 
 Si 
 
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 For "creek and river claims " — 500 feet along the direction of 
 the stream, extending- in width from base to base of the hill or 
 bench on either side. The width of such claims, however, is 
 limited to 600 feet when the benches are a greater distance apart 
 than that. In such a case claims are laid out in areas of 10 
 acres, with boundaries running north and south, east and west. 
 
 For "bench claims " — 100 feet square. 
 
 Size of claims to discoverers or parties of discoverers — To 
 one discoverer, 300 feet in Icngti; ; to a party of two, 600 feet 
 in length ; to a party of three, 800 feet in length ; to a partv of 
 four, 1000 feet in length ; to a party ol niore than four, ordinary 
 sized claims only. 
 
 New strata of auriferous gravel in a locality where claims are 
 abandoned, or dry diggings discovered in the vicinity of bar 
 diggings, or vice versa, shall be deemed new mines. 
 
 Rights and Duties of Miners. 
 
 Entries of grants for phicer mining must be renewed and 
 entry fee paid every year. 
 
 No miner shall receive more than one claim in the same local- 
 ity, but may hold any number of claims by purchase, and any 
 number of miners may unite to work their claims in common, 
 provided an agreement be duly registered and a registration fee 
 of $S be duly paid therefor. 
 
 Claims may be mortgaged or disposed of, provided such dis- 
 posal be registered and a registration fee of $2 be paid therefor. 
 
 Although miners shall have exclusive right of entry upon 
 their claims for the " miner-like " working of them, holders of 
 adjacent claims shall he granted such right of entry thereon as 
 may seem reasonable to the superintendent of mines. 
 
 Each miner shall be entitled to so much of the water not pre- 
 viously appropriated flowing througli or past his claim as the 
 
 m^ 
 
RESUME OF MINING LAWS. 
 
 407 
 
 superintendent of mines shall deem necessary to work it, and 
 shall be entitled to drain his own claim free of charge. 
 
 Claims remaining unworked on working days for seventy-two 
 hours are deemed abandoned, unless sickness or other reason- 
 able cause is shown or unless the grantee is absent on leave. 
 
 For the convenience of miners en back claims, on benches or 
 slopes, permission may be granted by the superintendent of 
 mines to tunnel through claims fronting on water courses. 
 
 In case of the death of a miner, the provisions of abandon- 
 ment do not apply during his last illness or after his decease. 
 
 Acquisition of Mining Locations. 
 
 Marking of locations — Wooden posts, four inches square, 
 driven eighteen inches into the ground and projecting eighteen 
 inches above it, must mark the four corners of a location. In 
 rocky ground stone mounds three feet in diameter may be piled 
 about the post. In timbered land well-blazed lines must join 
 the posts. In rolling or uneven localities flattened posts must 
 be placed at intervals along the lines to mark them, so that sub- 
 sequent explorers shall have no t'-ouble in tracing such lines. 
 
 When locations are bounded by lines running north and south, 
 east and west, the stake at the northeast corner shall be marked 
 by a cutting instrument or by colored chalk, " M. I.. No. i " 
 (mining location, stake number i). Likewise the southeasterly 
 stake shall be marked " AL L. No. 2," the southwesterly " M. L. 
 No. 3 " and the northwesterly " M. L. No. 4." Where the 
 boundary lines do not run north and south, cast and west, the 
 northerly stake shall be marked i, the easterly 2, the southerly 
 3 and the westerly 4. On each post shall be marked also the 
 claimant's initials and the distance to the next post. 
 
 Application and affidavit of discoverer — Within sixty days 
 after marking his location the claimant shall file in the office of 
 
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 408 
 
 RESUME OF MINING EAWS. 
 
 the dominion land office for the district a formal declaration, 
 sworn to before the land agent, describing as nearly as may be 
 the locality and dimensions of the location. With such declara- 
 tion he must pay the agent an entry fee of $$. 
 
 Receipt issued to discoverer — Upon such payment the agent 
 shiill grant a receipt authorizing the claimant, or his legal repre- 
 sentative, to enter into possession, subject to renewal every year 
 for five years, provided that in these five years <gioo shall be ex- 
 pended on the v^laim in actual mining operations. A detailed 
 statement of such expenditure must also be filed with the agent 
 of Dominion lands, in the form of an affidavit corroborated by two 
 reliable and disinterested witnesses. 
 
 Annual renewal of location certificate — Upon payment of the 
 $5 fee therefor a receipt shall be issued entitling the claimant to 
 hold the location for another year. 
 
 Rules for Partnerships. 
 
 Workitig in partnership — Any party of four or less neighbor- 
 ing miners, within three months after entering, may, upon being 
 authorized by the agent, make upon any one of such locations, 
 during the first and second years, but not subsequently, the ex- 
 penditure otherwise required on each of the locations. An 
 agreement, however, accompanied by a fee of ^5, must be filed 
 with the agent. Provided, however, that the expenditure made 
 upon any one location shall not be applicable in any manner or 
 for any purpose to any other location. 
 
 Purchase of location — At any time before the expiration of 
 five years from date of entry a claimant may purchase a location 
 upon hling with the agent proof that he has expended ;|SSOO in 
 actual mining operations on the claim and complied with all 
 other prescribed regulations. The price of a mining location 
 shall be 55 per acre, cash. 
 
RKSUMK Ol' MININ'G LAWS. 
 
 401) 
 
 RW'iii* 
 
 ide 
 or 
 
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 ion 
 
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 ion 
 
 On making an application to ])urchasc, the claimant nuist 
 deposit with the aj^ent ^50, to be deemed as payment to the 
 Ljovcrnmcnt for the survey of his location. On receipt of jjlans 
 
 ^^'^v'^/^:** 
 
 IX THE HANDS OF A VIGILANCE COMMITTEE. 
 
 and field notes, and approval by the .surveyor general, a patent 
 shall issue to the claimant. 
 
 Reversion of title — Failure of a claimant to prove within each 
 year the expenditure prescribed, or failure to pay the agent the 
 
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 RESUME OF MINING LAWS. 
 
 
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 full cash price, shall cause the claimant's right to lapse and the 
 location to revert to the crown, along with the improvements 
 upon it. 
 
 Rival claimants — When two or more persons claim the same 
 location, the right to acquire it shall be in him who can prove he 
 was the first to discover the mineral deposit involved, and to take 
 possession in the prescribed manner. Priority of discovery alone, 
 however, shall not give the right to acquire. A subsequent dis- 
 coverer, who has complied with other prescribed conditions, shall 
 take precedence over a prior discoverer who has failed so to comply. 
 
 When a claimant has in bad f lith used the prior discovery of 
 another and has fraudulently affirmed that he made independent 
 discovery and demarcation, he shall, apart from other legal con- 
 sequences, have no claim, forfeit his deposit and be absolutely 
 debarred from obtaining another location. 
 
 Rival applicants — Where there are two or more applicants for 
 a mining location, neither of whom is the original discoverer, the , 
 Minister of the Interior may invite competitive tenders or put it 
 up for public auction, as he sees fit. 
 
 Transfer of Mining Rights. 
 
 Assignment of right to purchase — An assignment of the right 
 to purchase a location shall be indorsed on the back of the 
 receipt or certificate of assignment, and execution thereof 
 witnessed by two disinterested witnesses. Upon the deposit of 
 such receipt in the office of the land agent, accompanied by a 
 registration fee of $2, the agent shall give the assignee a certifi- 
 cate entitling him to all the rights of the original discoverer. By 
 complying with the prescribed regulations such assignee becomes 
 entitled to purchase the location. 
 
 Regulations in respect to placer mining, so far as they relate 
 to entries, entry fees, assignments, marking of locations, agents' 
 
RESUME OF MINING lAWS. 
 
 411 
 
 right 
 
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 icrcof 
 
 sit of 
 
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 :rtifi- 
 
 By 
 
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 relate 
 rents' 
 
 receipts, etc., except where otherwise provided, apply also to 
 quartz mining. 
 
 Nature and size of claims — A location shall not exceed the 
 following dimensions : Length, 1 500 feet ; breadth, 600 feet. 
 The surface boundaries shall be from straight parallel lines, and 
 its boundaries beneath the surface the planes of these lines. 
 
 Limit to number of locations — Not more than one mining 
 location shall be granted to any one individual claimant upon 
 the same lode or vein. 
 
 Mill sites — Land used for milling purposes may be applied 
 for and patented, either in connection with or separate from a 
 mining location, and may be held in addition to a mining loca- 
 tion, provided such additional land shall in no case exceed five 
 
 acres. 
 
 General Provisions. 
 
 Decision of disputes — The Superintendent of Mines shall have 
 power to hear and determine all disputes in regard to mining 
 property arising within his district, subject to appeal by either of 
 the parties to the commissioner of dominion lands. 
 
 Leave of absence — Each holder of a mining location shall be 
 entitled to be absent and suspend work on his diggings during 
 the "close" season, which "close" season shall be declared by 
 the agent in each district, under instructions from the minister of 
 the interior. 
 
 The agent may grant a leave of absence pending the decision 
 of any dispute before him. 
 
 Any miner is entitled to a year's leave of absence upon prov- 
 ing expenditure of not less than ;^200 without any reasonable 
 return of gold. 
 
 The time occupied by a locator in going to and returning from 
 the office of the agent or of the superintendent of mines shall 
 not count against him. 
 
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 412 
 
 RKSUME OK MININC; LAWS. 
 
 Additional locations — The minister of the interior may j^rant 
 to a person actually developing a location an adjoining location 
 ec^ual in size, provided it be shown to the minister's satisfaction 
 that the vein being worked will probably extend beyond the 
 boundaries of the original location. 
 
 Forfeiture — In event of the bre:ich of the regulations, a right 
 or grant shall be absolutely forfeited, and the offending party 
 shall be incapable of subsecpiently acquiring similar rights except 
 by special permission of the minister of the interior. 
 
 Trouble O^'er Mining Laws. 
 
 It was natural to expect that in a mining region so remote 
 from districts in which there was an established order of affairs, 
 in two countries between which there was a boundarj^ line dis- 
 pute of long standing — and in governments, or nominal govern- 
 ments, laws in unsettled regions are bound to be more or less 
 dead letters — where mining was done under different systems of 
 regulations and requirements, there should be more or less 
 jealousy, friction and trouble. 
 
 Those who predicted a clash — and there were many such on 
 the first news of the discovery of gold in the Klondike wilds 
 reaching southern cities — were not disappointed. 
 
 Differences did arise almost immediately. These were due 
 partly to a misunderstanding or an ignoring of the existing 
 mining laws and partly to the greed of Great Britain in seeking 
 to make a rich thing of the find by imposing exactions on the 
 miners who crossed the real or alleged boundary line and staked 
 off claims on the territory claimed by Canada. 
 
 The Canadian government lost no time in taking official action 
 and there was a prospect of international hostilities. 
 
 On July 30, 1897, the Dominion Cabinet reached an important 
 decision as to the imposition of a tax in the Yukon district on all 
 

 H 
 
 due 
 
 the 
 
 RESUME i)V MININC; T.AWS. 
 
 413 
 
 American miii' rs. This perhaps is best toki in a telegraphic 
 repoi i from Ottawa, which was sent out at the time. Sa}'s this 
 rej)ort : 
 
 " Under the regulations recently issued the fee for registering 
 a claim was fixed at $15, while an annual assessment of $100 
 was to be paid by the holder. Now, in addition to this, a 
 royalty of 10 per cent, will be levied upon the output of all 
 claims )'ielding $500 and under to each claim, and 20 per cent, 
 upon each claim yielding over that amount, 
 
 "Among those posted the opinion is freely expressed that it 
 will bi.' impossible to so supervise the output of these thousands 
 of individual claims as to collect royalty upon the exact yield. 
 Another obstacle is the fact that the mines all lie within a com- 
 paratively short distance of the boundaries. There is nothing to 
 prevent the miner from carrying the bulk f his gold dust, on 
 the quiet, down the river to the boundar}- line, and once in 
 American territoiy he is out of the jurisdiction of the Canadian 
 
 tax collector. 
 
 Reservation of Grounds. 
 
 " In addition to the royalt}- every alternate claim in all placer 
 grounds is to be reserved as the property of the government. 
 These government reserves are to be sold or worked by the 
 government for the benefit of the revenue of the Dominion. 
 This is considered a startling departure from all the traditions of 
 placer mining the world over. 
 
 "Two customs officers will be dispatched to a point near 
 Lake Tagish, where all goods sent in by the Taiya route (Chil- 
 koot Pass) can be intercepted. At this point also a strong 
 mounted police post will be erected, and the strength of the 
 Yukon police will be augumented by an additional detachment 
 of eight}' men. Small police posts will be established about 
 fifty miles apart up to Fort Selkirk. These will serve as stations 
 
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414 
 
 RESUME OK MINING TAWS. 
 
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 for the (log trains carrying mails, and also for the relief of such 
 travelers as may make the journey overland during the winter. 
 
 " There will be established a regular monthly mail service 
 between Taiya and I'ort Selkirk. The government has also 
 determined to test the feasibility of connecting Dawson City 
 with Taiya by means of a telegraph line. Should it be found 
 impracticable to consi.'uct an ordinary overhead system a species 
 of land cable may be employed to convey the wire laid on tin- 
 surface. 
 
 " In the meantime the survey for a route overland from Taiya 
 will be pushed, and upon the surveyors' report will depend the 
 carrying out of the proposal of constructing a wagon road 
 through the country at least to the head of uninterrupted navi- 
 gation on the Yukon River. Diplomatic communication will be 
 entered into with the United States authorities for the purpose of 
 establishing a nioihis vivendi so as to give the Canadian Govern- 
 ment the right of way through the country." 
 
 The miners summarily condemned the action of the Dominion 
 Cabinet and rose up almost to a man against the payment of the 
 tax. They denounced the step as rank robbery and declared 
 that the Dominion of^cers would have a high time in collecting 
 the monies levied. 
 
 Much indignation was aroused not less in the press than 
 4mong the public, as the following newspaper comments show : 
 
 Press Is Indignant. 
 
 Bulletin : Canada cannot very well hold on to all the gold in 
 the Klondike, but the Dominion Government will put a royalty 
 on claims and gather in as large a share ac possible. Let the 
 Dominion statesmen go on if they think there is no such thing 
 as manifest destiny. 
 
 Evenhig Report : The news about the imposition of a mining 
 
 i!»i . 
 
RESUME Ol' MIXINC; LAWS. 
 
 415 
 
 1>!^ 
 
 tax by the Canadian Government suggests that a war vessel be 
 sent to Dawson Cit>' witliout loss of time. 
 
 Chronicle: The Dominion Government has thrown fairness 
 and eaution to the winds and gone to the unexpeeted length of 
 imposing a royalty on all placer diggings on the Yukon, besides 
 a $15 registration fee and $100 annual assessment. The royalt)' 
 named is :o per cent, on claims with an ()ut[)ut of $500 or less 
 monthly, and 20 per cent, on every claim )-ieldiiig above that 
 amount. Additionally, the government will reserve every alter- 
 nate claim in any new gold district that may be found, and will 
 impose a heavy tariff upon all goods coming in from the Ameri- 
 can side. 
 
 With the latter proviso we do not, of course, find fault, but 
 the proceeding as ;i whole shows an intent to k-eep American 
 miners out of the field in which they were pioneers and where 
 they have uncovered the richest finds. 
 
 The Canadian government, however, apparently meant busi- 
 ness, and it proceeded to cloister the tax it had imposed witii a 
 certain amount of terror in the way of penalties. According to 
 the amended regulations i; sued, any miner who defrauds the 
 government will be made liable to the confiscation of his claim 
 and the withdrawal of his right to have any holding in the 
 future. The penalty for the trespassing clause reads as follows : 
 
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 Penalties are Imposed. 
 
 " Entry shall only be granted for alternate claims, the other 
 alternate claims being reserved for the crown, to be disposed oi 
 at public auction or in such manner as may be decided by the 
 Minister of the Interior. The penalty for trespassing upon a 
 claim reserved for the crown shall be the immediate cancellation 
 by the gold commissioner of any entry the trespasser may have 
 obtained for a mining claim, and the refusal of the acceptance of 
 
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 41(1 
 
 RKSl'MK Ol" MINING LAWS. 
 
 ■'iny application which the trespasser may ar aiu' time mai<e for a 
 claim. In addition to such pcnalt}' thr mounted police, upon 
 
 LyiS,CH LAV- IN KLUNIUKE. 
 
 requisition from tiie ^old connnussioner, siiall take necessar)' steps 
 to eject the trespasser." 
 
 A scheme was likewise devised by the Canadians to prevent or 
 limit the flow of Ljokl to this countr)-. This move also n:et the 
 bitterest op[)ositi<)n, from the tact that a lar^e percentage of the 
 miners in the Klondii^e district were yVmericans who went there, 
 
 
RESUME OF MINING LAWS. 
 
 417 
 
 braving perils and hardships, on a mere chance of making for- 
 tunes, and who resented being taxed for the privilege in the first 
 place, and, in the second place, having restrictions placed upon 
 them as to the disposition of their finds. 
 
 The scheme was devised by Captain Strickland. Following 
 is a report of his plan : 
 
 " Captain Strickland said the plan wliich he has already sug- 
 gested, and which the Dominion government was inclined to favor, 
 provided they had a large enough police force to be assured of carry- 
 ing it out, was to pass a law prohibiting the export of gold except 
 by Dominion officials. The gold dust brought in by the minors 
 of all nationalities would be carefully weighed by officials of the 
 Canadian government. A fixed value would be placed on the 
 metal, according to assayers' estimates, and this value would be 
 paid in money of only local value." 
 
 Klondike a Free Country. 
 
 In official circles in the United States the manifestos of Canada 
 were deemed " amusing literature." Said one of the leading 
 officials of the State Department at the time : 
 
 " The gold fields ..--c free to all. Of course it is possible for 
 Great Britain to pass an alien law which would keep citi;cens of 
 the United States out of the new gold fields, but the result would 
 be that it would keep their own people out as well, for, while it 
 is true that the fields alread}' explored seem to be on Canadian 
 territory, they cannot be reached at all except by passing through 
 the American territory of Alaska. It is well nigh impossible to 
 make the journey overland from British Columbia to Forty- Mile 
 Creek or any of the headwaters of the \'ukoii. It is necessary 
 to go through Alaska to get to the golJ. fields, and tin- gold 
 which is taken from there must go through Alaska to get to 
 civilization. 
 27 
 
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 418 
 
 RESUME OF MINING LAWS. 
 
 "The Canadians have been talking of cstablishin;:^ custom 
 houses to lev}' some kind of a toll on the importation of supplies. 
 There has been no talk of any prohibition of mining by Ameri- 
 can citizens, for if that were done all we would have to do would 
 be to prevent the transit of Canadian miners across our territory, 
 and thereupon the gold fields would have to be abandoned. 
 
 " Up to the present time no mortal man can say exactly where 
 the boundary line between the Amcriccin and the British posess- 
 ions runs. The meridian fixed by the treaty has not been deter- 
 mined astronomically. The preliminary surveys show that the 
 new gold fields are on Canadian soil, but the margin is so slight 
 that neither government would care to assert authorit}^ where 
 there is nothing to be gained by it. The miner3 themselves have 
 established a local government, as is the case in all mining fields, 
 but when the proper time comes the British Government, which 
 is the best equipped in the world for looking after far-away de- 
 pendencies, will take care of its own. American miners can go 
 there without fear of interference on the part of Canada, but the 
 information iii our possession goes to show that many of those 
 who do go will never return, for a famine in the Yukon country 
 during the long winter season seems to be almost inevitable." 
 
 John Sherman Talks. 
 
 In the matter of an alien law. Secretary of State, John Sher- 
 man made the following statement : 
 
 " We have an .alien law of our own. We have never enforced 
 it against gold miners. Canadian citizens have been fiee to 
 come into the United States and mine for gold under the same 
 terms that our own citizens did. There has never been an\' 
 friction over the matter. 
 
 " Where a man has taken up a land claim for the purpose of 
 residence and cultivation we have always insisted that he be a 
 

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 RESUME OF MINING LAWS. 
 
 Al^ 
 
 citizen. The same has been done under the Canadian Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 "Where a man has simply prospected for gold with the 
 intention of digging into the ground a Httle ways and taki)ig 
 what he could find from land against which there was already 
 no claim, he has never been interferred with on our side of the 
 boundary. I do not think that the Canadian Government will 
 change that course of procedure. If they do it may lead to 
 fully as much embarrassment to them as to our miners. 
 
 Through Clinched Teeth. 
 
 Canadians, however, continued to talk through clinched teeth, 
 Tnd, on an intimation being made that the United States would 
 k 3k out for the interests of its citizens, spoke with satisfaction 
 of the policy of backing up the Dominion's claims with guns. 
 
 " It is hardly necessary," sa5's the Toronto World, " to reply 
 to the threats of Americans in the matter. The government of 
 Canada has already made its reply, and that reply is based on 
 action, not on words. A large force of mounted police and two 
 Maxim guns are now on the way to the Klondike country, and 
 if the miners whom the United States journals are inciting to 
 revolt only make the attempt, they will perhaps meet with a 
 reception warmer than they anticipated. 
 
 *' Surely it is time that the people of this country, and espe- 
 cially the party in power, began to consider the relations of 
 Canada with the United States from an entirely new standpoint. 
 Hitherto the Liberal party has regarded tliis people as a friendly 
 neighbor, from whom Canadians might expect fair treatment, at 
 the least, while our habit has been to yield to them over much, 
 and rather to supplicate such treatment from them than demand 
 it as of right." 
 
 The United States government meant to stand by its word and 
 
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 RESUME OF MIXINC; LAWS. 
 
 protect its people, though. There was a call for troops, and on 
 July 26, 1897, the following telegram was sent: 
 
 "Washington, D. C, July 26, 1S97. — Shafter, Commanding 
 Department of California : Can you spare a full company of in- 
 fantry for the establishment of a post at Circle City this season 
 for the protection of American interests ? Men ma}' be selected 
 for duty from various commands. Answer immediately. 
 
 " Alger, Secretary." 
 
 General .Shafter answered in the affirmative, and as a result of 
 orders Captain Patrick Henry Ray, Eighth United States Infantry, 
 stationed at Cheyenne, Wyo., was instructed to take a detach- 
 ment of troops to the Yukon district. The troops sailed from 
 Seattle — six officers and fifty-six men — on August 5th, by way 
 of St, Michael's for Circle City, and the thousands who were on 
 their way or who intended to go to the gold fields had the assur- 
 ance that they and their interests would be protected. 
 
 Limited Size of Claims. 
 
 Early in August of 1 897, too, the Canadian government took 
 a new tack in the matter of mining regulations by restricting the 
 size of claims that would be allowed. Instead of allowing 500 
 feet, as the regular law provided, the Dominion decided that it 
 would fix the limit at 100 feet. This decision was made on 
 August 9th, to go into effect immediately. This was designed to 
 revolutionize the old plan of operations, which is thus described 
 by Thomas Cook, an old miner who spent years in the region : 
 
 " In Canada the placer mines arc, as a matter of course, close 
 to the water and every man when he makes his prospect is 
 allowed to stake off about what h'" considers 500 feet on each 
 side of the place up and down the river. That gives him the 
 width of his claim looo feet, and this width extends from the river 
 back to the foot of the mountain, whether it is a canon or a plain. 
 
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 RESUME OF MININC; LAWS. 
 
 421 
 
 " Then he puts up his stake and the government surveyor 
 comes along and sets off the 500 feet each way exactly. livery 
 man must pay a license of $15 a year and he must put in three 
 months' work on the claim during the year. If the work is not 
 done, there are plenty of men re.idy to report him and take the 
 claim. 
 
 "Americans like the Canadian laws better than the laws of the 
 United States, because they know their claims are better pro- 
 tected, and there is no claim-jumping so long as a man abides 
 by the laws. The government follows up the miners by build- 
 ing roads. I don't want to say anything against our own laws, 
 for I am an American, but it is a fict that wt get better protec- 
 tion and the government takes more interest in helping the 
 miners along in Canada." 
 
 The new mining enactment passed by the Dominion expressly 
 
 forbids the "grub-staking" of prospectors or prospecting by 
 
 proxy. In the future if any man wants a lawful share of the 
 
 riches of the Klondike region he must work with pick, shovel 
 
 and gold pan. 
 
 Slap at the United States. 
 
 The law, it was said, is clearly a slap at the United States. 
 It is intended to restrict the immigration of American miners. 
 By the provisions of the act it is unlawful for any person or cor- 
 poration to prepay transportation " or in any way assist or 
 encourage the importation or immigration of any foreigner or 
 alien into Canada." 
 
 All such contracts are declared void , nd unlawful, and the 
 penalty attached is $1000 for each and every offense, and all 
 parties to the contract are individually liable. 
 
 The " exempdons " from the act jsscmde nearly all classes of 
 lafoor - mining and prospecting. Informers are to receive 
 
 50 per cent, of the penalties collected. 
 
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 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Gold Crazes of Other Days. 
 
 Mining Kxcitemtnts in Other Countries — Australia and South Africa lay the 
 OUl World under Tribute — Outbreaks of the Fever in America— hjarly 
 Case in North Carolina — Stampede of '49 — " Pike's Peak or Bust" — 
 Recollections of the Argonauts — The Rocky Belle Camp Craze — Rush 
 to Stevens' Claim — Excitement About Tombstone — Placers in Baja, Cali- 
 fornia — Harqua Hala Diggings — Randsburg and Its Boom — Comparisons 
 with Klondike — What the Early Stampedes Cost iu Cash and Life. 
 
 FROM the far-away days v>f the Scriptural land of Havilah, 
 the world has been subject to going crazy over discoveries 
 of gold. A large part of history is a record of events for 
 which gold has been more or less directly responsible. Most of 
 the wars of invasion have been waged to gain gold, or its e(.][uiv- 
 alent in transmurable form. Gold lured the Spaniards to the 
 
 Antilles and the Englishman to Virginia. 
 
 Lust for gold cost the 
 
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 Aztecs an empire and enslaved the Incas. Gold hunters gave 
 Australia and New Zealand and South Africa to civilization. Gold 
 has never had but one rival as a civilizer — religion — and, to pro- 
 duce a stampede, not even plague or famine ever equalled :t. 
 
 Though Australia and South Africa had some gold excite- 
 ments which laid the Old World well under tribute for the bravest 
 and sturdiest, as well as the greediest of its population, America, 
 and especially the United States, has had more gold fevers and 
 had them harder than any other region on the globe. There was 
 as much of a craze as the new country could stand, probably, 
 when gold was discovered in the Carolinas, when the nation was 
 a youngster, and there were some other relatively minor outbreaks 
 of the auriferous malady in other sections early in the century ; 
 but it was not until the war with Mexico had given both the 
 opportunity and the hardy men to take advantage of it, by stimu 
 
 422 
 
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 GOLD CRAZES OF OTHER DAYS. 
 
 423 
 
 kiting the spirit of Western exploration, th;it America be<^Mn in 
 real earnest to show of what it was capable when the gold fc\er 
 "struck in." 
 
 California, Pike's Peak, Washoe, Salmon River, Fr;;zcr River, 
 Montana, Black Mills, Lcadville, Tombstone, Kootenai, Cariboo, 
 Randsburg, Alaska — every one a stampede. Gold has made p.o 
 other history like it. Monte Cristo was a poor fellow in com- 
 parison with the heroes of those stampedes ; Ophir and Gol- 
 conda were poor " streaks " beside the treasure houses in the 
 mount.'.ins of those days ; and Mungo Park and Rider Hagg-ird 
 prosy tellers of true stories, beside the masters of golden fiction, 
 that America produced or imported during the latter half of the 
 nineteenth century. 
 
 When the gold fields of California were discovered in the 
 " days of '49," the eastern half of the continent began to depopu- 
 late itself at a rate which brought a new State into the Union in 
 three years. The news of Major Sutter's wonderful strike in the 
 Sacramento sands crossed the ocean and l^uropean adx'enturers 
 joined in the rush to the Pacific slope. 
 
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 Perils of '49. 
 
 Yet it was no child's pastime, that journey to the golden val- 
 leys of the Sierras nearly fifty years ago. Two thousand miles 
 of wilderness, partly a desert of perils, partly stern mountain 
 chains, bleak and impassable, had to be traversed and almost 
 every foot of the way was beset by blood-thirst}' Indians or 
 marauding white renegades. Or else the argonaut risked the 
 hazards of the sea and either crossed the Isthmus of Panama and 
 dared its deadly fever, which too often undermined his health 
 for all time, or spent six months or a year in the monotonous 
 voyage " around the Horn." Anyway he went, it cost time and 
 money unstinted to reach the land of gold. And when they got 
 
 
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 GOLD CRAZES OF OTHER DAYS. 
 
 there they were out of the world. Everybody else was across 
 the mountains or the sea, mails were few, expensive and uncer- 
 tain, and it sometimes cost the total proceeds of a day's hard 
 work in the placer and took a year's time to get a letter to the 
 old home " in the States " and an answer from the dear ones 
 back again. 
 
 " This Alaska is a regular parlor game to what we had to 
 undergo in '49 and the early '50's," was how President Addison 
 I^allard, of the Forty-niners Association in Chicago put it. 
 " Cold ! why we had to cross mountain tops that were covered 
 with ice and snow as cold as any ever produced in Alaska. We 
 had not only that to contend with, but also the blazing heat of 
 the tropics, the thousand and one dangers and trials of the plaifiS, 
 the sufferings and privations of the most barren and sterile 
 and forbidding deserts ever crossed by man. Savage beasts and 
 still more savage men besetting every mile of our way and that 
 way was a trail across trackless plains through a country un- 
 developed, unopened and unknown. 
 
 Only Locomotive a Mule. 
 
 "All of this had to b'^ contended against at a time when the 
 resources of civilization were comparatively primitive. We had 
 no railroads then, our only train was the prairie schooner, our 
 only locomotive a mule team or a span of oxen. We had no 
 tinned meats, condensed milks or preserved fruits in those days ; 
 we had to do with the roughest food, sometimes furnished by 
 our rifles, and oftentimes that in scanty quantities. Then there 
 was the sickening, saddening oppressive sensation of being cut 
 off from the rest of the world and the possibility of never being 
 again brought in touch with home and friends and civilization." 
 
 George W. Custer, Auditor of the Board of Education, Chi- 
 cago, another '49er, who went overland in 1850, remembered 
 
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 GOLD CRAZES OF OTHER DAYS. 
 
 423 
 
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 the hardships well enough to shudder as he talked of them. He 
 said : 
 
 "It was the fourth day of April, 1850, that my father 
 made up his mind to go to the California gold fields, and 
 started with his family across the country to where we were told 
 men could dig up nuggets with their heels right out of the soft 
 surface mold all over the peninsula of California. I shall never 
 forget our experiences on that trip. Hundreds of people started 
 out without sufficient money or provisions, and as a result they 
 perished of hunger and thirst on the great American desert of 
 the Salt Lake district, through which their path lay. 
 
 Fourth of July in the Desert. 
 
 " Our family formed a portion of the caravan known as the 
 Patterson Rangers. It was composed of twelve wagons, forty- 
 seven men and a boy (myself). We ate dinner on the Fourth 
 of July, 1850, right in the heart of the desert, and on that 
 evening we practically ran out of provisions. It was the poorest 
 Fourth of July dinner I ever remember to have eaten. I 
 remember it well. We each had a small piece of smoked meat 
 and a biscuit. My father, who had smuggled a small jar (;f 
 sweet jelly with him, smeared a little of it over my dry biscuit 
 in honor of the occasion. 
 
 " Our trail was littered with the remains of other caravans of 
 pioneers who had preceded us across the deadly waste. The 
 skeletons of men and animals dotted both sides of the trail, and 
 wagon wheels, old arms, rusty swords, broken rifles and other 
 relics of the victims of that terrible summer were lying around 
 in profusion. The value of the material that lay there decaying 
 on the desert would, I believe, if fairly computed, run up into 
 the hundreds of thousands of dollars." 
 
 And these were not even fair samples of the experiences of 
 
 
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 hardship and peril of the California argonauts. Yet the craze 
 lasted and men by the thousand kept rushing West by land and 
 sea to the placers of the Pacific slope. 
 
 Then the Australian gold fever came on in 185 i and 1S52, and 
 right on top of that the Colorado discoveries — " Pike's Peak or 
 Bust " — and it seemed for a time as if all the civilized world 
 that was not already at the mines was pushing and crowding to 
 get there. Stories of disappointments and disasters to those 
 who had "gone in" did not deter those who were going; it 
 was according to the ethics of gold hunting that bad luck was 
 individual and good luck only was "catching." And so they 
 rushed in, and where one "struck it rich" nine "went broke." 
 The world had seen nothing like it since the Crusades. 
 
 The Rocky Belle Craze. 
 
 Arizona supplied some good samples of the gold fever in the 
 seventies. Probably the wildest and craziest stampede ever 
 known in the Southwest was that to the Rocky Belle Camp in 
 Northern Arizona, in the region of the Moqui Indian reservation, 
 in December, 1874. The region is 8000 feet above the sea level 
 and lies among snow-clad mountains. It was an unusually cold 
 winter when the news went abroad that Hank Binford and his 
 companion had struck a whole mountain of gold rock that as- 
 sayed over 5900 to the ton. 
 
 A week more and over 2000 miners from every part of Arizona 
 ard Southern California were moving day and night, scarcely 
 stopping for food and sleep, toward the Rocky Belle Camp. 
 Hundreds of men traveled 700 and 800 miles on foot and with 
 mules and donkeys to the new diggings, and nearly all traveled 
 across desert and mountain for a distance of 250 to 300 miles. 
 As the multitude journeyed on, the report of the riches of Hank 
 Binford's find grew until it seemed as if wagon loads of rich gold 
 
GOLD CiLVZES OF OTHER DAYS. 
 
 427 
 
 
 
 ore awaited the travelers. Merchants and professional men in 
 Maricopa and Tucson, and that part of Southern Ai izona became 
 imbued with the spirit of the miners, anil, turning their business 
 over to others, joined in the movement on Rocky IkHe. 
 
 The hardships th.it the fortune seekers suffered in the moun- 
 tains will ne\-cr bi; full}' known. A large number of men coming 
 out of the warm, balmy air of the semi-tropic valleys lost their 
 lives among the snowbanks and ice in the mountains, and man\' 
 a man was made an invalid for life because of exposure to the 
 biting cold during the stampede. A severe blizzard raged in 
 the mountains for several days while the miners were slowly 
 trudging through them. In one party of over loo men from 
 New Mexico, four men were frozen to death one morning, and it 
 is thought that fully twenty more died in the same way in the 
 mountains at that time. To this day there are in California and 
 Arizona gray-haired miners who lack a finger, a toe, or an ear, 
 lost in the terrible cold of that stampede. 
 
 When the kist of the Rocky Belle diggings were reached it 
 was soon seen that there was no ore in the district worth the 
 digging except in the claims held by Hank Binford and his 
 friends, and that tlie reports of their find had been exaggerated 
 beyond all reason. Binford's own mine petered out a year or 
 two later, and he got only a few thousand dollars fiom it. 
 
 Stevens Starts a Stampede. 
 
 Along in the summer of 1878 a miner named Stevens wrote 
 to a friend in Phoenix that he had found a claim that beat any- 
 thing in mining outside of the Comstock lode in Nevada, and 
 that with a common iron mortar and pestle he had pounded out 
 from $70 to $100 worth of gold dust a da}-. The claim was 
 located 120 miles northeast from Kingman, near the since 
 famous Harqua Hala mining region, and there was a chance, 
 
 
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 SO Stevens wrote, for other men to strike it rich up there. 
 
 Of course, such news could not be kept quiet. It traveled 
 with miraculous speed througli every camp in the Salt River 
 valley and over to Prescott. In less than two weeks all that 
 pari of Arizona was deeply stirred by the reports, which no one 
 seemed to have time tc investigate, of the richness of the mines 
 that Stevens had found. A thousand or more miners caught the 
 fever so badly that they started on foot across the country for 
 Stevens' camp without delay It was a hot, dry summer and 
 the journey entailed several weeks of severe physical labor, tor- 
 turing thirsts and the endurance of a temperature that usually 
 stood over i lo degrees in the shade. A dozen men died from 
 fever and in wild delirium under that awful sky, and as many 
 more miners never recovered from disorders caused by the pri- 
 vations of that stampede across the desert of Arizona. 
 
 Having arrived at the Stevens' camp the excited men realized 
 that therr were c' lims worth working by about lOO men. Sev- 
 eral hundred claims were staked out in less than a day after the 
 excited miners got to the scene, but in a fortnight the camp 
 population fell from 1 2CX3 to less than 400. In a month more 
 about 100 persons were left to do all the mining. The camp 
 was abandoned entirely ten years ago. 
 
 Mad Rush to Tombstone. 
 
 With the possible exception of the rush to the Leadville minmg 
 district in Colorado, there has been none anywhere in forty years 
 attended with excitement that followed the news of the finding 
 of great deposits of gold and silver in Tomb.stone in 1879. 
 Miners from every part of the Pacific coast caught the fever for 
 gold, and as week after week samples of the Tombstone rock 
 were more widely circulated, and rumors went forth concerning 
 the fortune this or that man or company was getting out of the 
 
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 GOLD CRAZES OF OTHER DAYS. 
 
 hills and mountains about the new camp, thousands started for 
 Tombstone. 
 
 Hundreds of young men and youths in the older States were 
 wild with zeal to hasten to the new Eldorado and started across 
 the continent with little or no preparation. In less than four 
 months after Gird and the Hawkinses began getting several 
 thousand dollars a day from their mines, there were over 6000 
 persons in the camp, and several months later Tombstone had a 
 population of over 10,000 men and 200 women. There never was 
 another camp in the Southwest like that at Tombstone in 1879 
 and 1880. Indeed, there have been very few similar communi- 
 ties in the world. 
 
 Wealth and Death Indiscriminately. 
 
 For over seven months the daily output of precious metal 
 averaged about ;$ 50,000. Over a dozen men went there penni- 
 less and came away worth over ;g 500,000 in less than a year, 
 and six or seven men struck it rich and sold out for over 
 $1,000,000 each. Fully half the population walked hundreds of 
 miles to get there. No railroad ran through Southern Arizona 
 in those days, and the awful Colorado and Mojave desserts had 
 to be crossed in wagons or on foot by the multitudes of fortune 
 seekers from California. Desert sandstorms were encountered 
 and for days travelers to Tombstone endured a temperature of 
 over 1 30 degrees in the shade. Many a man died on the hot, 
 sandy plains. Miners on their way to the new camp from the 
 East and South toiled across the Arizona alkali plains through 
 immense cactus areas, and risked their lives in the then hostile 
 land of the Apache Indians. But hardship, pain, suffering and 
 risk of life were all secondary to an early arrival in Tombstone 
 and the location of a mining claim. 
 
 When Tombstone was reached there were new privations and 
 more physical distress, for the greater number, especially for 
 
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 GOLD CRAZES OF OTHER DAYS. 
 
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 those who had hastened from offices, stores, shops, clerkships and 
 the pastor's study. Over one-third of the men in camp had 
 very little money, or none at all, and knew no way of earning it 
 except by the hardest kind of manual labor, to which they were 
 unused. It cost $i a night to sleep in a dirty, rough pine bunk. 
 Water sold at 20 cents a gallon, a small dish of beans at 50 
 cents, tallow candles at 2 bits (25 cents), common overalls at 
 ;^5 each, smoked hams at $12 each, and cowhide boots were 
 disposed of as fast as they could be hauled to camp across the 
 desert from Los Angeles and Yuma for $35 a pair. It was a 
 ground-hog case with these commodities for the first ten months 
 of Tombstone — take them at the price asked or go without. 
 
 Placer Mines in Lower California. 
 
 In the last ten years there have been four or five stampedes to 
 mining camps in tl;e Southwest. In the middle of the winter of 
 1890 California, as far north as San Francisco and Arizona, as 
 far east as Prescott and Phoenix, were stirred up as they had not 
 been for several years by the news that rich placer mines had 
 been found by Mexicans in Lower California, seventy miles south 
 of San Diego. That was one of the most .spontaneous stam 
 pedes known in that region. 
 
 Samples of the pay dirt were sent to San Diego to be analyzed 
 one Sunday afternoon. The assayer found it would run over 
 $400 lo the ton. Somehow the secret got out and was tele- 
 graphed up the Pacific coast. The telegraph operators in San 
 Francisco spent the ne.xt two days and nights in sending and 
 receiving messages about the new diggings. Before Thursday 
 morning 6000 to 7000 men and youths were on their way by cars, 
 wagons, horses, coasting vessels and foot, to San Diego and Lower 
 California. The hardware stores in Los Angeles and San Diego, 
 and in every village for 100 miles around, sold every pickax. 
 
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 shovel, tin dripping pan, wash dish and milk and bread pan they 
 had on hand to persons who equipped themselves for placer 
 mining and started in a day for the mines. 
 
 The boom had a short life and almost died a-borning. Fcr a 
 week little was talked of in the California cities but the discovery 
 of gold in Baja, California, and the prospect of another edition 
 of the days of '49. Then, when the first victims of the fever 
 who had been down to the mines returned to San Diego, declar- 
 ing the stories of wealth there to be lies, and the excitement 
 only a manufactured imitation of the genuine article, the old 
 miners who had not time to get out shook their heads at the 
 other fellows and said, " I told you so." 
 
 Harqua Kala Diggings. 
 
 Thousands of people will never forget the rush for the Harqua 
 Mala diggings in the spring of 1892. The mines were found 
 in the Northwestern part of Arizona, close to the Colorado 
 River and the boundary lines between Arizona, California and 
 Nevada. For .several months in the winter of 1 89 1-92 there 
 came almost every week news of the big prospects that a half 
 dozen miners, who had been moving from one camp to another 
 in the territories, and in Mexico, for nearly a generation, had at 
 last come across at Harqua I lala. Along in March and April 
 cjuantities of gold dust and nuggets from the mines came into 
 the hands of bankers in San Bernardino and Los Angeles. 
 ' Newspapers published reports as to the prospects .at Harqua 
 I Lda, and in a week or two there was another general rush for 
 the diggings. The railroads did a land office business for several 
 weeks in carrying men as far as the Colorado River. From there 
 the travelers to Harqua Hala packed themselves on little river 
 steamboats at exorbitant rates of travel. Hundreds of mmers 
 who had hardly a dollar tramped over the mountains 1 50 and 
 
 
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 GOLD CRAZES OF OTHER DAYS. 
 
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 200 miles to the mines. And then they all tramped back again, 
 wiser and poorer. 
 
 And then there was Randsburg — that little cluster of claims 
 and grog shops that sprang into existence in the heart of a Cali- 
 fornia desert on the strength of bags of specimens flashed by a 
 few highly-imaginative prospectors. There is no denying there 
 is gold and a good deal of it in the vicinity of Randsburg — but 
 it is a good plan to stop the denying right there. 
 
 In a general way Randsburg was a forerunner of the Klondike 
 affair. As soon as the newspapers gave up their columns and 
 pages to stories and illustrations, everyone who could make or 
 scrape together the necessary sum to reach the mines got a 
 prospector's outfit and marched for Randsburg, Some stayed 
 there and some came back to civilization to tell of what they 
 didn't earn. Those who stayed, as a rule, went to work for the 
 syndicates that practically control the claims. If anyone is 
 making money out of these diggings, it is the syndicate in 
 charge. So far as the lone prospector is concerned, he is a dead 
 one. He nii.y pan out enough to keep body and soul together 
 and lend strength to his thirst for conquest, but there he stops. 
 
 Randsburg and Klondike Contrasted. 
 
 Something else there is about Randsburg that may have a 
 bearing on the Alaskan fever. It is regarding the personality of 
 the army of prospectors. Frequently the characteristics of a few 
 daring individual spirits lend a color to an entire community. 
 The news of the Randsburg Eldorado had hardly been taken 
 from the ticker when the gambling element, which had been 
 browsing about the State in an aimless sort of fashion, determined 
 to introduce the illusive, yet seductive, pea, monte, the wheel and 
 any number of other devices for the purpose of separating the 
 curious from their good money. In addition to all this, thero 
 
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 GOLD CRAZES OF OTHER DAYS. 
 
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 was a flourishing dance hall, roof garden, and all-around vaude- 
 ville show, so dear to the early novels of Bret Harte. The few 
 cents the sydicate didn't get away from the pick-and-shovel brig- 
 ade floated into the pockets of the " sure-thing " men before pay 
 day entered on its second childhood. 
 
 Randsburg and Klondike tales and events have much in com- 
 mon. The stories of the rivers, hills and valleys of gold have 
 already been told and set the blood of the imaginative tenderfoot 
 boiling. Horses, lots and even personal cflbcts have been dis- 
 posed of on all sides at a great sacrifice for the purpose of ob- 
 taining the wherewithal to reach the Eldorado of the pole. Some 
 have already started on their perilous journey ; others are about 
 to hurl themselves into the Klondike maelstrom, and yet a third 
 class are still looking about them in search of an opportunity to 
 join hands with their brethren and one or two of the sisters who 
 are braving the tortures of a polar winter in the mad hunt for 
 
 fortune. 
 
 Some Tough Characters. 
 
 A number of the dispatches and all the statements issued by 
 the Alaska Commercial Company and other transportation con- 
 cerns have been to the effect that the people going north are all 
 good, squc ' honest and upright miners. They have said noth- 
 ing about the sure-thing men, the army of thugs, ex-prize 
 fighters and general disturbers who are turning heaven and earth 
 to reach the Klondike. Yet such is the actual state of affairs. 
 There is a brigade of muscular young men who have drifted to 
 the coast since the revival of pugilism. These fellows would 
 sooner go to jail than work at any honest trade or occupation. 
 It is almost an impossibility to get them to train for a go in their 
 dearly beloved prize ring. Yet there is nothing they won't do, 
 outside of work, to get hold of a piece of money. The sandbag 
 
 is their favorite method. 
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 These- gcnllcincn arc all going to Alaska. On the surface 
 llicy arc sincere in their claims that they arc going to work. 
 And they will work if they can find the gold lying on the bank 
 of a babbling brook. The actual state of affairs in a nutshell is 
 this : These fellows will take any chance under the sun to get 
 money. They will stop at nothing. A man's life is no more to 
 them than a snowflake to a storm. If things come their way 
 they will, within certain limits, conduct themselves in accordance 
 with the law, but as soon as they see they are " up against it " 
 they will cast reserve and all scruples to the winds and begin 
 tearing things wide open. 
 
 Honesty Versus Starving Idleness. 
 
 Just think of the number of people who have already gone 
 and those who are determined to go to the Klondike who have 
 nothing more than the mere price of getting there ! Now you 
 can take it for granted that these men are, as a rule, good, 
 honest fellows, willing to do a fair day's work for a f lir day's pay 
 and take a chance of striking it rich on the side. But it is not 
 every man who can remain good, honest and square under cer- 
 tain conditions. These men have gone and are going to Alaska 
 under a delusion. They im;igine thiy are going to get ;$r5 a 
 day whether school keeps or not. Naturally $15 a day looks 
 like a great deal of money to men who have been making $2 
 and $3 a day. And so it is. But you do not actually get the 
 515, or anything like a tenth part of it, for an average day's 
 work under the most favorable conditions in the Klondike. Oi 
 course you maybe handed the $15, or its equivalent, on the 
 completion of a day's labor, but how about the expense of living ? 
 If you get $ I 5 a day for your work you may rest assured that 
 $14. of it will go for board and lodging, and as a rule you board 
 and lodge with the man or syndicate for whom you work. 
 
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 GOLD CRAZES OF OTHKR DAYS. 
 
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 Then there is another important factor to be taken into con- 
 sideration which has been given the general overlook in the 
 newspapers. A man does not and, in fact, cannot, even under 
 the most favorable conditions, work the entire year round. There 
 are months when you are compelled to remain indoors, rolled in 
 .skin.*' if you are fortunate enough to have them, with nothing to 
 eat but a bit of dried bacon, providing you are sufficiently 
 wealthy to be able to afford this luxury. So you see a man who 
 is not his own boss runs an excellent chance of working a .season 
 and winding up the year by being over head and heels in debt to 
 his employer. 
 
 The gold stories from Alaska are by no means new. Some 
 years ago there was a general exodus to the Yukon. The 
 small army who went northward at that time have not yet 
 returned laden down with yellow metal. A few fortunate ones 
 have come back with a fair return for their labor and a library 
 of romance that puts the professional writer of fiction to the 
 blush. But what has become of the 2000 or 3CXX) who went up 
 at the same time and practically have not been heard of since ? 
 How about those private graveyards in the ice fields and the 
 unfortunates who will never return to tell the tale of hardship 
 and suffering that accompanies an Alaskan winter? 
 
 In a way, the fever of '49 has a bearing on the fever of '97. 
 The pioneer days of California form a basis of comparisons and 
 enable those who will to draw conclusions. 
 
 Has Faith in Prospectors. 
 
 Hear the Argonaut Auditor Custer again : 
 
 " These Alaska prospectors are doing bctte- than the '49ers 
 did. I notice that those who have gone to the front arc telling 
 the truth and not sei.ding back exaggerated reports, or painting 
 the roseate pictures that the first of the California pioneers made 
 
 :^J 
 
 ?r 
 
 III 
 
 M^ $ 
 
 
486 
 
 GOLD CRAZES OF OTHER DAYS. 
 
 M ' 
 
 
 in the first flush of the western gold find. It was the false re- 
 ports made by some of the early California gold hunters that led 
 so many people unprepared into the western wilds, and filled the 
 great plains with the bones of unfortunate immigrants. The 
 people are now being warned of the hardships and privations 
 which await them in their quest for fortune, and of the means 
 with which they must be provided to overcome them. 
 
 " Our party made no money in California, and came back in a 
 year. Two thou.sand others did the same. Of course, thou.sands 
 made their pile, though tens of thousands were disappointed. 
 But that came from expecting too much. I i/on't think that will 
 be the case with the Ala.ska gold campaign. The boys who 
 have gone out first arc apparently moderate in their statements, 
 and I believe it will prove a great place for hardy and adventur- 
 ous men to seek fortune and find it. The California gold fever 
 did much to open up and builtl up this country, and I believe the 
 Alaska gold fields will also be a great benefit to this country and 
 
 its people." 
 
 " Go to Alaska, Young Man." 
 
 President Addison Ballard felt like Mr. Custer, only more so. 
 
 " This Alaska gold discovery is great," he said. " I don't be- 
 lieve ihere is any great exaggeration in the stories told. I am 
 not surprised at all at them, for I have always held that along 
 that vein of territory clear to the North Pole the earth is full of the 
 precious yellow metal, and not only of gold, but of silver, copper 
 and other metals of value. Why, if I was a young man to-day, 
 I would be off to Alaska just as quick as I could get my kit to- 
 gether. I wouldn't stay around this town one minute longer 
 than it would take me to get my tools and other necessaries in 
 shape for transportation," 
 
 Mr. Ballard's hair is white as befits a man who went " over- 
 land " forty-eight years ago, but his eye sparkled with the argo- 
 

 
 GOLD CRAZES OF OTHER DAYS. 
 
 437 
 
 naut spirit, and lie looked like a second Jason settinj^ out for the 
 fleece as he spoke. 
 
 " I'll tell you that the man who loafs around here in Chicago 
 out of work, flat broke or toiling for starvation wages these 
 days is a pesky fool," he continued. " Of course, I would not 
 advise men in very poor circumstances and with large families 
 to take care of, to rush off there unprovided and expect to pick 
 the gold up in handfuls right off the face of the earth. We 
 didn't pick it up in nuggets out of the dust at our feet in Cali- 
 fornia. You don't get gold anywhere without you work for it, 
 and the gold hunters of Alaska, as well as those of California, 
 will have to dir for it if they are to get it. The men who go up 
 there in those regions after wealth and fortune could not do 
 better than to bear in mind the little ditty so often sung by the 
 California gold miner: 
 
 "They told us of the heaps of dust, 
 
 And the hinips so mighty big ; 
 But thev never said a single word 
 
 How hard it was to dig. 
 
 Easy to Get There. 
 
 " Now, what is the case with this Alaska business ? Why, 
 they have the railroad trains to carry them right to the very 
 foot hills where the precious metal lies concealed. They have a 
 country thoroughly explored, the geography of it thoroughly 
 understood and comparatively quick means of communication. 
 I tell you the pioneer of Alaska will be a featherbed pioneer 
 compared to the old forty-niner, when the history of both comes 
 to be told. And yet, if it was all to be done over again, not all 
 the dangers and discomforts of the ' overland route,' the horrors 
 of the sea voyage and the ' weathering of the Horn,' the fever 
 of the Panama, the hunger and thirst of the desert would deter 
 me from starting once again. 
 
 II 
 
 ?»< 
 
 1 1 1 
 
 I 
 
438 
 
 GOLD CRAZES OF OTHER DAYS. 
 
 
 ■J^ 
 
 
 n 
 
 .'ft; 
 
 Ik i 1 
 
 mm 
 
 " No ; I wouldn't be deterred by any little hardships such as 
 they are talking about in connection with this Alaska business, 
 and while it can never confer the lasting benefits upon the coun- 
 try that the pioneers of California did, for it was the pioneer of 
 the diggings who opened up the far West and brought State after 
 State into the Union till it reached from ocean to ocean, the 
 Alaska gold find will, in my opinion, be a good thing for the 
 whole country and enrich great numbers of our citizens. 
 " Ho for California, 
 
 That's the land for me : 
 Away to Sacramento, 
 With my washbowl cu iny knee." 
 
 Fruit Belt Versus Arctic. 
 
 Yet it may be well to remember that in the days of the rush 
 to the gold fields of California, it was almost impossible to get 
 the worst of a venture to that part of the Pacific coast. Star- 
 vation was almost out of the question, save in the northern and 
 mountainous districts, and a comfortable bed could always be 
 found on the hillside of the land of eternal summer. There 
 were no huge ice and snow fields practically destitute of bird 
 and beast. On the contrary, there were streams full of fish, 
 anxious to be caught, and forests inhabited by flocks of birds 
 that have since acquired reputations for high prices in city eating 
 houses. Again, the argonauts of California and Nevada were 
 almost exclusively hard headed, painstaking and sober minded 
 men, who were willing to brave hardships and privations pro- 
 viding they ultimately obtained independence for their pains. 
 
 There are a great many people woefully ignorant of the true 
 condition of affairs in the Alaskan country. Even among the 
 enthusiasts will be found few, if any, who are conversant with 
 the subject in general, let alone in detail. The greater number 
 of men who have already started for the Yukon, and the vast 
 
 U» 8 
 
 1 :^:-^N 
 
GOLD CRAZKS OF OTHKR DAYS. 
 
 43y 
 
 army who arc ready to marcli forward at a moment's notice, 
 know nothing about the actual comlition of affairs. For them 
 this book is published. 
 
 The Black Hills. 
 
 The rush to the Black Hills of Dakota differed from some 
 others in that the primary placers gave place quickly to lode 
 mining, and the perils from climate and hiuran enemies were 
 minimized from the start. Gold was discov( red in 1874 and the 
 great stampede to the diggings began to ^1 Imin<ue in 1 875. The 
 auriferous land was on an Indian reservation, cind United States 
 soldi. ■ 1 rotected the white trespassers and throttled the remon- 
 '•trant redskins until the United States government made a forced 
 purchase of the territory, and the miners thenceforward had 
 things their own way. 
 
 The ores of the Black Mills are refractory and it required much 
 capital to develop the mines. Mills began to sprin;.; up in 1876, 
 and to-day the Homestake Company controls 580 stamps in this 
 rich district. The total stamps running number 685. 
 
 ¥Mv.' 
 
 k. J 
 
 11 
 
 nui 
 
 true 
 
 the 
 
 with 
 
 Imber 
 
 vast 
 
} 
 
 'I' 
 
 5"H' 
 
 
 if' 
 
 ii^!;:i 
 
 
 ^^'i%i 
 
 !l'»'-'ii 
 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 Side-Lights. 
 
 Oddities and Freaks of the Klondike Craze — To the Gold Fields via Baloon 
 — Bicycles for Argonauts — Swim or Slide — Fancy Stock in Dogs — Chop- 
 ping Wood to Pay Passage — Grub-stakcrs and "Angels" — Schemes of 
 Worn-out Prospectors — Clairvoyants as Gold-finders — Mining Stocks 
 and Sharpers — Magic in the Name — Barber's Syndicate — Sleuths to the 
 Yukon — Samples of Argonauts — Freaks of "Tenderfect" — Bogus 
 Bureaus — Hard Work to Keep Gold — Gamblers and Miners — Type of a 
 Miner's Paper. 
 
 THOUGH there is a dark side to the Klondike craze, sil- 
 houetted in blasted hopes, physical misery, wrecked for- 
 tunes and even death, there is a humorous side as well, 
 rather grim at times and often having the comedy, trenching 
 perilously close on tragedy, but still pregnant with a realizing 
 sense of the grotesque, and apt to jar a smile out of the most 
 disagreeable situations. A siege of the gold fever offers un- 
 limited opportunity for the display of idiosyncracies, and what 
 passes for humor in new societies is m.ost often only the discov- 
 ery of unexpected traits in the hap-hazard assemblage. The 
 experiences of a mining craze arc prolific of the absurd and the 
 ridiculous, — the craze itself has a humorous phase in that it is a 
 craze, and the gay recklessness with which men chase golden 
 phantoms is only the absurd antithesis to the faith in human 
 gullibility with which jchemers bait hooks for gumptionless 
 suckers and play and land their foolish prey. 
 
 The Klondike craze, both in and out of the diggings, has run 
 the gaunt of the jester's part. Sometimes in its brief duration it 
 has been a question who were the crazier, those who rushed to 
 the placers or those who stayed behind to laugh at the reckless 
 argonauts. Some of the queer features of the '97 fever are 
 
 440 
 
In 1 
 
 SIDE-LIGHTS. 
 
 441 
 
 worth recording for the digest of human nature there is in them 
 — " What fools these mortals be ! " 
 
 A Kalamazoo man announced his intention of establishing a 
 balloon route to the Klondike. When the air was full of hor- 
 rowing stories of the awful perils of the passes and the " sure 
 death " which lurked in the maelstrom-like rapids and the bleak 
 and ice-locked marches of the river trail, he came to the rescue 
 with a rose-hued story of and air-ship he was building, which 
 would sail over anything, carry a ton of supplies and make the 
 trip to the gold fields and back in a fortnight. People wrote to 
 him from all over the nation to secure passage, offering ridicu- 
 lously large sums for even a " berth in the steerage." One 
 Illinois man (perhaps forgetting for a moment he lived in the 
 sucker State), sent a draft for $500 for a round trip ticket. To 
 the credit of the air-ship navigator, be it said, he returned the 
 draft to the sender. 
 
 The balloonist announced at the outset that he could take 
 only two men besides himself and that the party intended to stay 
 in the Klondike only long enough to locate two or three million- 
 dollar claims and then scud home to the celery town to spend 
 the winter. Like Orpheus C. Kerr's famous machine-gun which 
 would have killed a thousand men a minute if the crank would 
 have turned, there was only one defect in the Kalamazoo air- 
 ship — it would not sail, and the great trans-continental air-line 
 
 was never opened. 
 
 Bicycles for Argonauts. 
 
 Some New Yorkers figured out a scheme for taking their 
 party into the Klondike on bicycles. Every detail of the 
 machines was thoughtfully considered and worked out. So 
 successful was it considered the "bike" route was sure to be, 
 that a syndicate was formed to manufacture the special v/heels 
 for the market, and the promoters declared the day of Indian 
 
 m-^ 
 
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 -'Mi *i 
 
 M 5 
 
 ilf : ;. \ 
 
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\''il 
 
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 1 14- 
 
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 442 
 
 SIDE-LIGHTS. 
 
 packers, burros, dogs and reindeers was waned almost to sun- 
 set. The wheel was designed especially for use via the Chilkoot 
 Pass, though it was likely to prove as useful by any other land 
 route. The prospectus said : 
 
 " Every miner who goes to the gold fields must take with him 
 about looo pounds of supplies, and the only way to transport 
 them is for him to carry them on his back. The most that a 
 man can carry for any distance is 200 pounds. The method 
 now in vogue is to carry one load about five miles, hide it so that 
 it will not be destroyed by animals, and then go back for another 
 load. In this tedious way the goods are finally transported to 
 their destination. 
 
 Style of the Wheel. 
 
 " The Klondike bicycle is specially designed to carry freight, 
 and is in reality a four-wheeled vehicle and a bicycle combined. 
 It is built very strongly and weighs about fifty pounds. The 
 tires are of solid rubber one and a half inches in diameter. The 
 frame is the ordmary diamond, of steel tubing, built, however, 
 more for strength than appearance, and wound with rawhide, 
 shrunk on, to enable the miners to handle it with comfort in low 
 temperatures. From each side of the top bar two arms of steel 
 project, each arm carrying a smaller wheel, about fourteen inches 
 in diameter, which, when not in use, can be folded up inside the 
 diamond frame. 
 
 " Devices for packing large quantities of material are attached 
 to the handle bars and rear forks, and the machine, it is esti- 
 mated, will carry 500 pounds. 
 
 " The plan is to load it with half the miner's equipment, drag it 
 on four wheels ten miles or so. Then the rider will fold up the 
 side wheels, ride it back as a bicycle, and bring on the rest of 
 the load." 
 
 At last accounts no one had gone to Dawson City by bicycle. 
 
 '!?t*; 
 
 ^1^ 
 
sun- 
 ilkoot 
 r land 
 
 di him 
 nsport 
 that a 
 nethod 
 so that 
 mother 
 rted to 
 
 freight, 
 
 mbined. 
 
 3. The 
 
 The 
 
 owcver, 
 
 awhide, 
 t in low 
 
 of steel 
 inches 
 
 side the 
 
 ittached 
 is csti- 
 
 I, drag it 
 up the 
 rest of 
 
 bicycle. 
 
 SIDE-LIGHTS. 
 
 441^ 
 
 The syndicate had overlooked the one thing besides a good 
 wheel necessary to successful country riding — good roads. 
 General Coxcy had never been to Alaska. 
 
 A sledge and boat company exploited a se':'tional steel vessel, 
 which was to serve the double purpose of water craft and land 
 conveyance. Oars and sails would propel it in the water, while 
 on land the argonauts would pull it along easily after a couple of 
 plates at the sides were let down so as to form a flat surface 
 under the keel. It was to be fitted with air chambers and burg- 
 lar-proof compartments for storing the precious gold dust. This 
 transportation scheme, needless to say, fell flat. 
 
 Stock in Dogs. 
 
 Hearing there was a scarcity of dogs in Alaska, a kennel 
 owner tried to organize a stock company to furnish a supply of 
 canine draft animals. The fact that such dogs as could be fur- 
 nished from the States would be valueless in Alaska, for sledge 
 drawing did not worry the brainy fancier at all, if, indeed, he 
 ever thought of it. But others thought of it, and the company 
 was never formed. 
 
 The North American Transportation and Trading Company 
 offered miners a way of getting into the Klondike, which beat 
 the balloon and " bike " and other easy modes of transportation, 
 though there was an arduous side to it which kept many from 
 taking advantage. The company needed wood in readiness for 
 its Yukon steamers, as soon as ice goes out in the spring and 
 navigation opens ; and it proposed to pay each passenger whom 
 it transported as far as Hamilton's Landing, four dollars a cord 
 for chopping wood during the eight winter months, the scene of 
 activity to be between the Landing and Fort Yukon, It was 
 estimated a good chopper could get up three cords of spruce or 
 hemlock a day in the Alaska climate, which would enable the 
 
 
 ■ ^ •> 
 
 
 ,i-. - 
 
 
 
4-14 
 
 SIDE-LIGHTS. 
 
 
 m- 
 
 
 
 1 ■; ' 
 
 '■ih 
 
 prospector to reach the Klondike with a comfortable ** stake " in 
 his pocket and his muscles seasoned for the hard labor of hunting 
 for " pay dirt." 
 
 Grub-stakers proved one of the most ample crops of the 
 craze. They sprung up everywhere, and all they wanted was 
 an " angel." A grub-staker is a man who wants somebody to 
 stake him with grub, and "grub" is Klondike for beans, bacon 
 and tea. An "angel" is one who advances, loans, or in any 
 manner puts money in the hands of the grub-staker. The grub- 
 stakers were all willing to go to the Klondike and endure hard- 
 ships and face death and locate a million-and-a-half dollar gold 
 mine, if somebody would advance the money for the grub and 
 the tran'>portation. Then the "angel," when the mine was 
 located, would reap the reward of his childlike trust and implicit 
 faith, for, by mining law, the " angel" receives one-half of all 
 the grub-staked one discovers. 
 
 Grub-stakers haunted railroad and steamship offices in the 
 great centres and in the ports of the coast, and offered every 
 man with money v,IiO could not go himself, a chance to go by 
 proxy, and, astonishing as it may seem, many an "angel" let 
 go of his savings to send to the diggings a man without creden- 
 tials or residence, and whose very name was often suggestive of 
 the probability that neither man nor money would ever be heard 
 of again. 
 
 Schemes of Prospectors. 
 
 An Eastern argonaut, who was awaiting " steamer day " in 
 Seattle, wrote home of his experience with grub-stakers in these 
 words : 
 
 " Broken down prospectors, who have been unable to make a 
 strike in the West, offer their services in trying to find gold for 
 other people in Alaska. Few of them pretend to know anything 
 about the Yukon country, but they are all sanguine of being able 
 
 I t « i 
 
 
jm 
 
 
 SIDE-LIGHTS. 
 
 445 
 
 to go direct to the right spot and unearth a valuable placer de- 
 posit. The only requisite is clothes, food and money, especially 
 the latter. Thus equipped these prospectors will go to the Klon- 
 dike and send back at once half the gold they find. Odd tales 
 are told about some of these fellows. If reports be true, some 
 of the grub-stake money finds its way at once into the till of 
 the nearest saloon, and the only prospecting done is that entailed 
 in a hunt for new innocents. 
 
 " Men who have just come back from the gold fields, as they 
 assert, offer bargains in the way of partnerships in claims. They 
 proudly exhibit bottles of gold dust in proof of the rich strikes 
 they have made, and then name prices which would be ridicu- 
 lously cheap for bona fide properties of the kind described. It 
 is pretty (Hfificult to trace an Alaska claim at this distance from 
 its location, and there is no satisfactory way of establishing its 
 existence, dimensions, or worth. When the mining fever is on 
 a man, however, he overlooks such minor things as these, and 
 jumps in haste to close what he calls a good bargain. He 
 doesn't stop to consider the risk he is running, and goes away 
 to make room for another customer, who will buy the same claim 
 
 right over again. " 
 
 Clairvoyants on Deck. 
 
 Clairvoyants put in their bid to be recognized as factors in the 
 Kl 'ike development. Something in the nature of a grub-stake 
 company was formed by a number of spiritualists in Chicago and 
 an advance agent or prospector sent out to locate the rich claims 
 which a well-known "medium" professed to be able to discern 
 clairvoyantly across the vast intervening distance. Some of 
 these claims were said by the " '-pirit guides" to be fabulously 
 rich and all of them well worth the finding. Maps were drawn 
 and explicit directions given and a new field for " prospecting " 
 duly opened. 
 
 I 
 
 in ;v 
 
 i 
 
 m 
 
 I 
 
 lily ^ 
 
 
 
 t^iilii f 
 
 \ 
 
446 
 
 SIDE-Ur.HTS. 
 
 gteijJii III 
 
 I* 
 
 'if 
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 n 
 
 '«^kM 
 
 Anything with the name " Klondikw " on it, especially if it was 
 mining stock, was a pretty sure seller after August ist. All that 
 was necessary was that the price should be cheap and terms easy. 
 Plenty of shrewd men took early advantage of this and some 
 printing presses were kept working overtime getting out the 
 prospectuses and certificates for these " mining companies." 
 How many were " bitten " by these sharpers and how many 
 hundreds of thousands of good money they absorbed will never 
 be known, but it is certain that a very small percentage of those 
 who invested in Alaska companies will ever see e"en the " first 
 annual report " of the concern's announcing that they must be 
 revivified by a ten per cent, assessment or shut up shop. 
 
 Magic in " Klondike." 
 
 The magic word " Klondike " seemed to be ample indorse- 
 ment in the estimation of the general public for any kind of an 
 Alaskan proposition, no matter how wild or ridiculous its scope. 
 Railways running for hundreds of miles over wastes of ice and 
 snow were minutely laid out on paper and their earning capacity 
 soberly computed by men accredited with the possession of busi- 
 ness ability. Electric light plants were advocated for Dawson 
 City and similar mining towns. Development of the coal beds 
 as fuel for great central depots for piping heat to the gulches to 
 thaw the frozen gravel was seriously talked about. Had some 
 gold lunatic proposed the sawing of the Alaskan ice into railroad 
 ties or telegraph poles for use where timber was scarce, it would 
 have caused no more than a ripple of surprise, to judge from the 
 bare-brained schemes which really enlisted financial backing. 
 Everything was possible in Alaska, according to the promoters. 
 
 One of the oddest things brought to light was an attempt to 
 organize a barber's syndicate to invade the upper Yukon country. 
 One winter's experence in the Arctic region satisfies nearly 
 
SIDE -LIGHTS. 
 
 447 
 
 every man that it is safer and more comfortable to keep his face 
 free from hair. Moisture from the breath freezes mustache and 
 berrd into cumbersome and dangerous chunks of ice in that cold 
 climate, and in trying to remove them pieces of frozen flesh are 
 liable to be torn off. Safety lies in clean-shaved faces. Many 
 men cannot shave themselves and many of those who can, have 
 no razors fit to use. The result is a demand for barbers. 
 Knowledge of this led one sanguine young shaver to broach the 
 idea of taking a party of brother workmen to the Klondike and 
 there was considerable enthusiasm over the scheme. 
 
 An amateur detective set seriously about organizing a stock- 
 company to send himself and a corps of trained sleuths to the 
 Klondike, where he believed there is a rich gold mine in arrest- 
 ing many criminals for whose capture large rewards arc offered. 
 Me was morally certain Willie Tascott, and a lot of other badly 
 wanted men were there masquerading as miners under the Arctic 
 Circle. lie regarded the scooping in of these men, and the 
 prize money appertaining to them, as a vastly easier and more 
 lucrative way of making a fortune than burning down to bed 
 rock through eighteen feet of frozen gravel. But the police 
 
 laughed at him. 
 
 Samples of Argonauts. 
 
 How little many would-be argonauts knew of the Klondike, 
 or anything connected with it, was illustrated in a New York 
 railroad ticket office. A well-dressed man pushed his way 
 through the crowd, and throwing a big roll of bills on the coun- 
 ter, cried out : 
 
 " Give me a first-class, and a lower berth." 
 
 "Whereto?" 
 
 "Klondike." 
 
 He was indignant when the ticket seller tried to explain that 
 sleepers were njt run regularly over Chilkoot Pass. 
 
 * i 
 
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 i 
 
 .>.ilit 
 
 
 
 ii 
 
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 \HM 
 
 
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 ml ! 
 
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448 
 
 SIDE-LIGHTS. 
 
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 11^ ' 
 
 
 A man bought an "outfit" at a Seattle store, and found his 
 bill was forty dollars over his funds. 
 
 " Never mind ; I'll pay you at Dawson," he said to the cash- 
 ier, and seemed dumbfounded when he learned the clerk was not 
 going to the Klondike. 
 
 All sorts of men wanted to do all sorts of things in the dig- 
 gings, beside dig for gold. 
 
 One man wanted to practice law at Dawson, or any other 
 place on the Yukon, and wanted the agent's advise as to the 
 size of library he had best take along. His feelings were hurt 
 when he was told a hot milk route would probably pay better. 
 
 Another advertised for parties to form a company to send a 
 stock of " ladies' and gents' " ready-made garments to the 
 Alaskan gold fields. The venture may be a success if the sup- 
 plies are limited to those for men, as " ladies " who are among 
 the best people of the Alaskan wilds, show a preference for 
 white bearskins and walrus oil overknit wear. 
 
 ^Vomen at the Camps. 
 
 Another season may change this, however, for there is a chance 
 that women with white skins of their own will be much in 
 evidence in the camps in 1898. Several promoters have already 
 arranged to establish matrimonial agencies in the Klondike. 
 One of them says : 
 
 " Thousands of poor but thoroughly respectable girls even in 
 this State are looking for honest employment, and would go to 
 Alaska to get it if they were assured they would be properly 
 cared for. In the towns and villages of New England the 
 number of women is so far in excess of the men and employ- 
 ment so hard to get that thousands would be willing to go to 
 Alaska under proper conditions. I propose to secure places in 
 advance for companies of, say, icx) girls, and have their 
 
1 his 
 
 cash- 
 is not 
 
 c dig- 
 
 olher 
 to the 
 e hurt 
 itter. 
 send a 
 to the 
 lie sup- 
 among 
 nee for 
 
 chance 
 luch in 
 lalready 
 londike. 
 
 SIDE-LIGHTS. 
 
 440 
 
 employers advance money for their transportation from the 
 States and recompense me for m\' trouble besides. Xo girls 
 will be accepted except such as e.ui brini;- the hiL;hcsl recom- 
 mendations as to character and respectabilit)-. Arriviii^^ at the 
 gold district each one will be assigned to her place, but all will 
 be locateil within a short distance of eacli other, so that they may 
 have association and be able to counsel each other.. Under their 
 influence the camp would take on a homelike appearance, and 
 the miners would not feel that sense of isolation which sends so 
 many to their graves. They would be served with well-cooked 
 food, and the general health of the camp would be vastly 
 improved." 
 
 Charlotte Smith, the Ivistcrn sociologist, wants to transplant 
 4000 or more working women from sweatshops and factories to 
 Klondike camps. Hers is not a money-making scheme — she is 
 laboring solely in what she thinks the best interests of humanity. 
 Transportation from a life of drudgery, with a bare pittance in 
 the way of wages, to homes in Alaska would, in Miss Smith's 
 oi)inion, be a blessing which thousands of women would be 
 glad to embrace. 
 
 Bogus Employment Bureaus. 
 
 Employment bureaus to engage miners to work in the Klon- 
 dike made their appearance with the first signs of the craze. 
 Several of them flourished in the coast cities for some time, and 
 the proprietors accumulated quite a fund from gullible and impe- 
 cunious victims of the fever before the police swooped down and 
 arrested the sharpers. 
 
 Some of the miners coming back with a " pile " had as hard 
 a time to keep their gold from the sharpers as the tcnderfeet had 
 to keep their greenbacks. 
 
 Shortly after the arrival of the last ship from Alaska at San 
 29 
 
 i#4M 5 
 
 m 
 
 u 
 
 fH 
 
 iiili 
 
ili 
 
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 ■lit: ■■ 
 
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 lis;. 
 
 
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 450 
 
 niUE-LIGHTS. 
 
 Francisco a number of the Yukoners liad a reunion at a private 
 hotel on California street hill. There was everything on hantl 
 to make the function pleasant, and the evening passed rapidly. 
 Then there was an adjournment to a music hall on the edge ot 
 the "tenderloin," and there was more of the wine, women and 
 song business. The Yukoners found that whisky at ten cents a 
 glass was a more potent liquor than they li cl met even at Forty- 
 Mile. 
 
 There was no limit to the orders, for the men were in for a 
 good time. Some of them, with considerable foresight, placed 
 their sacks in the safe of the saloon. When they did this they 
 had more confidence in the integrity of the strong box than in 
 their own capacity for liquids, but their confidence was misplaced, 
 according to reports. One of the party, who was at one time a 
 leader of the Yukon pioneers, deposited a sack containing $400 in 
 the safe. When he called for it he found that some one else had 
 broken into the safe and had taken one-half of the stuff that was 
 in the receptacle. One man lost, according to his statement, 
 $214, and his companion about ;^ 100. The party broke up about 
 the time the cars began to run in the morning, and when the 
 sacks were demanded there was a scene. 
 
 Accused of Robbery. 
 
 This was nothing, however, to what occurred the night follow- 
 ing the orgie. Those who lost their money met in the refreshment 
 room of the hotel in which they were staying, and each ac- 
 cused the other of being accessory to the robbery. Had it not 
 been for the intervention of several policemen, called by the 
 proprietor, there might have been several owners of rich claims 
 lying on the slabs of the morgue the next morning. 
 
 Gamblers reaped a harvest in the coast cities as long as miners 
 were returning with their dust. Gaming was the only pastime 
 
SIDE-MCHTS. 
 
 451 
 
 vatc 
 land 
 .idly. 
 
 ge 
 
 ol 
 
 , and 
 mts a 
 'orty- 
 
 for a 
 placed 
 s they 
 ban in 
 placed, 
 time a 
 $400 in 
 :lse bad 
 bat was 
 itement, 
 ip about 
 ben the 
 
 follow- 
 
 Icsbment 
 
 \ich ac- 
 
 iid it not 
 
 by the 
 
 lb claims 
 
 [s mineis 
 pastime 
 
 at the dij^j^iiigs and it was easy for the cartl sharps to find and 
 fleece their victims amon^ tile home-coming ari^on.iuts. Play 
 bad been relatively as high as fair on tile Yukon and before the 
 pioneer discovered he was made a victim, he had generall)' been 
 well "plucked." The supply of these easily duped miners ran 
 out after a lime, however, and then the professional gamblers 
 started for the fi)untain head at Dawson City. It speaks well 
 fn- the caliber of the 'Q/ers that while many of the blackleg 
 fraternity undoubtedly got through the outposts, many more 
 were turned back on their journey to the mines with some short, 
 .stern advice not to make another attempt to get in. 
 
 Type of a Miner's Paper. 
 
 One of the oddities of the craze was a little three column- 
 folio sheet purporting to be published at Dawson City, and which 
 gained much notoriety during its brief day of novelty. The 
 Klondike Morning Times may be taken with as many grains of 
 salt as the reader may see fit, but, as an antitype of frontier min- 
 ing journalism, it is worthy of the days of Bret Hartc. 
 
 The editor seems to have .started the paper, because he 
 needed money. This may be inferred from the :.~ubscription 
 price, which is announced without any attempt at extenuation as 
 $7.50 a single copy or $350,000 a year, payment to be made in 
 nickels, nuggets or .stamps. Some concessions are made for 
 club orders, the editor offering i,000,000 copies for $30,000. 
 The subscriber is advised to read the paper quickly, or he'll not 
 believe all there's in it. 
 
 The sensation of the day was a di.sturbance in the Dirty Dog 
 saloon the night before. The editor at once grasped the news 
 value of the story, recognizing its " human interest " at a glance. 
 He played it under a " scare " head consisting of the expressive 
 monosyllable" Biff," followed by three-line pyramids and "cap" 
 
 1 
 
 
 lllll 
 
452 
 
 side-li(;hts. 
 
 i!ir'«h 
 
 Ml 
 
 Mm 
 
 
 M. 
 
 Tim. '•".'■ -11 
 
 r 
 
 'ill "*'' 
 
 ha" ' 
 
 ■™:^! ■■■■ I 
 
 if ' 
 
 'Jini 
 
 
 
 lines in which the various featuns of the lory were strikiiij.fK* 
 indexed. 
 
 The story in vernacular is as follows : 
 
 " There was a hot time in the old town last ni}.^ht, as the fre- 
 quenters of the Dirty Doj^ saloon will testify. 
 
 " In the course of a cjuiet little poker game there was a clash 
 t)ctwccn IJonanza l^ill, formerly of Circle City, and a half-breed 
 Indian known in the iligginjjjs as Chilkoot Charley. 
 
 •' The stakes were large. Over $2,ooo,CX)0 in nuggets glit- 
 tered on the table when all played dropped out ixcepting l^ill 
 and Charley. 
 
 " Charley finally weakened and called his antagonist. 
 
 " lionanza Bill proudly displayed a pair of fours. 
 
 " ' No good,' .said Charley, as he began to rake in the sinning 
 pot, ' I've got sevens.' 
 
 " ' Stop ! ' roared Bonanza, and with a quick movement Ik- 
 seized the cards from Chilkoot Charley's hand. 
 
 " Charley had a pair of deuces only. 
 
 " Piqued at the idea of being played for a good thing by a 
 half-breed Indian, Bonanza Bill lost his temper and, seizing a 
 cast iron cu.spidor, he brought it down upon Charley's head with 
 great emphasis. Skull and .spit-box were both wrecked by the 
 force of the collision. 
 
 " The Indian was buried in a snowbank at the foot of Easy 
 Street at 2.30 A. m." 
 
 The prospects of the Dawson City and Elsewhere Railroad 
 are flatteringly exploited, and the enterprise and liberality of the 
 editor are revealed in a voting contest for the most popular faro 
 dealer, the winner to get a free trip to Juneau. 
 
'3 
 
 with 
 the 
 
 Easy 
 
 Ui-oad 
 >f the 
 fard 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Camp Life and Morals. 
 
 Minin){ Towns in the Alaskan WiUlerncss Similar to Other Rude Co«Jiiniini- 
 ties, with such I'cculiaritics as arc Horn of L'liniatie ami ToiH)}^raphical 
 Features All Have Their .Social Anienities—Tlie l?il)Ie and .Shakespeare 
 Appeal to the Literary Tastes of the I'-ortune Seekirs — WalehiiiK of 
 rroi)erly Ivarly a Necessity — Sharpers Lose no Tiii:c in ttettiiij^ in Their 
 Work — C.anihlers also Flock Toward the Yukon to Intercept the Return- 
 ing Miners and I'lcece Them — Whiskey Trade Flourishes in the Wilds. 
 
 TIIIC mining camps of the Yukon Valley roscniblc tlu; milling 
 camps of all other j^okl cliy;^ings tlvj workl over, with 
 such minor differences as are born of the characteristics 
 of the country. Their life is a rude life, a life of hardship, a life 
 of temporary expedients, and yet a liff that has a bri<;ht siile for 
 I ;ery dark side it presents. The Yukon valley is well worthy 
 of a Bret Harte to recount its pretty romances, its heroism, its 
 himible joys, its pathos and the stronj^ traits of character it 
 develops or brings to notice. 
 
 Situated as the camps are, thousands of miles from civiliza- 
 tion, it would be strange did their life not present oddities and 
 striking features of exceptional interest to new comers. There 
 is the absence of conveniences usually to be found in such place ; 
 the same tendency to recklessness and improvidence ; the same 
 summary' execution of unwritten law ; and in fact everything 
 that tends to nake a mining camp not a town, hut a sort of a 
 halting place in the wilderness. There is a rough, wild, uneasy 
 appearance to the whole company, a something that says, "We 
 are here for a purpose, but we will get out of the diggings at no 
 distant date." 
 
 Still the life of the mining camps on the Yukon is not as rude or 
 as bad as might be supposed, partly from the fact that the 
 remoteness of the diggings for a long time ke|:)t away d.uigerous 
 
 453 
 
 I 
 
 Mi 
 
 
 . ' 1 * • 
 
 M -^ i* •* 
 
 mi 
 
454 
 
 CAMP LIFE AND MORALS. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 e^'Snt 
 
 
 
 Jl«!.. ^. 
 
 
 !!1I' 
 
 and undesirable characters, and partly from the presence of 
 mounted jDolice, who did their best to preserve law and order. 
 
 Dawson City, Circle City, Forty-Mile, Sixty-Mile and all the 
 older camps in the region for years after the mining of gold was 
 begun, maintained an enviable reputation, and after the discovery 
 of gold in the Klondike robbed the older camps of interest and 
 brought about a general exodus of the miners to the new- 
 diggings the same characteristics were preserved. Hence, a 
 word descriptive of one of the older camps may be taken as 
 fairly true of all the camps in the region. Says a miner writing 
 
 from Dawson City : 
 
 Is a Moral Town. 
 
 " It may be said with absolute truth that Dawson City is one 
 of the most moral towns of its kind in the world. There is 
 little or no quarreling, and no brawls of any kind, though there 
 is considerable drinking and gamliling. l%vcry man carries a 
 pistol if he wishes to, yet few do, and it is a rare occurrence 
 when one is displayed. 
 
 " The principal sport with the mining men is found around the 
 gambling table. There they gather after nightfall and play until 
 late hours in the morning. They have some big games, too, it 
 sometimes costing as much as ;^50 to draw a card. A game of 
 ;^2000 as the stakes is an ordinary event. But with all that there 
 has not been any decided trouble. If a man is fussy and quar- 
 relsome he is quietly told to get out of the game, and that is the 
 end of it. 
 
 " Many people have an idea that Dawson City is completely 
 isolated, and can communicate with the outside world only once 
 every twelve months. That is a mistake. Circle City, only a 
 few miles away, has a mail once each month, and there we have 
 our mail addressed. It is true the cost is pretty high — a dollar 
 a letter and two dollars for paper — yet by that expenditure of 
 
 a-i* 
 
S«WB 
 
 ;ncc of 
 rdcr. 
 all the 
 old was 
 scovcry 
 est and 
 :he new 
 icnce, a 
 aken as 
 r writing 
 
 tv is ono 
 There is 
 ah tliere 
 carries a 
 :currence 
 
 ound the 
 play until 
 js, too, it 
 game of 
 hat there 
 nd quar- 
 Kat is the 
 
 )mpletcly 
 
 |»nly once 
 
 ', only a 
 
 we have 
 
 -a dollar 
 
 Miture of 
 
 CAMP LIFE AND MORALS. 
 
 455 
 
 money we are able to keep in direct communication with our 
 friends on the outside. 
 
 " In the way of public institutions our camp is at present with- 
 out any, but by the next season we will have a church, a music 
 hall, schoolhouse and hospital. The last institution will be under 
 the direct control of the Sisters of Mercy, who have already been 
 stationed for a long time at Circle City and Forty-Mile Camp." 
 
 Have Their Social Amenities. 
 
 It will be seen from this description th-t, remote from civiliza- 
 tion and virtually under the Arctic Circle as they are, the camps 
 are not without their social ameneties. Many an interesting 
 romance might be written from the experiences of those who 
 went to the Territory to seek their fortunes. 
 
 Anusing details are given of the way in which the miMi spend 
 the long nights of the Arctic winter. It must be remembered 
 that this means the greatest part of the year. T^ach claim ex- 
 tends only 500 feet up and down the streams — the 500 feet was 
 limited by the Dominion government early in August, 1897, to 
 100 feet — and the tents or cabins of the miners are thus huddled 
 closely together. 
 
 The miners are thus neighbors in propinquity, and the good 
 fellowship wliich usually obtains in such communities make them 
 neighbors in every sense of the term. Along the Klondike and 
 in all the older camps the men resort to all sorts of games to 
 kill time, as they express it, and checkers and cards thus be- 
 come favorite pastime with tiie masses. 
 
 Then, too, remote as they are from current news and recent 
 publications, the men, in a sense, keep up their interest in the 
 world from which they are .severed, and every odd book or old 
 newspaper about the diggings goes the rounds and is eagerly 
 perused by everybody. It is rather interesting to note that in 
 
 Hi i. 
 
 * « « Sfl 'i • 
 
 jut 
 
 ?! ,1 * 'ft 'i 
 
 * it- 
 
 ";• 1 f\ 
 
 ■■ 'I .r- *'' 
 
 ) 
 t 
 
 
 
 i' 1 
 
 
 -I ■.a :! 
 
 I 
 
 !lil ill 
 
 ^;!a 
 
 
► 1 1 
 
 
 
 I :;! I' «• • 'fh 
 
 
 
 I.J '''!«■ !,. 
 
 456 
 
 CAMP LIFE AND MORALS. 
 
 the mining circles the Bible and Shakespeare are the two books 
 most frequently to be seen. 
 
 Nearly every Klondiker on leaving Taconia or Seattle is said 
 to provide himself with a copy of the Bible or a single-volume 
 copy of Shakespeare. About the middle of August it was 
 reported by the booksellers of Tacoma that there had been such 
 a demand for these two books that their supply had been entirely 
 exhausted and that they had been obliged to send east by wire 
 for a fresh supply to meet the wants of those who started late in 
 the season for the diggings. 
 
 A single instance will serve to show the trend of taste in liter- 
 ary matters. One party of twelve prospectors and miners from 
 Missouri left Tacoma on August 14th and took as part of their 
 baggage eight copies of the Bible and twelve copies of .Shakespeare. 
 
 Newspapers in Camp. 
 
 Robert Krook, an old miner in the Yukon valley, gives some 
 interesting information relative to the popularity of newspapers 
 and the general run of the camp life. Said he : 
 
 " No paper is too old to read. We read all the advertisements 
 and all the can labels. There was a supply of canned lobsters 
 at the camp and some man used to put up with the cans wrap- 
 pings of sheets from die Bible. We used to commit the chapters 
 to memory and see who could repeat them first without a mistake. 
 
 " The food is neither extra choice nor plentiful. But it is ex- 
 pen'sive. Bacon, ham and beans arc the general rule — no 
 French wines or champagnes. The supplies are short at best 
 and a man must often take bacon that he would not throw to a 
 dog or go without. There is usually more whiskey and hard- 
 ware on hand than anything else. A man only needs a certain 
 amount of harilware, and the less whiskey he can get on with 
 the better he is off. 
 
 «i|Si:i. 
 
CAMP LIFE AND MORALS. 
 
 457 
 
 " Sometimes a man has to watch his supplies pretty close, 
 and they usually build a * cache ' — that is, a little platform set 
 high up on light poles. He can then haul up his bacon and 
 ' grub ' and cover it with a tarpaulin. The risk of leaving the 
 ' grub ' in the cabin is that the bears get at it. The}' will even 
 tear the roof off to get in, and there are plenty of the animals. 
 They won't climb the thin posts, particularly when the bark has 
 been peeled off, 
 
 " In regard to clothing, a man does not need much in summer, 
 and in winter he studies comfort, not looks. In winter we wear 
 moccasins, and in summer, while sluicing, gum boots I have 
 not had leather on my feet since I left. Overalls cost 52.50 in 
 Klondike, and everything else in proportion, but it is a great 
 country to make money in." 
 
 Strict Discipline Among the Miners. 
 
 Mr. Krook rather insinuated en returning Ironi a protracted 
 residence in the valle)', that the discovery of gold on the Klon- 
 dike had rather tended to demoralize the people and give rise to 
 more or less unlawful proceedings. He said, though, that the 
 miners were quite competent to adjust all matters of difference, 
 and that, as a rule, it was woe betide the man who transgressed 
 the laws of the camp, Continuing he said : 
 
 " Until this spring the men never put locks on the doors of 
 the cabins, and nothing was stolen. You might go into any 
 cabin and see a glass or a tin or two on the shelf full of gold, 
 and no one would think of touching it. Anyone could steal if 
 he wanted to do so, but tJicre were good reasons why they did 
 not. It was only after the mounted police arrived that locks 
 and bolts became a necessity. Before that there were what we 
 called ' miners' laws. 
 
 " Forty or fifty of the miners would call a meeting, sel<'ct a 
 
 ■' ^ "i 
 
 
 f?''! 
 
 ;I3I 
 
 m 
 
 »< €, 
 
 
 Hal f 
 
 
 I*' 
 
litl^ 
 
 458 
 
 CAMP LIFE AND MORALS. 
 
 m'-^\ 
 
 4 :M 
 
 \^ii : ^ 
 
 ilir'l'i'w. 
 
 Injlfiii"**' • 
 
 chairman, and then if a man could make his own ' talk, ' he did 
 
 so, or he would get some one to make it for him. When both 
 
 sides of the case had been heard the chairman would call for a 
 
 vote. The decision was final. 
 
 " If g man gave trouble, he had to go. Now, they do not 
 
 have miners' laws any more. We had no trouble during three 
 
 years, became all questions were settled at these meeting of 
 
 miners. Al'. disputes about claims were argued and adjudicated 
 
 in the same way." 
 
 Sharpers at Their Work. 
 
 As in 'xVi mining districts, where great fortunes are apt to be 
 made in a few days by a lucky hit, there was early on the Klon- 
 dike an element among the people who were unwilling to obey 
 cither the statutes of the government or the unwritten laws of 
 the miners, men who apparently worried their brains to devise 
 schemes to get hold of claims, to evade rules and to gain pos- 
 session of as large a part of the miners' earnings as they could. 
 The miners, however, soon rose up against this element at the dig- 
 gings, as they had previously at Dawson City and the older 
 camps, and determined that, come what would, order should be 
 preserved at all hazards. 
 
 They pointed out with pride that there had been a vast dif- 
 ference between the camp life on the Yukon and the camp life 
 of the days of '49, the difference being in favor of the days of 
 '97. They made a crusade, as strenuously as possible, against 
 gambling and the sale of liquor. Of course, it could not be 
 expected that drinking and gaming could be entirely prevented. 
 But the miners, realizing their own best interests, did good work 
 in limiting the evil. 
 
 The United States statutes distinctly prohibit the importation 
 of liquor into Alaska for purposes other than for medicine, but 
 the l.iw was ignored by tho.se who recognized that there was a 
 
le did 
 both 
 for a 
 
 lo not 
 ; three 
 ting of 
 iicated 
 
 to be 
 I Klon- 
 to obey 
 laws of 
 
 devise 
 
 in pos- 
 could. 
 
 he dig- 
 |e older 
 lould be 
 
 jv'ast dif- 
 imp life 
 days of 
 against 
 not be 
 evented, 
 id work 
 
 |)ortation 
 :inc, but 
 l-c was a 
 
 CAMP LIFE AND MORALS. 
 
 459 
 
 glorious opportunity for money making in pushing the liquor 
 traffic. Thousands of gallons of alcohol, whiskey and brandy 
 were landed almost every week at Dyca and other towns, from 
 which the stock was transported into the interior. A large share 
 of these goods found way directly to the Klondike. 
 
 Whiskey Came High. 
 
 The worst kind of whiskey found ready sale to the Indians at 
 three dollars per bottle, and in almost every bay or nook of 
 land where Indians lived, were sloops from which whiskey was 
 sold in abundance, alike to natives and white men. At Dyea 
 and Skaguay, as well as at Juneau, Wrangel, Sitka, and other 
 towns, many saloons were run wide open. By a curious contra- 
 diction the government issued internal revenue licenses, and at 
 the same time prohibited the importation and sale of liquors. 
 
 A word may be said of the ordinary life of one or two of the 
 older towns as being characteristic of the country outside of the 
 mining camps proper. Sitka, the capital of the Territory, is a 
 quaint old place that has never yet worn off the glamor of 
 romance and mystery which has hung over it ever since the days of 
 Russian occupation. During the whole of 1897, however, the 
 pathos and tragedy of romance were entirely subordinated to the 
 wild and feverish frenzy after wealth which marked the year after 
 the find had been made on the Klondike, and the old town took 
 on a briskness and life that it had never known before. 
 
 Of course, .Sitka is only an apology for a city, but it docs 
 have many of the conveniences and comforts to be found in the 
 older States. Hence, the prospector or miner going to the Klon- 
 dike in a measure gets used gradually to the marked change from 
 civilization to the wilds. Henry F.llsworth Ilaydon has a word 
 to say about Sitka which is worth quoting in this connection. 
 Says he : 
 
 ^' 
 
 M 
 
 M'V 
 
 it i 
 
 
 \i - 
 
 ills «' 
 
 Mas* ; 
 
 
 I* 4 1 i 
 
 
 mi ' 
 
 i +: •I 1 3 
 
u it ] n 
 
 isvi\\K)n 
 
 460 
 
 CAMP LIFE AND MORALS. 
 
 " Let mc tell of the town as it appeared to me the winter of 
 my visit there, with the white Chilkat blanket of the snow spread 
 over its shoulders and trailinf^ its fringes in the sea. 
 
 " Fancy a bracket fastened to the front of the mountains with 
 its outer cc!gcs w.-.shcd by the estuary of the Pacific Ocean, ano 
 on the bracket a number of frame buildings of all sorts and 
 sizes — perched like birds above high-water mark. On its eastern 
 side vast, towering, snow- crowned mountains rise mass on mass, 
 precipice above precipice, until their summits seem like the white, 
 tapering finger of a giant god, reaching upward to pluck dia- 
 mond stars from the ether of the winter skies. 
 
 fjiii 
 
 m%: 
 
 Vi. 
 
 m^h 
 
 
 |l3|y 
 
 S' 
 
 
 
 Exposed to Wind and Storm. 
 
 " Northward, low lying hills stretching in endless companion- 
 ship toward the frozen ocean, and across their desolate solitudes 
 the wild winds of storms born in the Arctic blow their cold 
 breath out over the little city, as if they would fain freeze the in- 
 habitants and carry their congealed bodies into the sea. West- 
 ward, across Gastineau Channel, Douglas Island, with its famous 
 Treadwell mine, and Douglas City, and southward lengthwise ot 
 the bay one sees the trembling waters undulate along an ocean 
 horizon. 
 
 " Dwellers in cities beyond the eastern slope of the Rock\- 
 Mountains, who read much and travel little, have formed queer 
 and mistaken ideas of the condition of society in places known 
 as the mining camps of isolated districts." 
 
 Juneau, from which so many thousands took their way to the 
 interior, is younger, sturdier and more enterprising than Sitka, 
 and may serve as a sort of transition from the life of Southern 
 Alaska to the bona fide camp life of the north. It is one of die- 
 most cosmopolitan little places, or it was in 1897, under the sun. 
 
 ]\Ien winter ;.t Juneau who have wandered through Australiiin 
 
CAMP LIFE AND MORALS. 
 
 4G1 
 
 forests, prospected Montana, Idalio, Nevada, New Mexico and 
 California ; been tossed about in whaling and sealin<j vessels on 
 the billowy waters of the Arctic seas ; trailed thn)iiL;h Asiatic 
 deserts, hunted for diamonds in Africa, and anion;.; all sorts and 
 conditions of people have learned the creed of the wise and 
 the brave, to accept the present as the only livinj^ time, and await 
 with unspoken faith and hope whatever the future ma)' bring 
 them. 
 
 They are pleasant to talk with, affiible, courteous, intelligent, 
 being full of strange stories of camp and field, of (juartz mines 
 near lonely cabins far up the mountains, and placer " iliggins " 
 in populous places near to the sea, and all the wonderful romances 
 which are part of the adventurer's lot in whatsoever land his tent 
 may be pitched. 
 
 Many of these transient pioneers of the primeval solitudes of 
 sea and forest stay at Juneau until the April or "Shiy days come, 
 when they set out to cross the divide ami launch themselves in 
 frail canoes or on crazy r;ifts, and go floating down the mountain 
 streams to the Yukon River. For the most part, one and all 
 have the same purpose. Those of the prospectors, or fortune 
 seekers, who have spirit and energy enougli to bear up under 
 the trials they have to meet, make comparatively jolly parties, 
 and as a result life goes on noisily along the trails and in the 
 camps as in the older and better known towns that serve as a 
 threshold to the countr)'. 
 
 Have a Rude Awakening. 
 
 When once the camps are reached, the real business of the 
 pilgrimage to the north begins, and many thousands realiz:' 
 shortly that life at the camps is an entirely different matter than 
 they had anticipated. The common experience soon settles 
 down to a round of duties and efforts ; and the ab.senee of all 
 
 
 iil 
 
 <*(!* 
 
 ■■'^i 
 
 M 
 
 mi ! r 
 
 :;,M' : 
 
 
 lilt's . 
 
 
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 i.;;l.i «■ 
 
 J 
 
mi 
 
 
 
 s ! ^ 
 
 £iU i • 1 ■ "" ? life 
 
 Pi^i?'^^ '^ 
 
 
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 i- II 
 
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 piiln M! : li 
 
 hirtJiMjS],;' 
 
 Niii!'l| 
 
 
 ] I-' 
 
 
 462 
 
 CAMP LIFE AND MORALS. 
 
 that the fort line -seekers have been accustomed to, emphasize the 
 unpleasant fe.itures of the new Hfe. 
 
 There were not lacking, however, early in the ckiys of the 
 gold-working enterprising people, who sought to make a good 
 thing out of the gold craze, not by mining, but by catering to 
 the pleasures of those who delved and wash'jd for the precious 
 metal, primitive theatres were started at many of the camps. 
 Omer Maris speaks of one of *;!iese playhouses at Circle City and 
 says that it met a positive want among the people. S;iys he : 
 
 " The present conception of the popular taste in Alaska seems 
 to be that the public wants a strong show, and in the attempt to 
 meet the demand the managers cannot find anything up to the 
 standard in books and are driven to the point of inviting new 
 features. * The Man from Douglass Island ' was an original 
 drama that was offered to the people of Juneau. 
 
 Barkeeper Charley. 
 
 "The title had local significance, as Douglass Island is just 
 across the channel from the town. It was a very successful 
 play. The hero was a barkeeeper named Charley, and the 
 heroine, to use the hero's own words, was a ' perfect lady,' who 
 had a desire to see something of the town with a fancy, rather 
 unusual in a person of that description, for incidentally ' hit- 
 ting the pipe.' 
 
 "There was a bootblack, a Chinaman, an Irisu policeman, 
 a dude and a number of sports and ' ladies ' in the piece. 
 After the requisite amount of adversity and bad luck had been 
 ground out, the hero, with the help of the bootblack, triumphed 
 over the dude, got a * pull ' with the policeman, married the 
 heroine and otherwise attained brilliant success as the ,jroprietor 
 of the ' finest joint in the town,' to quote his own language 
 again." 
 
:, ! 
 
 1 i 
 
 '4 < 
 
 J 1 
 
 IZC 
 
 the 
 
 of the 
 a j^ood 
 ring to 
 »rccious 
 camps, 
 rity and 
 s he : 
 a sccnis 
 cmpt to 
 • to the 
 ing new- 
 original 
 
 is just 
 .iccessful 
 and the 
 Idy,' who 
 y, rather 
 jlly ' hit- 
 
 )liceman, 
 Jic piece, 
 lad been 
 liumphcd 
 jried the 
 Proprietor 
 [angaage 
 
 CAM I' TJFE .\ND MOR.\LS. 
 
 46S 
 
 Those familiar with tlie scenes of revelry and riot in the 
 days of the Californian gold fever would look in vain, how- 
 ever, along the Yukon and the Klondike for anj'thing similar 
 to the playhouses of '49. 
 
 In all the diggings there was, as might be expected, more or 
 less lawlessness that could not be suppressetl either by the govern- 
 ment officials or by the better class of the miners themselves. It 
 early became necessary to take j)ositive steps for tlu: protection 
 of the miners and their claims. The Dominion Cabinet did 
 much to preserve order and prevent anything of an especially 
 flagrant kind. 
 
 A detachment of Canadian mounted police, twenty-five in 
 number, was stationed at Fort Cudahy, opposite Forty-?.Iile 
 post, and the owners of the mine there applied to Captain Con- 
 stantine, in command, for assistance in protecting their propert}'. 
 
 A detachment of twelve men was called out at once and they 
 made the trip of seventy miles to the seat of the trouble in the 
 shortest time on record. They placed their arms and rations in 
 a canoe, put in two or three Indians with poles to guard against 
 rocks, and then the twelve men took a line and towed the canoe 
 the whole seventy miles. 
 
 It was expected that there would be trouble in dispossessing 
 the claimants who caused the trouble, but the Yukon miners are 
 a law-abiding lot generally, and at the display of authority they 
 submitted and the owners of the mine were given possession. 
 As to the original question involved it was soon settled, as the 
 owners probably got their legal rights. 
 
 Dawson City sprang up like a mushroom and was one of the 
 most thriving of the mining towns until the discovery of gold 
 on the Klondike directed attention thither and caused a general 
 stampede to the new diggings. lulgar A. Mi/.ner givie us u 
 iittle peep into the life of this town. 
 
 ! il 
 
 
 « T 1 
 
 'Hi i< 
 
 i^i I', 
 
 ill I 
 
 { 
 
 
 
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 m 
 
 '5 'it!* "^ 
 
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 '''ijultl^l HIil 
 
 ^'ii M 
 
 
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 404 
 
 CAMP LIFE AND MORALS. 
 
 When lie visited it Dawson had u popuhition <jf about 4000. 
 This was just before the Klondike fever broke out and the men 
 hurried away as rapidly as their legs, or the river steamers, or 
 horses or dogs and sledges could carry them. Says he of this 
 camp : 
 
 "And such a town ! It has some of the characteristics of 
 mining camps that Bret Ilarte has made into story, but it has 
 qualities that California camps never had and never could have. 
 The game of life is played fast, and the boisterous side of mining 
 camps is developing as the population increases. Now Dawson 
 would match Tombstone when Tombstone was young. There 
 are gamblers by the score, and there are dance halls by the 
 score. 
 
 " The principal source of fighting in frontier mining camps, dis- 
 putes over the possession of claims, has been missing up to this 
 time from the Klondike region. The Canadi.m mining l.iws 
 seem fair, and they arc regarded and are enforced as well as 
 possible by the small officitd force representing the Dominion 
 government. A section in the law prohibits a miner from 
 'taking up' more than one claim in a neighborhood. This pro- 
 vision of law leads to caution in the selection of claims, and 
 er'^ops land grabbers from controlling all the claims in sight." 
 
 
i^iiii^iitt 
 
 CIIAl'TKR XVIII. 
 
 Domestic Life in the Wilds. 
 
 Miners' Experiences not those of a mere Romantic Sojourn in the Wilder- 
 ness — Absence of Conveniences and Comforts — The Oklcr Towns Anti- 
 quated anil, during the Gold Craze, Overcrowded — Graphic Pictures of 
 Skaguay, Dawson City, Circle City, a!ul Camp Lake I,in<lerman — Hotel 
 Project for the Territory that Promises to be the ]\Icans of Furnishing a 
 lyarger Quota of Comforts — Women's Influence on the Domestic I<ifc — 
 Some of Those Who Grace the Camps with their Presence, and the Par- 
 ticular Line of Work to which they Devote Themselves — Sisters of 
 Mercy for the vSick and Dying, and vSisters of Cookery for the Well. 
 
 THE domestic life of Alaska is not the domestic life of the 
 old, settled communities of the United States, and the 
 thousands who flocked to the North, when the Klondike 
 fever broke out, had a rude awakcninij from their dream of a 
 merely romantic sojourn in the wilderness. Nor did it rccjuire 
 an actual residence in the mininLj camps to force upon the f(M-tune 
 seekers the fact that they were entering, not merely a new and 
 unknown country, but a new and unknown scries of domestic 
 experiences. 
 
 Even the oldest of the Alaskan cities — Sitka — is but the veriest 
 excuse for a town, despite the fact that its history and its fame 
 date from the early days of the Russian occupation. Conse- 
 quently, the moment the prospectors and miners set foot on 
 Alaskan soil, they found a lack of the conveniences and comforts 
 to which they had been accustomed. These did not exist in the 
 city, and their absence was accentuated by the feverish rush and 
 turmoil that characterized the place. 
 
 It was literally a new era in the history of .Sitka, as well as of 
 Juneau and the rest of the older towns of the territory. The 
 gold craze came in a moment, and there w^as no opportunity to 
 30 465 
 
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 466 
 
 DOMESTIC LIFE IN THE WILDS. 
 
 provide for the horde of people who wended their way toward 
 the diggings as soon as the news was received in the cities of the 
 South. Every available place in the old towns was filled with 
 newcomers, and on the outskirts of the cities there were little 
 suburbs of tents, which were pitched for the temporary accom- 
 modation of the people. 
 
 In the established mining camps like Dawson City, Circle City, 
 Sixty-Mile, and Forty-Mile, the state of affairs was not essen- 
 tially different for a time. Soon, however, there was a general 
 exodus from these towns, and then there were accommodations, 
 and to spare. In Klondike itself, as might be supposed, it was 
 for a long time a mere matter of the rudest huts, supplemented 
 
 by tents. 
 
 No Place for Style. 
 
 In this world of antiquated or temporary structures, or of no 
 structures at all, the domestic arrangements were cast upon just 
 such lines as one might look for in an unsettled country. As 
 the reader may have gleaned from the preceding pages, it was 
 no place for dress suits or train dresses, and those who went to 
 the gold fields soon learned that it was no place likewise for the 
 conventionalities of ordinary lifi . Here and there, to be sure, 
 was fountl some one who csaycd io put on style. But these 
 "fops and frumps" were early ti'.ght that they had better cast 
 conventionality to the winds, and adopt the rude life, with its 
 hearty, whole-souled ways, which obtains in all mining localities. 
 
 A mere word about some of the towns will enable the reader 
 to form some idea of the " home " life that necessarily prevailed 
 in them. Hal Hoffman, who went to Alaska on a special mis- 
 sion, early in August, 1897, wrote as follows of Skaguay : 
 
 " Skaguay is, at this date, a city of eleven frame or log houses, 
 a saw-mill, five stores, four saloons a crap game, a faro layout, 
 blacksmith shop, five restaurants, which are feeding people aU 
 

 DOMESTIC LIFE IN THE WILDS. 
 
 46'; 
 
 Ihouses, 
 I layout, 
 )ple aU 
 
 the time, a tailor shop, on which is luinj^ the sign ' bloomers fitted 
 for shotguns ; ' a real estate office, two practicing physicians, 
 another professional pathfinder whose specialty is shown by the 
 sign painted on a board nailed to a tree, ' teeth extracted ; ' some 
 300 tents, and a population of about 2000 men and seventeen 
 women. I'our of the women arc accompanjing their husbands 
 into the Klondike. The others are unchaperoned. 
 
 " A dance hall will be erected next week. .Skaguay is already 
 a typical miring camp. Its population is proud of it. They go 
 further, and say it will be a ' hot town ' next winter. Streets 
 have been laid out. Broadway runs from liigh tide four miles 
 back to the mountain base, and is walled with tents, piles of sup- 
 plies, and felled trees. The gold-seekers never overlook an 
 opportunity to make fun drown their impatience. 
 
 " The event of to-day was a foot race for a purse of twenty- 
 five dollars, in which fifty men entered. Lanterns are flickering 
 like fireflies among the tents to-night. One turns his glance 
 with a shiver from the snow-topped mountains which, half a n^ile 
 from camp, point 4000 feet into the pale night overhead. 
 
 Unique Miners' Meeting. 
 
 " A miners' meeting stands without a parallel aniong things 
 unique. It was recently decided at such a meeting at Circle 
 City that a man cannot lick his own dog. What a miners' meet- 
 ing says goes. A teamster named Cleveland was run out of 
 town two days ago for refusing to liaul a corpse free of charge. 
 It was the body of young Dwight B. Fowler, who fell into the 
 river and was drowned in the clear w^ater in sight of his com- 
 panions, owing to the weight of the pack strapped to his back." 
 
 Another writer has the following to say of Dawson City about 
 the same time : 
 
 " There are several public resorts in Dawson — each with a bar 
 
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468 
 
 DOMESTIC LIFE IN THE WILDS. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 in front, gambling tables in the rear and a dancing floor in the 
 middle. Yukon has struck the typical early mining camp pace. 
 Faro and j^oker arc the favorite means for parting with gold dust. 
 One hears of games with ^20 ante and ^50 to call blind. They 
 don't have money in circulation. 
 
 " There is no such thing as money. When you go in just 
 leave your sack at the bar and say, ' Give me five hundred,' or 
 ' Give me a thousand,' and get your chips," explained a Yukoner. 
 " Then if you lose you can call for what you want, and it's just 
 put down, and when you get through they just weigh out what 
 you ov.e. I have seen follows go in with js 50,000 they had 
 cleaned up and go out with an empty sack and go to work 
 
 agam. 
 
 A Wretched Place. 
 
 Miss Anna Fulcomer, who lived for a year at Circle City before 
 seeking the Klondike fields with the rest of the fortune-hunters, 
 gives a rather graphic account of the town. Said she, in a letter 
 written to l""^' sister in Chicago : 
 
 " This is a wretched place to be side-tracked in. A poor little 
 town with few houses, and those U)r the most part of bad con- 
 .struction ! Not the possibility of going an\-where and getting 
 out of sij/ht of the little aggregation of buildings without going 
 out into the wilderness away from everybody and everything ! 
 To do this requires not a little cournge and energy. People here 
 are not primarily pleasure seekers. These who have come here 
 have come for business, and this becomes manifest in everything, 
 from the way in which they put in their time to the way in which 
 they dress and deport themselves. 
 
 " There is no such thing as style. There is little visiting, ex- 
 cept to kill time when it is r.o longer possible to work. You 
 must not forget that this is the land of the midnight sun, and that it 
 is also the land of the midday moon. Consequently one gets 
 
 *«^ 
 
 '*<.. 
 
■■1 <-i 
 
 DOMESTIC LIFE IN THE WILDS. 
 
 469 
 
 little 
 con- 
 ;ctting 
 going 
 'thing I 
 c here 
 Be here 
 thing, 
 which 
 
 You 
 that it 
 e gets 
 
 up, works, goes to bed, d-^pv everything either by sunlight or by 
 moonlight, according to the season of the year, without the 
 natural phenomena that in southern latitudes accompany and lend 
 a certain character to the duties and pleasures of life. Every 
 thing seems turned about, and one scarcely has the inclination 
 even though he might have the opportunity, to do as they do ir 
 the old States. 
 
 " What is more, there seems little prospect of any change in 
 domestic conditions for the better for many a long day. Evei 
 though the mining interest keeps up, the influx of people to the 
 camps will probably be so largely in excess of the accommoda- 
 tions for them, and they will bring with them such a meager 
 supply of conveniences and comforts, that the prospect is that 
 Dawson City and Circle City will continue to be Dawson City 
 and Circle City until capitalists, realizing the necessities of the 
 towns, will take steps to provide ampler and better accommoda- 
 tions than nbw exist." 
 
 At Camp Lake Linderman. 
 
 Of the camps proper William J. Jones gives a fair idea. Says 
 he of Camp Lake Linderman ; 
 
 " From fifty to one hundred white tents, as many camp fires 
 and nearly 200 people constitutes the !*ttle colony of gold-seek- 
 ers who are camped licic, building boats and awaiting an oppor- 
 tunity to sail down the river. It is remarkable to note the 
 difiference in the personnel of the men. Onl\' the beiter and 
 more substantial element is able to cope with the hardships and 
 reach this far. It would seem that the less perseve.ing, or what 
 might more properly be termed the lazier classes, arc to be found 
 scattered along the trail between Dyea and Sheep Camp, be- 
 moaning and bewailing the hardships they are undergoing. 
 They arc having a picnic if they only realize that much, as com- ' 
 
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 470 
 
 DOMESTIC LIFE IN THE WILDS. 
 
 pared with what they will experience after passing Sheep Camp. 
 " There is one saloon at Lake Linderman, and it is doing a 
 thriving business in a tent. Without a license or other lawful 
 restriction and with the poorest quality of liquor, so diluted as to 
 be unrecognizable to the fastidious taste of experienced epicures, 
 the proprietor is coining money by selling drinks at 50 cents 
 each. A bottle of whiskey is worth $1$. As the Indians 
 arrive in from the coast with their packs and receive there 
 stipends, averaging about $30, they are inveigled into the saloon 
 and made drunk. A few drinks and a bottle of vile concoction 
 called whiskey, and they are "broke." After sobering up they 
 are ready to " hit the trail " and get another pack. Some of the 
 nights are made wild and hideous with the orgies of these natives." 
 
 Hotel for Alaska. 
 
 Early in August, 1897, the North American Trading and 
 Transportation Company took the very step that Miss Fulcomer 
 advocated and perfected a plan for the transportation to Alaska 
 of a hotel which would accommodate about 500 people. It was 
 the plan to have the frame work sawed, finished, and put in such 
 "^'^ape as to be ready for erection os soon as the material could 
 ' ^ ransported to the Territory. The decision once made, active 
 ' .eps were taken toward carrying out the project. 
 
 The new hotel was designed for Fort Get There, on St. 
 Michael's Island. This was nothing but a trading post of the 
 company situated about a mile from the town of St. Michael's, 
 and only a hundred yards from the canal. At the time the en- 
 terprise was planned, and steps were taken to car.y it out, there 
 were only about twenty white men and probably twice as many 
 Indians there. The plan of the hotel resembled a fort, being 
 square, with a court in the center and a tower on either corner. 
 Speaking of the enterprise, Mr. P. B. Weare said at the tiri;e r 
 
 ■i 
 
DOMESTIC LIFE IN THE WILDS. 
 
 471 
 
 and 
 
 t was 
 such 
 could 
 active 
 
 " A special train of ten cars will convey the hotel furnishings 
 and the steamer J. C. Barr, recently purchased at Toledo, to 
 Seattle, in time to catch the City of Cleveland, which sails 
 September loth. The J. C. Barr, which is now being taken 
 apart preparatory to shipment, is intended for v^e on the Yukon 
 River, and will make the fourth boat the company expects to 
 have in operation on the river at the opening of the spring 
 season. 
 
 " I do not know how soon we can carry out all our inten- 
 tions," continued Mr. Weare, " but we realize the fact that 
 domestic life in A.iaska is in a large measure a matter of hardship 
 and privation, and we know that there ought to be ampler 
 accommodations provided for the people. It is not, in that cold 
 climate, as it was in California in the days of '49, for there, if the 
 miners had not houses, it did not entail suffering or danger to 
 camp out with nothing but the sky overhead and a blanket 
 wrapped around them. 
 
 " In Alaska one cannot put up with camp fires and such con- 
 veniences as can easily be carried about on a pack saddle. It is 
 {te-i \orribly cold and the miners, in order to survive and keep 
 v'orv 'fives in fit condition to do their work, have to have good 
 p^- o' ction from the inclemencies of the weather. 
 
 Accommr dations Not Good. 
 
 Of course, in 
 
 " These, it need not be said, do not now exist 
 the old towns in Southeastern Alaska, there are a number of 
 places where strangers can get fairly good accommodations, but 
 these accommodations vanish as soon as one heads his way 
 ' 'Ward the interior. The tramp over the mountains and through 
 'v; valleys, of course, must necessarily be one fraught with all 
 the dangers and inconveniences and hardships pf a journey in 
 the wilderness. But at the present time even in the old mining 
 
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 472 
 
 DOMESTIC LIFE IN THE WILDS. 
 
 towns — you will understand I mean by old such places as Daw- 
 son City and Circle City — the existing condition of things is 
 such that one can scarcely speak of domestic life at all. It is 
 simply life without the domestic." 
 
 Yet it was into this wilderness, devoid as it was of most of 
 the amenities of civilized life, that scores of women of educa- 
 tion and ♦"efinement t^I. <^heir way, actuated by various motives. 
 Man was not to have Klondike country to himself If there 
 
 were no sidewalks and boulevards, no boudoirs or parlors, the 
 women meant to go there and share with their husbands and 
 brothers and fitheis the strange experiences of the mining 
 camps. That the news of this exodus of women to the dig- 
 gings was cheering news to the miners, needs scarcely to be said. 
 
 Women Off for the Diggings. 
 
 In the middle of August, 1897, an announcement of the 
 intention of women to go to the North was made in the follow- 
 ing words : 
 
 " Woman's refining hand is to be laid on the camps at Dawson 
 City and other Arctic settlements. The home comforts of civil- 
 ization are to be introduced in a country in which they have 
 been hitherto sadly lacking. This winter will bring a radical 
 change in domestic and social conditions in that far-off part of 
 the world and enforced seclusion will be relieved of its greatest 
 terrors. 
 
 " Eight Illinois women have thus far announced their purpose 
 to make the pilgrimage to the gold fields of Alaska, and this 
 number is likely to be doubled before the last steamer of the 
 season sails from Seattle. Similar reports come from other 
 States, so there is a strong certainty that the Klondike district 
 is to have an agreeable and useful addition to its present 
 population. 
 
 h''^i:n ' 
 
DOMESTIC LIFE IN THE WILDS. 
 
 473 
 
 3a\v- 
 
 gs is 
 
 It is 
 
 ost of 
 duca- 
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 ■ there 
 rs, the 
 Is and 
 mining 
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 of the 
 follow- 
 
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 lof civil- 
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 radical 
 part of 
 lirreatcst 
 
 [purpose 
 land this 
 of the 
 1 other 
 district 
 present 
 
 " Some of these women are the wives of men now in Alaska 
 wresting wealth from the frozen earth — these go to make lighter 
 for their husbands the hardships of an Arctic winter. Others 
 will make the long and dangerous journey to dig gold for them- 
 selves, to make money by keeping boarders, by ministering with 
 needle and thread to the wants of helpless masculinity — and 
 even by running newspapers, in which the lucky strikes, the sad 
 failures, social doings, and all the breezy gossip of the camps 
 will be duly chronicled. 
 
 " Then there are others — women of mercy — whose sole 
 object in braving Arctic perils is to care for the sick and 
 afflicted, to nurse back to life and strength the victims of acci- 
 dent or disease, and soothe the last moments of those who 
 receive the final summons to the great beyond. 
 
 Promise is Fulfilled. 
 
 The promise held forth to the miners of having woman's 
 influence in their rude life, was carried out with a fulness they 
 little anticipated. Mrs. Caroline Wescott Romney, a Chicago 
 woman, early expressed her determination to go to the Klondike 
 and pass the winter. It was not her intention to go on a plea- 
 sure jaunt, but strictly on a business venture, and on one well 
 calculated to make the camp life brighter and better. Her 
 main purpose was to start a newspaper at Dawson City, and she 
 decided to take with her a complete printing outfit, so that she 
 could issue a little sheet and supply the mining community not 
 merely with news about local doings, but with reprinted matter, 
 which would serve to instruct and amuse the i)cople. 
 
 Mrs. Romney had had a good deal of experience in a similar 
 line in Leadville and Durango in the boom days of Coloralo. 
 She was a strong believer in mines and mining, and, havin^'" 
 worked with success in this line in Colorado, and also in Mexico, 
 
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 474 
 
 DOMESTIC LIFE IN THE WILDS. 
 
 she thought she could enter the Yukon valley and by her enter- 
 prise meet a decided want in the domestic life of the community. 
 Speaking of her project before she started, she said : 
 
 " Of one thing I am confident, there is gold in plenty in Alaska. 
 I believe there is a fortune for me, and I am going to get it or 
 know the cause of failure. What is more, I am not going to 
 work in the mines, but in the camps and for the benefit of the 
 people. I do not think there is any occasion for the lawlessness 
 that has characterized almost every mining community on record. 
 That sort of thing springs up primarily from the absence of those 
 conveniences and comforts that in these days legitimate enter- 
 prise could easily supply." 
 
 Mrs. Gage's Enterprise. 
 
 Mention has been made elsewhere in this volume of the enter- 
 prise of Mrs. Eli S. Gage, who left her cozy home in Chicago 
 and went to the mining ^egion to be with her husband and lend 
 what influence she could for the good of the camp life. She 
 left Chicago early in the fall of 1 897 and took her way to the 
 diggings by way of the Chilkoot Pass. xVccording to the plans 
 of Mrs. Gage, as expressed before starting, she intended to keep 
 house in Northern Alaska, doing the cooking, washing and other 
 forms of housework herself 
 
 There are no trained servants or domestic help in the Terri- 
 tory, and consequently it is a practice of the miners to shift for 
 themselves the best way they can. It was Mrs. Gage's opinion, 
 which was also shared by the officers of the transportation com- 
 pany with which her husband is connected, that the presence of 
 herself and other women of good character would have a great 
 influence in brightening and making more agreeable the long 
 winters of the northern region. 
 
 Mrs. A. W. Little also left her Chicago home and followed the 
 
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 DOMESTIC LIFE IN THE WILDS. 
 
 475 
 
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 example of Mrs. Gage. She went to Alaska well equipped for 
 a winter in which the cold often gets as low as Co degrees below 
 zero. Before starting from her home she had an outfit of dogs 
 and sledges prepared and in waiting for her at Dyea, to transport 
 her over the snow-clad country to Dawson City. 
 
 Willing to Meet Danger. 
 
 Miss Pauline Kellogg, of Chicago, daughter of Judge Kellogg, 
 a pioneer miner of Colorado, and a woman well trained in mining 
 life, also went to the diggings in the fall of 1897. Early in her 
 life Miss Kellogg had lived in a Rocky Mountain cabin and had 
 become proficient in miners* work. She knew exactly what peo- 
 ple in a district like the Yukon valley had to experience, and 
 had a lively recollection of the hardships imposed by such do- 
 mestic life as one has to encounter in camp life. 
 
 "Danger!" said Miss Kellogg, before taking the train from 
 Chicago. " Of course there will be danger, but I have been all 
 through Colorado when that country was new, and I think I can 
 take care of myself in Alaska. I am not sure that I shall be 
 much of a success in the mining role, but I do think I can be of 
 a whole of service to the miners, and if I fail in one line I shall 
 hope to make it up in another." 
 
 Mrs. William Chase was one of the hundreds to brave the 
 perils of the new life to carry something of life and cheerfulness 
 into the miners' experiences. She left her Chicago home to 
 join her husband on the Yukon and help him and his associates. 
 She expressed a determination to keep house, to attend to the 
 cooking and other domestic duties herself, and so far as she 
 could, to teach and assist the miners and prospectors who had 
 no woman's hand to help them to do likewise. 
 
 " In this way," she said, " I can be of more use to them than 
 by digging in a pit like a man. What makes life in the Arctic 
 
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 476 
 
 DOMESTIC LIFE IN THE WILDS. 
 
 Circle so hard to bear, I am told, is the absence of home com- 
 forts. These I propose''to furnish to as great an extent as possi- 
 ble, and it will be much better, even if I am not very successful, 
 than to have my husband up there alone. The miners I know 
 
 will welcome me." 
 
 Their Mission of Mercy. 
 
 Mention was briefly made elsewhere of the two Sisters of 
 Mercy who, in the early days of the gold craze started for the 
 North to minister to those who might need their assistance. 
 They started from San Francisco for St. Michael's Island, mean- 
 ing to push on to the interior by as rapid stages as possible. 
 Their avowed intention was to nurse the sick and solace the 
 dying in Northern Alaska. They were Sister Mary of the 
 Cross and Sister Mary Magdalene of the Sacred Heart. 
 
 In striking contrast to the heavy clothing and big outfits 
 of provisions and tools of gold-seekers were the simple black 
 habits of the sisters. They had no stores of groceries, no 
 supply of furlincd garments, no equipment of tools. Two hand 
 satchels and a couple of trunks in the steamer's hold contained 
 all their worldly goods. When asked if they were not afraid 
 to venture into so cold and desolate a country with such a 
 scanty outfit. Sister Mary Magdalene said : " The Lord will 
 provide. Wc go to do his work and he will take care of us." 
 This simple statement had an impressive effect upon the passen- 
 gers and crew, and every man on the boat became a helpful ally 
 of the sisters. 
 
 Mrs. Bessie Thomas, of San Francisco, also early left for the 
 Klondike fields, but her mission was an entirely different one. 
 She did not go to care for the sick and solace the dying, but to 
 give the miners and prospectors good, wholesome dinners and 
 suppers and keep them well. In other words, Mrs. Thomas in- 
 tended to start a restaurant, and while primarily it was a busi- 
 
 « !? 4 
 
 'iii 
 
DOMESTIC LIFl': IN THI', WILDS. 
 
 477 
 
 ncss venture on her part, it was one that met a cryin<;j want of 
 the mining camps. 
 
 It can readily be understood that with a meager supply of 
 cooking utensils, and no skill in the art of cooking, the majority 
 of the miners and prospectors were in rather a bad way in the 
 matter of providing their meals. Mrs. Thomas was shrewd 
 enough to recognize this and take advantage of the opportunity 
 offered her. Further, there was a touch of real philanthropy in 
 her project. Before leaving San Francisco Mrs. Thomas said : 
 
 " Miners liave got to eat and I think there is more money to 
 be made in feeding them than in slaving my life away here. I 
 have got to earn my own living, and I do not see why there 
 shouldn't be just as good a chance for me in a mining camp as 
 there is for a man. There is another side to this matter, too. 
 Here I just do my work for the pittance accorded me, and don't 
 know I am doing anybody any especial good or myself either. 
 
 " I do know that one of the most important things in a mining 
 community is for the men to have good, wholesome meals, 
 properly cooked and served. In the diggings, I am told, the 
 diet is almost exclusively one of fish and canned goods. A diet 
 of this sort becomes very monotonous, and if a few good, whole- 
 souled women would go up north and look after the culinary 
 end of the camp life, there would be a great sight more happi- 
 ness as well as a great deal le.ss disease." 
 
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 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Ethr^ography. 
 
 Census of Alaska — Russian Estimates of Population — Classification of the 
 Indians — History of the Thlinkets — Characteristics Suggestive of Asiatic 
 Origin — Savage Customs Largely Abandoned — Chilkats and tht-ir 
 Traits — Hootzanoos and "Hoochinoo" — The Sitkans and Stickines — 
 Among the Aleuts. 
 
 ONE of the most engrossing and perplexing problems of the 
 ethnologist is presented by the aboriginal native inhabitants 
 of the islands and mainland of Alaska. Many of them 
 present characteristics at variance with any prediction of ultimate 
 American origin. White people going into the country are apt 
 to regard the aborigines as a branch of the great race of North 
 American Indians, and that they are called Indians in common 
 parlance greatly favors this misconception ; but to the student, 
 most of them are absolute and distinct, with not a drop of Ameri- 
 can Iiidian blood in their veins, unless it has come from cross- 
 breeding with the red Indians further south. 
 
 The population of Alaska is classified as white, mixed-Indian, 
 Indian, Mongolian, and all others. Some figures as to its ex- 
 tent are interesting, as serving to correct many commonly held 
 mis-opinions on the subject. 
 
 Census of Alaska. 
 
 The United States Census of 1890 was the first organi/xd 
 effort to get at the facts of the population of this great territory, 
 one-sixth the size of the nation of which it is a part. It showed 
 the total of inhabitants, living in 309 settlements, was 32,052, 
 of whom 4298 were white; 1823 mixed -Indian ; 23,531 Indian; 
 and 2288 Mongolian. Of these the Greek Church claimed as 
 
 478 
 
 
 «« 
 
'. 1 
 
 ETHNOGRAPHY. 
 
 479 
 
 converts 10,335, ^^ whom 8414 were natives ; the Presbyterian, 
 1334, of whom 1260 were natives; and the Roman Catholic, 
 498, the natives numbering 131. This topic is more ehiborately 
 treated in the chapter on " The Spread of Christianit)-." 
 
 The efforts of the Czar's officers to obtain a census were crude 
 r.nd the results altogether valueless ;us statistics. Delarof's 
 estimate, made in 1792, gave 6510 natives to Kadiak Island 
 and the near mainland region. Baranof, in 1796, made the total 
 in the same area 6200, but he also reported a probable toial of 
 5000 Thlinkets, unsubdued and not enumerated. Baron 
 Wrangel, in 1825, estimated the total population at 84S1. 
 Veniaminof made three censuses : in 1831, of the Aleuts, whom 
 he numbered at 1515 ; in 1835, of the Thlinkets, whom he esti- 
 mated at 5850 ; and in 1839, of the entire population, which he 
 placed at 39,813 ; a remarkably close result when it is under- 
 stood that nearly all the statistics of natives were the result of 
 what might be called scientific guess-work. In 1 860 the Holy 
 Synod made a census of the Christian population of both sexes 
 and fixed the total at 9845, exclusive of the Russian employes 
 of the company. 
 
 Classification of Indians. 
 
 General Halleck, U. S. A., made an estimate Z" the inhabi- 
 tants in 1868, which was extravagantly wild, even for guess- 
 work, the total being put at 82,400, or fully 50,000 too mcmy, 
 as shown by the careful enumeration based on actual count in 
 the census of 1890. 
 
 Along linguistic lines the Indians of Alaska are divided in the 
 elements of stock and strength as follows : 
 
 Esquimeaux, inhabiting the coast from Copper River to the 
 northern extremity of the international boundary line. 
 
 Thlinkets, occupying the coast southeast of Copper River, and 
 
 If I' 
 
 ' 11 
 i ,1 lis 
 
 :';f 
 
 ii ,i 
 
 i 
 
 'i*| 't 
 
 ■l! 1! 
 
 HI 
 
 ""til 
 
 ill 
 k 
 
 S 
 
480 
 
 ETHNOGRAPHY. 
 
 
 FP :^-;* ■:«),:■ 
 
 known variously as Chilkats, Auks, Takus, Ilootzanoos (oix 
 Admiralty Island), Sitkans and Tongass. 
 
 Aleuts, on the Aleutian Islands. 
 
 Athapascans (Tinnehs), living in the interior and known as 
 Kutchins and Ingaliks. 
 
 Tsimpscans (of foreign extraction) on Annette Island, princi- 
 pal type. 
 
 Skittagans, the Haydas of Prince of Wales Island, principal 
 type. 
 
 It will be best to examine these rather in the order of their 
 importance than of their strength. 
 
 The Thlinkets. 
 
 Thlinket, the name given to the people by themselves, mcar 
 " the people " and indicates the esteem in which this once 
 powerful family was held by its savage tribesmen. These 
 aborigines arc lighter colored than the North American Indian, 
 and in many more important particulars are radically different 
 from their red neighbors. 
 
 There are many separate tribes of Thlinkets and, as man\- 
 unreliable traditions of supernatural origin, a deluge and a sole 
 surviving couple. Their propitiation of evil spirits, their Sha- 
 manism, their belief in the transmigration of souls, their \7orship- 
 ful regard for the spirits and ashes of their ancestors, would 
 suggest an Asiatic origin, fheir methods, tools and 'postures 
 are Japanese. Their totem poles are like those of the Maoris 
 and South Sea Islanders. Their sun and nature worship and 
 their legends of the Thunder Bird are Aztec. Totemistn is tlu- 
 base of their social organization, but the totem pole has no 
 religious significance, and is not an object of worship. Its pur- 
 pose seems to be purely heraldic. 
 
 A theory which would go far to explain the Asiatic charac- 
 
 
many 
 Id sole 
 Sha- 
 )rsbip- 
 Iwould 
 ^sturcs 
 vlaoris 
 IP ainl 
 is the 
 has no 
 Is piu- 
 
 Iharac- 
 
 KTHNOdRAI'HY. 
 
 48\ 
 
 tcristics of the ThHnkcts and other simihir Alaskan peoples, and 
 which has found many advocates among scholars is based upon 
 the action of the Kuro Siwo, or Japan current, which sweeps 
 around through the ocean from the shores of the Chrysan- 
 themum lunpire and passing to the south of the Aleutian Islands 
 washes the northwestern coast of the American continent. It 
 has been conjectured that in some remote age Japanese junks 
 with their crews, which in ancient times were often composed of 
 men and women, were caught .n terrific storms and partly 
 wrecked, so that return to the home port was impossible ; that 
 the disabled hulks, caught in the e\ir-flowing current, drifted 
 helplessly around the circuit of tlir North Pacific and were 
 finally, with the remnants of their ill-starred crews, cast upon 
 the shores of the Alaskan iVrchipelago. Granted that all this 
 came to pass, environment would easily account for the differ- 
 entiation from the parent Asiatic stock which marks the Alaskan 
 Indian of the days of history. 
 
 Famished Japanese Sailor. 
 
 This hypothesis of an Asiatic origin, fanciful as it may seem 
 in some ways, is not altogether without the support of facts. 
 Within the memory of livin.'.'^ m^n a Japanese junk was cast 
 ashore near the mouth of the Columbia River, and from the 
 wreck was rescued the sole survivor o^ its crew, a famished and 
 sea-crazed Japanese sailor, who was able to relate before he died 
 the story of the awful storm, which drove himself and his com- 
 panions into the wilderness of the ocean on which he drifted for 
 eight months, his comrades dying one by one along that awful 
 unmarked trail through the billows. Perchance, the hardier 
 men of another age might have endured such a terrible voyage 
 with death and still survived with vigor enough to found a new 
 race in a new land. 
 31 
 
 1 
 
 I! 
 
 3« . >ril 
 
 -^ 
 
 If.', 'W ''^ 
 
 II 
 
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 ■ n ,« 
 
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 ■:l. : ■ 
 
 
 
482 
 
 ETHNOGRAPHY. 
 
 I: 
 
 f"l^:^:''^f«||! 
 
 
 
 
 %' i ;Hr 
 
 
 In many ways the Thlinkcts strongly resemble the Japanese. 
 They have the same small hands and feet and their features arc 
 much like those of the Mikado's people. Their babies are fat 
 and chubby, and were a Thlinket and a Japanese infant to be 
 dressed exactly alike and placed side by side it is likely none but 
 the mothers could tell certainly which was which merely by look- 
 ing. They resemble the Japanese, too, in not being robust and 
 in their extreme veneration foi old age — wherein they differ much 
 from .some whites. 
 
 Piiysically the Thlinkets are magnificent .specimens from the 
 
 waist upwards. But they are pigeontoed and bowlegged and as 
 
 awkward as aquatic birds upon the land. This is their heritage 
 
 from generations of canoeing ancestors, whose warped postures 
 
 in their frail, rude boats have thus stamped a trait upon their 
 
 descendants, 
 
 li^ingular Customs of the Natives. 
 
 Though the Thlinkcts are pretty well civilized, they .still retain 
 traces of their ancient savage customs. Some of the oldest hags 
 still wear the laviette, a metal or wooden plug piercing the under 
 lip and supposed to enhance the beaut)- of the wearer, Tatoo- 
 ing, once almost universal, has nearly disappeared, but they all 
 paint for great dances and "potlatches," and in sumnie men and 
 women daub and blacken their faces as protection against the 
 insect pests. Polygamy and polyandry are now practically ex- 
 tinct, though both were formerly common. They are super- 
 stitious to a degree, and until Captain Merriman, U. S. N., whom 
 tliey called a great " tyce " or king, because of his impartial and 
 successful administration of the government, broke the power of 
 the shamans, or medicine men, witchcraft and its attendant hor- 
 rors were common. Now a witch is never heard of. 
 
 Though strong, the Thlinkets are not a hardy people nor as a 
 rule long lived. Consumption is common and generally makes 
 
 
incse. 
 ;s are 
 jc fat 
 to be 
 ne but 
 ^ look- 
 ist and 
 r much 
 
 om 
 
 the 
 I and as 
 heritage 
 postures 
 lon their 
 
 till retain 
 lest hags 
 be under 
 Tatoo- 
 they all 
 men and 
 a;:-.st the 
 ically ex- 
 re super- 
 whoni 
 artial and 
 power of 
 Idant hor- 
 
 L: nor as a 
 [Uy makes 
 
 ETHNOGRAPHY. 
 
 48;j 
 
 a speedy end of its victims. They arc beint;- fast thinned out by 
 disease and dissipation. The whites haw proved a curse to 
 them in both directions. They arc <;reat gamblers and a true 
 Thlinket will bet everytliing he owns, from his wives up. They 
 drink white man's rum when they can get it, which is not seldom, 
 and otherwise their own home-made " lioochinoo." And they go 
 on fearful sprees. 
 
 Slavery is another of the ancient customs which has been out- 
 grown. Prisoners of war were always made slaves, unless they 
 were butchered to make a Thlinket holiday in the days of the 
 nation's savagery, and their lot was of the hardest. One of the 
 least enjoyable portions of these slaves was to be killed at the 
 grave of the master, especially if ilie latter happened to have 
 been a chief. CcUinibalism, which was not unconmion among 
 the Indians at an early date, is also now ha[)pily a thing of the 
 past. Akin to this barbarity was the? exposure of female infants, 
 but this abominable practice has also been abandoned. 
 
 How Gr^at Events Were Celebrated. 
 
 The " patlatch " is an ancient and honorable custom which has 
 passed into innocuous desuetude with most of the Thiinkets. 
 F'ormcrly every great event was celebrated with a "patlatch," and 
 as the festivity was an expensive one, requiring the utmost lavish- 
 ness in entertaining, not only in the distribution of meat and drink, 
 but of blankets and other presents, it sometimes made a man poor 
 to be rich. Now the ambition of these Indians seems to be to 
 live and dress as much like the whites as possible. They retain 
 the barbarian's love for gaudy things, however, feathers being 
 their especial pride for decoration, and a Thlinket in full dress is 
 a gay siglit indeed. 
 
 As a people they are brave in a relative sense — that is, tliey 
 can fight like demons when cornered, or wiien opposed to a 
 
 ■•»■ iii4 
 I* iiK w 
 
 H 
 
 :. 11 ^ 
 
 « 1 
 
 ft 
 
 It 
 
 1 
 
 •" ti 
 
 
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 4 
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 m 
 
 }t>^'\'u 
 
 (!«' 
 
 Pffj?'='-?l'' 
 
 5fe.::^ 
 
 |r^ii?:.^>. 
 
 484 
 
 ETHNOGRAPHY. 
 
 weak enemy ; but are not overprone to pick quarrels with those 
 stronger than themselves. They are venturesome to reckless- 
 ness in their sea voyages, making trips in their small boats which 
 would daunt a white man in his larger craft. They have given 
 up war, but the old spirit still makes them among the hardiest 
 sailors of the Pacific. In manner they are dignified, but cour- 
 teous, and they are extremely hospitable. Withal they are great 
 sticklers in matters of ceremony, and a fancied slight has been 
 known to end in bloodshed. In their habits they are the oppo- 
 site of lazy, and nearly all the able-bodied men among the coast 
 residents now work in the salmon canneries or salterics, or pur- 
 sue hunting and fishing for gain. They have a decided taste to 
 get money, and some of them are exceedingly thrifty. Princess 
 Thorn, one of their great characters, was a sort of Thlinket 
 Hetty Green, and literally had more wealth than she knew what 
 to do with, but still was insatiable for more. 
 
 Fondness for Display. 
 
 Though the native religion of the Thlinkets was a kind of 
 nature worship, or feeble polytheism, these Indians proved plastic 
 materirl in the hands of the missionaries, and most of the older 
 ones are now members of the Russian Greek Church. Their 
 great fondness for display is well gratified by the rich robes and 
 vestments, the candles and the pictures which enter so largely 
 into the service. Most of them speak R'lssian, and they are all 
 fiimiliar with the trader's jargon known as " Chinook." One of 
 the results of their religious training by the Russian Leathers has 
 been the abandonment of their ancient and almost universal 
 burial rite of cremation, the only exceptions to which were the 
 Shamans, or medicine men. 
 
 All the Thlinkets are divided into two clans, the Wolf and the 
 Raven. A man never marries into his own clan, and the 
 
 
those 
 kless- 
 vvhich 
 
 given 
 irdiest 
 
 cour- 
 i great 
 s been 
 : oppo- 
 e coast 
 or pur- 
 ;aste to 
 ;^-incess 
 rhlinket 
 -w what 
 
 kind of 
 Id plastic 
 \\\c older 
 Their 
 ibes and 
 largely 
 are all 
 One of 
 
 hers 
 
 has 
 
 Lmivers 
 
 sal 
 
 Ivere 
 
 2 tV 
 
 IC 
 
 and the 
 land the 
 
 ETHNOGRAPHY. 
 
 485 
 
 children are always designated as of the mothers clan. Besides 
 the distinction of clans there arc numerous tribes of Thlinkets. 
 
 The Chilkats and Chilkoots, who are really one tribe, are the 
 great people of the Thlinkets. They have always been great 
 traders and have possessed more wealth than any other tribe. 
 They were opposed to white trade with the Tinnehs, and for fifty 
 years .'itood as a barrier across the passage to the Yukon Basin, 
 playing the middleman with the Tinnehs in the fur trade. The 
 white ni'^*^ cheated the Chilkats, the Chilkats cheated the 
 Tinnehs. Whom the Tinnehs cheated, unless it was the animals 
 whose furs they took, is not of record. The Chilkats were good 
 warriors as well as thrifty traders until in 1892 the saloon 
 invaded their country and rum wrecked the once powerful tribe. 
 
 They arc a more than commonly intellectual people. Their 
 chief '"klohkutz" drew for Professor Davidson the first known 
 map of the famous Chilkat and Chilkoot Masses. They long 
 knew the art of forging copper, and they 'ssess in a high 
 degree the art of dyeing. Their elaborate dance r-'>! cs, made 
 from antelope wool and gayly colored, have a considerab''" com- 
 mercial value as "Chilkat blankets." In their weaving they 
 display a skill little ini'erior to that which has made the Navaj' 
 blanket famous. As wood carvers, also, they exhibit no mean 
 skill, as is evidenced by the decorations of their totem poles and 
 canoes. Their folk lore, myths and traditions exhibit a wonder- 
 ful poetic .sense for so primitive a people and, indeed, this is trut 
 in no less degree of the Haydas and Tsimpseans. 
 
 Dietary of the Chilkats. 
 
 One of the Chillcats' greatest delicacies is what is known as 
 the salmon berry, a fruit salmon-red in color and shaped like 
 blackberries. This fruit has a musky and at the same time an 
 unpleasant flavor for white people, but the Chilkats call them 
 
 .It •:! ' II 
 
 i i 
 
 ™ 'iBi 
 
 
 n A s t 
 
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 U 
 
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 ^ 
 
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 111 '5 ' 
 
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486 
 
 ETHNOGRAPHY. 
 
 
 
 «t 
 
 m 
 
 
 III" 
 
 
 
 ■!'•■ 
 
 
 
 their greatest relish. They eat large quantities of them in an oil, 
 the preparation of which, to say the least, is peculiar. 
 
 In making this oil the women gather up all the salmon heads 
 and bury them underneath the ground, where they leave them 
 for several days, until they become very odoriferous and " ripe." 
 Then they dig the fish heads up, place them in an old boat and 
 throw red-hot stones among them to try out the oil. After the 
 stones cool the Chilkat women get into the boat and squeeze 
 out the oil from the fish heads by tramping and stamping upon 
 them with their bare feet. The oil is then dipped up, and, being 
 poured over the salmon berries, makes — to the Chilkats — an 
 appetizing dish, which they partake of with great and evident 
 relish. It is not likely that any of the tenderfeet journeying up 
 into the gold diggings of the Klondike will stop at any Chilkat 
 public houses on the way for a dish of salmon berries dressed in 
 oil. 
 
 The Chilkats reckon their wealth in blankets, and a wealthy 
 man will often accumulate as many as looo blankets. To add 
 to their stock of blankets through life they would undergo any 
 hardship, in many cases actually starving themselves to add to 
 their accumulations. 
 
 Hootzanoos Make Hoochinoo. 
 
 The ordinary food eaten by the Chilkats is fresh o** dried 
 salmon, but when hungry they will often consume large quanti- 
 ties of lard and other fat. A storekeeper of Juneau tells of one 
 able-bodied Chilkat who came into his store and purchased a 
 four quart tin of hog lard and cotton seed oil combined and ate 
 every drop of it before leaving the store. 
 
 The Hootzanoos at Killisnoo make an outright claim to having 
 come from over the sea. They first distilled " lh)Ochinoo," or 
 native rum, making it in old coal oil cans from a mash com- 
 

 ETHNOGRAPHY. 
 
 487 
 
 posed of molasses and yeast. They learned the trick from the 
 whites. They are the giants of the race. 
 
 The Hoonas, on the icy strait, a warlike tribe, have been long- 
 est preserved by environment from contact with the whites. Not 
 for that reason but because they deserved it they have always 
 had a bad name. In this respect, their brethren, the Auks, are 
 like them, though they are not a quarrelsome tribe. They live 
 along Douglas Channel. 
 
 The Sitkans as at present constituted contain many members 
 of decidedly mixed breed, descended from outcasts, renegades, 
 malcontents and wanderers. They are the farthest from the 
 pure blood of any of the tribes. Once the greatest term of 
 contempt in the Thlinket nation was : "As great a blockhead as 
 a Sitkan." Not until 182 1 were they permitted by the whites 
 to settle on the shore, and several times after that act of 
 clemency they repaid it by attacking the station. However, 
 they were generally quickly overcome. Rum and contact with 
 lawless whites have done much to destroy them. They are the 
 best dressed and most intellectual of the tribes. 
 
 Traits of the Stickines. 
 
 The Stickines who inhabit the valley of the Stickine River, 
 near its mouth, are a peaceable tribe at present, though they 
 have made trouble for the whites in the past within the latter 
 half of the century, having captured a trading vessel and mur- 
 dered the crew. They possess many of the traits of the .ither 
 Columbian coast tribes, believe in the Thunder Bird as if to sug- 
 gest a southern origin, and are shrewd traders, and hard drinkers 
 and gamesters ^vhen ihey get a chance. 
 
 Kenaians is a name applied by the Indians to the natives 
 inhabiting the country north of Copper River and west of the 
 mountains, except the Ivsquimos and Aleuts. They are generally 
 
 
 n4 '■ 
 
 1^ 
 
 t :a 
 
 I 
 
 .S ill! 
 
 H 
 
 If mt 
 
 
 t* 
 
 m I 
 
 
 J! -i 
 
 !■; .ii 
 
 
 if 
 
 (Pit 
 
 .J 
 
 ii i 
 
 ?! 
 
 U 
 
 .If I 
 
 i 5 
 
488 
 
 ETHNOGRAPHY. 
 
 
 'V, 
 
 Si:". 
 
 
 KS! 
 
 
 
 
 peaceful and well disposed, though ready to avenge affront or 
 wrong. They arc good hunters and traders. 
 
 The Haydas (Skittagetans) wore and are the flower of the 
 native races. They are taller, fairer, and with more regular 
 features than any of the other Columbian coast tribes, and 
 nearer to the Thlinkets in characteristics than to any other 
 people, but they are aliens to the Thlinkets, nevertheless, phy- 
 sically and mentally, in speech and customs. The Thlinkets 
 call them " Di-Kinyo," the people of the sea. They are the 
 northmen of the Pacific. Once, their forays extended as far 
 south as Puget Sound, and they seized a schooner in Seattle 
 Harbor and murdered the crew. 
 
 Old Traditions and Legends. 
 
 Their origin is the puzzle of ethnologists. They have a tradi- 
 tion of a deluge and a sole surviving raven from which their 
 people sprung. Some identify them as the descendants of the 
 Aztecs whom Cortez drove out of Mexico. Their legend of the 
 Thunder Bird is the same as that of the Aztecs and the Zunis. 
 They have images and relics similar to those found in Gaute- 
 malan ruins. But they have modern Apache words in their 
 speech and dances and picture writing like the Zunis. Their 
 resemblance to the Japanese is also very marked, and as the 
 Japanese current touches directly on Queen Charlotte's shores, 
 junks may have been stranded there in the days when the Japanese 
 built sea-going junks and traveled afar They have Japanese 
 words in their speech, they sit at their work and pull their tools 
 towards them like the Japanese. They arc imitative, too, like the 
 Japanese. In many of their customs, their bark weaving and their 
 carvinr^ they resemble the Maoris of New Zealand and the South 
 Sea Islanders. They have carried the totem pole to its highest 
 development. Their folk lore is highly poetical. 
 
 Bl 
 
ighest 
 
 ETHNOGRAPHY. 
 
 489 
 
 The Aleuts, or inhabitants of the Aleutian Islands, have been 
 so mixed with Russians, Indian and Kamschadalc stock that it 
 is difficult to find pure blooded men or women in the settlements, 
 The predominant features among them to-day arc small, wide- 
 set dark eyes, broad and high cheek-bones, causing the jaw, 
 which is full and square to often appear peaked ; coarse, straight, 
 black hair ; small neatly-shaped feet and hands and brownish 
 yellow complexion. In many particulars they closely resemble 
 the Esquimo. Some few of the half-breeds are handsome physical 
 specimens of the human race. The average stature of the men 
 is five feet four or five inches, though some are over six feet. 
 They resemble the Konos of northern Japan. 
 
 The Aleuts, as a people, have been Christians for over a hun- 
 dred years and many of them read and write. They adopted 
 the Christian faith with very little opposition, willingly exchang- 
 ing their barbarous customs and wild superstitions foi the agree- 
 able rites of the Greek Church and its refined n^yths and 
 
 legends. 
 
 Old Dwellings and New. 
 
 When first known to the whites they lived in large yourts or 
 " oolagha-moo," dirt houses, partly underground, going in and 
 out with the smoke through a hole in the top. One of these 
 ancient yourts, whose found;itions were lately standing on Unalaska 
 Island, was eighty-seven yards long and forty wide. In these 
 dirt houses ^he primitive Aleuts dwelt by fifties and hundieds for 
 the double purpose of protection and warmth. To-day nearly 
 every Aleutian family has a hut or " barabkie," or a neat frame 
 cottage, the latter owing to the Alaska Commercial Company in 
 most instances. The " ba'-abkic," though built partly under- 
 ground, is a vast improvement over the yourt, has a window at 
 one end and a door at the other and is embellished within with 
 pictures of the church and patron saints. Here the Aleut spends 
 
 : 'a i 
 
 i's if 
 
 li ■■ 
 
 t Mi ► 
 
 Ml ^' 
 
 I; » ■ 
 
 u 
 
 
 A V 
 
 i si 
 
 it i 
 
 ii I 
 
 I 
 
 h 
 
 
hi 
 
 I If 
 
 
 
 
 Pt,;;.r 
 
 
 -1 
 
 'if i" i 
 
 .-Wffii^! ill 
 
 490 
 
 ETHNOGRAPHY. 
 
 most of his time, when not engaged in hunting, either drinking 
 cup after cup of boiling tea or stupefying himself with " quass," 
 a native beer or with home-distilled rum. 
 
 The Aleuts are remarkably polite, not only to the whites but 
 to one another. The women arc great gossips, despite the few 
 topics of conversation which they can have, and they visit freely 
 and pleasantly among themselves. It is only when under the 
 influence of liquor that they lose their amiability and show some- 
 thing of the old savage nature. They used to be great drunkards, 
 but the church is gradually weaning them from the disastrous 
 
 habit. 
 
 Heavy Burdens and Short Lives. 
 
 As parents they are extremely indulgent while their children 
 are under ten years of age, but after this time they become strict 
 disciplinarians and hard taskmasters, putting burdens upon young 
 shoulders that are heavy enough for adults and always exacting 
 implicit obedience. The infant mortality is excessive as a result 
 of the bad habits and sanitation of the people. The race is 
 short-lived, owing to utter disregard of the laws of health. 
 They are all more or less tainted with scrofula. They marry 
 young and without the least evidence of sentimentality. And 
 yet some of the women are decidedly pretty. 
 
 The men are sea-otter hunters, first, last and all the time, ex- 
 cept as necessity may force them temporarily to some other occu- 
 pation. In the chase they are bold and skillful and they venture 
 far out to sea in their skin " bidarkas " and kayaks with an in- 
 difference which forever secures them against competition by the 
 whites. The sufferings they undergo from cold and scanty food 
 while in the chase can be better imagined than described. They 
 haul their boats out of the water every night and bivouac along 
 th'; coast in biting gales, in rain, sleet and fog, without covering 
 and almost invariably without a fire. 
 
iking 
 ass, 
 
 IS but 
 
 ic few 
 
 freely 
 
 ir the 
 
 some- 
 
 kards, 
 
 Lstrous 
 
 hildrcn 
 
 ic strict 
 
 I young 
 
 xacting 
 
 a result 
 
 race is 
 
 health. 
 
 marry 
 
 . And 
 
 Ime, ex- 
 ler occu- 
 venturc 
 an in- 
 by the 
 ity food 
 They 
 along 
 ;overing 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Native Religion and Traits. 
 
 The Alaskan Indians a People of Curious Customs and Habits — Are Intelli- 
 gent, Inventive, and Imitative — Are Adepts in the Vices of the White 
 Men Who Visit Them — Arc Natural-born Drunkards and Gamblers — 
 Totem Poles Their Pride in the Olden Times — The Significance of these 
 Barbaric Symbols of the People — Are Rich in Oral Traditions — The 
 Theological and Cosmological Belief of the Indians — Odd Notions of 
 the Aboriginal Thinkers — Samples of the Rites Practiced — Cannibalism 
 and Shamanism — Law and Home Life — Description of the Innuits of the 
 North. 
 
 THE Alaskan Indians arc a unique people in a strange set- 
 ting. The visitor to the Territory will be surprised at their 
 manners, their speech, their looks and their customs, and 
 above all, at their intelligence. The Hon. Vincent Colyer, once 
 Special Indian Commissioner to Alaska, said in his report : " I 
 do not hesitate to say that if three-fourths of the Alaskan In- 
 dians were landed in New York, as coming from Europe, they 
 would be selected as among the most intelligent of the many 
 worthy immigrants who daily arrive at that point." 
 
 This may seem a rather unusual tribute to a people whom we 
 are accustomed to regard as mere savages. The words of Col- 
 yer, however, are not unduly eulogistic. There is a v.ide dis- 
 parity among the natives, of course ; but, from the extreme 
 southern point of Alaska to the Arctic Ocean, these children of 
 the wilderness are characterized by a shrewdness and a cleverness 
 that, despite the traces of barbarism to be seen, differentiate them 
 in a marked degree from the other aboriginal inhabitants of America. 
 As was said in the chapter on ethnology, it is a grave ques- 
 tion among scientists whence the natives came, opinion differing in 
 a very marked degree. Some contend that they came from the 
 
 491 
 
 Ei'« 
 
 ,ri r' 
 
 ;i ^^ 
 
 ;i >; 
 
 ,! 4 
 
 lit 
 
:t\ 
 
 492 
 
 NATIVE RELIGION AND TRAITS. 
 
 
 »« 
 
 
 
 hi.. 
 
 I 
 
 central portion of the continent, and others maintain that they arc 
 of MongoHan origin. Be this as it may, the natives arc there, 
 and they will of necessity be a curious study to all the people 
 from the Southern States who may visit the Territory. The 
 strangers in the country will find in the natives characteristics of 
 many races, and will see unmistakable indications of the shreds 
 of culture and education which they derived from the Russians. 
 
 Natives First Teachers. 
 
 The Russians, being the first occupants of the land, naturally 
 became the first teachers of the natives. These Indians are an 
 inventive and emphatically an imitative people. In this regard 
 they show a close resemblance to the Chinese and Japanese. 
 The natural aptitude of the people for following examples is well 
 illustrated by the exceptional skill they manifest in the matter of 
 weaving delicate fabrics, making graceful canoes and carving 
 their totem poles, those symbols of savage life which may be 
 found wherever a group of Indians have settled. 
 
 This aptitude for imitation is also shown by the way in which 
 the natives pick up the vices of the white settlers in the country. 
 As might be expected, the examples set them are often not of 
 the best, inasmuch as the class of people who go to a wild and 
 unsettled country like Alaska are apt not to be of the highest stamp. 
 
 The natives have thus thrust before them very often deplorable 
 practices and vices, which they pick up and follow as assiduously 
 as do their instructors. The road to wrong is thus made smooth 
 for them, and it is not strange, therefore, if those who now flock 
 to the gold diggings find the savages adepts in many of the 
 reprehensible practices commonly followed in more civilized com- 
 munities. 
 
 The Indians, for example, arc ardent lovers of intoxicants. 
 The Russians, shortly after Bering crossed the Pacific with his 
 
"i ■*" i 
 
 cicants. 
 
 kth bis 
 
 NATIVE RELIGION AND TRAITS. 
 
 493 
 
 band of hardy adventurers, learned to make a eooling and com- 
 j)aratively harmless drink from rye meal mixed with water, which 
 they put in a cask and allowed to ferment. From this time this 
 drink was their luxury. But it was not a great while before 
 native ingenuity led them to mix in their beverage a little sugar, 
 flour, dried apples and hops, and the result was that they had an 
 intoxicating drink that would put the worst form of fire water to 
 the blush, so far as its effects were concerned. 
 
 Receive a New Tutor. 
 
 Then a discharged American soldier taught them how to di.stil 
 liquor, and native ingenuity again led them to manufacture their 
 own stills, which they made from kerosene cans, with the addi- 
 tion of the hollow stem of the seaweed. The art of making in- 
 toxicants they have never forgotten, and the prospector and 
 miner to-day will find the natives filling themselves up with these 
 drinks and running amuck, in wdiich condition the crazy natives 
 are well fitted for any deeds of violence or viciousness. 
 
 Again, the Indians arc inveterate gamblers, but whether they 
 learned this from their white instructors is a question. The 
 natives are as simple in the games of chance by which they 
 gamble away everything, from their wives to their dinners, as 
 they are in their domestic arrangements and their habits. 
 
 The favorite game is played with a number of small sticks, which 
 are cut of different sizes and colored different tints. These are 
 named crab, whale, duck, otter, fox and the like. They are 
 shuffled up and then placed under bunches of moss, and the 
 game consists in guessing under what pile of moss the whale, 
 or duck or what not may be. This, it will be seen, is literally 
 a children's game, yet it is for the natives a serious matter, 
 for very often on a guess a savage will lose home, possessions, 
 everything. 
 
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 494 
 
 NATIVE RKLKilON AND TRAITS. 
 
 The natives of Alaska fall into various families, but for the 
 purpose of setting forth their most strikinj^ customs and character- 
 istics, they maybe divided into two great divisions, the Thlinkets, 
 or people of Southern Alaska, and the Innuits, or people who 
 live in the extreme northern regions. The Innuits, by the way, 
 are not infrequently called Esquimaux. The minor divisions ol 
 each of these great classes present few differences. There is, 
 however, a vcr}'' sharp contrast between the two great classes 
 themselves. 
 
 Forests of Totem Poles. 
 
 Wherever one finds a Thlinket settlement, he will find q 
 forest of totem poles. The significance of these poles has often 
 been made a matter of question, but it is commonly believed 
 now that the poles have no religious significance, and are not 
 objects of idolatrous worship. They are rather to be considered 
 as a sort of heraldic designs, distinguishing families, very much 
 in the same way that the herandic devices of the nobility ol 
 Europe distinguish families. 
 
 Totemism becomes thus, the base of the natives social organ 
 ization, and the totem pole becomes nothing more or less than 
 a tribal mark distinguishing the dwellings and belongings of 
 separate families or clans. 
 
 It is interesting to note that only animal totems occur. The na- 
 tives thus practically live under the guardianship of some one or 
 other of the wild beasts or the birds or the fishes that abound 
 in the Territory. The crow or raven represents woman, the 
 creative principal. The wolf represents the aggressive or fight- 
 ing creature. These two forms of totem are the most prevalent 
 along the coast. 
 
 That these totem poles are simply a family designation, as 
 was said above, is borne out by the fact that men do not marr\- 
 women of their own totem. The Thlinkets were not slow in 
 
 
»i 
 
 NATIVE r;::.igion and traits. 
 
 49r) 
 
 making totem poles representative of the two great nations with 
 which they had most to do, Gieat Britain and the Lnited States. 
 Tlicy fashioned one totem with a unicorn, and it stood for 
 " King George men ; " and they made .aiother with a spread 
 eagle, and had that designate the " Boston men," an ingenuous 
 tribute, perhaps, to Boston as the hub of the universe. 
 
 Some Indian families thus live under the special protection of 
 the bear, the whale, the frog, the wolf; and it is an easy matter 
 to recognize the family by the rude conventionalized carvings to 
 be found before their doors. Some of these poles are very 
 elaborately carved from top to bottom, often reaching fifty or 
 sixty feet in height and being three or four feet in diameter. 
 
 Rich Oral Mythology. 
 
 Centreing largely about these poles, the natives have an oral 
 mythology, which is often of the most fabulous character. These 
 legends arc religiously handed down from father to son and are 
 rehearsed to the visitors with all the semblance of conviction on 
 the part of the narrators. Lilce many other things characteristic 
 of the Indian's life and belief, these totem poles are largely 
 becoming relics of the past and symbols merely of what used 
 to be. This is due partly to the work of the missionaries and 
 partly to the natives' intercourse in a commercial way with the 
 white man. 
 
 In the early days the Indians were devout believers in witch- 
 craft, evil spirits, and all that sort of superstitious invention, and 
 many were the horrors that they committed in obedience to this 
 form of religious belief. Out of this grew various kinds of tor- 
 ture, and not infrequently, the poor savages would tlic uiuler the 
 efforts of their friends to remove them from the influence of 
 imaginary demons. 
 
 Dr. Dall, one of the closest students of tiie Alaskan Indians, 
 
 
 
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 496 
 
 NATIVE RIXIGION AND TRAITS. 
 
 gives a very g;ood account of the rolit^ious beliefs of the Thlin-- 
 kets. Says he : 
 
 " Their rehgion is a feeble polytheism. Ychl is the maker of 
 wood and waters, he put the sun, moon and stars in tlieir places. 
 He lives in the East, near the head-waters of the Maas River. 
 He makes himself known in the east wind, Ssankheth, and his 
 abode in Nasshak-Yehl. 
 
 Men Groped in Darkness. 
 
 " There was a dme when men groped in the dark in search of 
 the world. At that time a Thlinket livetl who had a wife and 
 sister. He loved the former so much that he did not permit her 
 to work. Eight little red birds, called kun, were always around 
 her. One day she spoke to a stranger. The little birds flew 
 and told the jealous husband, who prepared to make a box to 
 shut his wife up. He killed all his sister's children because tliey 
 looked at his wife. 
 
 " Weeping, the mother went to the seashore. A whale saw 
 iier and af;ked the cause of her grief, and when informed, told 
 her to swallow a small stone from the beach and drink some sea 
 water. In eight months she had a child, whom she hid from 
 her brother. This son was Yehl. 
 
 "At that time the sun, moon and stars, were kept by a rich 
 chief in separate boxes, which he allowed no one to touch. Yehl, 
 by strategy, secured and opened thes'. boxes, so that the moon 
 and stars shone in the sky. When the sun box was opened, the 
 people, astonished at the unwonted glare, ran off into the moun- 
 tains, woods and even into the water, becoming animals or fish. 
 He also provided fire and water. Having arranged everj'thing 
 for the comfort of the Thlinkets, he disappeared where lu her 
 4iian or spirit can penetrate. 
 
 " There are an immense number of minor spirits called Yekh. 
 
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 NATIVE RELIGION AND TRAITS. 
 
 497 
 
 Each Shaman has his own familiar spirits to do his biddin<^, and 
 
 others Oh whom he may call in certain emer<;encies. These 
 
 spirits are divided into three classes — Khiyekh, the upper ones ; 
 
 Takhi-Yekh, land spirits ; and Tekih-Yekh, sea spirits. The first 
 
 are the .spirits of the biave killed in war, and dwell in the North. 
 
 Hence a great display of Northern Lights is looked upon as an 
 
 omen of war. 
 
 Responsibility of Mourners. 
 
 " The .second and third arc th-^ spirits of those who died in the 
 common way, and who dwell in Takhan-Khov. The ease with 
 which these latter reach their appointed place is dependent on 
 the conduct of their relations in mourning for them. In addition 
 to these spirits, every one has his Yekh, who is always with him, 
 except in cases when the man becomes exceedingly bad, when 
 the Yekh leaves him. 
 
 " These spirits only permit thi;mselves to be conjured by the 
 sound of a drum or rattle. The last is usually made in the 
 shape of a bird, hollow, and filled with small stones. These arc 
 used at all festivities and whenever the si)irits are wanted." 
 
 As might be expected from this form of religious belief, a large 
 share of the attention of the worshippers is given to propitiating 
 evil spirits, and the religion of the natives of southern Alaska 
 thus practic Jly resolves itself into a form of devil worship. 
 This, doubtless, is the origin of Shamanism, which reall)' consists 
 in making offerings to evil spirits in order to prevent them from 
 doing mischief to the people. 
 
 Tue religion of the Indians, tlierefore, has a cert. .in similarity 
 to that of the old Tartar race before the gospel of Buddha was 
 introduced. Indejd, forms of belief, very similar to those just 
 given above, may still be found among some of the peoples in 
 ^"iberia. 
 
 The one v/hose duty it is particularly to propitiate the c\il 
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498 
 
 NATIVE RELIGION AND TRAITS. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 f , 
 
 spirits is the great medicine man, or sorcerer, or Shaman of the 
 tribe. He, it is supposed, has control not only of the spirits, but, 
 through the spirits, of diseases, and of the elements. Dr. Dal! 
 points out the fact that the honor and respect in which a Shaman 
 is held depends upon the number of spirits supposed to be under 
 his control. It is curious to noie that whale's blubber, one of 
 the greatest delicacies among the Indians of the North, was put 
 under ban by a Shaman, To this day it is regarded with abhor- 
 ence by the Thlinkcts in the South. 
 
 It can readily be seen that the Shaman is virtually a ruler 
 among his people and that by pro.stitution of his power he can 
 make himself a terror. Bancroft, in his " Native Races on the 
 Pacific Coa.st," thus speaks of Shamanism : 
 
 " Thick, black clouds, portents of evil, hang threateningly 
 over the savage during his entire life. Genii murmur in the 
 flowing river. In the rustling branches of the trees are heard 
 the breathing of the gods. Goblins dance in the vaporing 
 
 twilight, and demons howl in the darkness. All these beings 
 are hostile to man and mu.st be propitiated by gifts and prayers 
 and sacrifices, and the religious worship of some of the tribes 
 includes practices which are frightful in their atrocity. Here, 
 for example, is a right of sorcery as practised among ilhi 
 Haidahs, one of the northern nations. 
 
 Sample Religious Rite. 
 
 " When <-hc salmon season is over and the provisions of winter 
 have been stcnjd away, feasting and conjuring begin. The 
 chief, who seems to be the principal sorcerer, and indeed to 
 possess little authority save for his connection witli the preter- 
 human powers, goes off to the loneliest and wildest retreat ho 
 knows of or can discover in the niorntains or forest, and halt" 
 starves himself there for some weeks, till he is worked up to a 
 
 4 
 
NATIVE RELIGION AND TRAITS. 
 
 499 
 
 frenzy of religious insanity At last the inspired demoniac 
 
 returns to his village naked, save a bearskin or a ragged blanket, 
 with a chaplet on his head and a red band of alder bark about 
 his neck. 
 
 " He springs on the first person he meets, bites out and 
 sv allows one or more mouthfuls of the man's livin<?' flesh, 
 wherever he can fix his teeth, then rushes to another and 
 another, repeating his revolting meal till he falls into a torpor 
 from his sudden and half masticated surfeit of flesh. For some 
 days after this he lies in a kind of coma, like an ' overgorged 
 beast of prey,' as Dunn says ; the same observing that ' his breath 
 during that time is like an exhalation from the grave.' The 
 victims of this ferocity dare not resist the bite of the Taamish ; 
 on the contrary they are sometimes willing to offer themselves 
 for the ordeal, and are always proud of their scars." 
 
 The Indians are thus held in abject fear of the Shamans, and 
 it is possibly due to this fact that the missionaries of the Christian 
 church were so cordially welcomed and their ministrations and 
 teachings so gratefully received. In a large measure these old 
 beliefs of the natives are passing away. 
 
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 Witchcraft Still Exists. 
 
 Still, Miner W. Bruce assures us that despite the efforts of 
 missionaries and teachers, and the influence of civilization, 
 witchcraft is believed in still to a greater or less extent. Evil 
 spirits, he says, are still believed to take possession of the old, 
 the decrepit and the deformed, and sometimes also of the young. 
 These supposed unfortunates then have to be exorcised, and it 
 becomes a matter of duty on the part of the Shamans to dis- 
 possess them of their tormentors. 
 
 One of the curious things that will be noticed by the traveled 
 in Alaska, is the natives' method of disposing of the dead 
 
500 
 
 NATIVE RELIGION AND TRAITS. 
 
 
 mmwy 
 
 
 <« 
 
 rf.. ,■ 
 
 Many years ago cremation was generally practiced along the 
 whole coast. This, however, has fallen into abeyance, except 
 among those tribes who have not yet been visited by missionary 
 influences. Wherever the influence of the Christian church has 
 been felt the native;> have adopted a modified form of disposal 
 of the dead, based on our common custom. 
 
 The dead are usuallv placed in boxes, but as these boxes are 
 not long enough to permit the whole body to recline at full 
 length, the joints are severed so that the corpse may be placed 
 in a sitting posture. Then the box is put away in some more or 
 less remote place and usually kept above ground. There is a 
 little bit of sentiment attached to the practice^ of the savages of 
 placing their dead on some high point so that the departed spirit 
 can look out upon the plains and valleys which were his former 
 haunts. 
 
 Often, also, some of the personal effects of the deceased are 
 placed beside him in the box. The Shamans, or medicine men, 
 it must be remembered, are never cremated. Their bodies lie in 
 state for four days, one day in each corner of the building. Then 
 the corpse is conveyed to the dead house, placed in an upright 
 position, and surrounded with all the blankets and paraphernalia 
 that the Indian's idea of comfort suggests as necessary for the 
 spirit land. It is a common practice of the people to dispose of 
 the bodies of witches and slaves with the greatest secrecy. 
 
 Cannibalism was Prevalent. 
 
 It should be mentioned here that directly connected with and 
 growing out of Shamanism is one of the most horrible of cus- 
 toms or practices, namely, cannibalism. This was common!)' 
 practiced by the whole people on the death of the chief, and the 
 members of the tribe would enter with zest upon th.cir horriil 
 repast. Frequently, too, on the death of a chief a number of 
 
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 NATIVE RELIGION AND TRAITS. 
 
 501 
 
 slaves were sacrificed that they might accompany their lord to 
 the hereafter. The bodies of these slaves, it is supposed, were 
 cooked and eaten. 
 
 Within the days of the Americim occupation of the land, 
 medicine men have been known to devour portions of corpses 
 under the beUef that they woukl thus acquire control of the 
 spirit and gain influence over demons. Happily, however, these 
 enormities are growing fewer and fewer, and it is not improbable 
 that at an early day, under the influence of Christian teaching, 
 the superstitious rites and abominable practices of the savages 
 will entirely disappear. 
 
 War dances and religious dances arc also features of the In- 
 dian's life. Dr. Sheldon Jackson describes one he witnessed at 
 Fort Wrangel in 1879. Says lu : 
 
 "One afternoon we were invited to the house of Toy-a-att, a 
 leading chief and Christian, to witness a representation of some 
 of their national customs. When everything was prepared, 
 dressed in a hunting shirt, with face blackened and spear in hand, 
 Toy-a-att appeared in the war dance. Retiring amid much ap- 
 plause, he reappeared in the form of a wolf and with mask, resil- 
 ing eyes and snapping teeth, gave the dance of the invocation of 
 the spirits for successful hunting. 
 
 " Then he put on a horrible mask to represent the devii, and 
 with hideous rattles, gave the devil orTamanamus dance. Then 
 with dress and mask and large hat, with tinkling bells on the rim, 
 and eider-down in the crown, which down he showered around the 
 room as blessings upon his guests, and rattles in his hands, he 
 gave us the religious dance of the Shamans, or medicine men. 
 After the series of national dances, he came out and made a 
 speech, apologizing for the feebleness of his representations." 
 
 A word more specifically about the Shamans. When they arc 
 ill their relatives are expected to fast in order to promote his 
 
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 502 
 
 NATIVE RELIGION AND TRAITS. 
 
 
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 recovery. Their commands are absolute law. Every Shaman 
 has any amount of paraphernalia, which includes a large assort- 
 ment of masks — ;one for every spirit or demon over which he 
 is supposed to have any power. The Shaman's hair is never cut. 
 As was said above, on death his body is never burned or buried, 
 but is put in a wooden box on four high posts. 
 
 Attending the funeral are certain performances, which begin at 
 sunset and last till sunrise. Those who participate assemble in 
 the Shaman's lodge and unite in a song, to which time is beaten 
 on a druni. Then follows a form of religious dance, which in a 
 measure includes or suggests all the ceremonies known to the 
 art of Shamanism. 
 
 By these ceremonies, it is believed, the different spirits repre- 
 sented by the Shaman's various masks are all for the moment 
 inspired. 
 
 Turning from these weird rites and superstitious beliefs, it is a 
 pleasure to note that very many of the natives are clever arti- 
 sans, if not artists. Their totem poles, as has been said, are often 
 very skilfully carved. Arrow heads, spear heads, and silver and 
 copper ornament likewise go to show that the natives are not 
 destitute of artistic taste. The baskets of the Indians are also of 
 ingenious design and coloring. These are made from grasses 
 and roots. 
 
 The women do the weaving, and often the blankets they make 
 are very beautiful in design and workmanship. The women sit 
 day after day at their rude hand looms, and not infrequently it 
 takes six months for an industrious workwoman to make a 
 single blanket. The visitor to Alaska, however, is very apt to 
 be imposed upon, as a large percentage of the blankets that are 
 offered for sale, and said to be of genuine Indian make, arc 
 spurious. The real article, Mr. Bruce says, is now becoming 
 very scarce. 
 
^ i 
 
 j 
 
 i 
 
 CHAPTER XXT. 
 
 Spread of the Christian Faith. 
 
 Empress Catherine Takes the Initiative in Bringing a Turer Religion to the 
 Savages — Work of the Early Russian Missionaries and the Progress of 
 Their Work — Schools Early Established — Introduction of the Lutheran 
 Church Due to the Efforts of Commercial Bodies to Provide for Their 
 Employes — Sad Result of the Transfer of the Territory to the United 
 States — Deed Interest Shown By the Natives— Some vStriking Literature 
 from the Wilds — Methodists Follow^ the Presbyterians in Their Missions 
 — Great Hope for the Future. 
 
 THE cross has been planted in the wilds of Alaska for over 
 a century ; and, strange to say, the Empress Catherine of 
 Russia personally took the steps necessary to carry a 
 purer religion into the barbaric rites and superstitious practices 
 of the savages. 
 
 It was on June 30, 1793, that Catherine issued an Imperial 
 order that missionaries should be sent to her American colonies. 
 That order was obeyed immediately, as autocratic mandates are, 
 and eleven monks set sail as soon as their equipment could be 
 provided from Ochotsk for Kadiak Island. 
 
 This little band of Christian workers w is in charge of Archi- 
 mandrite Joasaph, elder in the order of Augustin friars. In 
 1796 Joasaph was made bishop and returned to Russia to 
 receive consecration. That year was signalized by the erection 
 of the first church in Alaska. 
 
 The newly-consecrated bishop and the missionaries coming 
 with him were shipwrecked and lost on the return trip in 1799. 
 All save one. This solitary monk remained alone in the Rus- 
 sian colonies for eleven years before another soul was sent 
 to assist him in his work. Then, in 1822, three more priests 
 were sent, who reached the colonies safely. 
 
 503 
 
 
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 504 
 
 SPREAD OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH. 
 
 I'^'k Mil, >«ms; 
 
 
 The one man, however, of all others, who did most to spread 
 Christianity in Alaska during the days of the Russian occupa- 
 tion was Innocentius Veniaminoff. He began his labors at 
 Unalaska in 1823. For seventeen years he worked as an ordi- 
 nary priest, and then he was made bishop. Step by step he 
 advanced from one position to another until he became Metro- 
 polite of Moscow, which is the highest position in the Greek 
 Church. He died in the spring of 1879, and, it is safe to say, 
 was sincerely mourned, not merely by his countrymen, but by 
 the savages, among whom he had worked in Alaska, and to 
 whom he had brought the blessings of civilized life. 
 
 What is more, he was the one Russian priest sent to Alaska 
 who left an untarnished name in that country, and who evinced 
 anything like the true missionary spirit. As a result of his exer- 
 tions, the Russian Church at one time had seven missionary dis- 
 tricts in Alaska, with eleven priests and sixteen deacons. In the 
 year 1869 the Russian Church in Alaska claimed a membership 
 
 of 12,140. 
 
 Helped by Fur Company. 
 
 It is one of the bright spots on the records of the Russian 
 Fur Company that it contributed annually $6600 to the support 
 of the missions. The sum of ;$23i3 was annually received from 
 the Mission Fund of the Holy Synod, and ;s&iioo for the sup- 
 port of the work was received from the sale of candles in the 
 church. The balance came from private individuals. 
 
 There was no opportunity for ostentation and display, and 
 consequently the church work was conducted as economically 
 as efficiently. The result was that in i860 the church had a 
 balance or surplus of ;$37,ooo, which was loaned out at five per 
 cent, interest. 
 
 In evidence of the practical side of this early missionary work 
 one may point out the fact that a school system was soon 
 
sup- 
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 and 
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 per 
 
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 Isoon 
 
 SPREAD OV THE CHRISTIAN l-AirM. 
 
 50.') 
 
 developed in the wilderness. The first sehool was established 
 
 by Shelikoff on the Island of Kadiak. Three things alone were 
 
 taught — language, arithmetic and religion. This was about the 
 
 year 1792, and it was not a gre^it many years thereafter that a 
 
 similar school was established at Sitka. In 1841 an ecclesiastical 
 
 school was opened in Sitka, and in 1 845 this was made a regular 
 
 seminary. 
 
 Object of the Schools. 
 
 Established as they were, under religious auspices, these 
 schools were all of a parochial nature and their main object 
 was to further the spread of the Greek Church. In i860 we find 
 a colonial school opened, with twelve students, which two years 
 later had gained twenty-seven students. 
 
 Even in those far off districts and virtually among savages it 
 is pleasing to find the first steps taken in a movement which has 
 only of recent years become popular in civilized communities, 
 namely, the education of women. In 1839 a girls' school was 
 established in the wild regions of Alaska, which, in a certain 
 sense, was also an orphans' home. It was patronized largely 
 by children of the employes of the Fur Company. 
 
 Separate schools for the natives were also established, one 
 being opened in 1825 on Unalaska Island. A similar school at 
 Amlia Island had thirty in i860. As far north as the lower 
 Yukon, school-houses were also built. 
 
 The suspension of all these schools followed almost immedi- 
 ately upon the occupation of the country by the United States 
 Government. 
 
 During the Russian domination the Russian-Amcncan Fur 
 Company employed many Swedes, Finlanders and Germans, 
 and to this fact is due the introduction of the Lutheran faith in 
 Alaska. A church was built in Sitka in 1845, which was still 
 running in 1852 under the charge of the first Lutheran minister 
 
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 SPREAD OF THE (^HRISTIAN FAITH. 
 
 
 
 1^f""''S!**ni^-*r , 
 
 
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 K?'*^,. 
 
 
 sent to Sitka to provide for the population indicated. He was 
 succeeded by the Rev. Mr. Wintcc, who preached in the Swed- 
 ish and German languages. Mr. Wintec remained until 1867, 
 when the Russian Government withdrew his support, and he 
 returned to Europe. 
 
 During the life of this early Lutheran Church, however, the 
 work was done as carefully and as economically as by the 
 Greek Church, and the denomination soon accumulated many 
 thousand dollars in church property. It should be observed 
 that the Protestant Churches of Russia, while allowed no self- 
 governing and sclf-sustairing organizations, are still recognized 
 under the Ministerium of Public Instruction Provision is made 
 for their support, which comes direct from the public treasury. 
 
 Decline of Church Work. 
 
 It seems that when, in 1867, the great Territory of Alaska 
 became part of the dominion of the United States it was to fall 
 away from God's providence. At least, for many years nothing 
 was done either to preserve or extend the work that had already 
 been done. This in spite of the fact that when the purchase 
 was made by Secretary Seward the rratter of evangelizing the 
 savages was discussed by almost every church organization 
 throughout the country. Says the Rev. Sheldon Jackson : 
 
 " It was expected that the churches of the United States, with 
 their purer religion and greater consecration, would send in more 
 efficient agencies than Russia had done. But ten years rolled 
 around and the churches did nothing. Ten years passed and 
 hundreds of immortal souls, who had never so much as heard 
 that there was a Savior, were hurried to judgment from a 
 Christian land. Ten years came and went and thousands were 
 left to grow up in ignorance and superstition, and form habits 
 that will keep them away from the Gospel, if it is ever offered them." 
 
SPREAD OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH. 
 
 507 
 
 r^ t 
 
 
 \\ 
 
 ith 
 
 more 
 rolled 
 Id and 
 heard 
 bom a 
 were 
 I habits 
 hem." 
 
 The Indians themselves, however, had experienced something 
 of the blessing which the Greek Church had brought them and 
 noticei. witii regret that their brethren in the districts where 
 formerly the Russian priests ministered were retrograding. 
 
 So, in the spring of 1876, Clah, Su-gah-na-te, Ta-lik, John 
 Ryan, Lewis Ween, Andrew Moss, Peter I'ollard, George Pem- 
 bcrton and James Ross, all Tsimpsean Indians, went from Fort 
 Simpson to Fort Wrangel to obtain work. Here they secured a 
 contract to cut wood for the government, and here on the Sab- 
 bath it was their practice to meet together for worship, as in the 
 old da)s before Alaska became a portion of the United States, 
 
 This little band of devoted Indians is responsible for the 
 re-birth of Christianity in the Territory. Its members found a 
 warm friend and protector in Captain S. P. Jocelyn, of the 
 United States Infuitry, who was then in comn'' md at that station. 
 He took a hand in the movement, secured a room for worship 
 on the Sabbath, and helped the Indians in every possible nay. 
 
 All this in face of the futile efforts being made in the United 
 States. It may be interesting to note some of the projects in 
 the old settled States that c.tmc to naught. 
 
 Some Apathetic Projects. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Saunders, of the Board of Domestic Missions 
 of the Presbyterian Church, offered a resolution soon after the 
 purchase of the Territory that a band of missionaries be sent by 
 the church to Alaska. A similar proposition was made to the 
 Committee on Home Missions of the same church. From 1869 
 to 1877 the Rev. George H.Atkinson repeatedly agitated the 
 question of sending missionaries to the Territory. 
 
 These efforts in the Presbyterian Church were backed up by 
 Major-General O. O. Howard, of the United States Arm\ , and 
 the Hon. Vincent Colyer, Secretary of the Board of Indian 
 
 1 
 
 3! 
 
 i 
 
 I: 
 
 i 
 
 
608 
 
 SPRKAl) OK THK CHRIsriAN FAirH. 
 
 It!*! 
 mm 
 
 
 !t»i\-'V' 
 
 
 
 Commissioners. This lust friend of the Indians even succeeded 
 in ^ettiii}^ Conj^n-css to appropriate i> 50,000 for educational pur- 
 poses in the Territory, but no one was found willing; to ^o to the 
 wilds of the North and administer the fund, and so it was not used. 
 In 1875 and 1876, however, the Rev. Sheldon Jackson, accom- 
 panied by Mrs. A. R. McFarland, went to the Territory and 
 
 MISSIONARY AMONG THE ALASKA INDIANS. 
 
 renewed the work for the Presbyterian denomination. The 
 missionaries met at various houses, in vacant stores, and even in 
 the huts of the natives, and held religious services, and especially 
 lent their aid in support of the little band of Indians mentioned 
 above, and in 1879 there was such interest in Christian work in 
 the districts they visited that services of a revival nature were 
 frequently held and were largely attended by the Indians. 
 
 It is curious to notice how quickly and sincerely the savages 
 
 

 i 
 
 SPREAD OF THK CHRISTIAN IWrni. 
 
 noo 
 
 took to the new life aiul its literature. Dr. Jackson ^ives a '- x 
 of some inscriptions he coj)i^;cl from an Indian cemetery, where 
 once were found, as indications of reli^Mous belief, nothing but 
 the totem poles of the savages. Among these inscriptions wore 
 the following : 
 
 •'His end was peace." " Then^ is hope in his death." "Jesus 
 pity mc." " Take my hand and lead me to the leather." " I have 
 been poor in the world and wicked, but all is over now." "Take 
 me home to God," "Said to his father, tru.st in God." "He 
 departed trusting in Jesus." " Of such is the kingtlom of 
 Heaven." " His last act was to sing a hymn and offer a prayer 
 to God." 
 
 Still more interesting and significant is the following creed or 
 statement of belief, or religious compact, which the Indians drew 
 up and signed : 
 
 1. " We concur in the action of Mr. I. C. Dennis, Deputy Col- 
 lector of the United States Custom House, appointing Toy-a-att, 
 Moses, Matthew and Sam to search all canoes and stop the trafific 
 of liquor among the Indians. 
 
 2. " We, who profess to be Christians, promise with God's 
 help to strive as much as possible to live at peace with each 
 other, to have no fighting, no quarreling, no tale-bearing among us. 
 These things are all sinful and should not exist among Christians. 
 
 3. " Any troubles that may arise among the brethren, between 
 hu.sbands and wives, or if any man lea\'es his wife, these brethren, 
 Toy-a-att, Moses, Matthew, Aaron and Lot, ha\e authority to 
 settle the troubles and decide what the punishment shall be, and 
 if fines are imposed, how much the fines shall be. 
 
 4. " The authority of these brethren is binding upon all, and 
 no person is to resist or interfere with them, as they are ap- 
 pointed by Mr. Dennis and Mrs. McFarland. 
 
 5. " To all the above we subscribe our names." 
 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 h 
 
m 
 
 I. 
 
 S*' 
 
 ^Qif'l^!!:; -f! i 
 
 
 510 
 
 SPREAD OF THE CHEJ5TIAN FAZTH. 
 
 These Kttic incidents show that the natives were ripe for good 
 Christian work, and those who had the courage to brave the 
 dangers and hardships of the North in the interests of the 
 church sent home the most favorable reports as to their reception 
 and the most heartfelt regrets that the great Christian church of 
 the United States should be so dilatory and apathetic in its mis- 
 sion work in tlu- Territory. 
 
 And it must not be supposed that these children of Nature 
 were slow of understanding or lacking in natural gifts. We 
 quote, as an example of Indian eloquence and Indian earnestness, 
 the following, which was reported m the Port Townsend Weekly 
 Argtts. The speaker was Chief Yoy-a-att, whose name occurs 
 in the religious ompact given above : 
 
 " The white man's God we knew not o^ Nature evinced to 
 us that there was a great first cause. Beyond that all was blank. 
 Our g-ffld was aacated by us, that is, we selected animals and 
 birds, ttJEe images asf which we revered as gods. 
 
 "•HbBmrral instiiBcls taught us to supply our wants from that 
 whida Tire beheuii around us. If we wanted food, the waters 
 gave us ^ id it we wanted raiment, the wild animals of the 
 
 woods gav-r uis ikns, wMch we converted to our use. Imple- 
 ments of wasioKaHid torals to work with we constructed rudely 
 from stone ami'^MMci. Fire we discov^r-d by triction. 
 
 ChmtTge in the Dream. 
 
 " In the course of tinae a change came over the spirit of our 
 drc ams. We became a^vare of the fact that we were not the only 
 beings in the shape of iriin that inhabited this earth. Wiiite men 
 appeared before us on the surface of the gieat waters in large 
 ships, which we called canoes. 
 
 " Each day the white man becomes more perfect in the arts 
 and sciences, while the Indian is at a standstill. Why is this ? 
 
SPREAD OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH. 
 
 51; 
 
 Is it because the God you have told us of is a white God, and 
 that you, being of his color, have been favored by him ? My 
 brothers, look at our skin. We are dark. We arc not your 
 color ; hence you call us Indians. Is this the reason that we are 
 ignorant ? Is this the cause of our not knowing our Creator ? 
 
 We ask of our father at Washington that we be recognized as 
 a people, inasmuch as he recognizes all other Indians in other 
 portions of the United States. We ask that we be civilized, 
 Christianized and educated. Give us a chance, and we will soon 
 show to the world that we can become peaceable citizens and 
 good Christians." 
 
 In view of this direct appeal from the Indians themselves it is 
 rather lamentable that the Christian Churcl» of the United States 
 for more than a decade not merely allowed all the work done by 
 the Russians to lapse, but even brooked the introduction of evil 
 practices and evil ways among the Indians. It must not bo for- 
 gotten that these savages were apt scholars not less in the vices 
 of civilization than in its virtues. 
 
 / * 
 
 ! 
 
 )f our 
 le only 
 
 te men 
 large 
 
 le arts 
 this ? 
 
 Took Naturally to Whisky. 
 
 In illustration of this it may be said that early in the days of 
 the American occupation the savages learned to distil whisky, 
 calling their i idely made stills hoo-chi-noo. The natives made 
 the whisky by distillation from molasses and their stills were 
 very simple affairs. They consisted of two discarded kerosene 
 oil cans and the long, hollow root of the sea weed for a pipe. 
 The still took its name from the t -ibe that first manufactured it. 
 The tutor of the savages in the art of making whisky was a dis- 
 charged soldier. 
 
 From 1877, when Dr. Jackson and Mrs. Mcl^irland began the 
 work of the Presbyti;rian missions of Alaska at Fort Wrangel, 
 interest never died out. Steps were taken in the United States to 
 

 "■mi \ 
 
 ^ 
 
 612 
 
 SPREAD OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH. 
 
 render assistance and the little band of Indians who joined together 
 in Christian work before the missionaries' arrival were their con- 
 stant helpers. Communication was had as often as possible with 
 interested people in the South, and soon these fearless workers 
 for Christ had the satisfiction of knowing that, in a large 
 measure, wherever their efforts were directed, they had put an 
 end to witchcraft, and to many of the grosser practices of the 
 Indians, and had thus brought better hopes, better manners and 
 better morals among the natives. 
 
 Methodists Begin Work. 
 
 About the same time that this movement was inaugurated by 
 the Presbyterian denomination, a similar movement was started 
 by the Methodist Church. Dr. Jackson pays a tribute of appre- 
 ciation to three men, whom he deems remarkable workers in the 
 cause of religion in Alaska. These are the Rev. Innocentius 
 Veniamimoff, of the Greek Church, who, commencing as a hum- 
 ble priest in Alaska, was made Bishop and then Primate of the 
 Greek Church of all Russia ; Mr. William Duncan, of the Church 
 Missionary Society of London, who built up the model Indian 
 village of Metlahkatlah ; and the Rev. Thomas Crosby, mission- 
 ary of the Methodist Church of Canada at Fort Simpson, on the 
 edge of Alaska. 
 
 It was in February of 1 862 that Mr. Crosby left his old parish 
 for work among tlie Indians in the Territory. He began by teach- 
 ing an Indian school at Nanaimo in 1863, and in 1867 he took a 
 circuit extending up and down the coast among the Indians for 
 180 miles, and up the Fraser River to Yale. Two years later 
 he inaugurated a regular .system of typical revival meetings 
 among the natives, and hundreds of the Flathead Indians became 
 interested and professed conversion. 
 
 Mr. Crosby had several efficient allies. Among these was a 
 
SPREAD OF rUE CHRISTIAN FAITH. 
 
 513 
 
 1 I 
 
 parish 
 ' teach- 
 
 took a 
 ans for 
 ■s later 
 lectin gs 
 ibccamc 
 
 was a 
 
 Ivlrs. Dix, who was a full-blooded Indian woman, the daughter 
 of a great chief, and a chieftaness in her own right. When a child 
 she was frequently taken up a great river in a canoe and taught 
 to worship a large mountain peak. Her mother's god, Dr. 
 Crosby says, was a fish. Desiring to learn something of the 
 white man's God, the Indian girl began to attend religious .services 
 in Victoria, following it up systematically for seven years. But, 
 as she afterwards stated, she found no light or comfort. 
 
 A New Recruit. 
 
 In 1868 a great medicine man named Amos, who, in his in- 
 cantations, had torn in pieces with his teeth and eaten dead 
 bodies, commenced attending the Methodist Church. Amos be- 
 ;ame one of the first converts and soon a class leader. Through 
 him Mrs. Dix became a disciple of Chri.st, and later on an ardent 
 worker for the betterment of her people. 
 
 Another instance of Indian conversion m.iy be given as a 
 sample of the interest the natives took in the efforts made to in- 
 struct them in Christian life. An old, grev-haired, blind Indian, 
 hundred of miles away, heard of the work being done by the 
 Methodist missionaries, and took his grandson and started for 
 the coast. They paddled many a lonely mile in their canoe, and 
 many were the suns that set upon their bleak evening camp. 
 
 When near the coast, it is r(;latcd, they were met by a Christian. 
 The blind man was ever repeating to hiuiself as he groped along: 
 "Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners." The atten- 
 tion of the Christian was arrested and his interests awakened. 
 Ho stopped the little party and got from the old man the story 
 of his wanderings. Then the Indian was directed to a mission 
 .station and went on his way rejoicing. He, too, during his life, 
 and his grandson after him, were energetic and enthusiastic as- 
 sistants of the missionaries. 
 33 
 
 
 H 
 
 
 
 % 
 
»>.'■?' 'Mi,, 
 
 "Mr:,;;;:'' 
 
 %■• 
 
 .^^'.r 
 
 .M4 
 
 SPREAD OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH. 
 
 Under IMctliodist auspices schools of various kinds have been 
 successfully established. A day school in winter was soon run- 
 ning, which had 1 20 pupils, and it is not too much to say that 
 the little band of energetic spirits who gathered about Mr. Crosby 
 ,30on reached whole tribes and led them steadily, even thougli 
 slowly, to a hig^;er form of civilization. 
 
 Under the influence of Christianity the Indians began to aban- 
 don their large houses, which were the common abode of several 
 families, and build separate houses for each family. Within two 
 years from the time the work began sixty such dwellings h;:d 
 been erected by Indian mechanics, and the old houses, that h;;d 
 been scenes of so much dcpravit}' and corruption, were fast dis- 
 appearing, with other remnants of the Indian's old life. 
 
 No apolog}' is offered for the insertion of the following simple 
 but touching native address, which tells much of the spirit of 
 the Indians and tii.e earnestness Mith which they welcomed the 
 new life that was brought to them: 
 
 " We, the chiefs and people of the Naas, welcome you from 
 our hearts on your safe arrival here, to begin in earnest the 
 mission work you promised us last spring. 
 
 Hope for the Young. 
 
 " Our past life has been bad, very bad. We have been so 
 long left in darkness that we fear you will not be able to do 
 much for our old people, but for our young ones we have great 
 hopes. We wish from our hearts to have our young men, 
 women and children read and write, so that they may understand 
 the duties they owe to their Creator and to each other. 
 
 " You will find great difficulties in the way of such work, but 
 great changes cannot be expected in one day. You must not 
 get discouraged by a little trouble, and we tell )'ou again that 
 we will all help you a<. nucli as we can. 
 
■^i 
 
 liie 
 
 Imcn, 
 ^tand 
 
 SPREAD OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH. 
 
 515 
 
 " We believe this work to he of God. We have prayed, as 
 you told us, and now we think that God has heard our prayers, 
 and sent you to us ; and it seems to us like the day brv^aking in 
 on our darkness, and we think that before long the great Sun 
 will shine upon us and give us more light. 
 
 " We hope to see .lie white men that settle among us set us 
 good example, as they have had the light so long, they know 
 what is right and what is wrong. We hope they will assist us 
 to do good that we may become better and better every day by 
 following their example. 
 
 " We again welcome you from our hearts, and hope that the 
 mission here will be like a great rock never to be moved or 
 washed away. And in order to do this, we will pray to the Great 
 Spirit that His blessing may rest upon this mission and upon 
 us all. 
 
 "(Signed) Chief of the Mountains 
 
 and six other Chiefs." 
 
 '1 '.1 
 I* 
 
 If ^ 
 
 It not 
 
'm'>.^ 
 
 
 
 '1; 
 
 ,''*»; 5^! 
 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 British Columbia and Northwest Territory. 
 
 Region is One of Vast Extent and Diversified Features — Has a Map"ificent 
 Ocean Frontage — A Land of Great Rivers which Afford Internal High- 
 ways — Greatest of All is the Columbia — Has a Ivarge Ocean Trade Even 
 Now — Experiments in Fruit Growing Successful— Construction of Rail- 
 ways Has Given an Impetus to Development — Many Districts Famoui- 
 for Their Grain and Others f.^r Their Mineral Deposits — Gold Mines in 
 Abundance — Klondike Within the Canadian Territory — Some of the 
 Mines Now Worked — Silver Not Wanting. 
 
 THE vast stretch of British territory lying immediately adja- 
 cent to Alaska, British Columbia and Northwest Territory, 
 properly calls for a description in the present work, since it 
 contains many of the most valuable gold fields about which there 
 was such excitement in the year 1897. The Klondike district, it 
 will be remembered, is at least thirty-five miles within the real or 
 alleged boundary between Canada and the United States. 
 
 British Columbia is the most westerly province of Canada, ex- 
 tending from the 49th parallel on the south to the 60th degree 
 of north latitude, and from the summit of the Rocky Mountains 
 westward to the Pacific Ocean, Vancouver Island and Queen's 
 Charlotte's Islands being included within its bounds. The Pro- 
 vince contains the immense area of 383,000 square miles. It is 
 a diversified country of immense mountain ranges, fertile valleys, 
 splendid forests and magnificent waterways. 
 
 The position of British Columbia on the north Pacific Ocean, 
 bearing a somewhat similar relation to the larger portions of the 
 American continent that Great Britain does to Europe for the 
 trade of the world, makes it one of the most important and valu- 
 
 51U 
 

 BRITISH COLUMBIA. 
 
 51 
 
 able provinces of the Dominion, both commercially and politically. 
 The Province has a magnificent ocean frontage of looo miles. 
 This coast line abounds in harbors, sounds, islands and navigable 
 inlets. Principal among these harbors arc English B.'.y and Coal 
 Harbor, at the entrance to Burrard Inlet, a few miLs north of 
 the Fraser River. Vancouver is the terminus of the Canadian 
 Pacific Railway, and is situated between these harbors. Vic- 
 toria, on Wmcouver Island, also has a magnificent outer harbor 
 at which all the ocean liners dock, and an inner harbor for 
 vessels drawing up to eighteen feet. It has also another harbor 
 at Esquinalt, three miles to the southeast. 
 
 This latter harbor is about two miles long and nearly two 
 miles broad in the widest p.u't. It has an average depth of six 
 to eight fathoms and thus affords an excellent anchor for vessels. 
 The Canadian government has built here a dry dock with a 
 length of 450 feet and a width of ninety feet, which will accom- 
 modate vessels of the largest size. 
 
 Magnificent Rivers. 
 
 Like Alaska, British Columbia and Northwest Territory have 
 some magnificent rivers, principal among which are the Fraser, 
 the Columbia, the Thompson, the Kootaney, the Skeena, the 
 Stickine, the Laird, and the Peace. The Fraser River is the 
 greater water course of the province, rising in the northern part 
 of the Rocky Me mtains, and running about 200 miles in two 
 branches in a westerly direction, and thence in one stream due 
 south for nearly 400 miles before turning to rush through the 
 gorges of the coast range to the Straits of Georgia. 
 
 The total length of the river is therefore about 74.0 miles. 
 On its way the Fraser receives the tributary waters of the 
 Thompson, the Chilicoten, the Lillooet, the Nicol.i, the Harri- 
 son, the Pitt, and a number of smaller streams. For the last 
 
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 V 
 
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 t!!)ili«'i|iiij 
 
 1 
 
 
 518 
 
 BRITISH COLUMBIA. 
 
 eighty miles of its course it flows through a wide alluvial plain, 
 which has largely been deposited from its own silt. 
 
 The Columbia River rises in the southeastern part of the 
 province, in the neighborhood of the Rocky Mountains, near the 
 Kootanay L.ake. On this lake has already been established a 
 regular steamboat service. The Columbia runs north to just be- 
 yond the 5 2d degree of latitude, and then turns suddenly and 
 runs due south into the State of Washington. The loop thus 
 made is commonly known as "The Big Bend of the Columbia." 
 No less an area than 195,000 square miles is drained by the 
 Columbia River. 
 
 Network of Lakes and Creeks. 
 
 The Peace River rises some distance north of the north bend 
 of the I'Vaser and flows eastwardly to the Rocky Mountains, 
 draining the plains on the other side. In the far north are the 
 Skeena and Stickine Rivers, both flowing into the Pacific, the 
 latter, of course, being in a country valuable for its goul 
 deposits. The Thompson River has two branches, which arc 
 known as Noith fhompson and South Thompson. The former 
 rises in small lakes in the Cariboo district, and the latter in the 
 Shuswap Lakes in the Yale district. , 
 
 British Columbia, undeveloped and little known, as it is, is 
 already an important Province of the Dominion. Its trade, 
 which is ever rapidly increasing in volume, has assumed immense 
 proportions, and reaches to China, Japan, Australia, Europe, 
 Africa and South America. The principcd seaport — Vancouver, 
 the western terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway — is the 
 gateway of the new and shortest highways to the Orient, the 
 ¥nv North, the Tropics and the Antipodes. The voyage from 
 Yokohama, Japan, to London has already been made in twenty- 
 one days by this route, beating all previous records ; and tin 
 
 

 
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 519 
 
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 BRITISH COLUMBIA. 
 
 
 
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 journey to and from Australia, vui Vancouver, is speedier and 
 more pleasant than by any other route. 
 
 British Columbia attracts not only a large portion of the 
 Japan, China and Australian rapid transit trade, but must neces- 
 sarily secure much of the commerce of the Pacific Ocean, the 
 steamers of the Canadian-Australian Line touching at the 
 Hawaiian and Fijian Islands, Its timber is unequalled in quan- 
 tity, quality or variety ; its numerous mines already discovered, 
 and its great extent of unexplored country, speak of vast areas 
 of rich mineral wealth ; its large fertile valleys indicate great 
 agricultural resources, and its waters, containing marvelous quanti- 
 ties of the most valuable fish, combine to give British Columbia a 
 value that has been little understood. 
 
 Boundaries of British Columbia. 
 
 The vast Territory of British Columbia is divided into six dis- 
 tricts, the New Westminster, the Cassiar, the Cariboo, the Lil- 
 looct, the Yale, and the East and the West Kootenay. 
 
 The New Westminster district extends from the international 
 boundary line on the South to 50° i $' on the North. Its east- 
 ern boundary is the 122° longitude, and its western the 124° 
 where it strikes the head of Jarvis Inlet and the Straits of 
 Georgia. In the southern portion of this district there is a good 
 deal of excellent firming land, particularly in the delta of the 
 Eraser River. The soil there is rich and strong, the climate 
 mild, resembling that of England, v/ith more marked seasons of 
 rain and dry weather, and heavy yields are obtained without 
 much labor. Very large returns of wheat have been got from 
 land in this locality — as much as sixty-two bushels from a mea- 
 sured acre, ninety bushels of oats per acre, and hay that yielded 
 three and one-half to five tons to the acre, and frequently two 
 crops, totaling six tons. 
 
BRITISH COLUMBIA. 
 
 521 
 
 Experiments have of late years been made in fruit growing, 
 with the most satisfactory results — apples, plums, pears, cherries 
 and all the smaller fruits being grown in profusion, and at the 
 Experimental Farm at Agassiz, figs in small quantities have been 
 successfully produced. This part is fairly well settled, but there 
 is still ample room for newcomers. Those having a little money 
 to use, and desirous of obtaining a ready-made firm, may find 
 many to choose from. These settlements are not all on the 
 Eraser ; some arc at a distance from it on other streams. There 
 is considerable good timber in thr western and south-western 
 portions. 
 
 The chief towns of this district arc Vancouver and New West- 
 minster. Vancouver is situated on a peninsula, having Coal 
 Harbor, in Burrard Inlet, on the East, and English Bay on the 
 West. It is surrounded by a rare country, both in beauty and 
 climate. In the far distance it is backed by the Olympian range. 
 On the north it is sheltered by the mountains of the coast, and 
 it is also sheltered from the ocean by the highlands of Van- 
 couver Island. While it is thus protected on every side, il 
 enjoys the sea breeze from the Straits of Georgia. 
 
 The inlet affords unlimited space for sea-going ships, the land 
 falls gradually to the sea, rendering drainage easy, and the situa- 
 tion permits of indefinite expansion of the city in two directions. 
 It has a splendid and inexhaustible water supply brought across 
 the inlet from a river in a ravine of one of the neighboring 
 heights. 
 
 The Canadian Pacific Railway was completed to Vancouver 
 in May, 1887, when the first through train arrived in that city 
 from Montreal, Port Moody having been the western terminus 
 from July of the preceding year. In 1887, also the Canadian 
 Pacific Railway Company put a line of steamships on the route 
 between Vancouver and Japan and China, and in 1893 an excel- 
 
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 BRITISH COLUMHIA. 
 
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 lent service was established betweci Vancouver and Victori.i 
 and Australia, via Honolulu and Suva, Mji. 
 
 These three important projects ar; giving an impetus to tlu; 
 growth of the city by placing its advantages entirely beyond the 
 realm of speculation, and the advancement made is truly 
 marvelous. 
 
 New Westminster was founded by Colonel Moody during the 
 Fraser River gold excitement in 1858. It is situated on the 
 north bank of the I'Vaser Ri\er, fifteen miles from its mouth. 
 It is accessible for deep water shipphig and lies in the centre of a 
 tract of country of rich and varied resources. It is connectcil 
 with the main line of the Canailian Pacific Railway by a branch 
 line from Westminster Junction and with \'.inc(niver by an electric- 
 railway. 
 
 This town is chiefly known for its great salmon trade .uul its 
 lumber business. Tin: agricultural interests, however, of the 
 district are now coming to the front and the city has the promise 
 of stability and import.mce. 
 
 Wide Stretches of Fertile Lands. 
 
 The Cassiar district occupies tlie whole western portion of the 
 province from the 26th degree of longitude. While its argicul- 
 tural capabilities have not yet been fully determined, it is known 
 to possess a number of tracts of very fertile land, notabl)- that 
 occupied by the Bella Coola Colony, which has the promise of 
 great prosperity. 
 
 The district contains some of the richest gold mines yet dis- 
 covered in the province, and indications are numerous of further 
 mineral wealth to be developed. There are some pnxsperous 
 fish canning establishments on the coa.st, and parts of the districi 
 are thickly timbered. Communication with the Cassiar District 
 is principally by water. Steamers start at regular dates from 
 
.1 
 
 ,4 
 
 BRITISH COLUMBIA. 
 
 52;j 
 
 Victoria for the Skccna River, Port Simpson and otlier points 
 on the coast within the district. 
 
 The Cariboo district lies between Cassiar on the west and 
 the Canadian Northwest on tlic east, its southern Ixnindarv 
 being the 52d par.dlel. This district contains the famous Cariboo 
 mines, from which i550,ooo,ooo in gold have already been taken. 
 
 It is said that there is still in this district a promising field 
 for the miner. The innnense output of the placer diggings 
 being the result of explorations and operations necessarily con- 
 fined to the surfaci-, the enormous cost a!ul almost insuperable 
 difficulties of transporting he ax)- machinery necessitate the em- 
 ployment of the most primitive appliances in mining. 
 
 Obstacles a Hindrance. 
 
 These obstacles to the full de\elopment of the marvelously 
 rich gold fieUls of Cariboo liave been largely overcome by the 
 construction of the Canadian Pacific, and the improvement of tlu; 
 great highway from that railwa)- to northern British Columbia, 
 with the result tliat the work of development has recently been 
 vigorously and extensively prosecuted. During the past few 
 years several costly h)'draulic plants have been introduced by 
 different wealthy mining companies which are now operating 
 well-known claims with the most grati/ying results, and there is 
 every prospect of a liccond goklen harvest, which in its immen- 
 sity and value will completely overshadow that which made 
 Cariboo famous tTiirty }ears ago. 
 
 The development work for the season of 1S96 serveil ti 
 materially advance the interests of this district. Many hundreds 
 of men found employment in 1S9", and it is said that no one 
 wishing to do honest work for fair pa)- neetl there be idle. 
 
 llie quartz mines have not as yet been exploited only in a 
 very superficial way, but the rich surfice showing on Burns, 
 
524 
 
 BRITISH COLUMBIA. 
 
 M 
 
 Island .nd Bald mountains, all tend to prove that further rcsc.iicli 
 and a fair use of capital will make the quartz mines of the 
 Cariboo district among the great producers and dividend payers 
 of the world. Gold abounds in every valley, and in every 
 stream that empties into it, and there is no estimating the 
 unusual activity in the Cariboo mining circles, some of the richest 
 places merely awaiting the advent of capital for that development 
 which the new condition of aff.iirs has rendered easily possible. 
 
 Cariboo is not without agricultural resources, and there is a 
 limited area in scattered localities in which farming and ranching 
 arc carried on ; but this region will always prove more attractive 
 to the miner than to the settler. The early construction of a 
 railway from a jDoint on the main line of the Canadian Pacific, 
 through the district, when completed will open up many desir- 
 able locations and largely assist in developing the immense 
 mineral wealth already known to exist. 
 
 The Vale district is on the east of Lillooet and New West- 
 minster. It extends southward to the international boundary 
 and eastward to the range of high lands that separates the 
 Okanagan Valley from the Arrow Lakes. This district, it is 
 said, affords fine openings for miners, lumbermen, farmers and 
 
 ranchmen. 
 
 Is Famous for Grain. 
 
 Okanagan is famous as a grain growing country. For many 
 years this industry was not prosecuted vigorously, but of late 
 there has been unusual activity in this respcgt, and samples of 
 wheat raised in the district were sent to the Vienna E.xposition, 
 where they were awarded the highest premiums and bronze 
 medals. One of the best flouring mills in the Dominion is now 
 in operation at Enderby. It is said that the flour manufactured 
 at this point is equal to the product of any other section of North 
 America. 
 
 ,'; I 
 
 T I 
 
BRITISH COLUMBIA. 
 
 525 
 
 Considerable attention is now being given to the various kinds 
 of fruit culture, and an important movement is on foot looking 
 to the conversion of the grain fields into orchards and hop fields. 
 Attention has been more particularly turned to the production of 
 Kentish hops, and during the past four yenrs hops from this sec- 
 tion have brought the highest prices in the English market, com- 
 peting successfully with the English, the Continental, and those 
 grown in other parts of America. 
 
 The Earl of Aberdeen, Governor-General of Canada, has a 
 large fruit farm near Kelowna, on the east side of the lake. 
 His Excellency has also over 13,000 acres near Vernon, in the 
 Coldstream Valley, where general farming, hop growing and 
 fruit raising arc carried on. His orchard of about 125 acres is 
 the point of attraction for visitors to Vernon. An excellent 
 quality of cigar wrapper and leaf tobacco is grown about 
 Kelowna, shipments of which are yearly increasing, but the pro- 
 duction has not yet become general. 
 
 Has a Vast Acreage. 
 
 The West Kootenay district is the next east of Yale, extend- 
 ing north and south from the Big Bend of the Columbia to the 
 international boundary, embracing, with East Kootenay, an area 
 of 16,500,000 acres. West Kootenay is noted chiefly for its 
 great mineral wealth. Rich deposits of various metals have been 
 discovered in different sections and new finds have been made 
 almost weekly for- years. It is described by those who have 
 visited it ac a country of illimitable possibilities. It is as yet, 
 however, only in the earliest stages of development. Its vast 
 hidden wealth is thus largely a matter of conjecture. 
 
 Great progress has been made, though, and many camps have 
 been established throughout the entire district, and equipped 
 with all the necessary machinery for mining operations. In the 
 
526 
 
 BRITISH COLUMBIA. 
 
 ^■%i)iM- 
 
 hi 
 
 1' 
 
 ^^tA 
 
 
 Lardeau, Big Bend and other parts of the district tiic promise is 
 that the output will be very large in the near future. 
 
 The output of ore in 1896 in West Kootenay appro.ximated 
 $6,000,000, and with the additional transportation and smelting 
 facilities now being afforded this amount will doubtless be 
 largely increased during 1897. Capitalists and practical miners 
 have shown their unbounded confidence in West Kootenay by 
 investing millions of dollars in developing claims, equipping 
 mines, erecting smelters, building tramways, etc., and an eminent 
 American authority speaks of it as " the coming mining empire 
 of the Northwest." 
 
 In I S96 the population of West Kootenay ivas trebled, and 
 the year witnessed the creation of a number of new mininj^' 
 camps which astonished the world with their phenomenal growth 
 and prosperity. There .ire valuable timber limits in different 
 parts of the country, and saw-mills are in operation. 
 
 M>nes Easily Reached. 
 
 The mining ui.itricts are easily reached from Revelstoke, on 
 the main line of the Canadian Pacific Railway, about midway 
 between the eastern slope of the Rockies and the Pacific coast. 
 From this point a branch line south is completed to Arrowhead, 
 at the head of Upper Arrow Lake, from which the fine new 
 steamers of the Columbia & Kootenay Steam Navigation Co. 
 are taken to Nakusp, near the foot of the lake, where rail com- 
 mnnication with the towns of the .Slocan, the principal of which 
 are New DenvxT, Three I'orks and Sandon, the centre of a rich 
 mining region, has been established, and there is an excellent 
 .steamboat service on Slocan Lake. 
 
 Steamers can also be taken from Arrowhead past Naku.sp to 
 Robson, at the mouth of the Lower Kootenay River, along the 
 bank of which unnavigable river the C. P. R. runs by its Colum- 
 
13RITISH COLUMBIA. 
 
 527 
 
 1 
 
 lici 
 
 bia & Koolcnay branch to Nelson, the metropolis of the Koo- 
 tcnay mining district, in the vicinity of which are the celebrated 
 Silver King and oincr mines. 
 
 From Nelson steamers ply to all the mining towns on the 
 Kootenay Lake — Pilot Bay, Ainsworth, Kaslo, etc. From Rob- 
 son the steamers continue down the Columbia to Trail, from 
 which point Rossland, the centre of the new gold fields of the 
 Trail Creek district, is reached by railway, and to Northport in 
 the State of Washington. 
 
 The East Kootenay district comprises the larger part of the 
 famous Kootenay region of British Columbia, which is entered 
 from the East at Golden, on the Canadian Pacific Railway. 
 Here, too, mines are worked successfull}', and prospectors are 
 constantly seeking for new fields. The district contains a valley 
 nearly 300 miles long from the internationally boundary line to 
 the apex of the Kootenay triar.gle of the Big Bend of the 
 Columbia, with an average width of from eight to ten miles. 
 
 An Attractive Valley. 
 
 In the centre of this valley are enclosed the mother lakes of the 
 Columbia River, \vh'''h lie 2850 feet above sea level. The soil 
 is reported to be rich. Judge Sproat describes the country as 
 one of the prettiest and most favored valleys in the province, 
 having good grass, a fine climate, established and promising 
 mines, excellent waterways, and an easy surface for road making. 
 
 There are numerous mines at work in different sections of the 
 district, chiefly in the Lower Kootenay country, in the north of 
 which are the Kaslo-Slocan mines ; in the centre, those around 
 Nelson and Ainsworth, and in the .south those of the Goat 
 River and Trail Creek districts. There are no richer gold fields 
 than th^'^e of the latter nientionLcl district, of which Rossland is 
 Uie centre. Several mines are already operated extensively and 
 
 i 
 
528 
 
 BRITISH COLUMBIA. 
 
 arc paying large monthly dividends, while new discoveries indi 
 catc that the full richness of this region cannot yet be even 
 approximately estimated. 
 
 Large shipments of ore are being made from Le Roi, War 
 Eagle, Josie, Nickel Plate, Crown Point, Evening Star, Columbia 
 and Kootcnay, O. K., Jumbo, Cliff", Iron Mask, Monte Christo, 
 St. I'llmo, Lily May, Poorman and other leading mines, while 
 the Centre Star and other properties have large quantities on the 
 dump ready for shipment. With increased home smelting facili- 
 ties, the output of the camp will be immensely increased. 
 
 The most notable silver mines are in the famed Slocan district, 
 from which large shipments of ore have been and arc being 
 made — the general character of its ore being high grade galena, 
 often carrying 400 ounces of silver to the ton, and averaging 100 
 ounces and over. The principal mines are the Slocan Star, 
 which paid $300,000 in dividends in 1896, Enterprise, Reco, 
 Good Enough, Whitewater, Alamo, Ruth, Two Friends, Dar- 
 danelles, Noble Five, Washington, Payne, Idaho, Mountain 
 Chief and Grady groups. 
 
 During the summer of 1 896, some of the richest discoveries 
 in the Kootcnay were found in the Salmon River country, be- 
 tween the Lower Kootcnay River and the international boundary. 
 In the North, in the lUecillewaet, Fish Creek and Trout Lake 
 districts are rich properties which arc being worked, and around 
 Lardeau, some valuable placer gold mines and extensive deposits 
 of galena arc being developed. Between the Gold Range and 
 the Selkirks is the west side of the Big Bend of the Columbia 
 River, that extends north of the 5 2d parallel. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 Advent of Winter. 
 
 Confirmation of Stories About the Wealth of Klondike and Alaska — Perils 
 of the Passes — Dark and Bright Sides of the Picture, as Seen by Argo- 
 nauts — New Diggings Opened — Copper River and Cook's Inlet — New 
 Strikes in the Yukon Basin — Two Experiences in Crossing Chilkoot 
 Pass — Over the WhLe Pass — Belated Gold Seekers Catnping on the 
 Trail — Woes of the Horses — New Routes — Tramway at Dyea — Via the 
 Snow Train — At St. Michael's — In Dawson and Skagway — Glacier Slide 
 and Flood— Mt. St. Elias Scaled. 
 
 THE advent of winter in Alaska in the boom year of 1897 
 found several things definitely settled for the argonauts, 
 which before had been in some senses matters of debate, 
 if not of doubt. For one, there was no longer any question 
 that the Klondike was the richest gold field in the world. For 
 another, it was settled that to get to the diggings was no holiday 
 jaunt. But it had also been demonstrated that the trip was 
 practicable, and, for men who chose to use common sense in 
 outfitting and traveling, even easy, in comparison with some 
 frontier experiences of other pioneers. 
 
 It had cost much money and misery to gain this knowledge — 
 the world was the richer by the measure of the bitter expe- 
 riences of individuals. 
 
 It was estimated more millions had been spent between the 
 middle of July and the first of October in procuring outfits 
 and transportation to the Klondike than had been dug and 
 washed out of the golden placers in the entire year. And 
 much of this treasure had gone to waste, too — the trails from 
 the ocean over the mountains were strewed with wreckage, till 
 they looked not unlike the path of a routed and panic-stricken 
 army. " Tenderfeet" had played their historic part. 
 
 84 529 
 
 II 
 
630 
 
 ADVENT OF WINTER. 
 
 The physical waste had also been something appalling. Not 
 so many lives had been sacrificed as in some other famous gold 
 stampedes, for the way was not so long nor the perils so many as 
 in the case of California or Australia or the Rand ; nevertheless 
 the total was a startling array of casualties. Lives had gone 
 out in icy torrents or under avalanches, murder and the swift 
 vengeance of the vigilantes had been done, and the tragic ele- 
 ment had been further sustained by the uncounted scores of 
 those who had broken health and spirit in the mad rush 
 through frontier privations and perils only to fall by the wayside. 
 
 On the Bright Side. 
 
 That was the dark side of the picture. On the other hand, 
 thousands of men and not a few women had got through to 
 Dawson and its neighborhood, and many more, in good health, 
 with ample supplies and unflagging energies, were already well 
 along on the journey to the mines when October set in. Re- 
 ports from the Klondike indicated that the fears of wholesale 
 starvation among the mining camps during the winter were un- 
 founded. The commercial and trading companies had suc- 
 ceeded in getting in large stores of staple supplies, and the 
 prospect was for abundant and profitable employment for those 
 who, by preference or fate, might be forced to work for others. 
 Preparations for ample policcing of the Yukon basin had been 
 made, and law and order, unusual in primitive mining camps, were 
 promised. Engineering, science and capital had come to the solu- 
 tion of the transportation problem, and the days of relatively rapid 
 and easy traffic over the passes and through the wilderness 
 seemed just at the dawn. If the picture had a dark side for 
 the '97rs who had tried to get through and failed, it had a com- 
 pensatory bright side for those who were looking forward to 
 trying their fortunes in 1898. 
 
1: 
 
 ADVENT OF WINTER. 
 
 531 
 
 This later history of Alaska is being v, ^tten daily in the ex- 
 periences of thousands. Much that is new one day will be old 
 the next, so rapidly does the Klondike kaleidoscope revolve. 
 Some of the more remarkable incidents of the Alaskan autumn 
 of *97 follow. They are all part of the wonderful chronicle ; 
 though the relative importance of each to the prospective gold 
 seeker may be varied by after events, their place as facts in the 
 marvelous development of the new El Dorado is fixed. 
 
 In New Diggings. 
 
 The close of the season brought the news of many new dig- 
 gings. Peace, Stewart and McMillan rivers attracted especia' 
 attention of prospectors during the fall, and many parties went in 
 to explore the new fields. The most interest probably centered, 
 however, in the Cook's Inlet and Copper River countries. The 
 former field seemed to be exceptionally rich. Early in October 
 over one hundred miners reached Sitka from the Inlet and every 
 one had his *' pile." Most of the metal came from Mill Creek, Link 
 Creek, Bear Creek, Canon Creek or smaller streams in that vicinity. 
 
 The clean-up represented the work of only one season on the 
 claims. The men who brought out the most were those who 
 had worked their claims the longest. George T. Hall, who 
 represented the Alaska and Klondike Mining Company as expert 
 and chief engineer, said the gravel in the Inlet region would 
 average ;^ 1.50 a yard and there was no end to it in sight. 
 
 The comparatively temperate winter climate of the south- 
 eastern coast region attracted early attention to the Copper River 
 as a handy make-shift for those who had sought to go into 
 Dawson via the passes and had been stranded at Skagway or 
 Dyea by lack of transportation over the crowded trails. Several 
 parties were reported organizing for winter prospecting tours in 
 that region early in the fall and the chances were thought to be 
 
 
 S 
 
532 
 
 ADVENT OF WINTER. 
 
 that another year might see a formidable rival to the Klondike 
 in a more accessible basin. The chief drawback to these ven- 
 tures lay in the stories of the savage native tribes, related to be 
 fiercer warriors than any others on the Alaskan coast, but the 
 most appalling of these tales were freely discounted by veteran 
 frontiersmen and, at the worst, it was argued, a well-equipped 
 body of determined men could probably find a way to keep their 
 gold and get out with it, if they made a strike. 
 
 In the Klondike. 
 
 In the Klondike new discoveries were reported on Victoria 
 and Bear Creeks which were as rich as those o.i J:he original 
 stream, but both fields were small anil every claim vas quickly 
 located. Miller Creek and Minook Creek also had " booms " 
 and in fact every gulch was the scene of more or less excitement 
 as the rush for gold swept over the country from one bonanza to 
 another. Hunker Creek and Gold l^ottom (suggestive) Creek 
 were among the most highly esteemed of the later fields. J. l*". 
 Maloney, of Juneau, estimated some of the Hunker claims at 
 $20CX) to the box. 
 
 Dominion .Surveyor William Ugilvie, who is an acknowledged 
 authority, was one of the latest to come out from Dawson en 
 route to Ottawa on official business. In a report on the gold- 
 bearing quartz prospects of the Yukon valley, he said : 
 
 " It is a most difficult country to do quartz prospecting in. 
 Only at a few points along the creek is any rock exposed. The 
 tops of the higher hills and ridges are void of vegetation, except 
 arctic mosses and lichens, but all the rest of the country is 
 covered with a thick layer of moss which, again, supports scrub 
 spruce, some scrub white birch, and a thick growth of northern 
 shrubbery. This completely conceals the surface of the rocks, 
 and to remove to a sufficient extent to search for quartz pros- 
 
ADVENT OF WINTER. 
 
 633 
 
 pects would entail a vast amount of labor — much more than the 
 ordinary every day prospector can afford. 
 
 Quartz Mining. 
 
 " The cheapest and most expeditious methods of quartz pros- 
 pecting here would be by diamond drill. A light, portable 
 machine of that description, a compact light engine and boiler 
 sufficient to work it, could be easily made and set up at various 
 points along the various creeks. From the cones llius obtained 
 experts could readily determine what the prob.ibihtics and pros- 
 pects were. This requires capital, but I have .lO doubt i com- 
 pany formed v ith this object in view, prospecting in this way, 
 would find it a profitable investment. 
 
 "iiii the gold I have seen taken out of El Dorado and 
 Bonanza, for that matter of other creeks, too, bears no evidence 
 of having traveled any distance. Many, it might be said the 
 majority, of the nuggets found are just as regular and irregular 
 in shape as if they had been hammered out of the mother lode, 
 instead of being washed out of the gravel. 
 
 " I have seen no evidence of glaciation anywhere in that 
 district, so I cannot help coming to the conclusion that much 
 of the mother lode from which this gold came will yet be 
 found along the valleys. Whether it is concentrated enough 
 to pay for the expense of quartz mining can only be deter- 
 mined by proper search. I cannot help thinking that much 
 of it will. 
 
 " Now let us take a glimpse of the country south of the 
 Stewart River, some sixty-five or seventy miles further up and 
 about 400 miles in length. Its tributa-y will easily double this. 
 This gives us in the neighborhood of 1000 miles of stream. On 
 a great deal of surface prospecting has been done and fine gold 
 found everywhere. 
 
534 
 
 ADVENT OF WINTER. 
 
 ■^i 
 
 " Now, where fine gold is found coarse gold has generally 
 
 been found, too. Assuming this to hold good in the Stewart 
 
 valley, we will have here one of the largest, if not the largest, 
 
 mining areas in the world, upwards of one hundred miles farther 
 
 up the Pclly Joinso. On this fine gold has been found, too. 
 
 Above is the Hootalinqua, upon which fine gold has been found. 
 
 Still farther south the Cassiar district, in British Columbia, was a 
 
 famous gold field. Farther on yet the Cariboo district was 
 
 famous. 
 
 Where the Gold Is. 
 
 " Now, draw a line through these several points and produce 
 it northwestward, you will find that the Forty Mile gold bearing 
 area, Mission Creek and Seventy Mile Creek, below Forty Mile, 
 Birch Creek, Minook Creek, and still farther down the Klondike 
 is either in this line or close to it. The general trend of these 
 points lies in the direction of an arc of a great circle of the earth 
 and it is probable that gold will be found along its production as 
 far as Bering Sea. It is likely the gold found in Siberia is a part 
 of the same system. 
 
 " This shows a most extensive area of vast possibilities. What 
 it wants for its proper development is increased transportation 
 facilities, with the certainty of sufficient food supply to sustain 
 the number of people required. At present and during the past, 
 a visit to the country entailed a long period of time and consid- 
 erable expense and much uncertainty as to whether or not one 
 can remain there more than a few weeks. Give us increased, 
 quicker, and cheaper ingress and egress, with a certainty of food 
 in this part of Canada, and Alaska will furnish employment to 
 untold thousands." 
 
 All the discoveries were not confined to gold. William 
 Miller, a veteran from the diamond mines of South Africa and 
 Brazil, wrote late in the summer that he had found a blue clay 
 
ADVENT OF WINTER. 
 
 585 
 
 near Dawson which was practically identical with that cf South 
 Africa. From this he argued the probability of finding dia- 
 monds. One paragraph in his letter said : 
 
 " You have undoubtedly heard much of the great wealth of 
 this land, but the best has never yet been told. It is my honest 
 opinion that diamonds will yet be found in this country, for I 
 have found a blue clay that is practically ic'entical with that of 
 South Africa, with other characteristics that in Africa would be 
 taken as a certain indication that shiners were in the neighbor- 
 hood. I have not made a systematic search for stones, but I 
 propose doing so later. Just now I am too busy panning gold 
 to spend any time prospecting for a bird in the bush." 
 
 Situation at Dawson. 
 
 Joaquin Millei wrote from Dawson on the " anniversary " day, 
 as follows : 
 
 "An agent of the Rothschild*', told me that he offered ;^ 1,2 50- 
 000 for ten claims together, but did not get tli-im. I think he 
 is going out without making any purchases. The most of the ten 
 claims have not even had a pick in them yet, far as I can see. 
 Thev look like a marsh with mud and moss. You sink at least 
 six inches in the soft and sloppy brown mud as you walk over 
 it. This marsh is a muck as you can see by claims that are 
 partly open up and down the gulch, and below this muck of 
 three or four feet is the frozen ground of five or ten feet thick- 
 ness, in which the gold is found. 
 
 " The prices asked for claims are absolutely steep. A lawyer 
 from Juneau offered $100,000 for a claim yesterday, but was 
 laughed at by the owner, who simply camps with his claim and 
 does not work enoizgh to hold it. He is waiting to get 1^250,000 
 for it, he says. 
 
 " Captain Healy told mc that neither Montano nor Idaho ever 
 
636 
 
 ADVENT OF WINTER. 
 
 showed anything Hke the gold in sight in the Klondike mines. 
 He said there would be more gold taken out of this Yukon 
 country than ever has been taken out of all the States together. 
 Of course, they all say that they are the richest in the world, and 
 that they are practically exhaustless, but they advise men to 
 keep away if they are not miners. It is to our interest to have 
 a great rush this way, but I don't want weak men of any sort 
 here. This is no place for a man who knows nothing about 
 mining. Only miners, and sound good miners at that, should 
 come to the Klondike." 
 
 
 Tales of the Passes. 
 
 All sorts of stories come in about the passes and the principal 
 towns at their coast ends. All of them, perhaps, were some- 
 what exaggerated, according to the temperament and good or 
 bad luck of the relator, but all probably had a fair foundation of 
 truth. A " tenderfoot " would naturally view a foot-and-hand 
 journey through a mountain pass, whose principal points were 
 precipitous paths, mud, snow, rain, sleet, ice and tempests, as 
 something terrifying and terrible ; an old frontiersman might as 
 naturally see nothing unusual or inappropriate in the same con- 
 ditions. The varied reports, however, emphasized the truth that 
 it is hard work to get to the Klondike, and if a man does not want 
 to rough it to the fullest extent he had better stay at home in 
 civilization, though, if he is willing to take risks and endure 
 hardships, he can get into Dawson with reasonable speed and 
 safety. 
 
 After Joaquin Miller was fairly afloat on the Yukon and near- 
 ing Dawson he wrote back his impressions of the Chilkoot Pass 
 in these words : 
 
 "As for the hardships, I find they have been mightily multi- 
 plied. As for the perils there are really none to speak of now. 
 
 
ADVENT OF WINTER. 
 
 537 
 
 Of course, if disposed to fret or find fault, you can make the 
 journey down the Yukon dreary and hard. On the other hand, 
 if you have any heart for nature, strange scenes, vast lands and 
 indescribable skies you will find delight in every day from the 
 time you touch land where the steamer sets you down at Dyea 
 till here in sight of the Klondike as we are now. 
 
 The Hardest Climb. 
 
 " I must frankly admit that the Chilkoot Pass is a fearful 
 climb for a man to make with a load on his back. But it is not 
 nearly so bad as the climbing of Mount Hood, Mount Shasta or 
 any other one of the ten or a dozen peaks that I have climbed, 
 and hundred;; of others have climbed and are still climbing, and 
 all just for fun. You see, all these things depend a deal on the 
 light in which you are willing to view them. For my part, while 
 I, as a truthful chronicler, confess that the so-called twenty-four 
 miles of the Chilkoot seemed to me to be about forty, with my 
 pack on my back, and also confess that my feet were lame and 
 legs weary, and my back felt as if the weight of a century lay 
 upon me, yet I enjoyed every spot of it as entirely as ever I en- 
 joyed the ascent of any steep I ever made, aye, and more en- 
 tirely, for here I had a purpose and was bearing a man's, and a 
 strong man's, pack in the battle of life ; not climbing for the 
 view or honors of it. 
 
 "And one notable difference between the perils and hardships 
 of to-day and the days of old is the safety from savages. We 
 used to be in constant danger, and no man went about by day or 
 lay down at night in the Sierras without a gun or two at his side, 
 and, trained to the old life, I am constantly finding myself choos- 
 ing my bed when we camp on the river bank for the night with 
 cautious guard against a po." .ible arrow by light of our camp 
 fire. But the men with us who have been years on the Yukon 
 
 \. 
 
^PilP^H! 
 
 538 
 
 ADVENT OF WINTER. 
 
 >!%> 
 
 select renting places with regard cnly to comfort. The few 
 Indians in this vast region are not only harmless, but very 
 honest and inactive. There are no snakes, and I, so far, have 
 found no insects of any sort that bother anybody, excepting the 
 Jnosquitoes and flies." 
 
 S. C. Dunham's Hard Luck. 
 
 Samuel C. Dunham, the statistical expert of the United States 
 Department of Labor, who had been assigned by Commissioner 
 Wright to investigate the chances for the remunerative employ- 
 ment of American labor and capital in the Yukon country, had 
 a different experience in getting over the pass from Dyea. His 
 official report, sent in from camp on Lake Linderman, contained 
 the following : 
 
 " I left Dyea Monday morning at 1 1 t clock and arrived here 
 Tuesday evening at 7. My four Indians started ahead of me, 
 but I have not seen anything of them since the start and am 
 waiting for them here. When I reached the foot of the summit 
 a terrible storm was ra^!:.g on the pass, and I presume the 
 Indians went into camp somewhere on the other side to await 
 better weather. It has been storming — rain, sleet, and snow 
 alternating — constantly on the summit since Tuesday morning 
 and the situation is aggravated by a piercing wind of thirty miles 
 velocity. I had an awful experience coming across the summit. 
 I started out with my handbag strapped on my back, thinking 
 that as it weighed only forty pounds I could carry it. I managed 
 to struggle along to the head of navigation for canoes, six miles 
 from Dyea, and was there forced to employ an Indian packer, 
 paying him 5 1 o to carry my grip to Sheep Camp, twelve miles 
 from Dyea. 
 
 " I spent the night at Sheep Camp, which is merely a collec- 
 tion of tents, and started for the summit at 8 o'clock Tuesday 
 
ADVENT OF WINTER. 
 
 539 
 
 morning in a drizzling, cold rain. I employed a packer to carry 
 my grip from there to Lake Linderman, paying him $i6. At 
 the foot of the summit we met perhaps a hundred Indian and 
 white packers who had cached their packs on the trail above 
 and were returning to Sheep Camp to await an abatement of 
 the storm. We were warned that it was dangerous to attempt 
 to get over, but as the wind was blowing the way wc were going, 
 we decided to go ahead, as I felt sure my packers had gone on, 
 and I wished to be here when they arrived. The distance from 
 the foot of the summit to the top is said to be three-quarters of 
 a mile, but it seems like five miles. 
 
 On the Trail. 
 
 " The trail ascends at an angle of forty-five degrees, skirting 
 precipices, where a mis.step would hurl one a thousand feet 
 below, crossing the face of glaciers as smooth as glass, and in 
 many places traversing the polished surface of great granite bowl- 
 !ers hundreds of feet in extent. Every hundred yards or so 
 mountain torrents, fed by the glaciers, and on the present occa- 
 sion augmented by the rainfall, rush across the trail and have to 
 be waded, the water often coming to the knees. Add to this a 
 gale blowing fifty miles an hour, with sleet and snow rushing 
 horizontally through the air and the temperature at thirty 
 degree^!, and you will have a faint idea of the horrors of my pas- 
 sage across the summit. After struggling up a steep ascent of 
 twenty-five or thirty feet, I would be forced from sheer exhaus- 
 tion to rest for a moment, but would scarcely stop before the 
 chilling wind would cut me to the marrow, and I would have to 
 continue my course to keep from chilling to death. Before I 
 reached the summit I was wet ti the skin and my boots were 
 full of water, and the added weight of the water made it almost 
 impossible to proceed. 
 
640 
 
 ADVENT OF WINTER. 
 
 
 ""^y 
 
 'H 
 
 " I finally reached this camp, at the head of Lalce Linderman, 
 about 7 o'clock in the evening, having been eleven hours in 
 covering twelve miles, so exhausted that I could scarcely drag 
 one foot after the other. I had a letter from a friend to a gen- 
 tleman who is in camp here, and I was kindly received by him 
 and made as comfortable as possible in his tent. As my 
 Indians had not arrived I had no change of underclothing, 
 and was forced to accept his offer of a suit of warm, dry under- 
 clothing, and these, supplemented by half a teacupful of rum, 
 brought some warmth back to my body. I remained ii. bed 
 all day yesterday, too thoroughly worn out to move. I had 
 some fear of pneumonia, but, with the exception of some sore- 
 ness, am feeling fairly well this morning." 
 
 Via the White Pass. 
 
 T. A. Davies, writing of the White Pass route just before the 
 trail was closed, drew a none too inviting picture of that famous 
 gateway to the Klondike. He said that the foot of the first 
 hill, four miles out of Skagway, 3000 gold seekers were in camp 
 at one time trying to " get in." Some succeeded, more turned 
 back disheartened, and many were still on the ground, unable to 
 move, when he passed there in the middle of September. The 
 camp had come then to be known locally as " Liarsville :" 
 
 " At the foot of this hill tons of abundant provisions can be 
 seen — wagon loads of oranges, apples and onions — which specu- 
 lators had intended taking to the Klondike, hoping to realize 
 handsomely thereon. Among piles of goods are seen numer- 
 ous boats, originally intended for immediate use on arrival at 
 the lakes, but now they are left to rot with the other useless 
 supplies. A great many improvised signs on trees tell of per- 
 sons having goods for sale all along the trail. From the foot 
 of the first hill to the sumr,it of Porcupine hill is a gradual rise 
 
 
ADVENT OF WINTER. 
 
 541 
 
 of four miles, and then a descent to what is known as the First 
 Bridge over the Skagway river. To the third crossing of the 
 river the passage is simply a repetition of the first three miles 
 — mud and dead horses on every side. At the third bridge 
 the first camp of any si/.e is reached. A cut-off around one of 
 the larger hills has been blasted out of the solid rock, and this 
 is followed until the ford is reached. This ford is the last cross- 
 ing of the river. 
 
 " A climb of an hour and the summit of White Pass is 
 reached, half way from Skagway to Lake Bennett. About 
 three inches of snow have fallen. The wind blows a gale and 
 dashes snow, sleet and rain in the face of the prospector. The 
 snow and sleet are so blinding, even at this season of the year, 
 that it often is necessary for the prospector to double on his 
 track for the purpose of finding the trail. 
 
 On to Lake Bennett. 
 
 " Leaving the lower end of Shallow Lake, the beginning of 
 the last tramp toward Lake Bennett begins. The trail runs 
 through timber, meadows and marshes, affording a pleasant di- 
 versity of scene. This is by far the best portion of the Skag- 
 way trail. Within a distance of ten miles twenty marshes are 
 crossed. On every hand evidence of the final rush to reach 
 water before the freeze may be observed. Immense pack trains 
 are hurrying along. Blockades of horses and goods are of 
 hourly occurrence, and th: oaths of the men turn the air blue. 
 The prize is almost lost in sight, and the men feel that it must 
 not be lost by delay at the final point. Prices suddenly become 
 very high. Oats sell for $40 per 100 pounds. Two miles from 
 Lake Bennett and the sound of hammers, axes and saws is heard. 
 Crowds of men, '"filing trees and cutting timber, are eloquent of 
 the struggle to get material for boats. 
 
642 
 
 ADVENT OF WINTER. 
 
 
 " Reaching Lake Bennett the beach is covered with tents, 
 their occupants impatiently waiting to get away. A strong 
 breeze disturbs the surface of the lake, and the boats put out as 
 they are completed, with all manner of rigging. One that I 
 noticed had a bed blanket for a sail. The wind takes the boat 
 in a direct line towards the mighty Yukon, and it soon passes 
 out of view. The proverbial honesty of mining camps does not 
 prevail at Lake Bennett. Instances of stealing are so common 
 that every one leaves a guard on duty with his goods all the 
 time. 
 
 "A few days ago three men started down the Yukon together. 
 After going thirty-five miles, two of them landed to see a friend 
 on shore. The third tole the entire outfit and went on down, 
 compelling the two who had landed to tramp back through a 
 wilderness of woods to Camp Bennett, which they had reached 
 during my stay there. 
 
 Universal Demand for Boats. 
 
 " Boats are one great commodity at Lake Bennett.. Every- 
 body wants one. A small, wheezy sawmill attempts to supply 
 lumber and boats. All the lumber it can cut — looo feet a day 
 — is readily gobbled up at 75 cents a lineal foot. An ordinary 
 river boat sells for ^300, larger ones for $400 and ;$500. A 
 passenger for Dawson City without goods can buy a passage in 
 one of these boats, or rather a place big enough to sit down in, 
 for $100. Most of the boats carry four or five passengers in 
 addition to the regular supply of goods. When a party finds 
 that it has room left in a boat a sign is placed on a convenient 
 tree offering passage for men, and possibly for goods, at stated 
 price. 
 
 " Leaving Lake Bennett and walking half a mile to the south- 
 west, the worst section of the rapids in the portage between Lake 
 
ADVENT OF WINTER. 
 
 543 
 
 Linderman and Lake Bennett is reached. Here many prospectors, 
 after a hard struggle in the mountain passes, have lost all in 
 attempting to shoot the rapids without unloading their boats. It 
 is here, also, that one comes to a little rude inclosure, bearing a 
 sign telling that all that is earthly of J. W. Mathes is there buried. 
 A year ago Mathes and a party of his fellows got so far on their 
 way to the Yukon gold fields. Mathes fell and broke one of the 
 small bones in his leg. Being already discouraged and dis- 
 heartened, and believing that he never would reach the gold 
 fields, anyway, and that if his companions were obliged to bring 
 him back to the coast they would blame him for their lost for- 
 tunes, he placed a revolver to his head and killed himself. The 
 site of his grave is now one of the best-known landmarks on the 
 route to the Klondike gold fields. At this place the boats are 
 usually unloaded and the goods carried around the dangerous 
 rapids, and the boat then floated down empty. The afternoon I 
 reached the portage one party had unloaded all its goods and 
 was letting the boat through the rapids after the usual methous 
 of lining it down. One man remained in the boat to steer, and 
 three men on shore held the rope to keep the rapids from carry- 
 ing it out of reach. When fairly started the rope broke and the 
 boat went down the rapids like a shot. By rare good fortune a 
 friendly current carried the boat to a sand-spit and it was saved : 
 but instances are numerous where men have not been so fortu- 
 nate." 
 
 Woes of the Horses. 
 
 The demand for transportation over the passes was the cause 
 of bringing in hundreds of horses to be used as pack animals and 
 supplement the Indians in the arduous work of getting supplies 
 and outfits from the coast to the head of river navigation. The 
 experiment was in the main profitable to the owners, for the 
 prices for packing made a horse pay for himself in a compara- 
 
544 
 
 ADVENT OF WINTER. 
 
 
 
 tively few trips, but the mortality among the poor beasts was 
 something unparalleled. 
 
 On the Skagway trail, or White Pass, as many as 1 200 horses 
 were in use at one time after the trail was fairly opened in the 
 middle of September, but of this number it was estimated not 
 one hundred would be alive in a month's time. Even then 
 (September 1 5th) 600 dead horses could be counted along the 
 trail. Many of these were the victims of accidents, but by far 
 the greater number had succumbed to exhaustion and disease. 
 Poor food, and not too much of it, made them weaker day by 
 day, and pneumonia, the result of getting chilled at night, swept 
 them off by scores. 
 
 On the Dyea trail, or Chilkoot Pass, not so many norses were 
 employed, and the visible mortality was consequently less, but 
 at that, at least 150 dead animals lay beside the trail when T. A. 
 Davies passed over it in September. The unfortunate beasts had 
 been left to perish where they fell from fatigue. 
 
 Enormous Prices for Transportation. 
 
 The loss of horses had a material effect on the packing tariff. 
 A contract for the entire White Pass trail was almost an impossi- 
 bility to make, and the aggregate price sometimes reached as 
 high as one dollar a pound. The largest long contract reported 
 during the fall was for ;^30,ooo, with the Canadian Government, 
 for moving the supplies for twenty-five of the Canadian mounted 
 police. 
 
 An official survey ordered by the Dominion government to 
 locate if possible a new and more practicable trail to the upper 
 Yukon, reported an easy and comparatively short cut to Selkirk 
 or Dawson from the seaboard and one suitable for cattle, wagon 
 or railroad. J. M. McArthur, who was in charge of the party, 
 made the following preliminary report of its work when he 
 
ADVF:Nr OK WINTER. 
 
 545 
 
 iff. 
 
 :d as 
 )rted 
 lent, 
 mted 
 
 Int to 
 
 ipper 
 ilkirk 
 ^agon 
 )arty, 
 he 
 
 passed through Juneau in September. It will be seen the old 
 Dalton trail was made use o( for some distance : 
 
 "From the extreme left of the Chilkoot Pass the party headed 
 northwest for a point about lOO miles inland, where Dalton and 
 others have a trading post. Thence they took a course north to 
 a chain of small lakes called Hootchie ICye. So far the course 
 was over what is known as the Dalton trail, whicli, from the 
 Hootchie Eye, continues down the river sixty miles to the Lewis 
 River, but from the Hootchie Eye, Dalton struck out due north 
 for Fort Selkirk, into a country i2o miles across, never before 
 explored by a white man and totally unknown. Such is the 
 wonderful instinct of this man that the entire party came out of 
 the wilderness at a point directly beyond the buildings at Fort 
 Selkirk, in the Yukon, at the mouth of Pelly River, where the 
 Yukon proper begins. 
 
 " Plenty of grazing for the cattle was found. The country is 
 characterized by comparatively low and rolling mountains, over 
 which the party went. 
 
 Advice from Wrangel. 
 
 United States Commissioner Kenneth M. Jackson, writing of 
 the various routes into the Klondike, had this to say which may 
 not come amiss as a pointer for those who choose to take time 
 to pick their way to the diggings : 
 
 " Of all the routes into the Yukon country I would advise the 
 one via Wrangel, the Stikine River, and Lake Teslin, as pre- 
 senting less difficulties and hardships, liy next spring the only 
 portion of this route that cannot be made by steamboat or rail 
 will be over an easy pack trail from the Stikine to Lake Teslin, 
 a distance of about 1 3 5 miles, and upon which the British Col- 
 umbia government is now spending money, and over which a 
 wagon or railroad will be constructed very soon. From Lake 
 35 
 
54B 
 
 ADVENT OF WINTP:R. 
 
 Teslin down the Hootalingua to the mines one or two steamboats 
 will be running next year. I advisedly caution persons from 
 attempting the trip till next spring, and when they do start, if 
 possible, arrange to buy a year's supply of grub per capita when 
 they get to the coast. One can get better information as to what 
 is needed here than at home." 
 
 W. A. Pratt, sent in by the Yukon Mining and Trading Com- 
 pany, of Wilmington, Delaware, reconnoitered what he declared 
 was a practicable route for a railroad from the head of Taku 
 Inlet to I^ke Teslin. The Canadian Pacific had a party out 
 during the fall running a line for a railroad from Lake Teslin to 
 Telegraph Creek. 
 
 Tramway at Chilkoot Pass. 
 
 Out of the many schemes for rail transportation over the 
 mountains, the first to take definite shape in action was that 
 for a tramway over Chilkoot Pass. The engineer's plans were 
 in working order early in October, and the first of the material 
 had then begun to arrive on the ground at Dyea. Seventeen 
 miles of inch wire cable will be used in constructing the eight 
 and a half miles of aerial tramway by which freight will be 
 transported seven and a half miles, lifted to the summit of the 
 pass and let down again to Crater Lake. The road will be a 
 broad guage, with a daily capacity of 1 20 tons of freight, or the 
 outfits for 1 20 men. The contract calls for the completion of 
 the road by January 15, 1898, and then it is expected the jour- 
 ney from tidewater to Dawson can be made in less than forty 
 days and with an immense economy in men and money. 
 
 Among the novel schemes — which at the same time had an 
 air of practicableness — for getting into the Yukon basin during 
 the winter season, was that of the snow locomotive, invented by 
 George T. Glover, of Chicago. The snow train had been in 
 
ADVENT OF WIN TKR. 
 
 647 
 
 successful operation in the pineries of Michigan for two years, 
 hauHng on runners great loads of logs and making fairly good 
 time over considerable grades. 
 
 When the reports of probable starvation in the Klondike 
 region made it a matter of instant importance for the General 
 Government to prepare for the exigency by ascertaining the best 
 and speediest means by which supplies could be transported 
 from the coast to Dawson, General Alger, the Secretary, to 
 whom the Glover log locomotive was familiar, beth aught himself 
 at once of the snow train, and at the same timi.' Mr. Glover 
 bethought himself of the Secretary of War. The result was a 
 series of conferences in Washington, the matter was laid before 
 the C binet, and it was practically agreed that, if it became 
 necessary to succor starving argonauts, the Glover snow locomo- 
 tive should be used. It was estimated that a train carrying loo 
 tons of freight and passengers could be pulled by this locomo- 
 tive over the passes, across the plains and down the river on 
 the snow and ice, from Fort Wrangcl to Dawson, in less than 
 ten days, and could keep lowering the record as the road be- 
 came worn, until not more than six days each way would be 
 consumed." 
 
 Caught on the Trail. 
 
 Of all the thousands who started for Dawson by the various 
 routes before the winter had laid an embargo on the mountain 
 passes or blocked the Yukon with ice, it was variously estimated 
 from the civilized end of the line that from Cooo to 7000 suc- 
 ceeded in reaching their destination. How many others were 
 forced to winter at intermediate points was beyond accurate 
 computation — the region to be covered was too vast and there 
 were too many vicissitudes of climate and trail to be figured on. 
 
 On the White Pass trail, late in September, t here were at least 
 1 200 gold seekers, of whom probably not more than 300 suo- 
 
'<:'> 
 
 548 
 
 ADVENT OF WINTER. 
 
 ceedcd in reaching the lakes, the rest being caught by snow and 
 ice. On the Chilkoot Pass trail there were probably as many 
 more in all stages of progress and predicament. Perhaps half 
 this number made out to get to Dawson, or at least well down 
 the rivers. All those who remained behind had only the alter- 
 native to build log cabins on the trail and camp for the season, 
 or leave their goods and make a perilous struggle back to civili- 
 zation. Camps approaching the dignity of small towns were 
 established at Lake Bennett and Lake Linderman when the first 
 snow came, and many went into permanent winter quarters at 
 once, reasoning that it would not cost more in supplies to winter 
 there than in Klondike, and that by saving their health and re- 
 maining at the advanced post they would have a good start in 
 strength and distance and could be the first " in " in the spring. 
 Among the 300 in camp at Lake Linderman were a number of 
 women and children. 
 
 
 Wi 
 
 Snow and Low Temperature. 
 
 One of the proprietors of the saw mill at Lake Bennett reached 
 Juneau on October 7th, and reported a heavy snowfall on the 
 headwaters of the Yukon when he left. On the morning of 
 October 3d the thermometer showed eight degrees below zero, 
 and the boats in the river had to be cut out of the ice. 
 
 The McKay party, which contained a number of women, had 
 reached Lake Bennett and was about to stca-t down the river, 
 insufficiently clad and provisioned. The Canadian police were 
 debating stopping the party, considering the attempt to make 
 Dawson would be little less than suicide. 
 
 Captain Tuttle, of the United States revenue cutter Bear, sent 
 in an official report from St. Michael's, dated September lotb, in 
 which he said : 
 
 " There are in port seven seagoing vessels and six river steam- 
 
 Oi;' 
 
ADVENT OF WINTER. 
 
 549 
 
 ers, with one steamer and one barge in process of construction 
 on the beach. About 300 people are encamped on the beach 
 awaiting the completion of tiiese vessels. At least seven vessels 
 are expected to arrive, many of them with passengers. There 
 is no possible chance of these people reaching the Upper Yukon 
 this season, and they must winter here or at some point inside 
 the mouth of the Yukon. While there will be an abundance of 
 provisions, the trading companies having their main depots here, 
 trouble is likely to arise from those who hi/e no provisions and 
 no means to purchase them. This, however, is a small matter 
 when taken into consideration with matters above Fort Yukon 
 on the Yukon River. 
 
 " On September 13th the river steamer Hamilton returned from 
 its up-river trip, having been unable to reach Circle City. Cap- 
 tain Hill reported the river so low as to prevent his reaching his 
 
 destination." 
 
 Danger of Starvation. 
 
 Probably enough more argonauts reached St. Michael's after 
 Captain Tuttle's letter left to raise the total number prepared to 
 winter there to 600 or even twice that number. 
 
 Captain Tuttlc closed his official communication with this 
 suggestion : 
 
 " Laws in regard to the inspection of steam vessels are entirely 
 disregarded, as no inspector of hulls or boilers has visited this 
 place. At least sixteen such vessels are now running in this 
 part of Alaska. If I should seize them starvation would ensue 
 to those who are depending upon these vessels to bring them 
 provisions. At the same time hundreds of people are traveling 
 on these vessels, which are without the safeguards to life that the 
 law provides they shall have. 
 
 "A deputy collector of customs is stationed at St. Michael's, 
 who is required to attend to all cu.stoins business. Frequently 
 
550 
 
 ADVENT OF WINTER. 
 
 
 
 there arc sc;vcral vessels in port discharging bonded goods at the 
 same time. It is impossible for one man to attend to all this 
 business After leaving St. Michael's there is no customs officer 
 in charge of these goods. Vessels frequently get aground, and 
 it is necessary to discharge their cargoes before they can be 
 floated. Great opportunities are afforded to defraud the cus- 
 toms. There should be a customs officer on every vessel carry- 
 ing bonded goods, and provision should be made to have the 
 vessels inspected as the law requires." 
 
 At Dawson City. 
 
 The prospect for Dawson City at the beginning of winter indi- 
 cated a population in the town of about 7000 and in the tribu- 
 tary country of half as many more. Considerable building en- 
 terprise had been displayed and log houses were multiplying for 
 residences, while commodious business houses were rising along 
 Water Street. The new Mission house was expected to be in 
 full readiness for its works of charity by the time the ice season 
 was fairly settled. The new opera house or music hall was in 
 full blast and in general the promise was for a bustling, thriving 
 tovr.. Lots in Water Street the first of October sold for ;^ 10,000 
 and lots for cabins at proportionate rates. 
 
 St. Michael's, old Yukoncss thought, stood a chance to be the 
 winter haven f the easily disheartened overflow from Dawson. 
 When the low water in the river delayed the arrival of the boats 
 with provisions many took fright and started down stream to 
 meet the supplies or force their way through to the sea. Others 
 formed parties to go out en route to civilization and the combina- 
 tion made quite an exodus. The Klondikers who stayed behind, 
 however, were not troubled by the departures — they meant fewer 
 mouths to feed and m. e claims to " go around." 
 
 Returning .«;teamers from Sitka, Juneau and other ports late in 
 
ADVENT OF WINTER. 
 
 551 
 
 the fall brought full complements of gold seekers who had been 
 beaten by delays or the climate in getting over the passes, and 
 preferred to spend their money in steamer fares to reach the 
 homes and flesh pots of civilization for the winter, rather than in 
 paying boom prices for bare subsistence in such already over- 
 crowded towns as Skagway, Juneau and Dyea. It is estimated 
 that over a thousand argonauts had returned to Washington, 
 Oregon and California in this way by the middle of October. 
 
 Among the last to go in by way of St. Michael's was Lieu- 
 tenant Colonel Randall, U. S. A., who took with him twenty-five 
 soldiers from Fort Russell and an outfit of 150 tons of stores 
 and provisions. Part of the detachment was to be stationed at 
 St. Michael's and the rest were to go up the river near the inter- 
 national boundary. 
 
 Growth of Skagway. 
 
 Skagway is one Alaskan town which owes its existence to gold, 
 though there is none of the precious metal there, except what 
 has been brought in and "dropped" by argonauts rushing to 
 the Klondike placers. It owes its standing as a town to the 
 lucky fact that it is the natural landing place for the White Pass, 
 and to the additional fact that owing to the lateness of opening 
 this trail several thousands of men had to linger in Skagway for 
 many weeks waiting and struggling for the coveted chance to 
 get out. 
 
 Two pictures of the place arc of interest. In August, 1897, 
 Hal Hoffman wrote of this " half-way to Klondike and stuck " 
 town, as it was then familiarly called : 
 
 " This is a city of eleven frame or log houses, a saw mill, five 
 stores, four saloons, a crap game, a faro layout, blacksmith shop, 
 five restaurants which are feeding people all the time, a tailor 
 shop, on which is hung the sign, ' Bloomers fitted for shotguns,' 
 a real estate office, two practicing physicians, another professional 
 
552 
 
 ADVENT OF WINTER. 
 
 r1 
 
 pathfinder whose specialty is shown by the sign painted on a 
 board nailed to a tree, ' Teeth extracted,' some 300 tents, and a 
 population of about 2000 men and seventeen women. Four of 
 the women are accompanying their husbands into the Klondike, 
 the others arc unchaperoned. A dance hall will be erected next 
 week. Skagway is already a typical mining camp. Its popula- 
 tion is proud of it. They go further and say it will be a ' hot 
 town ' next winter. Streets have been laid out. Broadway runs 
 from high tide four miles back to the mountain base and is walled 
 with tents, piles of supplies and felled trees. The gold seekers 
 never overlook an opportunity to make fun drown their im- 
 patience." 
 
 As it Developed. 
 
 In the latter part of September, when all but the hardiest or 
 those who had determined to winter there or to take up a more 
 permanent residence had left the town, another wrote of the same 
 place in different terms thus : 
 
 " Skagway is a conglomoration of all nationalities. All kinds 
 of buildings — or, rather, lack of buildings — arc in evidence. 
 Sidewalks arc unknown. One just wades and wades. The first 
 requisite is a pair of rubber boots — good, long ones. 
 
 "Along each side of Broadway, the main street, arc 
 ranged the business houses. There are about twenty saloons, 
 eleven blacksmith shops, thirty restaurants and bakeries and 
 fifty miscellaneous lines, dance halls, hotels, custom houses, 
 etc., while the Territorial Surveyor and his deputies find room 
 to do a good business. This is a mecca for speculators. On 
 one corner the dismayed prospector, outfitted completely for the 
 Yukon, has decided to abandon his trip and is .selling his flour 
 for, perhaps, 50 cents a sack. Within fifteen minutes after he 
 has sold the flour the speculative purchaser is offering it from 
 $2 to $3 a sack. 
 
 
ADVENT OF WINTKR. 
 
 55,*] 
 
 " Skagway now has about lOO frame Ijuilclings, a population 
 approaching 1 200, and committees for ahiiost every conceivable 
 purpose — from a committee on removing dead horses to com- 
 mittees to look after the numerous correspondents of I'^astern 
 dailies — the latter committee having even more to do than the 
 dead -horse committee. Skagway really is an orderly town from 
 a frontier standpoint. Comparatively few robberies are re- 
 ported, when the great number of miscellaneous specimens of 
 humanity who have rushed in there is considered. To be sure, 
 probably not half the population know when Sunday comes — 
 in fact, there is no Sunday in Skagway, Saloons and all kinds 
 of gambling games — keno, faro, black jack, poker, roulette — 
 flourish by day and by night, seven days and seven nights each 
 week, without interruption. The only cloud that appears on the 
 gambler's horizon is the appearance of the deputy United .States 
 marshals, which usually threatens a seizure of licjuors, providing 
 there is an overabundance. The liquor traffic presents a peculiar 
 complication at this place. It is not an offense, as the law is ad- 
 ministered, to sell whisky except to Indians ; but if the liquor is 
 found in a person's possession the liquor is liable to seiz.ure. 
 Most saloon men, therefore, carry very small stocks ' in sight,' 
 tha balance being conveniently ' cached' in nearby places." 
 
 Glacier Slide and Flood. 
 
 On the morning of September i8th a terrible glacier-slide and 
 deluge swept down the Chilkoot Pass and three men lost their 
 lives, one, Morris Choynski, a cousin of Joe Choynski, the pugilist. 
 His body alone was recovered. About twenty-five campers had 
 pitched their tents on the drj' ground in the bed of the river 
 when suddenly the cry went forth, about seven o'clock in the 
 morning, that the glacier was falling. Every one made for the 
 hills, and the coming torrent, two miles away, sounded like 
 
554 
 
 ADVENT OF WINTER. 
 
 
 
 a"*-, ™_ 
 
 it ''^c 
 
 thunder or the roar of heavy artillery. On came the waters in a 
 wall twenty feet high, moving massive rocks like pebbles and 
 sweeping everything before them. All the tents and goods 
 along the river were lost and only twenty-two of the campers 
 succeeded in saving their lives. A deposit of sand from one to 
 two feet thick marked the path of the awful flood. 
 
 Reports of disasters on the lakes and at the fords on the 
 trails were numerous as the severe weather drew on, but happily 
 most of them proved to be unfounded rumors. Many upsets 
 occurred, and a quantity of supplies was lost from the boats, 
 but the number of serious casualties was remarkably small con- 
 sidering the number of men exposed and the excellent oppor- 
 tunities for accidents. 
 
 Comparative Absence of Crime. 
 
 Crime and its corollary, Lynch law, happily made few public 
 appearances along the trails when the great rush was stopped 
 by [he winter. The known cases had a semblance of ample 
 cause and effect, according to frontier ethics, except in the one 
 instance of the Buchanan-Kossuth murder and suicide at Skag- 
 way, which was entirely a cold-blooded affair and one in no way 
 chargeable upon the argonauts. The comparative peacefulness 
 and honesty which reigned along the trails, considering the grea^ 
 temptations to greed and high temper which marked the condi- 
 tions, were a marked tribute to the character of the gold hunters 
 of '97. 
 
 One of the most important contributions which Alaska made 
 "•Q the sum of human knowledge in 1897 was something which 
 ould not be weighed in the gold scales or discounted at a 
 !. ^nk, and yet in another sense was of more permanent value 
 to the world than the diggings themselves. This was the suc- 
 cessful scaling of Mount St. Elias, the corner post of Alaska and 
 
ADVENT OF WINTFR. 
 
 555 
 
 hitherto regarded as the one inaccessible spot remaining on tlie 
 North American continent. 
 
 The successful ascent was accomplished by the party headed 
 by Prince Luigi Amadeo, of Savoy, a nephew of King Humbert, 
 of Italy, and a mountain climber of world-wide fame and expe- 
 rience. The party included Clevalier M. Cagni, Francesco 
 Gonella, President of the Turin Section of Alpine climbers ; 
 Vittorio Sellc and Dr. Fillippo de Fillippi, all noted Alpine 
 experts. The party measured the height of the peak, up to 
 that time estimated only, and that within a range of several 
 hundred feet, ascertaining the exact elevation to be 18,120 feet, 
 an important geographical and engineering fact. 
 
 The first expedition to attempt to scale Mt. St. EHas was led 
 by Lieutenant Schwatka in 1886. Two years later William 
 Williams and the Messrs. Forham, of London, England, made 
 the attempt and failed. T. C. Russell, of the United States 
 Geological Survey, made two attempts — one in 1890, and the 
 second a year later. Both were unsuccessful, though the ex- 
 plorer reached a greater height than any of his predecessors, 
 turning back only at an altitude of 14,500 feet, or 3620 feet 
 below the summit. 
 
 Klondike has a Permanent Interest. 
 
 The interest in Alaska and its gold deposits, widespread and 
 universal as it is, will very likely increase with the advance of time. 
 A marvelous region is this northwest Territory, great in natural 
 wonders and great in wealth. Where gold is, there men will go, 
 whether to the tropics or the Arctic regions, the heats of the 
 equator or the realms of endless frost. 
 
 That hundreds, perhaps thousands, will lose their lives is only 
 to be expected, yet thousands of others will rush forward as men 
 do in battle to take the places of their comrades who have fallen. 
 
656 
 
 ADVENT OF WINTER. 
 
 Some will survive the danj^crs, outlive the trials, and by over- 
 coming almost miraculous obstacles, will gain the coveted treas- 
 ures. Stories that never have been surpassed in tragic interest 
 are yet to be told concerning Klondike, and very likely all that 
 has been written and said in the past will be overshadowed by 
 events that are yet to come. 
 
 It is not likely that Mt. St. Elias will be ascended again for 
 many years, perhaps not in the present generation, but these 
 mountains, valleys and gulches are sure to be explored. The 
 enterprising Yankee will be found in every nook and corner of 
 Alaska, and if there is any money there to be found he will pick 
 it up. Every man will think it possible for every man to fail ex- 
 cept himself Many will trust to luck and later will be sorry for 
 it. Others will go about mining intelligently, understanding ex- 
 actly what they are doing, and they are the ones who will suc- 
 ceed and bring home the yellow nuggets. 
 
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