IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET {MT-3) /. A^ Ua t= '/i 7 V 0/ /A 1.0 I.I 1.25 11.4 iib ■so ^^ »^ |i2 12.0 Photpgrapmc Sciences Corporation d i 23 WEST MAIN STRfET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 ''k> \ CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHIVI/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques Technical and Bibliographic Notas/Notaa techniques et bibliographiques The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Features of this copy which may be bibliographically unique, which may alter any of the Images in the reproduction, or which may significantly chartge the usual method of filming, are checked below. D D D D D D Coloured covers/ Couverture de couleur I I Covers damaged/ Couverture endommagte Covers restored and/or laminated/ Couverture restaurie et/ou pellicuMe I I Cover title missing/ Le titre de couverture manque I I Coloured maps/ Cartes g^ographiques en couleur Coloured ink (i.e. other than biue or black)/ Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noire) |~~| Coloured plates and/or illustrations/ Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur Bound with other material/ ReliA avec d'autres documents rV] Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion along interior margin/ La reliure serrie peut causer de I'ombre ou de la distortion le long de la marge intArieure Blank leaves added during restoration may appeer within the text. Whenever possible, these have been omitted from filming/ II se peut que certaines pages blanches ajoutAes tors d'une restauration apparaissent dans le texte. mais. lorsque cela Atait possible, ces pages n'ont pas AtA filmAes. Additional comments:/ Commentaires supplAmentaires: L'Institut a microfilm^ le meilleur exemplaire qu'il lui a 6tA possible de se procurer. Les details de cet exemplaire qui sont peut-Atre uniques du point de vue bibilographique, qui peuvent modifier une image reproduite, ou qui peuvent exiger une modification dans la mithode normale de filmage sont indiquto ci-dessous. □ Coloured pages/ Pages de couleur D D D D D D Pages damaged/ Pages endommagtes Pages rastored and/or laminated/ Pages restaur6es et/ou pelliculAes Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ Pages d6color6es, tachetAes ou piquAes Pages detached/ Pages ddtachies Showthrough/ Transparence I I Quality of print varies/ QualitA InAgaie de I'impression Includes supplementary material/ Comprend du mat6riel suppl^mentaire |~~| Only edition available/ Seule Edition disponible Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata slips, tissues, etc., have been ref limed to ensure the best possible image/ Les pages totaiement ou partiellement obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata. une pelure. etc., ont 6ti filmies i nouveeu de fa9on A obtenir la mbiileure image possible. to T» P< of fil Oi bi th si< ot fir si< or Tf sh Tl wl M dil :: rll re m This itom is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ Ce document est film* au taux de reduction indiquA ci-dessous. 10X 14X 18X 22X 2SX 30X ' I KV 12X 16X 20X 24X 28X 32X Th« copy fllmad h«r« hat bMn r«produc«d thanks to tha ganaroaity of: Library Diviiion Provincial Archival of British Columbia Tha imaoaa appaaring hara ara tha bast quality poaslbia conaldaring tha condition and lagiblllty of tha original copy and In kaaping with tha filming contract spasiflcatlons. Original coplas In printad papar covars ara fllmad baglnning with tha front covar and anding on tha last paga with a printad or illuttratad impras- sion, or tha back covar whan appropriata. All othar original coplas ara fllmad beginning on tha first paga with a printad or Illustrated impres- sion, and anding on tha last page with a printad or Illustrated impression. The last recorded frame on each microfiche shall contain the symbol -^ (meaning "COIM- TINUED"), or the symbol y (meaning "END"). whichever applies. Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filrned beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: L'axamplaira film* fut reproduit grice A la gAnArosIt* da: Library Diviiion Provincial Archives of British Columbia Lea images suivantas ont At* reprodultes avac la plus grand soin. compta tanu de la condition at da la nettetA de I'exemplaira film*, et en conformit* avac las conditions du contrat de filmage. Lea exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en papier est imprim*e sont film*s en commenpant par la premier plat et en terminant soit par la darnlAre page qui comporte une empreinte d'Impression ou d'lllustratlon, soit par la second plat, salon le cas. Tous las autres exemplaires originaux sont filmAs en commen9ant par la pramiAre page qui comporte une empreinte d'Impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par la derniAre paga qui comporte une telle empreinte. Un des symboies suivants apparattra sur la darnlAre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbols ~»> signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbols V signifie "FIN". Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent *tre film*8 * den taux de reduction diffArents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atre reproduit en un seui clichA, ii est film* A partir de Tangle supArieur gauche, de gauche A droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'imagas nAcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mAthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 ARCTIC OCEAN !**:«,••••*•»« LIFE IN THE KLONDIKE GOLD FIELDS. PERSONAL OBSERVATIONS OF THE FOUNDER OF DAWSON. Rfxordei) bv J. Lincoln Stkfkens. JOE LADUE had run away from San Francisco to escape the people who wished to hear about the Klondiiie and his iuck there; he had fallen in with a carload of Christian Endeavor tourists who were as ecger as the Californians to know how gold was picked up; in Chicago he stepped off the train into a circle oi ques- tioners ; hurrying on to his native Platts- burg in the Adirondacks, he met the same inquiries. Here, however, the curious were his friends; so he talked a day and a night more; then he drove out to the farmhouse that to him is home, and for a short time he felt safe. Saturday morning some of the neighbors came across the fields to see his nuggets and photographs, and to hear his good-luck story. Surelj' that was the end! Sunday morning he came downstairs in his slippers to have a day of rest. He had just finished breakfast and was standing idly in the farmyard with his friends of the house, when I came down upon him with my reques* for an account, the longest and most complete he had told yet. " You must be tired telling about it all," I began. He smiled faintly. "Yes, I am," he said. He was the weariest-looking man I ever saw. I have known bankers and business men, editors a.id soldiers and literary men, who had the same look out of the eyes that this pioneer of the Northwest country has; they v/ere men who had made money or a name, earned by hard labor that which others envied them. They were tired, too. Their true stories were " hard-hick " sto- ries. The disappointments that ran be- fore the final triumph limped in had spoiled the taste for it. None of them showed the truth so plainly as the founder of Dawson, the city of the Klondike. Joe Ladue is a sad-eyed man wi^h a tale of years which no one thinks of, which no one wants to hear about. That is all his own. He is willing to begin where you wish him to, on the day when he "struck it rich." But when his friends and neighbors trooped in as I was leaving him that Sun- In day, he of nugK around at. H the bar He years years from Champ rado, chasin and wo His o dell, ' he fail fifteen into the milling on, W( lime. Every somew were ^ some I was 1888, I were b after ) had t could failure What how 11 " '*' sighe< with covet for it Wl then " I so m the s and have tend a me com Tl this lifel guic sho( to :• of feve or I his he y 3-^ A ^C out it all," t am," he ■nan I ever d business ;rary men, f the eyes St country de money hat which ired, too. ick" sto- t ran he- ld spoiled 1 showed under of ike. Joe a tale of which no is all his you wish struck it eighbors liat Sun- d% LIFE IN THE KLONDIKE GOLD FIELDS. dl 957 day, he dropped thebaRful of niijjjjets for tlu'm to |)ass around, fir.jjer, .iiid stare at. He went off down to the barn and hid. He is about forty-five years old. Twenty -five years ago he started away from the woods of Lake (^hamplain, going to Colo- rado, Wyoming, Dakota, chasing each rumor of gold, and working — for nothing. His old friend, Mr. Lob- dell, " staked him " when he failed, and, at last, some fifteen years ago, he went into Alaska, trading with the Indians, prospecting, milling, building, moving on, working hard all the time. The gold was there. Everybody knew it was somewhere near, that they were walking over it, and some men were finding it. I was in Alaska myself in 1 888, and I met miners who were bringing out gold year after year. Hut Joe Ladue had to stay there till he ooidd digit out, risking what others met — failure and death. Now he has the gold. What of it ? Everybody wished to know how much he got. " Enough," he told them, dryly. And he sighed as he saw the listeners' eyes sparkle with sordid imaginings. He seemed to covet, as they did the gold, their desire for it. Why was he going back in the spring, then ? " I have to," he answered. " I've got so many interests to look after. There's the sawmill and the logging and Dawson and a couple of claims staked out that have to be worked. You've got to at- tend to things, you know." So it was not a mere matter of picking up a fortune and coming back to spend and enjoy it. The whole interview was in the tone of this answer, simple, plain, colorless, almost lifeless. His description of an outfit, his guide to the route, a remark about the shooting of Miles Caflon, the proper way to stake out and work a claim, his view of minerj' meetings — all were given in even mood. Ytt it was not indifference or bored patience. He was painstaking in his offerings of facts not asked for, which he thought should be included in an ac- JtiK I.A'llJK, TUB riONKER OF ALASKA ANO FOUNDFR Ol' DAWSON. count of the Klondike. His interest was altogether in the men who might be going there, and what he pul into the article was framed for actual u^.e. The information which would help no one directly he gave because it was asked for, but brietly, and with a side glance at the trail of the gold- seekers. Some of the crjssings of our purposes were worth while. Once, for in- stance, when he was making his list of the equipment of a Yukon mine on the way in, I pointed out to him that 1 had forgotten his "gun," and I meant that he had omitted to mention the revolver which plays such a conspicuous part in the life of most mining camps. " You don't need a gun," he answered. " There's no game to speak of." " JUit you surely take a revolver." " No use; it only adds weight to the pack." " What do you have, then — knives ? " " Yes, you must have knives and forks and spoons, of course." When I made my meaning clear, Mr. Ladue gave an interesting glimjise of the order maintained by the miners of the Yukon in their lawless communities, but he was unable to explain it. ^[ost of the men were good fellows, he said. Were 163438 Pe-xxti : N. W. Histopy Dopt. PROVINCIAL. LIBRARY VICTORIA, B. 0. 958 LIFE IN THE KLONDIKE GOLD FIELDS. lliere no thieves? Not one. No ctit- throats ? None. Gamblers ? " Plenty. Everybody gambles, espe- cially in the long winter nights." " Don't they cheat?" "No." " Why not?" " The saloon-keepers won't have it." "How can they prevent it? Are there no professional gamblers in the camps ? " " Yes, but they put up a straight game. And there are men, too, who have been pretty bad before; I have heard that some of them were ex-convicts and fellows who had run away t ) escape prison and hang- ing. But none of them try anything on in there." , "SHBBH camp" or " LAST TIMBER." Ten miles from Dyea, on the road to the Chllkoot Pass. To cover these ten miles in winter requires two clays. From this pi>lnt the Indians— men, women, and children— carry the traveler's outfit to the summit of Chilkoot Pass, six miles away. Here and at Dyea, and on the trail between them, the men v/ho rushed in last summer were stalled because of the lack of packers to carry their outfits to the tup of the Pass. ml to| CJl dil T,( it, m{ thj saj onl wl| prd sui lasi nof coi AN OUTFIT IN CAMH ON A PORTAOt, " Ihit wny don't they?" " I don't know; but they don't." "What are they afraid of ? Has any one ever been pun- ished ? " " Not that I remem- ber." "Well, why don't thieves steal on the Klondike?" " I guess it's be- cause they dasent." '1" hough quietly spoken, this vague an- swer came with an ex- pression of face — just a quick flash of light -^and a slight shift- amblers in the I straiglit game, who have l)een leard that some ind fellows who ison and hang- ry anything on Ifs two (lays. Krum )ca Pass, six milfs lied because of the w n y don't 't know; but are t li e y ? Has any been pun- hat I remem- why don't teal on the ess it's be- dasent. " h quietly IS vague aii- witii an ex- face — just sh of light light shift- l/FE IN THE KLONDIKE GOLD FIELDS. 959 ing of the body, which suggested the com- plete explanation. And there was a hint, too, of the man who was resting under the calm surface I was prospecting; so I kept digging. 'J'he first sentence of Mr. T-adue's story, as he gave it, was a warning to the men who were rushing into the Northwest. He fore- saw starvation ahead not only for them, but for those who were already on the ground. Some would have provided themselves with a supply of food sufficient to last them, but others would not. All would suffer in consequence. " Not the men who have taken enough," I protest- ed. "Yes, they ail will. Won't the food have to be divided up even all around ? " This is Joe Ladue. ladue's story. I am willing to tell all I can think of about the Klondike and the great Northwest country so long as it is understood that I am not advising anybody to go there. That I will not do. It goes pretty hard with some of the men who go in. Lots of them never come out, and not half of those who do make a stake. The ountry is rich, richer than any one has ever said, and the finds you have heard about are only the beginnings, just thesurface jiickings, for the country has not been prospected ex- cept in spots. But there are a great many hardships to go through, and to suc- ceed, a man has to have most of the virtues that are needed in other places not so far away and some others besides. This winter I expect to hear that there is starvation on the Klondike on account of the numbers that have rushed in without sufficient suppl'es, for I know that the stores there have not enough to go around, while the men who laid in provisions have only enough for themselves. They will divide up, as they always do, but that will simply spread the trouble and make things worse. Next O Cim.KOOl' I'ASS, NHAK 1 UK MIMMll. This photoffraph shows a party of prospectors zigzaRging their way up the slope. When the snow is coated with ice the travelers lash themselves together in Alpine style, and proceed step by step, the leader cutting footholes in the crust. It takes a day, sometimes two or more, to travel from Sheep Camp to the top of Chilkoot Pass, though the distance is but six miles. The descent en the other side is easy, and can be made by coasting by those who know the way. spring, from the fifteenth of March on, is the time to go. What you call the Klondike we speak of as the Throndike. I don't know exactly why. 'I'hc Klondike Creek, which names the district where the richest streaks have been struck, was the Throchec to the In- L 960 LIFE IN THE KLONDIKE GOLD FIELDS. AN OlirriT OM A RAFT. dians, which means salmon, not reindeer, as 1 have read since I came out in the spring. There is sense in that name, because the stream, which is about the size of the Saranac River up here in the Adirondacics, is chock-full of sahnon, and you never see a reindeer there, not even a moose. In fact, game is very scarce on the Klondike, as it is all along the Yukon. No guns or pistols or anything of that kind are needed. Here is what ought to be put in an outfit: A camp-stove, frying- pan, kettle, coffee-pot, knives and forks and spoons, and a drill or canvas tent; an ax, a hatchet, a whipsaw, a handsaw, a two- inch auger, a pick and shovel, and ten pounds of naiis. For wear, heavy woolen clothes are best — not furs — and the stoutest overshoes you can get, -with arctic socks. Then, there is a "sleigh," as we call it, really a sled, six or eight feet long and six- teen inches in the run. It is safest to buy this in Ju- neau, for those you pick up in other places won't track. I don't take a canoe unless I am late going in, but they make the lightest and strongest in Victoria, at about 160 to 200 pounds weight. The simplest thing to go down tl.j river on is a raft, but to make that or a boat, you need, besides the nails and tools I named, two pounds of oakum and five pounds of pitch. A year's supply of grub, which can be bought as cheaply in Juneau as anywhere, I think, is: 10 sacks of flour, 150 pounds of sugar, 100 pounds of bacon, thirty pounds of coffc;, ten pounds of tea, 100 pounds of beans, fifty pounds of oatmeal, 100 pounds of mixed fruits, twenty-five .<^^. ON LAKB LINDBRMAN IN THS LA'IK liFRINU, AFTER THE ICE HAS CLEARBU. h auger, a pick 1 sliovel, and 1 pounds of is. For wear, avy woolen thes are best — furs — and tlie utest overshoes I can get, -with ctic socks. ;n, there is a eigh," as we it, really a I, six or eight long and six- 1 inches in the It is safest luy this in Ju- u, for those pick up in it places won't e unless I am e the lightest at about i6o The simplest on is a raft, >at, you need, I named, two unds of pitch, tvhich can be as anywhere, ir, 150 pounds bacon, thirty is of tea, 100 is of oatmeal, s, twenty-five Z/F£ IN THE KLONDIKE GOLD FIELDS. 96X pounds of salt, about ten dollars' worth of spices aiid knickknacks, and some quinine to break up colds. The total cost of this outfit is about $200, but no man should start with less than $500, and twice that is ten times i- good. The eas ,..t way to get there is by boat, which will take you around bySt. Michael's at the mouth of the Yukon, and transfer- ing you there to the side-wheeler, carry you seventeen hundred miles up the river to I3awson. But that isn't independent. fourteen miles to Lake I.inderman. That is five miles long, with a bad piece of rap- ids at the lower end. But if it is early in the season, you sled it on the lake and take the mile of rapids in a portage to Lake Bennett, which is a twenty-eight- mile tramp. It is four miles' walk to Caribou Crossing, then a short ride or tramp to Takoon Lake, where, if the ice is breaking, you can go by boat or raft, or if it is still hard, you must sled it twen- ty-one miles, to the Tagish River and Lake, MILKS CANON, SHOWING A BOAT " RUNNING" OUT. APTItR 1,EAVING THK CaSon, THE RIVBR FORMS A DANGEROUS KDOV, WHICH SOMETIMES BRINGS DISASTER TO THE TRAVELEE. . If a man wants to go in with his own pro- visions, free of connections with the trans- portation companies, which will sell but will not let anybody take along his own supplies, then the Chilkoot Pass route is the best. And that isn't so bad. You start from Juneau and go by steamer to Chilkat, then to Dyea, eight miles, where you hire Indians to help you to the summit of this pass. From Dyea you walk ten miles through snow to Sheep Camp, which is the last timber. From there it is a climb of six miles to the summit, 4, 100 feet high, and very often you or the Indians have to make two or three trips up and down to bring up the outfit. Leaving the Indians there, you go down, coasting part way, four miles long. Take the left bank of the river again, and you walk four miles to Marsh Lake, where you may have to build a raft or boat to cover its twenty-four miles of length. If not, then you must at the bottom, for there begins the Lynx River, which is usually the head of navi- gation, for unless the season is very late or the start very early, the rest of the way i? almost all by water. Thirty miles down the Lynx River you come suddenly upon Miles Caflon, which is considered the worst place on the trip. I don't think it is dangerous, but no man ought to shoot the rapids there without taking a look at them from the shore. The miners have put up a sign on a rock 96a LIFE IN THE KLONDIKE GOLD FIELDS. FORT CUDAHV, ON THE Yl'RON, Willi FOKTY tlll.B, AT TIIR Moll I II III- lOKIY MII.R I HKKK, IN TIIK HACKUKOUNU. to the left just before you get to it, so you have warning and can go ashore ami wallc along the edge on the ice. It is sixty feet wide and seven-eighths of a mile long, and the water humps up in the mid- dle, it goes so fast. But very fejv have been caught there, though they were Jcilled, of course. Below the cafion there are three miles of bad river to White Horse Rapids, which are rocky and swift, with falls, but taking chances is unnecessary, and I con- .sider it pretty good dropping. After the rapids it is thirty miles down to Lake La- barge, the last of the lakes, which is thirty- one miles to row, sail, or tramp, according to the condition of the water. From there a short portage brings you to the head of the Lewis River, really the Yukon, though we do not call it that till, after drifting, poling, or rowing two hundred miles, the Pelly Riv- er flows in and makes one big, wide stream. I must warn men who are going in to watch out for Five Fingers Rapids, about 141 miles down the Lewis, where they must take the right-hand channel. That practically ends the journey, for, though it is 180 miles from the junction of the Pelly and Lewis, it is simply a matter of drift- ing. And I want to say for the hardness of this whole trip, that I have brought horses in th ,t way, using a raft. And it is curious to see how soon they learn to stand still while you are going, and to walk on and off the raft mornings and evenings at camping-places. When I left Dawson in the spring there were some two thousand white men, forty families, and two hundred Indians in the Klondike district, most of them living in cabins or tents on claims. The town, which I named after the man who fixed the boundary between American and Canadian possessions, is new, having only a few houses in it, and is chiefly a source of sup- plies and a place of meeting. The Alaska Commercial Company has the store there, and the Canadian government has a reser- vation with a squad of sixty mounted po- lice and a civil officer or two. The site is on the east bank of the Yukon and on the north bank of the Klondike River, which comes into the Yukon at that point. The boundary line is seventy miles southwest. The gold has been found in the small creeks that flow into the Klondike. First comes Bonanza Creek, a mile and a half back of Dawson. It is thirty miles long and very rich, but its tributaries are still lave brought aft. And it they leani to oing, and to lornings and spring there :e men, forty idians in the em living in The town, vho fixed the nd Canadian only a few Jiirce of sup- The Alaska ! store there, ; has a reser- inonnted po- The site is 1 and on the River, which point. The southwest, in the small dike. First e and a half y miles long ies are still UFR fN TffF. h'r.ONDTKR GOLD FIELDS. 96.3 DAWSON, ON THB YUKON RIVRR, WITH THE MOUTH lif THB KLUNDIKK KIVKK IN THK BACKGRuUNU. better. Ten miles up it the Eldorado, for example, is the most productive streak that has been turned up; it is only six miles long, and is all staked out in claims, but $250 has been taken out in a pan there, and I estimate that the yield will be $20,000,000, Seven miles above Donanza the Klondike receives the waters of Bear C'reek, which is also good, but its six miles of length is claimed by this time. Hun- ker Creek is fifteen miles up the Klondike, and up that is a little stream, about the size of a brook, which is called Ciold Bot- tom. All these streams flow from the south, and they come from hills that must have lots of gold in them, for other creeks that run out of them into Indian River show yellow, too. Indian River is about thirty miles south or up the Yukon from Dawson. Stewart River and Sixty Mile Creek with their tributaries, all south, and Forty Mile Creek with its branches, off to the northwest — all have gold, and though they have been prospected some, they have not been claimed like the Klondike. Claims have to be staked out, of course, according to the Canadian laws, which I think are clear and fair. The only fault I find with them is that they recog- nize no agreements that are not in writing, and they do not give a man who " stakes " a prospector, any share in a claim. But I suppose these difficulties can be got around all right by being more careful about having things in writing hereafter. Another point that is hard to get over is that you have to swear that no man before you took gold off that claim, which you can't do, not knowing whether there was anybody ahead of you or not. The rest of the requirements are sensible. All you have to do is to find gold, to which you must swear, then you mark off about five hundred feet along the bed of the creek where no one has laid a claim, and stick up four stakes with your name on them, one at each corner of your land. Across the ends you blaze the trees. This done, you go to the register of claims, pay fifteen dollars, and, after a while, the sur- veyor will come along and make it exact. Claims run about ten ,0 the mile, and are limited practically only by the width of the ground between the two "benches," or sides of the hills, that close in the stream. The middle line of a series of claims fol- lows the "pay streak," which is usually the old bed of the creek, and it runs across the present course of the water several times, sometimes, in a short distance. WORKING A CLAIM. Working a claim can go on at all sea- sons of the year, and part of the process is best in winter, but prospecting is good only in summer, when the water is flow- ing and the ground loose. That is an- other reason why it is useless for new hands to go in now. They cannot do anything 9*4 LIFE IN THE KLONDIKE GOLD FIELDS. except work for others till spring. Then they can prospect with water flowing and the ground soft. If they strike it they can stake out their claim, clear a patch of trees, underbrush, and stones, and work the surface tilt winter sets in. We quit the The cept face pan or ' rocker " hand" method then, almost never used ex- in "sniping," which is a light sur- search on unclaimed land or on a claim that is -tot being worked for enough to pay expenses or to raise a " grub- stake." As soon as the water freezes so that it won't flow in on a man, we begin to dig to the bedrock, sometimes forty feet down. The ground is frozen, too, in winter, of course, but by " burning " it, as we say, we can soften it enough to let pick and shovel in. All the dirt is piled on one sioe, and when spring opens again, releasing the water, we put up our sluice& and wash it all summer or till wc have enough. There has not been any quartz mining yet on the Yukon, but back of the placers, in the hills which have not been prospected, the original ledges must be holding good things for the capitalist. LOCAL GOVERNMENT ON THE KLONDIKE. Life on the Klondike is pretty quiet. Most of the men there are hard workers ; but the climate, with the long winter nights, forces us to be idle a great deal, and miners are miners, of course. And there is very little government. The point is, however, that such government as there is, is good. 1 tike the Canadian officers, the Canadian laws, and the Car nucks themselves. 'I'he police are strict and eflicient. The captain was a fine man, but he had more than he could do this last season, when the rush for the Klon- dike came. 'I'hat began in Anj^iist a year ago, anil as the rumor spread up and down the Yukon, the towns and mining camps were deserted by everybody who could get away. Men left the women to come on after them, and hurried off to the Klondike to lay cut claims.. Circle City was cleaned out. There wasn't room enough on the steamer to take all who wanted to get away to the new diggings, and many a good-paying claim was aban- doned for the still better ones on the creeks that make the Klondike. 'I'he cap- tain of the police had only a few men with- out horses to detail around over 'he ch. i is, and, besides his regulaf duties, tWhad to act as register of claims and settle disputes that were brought to him. And there were a good many of these. The need of civil officers is very great, especially of a sur- veyor. The miners on the Yukon are shrewd, experienced men, and sometimes they are tricky. I do not like the kind of gov- ernment they set up for themselves, ex- cept in the very first stages. It is all by miners' meetings. They begin by beuig fair, but after a while cliques are formed, which run things to suit the men who are A I)0(; tKAM ON TriB YUKON, A mixed team, consistini; of Esquimaux do^s and dof(s from the coast. Fr.v > lifi un to twenty dogs are used in a team, old, " broken " dof(s in the lead, pups in the middle. Yukon miners train t'>.*tr do^s to " gee " and " haw " at call, no line ever beinK used. The man to the right in the picture has on a " parkie," the native coat and bead-gear, made of double skins, and thus having fur inside and out. LIFE IN THE KLONDIKE GOLD FIELDS. 965 incnt as aiiadian the Ca- ire strict fine man, i do this he Klon- st a year lip and d niinin^r )()dy who women to off to the ircle C!ity ui't room e all who tligKi'iRS was aban- es on the The cap- men witli- Jhechi IS, ■ttehad to le disputes there were jed of civil y of a sur- ire shrewd, »s they are id of gov- iselves, ex- It is all by 11 by being ire formed, len who are V TO ity doKS are used e" and "haw" at at and bead-gear. ill them, or, which is just as bad, they turn the sessions into fun. Nobody can get justice from a miners' meeting when women are on one side. When Bonanza Creek was opened up some of the clair -s got mixed up in the rush, and the measurements were all wrong. Notices were posted on the store doors and on the houses, calling a miners' meeting to settle the boundaries of claims. As was usual in such meetings, a committee was selected to mark off the claims all the way up the creek with a fifty-foot rope. Somehow a rope only forty feet long sneaked in, and that made all the clain ' short. The space that was left over wai grabbed by the fellows who were in uie game. Sometimes in winter, when there is plenty of time, a dispute that is left to the min- ers' meeting growr into a regular tidl, with lawyers (there are several amciig the miners) engaged for a fee, a comniittee in place of the judge, and a regular jury. Witnesses are examined, the lawyers make speeches, and the trial lasts till nobody who listens to it all, knows what to think. 1 never liked it. The best way, accordin