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 THE TOPIC OF THE MONTH- 
 
 THE RUSH TO THE KLONDYKE GOLD-FIELDS. 
 
 THE news of the discovery of a gold-field of im- 
 mense wealth on the rim of the Arctic circle 1ms 
 thrilled the Old World and the New with a tonoli 
 of thedelirium which raged so fiercely in the veins of tho 
 Europeans in the sixteenth century. " Westward Ho!" 
 that marvellous historical romance of KinRsley, whicli 
 has this year fallen out of copyright, and Ims been issued 
 in tho Penny Novels of the Masterpiece Library, recalls 
 eoracwhat of the fascination which le I so many English- 
 men in the days of Gooi Queen Bess to ubanilou home 
 and country in the search for El Dorado, that golden 
 land which the Spanish adventurers had discovered in 
 the New World. This time the golden magnet is situated 
 in the other extremity of the Western continent. It is 
 no longer in Mexico or Pern, in regions baked and 
 blistered by the tropical sun, that the precious metal l.as 
 been unearthed, but far away 
 at the other extreme, in the 
 North-west territory of the 
 Canadian Dominion, within 
 one hundred miles of the 
 border of what used to be 
 UuBsian America before the 
 Tsar sold his American back- 
 yard to the Government of 
 tho United States. But cold 
 or heat makes no difference. 
 The attraction of gold is 
 proof against the utmost 
 severity of the climatic ex- 
 tremes, and the rush to 
 Klondyke has not been in the 
 least tempered by the fact 
 that the miners must spend 
 their lives in a region where 
 the thermometer ranges 60 or 
 70 degrees below zero in 
 winter, which lasts eight 
 months of the year. 
 
 One of the questions with 
 which the Americans amuse 
 themselves by putting to the 
 visitor from Europe is. What 
 
 is the name of the city which lies nearest the centre 
 of the possessions of the United States on tho American 
 continent? Most £ngli.<ihmen will guess at anything 
 l)etween Chicago and Denver, but the right answer is 
 S(.n Francisco. This, paradoxical though it scorns, is 
 geographically correct ; and the fact serves to bring 
 into clear relief tho immense western extension of 
 the American pof.sessions due to tlie purchase of 
 Russian America. If two lines are drawn bjtween the 
 extreme eastern and the extreme western points of tho 
 American continent, over which floats tho Stars and 
 Stripes, the middle line will be found to pass not very 
 far from tho capital of the Pacinc Slopp. Hitherto this 
 little joke has been one of the few assets which the 
 Americans had to show for their investment in that 
 north land of desolation. 
 
 The discovery of gold has, however, in the Alaskan 
 region change<l every thing, and made that forlorn wilder- 
 ness, the centre of public interest. For some time past 
 gold mines producing as much as a million dollars a year 
 in gold have been worked on the Alaskan side of the 
 
 From the Xew Voik Journa!.] 
 
 boundary. The famous Trcadwell Mine was but one 
 among many whoso yield attracted attention to the 
 auriferous deposits of those remote lands. Klondyke, 
 the scene of the latest gold rush, althongh lying a clear 
 hundred miles within British territory, nevertheless 
 bolonp;s to the same auriferous region ; and it is quite 
 possible that, when the country comes to be properly 
 prospected and surveyed, gold-fields rivalling those of 
 Klondyke may be discovered on American territory. At 
 present, lio.vever, the centre of attraction is in the North- 
 west territory of Ciinada. In this case, fortunately, 
 there is no frontier dispute, as m the case of the 
 gold-fields of British Columbia, which lie further south. 
 The latter dispute, however, is now in a fair way of being 
 settled by arbitration, so that we have at least the conso- 
 lation of hoping that the gold of the far Wcjt will not 
 
 add to the diffculties that 
 threaten the good relations 
 of the Empire and the Re- 
 public. If any difficulty 
 should arise, it is more likely 
 that it will proceed from the 
 influx of the great American 
 contingent which may make 
 Dawson City an American 
 Johannesburg, but there is 
 no fear of the Canadian 
 Government playing the part 
 of Oom Paul. So far the 
 Americans, with few excep- 
 tions, appear to be ful! of 
 admiration al the way in 
 which the Conadian Govern- 
 ment hasdealtout thoroughly 
 even-handed justice at this 
 remote extremity of the 
 Dominion. There is dif- 
 ficulty enough in the task 
 where the executive power 
 has to iely on policemen, 
 whose normal salary is a 
 dollar a day, with which they 
 •are expected to ba content, 
 while any man woith his suit is able to make ten or 
 twenty times as much as that by hiring himself out in 
 the mining country. Still, notwithstanding this difficulty 
 with which tho Colonial authorities in Australia have 
 often been confronted, the Canadian Government has 
 done, and is doing, its best t^) maintain law and order, 
 and to uphold civilised authority in the midst of the wild 
 and stormy passions which abound in every mining camp. 
 Gambling, says a rec3nt visitor, is rife in Klondyke, 
 but gambling lius always been the best t«st of the 
 prosperity of a mining cump. Such a community, com- 
 ]iosod of the most energetic and self- reliant pioneers 
 oncampod far away from the range of all the appliances 
 of modern civilisation, without one woman per hun- 
 dred in tho whole crowd, without even daylight for 
 more than three hours a day for half a year, cau 
 hardly be regarded as a hotbed of human virtue. If the 
 Canadian Government can succeed in maintaining law 
 and order amongst the miners, it will have done more 
 than the United States Govcinment ever succeeded in 
 doing in the great days when the mineral wealth of the 
 
 OFF TO KLONDYKE. 
 
 \9 
 
The Topic of the Month 
 
 243 
 
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 — -JCI "- Z_ 1 
 
 THE KLONDYKE OOLD-FIELIJ. 
 
 Rockies was first displayed to bewilder and intoxicate 
 the world. Even to-day Cripple Creek in Colorado, where 
 there is but a small community of five tliousand persons, 
 has a record for homicide which need not shrink from 
 comparison with tbfit of any of the camps founded by 
 the 'Forty- Niners. According to the recent statement of 
 the Coroner, Cripple Creek with its scattered population 
 has furnished material for seventy inrjuests per annum on 
 victims to Tiolenco during the last four years. So far 
 the Canadian Government appears to have enforced the 
 same conditions as at the mines at British Columbia, 
 and has relieved all new-comers of their rifles and 
 i"f vol vers. The temptation to .shoot is always stronger 
 when you have shootinR-irons handy, and the confisca- 
 tion of all firearms undoubt*\Uy tends to diminish the 
 risk of murder. 
 
 All witnesses agree in two tbinfrs: first, that the 
 Canadian Government does its work admirably, dis- 
 arming the minors, and dispensing even-handed justice 
 l)etweoa man and man ; and secondly, that the general 
 character of the miners is immensely superior to that of 
 the Argonauts of 1849. Joaquin Miller, indeed, who is 
 now on his way to Klondyke, as one of the representatives 
 of the New Yovk Journal, maintains that, as a loyal 
 American, he must give the credit for the good behaviour 
 of the miners not to the Canadian Government but to the 
 charac • of the American with whom the authorities 
 had to deal. As Joaquin Miller at the moment of 
 expressing this o])inJon bad not been to Klondyke — for 
 he was writing on board a steamer filled witli miners 
 in route to the gold-fields— this must I)C taken as a 
 natural expression of American patriotism rather than 
 as the utterance of a competent authority. He says : — 
 
 There is a wide differpuco, both in bearing nnd drosg, 
 between tlic gold huntcra of old aud those on this boat. For 
 
 example, I liavo not Been a Binglii pistol 
 yet. I luivo counted KOiiio iwonty rifles 
 nnd 8liiiti,'iinH, and Hpealiinfr to a friend 
 about the aksint* of h""h, [ think fnim 
 wjjat I can feather that iiioHt of the gold- 
 scekerH alioard liavo no more arms than 
 myself, although my friend hints darkly 
 fliat "all may bo armed to tho tooth." 
 All I can say is, you do not aeo ar.y 
 display of arms, as of old. A miner of 
 to-duy' looks more liko a bicyclist than a 
 booted nnd crimson-shirted Argonaut. 
 And there seems to lie no drinking. I 
 have not as yet heard rxn oath or bad 
 language of any sort, not even bad 
 grammar. But the adventurers are nil 
 young men as of old. I, in tho middle 
 fifties, am [inrhaps the oldest man by some 
 years in all our " four hundred." 
 
 The steamer which carried Joaquin 
 Miller took with it also an ex-Governor 
 of California and many other notable 
 men who were going north to try their 
 luck, but it is idle to hoi)e that all 
 contingents of pioneers will be up to 
 this standard. Every mining camp 
 attracts, as an irresistible loadstone, 
 its fair share of that Lost Legion of 
 which Mr. Rudyard Kipling sings in 
 tho ballad dedicated " To the legion of 
 the lost ones, to the cohort of tho 
 flamned," that wholly unauthorised 
 hor<le — 
 
 " There's a Legion that never was 'listed. 
 That carries no colours or crest, 
 But, split in a tliousand detachments, 
 Is breaking tho road for tho rest." 
 
 But among those who rush to Klondyke, it cannot be 
 S'lid that there are many "who have done with hope 
 and honour, who are lost to love and truth, who are 
 dropping down the ladder rung by rung"; for although 
 all this may be true enough of the gentleman ranker, in 
 one respect at least it does not 'ipply to the men who are 
 rushing to Klondyke, for howe\ er they may fail in honour, 
 love, and truth, hope glows within them inextinguishably, 
 oven through the gloom of the Arctic nights. It is 
 hope, hope of making a great pile, and then being able 
 to l.ve ever afterwards without working, which fires the 
 heari of those adventurous migrants. As " Tompkins," 
 the bard whose Cockney muse so often enlivens tho 
 columns of the DaUi/ Chronicle, has sung: — 
 Come tor the plioe where they've got it right, come where the 
 
 treasure's 'id. 
 Where a 'at-full of mud is a five-pun note, aud tho clod on yer 
 
 'eel is a .juid. 
 Where yer scratches tho soil and it tumbles art, ns much a» 
 
 yer 'ands can 'uld. 
 Where the 'ills above and the pliuea Ix'neath is bulgin' an* 
 
 crackin' with gold. 
 
 Klondike! Klondike! Libel yer luggidge Klondike! 
 Thcer's no chawnce in tho street ter-dyo, ,, ■.. 
 
 Theer't! no luck darn .Shoreditcli wye, 
 Pack up yer traps an' be orf, I syc. 
 
 An' orf an' awyo ter Klondike ! 
 Lotso' chaps they 'as stawtid smal). and awterwuds struck it rich, 
 Barght their kerridges, siled t'leir yachts — nutthiuk'a too 
 
 good fur sich — 
 Awmies o' servants, miles o' hin-', cuttin" tho toppical art, 
 Bran-noo paliss to knock Park-lme, then . . . whnrt was I 
 
 thinkin' aburt i 
 Klondike! Klondike! chingo ihc subjic' 'er Klondike 1 etc. 
 
 145ir>ll 
 
244 
 
 The Review of Reviews. 
 
 Lots o' chapb they 'as stawtid small, and finiskod it smaller 
 
 yet. 
 A.n' the Bold as yor warnts ain't (jot fur nis twist 'ere an' 'ell, 
 
 yer bet ; 
 Froze tor death, or stawrcd ter death, or shot in yer tracks 
 
 yer'll lie. 
 Fur one 'ull pick an' oome 'omo agen, but twenty 'uU pick 
 
 an' die. 
 
 Klondike I Klondike ! ).t sticks tor its own, does Klondike ! 
 eto. 
 
 II.— now THE GOLD-FIELD WAS DISCOVERED. 
 
 It is an old story that there was gold in Ala ka. 
 The Eussians worked mines in their American turritory 
 a century since, working them as tliey work those in 
 Siberia to-day, with fair success, but without makini^ 
 much fuss over thoir finds or advertising their dis- 
 coveries in such a way as to attract intruders. When 
 the United States Government bought this vast wilderness 
 of snow and ice from the Russian Government in 1867 for 
 £1,500,000, they of cour,se got the gold-fiolds thrown in 
 with the rest of the undeveloped wealth of Alaska. 
 After a time they began mining, and mot with con- 
 niderablo success. It was, however, not till a year or 
 two back that the rich gold-tields were proved to exist 
 on the British side of the boundary. For more than 
 a dozen years their existence was suspected. It is not 
 easy prospecting for gold in regions where three-fourths 
 of the year there is midnight darkness for more than 
 three-fourths of the day ; but +he hunger for gold kept 
 the pioneers of mining industry prowling up and down 
 the River Yukon and its tributaries in the constantly 
 deferred hope that some time somewhere they might 
 jstrike gold. 
 
 Among these adventurous men, Scotchmen, whether 
 of North Britain or of Nova Scotia, appear to have been 
 well to the front. When the North Pole is discovered, 
 a Scotchman will be found squatted on the top of it; and 
 it is thoroughly in keeping with the national character 
 that the latest great gold-field should have been discovered 
 by a Scotcliman, George McCorraack by name, who entereil 
 into and completed the prior discovery of a Nova Scotian, 
 Robert Henderson. According to the story of Joseph 
 Ladue, the man who owns the ground-rents of the city 
 of Dawson, tho capital of Klondyke, which is confirmed 
 by the report of William Ogilvie, chief of the Canadian 
 International Boundary Survey, the first claim was 
 located in Bonanza Creek by McCormack in Augu.«t, 
 1896. The original discovery was duo to reports made 
 by Indians as to the gold deposits in tiio Kiondyko 
 country, who, it is v/ell to note, report that still richer 
 deposits are to be found further up. They say that 
 there is a creel; up country where the gold is thicker 
 than the gravel, and they have appropriately named it 
 " Too-much-gold Creek " ; but that creek has not yet 
 been explored. Ladue's story of the discovery of tho 
 Klondyke field is as follows : — 
 
 It was on August 24th, 1896, when Robert Hendero«n, of 
 Nova Scotia, wiio had been prospecting for four yt-ar.s in 
 Indian Creek, a tributary of the Yukon, found liimself in 
 another little stream bed known as flold Bottom, near tho 
 Yukon, tho high water having driven bim out of Indian 
 Creek. Ho was prosjiecting around, hoping to find something 
 as good. After a time be panned out a little gold and put in 
 a sluice box or two. In a very sliort time ho ran out of 
 supplied and went back to Fort Ogilvie, where I was stationed, 
 and reported the find to me. I lost no time getting myself in 
 
 readiness to proceed to tiio spot at once, and by Auguiit USth 
 I liad two men and four horses in Gold Bottom. In tho 
 meantime, Henderson drifted down to the mouth of the 
 Klondike in a small boat, and found George McCormack, an 
 old friend of bis, wlio was tlshiug for sulmou. Hunting up his 
 friends wlien there was anytliing in sight seemed to bo ono oi 
 Henderson's beot traits. He got MeCormaek up to ({old 
 Bottom, where he locate<l a eliiim, prospected around a while, 
 mid starte<l back acnwa country for the mouth of tho Klondike 
 River, a distunce of twenty miles. 
 
 That trip was (le.stiniul to i>luy an imjiortant part in the 
 events which followed, for throu','h it <K;curred quo of tho big 
 llndH. McCormack look with him two Chilkat Indians, and 
 the three men went off in the direction of Bonanza Creek, 
 where tho wliite man struck gravel that went $2.50 to the 
 pan. Accorling to our mining laws in Canadian possessions, 
 tho discoverer can locate an extra claim for himself as a 
 reward for making the find. So McCormack took up two 
 locations and the Indians one eac^li. Tliey set to work at once, 
 and took out 12U dols. in gold in three days with little else 
 than a pan. Then they came down to Fort Ogilvio and 
 reported tho find. 
 
 That ropurt. which wa» spread by McCormack, had the 
 immediate effect of sending u thrill of excitement along tlu^ 
 Yukon, from the headquarlers ilovvn to Forty Mile and Circle 
 City. As though by imyie, tiie trails were sprinkled with 
 pack mules, and the river nus dotted with small craft coming 
 up or going down to tlie new diggings, as tlio case may Ix;. 
 In less than ten days tliere were aljout one hundred and fifty 
 miners at work on new ciaiius. 
 
 Mr. Ogilvie Sfiys: — 
 
 McCormack located his claim late in August, but had to 
 cut sonic logs for the mill here to get a few pounds of provisions 
 to enable him to begin work on his claim. He returned with 
 a few weeks' provisions for himself, wife and brother-in-law 
 (Indians) in the lust of August, and immediately set about 
 working his claim. Tlie gravel itself ho had to carry in a 
 box on his back from thirty to ono hund-i>'1 feet. Notwith- 
 standing this, three men working very irregularly, washed out 
 1200 dols. in eight days. 
 
 After this the rest was easy. If it were known that gold 
 lay in heaps under the North Pole, the Polo itself would 
 be colonised in twelve months. The great magnet begun 
 to draw first from the other side of the Yukon, and then 
 from all the territory round alwnt. This year it swept 
 within range all the population of the Pacific Slope, and 
 in the years which are to come there is no territory, no 
 matter how distant, which will not feel the pull of tho 
 great golden loadstone. The Americans are naturally 
 first to take advantage of tho discovery that has been 
 made almost at their doors. Brc-t Harte, in his " Arctic 
 Vision," predicts that tho "awful Yankee,' whom he 
 hails as " the real northern Thor," will expectorate his 
 tobacco juice on the drifted snow that covers the gold 
 deposits of Klondyke :— 
 
 Where tlio short legged Esquimau 
 Waddles in the iee and snow. 
 And tiie jihiyful polar bear 
 Mips the hunter unaware. 
 Where by day they track the ermine 
 And by niglit another vermin. 
 Segment of the Frigid Zone 
 Where the temperature alone 
 Warms on St. Elias* cone; 
 Polar dock, where Nature t-lips 
 From the ways her icy ships. 
 Let the news that living gof ; 
 Thrill through all vour Arctic floe«, 
 Till the tidinu's circlin<r round 
 P'very bay of Norton Sound. 
 Throw the vocal tide-wave back. 
 
The Topic of the Month. 
 
 245 
 
 y August '2Sih 
 ittom. In th(! 
 mouth uf tin; 
 IcCormack, an 
 lunting up hiti 
 •(1 to be ono of 
 k up to (}()ld 
 round a wliile, 
 ' tho Klondike 
 
 it part in thp 
 no of tlio bio 
 t ludiang, and 
 inanza Crt'ck, 
 ; $2.50 to tht! 
 
 Xn poKBOSHionH, 
 
 )iiinself as a 
 
 took up two 
 
 i work at ouco, 
 
 itit little (dso 
 
 Ogilvio and 
 
 ack, had tho 
 lent along the 
 le and Circle 
 prinkled with 
 craft coming 
 I case may be. 
 Ired and fifty 
 
 it. but had to 
 8 of provision)) 
 returned with 
 jrother-in-lftw 
 ;ely set about 
 to carry in a 
 et. Notwith- 
 Y, washed out 
 
 wn that gold 
 itself woulil 
 lagnet begun 
 jn, and then 
 ear it swept 
 ;c Slope, aud 
 territory, no 
 pull of tho 
 re naturally 
 at has been 
 hi.s " Arctic 
 ,' whom ho 
 ect orate his 
 ifs the gold 
 
 A NIGGET FROM El, DORADO CREEK. 
 Actual Sim. Gold worth £31 89. 
 [The white indicatet the gold.} 
 
 III.— HOW THE GOLD GOT THERE. 
 
 Tho peolopists have been busy explaining how it jq 
 that there is gold in tho valleys of the Klondyke creeks. 
 The Klonrlyke river is marked on sonio maps Tondnk 
 anc' this is nearer to the right pronunciation of tho 
 Ind:an name. The Indians called the river the Thron 
 Dnick, or Plenty of Fish ; for the Klondyke, like many 
 other streams in the far north-west, is famous for its 
 salmon. T^e Klondyke enters the Yukon from the east. 
 and its tributaries drain the region that lies north of 
 Mount Elias, a famous landmark in the wilderness of 
 mountains which has been the starting-point of the great 
 glaciers which flowed north to tho Yukon and .south to 
 British Columbia. Somewhere between the south side of 
 Mount Elias and the Yukon there must lie the original 
 mother lode of gold, stored up in the quartz rock, of 
 which the gold found in placer deposits is but as 
 the dust on the fringe. To locate the mother lodo will 
 be for years to come the modern nineteenth century 
 Western world substitute for tho search for the Holy 
 Grail. It is there where tho heart of the gold minor 
 finds its goal. All these nuggets in tho placer deposits 
 are mere samples of the original treasure-house of the 
 hills. 
 
 The deposit of gold dust and of gold nugpets in tho 
 bed of tho Klondyke creeks is due to the operation of 
 very simple causo=!. Man in his raining but follows the 
 processes of nature. By hydraulics he pours a blast of 
 water upon the : ocky mountain side, bieaking away the 
 auriferous stone which, when it is washed down, he 
 pounds fine with stamping mills, and then extracts the 
 gold by parsing the powdered protluce through streams 
 of water, which carry off the lighter earth, allowing the 
 heavy particles of gold to fall to tho bottom. All this 
 •which man does in his restless huirying fashion in the 
 
 course of a day. Nature docs calmly and continnonsly iv 
 tho cxiurse of ages. Her mill never stops. Tho storm- 
 wind, tho snowstorm, the driving rain, tho forked 
 lightning, are her macliinery by which sho detaches the 
 rocks from the hills, and hurls them down to htr stamp- 
 ing mills. These mills, tho glaciers, grind slowly indeed, 
 so slowly that their motion is imperceptible; but 
 though with patience God stands waiting, with exact- 
 ness grinds He all. Tho glaciers, with a weight of 
 millions upon millions of tons of viscous ice, grind 
 the rocks to powder as they move slowly down the 
 valleys, and not content with doing so, they carry the 
 remains of tlieir milling down to tho foot of tho hills. 
 It is not travelling by express speed — rather « pi-Utc 
 Vitesse indeed, this system of transport by glacier; but 
 Nature, who is never economical, is never in a hurry, 
 iind in due srason the pounded, comminuted, pulverisecl 
 fragments of the auriferous rocks torn from the mother- 
 lode hundreds of miles away are dumped into the streams, 
 which act as sub-distributors of the gold. When Nature- 
 wishes to carry gold any distance slie packs it on tho 
 hack of a glaciei-, for when it is trusted to the swifter 
 transport of the stream and the torrent, its weight causes 
 
 ONE PAN = £119. 
 Actual size of bottle. 
 t ■ Panned by W. OgiMe. 
 
246 
 
 The Review of Revii:ws. 
 
 
 I'lo gold to drop thron(?h tlio finders of hor carriers and 
 accumulate in poekcts in tlio river IkhI. Tlioro in time, 
 after af,'OH and ages, Natnro scaln it up in hor triiasure 
 chest, converting tlie goltl dopoHit and tiio sand in wliich 
 it lies and the iki1)1)1(j8 and gravel of tlio river bottom 
 into solid stone, conglomerate or pudding stono, wl.ich 
 occupies an int(a'niediato i)laco between the dust and 
 nuggets in the placers and tho mother-lode. 
 
 But as the world is ever in tho making, and Creation 
 never stops, tho streams are still dropiiing gold-dust from 
 their heedless fingers into tho pockets of their channels, 
 nnd still the heavy gold nuggot, glacier crushed, ginks 
 down into tho gravelly bottom, awaiting such time as 
 Nature will seal it up again in I'.er mighty safe of ])etrified 
 conglomerate. In tho placor deposits on the Kloudyke 
 man has tapped tho gold stores before they have been, 
 by tho slow piocess of tho ages, locked up in Nature's 
 pudding-stone safe. They are comparatively recent, and 
 represent the most modern results of the constant 
 milling and mining which Nature carries on in tho 
 hills and valleys tliat stretch in rocky chaos from tho 
 snow-clad summit of Mount Elias to tho broad waters of 
 the Yukon. 
 
 IV.— HOW MUCH GOLD IS THERE IN 
 KLONDYKE? 
 
 All you minors wide awako ! 
 Oo to tho Klonilyko ; mnko your stake. 
 Get out your uick, your pan, your pack. 
 Go to tho Klondyko ; don't oomo back. 
 llo, for thu Klondyko, Lo ! 
 
 There's gold enough for you and me 
 On the hills and the plain, wherever you be. 
 And H's yellow, and rich, ond licavy as lend, 
 IJnt naif of tlio truth' has never been said. 
 Ho, for the Kloudyke, ho ! 
 
 No man there has over boon broke. 
 And there's gold enough for tlio women folk 
 And the nights aro short when the days are long ; 
 So pnck your tool,; and sing this song : 
 Ho, for tho Klondyke, lio ! 
 
 CJinrun. 
 Ho, for the Klondyke, 
 Ho, for tho Klondyko, 
 Ho, for tho Klondyke, ho f 
 Put on your pack 
 And don't eomo back 
 Till you fill your sack 
 On tho Nortiiwest track. 
 Ho, ho, for tho Klondyke, ho ! — New York Journal. 
 
 The yield of last season at Klondyko is estimated at a 
 million sterling. This year the Canadian authorities 
 estimate it at double that sum, and as yet the gold-field 
 has but been scratched. This year a single vessel 
 brought down a ton of gold du.st. The miners returning 
 with sacks of gold dust, and cans full of nuggets, 
 brought back stories of a gold-field three hundred miles 
 long, out of which tlicy had only been able to glean 
 samples of its wealth. The effect on the popular 
 imagination wa^s, however, due rather to the reports of 
 individual fortunes tiian to the imposing totals of miles 
 or millions. Here are a few of the tales which sent the 
 Pacific coast crazy :— 
 
 A minor by the name of Alex MacDonald took out £l!),0(l(l 
 from a forty-foot jiatch of jrround only two foot thick. Ho 
 employecl four men to do tho work iind consumed but twenty- 
 eight days. That frravol wont £oO to tho pan, and was in 
 claim No. 30, El Dorado Creek. 
 
 Different men havo cleaned up from £3.5,000 to £10,000 in 
 line gold, and all of it was done during three mouths of the 
 
 jmst winter. (h\i of Kl D.irado alone came £800,000, and at 
 least £i!Oil,000 from lionuii/a Oeok. How much uiure there in 
 in it i!, iinpowilile to say, but to all appiMtrancos the whole 
 district is full of gold waiting to be taken out. 
 
 A man last winter was diselmrtji'd us a deck-hand from a 
 steamer on I'liget Sound. He made his way to the Klondyke. 
 worke<l seven months in thu summer, and returned to civilisa- 
 tion with i::tO,(IOO in gold. 
 
 A groy-haired old newsagent who bad no money ami no 
 prospect of getting any in his business in Seattle, loft for the 
 gnldfiolds. He was as " great a greeny," to use his own 
 phrase, as over sot foot in tho country. After some montliH' 
 jiardship, he took up claims on Kl Dorado frock in S(^pt(!niher, 
 and by sfiring had taken £23,000 out of two holes which, in 
 his o|)iniun, still contain half a million. 
 
 Mrs. lloyce who went on her honeymoon to the Klondyko 
 would go out to tlio dump' and poke about for gold. She 
 found £1200 in less than a year. 
 
 These stories of fortunes won by greenhorns made 
 the Klondyko appear like a kind of Tom Tiddler's 
 ground, where any one could pick up gold all day long. 
 
 Hero aro some of tho reports brought down by tho 
 lucky miners: — 
 
 " This is probably tho richest placer known in the world. 
 They took it out so fast, and so mui.'li of it, that they did not 
 
 Slave ti 
 mil III 
 
 Dn the 
 
 US gOlM 
 
 irido I 
 S^nd h: 
 run a I 
 H'w^oiild 
 #.dols^ 
 KA say I 
 ', .>j|ind SOI 
 
 H "Til 
 
 9pro on I 
 
 Hiere 
 
 out." 
 
 I 
 
 THE ROUTE TO KLOMIYEE. 
 
Tin<: ToiTC of the Month. 
 
 247 
 
 00,000, and nt 
 more tlicrc in 
 
 L'OS tllC wllnll' 
 
 k-liftnii from a 
 ;hii Ivlondvkc, 
 led to civiiisii- 
 
 iiouoy nud no 
 In, loft for th.. 
 
 IIHU lUH own 
 
 Hoino niuiitliN' 
 in M('|)t(Wiiliir, 
 ole8 which, in 
 
 ihe Klondyko 
 ar gold. Sho 
 
 horns mado 
 ira Tiddler's 
 II day loup. 
 [own by tlio 
 
 in the world. 
 t they did not 
 
 =9- 
 
 / 
 
 ■Si 
 
 W 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 ilCity 
 
 pavo iimo to woij^li it with p^old acalcs. Tiioy took itoelranl*, 
 knd III! tho hyriip (Minn wcro llHcd." 
 
 " 1 htdiiivi' tlicre is >;(>ld in every creek in Alaxkn. Certainly 
 
 bn tlie Kioiiilyko tiio cliiinii* itre not H|Killeil. One itoema to Im< 
 
 M pood nn another. I('n JJold, guicl. jjold alt over. II'h yards 
 
 »i<lo iind yiinlH deep. 1 nny ho, becanHe 1 liave been tlierc, 
 
 »nd liave tho p;old to hIiow for it. All you have to do in to 
 
 krun a iiole diiwn, mill thtsr(! yoii fhid ])lenly of ^old duHi. I 
 
 vould Hiiy that our piinH on the l')l Dmado einiam will averar^o 
 
 I doU.— HOUKi po as liiph iw ITiO doln. — and, hidieve mo, wlien 
 
 ['. Bay tliiit in live panH I iiave talcen out lu* liipii aH 750 doU., 
 
 tnd BonietirueB nmr". 1 did not pick the pans, hut Hiniply put 
 
 jthcm apainut my breast and seonped tlio dirt .>H' tlie ivd nx'k." 
 
 Tim country ia enornion«ly rich. Tiio pie.-<ent pohl digpinpa 
 
 tiro only a very HUiail part of it, and thero iit littlu doubt that 
 
 khoro aro millions only waiting for minors to come and dig 
 
 but." 
 
 ' I roaliso that 
 
 vou will porhapH 
 
 lloubt all 1 Bay of 
 
 the richncsa of the 
 
 pay streak, but h(>re 
 
 ^B what I actually 
 
 »w. At tho bottom 
 
 of ono cavo 1 
 
 counted five live- 
 
 lallon cans filled 
 
 [with coarso pold 
 
 lund nugpetfl. ThiH 
 
 iwas tlio work of two 
 
 fmon dnriiip tho 
 
 [wintor, and tho pay 
 
 idirt on tho dumps 
 
 l-was buthalf worked 
 
 |throuph. 
 
 "Two million hag 
 
 eon washed out to 
 
 Jate, and many of 
 
 •,- tho dumps are not 
 
 Imirip touched now, 
 
 jy their owners flnd- 
 
 iinp it diflirult to 
 
 jpet men to work 
 
 Ithera for wnpeg at 
 
 ll.') dols. per day. 
 
 'Some of tlio 
 ealoons hero take 
 |in ;?00 dols. per day 
 |in dust and nuggets. 
 .^Heer is 50 cents per 
 :&<lrink. I have quit 
 Idrinking." 
 
 These things rend 
 Jiko tho story of 
 lladdin, but Action 
 ps not at all in it 
 |'^\ith facts at Klon- 
 _|idyke, 
 .i; Men with only 
 
 ,]Fit'l{,00() were spoken of as poor follows who were down on 
 'their luck. 
 
 Five policemen who loft tho force for the rainoB have jnst 
 eturned with an average of £8,000 apiece. 
 
 Thcro'.s millions iu it!— niillion.s on millions; and so 
 .^every ono is off to prab a share of tho millions before the 
 recious hoard is exhausted. For this is not, as m tlie 
 ^Transvaal, or in other mines where tho private advon- 
 urcr can do iiotliiiig because of the heavy cost of mining 
 lant. Here the private adventurer can do everything — 
 lud the gold, work it, and bring it away. The value of 
 [the placer gold iii th(! Kloiulyke cannot be estimated, 
 ut ex]ieft8 speak of £11,000,000 as being practically 
 within sight. 
 
 V. now TO OET TnERE. 
 
 Faro to Kenttio over the Northern I'liejllo 
 Tourist sleeper, fare. .... 
 
 rullmiin Hiei'per ...... 
 
 Meals, in dining car .,.,.. 
 Tourist meals at stations ..... 
 
 New York til ^"ellttle, in niih.'S .... 
 
 Number of days en route ..... 
 
 ."Steamer, Seattle to , I uneaii, with cabin anil meals 
 .Faro, with ImtiIi ...... 
 
 Miles, Seattle to .Tlllleail ..... 
 
 NiimlHT of days, Seatth' to .Tuneau 
 
 Cost of living ill .lunoiiu, per day 
 
 KteamlKiat, up Lynn (.'anal to Healoy's ntore, miles 
 
 (Number of days to llealoy's store 
 
 STE.VJIER LKAVISG SAN FBASCISCO FOR KLONDYKE. 
 
 £13 lis. 
 
 £1 U'm. 
 
 £.-) 12«. 
 
 £3 l-.!a. 
 
 £1 It^. 
 
 . 3,UW 
 
 7 
 
 £l.^ 
 
 £i:t loa. 
 1,000 
 
 » 
 
 100 
 I 
 
 CoRt of complete 
 outtit, with 
 jirovisions for 
 </no year . £r.!0 
 
 Price of dog and 
 sh'd outtit . £100 
 
 La.st steamer from 
 
 San Francisco, Au- 
 gust 30. 
 
 Days sailing from 
 
 Seattle — ^londaya 
 and Thursilays. 
 
 Totaldistancein 
 miles . 5,000 
 
 Total days re- 
 quired for 
 journey . . 90 
 
 Best time to start — 
 April 15. 
 
 The abovf is 
 from the New 
 York Journal. — 
 ■which ha.s de- 
 spatched a special 
 exjiedition to 
 Klondyke, — with 
 the dollars and 
 rents converted 
 into £ s. d. 
 
 Any one going 
 to Klondyke m.iy 
 ch(X)se his route. 
 Ho can go either 
 by the American 
 lines to Seattle, or 
 by the Canadian- 
 Paeific to Van- 
 couver. After 
 having reachetl 
 the Pacific, he 
 
 lias no choice of alternative ronto until ho reaches 
 .Tuneau. Ho can get out at Juneau if lie plca.-^es 
 and travel overland, crossing tho Chilkoot Pa.<^s and 
 following tho lino of tho rivers and lakes^ northward to 
 Klomlvke; or lie can go round about 2,y00 miles to 
 St. Mi'eiiael, and entering tho Yukon river, make his way 
 bv steamer to within a comparatively short di.stance of 
 the goldtield. :^h: Harry de Windt described the route 
 from Juneau in the 7'iinea as follows :— 
 
 The difficulties of this vovago aro only realised at Uvea, 
 100 miles fn.i. .Tuneau, wliero tho land journey eommences 
 and whore a had anchorage frequently o„nipels the traveller 
 to wade knee-doiu for a considiTable distiinco before lamlmg. 
 Dvea eon>ist3 of u rude log store and a movable town ot tents 
 occupied 1)V disru'ors bound for tho goldfiehls. A delay of 
 several davB occurs here while Indians aro procured to carry 
 
248 
 
 The Review of Reviews. 
 
 ^oh r;^0^' 
 
 From the Chicago Intfr-Octan.'] 
 
 Canada's idea or okttiko there. 
 
 tcnU and bap^ga^e to the lakes 24 miles distant over tlio 
 Chilkoot Pass, nearly 4.0011 feet high. Provinlnns niiist !«• 
 brought from Juneau, for there is nothing to bo had herf, 
 or indeed anywhere this side of Forty Mile City, tjOO miles 
 away. 
 
 The Chilkoot Pass is diiflcult, even dangerous, to those not 
 poesossed of steady nerves. Tov,rtrd8 the suiiiinit there is a 
 sheer ascent of 1,000 feet, wiiere a slip wouli' "ortainly Ik^ 
 fatal. At tliis j>oint a dense mist overtook us, liiii we reaehi'il 
 Lake Litideinann — the first of a serii's of five lakes — in safety 
 after a fatiguing tramp of fourteen conseeutive huurs through 
 half-meltod snow. Hero wo had to build our own Ujat, lirst 
 felling tl..- timber for tlio purpose. Tlio journey down the 
 lakes ocoupicil ten days, four of which were passed in I'amp 
 on Lake Bennett during u violent storm which raised a heavy 
 sea. Tlio rapids followed. One of these latter, the •'(Trnnd 
 Canon." is a mile long, and dashes through walls of rock frmu 
 50 to 100 feet high. Six miles Ixdow are the " White Horses 
 Rapids," a name which many fatal accidents have conVertid 
 into the " Miner's Grave." Hut snags mid rock.'* are every- 
 where a fruitful source of danger on this river, anil from this 
 rapid, downwaril. scarcely a ilny passed that <>ne dirt not .sci' 
 Borne cairn or wooden cross marking tlie last resting-place i if 
 some drowned pilgrim to tlie land of gold. 
 
 .Joaqnin Miller, when on liis way to Kloiidyke l)efore ho 
 reached the Chilkx)t PasB, scouted the idea of tliere 
 being any serious difficulty on the road :— 
 
 The formidable and fearful Chilkoot Pass or glaciers of .-o 
 many slippery miles in the clouds of frost and snow Ims 
 dwindled to twenty-four miles of reasimably rough mountain 
 trail by the old route to the liead-waltTs of the river, wlierc 
 wo take to the boats, rafts, and caiioi.'s, and make our way liy 
 water down to the Klondyke mines. What is most important, 
 wc And thoy have opened a new route on, or, rather, around 
 this pass; that it is only from thirty to forty miles by this 
 
 now route to thn ennoea and Vinati ; and what ii morn im- 
 portant than all, this route is ponsiblo for horrwH. 
 
 TIiIh now route of which .loaciuin spcakH (KtHHOs through 
 the Wliito Paho, which in ),(KK) foot lower than tho 
 Chilkoot and is limibercd tho entire length. It startH 
 from .Skaquay Hay, W milcH from .Tuneati, from whenoo 
 it is proposed to make a railway 8o0 miles long, Rtrikinn 
 tiio Yukon Kiver 1(K) miloB k^low Lake Limlomanii. 
 The Grand (Jafion and the Wiiito Ilorso KapidH will Iki 
 turiiel by a road and rail postage. TIio trail over this 
 now pa.s8 was to have been eoiniileted so as to bn 
 Kerviceablo for hor.ses and mules last July, but in 
 August the new nnito through which most of the Iraflie 
 was to pass into Klondyke was still dosed, with little 
 lirospect of iMiing opeiie 1 this year. By tho Chilkoot 
 l'iv>s it took Mr. ainl Mrs. lioyce just three months to 
 travel from Juneau to Forty Mile.s. They travelled ton, 
 or twelve, or fifteen miles a day, the dogs would not 
 
 stand more. 
 
 Tho sea journey along tho fjords of tho coast is very 
 fine. Joaquin Miller, whose " Songs of tho Sierras " 
 showed that ho had the jioet'rt eye for the secret of the 
 Hills, was enraptured by the splendour of tho ccencry 
 thro' gh which the mining party steamed fron Seattle to 
 Juneau : — 
 
 We are steaming up a mighty gorge, a vast, still .-ivor, wido 
 and dolorous, deep, as oiui might iningino tho river of death. 
 Not a sound, not a aign of anything at all save tho croak and 
 shifting of our own ship, or now and then a splash of a young 
 salmon breaking the glassy surface of the great river. It If. 
 simplv a great view, the greatest of tide views, it seems, fnim 
 Heattle up to this iM)iiit in tho heart of South Alaska — a 
 thousand Hudson views, with peaks and palisades set ami 
 encircled with everlasting snow. 
 
 All the day that is behind us the snow jieaks and black 
 forests of Prince of Wales Island lifted like tho Sierras between 
 us and the Pacific, ;i continuous and unbroken chain. To tin' 
 right snow and clouds lighted up the bleak steeps and peaks, 
 and blazed as tho sun battled for suprenincy as in sonir 
 majestic dream — awful, fearful as not of earth. One neeiU 
 to coin new wonls, words that are brighter, bigger, keener, 
 than common words to di scribe even a single day in Alaska. 
 
 Kvon now, long past 10 p.m., the tired and vanquished snii 
 reaches a s«ord of silver through the black tires to tho west. 
 
 
 :'/^^: 
 
 (^ \ _ B R ITT t S M 
 
 
 i 
 
 :§• 
 
 TUE l-ITl ATIO.V Of KLOMDVKK. 
 
./ 
 
 The Topic of the Month. 
 
 wlint ii morn im< 
 irwiH. 
 
 [H paHHes through 
 lower tlian tho 
 oiigth. It HtartH 
 (111, from whonoo 
 lea long, Btrikinj; 
 Liko Linilomanii. 
 I Rapids will Im 
 10 trail ovor this 
 id RO (18 to lio 
 t July, but in 
 Oflt of tho traflio 
 loscd, with littlo 
 By tho Chilkoot 
 tliruo months to 
 oy travelled ton, 
 dogB would not 
 
 ;ho coast is very 
 of tho Sierras" 
 the Kocrot of the 
 : of tho pcencry 
 d fron Seattle to 
 
 at, Htill .'Ivor, wide 
 ;lio river of death, 
 lavo tlio croak iind 
 > Hpliisli of a yoiiii)^ 
 grt'at river. It in 
 !WH, it Bporas, from 
 South AlHHka — n, 
 palisadcH set ami 
 
 ■ ])oakH and blnck 
 
 ho Siorraa botwecn 
 
 on chain. To tln' 
 
 Bteops and pcakx, 
 
 luncy aa in mnu; 
 
 arth. One need* 
 
 bigger, keener, 
 
 lay in Alaska. 
 
 (1 vanquished mimi 
 
 liroH to tho went. 
 
 249 
 
 
 
 3 R ITT t S M 
 
 
 
 ^#».- 
 
 ON THE WAY TO KLONDYKi;. 
 The Summit of the Chilkoot Vam. 
 
 I find at laat lies silently along the still waters at our feet in 
 f; bign of reluctant surrender. 
 
 a It is after they land at Juneau that the trouble liegia.s. 
 if Mr. Ladue, founder of Dawson City, thus describes the 
 '% trip :— 
 
 Leaving Juneau, you go to Dyca by way of laino Canal, and 
 
 from thero to Lake Linderinann "thirty miles on foot, or 
 ; jKirtago, as we call it. Tiie lake gives you a ride of five or 
 
 sis miles, and then follo^vs another long journey overland to 
 ,^ tho headwaters of Lake Bennett, which is twenty-eight miles 
 '■•; long. On fo<jt you go again for several luilos, and then the 
 
 caribou crossing of the river furuialies transportation for four 
 
 miles to TaxisJi Lake, where another twcnty-oue mile boat 
 , ride may be had. 
 
 1 his is followed by a weary 
 atri toll of mountainiiiirt 
 country, and then Marsh nr 
 Mud Lake is reiiched. You 
 get another iHxit riile of 
 twenty-four miles, and then 
 go down the crt-ek for twenty- 
 seven miles to Miles Canyon 
 ami to White Horse Rapids. 
 
 This is one of the most 
 (langoruus places on tho (entire 
 route, and should l>o avoided 
 by all strangers. Tho Htream 
 is full of sunken rocks, and 
 nms with tho sjieed of a mill 
 race. Passing White Horse 
 Kapids, the journey is down 
 tho river for thirty miles to 
 Lake F-abarge, where thirty- 
 one miles of navigable water 
 is found. Another short ]Kirt- 
 age and Lous River is reached, 
 where you have a two hundred 
 mile journey, which brings you 
 to Fort Selkirk. At this 
 jwint Pally and Lous Rivers 
 eome together, forming the 
 Yukon. From that ]x)int on 
 is practically smooth sailing. 
 
 From which it will be seen 
 that a long and dolorous 
 way intervenes between 
 the miner and El I3orado, 
 even after he baa eet foot 
 on the shores of tho 
 Promised Land. 
 
 The load which each 
 miner carries with him 
 varies according to means 
 and capacity. Joaquin 
 Miller, who may be re- 
 garded as an export 
 capable of reducing his 
 impedimenta to an irre- 
 dncihle minimum, carried 
 with him the following 
 kit:— 
 
 I have twenty pounds of 
 bacon, tv olve pounds of hard 
 tack, half a pound of tea. 
 I have a heavy pair of 
 blankets, the heaviest ; socks, 
 underclothing, boots, a rubber 
 blanket, a macintosh, a pound 
 of assorted nails, one hundred 
 feet of small rope, a sail au<l 
 an axe. BIy pack is forty 
 pounds all told. I have a 
 pocket - knifo and an iron 
 cup, a thermometer, and about 100 dols. „ ,, , 
 
 I hope to build a raft, carry my own pack over all tha places, 
 and travel hastily on ahead and alone. You see, I have speut 
 vcars alone in the mountains, and have been in almost all the 
 "stampedes" for tho last forty years, and know what i am 
 about. . •'■•.■. • ;; ..'•".„;* ::::|t 
 
 If that be the minimum equipment for a forced march, 
 hero is what may be regarded as adequate provision for 
 a well-to-do miner for twelve months in Klondyke. It 
 is an interesting tabte of the needs of the civilised humau 
 when encamped on the rim of the Arctic circle. The 
 total cost of the outfit only comes to £44: :— 
 
f]^ 
 
 250 
 
 The Review of Reviews. 
 
 H! 
 
 Hii 
 
 Provisions. — 75 pounds grami! .:ad sugar, 1 dozen nackagpg 
 boef extract, 10 pounds evaporati'd onions, 50 pounds cvajw- 
 rated potatoes, 50 pounds evaporated peaclics, 10 pounds evapo- 
 rated currants, 25 pounds salt, 25 pounds rollc-d outs, 50 pounils 
 cornraeal, 200 pounds breakfast bacon, 50 pounds rioo, 1 pound 
 Cayenne pepper, 1 pound black j)epper, 1 ease rondensod milk 
 10 sacks Hour, 1 bottle vinejjar, 15 jwundH dried b(;cf, 1 cuso 
 baking powder, 1 jiound mustard, 1 box enudles, 1 can nintclies, 
 20 bars of soap, Cmckers, Castile soap, 1 dozen small elioepo«, 
 25 pounds sp.ighetti, 15 pounds coiFeo, 3 pounds tea, 100 [wunds 
 bi^ans, 25 pounds of pitted plums. Total cost of i)rovisioi)s at 
 Seattle, £21. 
 
 Clothing. — Tliroo suits underwear, ono undershirt, one 
 Yukon blanket, ono summer blanket, ono dozen i)iiiiM sncka, 
 two pairs mittens, one cap, ono bug, two ovorsliirts, one jumper, 
 one pair gum boot socks, two pairs nibber boots, two pairs 
 leather shoes, hobnailed. Total. £15 Oa. 4d. 
 
 Tools ani* Cookiko Uthnsils.— Forty jionnds wiro nailH, 
 flyo pounds pitcli (for caulking biat), on(! whip saw, one ciiulk- 
 ing chisel, two pounds tallow (for caulking boat), two wedgies, 
 one handsaw, 250 ft. |-inch iiianilla rope, one compass, ono 
 knife and shcatli, ono pack strap, one brace, one slmvel, ono 
 pick and handle, two buckets, one cott'ee-pot, hooks and lines, 
 one stove, one piece sheet iron, ono revolver, belt and cnrtridges, 
 one gold pan. Total, £8 Ss. 
 
 Besides these supplies, each traveller has a case of medicino 
 that cost 388. 
 
 To get to Klondyke witli supplies for a year it is 
 estimated the miner should have « capital of from £200 
 to £250. Not an ounce of bread or bacon could last 
 August be purcliased at any of the trading posts on the 
 road to ICIondyke. Yet thousands pressed on without 
 provisions into the lone north land. If many do not 
 perish of starvatioa it will be a marvel. There is no garao 
 to Ix) had. A few hundred natives maintain a difficult 
 existence in thousands of square miles of desolation so 
 extreme that a missionary and his wife reported that 
 they could not live together during the eiglit months' 
 winter, for the presence of two fresh mouths to fill in 
 any settlement would entail famine. 
 
 VI.— HOW THEY LIVE IX KLONDYKE. 
 
 The best account I have seen as to the actual conditiom 
 of life in Klondyke was contained in a letter written by ;t, 
 young miner of the name of Connelly to his parents in 
 Nebraska. It is dated " Dawson City, Yukon Rivei-, 
 April 4th, 1897," and it is so natural and simple I quota 
 it in its entirety : — 
 
 Dear Mother and Father, — .\t last I write you a few linoii 
 to let you know where I am — in the "Land of the Midnight 
 Sun." I left Juneau, Alaska, last Winter, and was lOt) days 
 coming to this place with five dogs and 1,000 pounds of grub. 
 
 This is the best place in the world. Wages are 15 dels, per 
 day. / have a few thousand dollars, and would send them 
 to you, but there is no w^ay of doing so. 
 
 The man who takes this letter will carry it in his pocket 
 1,000 miles, to Juneau, Alaska. He starts to-night for the 
 outer world. 
 
 Mother, gold in this place is no gond — grub is the thing. 
 Bacon sells for 2 dols. per pound, and Hour tJO dols. per sack. 
 I will come licmo in two year.-j with money to keep uu all the 
 rest of our lives, if I have my bealtli. 
 
 There were four in our party when wo left Alaska. Ono 
 died and wo brought him 700 miles on a sled. Wu work dogs 
 hero as you work liorses and cattle iu Nebraska. 
 
 This is a wcmderful country. The Winters are cold— 00 to 
 80 degrees below zero. Wo have throe short Summer moutlis 
 to work ill. From Juno to the last part of Seiiteinlwr. There 
 is no night the most of the Summer, but in the Winter wo 
 have scarcely any sun. On Christinas Day wo only have about 
 three hours of sunshine. 
 
 I liavo bought a claim for 0,000 dols.. paid 2.000 dols. down, 
 7,000 dols. to be paid ut bedrock. This is Winter digging; 
 
 ON THE WAY TO KLONDYKE. 
 
 the ground is frozen forty feet deep. Wo drift as wo do in 
 coal mines, put a fire in the base and lot it thaw, then shovel 
 it out in Summer. We wash it out in sluice boxes. 
 
 This creek is the richest in the world. Two men shovelled 
 out 18,000 dols. in two hours. The place was struck last 
 August by an Indian. The worst thing about this place i."* 
 there is nothing to eat. Wo have nothing at all but bacon 
 and flour. There is considerable scurvy here, one-third of tho 
 men being aflfected with it. A man cannot live in this plaoo 
 a year for less than 1,000 dols. There is a steanboat that 
 usually comes up once a year, but it has not been here for two 
 years. At present there aro about 700 men in the Yukon 
 country. Quite a number of these will depart from here with 
 big stakes as soon ns the boat comes. 
 
 I gave a man 2 dols. to take this letter to Juneau, and he 
 will post it there. It will be this time next year before I will 
 know what stake I will have to go homo on. Three years is 
 enough time to stay here. It will make a young man old to 
 live on tho grub we do for that length of time. Although wo 
 have plenty of gold here, it can only buy bacon and flour. 
 
 I would like to hear from all tho folks at home, and when I 
 come you will think a Count of Monte Oristo has struck tho 
 town. 
 
 At this time of the year there is no night at all— sunshine 
 for eight straight days. It is well named tho " Land of the 
 Midnight Sun." 
 
 Father, keep up a little longer and wo will be all right — 
 that is, if golil can make us so. You would latigh to see me 
 now, as my hair is as long as " Wild Bill's." This is the only 
 jilace iu the world where a man can make money, but it takes 
 u strong man to do it. I think I could ^at a barrel of fruit. 
 J< man came here this spring with a lot of eggs and scdd tin la 
 fur 75 cents apiece. If moth r were hero with her hens she 
 could make a fortune. Well, 1 will bring this lotter to a close. 
 Hoping to hear fron you soon. I am your loving sou, 
 
 Tim Connelly. 
 
 There is tho reality of things as they are. Wo also 
 liavo a woman's account of life at the camp iu tho 
 interview witl'. Mrs. Boyco, tlio bride who spent lior 
 lionoymoou in Klondyke. I (iuot« tho salient passages 
 from her narrative for the sake of the woman's view or 
 things which it affords :— 
 
 AV'hat advice would I give to n woman about going to 
 Alaf^ka, she said to-day, why, to stay away, of course. It's 
 no place for a woman, 1 mean for a woman alone; one who 
 goes to make a living or a fortuni . It's much better for a 
 man though, if ho has a wife along. 
 
The Topic of the Month. 
 
 251 
 
 drift as wo do in 
 thaw, then shovel 
 
 3 bf)XGS. 
 
 Cwo men shovelletl 
 
 was struck last 
 ibout this placo is 
 g at all but bacon 
 ro, onc-tliird of tho 
 
 live in this place 
 
 1 a steanboat that 
 t been hero for two 
 rien in the Yukon 
 lart from bore with 
 
 to Juneau, and he 
 ; year before I will 
 m. Three years is 
 young man old to 
 me. Although wo 
 ,con and flour, 
 home, and when I 
 Bto has struck tho 
 
 t at all— sunshine 
 . tho " Land of the 
 
 nil be all right — 
 lid laui^h to see nio 
 ' This is the only 
 noney, but it takes 
 ,t a barrel of fruit. 
 8ggs and sold tlieni 
 I with her hens she 
 liis lotter to a close, 
 loving sou, 
 Tim CoNNELiiY. 
 
 oy are. Wo also 
 ;he camp iu tho 
 3 who spent lier 
 salient pas.sages 
 ; woman's view o;" 
 
 in about going to 
 
 xy, of course. It's 
 
 lan alone; one who 
 
 much bettor for a 
 
 Tho men are n^t miifh at cooking up there, and that is tho 
 reason they ^ufter w ;h stomach troubles, and, as some say 
 they did, with scurvy. After a man has worked hurd ail day 
 in tho digging's Ik; doesn't feel much like cooking a nice meal 
 when ho goes to his cal>in cold, tired and hungry, and iinds no 
 Are in the slove and all the food frozen. 
 
 I took an outfit of clothes made especially for the trip. 
 ]My outfit cost about 250 dols. It included three suits ot 
 everything right straight through. I had very lieavy woollen 
 underwear and knitted woollen stockings. My skirts were 
 made short, only a little below the knee. I had a heavy fur 
 coat of martin, a fur cap, fur gloves and the heaviest shawl I 
 could got. Strange as it may seem, furs cost leas and are 
 better here than in Alaska. 
 
 A fur robe is necessary. The fur gloves can bo had up there 
 better than he.'c, however, and cost about 3 dols. Moccasins 
 are worn instead of shoes through tho winter, and rauclues 
 when it is thawing and wet. They aro both to bo had there 
 at from 1 dol.'to -t dols. or 5 dols. a pair. Tho moccasins aro 
 mado of fur seal, " with the furry side inside and the inside 
 out." 
 
 Tho muclucs — 
 
 that's tho native 
 
 name for them — 
 are tho mud moc- 
 casins. The soles 
 are made water- 
 proof with seal oil. 
 If a woman keeps 
 her feet warm her 
 health is pretty 
 safe, and for that 
 reason, in addition 
 to the woollen 
 stockings and nioa- 
 casins, I wore also 
 flannel insoles. In 
 all tho time I was 
 in Alaska I never 
 snffered from frost- 
 bite — didn't oven 
 get my fingers 
 nipped or my nose 
 — and I wore no 
 veil all the time 
 I was there. The 
 supplies for Mr. 
 Boyco and myself 
 included his 
 clothes, my small 
 furs, our stove and 
 
 all our food; cost about 800 dols. and weighed about two 
 thousand pounds. Wo did not confine ourselves to a bean 
 and bacon diet, We had plenty of canned ineats, hams, 
 b!,.con, dried fruits, and vegetables and all sorts of canned 
 things besides. 
 
 It took us throe months to travel from Junoau to Forty Mile. 
 Ai night we pitched our tents, made a bed of boughs, put 
 blankets on, ndled oursi'lvrs in blankets, covered ourselves 
 with tho fur robes, and slept well. Wo had four pairs of 
 iieuvy blankets, and I took two small pillows along. 
 
 Our bedding was always packed in an oil-skin cover, and 
 BO kept dry all the way. We got to Forty Mile in June, aud 
 W'int to tho Klondyke iu October. I stayed at tho post, now 
 Dawson City, wliiie the boys went on to build a cabin. It 
 tcuk us two days to walk the nineteen miles to tho diggings. 
 Tiiore was about an inch of water on tho ice, and I slipped 
 aud slid iu every direction going over. 
 
 When I got there the Uouso had no door, windows, or floor, 
 and I had to^tand around outside until a hole was cut for mo 
 to git in through. Wo bad atworoam house, and after it was 
 fixed uj) it was very conifoitablo for Klondyke. Tiie boyt had 
 a cai-jjet and curtain sent over for mi-. We had nil the cah u- 
 uiado furniture wo needed, and with a bi^ 1 of long, little sheci 
 iron ati'iars, with two holes on top and a drum to bake in. The 
 
 wood is so full of pitch — it's tho meanest, knottiest, scrubbiest 
 wood I over saw — that the lire burns up and goes out if yu 
 turn your back on it for a minute. Tho water we used wa." ill 
 snow or ice, and had to be thawoil. If any one wanted a ariuk, 
 a chunk of ice had to bo thawed and cooled again. 
 
 When we wanted a bath wo melted ice, heated tho water, 
 got tho pan in that we used for washing the gold, aud did our 
 bathing in that. I was not sick once during all the time I 
 was there, except slight indispositions, and I'm twenty-tivo 
 l)ounds heavier now than when 1 went ui), and feel better 
 than ever. 
 
 Eight months of the year it is dark up thore, with only 
 about four hours' light cacli day. Tlioro is a grey twilight, 
 and the men work through that, but we often had to light 
 tho lamps at half-past one or two in tho afternoon. We had 
 oil lamps, but tho majority use candles. 
 
 In the winter the Yukon is one of the healthiest places for 
 
 any one going there with sound health, but when tho summer 
 
 comes it is unhealthy. It is damp, the water is bad, it gets 
 
 very hot, and tin; mosquitos are awful. 
 
 Coming away from tlic mines wo made the distance between 
 
 them and Dawson 
 in one night, but 
 the trail is so bad 
 that, notwithstand- 
 ing I wore a skirt 
 only knee lengtli, I 
 was covered with 
 mud to the waist. 
 Dawson may Jtavo 
 been a quiet city 
 once, but , when I 
 came through it it 
 was iu such a rowdy 
 state that iU was 
 impossible for, me 
 to go to my meals, 
 and I had to liave 
 them sent to me. 
 Men and women — 
 there were about 
 tifty women there 
 — wore carousing 
 cjntinually. The 
 peoj)lo who fol- 
 lowed on the heels 
 of the good steady- 
 going, hard-work- 
 ing miners are 
 among the worst 
 up there. 
 Would I go to tho Yukon again ? Never. I am glad I had 
 the experience I really did. It was worth the roughing, but 
 once is enough. 
 
 The mean temperature of Klondyke for the four 
 seasons is as follows: Spring, 11-22 ; Summer, 59-67; 
 Autumn, 17-37 ; Wintar, 3080 below zero. 
 
 VII.— HOW THE GOLD IS WOX. 
 
 The manner in which mining is carried on in Klondyke 
 is thus described by Dr. W. H. Dall, one of the Curators 
 of the National Museum at Washington :— 
 
 Tho yellow metal is not found in pa .ing quantity iu tho 
 mnin river, but in tho small streams wiiich cut through tho 
 mountains on either side. These practically wash out tho 
 gold. The mud and mineral matter is carried into the main 
 river, while tho gold is left on tho rough bottoms of these 
 side streams. In most cases the gold iii-s at the liottom of 
 thick gravel deposits. The gold is covered by frozen gravel 
 in the winter. During the summer, until the snow is all 
 melted, the surface is covered by muddy torrents. When tho 
 snow is all milted and the spriugs begin to freeze, the streams 
 dry up. At the ap()roach of winter, iu order to get ac tho 
 
 A VIEW OF KLONDYKE. 
 
wmm 
 
 255 
 
 The Review of Reviews. 
 
 \ 
 
 gold, tUe mincrB find it necessary to dig into the graved 
 formation. 
 
 Formerly tbey stripped the gravel oflf until tlioy came to 
 tlio gold. Now tliey sink a shaft to the Imttora of ihe gravel 
 and tunnel along underneath in tlio gold-bearing layer. The 
 way in which this is done is interesting, as it has to be carried 
 on in cold weatlier, whoii everything is frozen. 
 
 The miners build fires over tiio area where they wish to 
 work, and keei) these lighted over that territory for the spaeo 
 of twenty-four hours. Then, at the expiration of tliis peritnl, 
 the gravel will be molted and softened to a deptii of perhaps 
 six inches. This is then taken off, and other fires built until 
 the gold-bearing layer is readied. When the shaft is down 
 that far fires are built at the bottom, against the sides of the 
 layer, and tunnels made in this manner. 
 
 Blasting would do no good, on account of the hard naturo 
 of tiie material, and would blow out just as out of a gun. The 
 matter taken out containing the gold is piled up until 
 spring, when the torrents come down, and if> panned and 
 cradled by these. It is certainly very hard labour. 
 
 Mr. W. Ogilvic, Dominion Land Surveyor, after describ- 
 ing the ordinary process of washing for gold by the pan, 
 the rocker, and the use of mercury, says : — 
 
 A great many of the miners spend their time in the summer 
 prospecting, and in tlio winter resort to a method lately adopted 
 and whicn is called " burning." They make iires on the sur- 
 face, thus thawing the ground unC.l the bed rock is reached, 
 then drift and tunnel. The pay diri is brought to the surface 
 and heaped in a pile until spring, when water can be obtained. 
 The sluice boxes are then set up anci the dirt is washed out, 
 thus enabling the miner to work advantageously and profitably 
 the year around. This method has been found very satis- 
 f»ctory in places where the pay strer.k is at any great depth 
 from the surface. In this way the complaint is overcome 
 wliioL has been so commonly advanced by the miners and 
 others, that in tke Yukon several months in the year are lost 
 in idleness. Winter usually sets in very soon after the middle 
 of September and continues until the beginning of June, and 
 is decidedly cold. The mercury frequently falls to l!0 degrees 
 
 below zero; but in the interior there is sni little humidity in 
 the atmosphere that the cold is more easily esdured tliau on 
 the coast. Iti the absence of thermometers, miners, it is said, 
 leove their mercury out all night. When they find it frozen 
 in the morning they conclude that it is too cold to work, and 
 stay at home. 
 
 Another miner says : — 
 
 The lied rocks arc throe feet apart. In the lower bod the 
 gold i* as black as a black cat, anil in the upper bed the gold 
 is as bright as any you ever saw. 
 
 No more miners are going to Klondyke this year, and 
 Imfore long we shall hear many sad and terrible tales of 
 the hardships which have been endured by those who 
 have got in and who cannot get out. 
 
 The Canadian Government appears to have taken a wise 
 and liberal view of its duties. There has been no attempt 
 to play the part of dog in the manger, nor even to apply 
 to the miners from the United States the same rule as 
 to alien labour as is enforced against Canadians in the 
 Union. Tliere was at one time some talk of levying 
 a royalty of ten or fifteen per cent., but this has been 
 dropped. It remains to be seen whether the proposal 
 to reserve for the Government alternate strips of the 
 auriferous territory can be carried out. The probability 
 is that it will fail. The Canadian authorities in the Klon- 
 dyke can hardly assort the rights of the State, at least 
 until they are in a better position to fulfil its obligation.«. 
 The problem is an interesting one. Miners in places as 
 far awiy as the Klondyke will probably display an 
 ignorant impatience of taxation whenever it is levied in 
 excess of the necessities of meeting the cost of local 
 administration. This would be manitestcd with equal 
 decision whether the seat of the taxing power were 
 Ottawa, Washington, or St. Petersburg. It is only at 
 Johannesburg that a prosperous mining community 
 allows itself to be fleeced without mercy to fill tho coffers 
 of a hostile and alien Governm.'ut. 
 
 I 
 
 From tbe .Vcii' York Ihrah1.'\ 
 
 WHAT PaOFITETH IT? 
 
 [July 24, 1^9". 
 
 145I5(i 
 
 t 
 
 1