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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la m^thode. 1 2 3 4 5 6 n 111 ilDS If 1 ! AND .' ilvi {\\\\\\ HOW TO GET THERE. I BY DR. E. O. CREWE, Author of "Spills," An Amazon Id^ll, An Arctic Narrative, Etc., Etc. CHICAGO: O. C. Cole & Co., Publishers, 312-167 Dearborn St. COPYRIGHTED 1897 BY O. C. COLE & CO. .-:■>' PREFACE. The hundreds of prospective miners who have be- sieged the author for information concernin*^ the recent remarkable discovery of gold in the Klondyke and other tributaries of the Yukon promp<^"d the publica- tion of this little book, out of sheer self defense, as it vv^as absolutely impossible to give every eager calle*" all the information he sought. Many of my readers will wonder why I left the yellow fields of the Yukon with its incomparable opportunities for acquiring wealth for the struggle for existence in the great crowded cities of civilization, and I can with all honesty say, that a longing for the savory dishes of home and an uncon- trollable desire to spend the gold I had found in the rivers of the Artie region were the only factors in the cause of my departure. I trust that the advice I give to my readers will be of immense value to the thou- sands that will soon occupy the at present unnamed gulches and creeks of this miner's mecca. Pacific N. W. History Dept. pROVfMCLAL. LIBRARY VICTORIA, B. C. PREFACE Would be prospectors must be prepared to meet with many disappointments, prepared to experience well-nigh unbearable hardships, encounter innumerable difficulties in the mad search for gold, but if deter- mined to keep up heart in spite of every reverse, deter- mined to find the yellow dust which is conceded to be hidden by the black sterile soil of so many of these Artie creeks, I see no reason why many, very many, should not acquire at least a competency. E. O. C. 2et ice )le 3r- ?r- be !se MINING CAnPS OF THE YUKON. The most important mining camps on the Yukon River are located on the numerous tributaries of Forty Mile Creek, Sixty Mile Creek, Birch Creek, (Circle City) Stewart River, Pelly River and Klondyke (the most recent discovery has been on Bonanza Creek, a tributary of the Klondyke River.) I shall refer to the camps in the order of their dis- covery and confine myself to a g^eneral idea of the value of the various creeks, appraised by the quantity of gold these creeks have turned out. The mines, it must be understood, are not on the creeks or rivers named, but on theu tributaries. ' STEWART RIVER. Gold was first discovered on Stewart Rive- in 1883, and thousands of dollars have been taken out of its many bars in comparatively recent times. The numerous tributaries of this river have been very meagerly prospected, owing to the distance from the base of supplies, and my individual opinion is that before many seasons have passed, we shall hear of one of the most extraordinary discoveries of gold on some of the tributaries of this river. GOLD FIELDS OF THE YUKON. When this event takes place, it will make it well . worth while for the two Yukon Tradin*^ Companies, who have storehouses at various points alon<^ the river to cstahlish a more efficient traclin p£tV/,^ T, RO»v» To Hybi 5eiLK/^K. \m\ ill GOLD FIELDS OF THE YUKON. 17 found on nearly every creek, in nearly every trulch that empties into the mighty Yukon, and even up in the headwaters of the river itself, and no man who has lived in the country and prospected any of its streams will doubt the ring of truth in the marvelous reports that arrive daily of the fabulous wealth of the Klondyke District. There is no doubt that some of the rich finds are very much exaggerated, but one familiar with the field will not be totally incredulous. At the present moment, the biggest yield of gold in the Yukon Valley is un- doubtedly in the Klondyke District, but no man may say that the gold producing area is limited to the Klon- dyke and its tributaries, or any of the creeks or rivers from which gold has been taken out in large quanti- ties, because every foot of the Yukon River from its source to its mouth, a distance of about 2,200 miles contains gold, in too small quantities, however, to war- rant the miner spending his time in working the bars of this river. The fine gold found in the banks and bars of the Yukon is without doubt brought dovvU by the thousand creeks and streams that help to swell the mighty flood of water that pours into the ocean with such irresistible force. So universal is the deposit of gold in the mud banks of the Yukon that even on the shores of Behring Sea, one hundred miles from the mouth of the river, gold is found in the sands. It is in the unknown, unnamed creeks that the thou- i8 GOLD FIELDS OF THE YUKON. sands of miners will uncover the precious metal, and I look forward to the day when there will not be an unprospected, unnamed stream in the f out the frozen jrroinul, sinking down to ])e(l rock and taking out the pay streak, wliich is (Unuped in some convenient and safe place to wait for the spring freshet, when a whole winter's find can he sluiced in a few days. It is un- necessary for me to say that while sinking the shaft to hed rock every foot of the grouu' nust be prospect A, and if the prospect shows no ly dirt the claim is abandoned, and another one sought. Placer mining* in summer in the Klondyke is to all intents and purposes the same as it is in any other placer country. A few words more and I will come to the practical part of this book, and which you must follow closely in order to acquire any benefit from my advice. Don't go to the Yukon unless you are stout-hearted and strong limbed. Don't go to the Yukon unless you have at least one year's provisions with you, which will give you at least a year's independence, and put you a — tenderfoot — on an equal footing with the old timer. THE WAY TO GO. I! Klondyke, or any of the camps on the Yukon River can be reached by two routes, both beginning either at Seattle or San Francisco. At either port, one can take j I T GOLD FIELDS OF THE YUKON. 21 by an ocean steamer for St. Michael's Island, and then j^o V)y river ])oat up the Yukon to any desired point, as far towards its source as Fort Selkirk. Or, he may ^o by steamer from either point to Juneau ; and from there can take a small steamer to Dyea (the Rustler is the most popular) and then climb over Chilkoot Pass to Lake Linderman, a distance of about twenty-eight miles, and following the chain of lakes to the Lewis River, which at Fort Selkirk empties into the Yukon, down the Yukon until the Klondyke is reached. The former line of travel is little used, save by those who are disinclined to brave the hardships of a journey over land, or by the wives of some of the more for- tunate fellows who have made a comfortable ' pile ' and have sent for the plucky women to share with them the discomforts of a rigorous Arctic climate until their claim is worked out. The overland route is the one I shall pilot my readers over, and from my own and ninety- five per cent of the Yukoners' point of view, it is the best. The accompanying maps and diagrams of the journey and points of interest are fairly accurate, and will with the ■ explicit directions I shall give you be quite sufficient for one with ordinary intelligence to serve as a guide to the new El Dorado. Presuming we have reached the port of Seattle, we shall take one of the hume%is steamers plying be- tween there and Juneau. We will not weary our i 22 GOLD FIELDS OF THE YUKON. !i I iilM readers by jj^ivinj^ the details of the journey up the picturesque Sound to Juneau, but will at once disem- bark at that thriving little niiniiijj^ town, after a pleas- ant four days' voyage, and assemble our baggage pre- paratory to re-embarking on the saucy little Rustler. A short run of a hundred miles lands us within a mile of llealy's store at Dyea, and here our actual journey commences. Here we must bid farewell to steamships and postoffices, and all the pleasant adjuncts of civili- zation, for six or seven hundred long weary miles, longings for savory morsels from this moment until we again reach civilization will be in vain. We must now overlook our baggage, and find whether or not we have left anything liehind us in Juneau. We must make sure that we have a very coiupletc outfit, for although there is a store at this point, it is extremely difficult to obtain many necessary articles for the jour- ney, the demand made on the storekeeper frequently being greater than his supply. We shall devote a page or two to "outfitting" in due time. We must presume that we are now equipped for the journey. At Dyea we engage Indians to pack our outfit in one of their dugouts, and tow it to the head of canoe navi- gation on the Dyea river, a distance of about six miles. If possible, we shall cajole them into packing all our goods over the Pass t j Lake Linderman, about twenty- two Ci twenty-three miles from the head of canoe navi- i ( GOLD FIELDS OF THE YUKON. 23 I gatioii. The recognized "packing rate" from Dyea to Lake Linc^rmann is fifteen cents per pound, and the average load for the adult Indian is one hundred and twenty poi'r.ds. Very often boys and women are pressed in::o service, carrying from fifty to one hundred pounds each. We have hired a sufficient number of Indians to make the journey in one trip, otherwise we should have had to "double trip"; that is take a pack for a mile or two and return for another one, until the whole baggage is over the pass and on the shores of the lake, from which point we shall have little difficulty in getting it down the river. Having arrived at the head of canoe navigation, we follow a well defined trail leading towards the summit (I am speaking of the summer journey), until we reach the canyon; here we camp, The following day, making an early start, we follow the trail up the canyon and camp that night at Stone House. This is a much frequented camping ground for " packers." It was so named because an over- hanging rock on the line of march lends the pile of rocks an appearance of a civilized abode ; it affords very good shelter in stormy weather, and as it is often impossible to cross the Divide on stormy days it is much used by packers while waiting for fair weather before attempting the fearful toil up the ascent. The morning of our attempt to cross the Divide we make an early start, about 3 or 4 o'clock, and a mile or iiiiii 'I 24 GOLD FIELDS OF THE YUKON. two after leaving Stone House we come suddenly upon the roof-like Perrier Glacier, which is the actual Divide, which looms up in front of us as we slowly climb the snow-covered slope which leads to the foot of the ridge. We rest as seldom as possible, because it is very necessary that we should cross the Divide in ore march and make camp three or four miles on the other side of it, where we shall be able to pick up a few sticks and dried moss to do our camp cooking with. Having arrived at the foot of the now almost per- pendicular mountain of ice and half thawed snow, we struggle upwards, sometimes up to our knees in slush, sometimes clinging with hands and feet to the slippery mountain. Zigzagging from one side to the other until abou . half way up the ascent we drop our packs and survey the remainder of our journey up the glacier. On our left hand further progress is im- possible : a perpendicular wall of deep blue ice towers up a thousand feet above the actual Pass ; on our right, we notice a pile of broken rocks that have crumbled from the cliff that forms the right hand side of the canyon. Towards these rocks we slowly pick our way, over which we slowly wend, towards the base of the cliff, and having gained this comparatively comfortable foothold our progress is quite easy and fairly rapid. Ever keeping along the base of the cliff, ever getting nearer the crest of the ridge, we have little difficulty in managing our somewhat bulky pack. I ! , ily upon e actual 3 slowly the foot ecause it )ivide in > on the up a few ig with, ost per- low, we :n slush, slippery le other ir packs up the is ini- i towers ur right, rumbled ; of the •ick our rds the iratively asy and of the we have cy pack. '111; !l lii l! m Ml GOLD FIELDS OF THE YUKON. 27 and almost before we are aware of it we "have crossed the Divide and are over the most laborious part of our journey. Of course, if more than one trip is necessary the as- cent will consume much more time. One should easily make the journey from Dyea to Lake Linder- mann 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 descent 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, we 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 in.o Lake Lindermann. As soon as we fi.' 1 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 morning as early as possible, we break camp and start with our pack toward Lake Lindermann. 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. Since our last jour- ney over this route, some very enterprising fellows II Ij'ii ■ I! !i! Iliili illll 28 GOLD FIELDS OF THE YUKON. have built 5 saw mill in the vicinity of Lake Linder- mann, and are making lioats to sell to the miners vv^ho desire to make all the speed possible in getting to the mines. The price of a boat, thirty feet long, is $75.00, but if we do not desire to pay so much money for a boat, we may purchase from the saw mill men, lumber at $100 per 1,000 feet. We shall find that 500 feet will make a boat large enough to carry lour men and their outfits down the lakes and rivers. I shall devote a page or two to boat building. The miners use a very peculiarly shaped boat, and a little instruction will enable any man at all handy with tools to construct one in a few hours, pre /ided he can purchase the boards from the saw mill. We shall therefore buy a boat, or boards to make one with, if possible, and proceed on our way to the El Dorado. If, on the other hand, there is a scarcity of lumber in the vicinity, we shall pack our outfit along the right hand shore of Lake Lindermann until we strike good timber, and shall there make camp, and whipsaw enough boards out of the trees that we have felled to build our craft. The naming of the craft is left to any member of the party who may be guiding it down the river. Three or four days will easily suflice for us to get out all our lumber and build our boat. We have ))rought the necessary tools, etc., for constructing the boat, from Seattle or Juneau, and have only to take advantage of the vast quantities of good timber that line the shores of all the ■e" GOLD FIELDS OF THE YUKON. 29 Linder- lers who f^ to the ney for a 1, lumber 500 feet men and ill devote rs use a ction will truct one ards from or boards our way there is a pack our idermann ;re make the trees aming of 10 may be days will nber and necessary Seattle or the vast of all the ' lakes. Having launched our boat and loaded her with the provisions, etc., we have brought with us, we sail or row along the right hand shore of the lake for about seven miU >, taking every opportunity for making cut- offs across the numerous bays that indent the shores* When we perceive that we are nearing the end of the lake, we look out for signs of a well-defined trail, lead- ing from the right hand shore of this lake over to Lake Bennett. We shall make a portage of about half a mile and re-launch our boat in Lake Bennett. There is a river about a mile long connecting the two lakes, but we shall not attempt to run these rapids, because it is too dangerous, the short river being full of jagged rocks, and we cannot afford to take any risks in such a coun- try as we "are in. Many prospectors who journey by way of Chilkoot Pass, and must perforce build their own boats, frequently make a raft at the head of Lake Lindermann and sail the raft down to the portage and abandon it there, and carry their goods to Lake Ben- net, where there is excellent timber for boat building. Having made the portage (which will not delay us more than two hours), we proceed down the right hand shore of Lake Bennett for about twenty-six miles, and we shall then find ourselves in a sluggish stream, about three miles long, connecting Lake Bennett with Lake Takou. Of course, we shall camp at any point where night or desire overtakes us, and if we have a 4 I H'li l|lllt I;: '' I 30 GOLD FIELDS OF THE YUKON. gill net alon<^ with us, we shall he very liable to GOLD FIELDS OF THE YUKON. 35 soon learns how to handle a boat in the Yukon, and is easily accustomed to the use of the paddle after the fashion of the Indians. It is quite possible that we have traded with the Indians for a number of fish, so we shall not tarry on our way. A run of about thirty miles brings us to the mouth of the Ilootalinqua ; this stream, by the way, is reported as being very rich in fine gold, but we have never yet heard of any one taking out a sufficient quantity of pay dirt to warrant a return to its banks, and of all the dreary, desolate districts of the Yukon Valley, the Hootalinqua is the worst. We heard of a party of six miners packing over the Chilkoot Pass and down the lakes to the mouth of the Ilootalinqua, and took with them 4,000 pounds of provisions, determined to stay and prospect its creeks until they did find gold. Nothing more was ever heard of the party. Whether they struck rich deposits of gold or were food for some of the many wild animals that inhabit the upper Hootalinqua, I cannot say, but I am inclined to believe that after put- ting in a couple of winters of dead work they returned to Juneau thoroughly disheartened and disgusted with the country. We shall not do any prospecting on our way down to the Klondyke, but shall content ourselves with observing the various points of interest or taking notes for future reference. We shall probably be able to see a moose or two on our way down, so we 36 GOLD FIELDS OF THE YUKON. Ill, ili'ii.ili I i must see that the rifles are in a handy place, and if we stop at nij^ht to camp, we might try to get a bite or two (fish I mean, not mosquitos — we shall have plenty of bites from these vicious little beggars). A run of twenty-five miles from the mouth of the Hootalinqua will bring us to Cassiar Bar. Many thousands of dol- lars have lieen taken out of this bar, but it will not pay us to work it now. Time was when a man could afford to stay on the Cassiar Bar and wait a month for low water, and take out a sufiicient quantity of gold to furnish him with supplies for all winter, in a very few days, but our time is too precious, and it now only pays to work when the bar is at very low water, and before we could get out much " dist," winter would be upon us, and we should not l)e able to reach Klon- dyke in time for the spring rush. We should be frozen in, and at the best, our winter would be a very miseral)lc one. A few seasons ago, a party of miners brought down the river a dredge, having packed that cumbersome piece of machinery over the Divide and put in a whole season trying to make a stake out of this rich, but obstinate bar, without much success. Repo' .. came down the river that they were dredging gold nuggets by the bucketful, but as a matter of fact the same winter I saw one of the party who owned a fourth interest in the dredger, behind a bar of a different type at Forty Mile, where the water is always low, and he GOLD FIELDS OF THE YUKON. 37 did not strike me as particularly prosperous. From Cassiar Bar, a run of aliout fifty miles brings us to the mouth of the Little vSalmon River, so named because salmon rarely are found as hi named by Lieut. Schwatka) on account of the mu.S" ri rhythm of the water as it runs over the shallow bottom on the left hand side of th ■ river. To run these rapids is mere child's play ; ah we !;a,'c to do is to keep to the GOLD FIELDS OF THE YUKON. 39 ne snow • here is lich we channel, keep in of the ipids as -t of the : Fin*rer ing post. George ; ile or so the way t Tudian ■ve river? , I'o,' see i,rt:;/i.-rise. itt n, ^nd out good jea'n was y as any we find mmed hy i rh; thm )m on the rapids is ;ep to the right hand side of the river, after leaving Five Fin- ger Rapids and we shall pass through Rink Rapids, without knowing it, so far as turhulence of the water is concerned. Now, we have clear sailing all the way down the river to the Klondyke, all the dangerous points are passed, and we shall soon he mingling with the crowd of fortune hunters at Dawson City. About sixty-five miles below Five Fingers, we arc at the mouth of the Pelly River. Its past history and future prospects, we have talked about before, so we will just run across the river and see how 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 established trading posts along the river. Before this time, I believe he was em- ployed by the Hudson Bay Company as a post trader at one of the northern stations. Wishing good bye to our Selkirk friends, a quick uneventful run of one hundred and twenty 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. We do not tarry here, however, as we are in a hurry to get to Dawson City, and after making about sixty-five miles more, we find ourselves at the new El Dorado — Dawson City, where we propose to tie up awhile and look around us, or go 40 GOLD FIELDS OF THE YUKON. ihi on clown to Forty Mile Creek and try our luck there. Here, we shall part company, but if you are deter- mined to <^o on further down the river,jirospecting the multitude of creeks which empty into the Yukon be- fore reachinj^ Circle City, y^u will find nothing to hin- der your progress. The river from Forty Mile to Circle City is half a mile wide, and has a current of about five miles an hour. If, after reaching Circle City, you have made up your mind to go to the mines in that district, it will be necessary for you to pack your goods a distance of about twelve miles to Birch Creek, and then ascend that stream for about sixty miles when you will have arrived at Mastodon Creek, the most remarkable creek in the Yukon Valley. REMARKS. This is a summer journey and may be made by weaving Juneau between June ist and August 15th. If the trip, however, is made in the early spring the supplies must include a Yukon sled, which may be pur- chased in Juneau for about $8 or $9, and instead of having to pack our outfit up the Dyea through the Canyon and over the summit, on our shoulders, we shall be able to pack six times that much on our sleds and haul it up the creeks and rivers and over the snow that lies in the canyon, making the ascent of the Pass remarkably easy, and we shall arrive at Lake Linder- mann in much quicker time than though we had to pack our goods. Until the middle of April the lakes are frozen, so that we may push on down towards the Lewis River in easy stages of about twenty miles per day until we reach a point where we decide to locate our permanent camp until the ice breaks up and we can follow its course down the Lewis and Yukon Rivers. It is necessary to select a location where the timber is thick and of good size, because we shall now have to 41 42 GOLD FIELDS OF THE YUKON. make our boat. There is no saw mill nearer than Sixty Mile Creek. By starting about the la :er end of March we shall easily be able to sled our goods over the ice as far as Lake LaBarge. We shall probably reach that lake about the 15th or 20th of April, and fill in the interim to while away the tedium of the long wait. We must build our boat. We have already selected the location for a permanent camp and pro- ceed to build a saw pit. This is done by selecting two trees within a few feet of each other and spiking a log- across them at a height of about eight feet. Fifteen ffcct from the trees we erect a similar structure, form- ing a pair of trestles for the log which we shall have to saw into boards before we can go any further on our journey. Selecting four or five good sized trees we fell them and trim off the small branches and limbs and square one side of them with our adze or axe. We then roll this log on our saw pit and proceed to rip it into boards. This is very laborious work and rather apt to make you wish yourself back again in a saw-mill country. However, three days will suffice for us to saw out a sufiicient quantity of lumber to build a boat large enough to carry a party of four down the river. We have brought with us from Juneau, nails and pitch and oakum, and finish off our boat in a workman- like manner, making it thoroughly water tight by calking the seams with oakum and putting on our pitch. Some miners prefer to wait for the breaking up GOLD FIELDS OF THE YUKON. 43 than id of over ably dfill long^ eady pro- ^ two of the ice at Lake Takou, because of the good hunting to be found in that vicinity. The timber found all around this lake is well adapted for boat- making, being of very good size and free from limbs for thirty feet from the roots. It is not advisable for the traveler to leave the lake shores for any great distance on account of the oppor- tunities there are for losing oneself. The forest is v. >*y dense and lakes and land are all covered with snow, and, there being no trails, one might experience difli- culty in finding one's camp. In following the ice down the river don't keep too close to it or you may be unable to get your boat out of the river if any ice comes behind from any of the other rivers. Many men have been left without boat or outfit by an accident of this kind, and one or two have lost their lives. No man in his senses will take any unnecessary risks in his journey down the Yukon, and whih^ the practice of running some of the rapids and being altogether careless is very common in this country, I think that he who takes every precaution for his personal safety will do quite as well in this rough and tumble country as he who rushes pell-mell into and through everything. One is very far from aid in case of any accident happening. A little caution, mixed with lots of determination, will carry a man through lots of tight places. ;:. ' !i 44 GOLD FIELDS OF THE YUKON. WHAT TO TAKE. A man who intends to try his hick in the \"ukon should not take less than one year's j^rub, and if he has a few hundred dollars besides his outfit, so much the better for him, as it is a country of uncertainties. An outfit she Id consist of the followinj^ essentials, and if I omit any articles that the prospector thinks he cannot get along without, let him add them, but let him not forget that it is the weight he must try to economize on. ONE YEAR'S PROVISIONS. 400 lbs. of flour, 100 lbs. drijd peaches, 100 lbs. side bacon, 200 lbs. beans, 10 lbs. of tea, 10 lbs. cof- fee, y^ lb. pepper, 10 lbs. salt, (saccharine 5 oz.) ; this is used instead of sugar, one oz. of it is about equal to 100 lbs. of sugar; i lb. of citric acid, especially palat- able in the Yukon ; ice cold lemonade can easily be made from citric acid and a tiny pinch of saccharine ; 50 lbs. corn meal, 10 lbs. dried beef. Of course if one has made arrangements to obtain a supply of provis- ions from the trading companies at the camp, one can take a proportionately smaller amount with him on his trip overland, say 50 lbs. flour, 10 lbs. bacon, &c. However, the extraordinary rush to the diggings will make provisions very scarce this winter, and I should not advise a man to go into the country with less than the former amount. One may be fortunate enough to GOLD FIELDS OF THE YUKON. 45 lould few letter putfit if I Liinot not swell the size of one's lirder by killing some game on the way down the river, but there is nothing certain about it. One 8 X lo tent, (8 oz. duck), i small sheet iron stove, with 2 or 3 lengths of pipe, (telescopic), i large steel frying pan, i baking pan, i small granite kettle, I bread pan, coffee pot, granite plate, cup, i large mix- ing spoon, knife, fork and spoon. A. 2f% lb. axe, small hatchet, 5 lbs. 2 and 4 in. wire nails, 5 lbs. pitch, 3 lbs. of oakum, hammer, brace and extension bit, small hand-saw, large whip-saw, 50 feet S/q in. rope, draw- knife, i in. chisel. Rifle, (40-82 Winchester), with reloading tools, 100 rounds of ammunition; a good sized hunting knife will be found very useful. Clothing should consist of 2 pairs canvas pants, 2 pairs heavy wool socks, i pair boot "packs," 2 pairs ordi- nary socks, I pair rubber boots, i pair sporting boots, I pair ordinary shoes, 2 suits good woolen underwear, i pair snow glasses, 5 yards of mosquito netting, a cou- ple of caps, a pair of blanket lined mittens, 1 rubber blanket, and a pair of heavy woolen blankets, rubber coat for summer, sou'wester cap, a couple of macki- nac shirts, a sweater, 2 summer negligee shirts, cart- ridge belt, I can rubber cement, needles, thread, piece of yellow wax and a pair of scissors. A shaving outfit will be very useful even if one wears a beard. I rather think he will shave after put- ting in one winter in the Yukon. in 46 GOLD FIELDS OF THE YUKON. Tobacco, of course, will be taken l)y many. Plenty of matches must be taken, and kept in a can or oil sack. One is in a bad fix if left without means of obtaining fire in such a cold country. DISTANCES FROn JUNEAU. To Dyea 80 miles. To Head Canoe Navigation 106 miles. To Summit Chilkort Pass 115 miles. To Lake Lindermann 1 24 miles. To Head of Lake Bennett 129 miles. To Foot of Lake Bennett 155 miles. To Caribou Crossing 158 miles. To Foot of Lake Takou 175 miles. To Takish House 1 79 miles. To Head of Mud Lake 180 miles. To Foot of Mud Lake 200 miles. To Head of Miles Canon ; 225 miles. To Head of White Horse Rapids 228 miles. To Head of Lake Le Barge 256 miles. To Foot of Lake Le Barge 287 miles. To Hootalikiqua 320 miles. To Cassiar Bar 347 miles. To Little Salmon River 390 miles. To Five Fingers 45 1 miles. To Pelly River 510 miles. To Stewart River 630 miles. To Dawson City 695 miles. To Forty Mile 750 miles. These are estimated distances — the route has never been surveyed. m \ T! J ^v o 2 m ^v- \ A ^asif GOLD FIELDS OK THE YUKON. 49 A STORY OF THE OVERLAND TRIP. SAILING FROM JUNEAU TO DYEAU. We arrived in Juneau about the middle of June and at once repaired to one of the many hotels, which, by the way, are not at all bad for the rates, and at once began making iquiries about the route to the Yukon, etc. Our informants dampened the ardor of my com- panion from San Francisco with tales of such hard- ships and stories of the impossibility of making the trip so late in the year, that he decided to return to California, where walking was easier. This left me in a bad fix, as 1 had made up my mind to go to the Yukon and I hardly liked the prospect of going alone. However, I chanced to meet a couple of fellows in the hotel who were waiting for the Rustler to transport them to Chilkoot inlet (she was laid up for repairs) and suggested that as there was small prospect of leaving Juneau for a week or two we might do well to purchase a craft of some kind and sail up to Dyea. The idea was a feasible one and we at once set out for the boat market. After a great deal of dickering we finally persuaded a wrinkled old S(|uaw-man to sell us his leaky punt for eight dollars ; which we patched up with tomato cans and old rope, and gave the whole boat a liberal coating of tar. Early on the morning of June 27 we set sail for Dyea. so GOLD FIELDS OF THE YUKON. Our stock of provisions and tools for building a lioar on the lakes was a fairly complete one, and as we had the whole summer before us we kept well into the shore, (a map of the inlet cost us 50c.) because of the senile state of our craft. A few hours out of Juneau landed us high and dry on a sand bar, the tides had gone out and we were stranded between the two chan- nels. However, there was nothing to do but to wait for the high tide, so we put in our time in spearing with a sharp pointed stick some of the millions of flounders that dart from under and around ones feet at every step taken in this shallow water. After making a hearty meal on flap jacks and flounder, we deter- mined io sail or row all night, so lay cuddled up in the })oat for a nap. After the returning tide again made a channel over the bar we hoisted our fly sheet and set sail under a good breeze towards the north. Nothing worth recounting happened during the first night of our journey. The morning proved to be a ])eautiful one with a fair wind, gentle enough to still any alarm we might feel for our loose- jointed "yacht." So we kept our boat headed towards our goal. The evening of the third day of our voyage proved to be too stormy for us to continue it, so we went ashore and hauled our boat well up the beach, and began look- ing around for a good place to pitch our tent, which we had improvised out of a fly-sheet. The spot we had selected was just within the fringe of woods that GOLD FIELDS OF THE YUKON. 51 came down the gently sloping mountains to within a hundred yards of the water's edge, we built a fire and went tlown to the rocky beach to collect some of the mussels that almost hid the rocks, so numerous were they. It was just getting dusk and one of my companions, a Swede, a very fidgety beggar, ever on the lookout for trouble, asserted that he saw a bear coming along the beach about half a mile from our camp, a hasty scramble back to the tent for our arsenal, which consisted of a Winchester, an old fashioned muzzle-loading fowling-piece and a four pound axe. The Swede already had a revolver in his belt, so we made ready to do battle with the shaggy beast the Swede had seen. After two hours waiting in a defen- sive attitude we decided to make a sortie. It was by this time quite dark, but the fire on which we had piled a number of well dried logs was burning brightly and ihrew a fitful glare over the beach in our immedi .V? proximity, making deep shadows on the dark side of the rocks. About three hundred yards from where we stood we saw a great black object moving about near the water's edge and we were in that high state of nervous excitement which is only born of a mixture of fear and bravery. Seizing the rille one of my companions commenced a fusillade in the direction of the now approaching object, none of the bullets 52 GOLD FIELDS OF THE YUKON. seeming to take effect as it got nearer and nearer, and we were now certain it was a bear of huge dimen- sions. The last ball from the rifle evidently wounded the beast for it dropped suddenly on its haunches and gave vent to a series of ominous growls. Waiting until we thought there was no danger in approaching within reach of it, I at once emptied the contents of the hastily snatched Swede's revolver at the crouching form of the bear, which was lying behind a log that had been cast on the beach by the waves. That the beast was badly wounded there was no doubt because although growling constantly he was unable to rise. Running to where my companions were I seized the axe and back I went to the one-sided conflict. Aiming a vicious blow at the snarling visage at the animal I brought the axe down with might and raain and buried it deep in the log. I precipitately fled and only the jeers of my well- armed comrades goadetl me to go back for the axe. I wrenchetl it loose from the log and brought it broad- side on in contact with the head of the now whining beast and the battle was over. Victory was mine and I had slain a miserable cub bear about as big as an ordinary cat. We spent the rest of the night in com- parative quiet and the following morning set sail for Ilaine's Mission which was perhaps 15 miles from our last camp. GOLD FIELDS OF THE YUKON. 53 -er. Nothing occurred worth relatinji^ until within sight of the mission, when a sudden squall (very common in this inlet) hlew us on to a sand har. We had a terri- ble time in getting our boat again headed for the mis- sion, but after many narrow escapes succeeded in get- ting within a mile of the village before the fury of the storm which followed the squall, burst upon us, and of all the miserable journeys we had on our whole trip that mile was the worst. We finally reached the rocks, skirting the Bay just as our boat filled with water and were pulled out more dead than alive by the friendly natives. The Cure in charge of the mission tendered us a cordial welcome and having dried our clothing we went back to the scene of the disaster, and there 50 feet from the waters cd^e lav our old tug still containing: the heavier articles of our i)utfit. The remainder, clothing, oars, sail, etc., was strewn all along the beach. Nothing daimted we patched up the open seams of our craft and again set sail for Dyea, about fifceen miles away. We were uninvited guests of the mission for nearly a we* k, out our welcome was a hearty one. Reaching Dyea after a few hours sailing and rowing, we found ourselves at a loss for Indians to pack our goods over the Divide. This was before the rushes into the Yukon. The store keeper at this place informed us that the Indians had all gone Salmon fish- ing and advised us as to the best means of towing our 54 GOLD FIELDS OF THE YUKON. tottering old boat up the river to the head of canoe navigation. We left Dyea on July the loth, having been nearly 2 weeks coming from Juneau. We could have made the trip on the Rustler in less than 24 hours. Bidding good-bye to civilization and all hope for aid in emergency we commenced our journey up the short but rapid Dyea, a mile or two above the store, an old Indian coming down the river in his dug-out stopped to converse with us and after persuading him to tow us up the river, for the " Bear-skin " and the boat, we transferred our kit to his dug-out and resumed our journey, and in a few hours made camp at the head of canoe navigation. Here we became neighbors of a camp of squaws who had accompanied a party of Indians to the lakes antl were returning to their homes at Dyea. Their faces were blackened with charcoal and they presented a very curious appearance. Whether they acquired this habit from observing their white sisters using " Poz- zoni" or not I cannot say. I was afterwards told by an old Indian trader that charcoal applied to the face was better than goggles for preventing snow-blindness. The following morning we began our fearful journey over the divide. Having to pack our own outfit we had to make t^o trips, carrying 100 lbs. for a mile or two and returning for the balance. After a terrific day's work we got all our goods to Sheep Camp and GOLD FIELDS OF THE YUKON. 55 HOC dreamt of Ilome-Sweet-Home. The follovvinj)^ even- ing saw us at Stone House, after a day's hard clinibin<^ over rocks and fallen tree trunks, differin