The San Francisco call. [volume], July 26, 1897, Image 1

About The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913

Image provided by: University of California, Riverside; Riverside, CA

                
VOLUME LXXXII.-NO. 56.
HUNDREDS
SAIL AWAY
FOR DYEA
Departure of the Steamship
Mexico From Seattle for
the Yukon.
ON GOES THE RUSH TO THE
KLONDYKE.
But All the Gold Is Not in British Ter
ritory, for Some Paying Claims
Are Being Worked at
Cooks Inlet.
SEATTLE, Wash., July '25.— The steam
shin Mexico, the third of the vessels which
have departed with passengers for the
Yukon and the Klondyke since the news
of the first discoveries went out, left at
noon to-day. She carried for Dyea some
300 passengers and tad as freight about
1800 ton., principally supplier for the
miners. This, with the horses intended
for pack-animals, makes up a heterogene
ous cargo.
There is hardly a public event which
has taken place in this city which called
out as tip a crowd as witnessed the depar
ture of the Mexico. The wharves for
nearly a mile were lined with people wav
ing handkerchiefs and sending cheers
after the departing voyagers. Tue cheers
were heartily returned from the Mexico's
deck, which appeared black with people.
There will be no other departures of
Steamers until July 2.th, at which timo
the City of Topeka is billed to leave. Her
passenger accommodation is already
pretty well taken and considerable freight
also awaits her.
The Klondyke is not the cniy portion
of Alaska sending out news of gold dis- '
coveries. The schooner Stella Eiland j
arrived here at 3 o'clock from Cooks In
let, bringing down news which under '
ordinary circumstances would excite a i
Scene on Broadway Wharf Just Before the Umatilla Departed Passengers for the Gold Mines.
The San Francisco Call
good deal of attention among mining
men. She Had on board eight, passengers
and some $7000 in gold dust, besides what
belonged to the trading company having
her chartered, which amount was in a
sealed package, and its value was not
known to Captain Johnson.
George T. Hali, one of the passengers
| and an old mining man, informed The
! Call correspondent that the 300 men who
I wintered at Cocks inlet have nut in a
' very profitable summer's work. Seventy
five claims have been opened, which have
paid from $5 to $40 a day to the man.
There has been work for every man in the
i camp, those not having claims receiving
j at least $3 50 a day and board ever since
' last April, and this work would continue
until October.when the streams freeze up.
I Some small prospecting parties have been
j out during the greater part of the sum-
I mer, but without reporting any very ex-
I tensive discoveries, although gold has
! been found in colors on the bars of every
creek. ' The sold brought down by the
Erland closely resembled in appearance
thnt from the Klondyke. The news of
the Klondyke discoveries had not reached
Cooks Inlet at the time the Erland left,
and probably will not until her return.
The men who came down on her. were
incredulous when informed of the facts.
i *
SAN FRANCISCO, MONDAY MORNING, JULY 26, 1897.
This Is a Scene of the Ascent of Chi koot Pass When the Influx Was Nothing to the Present One
but later in the day were suffering from a
severe attack of Klondyke fever them
selves.
It is reported among the sporting fra
ternity of this city that among the pas
sengers to St. Michaels on the steamer
Portland was a well-known gambler of
Puget Sound, who has, in consideration
of a large sum paid to tho North Ameri
can Trading and Transportation Com
pany, been granted the privilege of run
ning a gambling game on the steamer on
her way down from St. Michaels. As itis
believed that the Portland will bring out
a large number of miners, having with
them not less than $2,000,000 in gold dust,
the good luck of this particular man is re
garded very enviously by his confreres
here, wbo have not turned a trick in many
moons.
During the rush to Alaska fast season
the schooner Lincoln left Seattle bound
for Cooks Inlet heavily laden with a cargo
of miners' supplies and carrying some
twenty passengers. She has never been
heard, of since, unless a message from the
sea discovered to-day is authentic and not
the hoax of some idiotic practical joker.
Peter Dahl yesterday picked up on the
beach at West Seattle, just around the
point from the bathing-bouse, a brown
quart bottle containing a piece of water
stained paper, on which was written in
lead pencil: "The fate of the schooner
Lincoln is sealed. We took to the boats
tive miles off Campbell Island. As we
leave the ship she is fast sinking.
"Good-by. Charles Swanson,
"Schooner Lincoln."
No such name appears in the list of the
Lincoln's passengers and crew as pub
lished at the time of her loss; but the list
was made up from interviews wi'h rela
tives and friend., as the vessel's owners
had kept no list here. The story is k»d
upon as a cruel hoax by. seafaring men,
who claim that the currents along the
coast all run in a northerly direction, and
that every bottle thrown overboard from
the Lincoln would be much more likely
to co into the Arctic Ocean. than back to
Puget Sound.:'
Among the freight that went north on
the Mexico to-day were eight long-distance
telephones and a quantity of wire. This
would apparently indicate that some per
sons intend to put: in a telephone system
into the Yukon, orjat least some portion of
it. No hint of such a purpose has leaked
out here, and if such a scheme is really on
I foot the projectors may congratulate
themselves on the. manner in which their
secret was preserved. The most diligent
inquiry has failed to discover who the
persons are concerned in the scheme or
anything about it, except the bare fact of
the shipment. The telephones were
among the last articles taken \ on board,
and are consigned to Dyea.
FOUND THE FIRST NUGGET.
Early Exploration of David R.
Bracket:, an Old Alaska
Miner and Trapper.
BOSTON, Mass, July 25.— David R.
Brackett, an old Alaskan miner and trap
per, claims to have found the first gold
on the Klondyke. Mr. Brackett said , to
day that he flrst went to Alaska in 1877.
He said he carried the mail. and * supplies
for the miners up in the country. •
"It was on one of. thoso trips," said Mr.
Brackett, "in 1879 that I crossed the great
Continued on Second I'age.
PASSENGERS
CROWD THE
UMATILLA
Thousands Flock to See the
Adventurous Army-
Depart.
SCORES TRY TO GET ABOARD
AS STOWAWAYS.
The Rush to Buy or Charter Vessels Is
on the Increase and Big Premiums
Are Offered — Schemers
Are Blooming/
The biggest exposition of the Yukon
rush displayed in San Francisco so far
attended the sailing of the Pacific Coast
Steamship Company's Umatilla for the
Sound yesterday. She was crowded with
400 passengers, mainly of those Klondyke
bound, and more than that number wanted
to get aboard.
When the passengers reach the Sound
they will transfer themselves to some of
the rapidly multiplying steamers running
from there to Juneau, and then they will
join in the flocking over Chiikoot Pass.
The local hustling for special steamers of
all kinds and size, lhat can be put on the
way to Alaska continues, and several
sternwheel river steamers have been the
object of bi,* offers by people who want to
rush a river boat to the Yukon.
Gold is yellow, and the want of it is red
and whi>e. The first flush of the fever is
still mounting.'
This Yukon delirium, this auriferous
swoop on the frigid zone, is quite interest
ing in the .watching.of it._ Hundreds nave
joined in the charge, and some thousands
here in San Francisco are wanting to
start. An army of them _re saying that
they are going in the spring. Those who
are going now are in a great measure not
taking coun-el of their heads, but are af
fected by the contagion of impulse, and
are moved by that exciting, thrilling emo
tion somewhere inside that loosens the
springs of haste and makes man-jams one
of the features of human life. It is with
the steamer lines as it is with the picnic
excursion trains so often. Boarding par
ties are ready for almost anything, little
or big, that can float on the ocean swells.
They are staking much agiinst tremend
ous odds with the spirit of a gambler, and
they are not reckoning on the fearing and
the paling, the chilling and the weary
ing, that go with the "outfit."
Some who are going grubstaked will
need to be heart-staked before they get
back — but then there's gold on the Yu
kon, somebody will get it, and the devil
may not take the foremost.
"I tell you I'd go if—" you can hear
every hour as ihe stay-homers discuss the
Klondyke everywhere. A vast number
1 eaily would go "if " and the lfs call
attention to how people get anchored to
little hills and spots like an abalone to its
rock. It really is distracting to know that
millions are waiting for one's scoopshove)
somewhere and that one can't break camp
and go after them.
A few, however, are fairly tearing them
selves loose by the roots to get all that
gold. Some are making great sacrifices
10 go. Good, permanent jobs are the
simplest of these sacrifices.
Some who have their accumulations in
vested in business or property are selling
quick and for almost anything to raise
the money. The Klondyke discoveries
have made many bargains for people who
don't want to go. Some of them are dis
played in the newspaper advertising col
umns. "Alaska or bust — all for sale";
"Going to Alaska — best paying saloon on
street for a man who wants to
stay"; "Will deed my ranch for a stake
for Alaska"; "Poultry busines. for sale
on account of going to Alaska," are typ.s
of them.
The universal rustling for grubstakes is
getting into the advertising columns, too —
"A practical miner wants $500 to make
two people rich with," and adds the un
necessary pointer, "Will co at once."
There's a "doctor and druggist" who
wants a stake with which to make a
stake without driving a claim stake. One
rustler is trying to make a gallant play,
id-wit: "Wanted— Twenty ladies to or
ganize a company to send eight men to
Alaska; $200 required." ("If the men
were all transported far beyond the North
ern Sea.")
A Yukon gold excitement fairly sots
the brains of schemers to sizzling. The
schemes are coming along on time with
the "Ho! for the gold fields!" tooted
ahead. The exploitation, exploration,
development, investment, mining, etc.,
companies are getting out their pros
pectuses with enormous capital, and non.;
subscribed that people may get rich off
the Klondyke at home.
There will be bat two more considerable
parties arrive from the diggings this year.
They will arrive in about six weeks.one
coming here on the Excelsior and the
other landing at Seattle from the Port
land. On their return trips these steam
ers will bring down those who go down
tbe river to St. Michaels on the last down
ward trips of the river boats. Few will
come out by the other route, as it in
volves several hundred miles of poling
against current., and is taken by but few.
The Juneau route is a popular inward but
PRICE FIVE CENTS.
not a popular outward route. Nearly all
those now in the country will remain.
THE UMATILLA HURRAH.
The Big Steamer Carries Four Hun-
dred North and Refuses
Passage to More.
"Hurrah for Klondyke!'' was the last
cry heard from the steamer Umatilla as
she backed out from Broadway wharf at
10:30 a. m. yesterday. Thousands were
down to see the vessel off, and very few of
those who watched the big liner make her
course for Victoria, B. ' C, were there out
of cariosity. Nearly every one of them
had a relative aboard, and women wilh
threadbare gowns on their backs watched
heir husbands and sons branch out for a
mythical fortune in the far north.
It was a pitiable and yet an exhilarat
ing sight. ' With dozens it was "neck or
nothing," while others had a syndicate
behind them, or, i; not "a backer," rich
relatives who would see 10 it that they
did not starve in the frozen north. Such
a combination has not been seen on
Broadway wharf in years. The laborer
rubbed shoulders with the millionaire,
and the latter was ready to go down on
his knees when it came to a question of
getting a favor from the officers of the
ship.'
Hundreds who could not procure tick
ets attempted to stow themselves away,
and hundreds more passed themselve&nff
as coalpassers, oilers, deckhands and me
men, only to be landed on the wharf again
by Chief Engineer Lacy and his assistants.
When Chief Steward Curtis came to
make a tally of the boys, he found that
there were at least fifty more than the
company allowed him, so there was a
weeding out about 9:30 a. m. Neverthe
less the Umatilla took away at least 400
people who will make it the attempt of
their lives to reach the new El Dorado.
When Dyea is reached the rush for the
divide wih begin, and then the trouble
will commence. Guides will not be pro
curable; Indians to carry the supplies will
be as scarce as hen's teeth, and boats to
carry the prospectors from Lake L.nde
man to the gold fields will be anywhere
but where the miners expect ti find them.
In spite of all the drawbacks that aie
plainly set forth, • there were dozens of
men who were willing to pay a premium
lor a chance to reach the sound on the
Umatilla. Men who ha d steerage accom
modation with the privilege of a berth on
the City of Topeka were offered a $50
premium, but all the answer they got was
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