The San Francisco call. [volume], September 11, 1897, Image 1

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

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VOLUME LXXXII.-NO. 103.
STARVATION AND DISASTER IN
THE FROZEN ARCTIC REGIONS
PLENTY OF
GOLD BUT
NO FOOD
That Will Soon Be the State
in the Crowded Klon
dike Country.
TREASURE AND MINERS ON THE
STEAMER CLEVELAND.
News Brought of Threatened Starvation at
Dawson City and the Spread of Fever.
The Excelsior Delayed by a
Broken Propeller.
SEATTLE, WASH., Sept.' io.— The steamer Cleveland, Captain
'.all, twelve days from St. Michael, arrived this evening with sixty
five passengers and about $400,000 in gold dust. This amount is only
approximate, as many of the miners on board refuse to state the exact
amounts they brought with them. Purser J. W. Whitbeck of the
Cleveland had in his charge $140,000, and he states that this amount
and what he knows of on board will foot up about $400,000. Thirty
eight of the passengers came from the goldfields, and twenty-seven
were carpenters who went to St. Michael to construct boats for the
North American Trading and Transportation Company. The Yukon
river steamer P. B. Weare of the North American Trading and Trans
portation Company, en route from Dawson City to St. Michael, struck
on a sandbar thirty miles below Circle City July 28. The river was
at a very low stage, and the passengers remained on board until August
15, when the steamer Healy, bound down the river, took them off and
conveyed them to St. Michael, where they took passage on the steamers
Excelsior and Cleveland for San Francisco and Seattle. The Weare
was hard aground and it is doubtful if she will get off.
The story of the fabulous wealth of the Klondike, Bonanza and El
Dorado and other creeks tributary to the Yukon is retold . by the re
turning miners, but the warning which has already been given to wait
until spring is emphasized by every one on board the Cleveland. They
say that hundreds must go hungry this winter, and that many will cer
tainly starve to death, as the food supply in the mining regions is far
below what will be required to keep alive those already in and around
Dawson Ciiy. If the river steamers fail to get up the river the suffer
ing will be something terrible.
On July 26 the stores of the Alaska Commercial Company and the
North American Trading and Transportation Company were closed
and notices posted on their doors that no more provisions would be sold
until the arrival of another steamer from St. Michael.
The steamer Excelsior of San Francisco left St. Michael two days
before the Cleveland, but when three days out she broke two propeller
blades by running on a bar in Bering Sea and put into Dutch Harbor
for repairs. When the Cleveland left Dutch Harbor September 3 it \
was expected the Excelsior would complete her repairs by September 6 !
and continue on her journey. The Excelsior has on board about 100
passengers, and it is stated that she has gold dust amounting to nearly
$1,000,000.
Captain Hall of the Cleveland is most emphatic in his statement
that intense suffering will result at Dawson City and vicinity this win
ter on account of a scarcity of provisions. In an interview he said:
•■Winter is setting in earlier than usual, and ice is already forming on
the Yukon near shore. The North American Trading and Transporta
tion Company is preparing to shelter at St. Michael 300 or 400 miners
who intend to come down the river and spend the winter. The river
steamers Bella, Hamilton, Alice and Healy may get up the river before I
the freeze-up, but it is doubtful. None of the expeditions now on I
their way to St. Michael will get up the river, and the passengers will j
simply be compelled to stay at St. Michael and consume their supplies. '
A few of the passengers taken up by the steamers National City and
South Coast and Excelsior secured passage on the river-boats, but the
majority are still at St. Michael. Half a dozen newspaper men, in
cluding S. W. Wall of THE CALL, paid $90 extra and went up on the
Hamilton." |
MINERS NOW
BEG FOR FOOD
Stories of Starvation Brought
by Those Returning From
the Northwest.
Nearly Half a Million Dollars'
Worth of Gold Comes Down
on the Cleveland.
SEATTLE, Wash.. Sept. 10.-The
The San Francisco Call
steamer Cleveland arrived from SL
Michael at 5 o'clock to-night with the
ioJlowtag passengers, all of whom have
made the journey down the Yukon from
Dawson Ciiy this summer: A. G. Green,
S. Goff, John Guyer, James G.illinger,
Mrs. A. P. Henderson, I* S. Holder, Phil
Kelly, William Lowden, F. E. Leonard,
Samuel Matthews, John Quiver. George
Reynolds, Frank Se»rin, H. Schroder,
William Sherman, Charles Ross, M. Misa
more. T. J. Allen. H. Anderson, B. Ander
son. Mis- F. A. By ler. Miss Lottie Burns,
T. 11. Beaumont and child, A. H. Barbour.
Mrs. B rbonr, li. J. iiurrows, A. Baitlioff
(Bank of B:iti-h Columbia). J. 0. . Bcrgle,
& R. C urchill, F. Klock, Charles Entile,
Mr.--. En«le and four children, George For
nien mid Rudolph F.eur.
In addition, there were twenty-seven
catpcnters, who had been sent to St.
SAN FRANCISCO, SATURDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 11, 1897.
Michael to set up the new steamer Charles
H. Hamilton.
Of the passenger?, the following depos
ited the amounts set opposite their names
with the purser of the . Cleveland, total
footing up $138,000. ■"'.:>"''?',::
T. .1. Allen, 5..5.000.
F. Sejzrin, $17.000.
11. Schroder, Si*. OOO.
Charles Eng-le, $20,000.
A. SI. Barbour, $10,000.
Fritz ■>."<.»•!♦., $12,000.
•*. Matthew*, !•*.'> 000.
<»eor<re Ite*, nolil*. $5000,
31. .llisamore, s.tooo.
ISans Anderson, S2UOO.
It. Anderson, S'SOOO.
James <r*allin£;cr, S.IOOO.
ISanlc of Kritish Columbia, \
SSOOO. j
This amount, however, represents but I
WARNING OF A RETURNED KLONDIKER.
" Don't forget to caution the people who do not care
to die against going into the Klondike this winter." —
Extract from a statement made by M. Misamore of Port
land, Or., who returned on the steamer Cleveland.
a small portion of the cold brought down
on the Cleveland, for the purser estimated
that the amount of geld dust and nuggets
on board the steamer would approximate
between $400,000 and $500,000. The bal
ance, however, the owners retailed in
their possession, and as they refused to
give the exact amounts they brought
with them the actual amount cannot be
stated.
Of ; those who journeyed from the far
northern gold fields all left Dawson City
by the ill-fated steamer Weare, which at
last accounts lay a helpless wreck on the
sandbars of the \ukon, thirty-five miles
below C.role City. These were taken off
THE TUG SEA LION Approaching the Steamer -Cleveland in the ; Straits of San Juan de Fuca- Early Yesterday. Morning.. From the Tug
The Call " Correspondents Went -; Aboard the Returning/Steamer and Secured the Latest News From the Northern Gold Fields.
by the steamer. Healy, which conveyed
them to St. Michael.
Not one of those who have inspected the
region of the KlondiKe will utter one
word derogatory of the marvelous rich
ness of the land of gold. Fortunes are be
ing wiest d from the bjwels of the earth
bordering the banks of every river, creek
and rivulet almost as if by magic. Such
seeming limitless stories of the precious
metal the world has never known before,
but with their stories of gold they blend a
word of warning to the treasure-seekers.
Within a radius of say fifty miles of 1
Dawson City the country has been thor
• •nghlv prospected, and if there is any I
land that has thus far hidden "its secret '
wealth irom prying prospectors it will
have been forced to reveal its undiscov- I
ered treasure long before the searchers
who are now on the way can reach that
region. -
But those who have made a careful in
spection of the country do not hesitate to
declare that there are as good or setter
sections than the Klondike yet to be
opened up. One man, a native of the
Northwest Territory, and for years a
member of the Canadian mounted police,
declares that on the American side of the
line there are richer and greater diggings
than the wildest dreams of Klondike have
pictured.
With all the new discoveries thus far re
ported, with all the gold that has. reached
civilization from these far northern min
ing fields, despite the fact that all the
prospects are practically in their infancy,
come predictions and speculations of the
onormous richness ot the source of all
this placer gold. All miners know as an
axiom that placers take their origin from
quartz, either near by or in a far-distant
territory, and now comment is rife as to
where the mother lode of all this precious
metal is to be found and when it may pos
sibly be discovered.
Ilepresentatives of some of the leading
financiers of the world are now in the field
seeking the source of these 'placer de
posits. Those best informed who are pas
sengers on the Cleveland are of the
opinion that be f iro the close of the ensu
ing season quartz locations of marvelous
richness will become a reality. They ex
press a certainty from their observations
that within tho next six months the
ground sluice, cradle-rocker and pan of
the placers will give way to the drill and
dynamite of the quartz leads.' None pre
dict just where the incalculable wealth
from which the placers ,take their origin
is to be found, but. nevertheless, all. are
firm in their .belief that within a com
paratively short period t definite and per
manent quartz locations will be made
known to the world. \ ; ,'
The statements of 'these men best. con
vey their belief in the resources, of the
izreat but as yet practically unexplored
Northwest. .
Charles Ross, % Those home is tin the
Northwest Territory, is, among the pa
sengers on the .Cleveland. Ross accom
panied the first detachment of mounted
police into the .Yukon country and has
|' made his home there - ever since. He
served as chief ,of scouts during the Riel
rebellion and during that rebellion served
with Captain P. D. Hughes o. Seattle. He
is thorouehly posted on all the mining
districts in the far North, having visited
them time and time again.. He says that
all the claims on the better known tribu
taries of the Yukon worth taking up have
already been filed upon. He put in the
entire summer prospecting and says that
the best dirt to be found was on Sulphur
Creek, tributary to Indian Creek. Dirt on
Sulphur Creek pans from 5 to 50 cents
where found on the surface, and a num
ber of claims have already been located.
Mr. Ros? is a firm believer in the Amer
ican side of the line, and says it offers
fully as good inducements as diggings on
the Canadian side. He visited Forty-mile
Creek and the camps in that vicinity, and
found that nearly all weie deserted. The
miners had all rushed to the X ondike,
leaving claims that were really paying
property. Joe Dyer and his partner, Ma
thison. were sinking a claim on Forty
mile Creek, from which they took out in
forty days a little more than $5000. They
bid for men at the rate of $12 50 a day to
help them work, but without success.
Everybody was making a grand rush for
Dawson City.
The situation on Miller Creek was prac
tically the same. The few miners who
'stayed there could not procure assistance
to work their claims, so they cleaned up
for the summer and quit. ' Many good
claims were in;this way, unoanned. As
no work had been done on, Miller Creek
and Forty-mile claims during the sum-
mer, under the mining laws.'they are all
subject to relocation next spring, and Mr.
Ross is of the opinion that these aban
doned claims will offer an absolute cer
tainty to, incoming prospectors. He. is
strongly in favor ot; the Chilkat trail and
says if he goes back in the spring he will
go in that way. Any good pack animal
up there, according to his story, is worth
$400. It is explained that a pack animal
is an absolute. necessity to the prospector,
because without one food cannot be car
ried in sufficient quantities to ; justify any
sort of an extended trip. .
:, While all the miners returning to civil
ization on the Cleveland are bringing back
with them comparatively large sums
Continued on Second I'ajs,
WRECK OF
THE WHALER
NEVARCH
Captain Whitesides and Wife
and Six of the Crew Res
cued by the Bear.
TWENTY-NINE OTHERS MAY BE
LOST IN THE ICE.
Nine Remain Aboard the Vessel, Which,
When Sighted on August 15, Was
Hopelessly Drifting in an
Ice Pack.
SEATTLE, Wash., Sept. 10. — Two hours f food upon leaving the vessel, the supply
before the Cleveland left Si. Michael, j all told consisting of but a few cans of
August 28, the United States revenue ; cuicken and two cans of condensed milk,
cutter Bear arrived in port, having, on ' After resting over night on the island the
board Captain and Mrs. Whitesides. Mates I party the. following morning began their
Blame and Read, two seamen, and Boat- | journey toward Point Barrow. A portion
steerers Peters and Sanders of the wrecked
whaler Nevarch. They were transferred
to the Rosalie, having been picked up by
Bear at Cooper Island, thirty, miles
east of Point Barrow, on August 17.'
The parly. had left their vessel August
14. They dragged a small canvas boat
over the ice with them, using it to ferry
across open stretches on their course, and
alter struggling in this way for thirty
hours without rest or sleep, they reached
Cooper- Island, a narrow point of sand,
managing alter a hard. struggle to reach
land. • " ■ " ""' 7 -*■ ' : }Z. . ;'-
Their first work upon, gaining land was
to build a fire of dry wood, then they
built a temporary shelter of the same ma
terial, using their sail as a roof over the
improvised house. They had but little
PRICE FIVE CENTS.
of the men walked along the track, th
balance paddling along near shore in the
canvas boat. At 10 o'clock the same morn
ing they ran across a lamily of Esquimos
camped on the beach, who treated ti. em as
hospitably as circumstances permitted.
The one little tent of tie Esquimos was
made to shelter the visitors and owners
alike for the night, and the sailors were
making ready to resume their journey the
iollowinc morning when picked up by the
Bear. The cutter was signaled by the
sailors and fortunately was moving along
close enough inshore to notice the signal.
In lear of losing their chance of being
licked up a crew paddled out to intercept
her and was picked. up., by the cutter. . An ;
hour later ali were safely on board the Bear,
when it was learned that the cutler hud