The San Francisco call. [volume], September 11, 1897, Page 3, Image 3

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

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STRUGGLE
FOR GRUB,
NOT GOLD
Mrs. Henderson Writes of
Threatened Famine in
the Klondike.
STARVATION IN STORE FOR
MANY AT DAWSON.
Desperate, Lawless Characters Are Now
Invading the Gold Regions and
Honest Miners Will Require
Protection During Winter*
One of the most noted passengers who arrived at Seattle on the steamer Cleve
land was Mrs. Palmer Henderson, wife of one of the heads of a department of the
Chicago Tribune. Mrs. Henderson has spent the greater part of the summer on
the Yukon and in the Klondike, and went nor as the guest of Mr. Weare of the
North American Trading and Transportation Company. She went north early in
the summer and has made the round trip up the Yukon to Dawson. Mrs. Hender
son speaks in glowing terms of her exciting and, to her, extraordinary experience in
the extreme Northwest Territory, and returns to join her family in Chicago after a
few weeks on the Coast.
Mrs. Henderson says that she has seen all that is worth seeing in the gold
regions. She took detailed data for a series of letters, one of which is appended.
She returns in perfect health and seems proud of the distinction of being the first
Eastern woman of note to have passed through the thrilling adventures afforded by
a trip from the mouth of the Yukon to Dawson City, through the mines, and back
by the same route. She will make a short stay in Seattle and may visit California
before returning to her home. The following letter from the talented woman will be
read with great interest: _
SEATTLE, Wash., Sept. 10.— One of the
latest arrivals at St. Michael is a Syrian
from Washington, D. C, until recently
connected with a large artware establish
ment there. He caught the gold fever,
threw up hs gcod position and started for
the promised land — Klondike. He said
he had 500 letters to write to aristocrats
in the capital advising them as to whether
they would better follow. An old miner
who heard the half laughing remark re
plied : "Just write on 560 postals s:mpiv
the following: 'D-ar, don't. Yours, Ras
heed Besheer.' Then the open messages
will do missionary work on the way."
But people will only accuse the miner
of being a hog, whereas the fact is that no
one better than one of the pioneers realizes
that there is gold enough in Alaska lor all. ;
He cannot work more claims than he has
probably, but would like to be sure that :
neither you nor he will starve.
It is not a question of gold, but of grub.
The situation is already serious and is
daily growing more so. The older of the
two companies in the field is doing abso
lutely nothing toward alleviating the con
dition, and although the North American
Trading and Transportation Company is
making heroic efforts in building large
river boats and barges in quite an unpre
cedented manner, it is now so late in the
season that if people don't quit poing
there won't be enough grub in the coun
try at any price to prevent actual starva
tion.
The Portous B. Weare, the biggest car
rying boat on the Yukon, ran on a sand
bar July 26, after having made but one
round trip, and was there high and dry
when we left. This is little short of a
calamity, not to be realized in the States
unless one had heard the miners calling
out as every boat passed or any yawlload
was near, "Is the W-:ire off yet? '
Then the Bella ran aground in that
silly old Yukon which is so ambitions to
be a great stream that it spreads itself
over so much ground in many places that
a toy steamer would almost stick. These
disasters occurring just in the middle or to
short a season as the Yukon affords fairly
frightened the old-timers. One man who
has been ten years in the country and is
now on his way to Germany said to me:
"I'm glad I'm going to be out of it all
this winter. It will be worse than when
we were reduced to bad bacon and flour.
We used to cook the bacon, then mix the
grease with flour, then thin with water
and fry it," and added in his queer speech,
"It was a very small taslelikeomelettee."
"What, no milk nor tea, nor ?"
"Not a taste of milk, and spruce needles
or rose leaves stewed for tea. Lots of
people got down to beans; just nothing
but beans last spring in the Klondike
country, and a fellow's got to be Bostonese
to like that. I'm German."
Yes; if this thing does not stop at once
there will be actual starvation. Nuggets
cannot be fried, stewed nor baked so as
to make them palatable, not to say di
gestible. A man told me he was eating his
breakfast on the trail, where he saw a
man watching greedily, and said: "Have
some grub?" "Betcher life. I have $3000
in dust, but it ain't good eating, and I'm
out of grub."
But if things continue men are not go
ing to wait till they are asked. The min
ers with the outfit will be obliged to
divvy. The day before the Healy last
reached Dawson both stores had shut
down on selling any more outfits. It was
"No" to eve body.
Miners antioipatingan immediate short
age had been rushing in to get their year's
outfit. One ■ of the men in the North
American Trading and Transportation
Company's stores at Dawson told me that
their daily sales had never fallen below
$800 in the last month, and had averaged
$1200 a day. ' He said he believed, absurd
as it seemed, that they could sell a million
dollars' worth of goods it they had them
in a short time. People there never ask
the price of anything. It is often simply
a question of how much they may. be al
lowed to buy at your own prices. One
can readily see thai thin is no place for
the army who are marching toward it,
anxious to get there, and arriving, in
many cases, without a dollar.
You can't think in Dawson without
paying. Fresh meat is almost unheard of
there for the Indians are beginning to lust
after gold and work on the river boats so
that they will not go hunting, and of
course whites can't spare the time. So
when any one kills a moose, the fact is
postea up conspicuously outside the lucky
restaurant and in other places calling at
tention to the fact, "Moose meat at the
Palace, come and gorge." They were sell
ing it at a booth in a butchershop the day
I ielt for 75 cents a pound. They have no
wrapping paper, so each man jabbed a
sharpened stick through the meat and
carried it home; so a meal in Dawson is
$1 50. This means beans and bread, or
bacon, simply this and nothing more.
The game status is unfortunate.
It has been driven back from the river
by steamooats, and would be any way by
the mosquitoes, which are simply fero
cious in the summer. You may think
that the talk abont mosquitoes is a joke,
iike that of their sza in Jersey, but tbe
subject is not a funny one in Alaska.
The majority of the people with whom
I talked about the climate there asserted
that they much preferred the winter,
long, tetrible and dark as it is, to the sum
mer with its swarms of mosquitces. I
met a miner who was prospecting and
who had to shoot his dog"-. The mos
quitoes had bitten them in the eyes until
the poor animals were blind and went
mad. Mosquitoes are a real factor of
Alaska and its settlement. The pest can
scarcely be overestimated. The",. game is
driven very far back to the highlands
where the wind prevents mosquitoes.
Grub has, therefore, to be taken if one
yoes hunting for moose or caribou or bear.
Stewart River and Indian River both
have game, but both are too far from the
only town left on the Yukon Dawson.
You remember, a crow living over the
country after Sherman had to carry bis
provisions with Jiim; this is certainly
true of Alaska. There is absolutely noth
ing to be gathered in any of the region *
adjacent to the mines anywhere, with the
exception of berries, which grow in
great profusion everywhere— strawberries,
huckleberries, moose, bear, black, salmon
berries,'.low and high cranberries, raspber
ries, black and rev currants. But even
these cannot be gathered and preserved,
for sugar is too scarce aud preserving cans
cannot be had.
"Up to this summer perfect honesty has
been universal in Alaska and the Klon
dike country and valuables of all kinds
were cached with perfect safety anywhere.
But this summer things began to change
as the written placard nailed to the door
of the custom-house at Circle City attests.
As showing articles and prices it will be of
interest:
"Stolen at Dawson City: Six caches
were robbed at Dawson of the following
articles: One buffalo robe, one reindeer
robe, brown and white with border on each
side one loot wide and three diamond
shaped pieces sewed in the border. There
were no linings in either of these robes.
The reindeer's robe is six by seven feet.
One cracked bone-handled razor and
nickel case magnifying glass. Tbe total
amount stolen from the six caches, in
cluding grub, clothes, etc,, is estimated at
about $1000. As these thieves are sup
posed to have been stealing all the way
down the river their arrest will benefit
the whole community.
While we were in Alaska up the Yukon
no one ever locked up nor watched
things. This was not because human
nature changes at the extreme north, but
because there is no coin, and gold is too
heavy to get away with. There's no way
to get out of the country without every
body knowing it, and everybody there
abouts has money. But the people now
going in, especially the load left at 8 t
Michael by the Cleveland three weeks ago,
will change all that. Cantain CL P. Hall,
jolly and good-tempered as he is, admitted
that there were about twenty-five vicious
and quarrelsome kickers, and at least a
dozen thieves.
They stole thirteen of the ship's tlan
kets, some pillow?, etc., and all sorts of
things, from one another. It was un
doubtedly some of thes«»choice spirits who
entered the private ofiice of the North
American Trading and Transportation
Company and broke into their safe the
night of tbe 27th of August They forced
the outer door, but were evidently scared
off, for the inner door was not opened.
They stole blankets and a spyglass while
on the Healy waiting to go up the
THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1897.
MRS. PALMER HENDERSON, the Weil-Known Chicago Lady,
Who Returns From Dawson City and Writes for "The
Call'"' a Vivid Description of fairs in the Klondike Country.
river. They also attempted to steal freight
for up the river, and this by the whole
sale. Only the constant watchfulness of
Captain John C. Barr, master of transpor
tation, prevented a heavy loss to the com
pany and the Healy* s being able to carry
up its quota of other freight.
All this is new to Alaska, and it is
strange if the Healy, badly overcrowded
as she is, escapes serious trouble irom
these turbnlents. They are armed, and
on two occasions aboard the Cleveland,
despite Captain Hall's tact and watchful
ness, they grew quarrelsome under liquor
and whipped out revolvers. On both oc
casions Captain Hall had to step right in
and settle matters summarily at once to
the damage of his trusty right hand.
Captain Hall carried his first woman
stowaway on this trip, and the men so
admired her pluck they made up a purse
to send her up the river.
Some of the passengers aboard the
Healy were rather fearful as to the out
come of the long trip up the Yukon, but
there is no doubt they will be kept within
bounds. Captain J. C. Barr of the Healy
is suave and jolly and tactful.
He was an officer ih the United States
navy during the rebellion, and is alert and
utterly without fear. Captain Ray and
Lieutenant Richardson of the regular
army are aboard, specially commissioned
by the Government to investigate the
state of affairs in Alaska and its necessi
ties. Their record is well known, and
Captain Ray's presence is assurance itself.
Then Frank Canton, the newly appointed
United States Marshal from Oklahoma,
with Bill Painter and Frank Kress, all
noted "outlawists," as some one ex
pressed it, have invaluable experience in
handling such cattle. Besides these there
are aboard the Healy a large number of
men of importance and standing— men
going to represent large syndicates. These"
will stand by to see the ruffians cease
their troubling.
One old miner going out looked over
some of this crowd as they were holding a
meeting to decide when and how they
would have meals served, and, generally,
how the boat should be run, and re
marked:
"They're something new up here; be
fore they get very far up the Yukon, or
are long in the mines, about all the outfit
some of these fellows will require will be a
good stout rope. That's the last noose
you'll hear of them.
"You see," he went on, "they're new to
these parts. Anything goes on the Yukon.'
You're lucky to be allowed to live and
move. These companies own us. It's a
first-class coun for kickers to get over
it. You'll get over it, sonny," he said,
nodding his head toward a callow youth,
with a sombrero and a revolver, who was
informing the crowd he wanted to eat.
This revolver business is very amusing
to the old miners. The absence of real
lawlessness, especially the infrequency of
shooting scrapes, is really wonderful
and probably unprecedented in any other
mining camp in the world.
Of course the presence of the mounted
police at Dawson and thereabouts is
highly salutary, but it was largely so at
C rcie City. The country is so remote and
the winter so terrible that there is abso
lutely no chance for a fugitive. It is death
by exposure and starvation even if sum
mary justice were cot meted out to him.
But the riffraff is pouring in and some
thing ought to be done at once.
The Canadians have been wiser than
we. Troops should be forwarded at once
to protect our people and their interests.
Congressional action is too slow. Think
of a Governor in Sitka, many hundred
miles away, with no means of communi
cation even. _______!
It seems as if some temporary pro
visional government, semi-military, per
haps should be established at once. This
seems to be what most people thinK would
be most effectual if it could be brought
about at once, but everything is probably
even now too late. Captain Ray seems to
have been a very wise choice. He has
seen Western service, has lived in Alaska,
was stationed two years in the extreme
north and knows the country and climate.
He has none of the airs so common to the
army men among civilians, but is used to
sizing up all sorts of men and grasping a
situation, and his report will be thorough
and conclusive.
Tbe situation at St. Michael is grave. I
am told the Excelsior was delayed to talk
over the advisability of requesting troops
by return steamer to guard. the company's
warehouses tnis winter. By tbe way, the
Excelsior started two days ahead of the
Cleveland (which sailed from Sl. Michael
August 29), but attempted too close a land
route and ran aground in Bering S?a,
breaking two blades of her propeller, so
reached Dutch Harbor a couple of hours
after the Cleveland and is laid up there
for repnirs. Several of the passengers
were anion? those on the sandbar on the
Weare for eighteen days, and had gone
down on the* other company's boat, hop
ing to save -a little time.
If they had been anything but relumed
Yukoners they would have been furious,
but as more than one has remarked to me
on the Yukon: "This country trains
patience and acquiescence."
; Pat was watching an Indian pack over
the summit. '"Dade," he, "but he's
doing that fine."
"How much is be charging you? '
"I don't know, but it's chape, whativir
it is."
The majority of the people who came in
yesterday on the Cleveland were th»
stranded passengers of the Weare. They
have been just forty-six days on the way
from Dawson, having started from there
on the '2b' th of July.
The trip was pleasant and uneventful.
At Dutch Harbor several queer crafts
were sighted, all headed for St. Michael,
among them the Politofsky, which was
condemned years ago, they say, and the
Merwin. When the Cleveland entered
the slip this afternoon a crowd of Seattle's
best citizens jammed the docks and every
available fence and roof eminence and
almost fought to pass the gates. ' The ex
citement was intense.
"What are they waiting for?" queried
one of the ladies aboard.
"Just a sight of the boxes containing
the gold," answered a man, but there was
no great amount of gold aboard, some
thing over $350,000. Most of the men were
some who went up in the spring to see
what they could get. The oldest miner
on the Cleveland was Fritz Kloke, who
has ben ten years in Alaska. He has en
dured every hardship and worked hard
enough to kill a hundred men, has suf
fered scurvy, gone hungry and cold. To
be sure, fortune has favored him at last,
but not to the extent of others. He has
but $3000. The miners will not tell
what they have, &■* a general thing, for
former men have been so ridiculed at the
mines because their piles have been so
overestimated.
The Berrys, for instance, had not half
what they were credited with, and the
wild reports current when the Portland
came in with the party have been the
source of considerable amusement at
Klondike.
Toe fact remains, however, that Alaska
is a country rich beyond belief. There is
scarcely a gulch or a creek that does not
bear "color" from one end of it to another,
but with present facilities for transporta
tion nothing under two ounces a shovel
pays to work. It will not pay grub and
expenses. Why, sluice-lumber anywhere
back from the river, with freight added,
costs from $300 to $500 a thousand.
A man can do nothing by himself, and
he has to pay wages from $15 to $20 a day,
so wages are not to be despised; but a man
cannot be hired unless he has his outfit
and he cannot be sure of getting one up
the river, nor having it carried if he buys
it down here. Many people who are at
St. Michael and can go no farther this
winter would do well to prospect there
abouts, where there is much quartz and
some which promises well. Fritz Kloke,
the experienced miner before spoken of, is
particularly interested in quartz, and has
a number of specimens with him to be
assayed at Denver— part from his own
mines, some from others.
At Golovm Bay is a silver, lead, etc.,
mine, in which a friend of his was inter
ested. They dug through between 90 and
103 feet of frozen ground. From all re
ports there is gold across Norton Sound.
The trouble with many of the men is,
however, that they have no idea of the
hardships to be endured. In talking with
them I was astonished to find that they
even had no idea of the great distances,
and thought that nu gets were picked up
along the Yukon River instead of being
dug lor deep in the ground back in the
mountains, to be reached only by frightful
trails, knee deep in mud and moss and all
but impassable.
But gold is there, everywhere. I have
a nugget that came from 26, Bonanza.
It is shaped like a small key. It is puie
gold. I have bent it double and back
without breaking it. Upon one claim at
Klondike they work very little, because
they can't do anything with the gold
when they get it out; but when they want
a thousand dollars they simply go out
and get it Rothschild has a representa
tive at Dawson, but so far he ha 3 obtained
nothing. -
The end of August the biggest nugget
ever found in tbe Yukon was picked un
at 36, El Dorado, and 13 coming on the
Excelsior with tbe man who picked it
up— a man named Knutson. It is worth
$583 25, and is as big as your hand, wedge
or hatcnet-shaped and seemingly pure
gold. No wonder people, despite the
difficulties, the dangers and the hardships,
brave Alaska. Palmer Henderson.
DISASTERS AND
GREAT DISTRESS
Among the Vessels Damaged
Is the Excelsior, Delayed
by a Broken Propeller.
Gold Cannot Buy Food at Dawson
City and Fever Adds to the
Horror of the Situation.
SEATTLE.^ Wash., Sept. 10.-* Again
The fac-simile y^ 7 v>^______T" ** on every wra eT
signature of 6Si^_fV^£*Sf of CASIOKIA.
that warning from the frigid north I The
steamer Cleveland plowed her way up the
strait of San Juan de Fuca filled with
miners from the Klondike who have tem
porarily abandoned fabulously rich claims
to escape starvation. The two stores at
Dawson City have been closed for six
weeKs, neither of them having a pound of
provisions left in stock. Each day brings
scores of anxious gold-seekers to the
camp, most of them illy provided with
' clothing and scarcely any of them with
sufficient food to sustain themselves a
month. Tnose who were there before,
men who have passed a year or more in
that region, are forestalling the terrible
suffering that is bound to ensue and are
hastening back to their former homes
laden with golden dust.
The Cleveland was sighted off Cape
Flattery at 2:45 o'clock this morning. A
thick fog bung over the entrance of the
straits and the tug Sea Lion, which had
been patrolling the entrance since Sunday
with a corps of correspondents on board,
bad some- difficulty in locating her.
Finally Captain Sprague caught the loca
tion of. her siren and in a few minutes
her lights loomed scarce thirty yards
away. Three sharp blasts of the Sea
Lon's whistle brought the steamer to a
halt. A small boat was swung over the
side of the tug and into it tumbled the
reporters.' A few strokes and the boat
was alongside and up . the steel sides
clambered the news-gatherers. Captain
Charles Hall was on the bridge of the
Cleveland, but resigning his post to his
chief officer led the way to his stateroom,
and to one of the reporters narrated the
incidents of his voyage Irom St. Michael
and the facts he had gleaned of the great
gold region.
The Cleveland sailed from San Fran
cisco for St Michael by way of Puget
Sound July 21. Leaving Seattle August 5
she arrived at St. Michael on the ISth, and
was there eleven days, being detained
some time by rough weather, which great
ly retarded the work of discharging her
cargo. Every berth on the steamer was
occupied on her passage north and a more
motley gathering never came under his
notice on board ship. Full a third of the
adventurers were gamblers or worse, and
with these Captain Hall had considerable
trouble. One of them named Sigelunder
took to assume command of the vessel the
day after her arrival at St. Michael. He
was backed by a number of his fellows
and Captain Hall was forced to take
prompt measures to suppress him. This
he did with such effect that Sigel had to
be helped to his berth for repairs.
Captain Hall found the little settlement
at St. Michael overrun with gold-seekers.
Hundreds had got that far on their jour
ney, but were unable to proceed on up the
river. The steamer Weare, of whose fate
the steamer Portland brought indefinite
tidings, was known to have gone aground
on the flats thirty-five miles below Circle
City. Her passengers had been picked up
by the steamer Healy and taken to the
mouth of the Yukon, but they were un
able to say what her fate would be. lt
was believed, however, that she would be
a total loss. The disaster to the Weare
had prevented those who had secured
passage on her from going up to Dawson,
and to these were added the passengers of
the ' steamer Excelsior, which left San
Francisco July 28, and the expeditions
that went out on the steamers National
City and South Coast soon after. A very
few of the Excelsior's passengers, includ
ing S. W. Wall, The Call's special corre
spondent, secured passage on the new
river steamer. Charles. H. Hamilton,
which started up the Yukon the day the
Cleveland reached St. Michael.
Many of the Excelsior's passengers were
preparing to turn back, being thoroughly
discouraged by the gloomy reports
brought out by returning miners. The
passengers on the National City and South
Coast were encamped along the banks of
the Yukon near St Michael, and during
the stay of the Cleveland in that port
held indignation meetings daily. They
were careful to conceal their intentions
fiom all but a few who had broken away
from the main bodies, and it was evident
that the greatest discontent prevailed.
One day when Captain Hall walked up to
their camp he was requested not to loiter,
as a special meeting was to be held at
once at which matters of importance were
to be acted upon. What these important
matters were he did not learn, nor could
anybody at St. Michael enlighten him.' A
few members had succeeded in securing
passage up the river to Dawson on the
steamer Bella. Others arranged to come
back on the National City. Twenty were
booked for return passage on the South
Coast, while others were anxious to re
turn home on the Cleveland, but were un
able to secure passage. !
While at St. Michael the steamer Ex
celsior ran on the mudflats and was tied
up for eighteen hours, breaking two blades
of her propeller, . After being hauled out
of the mud the Excelsior started back to
Unalaska on August 26, and was there
when the Cleveland stopped on her return
trip, having arrived September 1. Fortu
nately the Excelsior carried an extra pro
peller and this was being shipped when
the Cleveland left there. It was expected
that she would be able to continue her
voyage by September 6.
Before the Cleveland left St Michael
some of her passengers had combined
with a party of the Excelsior's passengers,
forming a company of sixty men. These,
tinder the presidency of a Mr. Gleason of
New York, had purchased the steamer St
Michael and a barre, paying $12,000 in
cash for them. They also had 60,000
pounds of provisions, and it was their in
tention to follow the Healy up the river
to Dawson. If the Healy succeeds in run
ning the ice gauntlet and shallow water
they, too, will probably get through this
fall. ' ! . . * V,-' '
Another of the many expeditions which
have started north within the past two
months, and which had failed to find
smooth sailing to the land of promise,
was that which sailed from San Francisco
and Seattle on the steamer Humboldt in
charge of Mayor Wood of the Tatter city.
The Cleveland passed the Humboldt
thirty-five miles out from St. Michael on
Sunday, August 29. Before the departure
of the Humboldt irom Seattle rumors of
strife among the. members of the parly
were frequent. When the Cleveland put
into Dutch Harbor for coal on her down
trip Captain Hall was informed that the
dissensions bad 'reached such an acute
stage that open threats of lynching Mayor
Wood were made. Before the Humboldt
left there, however, a truce was patched
up and she proceeded on her voyage to St.
Michael. But those at Dutch Harbor who
knew of the trouble on board the vessel
said they would not be surprised at any
thing might happen. .-\ : ';\......
Perhaps the most serious disaster which
has befallen any of the expeditions is
that which has overtaken the old aide
whtel steamer Elizi Anderson, wbic ,
in company with the stern-wbeei steamer
W. K. Merwin, the schooner W. J. Bryant
and the tug J. B. Holyoke, the latter tow
ing a barge, sailed from Puget Sound for
St. Michael a month ago.
The captain of the Cleveland says that
on August 24 a heavy sale sprung up off
Kodiac, and the Eliza Anderson became
separated from the rest of the flotilla. A
short time previous she had signaled to
the Holvoke that she was short of coal,
and asked the tug to come to ber assist
ance. Before tbe latter could do so the
barge she was towing broke away and she
was forced to go in search of it. While
she was absent the Eliza Anderson was
down out of sight of the other two vessels
and h> r fate is unknown. It is possible
that she managad to reach Kodiac, but
the best posted men along the Alaskan
coast consider it most unlikely.
Every sign points to an unusually early
winter in northern latitudes this year.'
Natives and white men, who have passed
many years in that region, say it will be
one of the earliest winters ever known.
Already ice is forming along the banks of
tne Yukon, and when the last boat came
down the river before the departure of the
Cleveland, it was slowly but surely spread
ing out over the broad surface to the cen
ter. : :
The first of October will find it impas
sable for boats, and navigation may be
closed after the 15th of September. If the
Weare should get off the mudflats below
Circle City she, with the Bella, Healy and
Alice, may get through to Dawson. The
Hamilton is now well up the river and
will in all probability get through. The
.Hamilton carried a considerable quantity
of provisions, but not enough to last a
month in the constantly growing town of
Dawson. •
Miners who started down the river on
the Weare and finished the journey to St,
Michael on the Healy after the wrec_ of
the former vessel say that the stores of the
Alaska Commercial Company and the
North America Transportation and Trad
ing Company had exhausted their stocks
by July 20, and not a pound of food of
any description remained on sale at either
store. A month before they had taken
the precaution to limit the sale to each
customer, and all the gold a miner could
carry on his shoulder would not have pur
chased for himself two sacks of flour.
One sack was the limit, so were fifty
'pounds of bacon and twenty-five pounds
of beans all that one man could purchase.
Should the Hamilton be the only boat
to reach Dawson this fall one can easily
picture the frightful suffering there is sure
to follow. Even if all the steamers get
through which by any possibility can
make the trip, the stores they will carry
will not be sufficient to feed the inhabi
tants until Christmas.
Added to those already on the ground,
people are pouring into camp by way of
the trail and lakes at the rate of twenty to
one hundred a day. The great majority
of these have insufficient clothing, and
are even worse off in tbe matter of pro
visions. These are now scattering in all
directions seeking the precious metal, but
with the coming of snow they will be
driven into Dawson to add to the suffer
ing of those already there. With this
dreadful situation staring them in the
face, people of Dawson and the Klondike
region are intensely wrought up over the
action of the two companies that have ex
clusive control of the navigation of the
Yukon as well as trading stations.
Though the food supply has been ex
hausted for 3ix weeks the supply of liquor
is limitless. The stores are closed, but
the doors of the saloons, the dance halls
and the gambling hells are open day and
night, Sundays as well.
Open charges are made that both com
panies have placed their transports at the
service of the liquor-dealers ln preference
to conveying sufficient provisions to nour
ish honest miners, their wives and chil
dren during the terrible months of winter.
This seems to be borne out by the state
ments of passengers on the Cleveland who
have come down the river within a few
weeks. They tell that the steamer Alice
on her last trip up the river had in tow
the large barge Marguerite. On the decks
of the Alice were piles of provisions in
large quantities, while a large part of the
cargo of the barge was liquors of every
description. Off Old Fort Yukon the
Marguerite was caught by the swift cur
rent and swung high up on the mud
banks, a great hole being stove in her bot
tom Her career was at an end, but not
her spirituous cargo. Hastily the crew of
the Alice set to work and dumped tons
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upon tons of flour, bacon, sugar, coffee,
beans and canned goo is into the turbid
stream, and in the space thus created
eighty tons of liquor, including casus of
whisky, brandy and gin, cases of beer and
baskets of champagne, were transferred
from the barge, and the steamer pro.
ceeded on her way.
Tbese miners declare their intention of
calling an indignation meeting immedi
ately upon their arrival at Seattle, and
say they will let the people of the United
States know just how their friends in far
off Klondike are treated.
In addition to the total lack of food the
equally serious problem of securing shel
ter for the winter stares these people in
the face. Fully half of the 6000 people in
Dawson at present are living in tents.
They can do so during the hot summer
months, but with the thermometer 40 to
60 degrees below zero living in a canvas
house is impossible. Lumber commands
fabulous prices. Logs which in that re
gion mean poles four to six inches in di
ameter sell from $4 to $3 a piece in Daw
son. So a poor man might as well return
to civilization and undertake the construc
tion of a brownstone mansion as to think
of putting up a cabin in Dawson. He
cannot go out and cut the material for a
home, for it nas to be hauled or floated
fifteen to twenty miles. The hotels now
open and two others that will soon be
completed will accommodate but an in
significant fraction of those who will de
mand shelter.
As though famine and frost were not
sufficient evils to heap upon those poor
leiJows dread typhoid has been breaking
out in Dawson, and at last accounts from
there it was raging with appalling viru
lence. Hundreds ol cases have been re
ported, a number of which have proven
fatal. 'i*Mi
To battle with this scourge there is but
one regular practicing physician in the
place.
To Build a Railroad.
VANCOUVER, B. C.Sept. 10.— R. Mar
pole of the Canadian Pacific Railway, su
perintendent of the Pacific division, gives
out the official announcement to-night
that his company will build as soon as
possible a line of railroad from a point
called Glenora on the Stickeen River to
the head of navigation on the Yukon.
Engineers will leave as soon as outfitting
can be arranged, and will have the ser
vices of the Hudson Bay Company's trap
pers and voyagers, who are acquainted
with the country.
PROVISIONS FOR DAWSON,
Transportation Companies Figure
That They Can Feed Eight
Thousand Miners.
It is not possible at this time to make an
accurate estimate of the number of min
ers and the quantity of provisons at Daw
son. When the steamer Excelsior arrives
the Alaska Commercial Company will be
able to closely estimate the number of
tons of supplies that will begot to Daw
son belore the ice closed the navigation
of the Yukon. The quantity of supplies
at St. Michael when the season opened,
together with the amount forwarded since,
is estimated at 6000 tons.
It la conjectured that the other trans
portation company had a similar quan
tity, but there is no way of ascertaining at
present as to how much has gone up the
river or whether all the steamers carrying
goods can get to Dawson before the river
closes. ;
There is a fair prospect that the Alaska
Commercial Company's boats will get
4000 tons to Dawson, and the other line
may do as well. This would make 8000
tons, or supplies sufficient to sustain 8000
miners until the opening of the river next
season.
It is calculated that many of the gold
seekers going across Cbilcoot Pass and
others going through White Pass will get
to the Klondike before winter sets in, but
they will rely on purchasing supplies in
Dawson to carry them through until next
spring. While many have been going in,
others are coming out by way of tha
Yukon to St. Michael, so the addition to
the population at Dawson may not be as
great as apprehended.
Single tax and labor articles by the best
writers in the country. Read Tne Star. * '.-
3