Guide to the Klondike and Yukon Gold Fields

Various · 1897 · Historical

Routes of travel, outfit requirements, and historical context for the Klondike rush. With period map of the gold-bearing region and Northwest Territories.

Public-domain full text preserved in the Mountain Man Mining Library. Original source: archive.org.

Gold Fields

Map And Illustrations Lowman & Hanford 5. & P, Co Publishers

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PACIFIC COAST eal CO.

The Pioneer And Regular Line

Carrying United States Mails

Operating Six Large Steamers on the Alaska Route, among them the Elegant Excursion Steamer

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Steamers Sail every two or three days with oldest and most care- ful Commandets on the Pacific Coast,

DISPATCH LINE FOR THE YUKON MINES via all principal points, to Skaguay Bay and Dyea Trails

For further information, see P. C. S. S. Co's printed Folders, also Pamphlets, “HOW TO REACH THE GOLD FIELDS OF ALASKA."

Connections made with all transcontinental rail lines, also with Steamers of this company plying on other routes.

Routes Operated From San Francisco

Mexican Route, Southern California Coast Route, Northern California- Humboldt Bay Route, Portland and Astoria Route, British Columbia, Puget Sound and Alaska Route.

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GOODALL, PERKINS & Co. J. F. TROWBRIDGE GENERAL AGENTS PUGET SOUND SUPT. SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. Ocean Dock, SEATTLE

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ne A OAT EY se

Klondike Clothing

Our many years of experience in outfitting Alaska prospectors, as well as wholesaling extensively to the Alaska merchants, has taught us exactly what the climate demands. In many instances our clothing and underwear are specially designed and made for our trade. You cannot be too careful regarding the quality of the clothing you select when starting to the Yukon gold fields, as it will be impossible to uprchase clothing while in the interior, so the clothing you start with must last you until your return. We do not carry inferior or trashy goods. NOT HOW CHEAP, BUT HOW GOOD, is what we strive for in our Alaska clothing.

Corduroy Clothing, Mackinaws, Artic Underwear, Sweaters, Flannel Shirts, Biankets, German Socks, Scarfs, Artic Socks, Mitts, Blanket Lined Duck Clothing,

Whatever you find in our stock is of guaranteed quality. If there was better quality you'd find it here.

The MacDougall & Southwick Co,

Nos, 717, 719, 721, 723 First Avenue Seattle, Washington,

Guide

To The

Klondike

—And The—

Yukon Gold Fields

——In

Alaska And Northwest Territories.

CONTAINING——-HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY—ROUTES OF TRAVEL—NECESSARY OUTFIT—GENERAL AND USEFUL INFORMATION —LARGE MAP CORRECTED UP TO DATE FROM LATEST OFFICIAL SURVEYS.

PUBLISHED BY LOWMAN & HANFORD STATIONERY AND PRINTING CO. SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, 1897,

Table Of Contents.

Page

DHCP OTOL: 6.2506 ci nk Wd Ree Rack re Fb FA REE 3 Chapter I. History of the Yukon Gold Fields ¥ Chapter II. History of the Klondike 0.. 16 Chapter III. What the Klondike has Produced 25 Chapter IV. The Routes of Travel 005. 32 The Chilkoot Pass Route 0... ccc cee eee eee 34

The White Pass Route. 0... 0. cee cece eee neces 52

The Chilkat Pass Route 0... 0... ccc cece eee 55

PMG AR GOULO!, Ocdid pee be id koa enkeon Fea ees 56

The: Stickeen Route. cine g4 06 caw ered oxo vss 56 Chapter V. The all Water Route 0005. 61 Chapter VI. The Necessary Outfits and Where toget Them. 67 Chapter VII. Climate and Agricultural Possibilities 76 Chapter VIII. Gameand Fish 0 ce cece eee So Chapter IX. Coal and Quartz 0... c ccc eee ee ee 82 Chapter X. Canadian Government’s Oppressive Policy 85 Chapter XI. The American Mines 00 eee 89 Chapter XII. The Diseases to be Guarded Against 94 CONSINBION sini cheers) AUVs bee onwne Non FHeaKeeaaaas ete 96

. Appendix.

Table of DistanGee ican wid ana taste ds eeomia eae ves eearewis 97 Usetul Notes for Miners 0. 0. ccc cisesedsvensescveesnens 98 Weattle Price VSG ose oc eae pune ew ba eT RG ke oe eg 99 Placer Mining i.cgulations of the Northwest Territories 100 Alaska Mining Laws ccc cc ccc eese et eeeenuceus 107 BUGIS eee te exe eelnslie cake codes uh hay AGN ee oan eda 114

Amendments to the Mining Regulations of the Northwest

EVER ES ls a55, Ten 8 wir Ha Gl A abe kee ahueatwi eae 115,

Introduction. 3

Introduction.

Since the news of the wonderful discoveries upon the Klondike River in Northwest Territory has gone forth there has been an overwhelming demand, coming from all parts of the world, for authentic information, not only as to

the extent and character of this particular mining district, but as to the whole Yukon mineral region in Alaska. More especially is there a general request for information as to the routes of travel; the means of access to the country; the cost of reaching it by the various routes; the necessary outfits, their cost and constituents; and, in general, all of

can et eee 3m ie woowhCUwE

those particular points about which the intending immi- grant to the new gold fields desires to inform himself before entering upon the long and hazardous journey to the Yukon Country.

This pamphlet attempts to furnish in a concise form and at a small price all such information. Tlie compiler of it has made use of all sources of original information upon the subject which are obtainable. Every existing work upon Alaska and the Yukon Country has been consulted; every newspaper article upon the Klondike has been exam- ined; letters by the score from those now in that country to relatives and friends have been read; nearly every person now resident in this state, who has made the voyage down

the Yukon, or who has a personal knowledge of the new Pacific N. W. History Dent. PROVINCIAL LISRARY 41546 VICTORIA, B.C.

4 Guide To The Klondike,

gold fields, has been interviewed. A careful examination and comparison of the data thus obtained has been at- tempted, and from the vast mass thus collated it is proposed to reproduce in this pamphlet a concise, accurate and ex- haustive report, covering every point of inquiry which would naturally suggest itself to the seeeker after informa- tion upon the subject.

It is not pretended that this is a work of original re- search, or a record of personal experiences. The task set to the compiler has been more editorial than literary in its character. All statements made have been carefully exam- ined, compared and tested. The experience of one person has been verified by that of others. The principal aim has been to secure perfect accuracy of statement, and to make this pamphlet of practical value; in short, to furnish in a convenient form and as concisely as possible all existing information upon the subject.

The scope of the work includes a brief history of all the gold discoveries made upon the Yukon and its tributaries, a particular history of the discoveries upon the Klondike and tributaries; the best obtainable information as to the actual amount so far mined and brought out of the country; and the prospective output of Klondike Mining District; the various routes of travel, with their advantages and dis- advantages; the necessary outfits, their constituents and their cost; and the best places for purchasing the same. On the general subject of the history of gold discoveries upon the Yukon the editor owes a special obligation to

Introduction, 5

Miner W. Bruce, whose work upon Alaska has been .:sely drawn upon for information upon this subject.

The information as to the route of travel down the Yukon from Dyea via the Chilkoot and White Passes is largely from personal information obtained from men who have traveled over this route dozens of times in the last twelve years. Use is also nade of the exhaustive report made by George M. Dawson, D.5S., I. G. S., to the Domin- ion government, on his surveys and explorations of this route from the mouth of Pelly River to the Chilkoot and White Passes, and from later reports by William Ogilvie, Dominion Land Surveyor, who has been in charge of the International Boundary Survey for many years past. In many cases where the estimates of distances })+tween points on the river have varied, Dawson’s estimates have been ac- cepted as the final authority.

TRAC AE RENO RN RS ot et OP $60 PREP BA A GUS) SE OIC a RSD ahaa

“Alid Nosmvg@

HiSTORY OF THE YUKON GOLD FIKLDS. 7

Chapter I.

History Of The Yukon Gold Fields.

The information contained in the following pages as to the earlier gold discoveries on the Yukon is largely com- piled from the Report of an Exploration in the Yukon Dis- trict of N. W. T. and the Adjacent Northern Portion of British Columbia, made to the Director of the Geological and Natural History Survey of Canada, by George M. Daw- son, D.S., F. G.S.

No reference is made to the discovery of gold in any por- tion of the Yukon waters earlier than that given by Mr. F.

Whymper, who in his “Travels in Alaska and on the Yu- kon,” published in London in 1869, says: “It is worthy of ; mention that minute specks of gold have been found by some of the Hudson Bay Company’s men in the Yukon, but not in quantities to warrant a rush to the locality.”

The first white man who crossed from the coast to the headwaters of the Lewes (the Upper Yukon, which heads in Lake Lindeman), according to the best obtainable information was one George Holt, afterwards murdered by ‘ the Indians at Cook’s Inlet in 1885. The date of Holt’s : journey was in 1878. He was acompanied by one or more

Indians and crossed by the Chilkoot or the White Pass to the head of the Lewes. He followed the river down to the head of Lake Marsh and walked over the Indian trail thence

Dawson City.

8 Guide To The Klondike.

to the 'Tes-lin-to or Hootalinqua River. On his return he reported the discovery of “coarse gold,” but none of the miners who afterwards prospected the region mentioned have been able to confirm his report in this particular. The date and route above given are the result of inquiry among miners who knew him, followed his route through the coun- try named, and came in contact with the Indians whom he had met. In some publications he has been credited with having made the journey as early as 1872.

Some years later, in 1880, a prospecting party of nine- teen men was organized at Sitka, under the leadership of one Edward Bean. It afterwards received accessions, bring- ing the number up to twenty-five. Amicable relations were established with the Chilkat and Chilkoot Indians, through the kind offices of Captain (now Admiral) Beardsley, U.S. N., and the Chilkoot Pass was crossed to Lake Lindeman. Boats were built on Lake Lindeman, and on the 4th of July the prospectors set out down the stream. The Tes-lin-too was reached; was ascended sonfe distance and prospected. No encouraging prospects were met with at this time, though R. Steel, who was one of the party, states that he found bars yielding at the rate of $2.50 a day in a small stream which joins the Lewes fifteen miles above the can- yon. This large party was closely followed by two miners known as Johnny MacKenzie and “Slim Jim,” who reached Lake Lindeman on July 3d. It is believed that other par- ties entered the country the same year.

In 1881 a party of four miners, including George Lang- try, who was one of the original party of twenty-five, again crossed the Chilkoot Pass. These men got as far as Big Salmon fiver, which they called the Tyon. ‘They ac- cended the Big Salmon, according to their estimate, some two hundred miles, finding a little gold all along its course and meeting with some remunerative river bars. This was:

n he ' the oned The nong oun- m he with

nine- ip of ring- were ough U.S. man. July n-too eted. time, at he small can- iners. iched par-

ang- gain ; Big y ac- some our'se

S was:

RSW Tp A TORIES oa,

History Of The Yukon Gold Fields. 9

the first discovery of paying placer properties on any por- tion of the Yukon or its tributaries.

In 1882 a number of miners entered the Yukon Country by the Chilkoot Pass, and probably during the same season, but certainly not before, two prospecting parties ascended the Pelly to Hoole Canyon, and some of the men appear to have gone even further up.

Details of the mining operations of 1883 are not obtain-

Forty-Mile Creek.

able, although several small parties were in the country and some mining was done. It was this year that Lieutenant Schwatka crossed the Chilkoot Pass and descended the Yukon to the sea. In 1884 a little mining was done on the Pelly and on the Hootalinqua, and possibly also on the Lewes. In 1885 mining was done along the Stewart River, and in the following year the greater portion of the mining population was engaged on that river. Cassiar Bar, on the Lewes, twenty-seven miles below the Hootalinqua, was dis- covered in the spring of 1886, and actively worked during the same summer.

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ARE SELLERS ERIE IR CRAY ERIN TAN TERRLT Ba ENT CLE IR AL AIBA Mt RAE BIN EDT NI Te ow

Io GUIDE TO THE KLONDIKE.

Late in the autumn of 1886 “coarse gold” was found on Forty-Mile Creek, still further down the main river than the Stewart, and the announcement of the fact drew off nearly the entire mining population to this place in 1887.

The first news of the discoveries on Forty-Mile was brought to the coast by a man named Tom Williams. Williams made the trip out in the dead of winter with a dog-team and sled, and was accompanied by an Indian boy. His trip was one of the hardest which has ever been recorded in the history of the Yukon. The weather was intensely cold and stormy. Before reaching Lake Bennett all of his dogs had died from cold and exhaustion. While attempting to cross the Chilkoot Pass a storm came up, and Williams and his companion were compelled to hastily build a snow- hut on the summit, and stop there ten days, with no pro- visions except a little flour. When the storm passed Will- iams was so badly used up that he was unable to proceed, but his Indian companion carried him out on his back through the snowdrifts and down the mountain gorges to Dyea, a distance of sixteen miles. Williams died within a few days after reaching Dyea, from the effects of his fearful trip. This was but one of many like tragedies with which the early history of prospecting upon the Yukon was filled.

The object of Williams’ journey at this season of the year was to communicate the news of the discoveries to Jack McQuestion, the agent and storekeeper of the Alaska Com- mercial Company at the trading post of that company at the mouth of Forty-Mile. McQuestion was in San Francisco, from which place he was to return in a few weeks by the way of St. Michael’s and up the river. It was known that when the news of the discoveries reached the coast there would be a rush to the mines, and unless the trading com- panies learned of the fact in time to supply the stores heavily, there was a prospect of great suffering and possibly

ind on an the nearly

le was lliams. with a n boy. corded ensely of his noting illiams snow- 10 pro- 1 Will- roceed, s back rges to ithin a fearful which ; filled. of the ‘o Jack 1 Com- rat the ncisco, by the mn that ¢ com- stores ossibly

A aa cece Star

isa A i aS ta Ae aN:

History Of The Yukon Gold Fields. Ii

starvation before those who ventured into the country with- out a full supply of provisions.

Several hundred men did go into the Yukon on the strength of the word brought out by Williams, and in the spring active mining operations commenced, and have ever since been conducted on Forty-Mile. Upwards of two million dollars in gold has been taken out of that stream and its small tributaries. The influx to the Yukon caused

Joe La Due’S House, Sixty-Mile Creek.

by the news of the strikes on Forty-Mile led to the prospect- ing . other creeks, on many of which good results have been found. Miller Creek, which up to the time of the discoveries on the Klondike was the banner district on the Yukon, is a tributary of Sixty-Mile Creek, entering it about seventy miles from its mouth. The mouth of Sixty-Mile, with some fifty miles of the stream and its tributaries, is in

I2 Guide To The Klondike.

Northwest Territory, but Miller Creek lies wholly in Alaska. In 1892 prospecting began on Miller Creek, and many rich claims were located. One claim alone yielded thirty-seven thousand dollars of the yellow metal, and one clean-up of eleven hundred ounces was reported. Until the strikes on the Klondike were reported there were about two hundred men located on Miller Creek, but the number is consider- ably less at the present time, the later and richer discovery having called away all except the owners of the richer claims.

Glacier Creek, another tributary of Sixty-Mile, running nearly parallel to Miller Creek, has also developed some promising claims, although the first prospecting on it was not done until the summer of 1894. Another creek on which claims have been located and profitably worked for many years past is Birch Creek, which runs parallel with the Yukon for nearly three hundred miles before finally empty- ing into it. portage of six miles across from Circle City on the Yukon strikes Birch Creek four hundred miles above its junction with the Yukon. In 1894 and 1895 Birch Creek and its famous tributaries attracted more attention than any other portion of the Alaska gold fields. Three hundred miners wintered in there in 1895-96, and last year the number largely increased. As high as thirteen dollars to the pan was found, and forty to fifty dollars a day to the man was made on some of the claims when they were fairly opened. Crooked Creek, Independence, Mastodon, Nooly- mute and Preacher Creek, all tributaries of Birch Creek, have been prospected since 1893, and on each of them fairly profitable claims have been worked.

On Koyukuk River and its tributaries some good dis- coveries were made as far back as 1892, and a few claims have been worked on this stream and its tributaries since

\laska. 1y rich seven -up of kes on indred nsider- covery richer

ning it was ek on ed for ith the 2mpty- le City above Birch ention Three st year dollars to the fairly Nooly- Creek, fairly

dd dis- claims . since

Sears Brn iere ree Seren aed GES pee aie RB ace Seat. iin Baten nial

Dsl ap ap ah a RES,

ak ark gt

Riana SIRE

History Of The Yukon Gold Fields. 13

that date. This is as far down the Yukon as placer mining has been done up to the present time.

All the streams mentioned above, with the exception of a. few miles of Forty-Mile and Sixty-Mile Creeks, lie wholly within the limits of Alaska. It was not until the year 1896 that any discoveries of importance were made on the streams in the Northwest Territory. Of the streams lying wholly in the Northwest Territory which had been prospected up until tlhe summer of 1896 but Indian Creek and Stewart River have come into any prominence, and these latter have been so dwarfed by the greater fame which has attached to the Klondike that but little is heard of them at present. Indian Creek, which empties into the Yukon a few miles above the Klondike, has beeen prospected with indifferent success for the past three years. Colors are found on every bar, and a large number of claims have been located on it and its tributaries. Some of these tributaries head on the opposite side of the divide from Eldorado and Bonanza Creeks on the Klondike, and within a very few miles of them. The very latest reports from the Yukon indicate that on Indian Creek some good discoveries have been made the present summer, and some very profitable mines will be opened within another season.

Stewart River, the largest of all the streams in North- west ‘Territory tributary to the Yukon, with the exception of Pelly River, is now occupying a fair share of attention. No definite and reliable reports have yet come from the Stewart River, although there are many old-time Yukoners who ‘look to it as the future great rival of the Klondike region. very large number of those who are now going into the Yukon have for their objective point the Stewart and its tributaries.

The latest discoveries reported are on Henderson Creek, which empties into the Yukon a short distance below the

14 Guide To The Klondike,

Stewart. On this creek two hundred claims have been located the present summer. Prospects are as good as were shown on the Klondike at the time of its discovery last summer, and well-informed Yukon miners look upon Hen- derson Creek as a place from which a large amount of wealth will be extracted next season.

Year by year, since 1882, the mining population of the Yukon has slowly augmented, without at any time there having been any such frenzied rush as marks the first stages of development of most new mining regions. Trading posts have gradually been established, sufficiently equipped to supply the needs of those on the ground, and in- creased transportation. During the spring and sum- mer of 1896, and during the early spring of the pres- ent year, has occurred the first movement which ap- proached in its dimensions the nature ofarush. The busi- ness depression which has long prevailed left hundreds of men out of employment, and as the news of the discoveries on the Yukon gradually came to light there was a general feeling among those who had failed to procure profitable employment in the State of Washington that possibly the Yukon might afford them a livelihood, which they were having difficulty in procuring at home. A rivalry which broke out among the transportation companies accelerated this movement. In the spring of 1896 fares from Seattle to Dyea were reduced at one time to a point as low as five dollars for second-class passage. Thousands took advan- tage of the offer, and during the spring and summer of that year the Chilkoot Pass was thronged with gold-seekers on their way to the Yukon. No news of important discoveries came out that year, and in the spring of the present year, while the immigration was relatively large, it did not wit- ness the proportions seen in 1896. During the past two years and up to the time that word of the wonderful riches

been were y last Hen- realth

yf the there stages posts ed to 1 in- sum- pres- 1 ap- busi- ads of veries

History Of The Klondike 15

of che Klondike came out, the mining population of the Yukon was augmented by about four thousand people, of whom probably one-half at least were residents of the State of Washington prior to their going into the gold fields.

This chapter is but a faintly-outlined sketch of the mining history of the Yukon. The various rivers and creeks named cover a ierritory twenty-eight degrees of longitude by eight of latitude in extent. Scattered over this vast territory there are a few thousand miners. Com- munication between them has been scanty, and often abso- lutely cut off for half a year at a time. Practically no mail facilities have existed. Often a discovery has been made by a prospector, who has settled down to work his claim, and nothing is heard of the matter until he comes down to some trading post a year later, to exchange his dust for another year’s supply of provisions. [rom the points on the Pelly where prospecting has been carried on, to like points on the Koyukuk, the actual distance is greater than from Seattle to Chicago, and the journey means thousands of miles travel down one swift and turbulent stream, and hundreds of miles of like travel up such another stream.

More than ten thousand miles of water-ways are tribu- tary to the Yukon, in the region where gold is known to exist, and on all streams prospected gold has been found in greater or less quantities.

Under such circumstances, all the information which can be obtained is necessarily vague, general and somewhat indefinite in character, save as to the better-known and longest-worked districts.

There is, however, one mining district in the Yukon, and that the one to which public attention is being now directed, about which the amplest, fullest, and most accur- ate information is at hand. That region is the Klondike.

16 Guide To The Klondike,

Chapter Ii.

History Of The Klondike.

The original discoverer of the great placers in the min- ing district known generally as the Klondike was G. W. Carmach, a native of Illinois. Mr. Carmach was not a ten- derfoot, neither were his discoveries made by accident, nor in a place which had heretofore been unknown. The Klon- dike and its tributaries had been visited by prospectors dozens of times before Mr. Carmach finally commenced his systematic work, which resulted in the uncovering of the greatest placer deposits which have ever been found on the American Continent. Carmach has been in the Yukon for more than ten years. He made that country his home, and had it not been for his sudden accession to wealth he might have remained there until the day of his death. He is mar- ried to an Indian woman of the Stick tribe, and has two children born to him. He has worked at all kinds of labor such as could be found in a country like the Yukon. He has been a hunter, an employe of the trading companies, a prospector, miner, fisherman, and was employed for a time on the International Boundary Survey. His home for many years past has been with the Sticks at Takish House, on the chain of lakes that form the source of the coastward arm of the Yukon. The Klondike has the name of being the greatest salmon stream of any of the affiuents of the Yukon. Last summer Carmach camped near the mouth of the Klondike, and with a number of Indians to assist him caught and cured a very large number of salmon.

After the salmon run was over, in accordance with his previously declared intention, he started out to make a sys-

7. W. a ten- t, nor Klon- ectors ed his of the yn the on for e, and might 3 mar- is two labor

He Lies, a 1 time ie for Louse, tward being of the nouth assist

th his a sys-

History Of The Klondike, I7

tematic prospecting trip up the Klondike, from which pre- vious prospectors had returned discouraged. In the latter part of July he took two Indians and a small stock of pro- visions and started up the Klondike. He took the first considerable tributary which appeared, to the right, and went up it a few miles to where conditions were favorable for prospecting. Gold was found in encouraging quantities on every bar. For twenty miles or more he followed the windings of the stream, panning on every bar, until he finally decided upon the spot to locate his claim. He went out and returned with provisions enough to set to wark, and with his wife and two brothers-in-law (Indians) started in at systematic mining on August 15. The gravel was carried by the three men in a box from the claim to the creek, a distance of from thirty to one hundred feet. In eight days the three men, in this crude manner, washed out fourteen hundred dollars, and the fame of Bonanza Creek was estab- lished.

Before the men got fairly to work the news had leaked out. In fact, Carmach made no secret of it, and endeavored to inform his friends as speedily as possible. By August 19 seven claims were filed. The news of the wonderful discoveries passed down the river, but was at first dis- credited. Nevertheless, by the 1st of October, some two hundred men were on the ground, and Eldorado Creek, a branch of Bonanza, was prospected and demonstrated to be as rich or richer than the first discovery. Then commenced that wonderful rivalry as to amount of gold to be found in a single miner’s pan of dirt, which reads, even to this day, when the facts have been fully authenticated, more like a page out of a romance than a sober recital of actual experi- ence, The winter had set in, the creeks were sealed, and the only way of getting any portion of the wealth out of the ground was by the primitive prospector’s plan of panning.

18 Guide To The Klondike,

Through a hole in the ice water could be obtained in quan- tities sufficient for this method of working.

On November 23 L. B. Rhoads, who had located claim No. 21, on Bonanza Creek, took out $65.30 to a single pan of dirt. Word of this went down to Circle City, where four or five hundred miners were wintering, and then commenced the most remarkable exodus which the Yukon had yet witnessed. In the depth of winter, with the ther- mometer hovering around in the neighborhood of 60 de- grees below zero, nearly the entire population of Circle City at once started for the scene of the rich discoveries. Every dog team and every pack animal in the camp were pressed into service, and those who had neither, packed their stock of provisions on hand sleds and started. The distance was 300 miles up stream, but every man who started made the trip without any other casualty than a few frost bites for the especially unlucky or ill-provided individuals:

Clarence Berry, who was one of the lucky ones to get early on the ground in Eldorado Creek, took out one $100 pan and later a pan which went $280. On March 5, a pan taken from the bottom of the shaft on Thorp & Stewart’s claim showed $282.50, and from fourteen pans $1,565 was obtained. On March 20, Clarence Berry took out a $300 pan, and on April 13, one which went $495. from that time on panning gave way to sluicing, as the thaws had set in and water became plentiful.

In the meantime other tributaries of the Klondike had been prospected and showed nearly as well as Bonanza and Eldorado Creeks. On Tilly Creek 175 claims were staked; Bear Creek was preéty well located, as well as Gold Bottom and Hunker Creeks. There is a creek still higher up, called by the Indians Too Much Gold Creek, of the richness of which the most fabulous stories are told, but about which

uan-

laim pan here then ikon ther- ) de- City ‘very assed. tock . was s for

pan art’s

was DOO that

N set

had and ked ; tom up, ness.

ich

History Of The Klondike. 19

nothing authentic was really known at the time the last news came out of the Klondike country.

The extraordinary and unprecedented richness of the claims, as demonstrated by the prospecting and panning, was such that the fortunate locators of claims could not wait for the spring thaws to commence operatior.s. The ground was covered by a coating of moss a foot in thickness and under this gravel was frozen solid to bed rock. Bed rock was from nine to twenty-four feet down, and the rich pay streak was from one to three feet thick just above the bed rock. The moss was stripped off the surface and fires built to thaw the ground. As fast as thawed, it was shov- eled out on the dump and in this manner a shaft was sunk to bed rock. From the foot of the shaft, by the same use of fires to thaw the frozen gravel, drifts were driven along the bed rock, and the gravel in the pay streak taken to the surface and placed on the dump. Every energy was bent to have as much gravel in sight as possible, so that when the water came in the spring, sluicing could commence at once, and the entire force could commence shoveling the gravel into the sluice boxes.

The demand for labor ran high. Every claim owner wished to employ as many men as possible, in order to clean up as large a portion of his claim as could be done the first season. Wages soon reached the figure of fifteen dollars per day, and remained at that, at last accounts. At these figures some three hundred or four hundred men were employed besides the mine owners. In addition to mining, sluice boxes were being built, dams put in the creek, and ditches dug to carry the water into the sluice boxes. Many claims were wérked on shares, by those who did not have the means to employ and pay miners at the ruling rate of wages. In most instances, however, where men were employed; a few pans taken from

20 Guide Tc The Klondike.

the dump and panned out at the end of the week, produced sufficient to pay the labor bills, and buy the claim owner the necessary provisions, as well as to allow him a little over with which to take in the attractions of metropolitan life, for a city had sprung into being.

Joseph La Due, one of the pioneer traders of the Yukon, who had been in that country since 1882, was one of those early on the ground. He had been engaged in mining, in trading, in operating a saw-

Steamer Landing First Supplies At Dawson City, June, 1897.

mill, and for a time even had engaged in the appar- ently hopeless pursuit of farming. He had attempted to raise vegetables in the neighborhood of Fort Selkirk, but early frosts blighted his crop and his farming aspirations at one and the same time. When the news of the rich discoveries broke out he was engaged in running a sawmill at Sixty-Mile, a trading post some fifty miles up the river from the mouth of the Klondike. Mr. La Due promptly moved the sawmill down to the mouth of the Klondike. Here he selected a level piece of ground, with a good land-

roduced 1 owner

a little opolitan

of the . 1882, id been

a saw-

irations he rich sawmill le river omptly ondike. d land-

History Of The Klondike, 21

ing on the river and established a town, which he named Dawson City, after the gentleman who had charge of the first surveying party for che Canadian Government, which went in te establish the international boundary in 1887. From the time the sawmill was established it had all it could do to supply the demand for lumber for sluice boxes and houses at one hundred dollars per thousand feet and upwards. Men stood in line to file their orders, and waited for days to have them filled. While the nearest mines are three miles away and the richest claims fully twelve miles off, Dawson City has been the mining camp of the country ever since it started. Before spring opened it had a popu- lation of probably twelve hundred, housed in tents, in log cabins, in rough board houses and in shacks compounded in part of all of these.

Five saloons were running in full blast before the spring opened, and each one was taking in from three hun- dred to two thousand dollars a day, with whisky at fifty cents a drink and beer the same. Every conceiv- able kind of gambling game was in operation; and dance houses were in full blast, for daring and hardy women of the most dissolute character had made their way into the camp as early as any one except the original prospectors. The town was regularly staked off into blocks and lots, on the American plan, avenues running one way and streets intersecting them at right angles. Town lots were sold at city prices.

While the enormous wealth of the camp was known in part from the result of the panning, it was not until the spring opened and the sluice boxes commenced to separate the gold from the sand and earth with which it was mixed on the dump piles, that it became clearly recognizable. When earth was handled through the sluice boxes by the ton, instead of by the dozen pounds in the pan, then the

22 Guide %O The Klondike.

gold commenced to appear in quantities which fairly daz- zled those who thought they had realized the richness of the claims. Where it had been seen in o:nces, it came to sight in pounds, even in hundredweights. Where small buckskin sacks had sufficed to carry the wealth of the ordinary claim owner, coal oil cans came in use. Around the cabins of the lucky owners of claims, gold stacked up in quanuities of which they had never dreamed of possessing. Three or four weeks of sluicing gave from single claims as high as ten thousand ounces of gold, while few claims ran jower than twenty thousand dollars; the smallness of the amount not being due to any inferior richness in the claims themselves, but to the smaller size of the dump, represent- ing the gravel which had been taken out during the winter. With this first clean up, the first epoch in the history of the Klondike closed.

From the report of William Ogilvie, who has been in on the Yukon, in charge of the boundary surveys, made to the Dominion Government, the following extracts are given as being official in character, and, moreover, as giving the best idea obtainable as to the extent and character of the placer discoveries in the Klondike districts and the dis- tricts immediately adjacent thereto:

The extent of the gold-bearing section here is such as to warrant the assertion that we have here a district which will give one thousand claims of five hundred feet in length each. Now, one thousand such claims wiil require at least three thou- sand men to work them properly, and as wages for working in the mines are from eight to ten dollars per day, without board, we have every reason to assume that this part of our territory will within a year or two contain ten thousand souls at least, for the news has gone out to the coast and an unprece- dente? influx is expected next spring.

And this is not all, for a large creek called Indian Creek joins the Yukon about midway between Klondike and Stewart River, and all along this creek good pay has been found. All that has stood in the way of working it heretofore has been the scarcity of provisions and the difficulty of getting them up

y daz- ess of me to small of the round up in essing. lms as os ran of the claims resent- winter. of the

een in ade to given 1g the of the e dis-

h will . each. . thou- orking ‘ithout of our prece-

Creek tewart

All ; been em up

History Of The Klondike. 23

there even when here. Indian Creek is quite a large stream, and it probably will yield five or six hundred claims. Further south yet lies the head of the several branches of Stewart River, on which some prospecting has been done this summer and good indications found, but the want of provisions prevented development.

Since my last the prospects on Bonanza Creek and tribu- taries are increasing in richness and extent, until now it is certain that millions will be taken out of the district in the next few years. On some of the claims prospected the pay dirt is of great extent and very rich. One man told me yesterday that he washed out a singie pan of dirt on one of the claims on Bonanza Creek and found fourteen dollars and twenty-five cents in it. Of course, that may be an exceptionally rich pan, but five to seven dollars per pan is the average on that claim, it is reported—with five feet pay dirt and the width yet undeter- mined, but it is known to be thirty feet. Even at that figure the result, at nine to ten pans to the cubic foot and five hundred feet long, is four million dollars at five dollars per pan. A fourth of this would be enormous. Enough prospecting has been done to show that there are at least fifteen miles of this extraordinary richness, and the indications are that it will have three or four times that extent; if not ali equal to the above, at least very rich.

There are several cases of hardship now for the want of a proper court. Miners’ meetings have lost their power, though one was held in Forty-Mile a day ago to settle the disputed ownership of a placer claim, a thing perfectly within the power of the agent here, and why it was held I cannot yet say. If some sort of court to satisfy the necessities of the people in business here is not at once established serious inconvenience will result. The officer appointed will require to be a hale, vigorous person, for it is probable that he will have to make journeys of considerable length across unoccupied country in the discharge of his duty. I have in previous reports intimated that some sort of legal machinery is absolutely necessary for the trial of cases of contract, collection of debts and generally the judicial interests of the country.

A quartz lode showing free gold in paying quantities has been located on one of the creeks, but I cannot yet send par- ticulars. I am confident from the nature of the gold found in the creeks that many more of them, and rich, too, will be found, I have just heard from a reliable source that the quartz men- tioned is rich, as it tested over one hundred dollars to the ton. The lode appears to run from three to eight feet in thickness and is about nineteen miles from the Yukon River. I will likely be called on to survey it and will be able to report fully.

John Dalton informed me he has found good prospects on a small creek nearly midway between the Coast Range and Selkirk on his route. His man showed me some coarse gold,

24 Suide To The Klondike.

about a dollar’s worth, he found on the head of a branch of the Alsek River, near the head of Chilkat Inlet, which is, of course, inside the summit of the Coast Range and, of course, in our territory. From this you will gather that we have a very large area, all more or less gold-bearing, and will all yet be worked.

Good quartz has been found in places just across the line

on Davis Creek (see my map of the one hundred and forty-first —

sent you), but of what extent is unknown, as it is in the bed of the creek and covered with gravel. Good quartz is also reported on the hills around Bonanza Creek, but of this I will be able to speak more fully after my proposed survey. It is pretty certain from information I have got from prospectors that all or nearly all of the northerly branch of White River is on our side of the line, and copper is found on it, but more abundantly on the southerly branch, of which a great deal of it is in our territory also, so it is probable we have that metal also.

I have seen here several lumps of native copper brought by the natives from White River, but just from what part is uncer- tain. I have also seen a specimen of silver ore said to have been picked up in a creek flowing into Bennett Lake, about fourteen miles down it on the east side.

Placer prospects continue more and more encouraging and extraordinary; it is beyond doubt that three pans of different claims on E] Dorado turned out two hundred and four dollars, two hundred and twelve dollars and two hundred and sixteen dollars, but it must be borne in mind that there were only three such pans, though there are many running from ten to fifty dollars. I think this is enough to show that we may look forward with confidence to a fairly bright future for this part of our territory.

reas

h of the ‘ course, , in our ry large worked. the line

rty-first —

e bed of ‘eported : able to certain r nearly e of the

on the erritory

ught by s uncer- to have 2, about

ing and lifferent dollars, sixteen ly three to fifty ay look his part

nse

What The Klondike Has Produced. 25

Chapter Iii.

What The Klondike Has Produced.

While all this excitement was prevailing on the Yukon, it took a long time for the news to reach the outside world. The rivers were closed by ice, and the dreary semi-Arctic winter, with its extreme low temperature, had set in. Prac- tically the country was sealed in from the outside world. But there are men in on the Yukon whom no hardships, no severity of weather can deter. In the middle of the winter, a party of five left Dawson City with dog sleds, bound for Dyea. During their whole trip the thermom- eter ranged in the neighborhood of fifty degrees below zero, but they made the trip from Dawson to Juneau in forty days. The object of their trip was to arrange for heavier shipments of provisions into the country, in antici- pation of the rush which would come when the news went out to the world; and particularly to get in such provisions for themselves and their partners before the snow went out of Chilcoot Pass and while sledding was practicable. They were followed by other small parties at intervals from that time on until spring. Each one of these parties brought out glowing accounts of the richness of these great strikes. From Juneau the news reached Seattle by

steamer, and was sent out over the country by wire. The story of the rich pans of dirt washed out by Clarence Berry was published as early as April 5, and like stories fol- lowed it.

For some peculiar reason, these stories seemed to excite but a passing interest, except among those who took an active interest in mining. The spring movement to the

26 Guide To The Klondike.

Yukon was not quite as large as it was the previous year, and before any such glowing accounts of the richness of the country had been received. It was not until the arrival of the steamer Excelsior in San Francisco, on Wednesday, July 14, that a true realizing sense of what the discoveries really amounted to was experienced. That steamer brought down with her more than a ton of gold, the prop- erty of a dozen or more men, and the result of a few weeks’ sluicing in the spring. Each of these men had behind him a claim of which the amount with him represented a

ty + So hints AN

Ren wet (is, ie

ws AWAKE cs ay)

ee SS

Crossing The Lakes On The Ice,

very small fraction of the wealth. The arrival of the steamer Portland at Seattle on the morning of July 17 fanned the excitement into a flame. On the Portland there were sixty-eight passengers who had with them con- siderably more than a million dollars’ worth of gold, their share of the few weeks’ clean-up. Much of the money which had been taken out by them had been reinvested in other claims, and with the exception of a few who had sold their claims, the amount in the possession of each miner

ious year, chness of he arrival ednesday, iscoveries

steamer the prop- ew weeks’ d behind esented a

July 17 Portland em con- ld, their ested in had sold h miner

aie tear ag eS Bk jee UR a hls ies UR contigs. eae Sat ee Sa Sn

What The Klondike Has Produced, 27

was a relatively small portion of the wealth which he actually had. The amount brought out on these two steainers was distributed among the passengers as follows:

"ROMS CODE 6 ives: ca iain oH Cac 4-0-9449 seen ba ok ohewee ber $ 10,000 NK Abe ARORQROWR Sar 0i-4nvie eb DVO AN EGG Oe 8a eae yo Ce Sed ce 10,000 101 C2 cn a 10,000 CORE RGU EIEN eacivi-yi a: shea 0 Gh we aa aa Rae ORE ohne: 8,250 POI NO ca 6 Sikcdea aie wap ne are wos ai ROW OAR alee les 5,100 GOR. BUOWELE isos acs bc vec ee ed ceded edeievabewnvacans 5,000 WHOIS DIQGI 4 ie ccica dais Saetewdelnd backs oe bs sdievbaveie 5,000 LOUIS, RAOGIS. 06 bei cc ckecndvcce coven bee eceevencsec 5,000 De PRG MOM hea tia O24 e ew ONG VE bia RR ERR awe ak es 65,000 Lis (2) 1 Ais 80) an a ee 50,000 VICKOE TOE cei, v4: bo 86a Nas Ea oe aaah Oa Sonny Dee mie 15,000 William Btanley oo. cccvsecsccveseuecsdvecveceouueeeees 112,000 CHABONCO BORON oes sa vivivslicn 4 0 bvid oon oceleo a heehee ek 135,000 Albert Galbraith ...cccccccrcccnvecevcescvevwvudecseces 15,000 James McMahon 0... ccecececcececcecucuce 15,000 J. O. HHOGtwOOG ccc cicc cs cnccnccvcbeccvcceccvacecccaes 5,000 By Ge He ROWKGY cicessa scenes sivkis viveee vied eocsddeccds 90,000 MOO ENING 54 iy 54's o0igks ada Gare ank ab Read eeananee Pens 10,000 J. B. Hollingshead 0.0... cece ccc cece cee cece cee 25,000 TOOK FL OUNG i 53.550. e:0 ng: ad via oas eda vow oo ued hakone ox 6,000 Douglas McArthur ccc cececcceccucecucces 15,000 Bernard Anderson ccccececececucecuceceuy 14,000 Robert KrOOK oo. ccciscvsccvcnvcececeevcveueeencenc 14,000 Fred Lendesser 0... ccccccccesccccccucccccucce 13,000 Py A PNBUSS ck. ahosb Huestis pedo MRE GEN eV Rls bua adhe & 10,000

Others who came down scattered to various parts of the country before any figures could be obtained from them. Every man who came off the Portland had with him gold. Some carried it in grip sacks, under the weight of which they staggered, some had it rolled in their blankets. Hardly one had less than a full load, while in five or six instances it required the assistance of two or three men to take the gold ashore over the gang plank. In two rough sacks Clarence

28 Guide To The Klondike.

Berry carried $85,000 in gold, this being the amount for which the nuggets and dust were actually sold.

The sight of the gold itself and the stories told by the returning miners were sufficient in themselves to create a mining furore in Seattle; but in addition to this the Port- land brought down hundreds of letters. Many of these were from well known and thoroughly reliable citizens of Seattle, men whose acquaintanceship extended over the whole town. These letters to wives, to mothers and fathers, and to intimate friends, all without exception told the same story, of the finding of gold in almost incredible quantities, of thousands of dollars being washed out in one day. A few of the more significant letters are given herewith.

Captain Francis Tuttle, commander of the revenue cut- ter Bear, under date of July 1, wrote fo a friend in Seattle a letter of which the following are extracts:

The days of ’49 in California are mere sideshows in com- parison with the excitement in the Yukon country. As ! write St. Michaels is full of miners waiting the first opportunity to get down to Puget Sound and to California. Nearly every man of them has fifty thousand dollars worth of dust, and there is

not a man here with less than fifteen thousand dollars. The latter are referred to as “‘poor fellows.”’

Captain Tuttle says he cannot afford to lay long in St. Michaels or his whole crew will become daft, and he con- tinues:

I feel almost as if I would like to go up the river myself, and I would certainly do so were I twenty years younge;y.

B. R. Shaw, a young man well known in Seattle, in a letter to O. A. Schade, also of Seattle, from Dawson City, under date June 15, gives some particulars as follows:

There is no night here now. It is light as midday for the twenty-four hours, and neither too warm nor too cold; not too

many flies to bother as yet. This is a great mining strike, probably the greatest on the American Continent, or in the

10ount for

ld by the . create a the Port- of these itizens of over the 1 fathers, the same uantities, day. A ith. enue cut- n Seattle

3 in com- As ! write ‘tunity to very man 1 there is u's. The

ng in St. he con-

r myself, rer,

ttle, in a son City, OWS:

y for the ; not too

ig strike, yr in the

What The Klondike Has Produced. 29

world. I know you will not believe me if I tell you all about it, It is not so extensive as I wish it was, or at least gold has not been found in great paying quantities except on two creeks, about two hundred claims, but some of them are very rich; in fact, some of the pay streaks are nearly all gold. One thou- sand dollars to the pan is not an uncommon thing, and as high as one hundred ounces have been taken out at a single pan. It is no uncommon thing to see men coming in with all the gold dust they can carry.

You would not believe me when I tell you that I went into one cabin and counted five five-gallon oil cans full of gold dust, but it is a fact. It is the result of the work of two men during the winter, and the dump is not much more than half worked out.

There has been about two million dollars in dust taken out so far in the district. At a low estimate there will be fifty million dollars taken out during the next year.

Of course I am in too late to get in on any of the rich ground, but hope to get hold of some that I can make wages at, or better. TI am working for the Alaska Commertial Company, helping to put up a big store building. Went to work as soon as I got settled at ten dollars a day for ten hours. Carpenters get fifteen dollars a day, and so do all of the men who work in the mines. I think I shall work for a while.

John I*. Miller, formerly prosecuting attorney of King County, in which Seattle is situated, and a nephew of the late Senator John F. Miller, of California, in a letter to his wife, dated Dawson City, June 14, says:

I have now written quite at length regarding the trip and its features, and, by the way, I may say that no one has any right or ought to undertake it unless he is ready and willing to put up with anything or everything, at all times, and undergo any and all kinds of hardship, privation and exposure. Now, as to the country. Well, as far as the wealth is concerned, the half has not been told. But, like everything else, the few have it and the many are looking, looking and hunting—the same old story. Many claims have yielded sixty thousand, eighty thou- sand and one hundred thousand dollars from last winter’s work. One man has three five-gallon oil cans filled, and is not fully washed out yet. But, remember, he is one out of perhaps five thousand. The many have nothing, though great wealth doubt- less exists. A town has sprung up here at the mouth of the Klondike that has killed Circle City, Forty-Mile, Fort Cudahy and all of the other towns dead.

Captain Higgins, of. the Excelsior, tells of some of the

30 Guide To The Klondike.

stories he heard from the returning miners, during the

fifteen days of passage down, as follows:

On the 29th came our steamer, the Alice, with thirty miners and more gold, and we discharged freight immediately and got away on the morning of July 1st. The weather had been very warm. Think of seventy-five and eighty degrees in the shade, close under the Arctic Circle. The first installment of return we received was fifteen strong boxes of gold—over a ton in weight. This was the company’s share, Every miner brought his own.

After the company’s lot had been stowed away the passen- gers came, and they staggered up the gangplank loaded down. Some had their whack rolled up in a blanket and carried it in front, bent nearly double with their load. Some had it ina strong valise. Several had two valises suspended one on each side with a strap over their shoulders. Some had to make two trips and two of the party made three trips between the steamer to transfer their treasure.

A few of these men had been in Alaska five years and more, some three years. Several, and among these the most fortunate, crossed the range last winter into the Klondike mines, which is. undoubtedly the richest placer ever known. The word Klon- dike means Deer River, and is called Reindeer River on the charts. It empties into the Yukon fifty miles above the Big River. The geographical position of the junction is seventy-six degrees ten minutes north latitude, one hundred and thirty- eight degrees fifty minutes west longitude. Bonanza Creek dumps into Klondike two miles above the Yukon. El Dorado is a tributary of the Bonanza. There are numerous other creeks. and tributaries, the main river being three hundred miles long. The gold so far has been taken from Bonanza and El Dorado, both well named, for the richness of these placers is truly marvelous. El Dorado, thirty miles long, is staked the whole length, and as far as worked has paid.

As each claim is five hundred feet along the creek bed there is half a million to the claim. So uniform has the output been that one miner who has an interest in three claims told me that if offered his choice he would toss up to decide. One of our passengers who is taking out one hundred thousand dol- lars with him has worked one hundred feet of his ground and refused two hundred thousand for the remainder, and confidently expects to clean up four hundred thou- sand dollars and more. He has in a bottle two hun- dred and twelve dollars from one pan of dirt. His pay dirt while being washed averaged two hundred and fifty dollars an hour to each man shoveling in. Two others of our miners who worked their own claims cleaned up six thousand dollars from one day’s washing. There is about fifteen feet of dirt above bedrock, the pay streak averaging from four to six feet,

ing the

7 miners. and got nen very e shade, f return 1 ton in brought

. passen- 2d down. jed it in 1itina on each nake two y steamer

nd more, ortunate, which is. rd Klon- 1 on the the Big venty-six d thirty- a Creek

iles long. Dorado, is truly e whole

ed there

miners dollars of dirt six feet,

PY Rep pee Ne aoe: Gas ge a I Seer eels ip ie mene aoe

What The Klondike Has Produced.

3t

which is tunneled out while the ground is frozen. Of course the ground taken out is thawed by building fires, and when the thaw comes and water runs they set their sluices and wash the dirt. Two of our fellows thought a small bird in the hand worth a large one in the bush and sold their claims for forty- five thousand dollars, getting forty-five hundred dollars down, the remainder to be paid in monthly installments of ten thou- sand dollars each. The purchasers had no more than five thousanc dollars paid. They were twenty days thawing and getting out dirt. Then there was no water to sluice with, but one fellow made a rocker and in ten days took out ten thousand dollars for the first installment. So, tunneling and rocking,

they took out forty thousand dollars before there was water to sluice with.

Of course these things read like the story of Aladdin, but fiction is not in it at all with facts at Klondike. These are but samples out of thousands, couched pre-

cisely in the same vein, and repeating over and over again the same story.

What the district has produced this season cannot be accurately known until the final shipments are made. Ac- cording to the estimates of the best informed men, fully five million dollars has been taken out since April 20. Without exception, all the returning miners agree that there will be fully ten times as much taken out during the coming season. ‘The ground in the pay streak has proven of uniform richness all along the creeks. One claim is substantially as good as another. On the claims which have been opened about five hundred men were employed during the last season, or during some part of it. It is agreed that on these claims alone five thousand men can be profitably worked, if they can be obtained. In the whole district, including all the tributaries of the Klon- dike, there is prospective work for ten thousand. It will be seen that our estimated product for next season of the Klondike mines of fifty million dollars is within the bounds of reasonable expectations, and it is not at all improbable that the amount may reach double these figures. The estimate of work for ten thousand men in the district is made by William Ogilvie, chief of the International Bound-

ary Survey, whose experience on the Yukon dates back to

3-S

32 Guide To The Klondike,

Chapter Iv.

The Routes Of Travel.

Speaking in general terms, there are two routes of travel to the mines. One is by steamship to the Island of St. Michael’s, situated near the mouth of the Yukon, in Bering Sea; thence by river steamer up to the various mining camps. ‘The other is by steamer to some point on the coast of Southeastern Alaska; thence across the narrow dividing mountain range to the headwaters of rivers which flow into the Yukon, and thence on down the rivers in small boats. This latter is called the overland route, but the overland portion of the trip is only from twenty-four to sixty miles, according to the route taken. As the great body of the travel into the Yukon has been by way of these so-called overland routes, they will be the first ones taken up and discussed. With existing routes of travel, the starting point for the Yukon is the city of Seattle. By steamer to Dyea or Skaguay, the distance from Seattle is eight hundred and eighty-four miles. It is an inland passage all the way, and, except across the mouths of a few wide bays, the ordin- ary steamship route of travel is as well sheltered as any portion of Puget Sound. With the exception of these few places, no more rough water can be seen than on any ordin- ary land-locked bay on tide water. No more picturesque voyage is possible to be selected on any waters in the world. The fame of the inside passage to Alaska has spread until during the summer season large excursion boats have to be put on to accommodate the heavy tourist travel from Seattle north by this route. Until the com-

of travel d of St. n Bering mining the coast dividing flow into 11 boats. overland ty miles, of the o-called up and starting amer to hundred

tourist e com-

The Routes Of Travel. 33

mencement of the present rush there was but one steamer a week to Alaska. The number has now increased until it can be safely asserted that from this time forward, so long as the demands of travel require it, there will be one large steamer leave Seattle for Dyea and Skaguay every day in the week, and more will be put on if necessary. The steam-

Mi

brua,}; i

NYY MO yu Ny, Mit ' ;

First Camp On Chilkoot Trail,

ers at present on the route are those of the Pacific Coast Steamship Company, the Queen, a palatial excursion boat of sixteen hundred and ninety-seven tons register; the Willamette, of upwards of three thousand tons burthen; the Mexico, a large ocean-going steamship; the City of Topeka, of the same class, and the Alki, a smaller ocean steamship.

34 Guide To The Kilondike.

The company has a large fleet of other vessels to draw upon in case of an emergency. In addition to this, a large number of smaller steamers, admirably fitted for the work, are on the route, such as the Rosalie, with accommodations for one hundred and fifty passengers; the Geo. FE. Starr, with substantially the same accommodations. Two freight boats, the Edith and the Rapid Transit, are also on the route. Other vessels are fitting up to meet the demand, if it increases. The passenger accommodations of these various boats ranges from twelve hundred down to one hundred and fifty. The voyage only lasts four days, and would be a mere pleasure excursion were it not for the fact that there will some slight discomfort follow from the crowded conditions of the sieame’s. The travel will never congest at Seattle. So long as it is possible to cross the mountains and reach the headwaters of the Yukon, the enterprise of Seattle can be 1elied upon to furnish transpor- tation to the points where the land journey commences.

The Chilkoot Pass Route.

This is the one through which nearly all the miners who have yet reached the various placers on the Yukon, including the Klondike, made their original trip into the country. It is the shortest pass from tide water to fresh water on the lakes which are the sources of the Yukon. The actual distance from the beach at Dyea Inlet to Lake Lindeman, as instrumentally measured by Mr. Ogilvie, the Dominion surveyor, who has been in charge of the inter- national boundary work on the Yukon for some years past, is twenty-three miles and a half. It is generally called twenty-four miles, the distance being divided as follows: Dyea to foot of canyon, seven miles; canyon to Sheep

Ww upon a large le work, dations Starr, freight on the nand, if f these to one ys, and the fact om the ll never ‘oss the on, the anspor- nces.

miners Yukon, nto the o fresh Yukon. 0 Lake vie, the inter- rs past, called ollows: Sheep

The Routes Of Travel, 35

Camp, five miles; Sheep Camp to summit, five miles; sum- mit to Lake Lindeman, nine miles. From Dyea, the first seven miles of the distance is up a wide, flat-bottom valley, floored with gravel flats. It runs north and south between high mountain walls. The travel up this vallev is as easy as over any ordinary country road, the only trouble being that the trail crosses the creek several times before the head of the canyon is reached. This valley is V-shaped, the point of the V being the entrance to the canyon. Six miles up from the head of the inlet, the stream is joined by another, which has been dignified by the name of the Nourse River. From that point on the valley closes in abruptly, until at the distance of seven miles from Dyea the canyon is reached. Here the ascent commences to be- come more abrupt. The trail goes through the woods along a steep, rocky and in summer time boggy hillside, leading up and down the sides of several deep, narrow gullies. ‘Two small detached glaciers occupy hollows in the slope of the mountains on the west side of this valley and from these a considerable portion of the water of the stream is derived. Jive miles of travel through this can- yon trail leads to Sheep Camp, the last point where there is any timber on the trail until the lake on the opposite side. Irom Sheep Camp to the summit is a distance of three miles, and this is the hardest part of the whole trail. It leads through a narrow rocky gap, and the whole scene is one of the most comp!ste desolation, the granite rocks rising steeply to partly snowclad mountains on either side. The trail leads over huge masses of fallen rock, which alter- nate here and there with steep, slippery surfaces of rock in place. In one portion of the trail, near the summit, for a distance of nearly nine hundred feet, the angle is nearly forty-five degrees. Then follows a short bench, and a further slope of seven hundred feet at an angle of approxi-

36 GUIDE To THE KLONDIKE.

mately thirty degrees. At this a windlass or winze has been established, which is used in hoisting the loaded sleds up the slope when there is snow on the ground. A number of miners at this point frequently join forces and by splic- ing together the rope carried by each party and leading it through a block made fast at the summit, haul their loads up the slope. When packing is resorted to, this portion of the trail usually has to be “doubled,” that is, but half the usual load is carried up it, and a return is made for the other portion. Seven to eight miles of the highest part of the pass is entirely destitute of timber, even of a stunted growth, such as might be used for firewood. The “stone house” often referred to in letters and by newspaper corre- spondents consists of several natural, though inconvenient shelters, beneath great masses of rock which have rolled down from the mountain. The actual elevation of the pass at the summit, taking the mean of a large number of barometrica]l observations, is three thousand five hundred and two feet. After the summit is passed, the slope of the pass is rather gradual, and the total descent to the lake not very great, being but thirteen hundred and thirty-four feet in a distance of nine miles. The trail is rough and crooked, crosses wide areas of shattered rock, making the travel, especially with a pack, extremely hard. Some of the valleys to the north of the summit and near it are deenlvy filled with perennial snow, over which the trail runs

v peeerence, to avoid the rocky slopes. Continuing cown the trail follows a little glacial stream through a narrow rocky defile.

It can be seen from this description that the Chilkoot Pass, at least so far as the last few miles toward the summit are concerned, is impracticable as a pack trail for animals. The manner ia which supplies have been carried over this pass, during the summer season, has been entirely by men

inze has led sleds number by splic- ading it eir loads ortion of half the - for the t part of stunted e “stone er corre- nvenient re rolled 1 of the imber of hundred ye of the the lake irty-four ugh and king the Some of r it are rail runs ontinuing rough a

Chilkoot summit animals. ver this by men

te

The Routes Of Travel. 37

packers. The Chilkat Indians have been acting as packers ever since the first gold-seekers went in on the Yukon. They have charged for this work from ten to twenty cents a pound, the average price for several years having been fifteen cents per pound. strong man can carry a pack of one hundred pounds over this trail, and this is about what the average Indian packer takes. It takes three days for the round trip to be made from Dyea to Lake Lindeman, two days going over with the pack and one returning, and

Devil’S Bluff Portage, Chilkoot Trail,

it ¢ Jsitfully hard work. With an estimated outfit of fifteen sundred pounds, it would take one man, working alone, forty-five days to get his outfit over the pass, if he coule indeed stand up under such work for that length of time, Owing to the rush now going on it will be difficult to get Indian packers sufficient to care for more than part of the freight offering.

fn the spring the conditions are different, and it is at

38 GUIDE To THE KLONDIKE.

that season that the experienced Yukon miner endeavors to get in his supplies. With the heavy fall of snow usually on the western slope, all the boulders, broken rock and rough places in the trail are covered up. On the crusted snow five to eight hundred pounds can be moved more readily than one hundred pounds can be packed. At the very steep places, ropes are used to haul the loaded sleds up the icy slopes, and ropes are again used to lower them down the steep slopes on the other side of the pass. Storms in the pass are frequent and severe and occasionally inter- rupt this work for weeks. The experienced Yukoner, by taking advantage of the intervals of good weather, gener- ally succeeds in getting his supplies over the pass and down part of the upper chain of s before the ice commences to go out of the river. He has his boat built in readiness to embark, and as soon as the ice commences to move out, follows it down the river, arriving at the mines about the first of June. This is the practice recommended to all who intend to go into the Klondike or other min- ing regions in the Yukon via the overland route. It necessitates exposure to storms and to severe winter weather, but these experiences will have to be met with in any event, and might as well be encountered at the start as at any other portion of the route. If they prove too severe, it is not too late to withdraw from the adventure, as it would be, if fairly started down the Yukon in a boat.

A description of the method of getting supplies over the trail in the early spring, while the road is ina condition to travel, is given by a writer in the Alaska Searchlight. According to returned Yukoners, this description is the most complete, exhaustive and graphic of any which has been attempted, so it is reproduced here:

“Going up the Dyea river five miles on the ice, will bring one to the mouth of the canyon. Here in the woods

ndeavors Vv usually rock and 2 crusted ed more At the led sleds rer them Storms ly inter- oner, by r, gener- nd down nmences ‘eadiness love out, bout the nded to er min- ite. It winter with in he start rove too ature, as boat. ies over ondition ‘chlight. 1 is the lich has

ice, will e woods

The Routes Of Travel 39

a comfortable camp can be easily arranged. The tent is pitched on top of the snow, the poles and pins being pushed down into it. While some are busily engaged in building a fire and making bed, the best cook of the party prepares the supper. If you have no stove a camp fire must be built, either on an exposed point of rock or in a hole dug down in the snow; if you have a stove it can be quickly arranged on a “gridiron” inside the tent, the gridiron consisting of three poles some six or eight feet long, and laid in the snow on which the stove is placed. The heat from the stove will soon melt a hole underneath, but there will be enough firm snow under the ends of the poles to hold it up. Jor the bed hemlock brush is cut an} laid on the snow to a depth of a foot or more, and this is covered with a large square of canvas on which the blankets and robes are put; when finished it forms a natural spring bed, which will offer grateful rest after hauling a sled all day.

“Dyea Canyon is about two miles long and perhaps fifty feet wide. A boat cannot go through it, but in the early spring miners go through on the ice, bridging with poles the dangerous places or openings. After the ice breaks up it is necessary to go over the trail on the east side of the canyon. ‘This trail was built by Captain Healy at his own expense, but is little used, as most miners go through the canyon before the ice breaks up. ‘The camping place be- vond the canyon is a strip of woods some three miles long, known as Pleasant Camp. Its name is something of a misnomer, for there is not even a log shanty there; some woods to give a kind of shelter, and as everywhere else along the route, plenty of snow.

“Irom here the ascent is gradual, and the next and last camp in timber before crossing the summit is known as Sheep Camp. ‘This is at the edge of timber, and no wood for fire can be gotten any higher up. This camp is not

40 Guide: To The Klondike,.

usually broken until all of the outfit has been placed on the summit. When the weather is favorable, everything except what is necessary for camp is pushed a mile and a half to Stone House, a clump of big rocks, and then to what is called the second bench. Care must be exercised in case of soft weather, or everything is liable to be swept from the bench by a snowslide or avalanche, and should this happen the Indians will prove of great assistance in recovering part of the things. With long, slender rods tipped with steel they feel down in the snow and locate most of the larger packages, which, without them and their feel rods, one would never find. At Sheep Camp the summit towers above you thirty-five hundred feet, but the pass is some five hundred feet lower. No further progress can be made until a clear day, and sometimes the weather continues bad for two or three weeks, the mountain top hidden in thick clouds, and icy winds hurling the new fallen snow in every direction, or driving the sleet in the face of any one bold enough to stir out of camp, and peep up at the precipitous wall of snow and ice. But sunshine comes at last, and the winds grow still. Now comes the tug of war—to get the outfit to the summit; for six hundred feet every step must be cut in the ice, and so steep is it that a person with a pack on his back must constantly bend forward to maintain his equilibrium. The first load landed on the summit of the pass, a shovel is stuck in the snow to mark the spot, then back for another pack, and fortunate is he who gets his whole outfit up in a single day: Indians may be hired to do the packing, and their rates vary slightly, but the regular price has been five dollars a hundred-weight from the second bench to the summit, or fifteen cents a pound from Healy & Wilson’s to the lakes. These prices have been shaded a little the past season, and some outfits were packed over to the lakes at thirteen cents a pound. The

d on the g except a half to what is n case of from the s happen ring part rith steel ne larger ods, one t towers is some be made nues bad in thick in every one bold scipitous and the get the ep must 1 with a naintain mmit of he spot, vho gets be hired but the ht from 4 pound es have its were

The Routes Of Travel. 41

reasons for this cut in prices are that many miners insist on doing their own packing, and that their work has been seriously affected by a tramway device which was operated last season with more or less success by one Peterson, whose inventive genius led him to believe that a simple arrange- ment of ropes and pulleys would greatly help in getting outfits up the steeper places. A small log is buried in the snow, and to this “dead man” a pulley is attached, through which a long rope is passed to the lower end of which a

Dog Team Passing Stone House, Chilkoot Trail,

Yukon sleigh is attached, and the empty box on the sled fastened to the upper end of the rope is then filled with snow until its weight becomes sufficient to take it down the incline, thus dragging the other one up. The snow was found too light, but with three or four men as ballast in place of snow it worked well, and saved a good deal of hard packing. When the last toad has reached the summit and the miner stands beside his outfit looking down toward the ocean, only twenty miles away, he can feel that his journey

42 Guide To The Kilondike.

has fairly begun, and as he turns he sees the descending slope melting away into the great valley of the Yukon.

“The descent for the first half mile is steep, then a gradual slope to Lake Lindeman, some ten miles away. But there is little time for resting and none for dreaming, as the edge of the timber, where the camp must be made, is seven miles from the summit. Taking the camping outfit and sufficient provisions for four or five days, the sleigh is loaded, the rest of the outfit is packed up, or buried in the snow, shovels being stuck up to mark the spot. This pre- caution is necessary, for storms come suddenly and rage with fury along these mountain crests. The first half mile or more is made in quick time, then over six or seven feet of snow the prospector drags his sleigh to where there is wood for his camp fire. At times this is no easy task, especially if the weather be stormy, for the winds blow the new faien snow about so as to completely cover the track made by the man but little ahead; at other times during fine weather and with a hard crust on the snow, it is only a pleasant run from the pass down to the first camp in the Yukon Basin., In all except the most sheltered situations the tent is necessary for comfort, and the stove gives better satisfaction than the camp fire, as it burns but little wood, is easier to cook over, and does not poison the eyes with smoke. It is a noticeable fact that there are fewer cases of snow blindness among those who use stoves than among those who crowd around a smoking camp fire for cooking or for warmth. Comfort in making a trip of this kind will depend, in a great measure, upon the conveniences for camping, suitable clothing, and light, warm bedding.”

At Lake Lindeman it is usual embark in boats. The earlier miners at this point, or at Lake Bennett, where the timber is much better, whipsawed the lumber for making their boats. At present there is a small sawmill estab-

cending on. then a away. eaming, e made, g outfit

Th

nd rage alf mile ven feet there is sy task, slow the he track s during is only a p in the ituations es better le wood, yes with rer cases 1 among cooking “ind will nees for

y wey

s. The here the making 1 estab-

s Ra

The Routes Of Travel. 43

lished, which, however, had difficulty in supplying the de- mand for lumber last season. Other mills are, however, to be put in at once.

The present practice, and one which is growing in favor, is to have boats built at Seattle, of the best selected cedar, “knocked down,” shipped north by the steamer and taken over the pass, to be put together at Lake Lindeman. This not only effects a great saving in time, but the boats so built are far superior to anything which even a good mechanic could construct out of the small spruce timber found on the lakes. Any man familiar with the use of carpenter’s tools can put such a boat together, while he might, unless familiar with boat-building, have some con- siderable difficulty in constructing a craft suitable to run in swift and rough water, capable of carrying a full outfit of supplies for three or four men, and yet light enough to be carried around a portage. The style of boats generally used are on the Canadian bateau order, narrow, flat bottom, double-enders, heavy sheer at each end, and a wide flare from the bottom to the top. But everything from a raft or a scow, up to a highly finished Rob Roy canoe, has been used on the river.

A large number of the miners have preferred, however, to continue packing until Lake Bennett is reached, and at this point to build boats, or, as in many instances, rafts, in which to continue their journey. The total length of the route from Lake Lindeman to the site of old Fort Sel- kirk, at the mouth of the Pelly, is three hundred and fifty- seven miles. It is in this portion of the route that all the difficulties in navigation occur. From the Pelly down the Yukon is a broad stream, unvexed by rapids, although flow- ing with a swift current. The scenery around Lake Linde-

man is wild and fine, although solitary and alpine in the extreme. Lake Bennett occupies a continuation of the same valley

44 Guide To The Klondike.

in which Lake Lindeman lies, but is separated from that lake by a small, rapid stream, three-quarters of a mile in length. This stream falls about twenty feet between the two lakes and is rough and rocky. The portage is on the east side. Over this the greater portion of the goods are carried, while, after the boat has been considerably light- ened, it is let down through the rapids, with lines attached to it.

Lake Bennett is twenty-five and eight-tenth miles in length, and from here to the lower end of Marsh Lake there is still-water navigation, the rivers connecting the chain of lakes being slack, with practically no current. These lakes constitute a singularly picturesque region, abounding in striking points of view and landscapes pleasing in their variety, or grand and impressive in their combination of rugged mountain forms. Connecting Lake Bennett with Tagish Lake is a narrow arm called by the miners Cariboo Crossing, but on the Canadian maps it is set down as Lake Wares. This is two and seven-tenth miles in length. Lake Tagish is sixteen and six-tenth miles in length. Here the voyagers are often detained by high winds and rough water caused thereby. ‘Windy Arm” of the Tagish is well named, for it is through this arm that the high winds come, particularly in the spring of the year. Another por- tion of Lake Tagish is the Tako Arm, to which further reference will be made when the White’s Pass route is being described.

From Tagish Lake a wide, tranquil reach of river con- nects it with Lake Marsh. ‘The current is very slack and the depth is from six to twelve feet at mean water. The river is bordered by low terraces, which are particularly wide on the west side and are covered with open woods, chiefly consisting of white spruce and cottonwood. A mile above Lake Marsh, on the east bank of the river, is a small

from that a mile in tween the -is on the goods are bly light- s attached

miles in 4ake there the chain t. These bounding s in their nation of nett with s Cariboo nas Lake

length. h. Here nd rough Tagish is gh winds ther por- h further bis being

ver con- lack and r. The ticularly h woods,

A mile

a small

45 The Routes Of Travel.

village of the Tagish Indians, consisting in the main of two roughly-built houses, in which the Indians reside during the winter.

Lake Marsh (so named by Schwatka) called Mud Lake by the miners, is twenty miles in length, with an average width of two miles. The valley is quite wide, and the country surrounding the lake quite low, consisting of ter- race flats or low rounded or wooded hills and ridges. The diversified forms of mountains in view from this lake ren- der it particularly picturesque. The shores of the lake are generally rather shoal. There is no warrant in any pe- culiarities of the lake itself, for the name Mud Lake, applied to it by the miners.

Between Marsh Lake and Lake Lebarge lies the most dangerous portion of the whole trip. The first portion of the river between these points is, however, perfectly safe and easy. Jor the first six miles the current is quite slack, but from that time on a considerable current sets in. The immediate river-trough narrows in, being closely bordered in by terraces a hundred or more feet in height. At a distance of twenty-three miles from Lake Marsh, Miles Canyon and White Horse Rapids are encountered.

Miles Canyon and White Horse Rapids form together the most formidable obstacle which will be met with on the whole voyage down the river. ‘The interruption to navigation here is two and three-quarter miles in total length. At Miles Canyon the river flows with great veloc- ity, but is unimpeded in its course, and is not risky to run with a good boat. portage of -five-eights of a mile is sometimes made, however, and as a usual thing the boat is lightened at this point and some portions of the onifit carried around. The canyon is cut through a horizontal, or nearly horizontal flow of basalt, and is not more than one hundred feet in width. ‘To make the portage, a very

oie eis

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ae

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Hmi

The Routes Of Travel. 47

N is stee, ascent has to be overcome. Warning notices in the Bayt AGS shape of flags tied to sticks on the bank have been placed a ee by the miners to warn strangers as to the difficulties ahead RN of them. This, in fact, has been done at every dangerous 3 place on the river. When such a warning is noticed, it is Frex advisable to land and reconnoiter the route ahead for some

distance. Three-quarters of a mile below the canyon the tee a river is very swift and the set of the stream is strong around arocky point. There is no difficulty here, however, to any person accustomed to the use of a boat. A mile and three- quarters from the foot of Miles Canyon comes the dreaded AS: i White Horse Rapids. This rapid is three-eighths of a mile

Sanat long. The worst rapid is at the lower end of the White Horse, where the river scarcely exceeds a hundred feet in width, with low basaltic banks, and the force of the water is very great. In the upper part of White Horse, the water see| ° flows between low basalt cliffs, about twenty feet in height,

( Ian.

As! 7, and the mid channel is well strewn with rocks. The White o Horse Rapid has been run by miners and with safety. On AS the other hand, it has been the scene of more mishaps than SS any portion of the river. Several prospectors and miners rE re have lost their entire outfits in attempting this run and Saw there have been a few lives also lost at this point. It should 2 aS not be attempted, at least save by those who have had long a R experience in handling boats in swift water. The portage es aS 3 is on the west bank, and caution would prompt that both ESTES the boat and the cargo be carried around it. The practice t RS is, however, to portage the cargo and lower the boat i : through by lines, managed from the top of the low cliffs. SS Thirteen miles below the foot of White Horse Rapid Raa K the mouth of the Takena is reached. This is a consider- Pa able stream, which is wide and slack at its confluence with REtISS the Yukon. From here on down to Lake Lebarge, a dis-

tance of eleven miles, the current of the river is quite slack.

4-S

48 Guide To The Klondikr.

Lake Lebarge is 4 little over thirty-one miles in length. It lies nearly north and south, but is somewhat irregular in outline. It is about two and one-half miles in width at the lower end, narrows in somewhat in the middle, and finally increases to a width of five miles near Richtofen Island. Its elevation above sea level is approximately twenty-one hundred feet. rom the outlet of Lake Le- barge to Fort Selkirk, at the mouth of the Pelly, is a dis- tance of two hundred miles, in which the total descent is five hundred and ninety-five feet, or at the rate of two and ninety-seven one-hundredths feet to the mile.

Twenty-seven and one-half miles down from Lake Le- barge, the mouth of the Tes-lin-too, called by the miners the Hootalingqua, is encountered. ‘The river down to this point is very crooked. The current for the first three or four miles after leaving the lake is slack, but gradually be- comes stronger, ?.ntil at the Hootalinqua it is very rapid, averaging six or seven miles an hour. Large boulders occur in the bed in some places. The Hootalinqua will probably be on the route of travel on the new Canadian route to the Yukon, being laid out via the Stickeen and the Cassiar mining region. Between the Hootalinqua and the mouth of the Big Salmon, a distance of thirty-one miles, the river continues narrow and deep, with a swift current. At a point nine miles below the mouth of the Hootalinqua, the width of the river by actual measurement, was four hun- dred and eighty-three feet, and the current (in August) was at the rate of four and eighty-four one-hundredths miles per hour. A number of auriferous gravel bars have been worked along this part of the river, including the Cas- siar, one of the richest bars struck during the earlier period of mining. There has been some considerable bar mining done on the Big Salmon.

From the mouth of the Big Salmon River to the mouth

in length. irregular in n width at niddle, and - Richtofen oroximately f Lake Le- ly, is a dis- 1 descent is of two and

n Lake Le- the miners own to this rst three or radually be- very rapid, ilders occur ill probably oute to the the Cassiar the mouth s, the river nt. Ata linqua, the

four hun- in August) 1undredths

the mouth

The Routes Of Travel. 49

of Little Salmon the distance is thirty-four miles. The course of the river is far straighter than for any stretch above or below this point. The current is not quite so swift at this portion of the river, although at a point about midway between Big and Little Salmon both river and its valley are more than usually narrowed.

For a few miles below the mouth of the Little Salmon, the valley widens out for a few miles, but from that point on until the Rink Rapid is reached, the valley becomes irregular and somewhat narrow. About forty miles below the mouth of the Little Salmon, the Nordenskiold enters the Lewes on the west side. Fifty-three miles below the mouth of the Little Salmon the rapids called by Dawson, Rink Rapids, but known to the miners as Five Fingers, are encountered. On the bluff, about five and a half miles above Rink Rapids, there is an outcropping of coal visible on the bluff, about sixty feet above the base. Four rocky islets divide the stream into five channels, the water in each of which is swift and turbulent. ‘The channel to the ex- treme right is the one to take. It is well, however, before running this, to make a landing and thoroughly recon- noiter. While the water is swift, the rapid presents no serious difficulty. The usual danger signals will be found posted on the bank of the river above this point. The channel is deep and unobstructed.

Below the main rapid there is a second riffle, or minor rapid, which appears to be somewhat strong. The river along from here to the mouth of the Pelly is pleasing in appearance. It is usually wooded, but the southern ex- posures of some of the hills are partly open aud dry, grass- covered terrace flats are frequent. Birch is moderately abundant. Tatshun River, a mile and a half below Five Fingers is the first stream passed. The other tributaries down to the mouth of the Pelly are but small brooks. At

yr

mm

Ne ty

iy whi

/

tie fA) Ignis ul

Canyon.

Miles

The Routes Of Travel. 5I

a point six miles below Five Fingers, where the course of the river is uninterrupted by islands and its velocity and width about normal, the rate of flow was found to be four and eight-tenth miles per hour, the width seven hundred and thirty-two feet. It is fifty-five miles from Five Fin- gers to Fort Selkirk. There are numerous islands in the last portion of this stretch of the river and about ten miles above Fort Selkirk these islands are particularly numerous for a distance of five miles, and the distance of the river, from bank to bank is increased to nearly a mile. This group was named by Schwatka the Ingersoll Islands.

From the mouth of the Pelly down, the river is placid and there is no rough water, although the current is uni- formly swift. It is a quarter of a mile wide just below the mouth of the Pelly, but gradually increases in width. The ruins of Fort Selkirk, formerly a post of the Hudson Bay Company, stand in a partly open flat, on the south side, at a short distance back from the river and about a mile and a half below the mouth of the Pelly.

From Fort Selkirk to the mouth of White River, the distance is ninety-nine miles. This portion of the trip is simply drifting down stream, through a picturesque coun- try, with a swift current, smooth water, an no dangers to be feared. Owing to the swiftness of the stream, it is a matter of some small difficulty occasionally to effect a land- ing at precisely the point aimed for, but this is about all the difficulty to be encountered.

Three miles below the mouth of White River, the Stew- art River empties into the Yukon, twenty-one miles below that comes Sixty-Mile, and forty-nine miles below Sixty- Mile is Dawson City, near the mouth of the Klondike, probably the objective point for most of those who are entering the Yukon country at present.

From Dawson City to Fort Cudahy the distance down

Miles Canyon.

52 Guide To The Klondike.

stream is fifty two and three-fourths miles and Circle City is two hundred and forty miles still further down the stream.

The White Pass Route.

The description already given of the Chilkoot Pass route answers fully for that via White Pass, with the excep- tion of the crossing over from tide water to the lakes. The White Pass route commences at Skaguay, five miles distant from Dyea, the terminus of the Chilkoot route, and up an- other arm of the same inlet on which Dyea is situated. Steamers which land passengers at Dyea take them also for Skaguay, and at precisely the same rate of fare. White Pass, though used heretofore less than the Chilkoot, offers many points of advantage over the latter. Within the past year a large amount of work has been done upon it by par- ties interested 1a establishing a packing trail; and it is now readily passable for pack animals, with fair mountain trail loads. It is estimated that an expenditure of fifty thousand dollars would suffice to construct via this pass a wagon road over which freight wagons could replace pack ponies, and bring the freight rates down to some reasonable figures. It is also asserted that the terrible storms which prevail in the Chilkoot Pass during the spring and winter are not felt in the White Pass, or at least, are nothing like as serious.

This pass leaves the coast at the mouth of the Skaguay River, five miles south of the head of Dyea Inlet, and runs parallel to Chilkoot Pass at no great distance from it. The distance from the coast to the summit is seventeen miles, of which the first five miles is level bottom land thickly tim- bered. The next nine iniles in in a canyon-like valley, where considerable work has been necessary to make a

le City wn the

t Pass -excep- . The distant up an- tuated. so for White , offers 1e past yy par- is now n trail busand nm road s, and

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rail in

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alley, ke a

The Routes Of Travel, 53

passable trail. The remaining three miles to the summit is comparatively easy. The altitude of the summit is esti- mated at twenty-six hundred feet or nine hundred feet lower than the summit of Chilkoot. Beyond the summit a wide valley is entered and the descent to the first little lake is not more than one hundred feet. The mountains rapidly decrease in height and abruptness after the summit is passed and the valley bifurcates, one branch leading to the head of Windy Arm of Tagish Lake, the other (down which the water drains) going to Tako Arm of the same lake. It is to the Tako Arm that the trail is constructed. The total descent from the summit to Tako Arm is rather less than five hundred feet. No engineering difficulties are presented to making a first class wagon road by this route, or even if occasion arises, arailroad. ‘The distance to Tako Arm from Skaguay by the White Pass trail is (estimated) thirty-five miles, somewhat longer than by Chilkoot, but a much easier route. The Tako Arm is, from where the trail reaches it, to Lake Tagish proper, about twenty miles in length (estimated). From Lake Tagish, the remainder of the voyage down the Yukon is precisely the same as here- to fore described.

The White Pass route apparently would be an admira- ble one to adopt for sledding supplies over on the snow in the winter or early spring, as is done over the Chilkoot route.

This route has never been used to any extent until this year. While the grades are very much lighter, and the altitudes very much lower, than by the Chilkoot Pass, a considerable amount of work was necessary to make a trail. No government assistance could he had; there is no organ- ized government of any description in Alaska authorized to expend a cent in building roads, and these is no machinery for the collection of taxes for such a purpose. It requires

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The Routes Of Travel, 55

private enterprise to make all such roads or trails as are projected in Alaska. This year some enterprising in-

dividual, who desiied to put on a pack team of ponies and

transport supplies for miners, at their own expense have opened the White Pass trail. Recent reports from those who have gone over this trail are to the effect that it is in every way preferable to the Chilkoot Pass route, and offers no more difficulties than are presented in every ordinary mountain pack trail. In view of these facts, it is recom- mended that White Pass be selected by all who intend to go in by the overland route. Work in improving the trail will be carried on from this time forward, in such a manner as not to interfere with the present use of the trail for pack- ing purposes.

The Chilkat Pass Route.

But little is really known about this pass, other than it is claimed by the Indians to be much lower and more open than that by the Chilkoot. It starts from an inlet north of that on which Dyea is situated. By this route the chain of lakes referred to is altogether avoided, and the river is reached about the mouth of the Takena. At least this is the supposition, as the Indians say that it takes twelve days to carry packs by this route, as against two days via Chilkoot Pass. The Indians themselves have used this route but very little on account of the long carry passage. It is in the neighborhood of the Chilkat Pass that the Jack Dalton trail, by which cattle can be driven intu the Yukon country, starts. This trail reach~., the river in the neighborhood of Fort Selkirk, and passes for its entire distance, according to accounts,

through a good grass country.

56 Guide To The Klondike,

The Taku Route.

A proposed new route, which, according to the best in- formation at hand, promises well for the future, although it is not yet in use, is one by Taku Inlet, up the Taku River, thence by portage to Lake Altin, thence by connecting river to the Tako Arm of Lake Tagish, the remainder of the route being the same as by Chilkoot and White Pass. The length of portage from the head of this lake to the Indian houses on the Taku River is variously stated by the Indians as from two to four days. There is an Indian trail over this route, said to be good, and with no heavy grades to cross, the only ascent being simply to reach the elevation of the lakes.

The Stickeen Route.

This is the one which the Dominion Government is aid- ing by appropriations to have established. It is yet under construction, and no one except the builders and explorers have as yet passed over it. By the late spring of 1898, it will be in use. By this route steamers from Scattle are taken to Fort Wrangel, Alaska, at the mouth of the Stickeen River. There one of the stern-wheel river boats takes the passenger up the river some three hundred and fifty miles to Telegraph Creek. From there a trail of one hundred and fifty miles reaches Teslin Lake, in which the river called by the miners the Hootalinqua heads. Boating down the Hootalinqua is the same as described in other rivers. It is believed that stern-wheel steamers can oper- ate up the Hootalinqua clear to Lake Teslin. Undoubt- edly a good deal of travel will in time go in by this route.

The Stickeen is one of the swiftest and most turbulent streams which empty into the Pacific. It abounds in bars, rapids and riffles. |The steamers which ply up it have a

est in- though River, 1ecting ider of 2 Pass. to the by the n trail grades vation

is aid- under lorers 98, it e are keen s the miles ndred river ating bther Dper- pubt- ute. lent bars, ea

Sees

ipo ae Sond k

The Routes Of Travel. 57

slow and dangerous trip. At many places on the river cables are made fast to shore “anchors,” and carried to a steam capstan aboard to enable the steamers to get over the rapids. The “White Horse” Rapids of the Yukon has dozens of counterparts in the Stickeen. The trip up the river by boat is exciting, picturesque, but dangerous. It requires about two weeks’ time to ascend the river in a good season, and about two days to come down, the steamers backing water all the way. After arriving at the head of navigation a land journey of one hundred and fifty miles brings the passengers by this route just about as far on their journey to the gold fields as they are when they have crossed the White Pass on the route by Skaguay Inlet. As this route lies almost entirely within Canadian territory, and as the steamers on the Stickeen river are owned by Canadian capitalists, every effort is being made by the Ca- nadian authorities to divert trade to this route. To this end they are imposing many petty restrictions upon the passengers by way of Dyea and Skaguay; are levying cus- toms dues upon their personal outfits, and, in fact, have in general adopted a policy of petty persecution toward those who are attempting to reach the country by the established routes of travel. They also refuse to permit persons to enter their territory by this route who have less than one year’s provisions. So far, however, not a single party outfitting for the Yukon has attempted to reach that country by the long, dangerous and expensive route via the Stickeen river. The ice goes out of the Stickeen about the same time as it does out of the Yukon, so it will be at least two weeks later in the spring before passengers can reach the mines by the Stickeen route than by either the White Pass or the Chilkoot routes.

The foregoing covers all of the land routes to the Yukon from ports on the Pacific Coast, which are as yet known

, riseenep net aire ewan oe A RARE

58 Guide To The Klondike.

Of these, however, none save those by the Chilkoot and the White Pass have ever been used for actual purposes of travel; and they are the ones recommended to be taken. The land journey is the shortest by them by a very large distance, and the river trip presents no obstacles which are not likely to be encountered on each of the other routes. It should be kept in mind that all the foregoing in- formation as to the various routes of travel by the so-called inland route applies to conditions as they exist at present, in the early part of August, 1897. Before the end of the summer 1898 a decidedly different condition of affairs will exist, and the trip will be a very much easier one to make. There are already quite a number of transportation com- panies organized for the purpose of building stern-wheel steamers to ply on the waters of the Upper Yukon; and there are also many schemes on foot for increasing the number of steamers on the lower river. The probabilities are strong that before next summer is over a prospector or miner can take a steamer at Lake Bennett, or more proba- bly at the Taku Arm of Lake Tagish and proceed to Daw- son with only one short portage, that around Miles Canyon and White Horse Rapids, already described. The trail across White Pass by the same time will probably be broad- ened out into a practicable wagon road. As compared with roads into the mountain regions of Colorado or Cali- fornia, the grades are lighter and conditions much more favorable across White Pass than in many places in those states, where all the freighting is done by wagons. It is estimated that fifty thousand dollars would convert the White Pass trail into a good road, across which “trailer” wagon trains could be driven; thus not only reducing the cost of freighting very materially, but enabling the traffic for the mines to be handled over this route, in competition with the all water route via St. Michaels and the mouth

and the oses of taken. y large ich are utes, ng in- -called resent, of the rs will make. . COM- -wheel 3 and g the ilities tor or roba- Daw- nyon trail road- ared Cali- ore hose It is the ler” the Affie ion uth

a bsg a phe fi weg (ong ton ee Laan ae itty a Ap Me), nt %

The Routes Of Travel, 59

of the Yukon. When a practicable road is thus opened, and when steamers are put on the upper river, as will in- evitably be done, and that during the next twelve months, it will be possible for a passenger to reach Dawson City from Seattle within a week, if close connections are made.

On this overland route, the question as to cost depends very largely on the manner in which the trip is made and somewhat also depends upon the season of the year. The fare from Seattle to Dyea and Skaguay will amount to from twenty-five to forty-five dollars. If the party going in is unprovided with horses, and the trip is in summer, the cost of packing the outfit over the summit will vary from ten to twenty cents per pound. On an outfit weighing twelve hundred pounds it would be safe to estimate an outlay of one hundred and eighty dollars for this. Then at prices which have heretofore prevailed, a boat at Lake Bennett, suitable for carrying four men and their outfits down the river would cost sixty dollars. On the other hand, if horses are taken, the fare for each horse to Skaguay would be twenty-two dollars and fifty cents, the price of the horse in Seattle being from twenty to thirty dollars. A “knock-down” boat, ready to put together, would cost about twenty dollars in Seattle. A party doing their own packing, with horses, would thus save the item of packing at fifteen cents a pound, and could probably sell their horses to other parties for all they cost, or even more. 7

In the spring, before the thaws come, provisions are taken across the divide on hand sleds, work which the trav- elers themselves are usually compelled to do, in the absence of any regular supply of labor. This is laborious work, but it has the advantage of being inexpensive. By getting on the ground early, and taking advantage of the pleasant weather, all the necessary supplies can be safely taken over

60 Guide To The Klondike.

the pass and landed at the lake at no actual outlay in money. This latter is the plan pursued by all of the expe- : rienced Yukon miners, who have been going into the ccun- i try for years. q

lay in 2 expe- ) coun-

o

pi ce i esha te STP GR

arenes

aa sae

The All Water Route. 61

Chapter V.

The All Water Route.

Until such time, however, as good roads are built across the passes to the lakes at the headwaters of the Yukon, or, indeed, until a railroad is built into the country, by long odds the most comfortable, and probably in the long run the cheapest route into the gold fields of the Klondike and those on the various other tributaries of the Yukon, is by the way of the mouth of the Yukon, and by river steamers up from that point. Even at the present time this trip can be made cheaply and at a minimum of discomfort. It is neither longer, more arduous nor more expensive than was the voyage from New York to San Francisco by the way of the isthmus, after the completion of the railroad across the isthmus, and before the railroad era. The hard- ships, difficulties and dangers of the trip into the new gold fields, so often described, apply solely to the overland route. The all-water route is by ocean steamships from Seattle to St. Michael’s; thence by river boat up to Dawson City, Circle City, or, in fact, to any river point. The North American Transportation & Trading Company, which has its head offices in Seattle, has developed this route, and has now improved its transportation facilities to the point, that even delicate women who desire to take a brief glimpse at the wonderful life of a new and uncommonly rich mining camp, can make a summer excursion to the Klondike and return, all the time enjoying all the comforts which can be had on any steamer.

The North American Transportation & Trading Com- pany has at present two ocean steamers plying between Se-

Seat ER ee Se

62 Guide To The Klondike,

‘ attle and St. Michael’s—the Portland, with a passenger capacity of 125, and the Cleveland, which can accommo- date 350. At St. Michael’s these steamship connect with the river boats of the company, a fleet of three large stern- wheel steamers, the P. B. Weare, the J. J. Healy and the Charles H. Hamilton. The latter of these is 195 feet long, 20 feet beam and has a registered tonnage of 1,000. She is equipped with powerful machinery and can make the trip to Dawson City against the strong Yukon current in about twelve days. The other river boats are but slightly inferior. These river boats were built at Seattle ship- yards, were sent north in sections and put together at St. Michael’s, the Hamilton having been launched in July, 1897. Nor is this all. Foreseeing the rush, the same company has let the contract in Seattle for six more boats, four the same size of the Hamilton, one somewhat smaller, and the sixth a powerful river tugboat to tow barges laden with freight up the river.

The company has also announced that it will imme- diately build on the Atlantic coast three large, commodious and swift ocean steamers, which will be brought around by the Straits of Magellan, te be put on the route between Seattle and St. Michael’s, these steamers to azrive before the river reopens to navigation in the spring. This will insure the sailing on this route of one steamer every week, car- rying 1,200 passengers and upwards.

The Alaska Commercial Company has also a route to the mouth of the Yukon, with San Francisco as the point of departure. The Excelsior, a powerful but somewhat slow freight boat, has been chartered by the company, and makes summer trips to San Francisec. The Excelsior, with her heavy planking and timbering, was enabled the present year to break through the ice and bring out the first of the returning Klondike miners with their golden

The Ali, Water Route. 63

freight. The Alaska Commercial Company has also three of four small stern-wheel steamers on the river, designed primarily to carry goods for the company’s various trading posts, but which can be used as passenger boats.

These two companies have been engaged in the trans- portation and trading business in the Yukon for years. They will now, however, have to meet with active competi- tion, all of which will redound to the advantage of the traveling public. From present indications, by next spring there will be half a dozen additional ocean steamers on the route from Seattle to St. Michael’s, and there will certainly be an addition of fifteen or twenty to the fleet of river steamers.

The Yukon Transportation Company, organized in Seattle and with a sufficient capital, has purchased the steamer Eliza Anderson and put her on the route between Seattle and St. Michaels; the stern-wheel steamer W. AX. Merwin has also been sent north, in tow of a tug boat, to run on the river in connection with the Eliza Andersén. The Merwin was built expressly for river work and will be able to make better time on the up river run than any vessel now on the river unless it be the new large steamers of the North American Transportation & Trading Company.

The Seattle & Yukon Commercial Company is tlie lat- est to enter the field. This corporation has but just been organized, but it will have one steamer to St. Michaels, and one up the river this season. Next season it will increase its transportation facilities largely. This company has recently chartered in San Francisco the Humboldt, a new steamship of about 1,000 tons burden, just completed, and which, it is claimed, is one of the fastest vessels in Pacific waters. A powerful steam barge belonging to the com- pany will carry passengers from St. Michael’s to Dawson

64 Guide To The Klondike.

City. Other boats will be put on by this company in in the spring. It is impossible to furnish informa- tion which will be fully up to date as to the trans- portation facilities which will be offered by the out- side route, the coming season. In the very brief interval between the writing of the manuscript and the time when this pamphlet appears, half a dozen different transporta- tion schemes, now inchoate, may and quite likely will ma- terialize. This much is certain, however, that the various transportation companies now organized or being organ- ized, will be able to handle next season all the travel which may offer for the Yukon by the outside or all-water route, and that there will be not less than one steamer each week leave Seattle for St. Michaels, making close connection with the river boats.

The time during which the Yukon River is navigable varies with the season. As a general rule it may be stated that the river is open from about the middle of April until the latter half of September. In 1896 the river did not close until about September 25, at which time 4 heavy snow storm set in, which chilled the river so it closed in a few days. Between these dates the all-river route fur- nishes, under existing conditions, the most comfortable route to the mines by all odds.

The objections which have heretofore existed to this route are that the two companies, the North American Transportation & Trading Company, and the Alaska Com- mercial Company, which controlled both the transportation lines, also owned all the trading posts which have yet been established on the Yukon. The freight capacity of both their ocean and river boats, as well as of the barges which the river boats take in tow, was all needed for their own sup- plies. They have heretofore been compelled, in conse- quence, to refuse to take freight, even the outfits of intend-

ly in Tma- rans-

out- erval when orta- -ma- rious ‘oan- Thich oute, week ction

rable tated until not eavy id in

fur- table

this ‘ican Yom- ition been both hich sup- nse- end-

The Ali, Water Route. 65

ing miners and prospectors, and have limited the amount of personal baggage for each passenger to one hundred and fifty pounds. On the other hand, however, and to obviate any inconvenience which might be occasioned by the failure of the passengers to get their own supplies into the country, the North American Transportation & Trading Company has obligated itself to each passenger to supply him from the company’s trading posts with all supplies which he may require for his own personal use at Seattle prices, with freight added at the rate which the company would have charged had it carried freight for individuels.

The new transportation companies which have entered the field, however, are willing to carry a full year’s outfit of clothing, provisions and tools for each passenger. This is what the Eliza Anderson does this season, and what all the newer transportation companies will probably do text season.

As against the greater ease, convenience and comfort of the all-river route there is to be offset the fact that the route by Dyea or Skaguay and the upper river permits ac- cess to the country earlier in the spring. Those coming down the river from its headwaters, follow the ice down, while the steamers which have to come up the river have to wait until the ice is pretty well out before starting.

As to time, it takes from ten to fifteen days for a steam- ship to make the run to St. Michael’s, dependent, of course, upon the speed of the vessel and the character of weather which she encounters. The distance is roughly estimated at three thousand miles. The distance up the Yukon from St. Michaels to Dawson City is estimated at seventeen hun- dred and twenty-two miles. As there is a heavy current to contend with, the usual estimate of the time which it takes to make this trip is fifteen days.

At the commencement of the summer season of 1897,

66 Guide To The Klondike.

the fare from Seattle to Dawson City by the steamers of the North American Transportation & Trading Company was one hundred and twenty-five dollars second class, one hundred and forty dollars first class. On the Cleveland, chartered by the same company, sailing August 5, the fare was raised to two hundred dollars for all classes. The latest quotations for the season were three hundred dollars for each passenger and his outfit, on steamers of the Seattle & Yukon Trading Company, just organized. What the price will be in the coming spring, when this route is again opened for use, cannot be predicted. With the number of companies which are projected, and which will be in the field at that time, it is safe to say that the fare will not ex- ceed one hundred and fifty dollars and may fall below that figure.

Seattle will be the point of departure for nearly all of these transportation lines. The shortness of the season makes it necessary to reach railroad terminais in the short- est space of time, so that as many trivs as possible may be made before ice closes the river. It is about two days shorter trip from Seattle to St. Michael’s by the steamship routes, and thus the majority of the steamship lines to the Yukon will terminate here.

Necessary Outfits And Where To Get Them. 67

Chapter Vi.

The Necessary Outfits And Where To Get Them.

The most serious and important question which con- fronts the intending immigrant to the Yukon gold fields is as to what amount and character of an outfit should be taken with him on his journey into that country. It should be remembered that there has been a slow and gradual de- velopment of the mineral resources of the Yukon, during which the mining population has increased year by year by a few hundreds at a time. Nearly every one of those who went in carried with him on the start supplies to last him for from six months to a year. With this gradual increase in population, the trading posts and transportation com- panies have kept pace, and have had no difficulty in supply-

ing the wants of the newcomers, after their first stock of provisions has been exhausted. Now, however, the move- x

ment toward the Yukon is in the nature of a “rush,” the dimensions of which no one can accurately forecast. The enterprise of merchants and transportation companies can be relied on to provide ultimately for the wants of all the mining population which may pour into the Yukon, no matter how extensive that population may be. This takes time, and in the rush for the new country it is safe to say that the would-be miners and prospectors will be on the ground ahead of the traders and merchants. There will be a period of probably nine months, possibly a year, dur- ing which those who go to the Clondyke or any other of the mining regions on the Yukon will be compelled to rely ;

, ‘HLUON ONIHOOT ANIT AUVGNONOd AHL NO, NOUNA

bbl tty nt Mal Se

Sss Sws Sss

Pas

Q NANG Wy

wy

YuKON'ON THE BOUNDARY LINE LOOKING NORTH.

Necessary Outfits And Where To Get Them, 69

for their subsistence entirely upon such supplies as they may take into the country. Good sound judgment would dictate that every man who intends to go into the Yukon how, or any time within the next year, should take with him at least one full year’s supply of food and clothing. This is the advice given by every single man who is mining upon the Yukon, without any exception. It is the one point on which they all dwell the longest. They feel a personal interest in pressing this home on the new immi- grants, for the reason that there is practically six months in the year during which no provisions can be got into the country. If there is a rush of new men in there, unpro- vided with food, and the inevitable shortage of provisions follows during the Arctic winter, those who have provisions will be forced to the alternative of sharing them with the unprovided, at the cost of considerable suffering to them- selves, or of seeing men starve before their eyes. They realize this better than any one else, and hence the earnest- ness with which they impress this home on all who consult them in regard to the matter of outfitting.

There is still another point which must be taken into consideration. ‘The amount of provisions which it is esti- mated will be necessary to last a man for a year looks at first sight to be exhorbitant, especially to men who have been in the habit of purchasing their own family supplies, and who have kept a close watch on their family expenses. It is, however, the uniform experience of the men who have wintered in the Arctic or in regions like the Yukon, where there is, for months on a stretch, an extremely low range of temperature, that during the winter there is a demand for and a consumption of food, which would be considered as abnormal, measured by the standard of more temperate’ climates. This excessive amount of foods, particularly of the animal fats, seems to be necessary to permit the body

th

70 Guide To The Klondike.

to endure the extremely low temperature. Every work on Arctic explorations makes note of this fact, which is borne out by the experiences of the Yukon miners. Esti- mates by the dozen have been made and published by ex- perienced men. ‘They vary little in aggregate amount, the difference being mainly in the smaller items. Among the men who have had the largest experiences upon the Yukon is A. O. Carr, who carried the mail into that country on several different occasions. Ife has had occasion to outfit several different times, and has spent many winters on the Yukon. The following is Carr’s estimate of the outfit of one man for a year. <As far as the provisions are concerned, it is precisely the outfit which Carr himself purchased here in Seattle for his own use before proceeding north. The tools and hardware are those which he already has on hand in the Yukon country:

POU DOWNIE sche He hee ESC EA OES OTIS HO ee 400 Cornmeal, Pounds 2... cece ccc eee eee ee eenes es eneeede 50 Rotled OAS, NOUNS 2656s oo ek ee ss ope ee wee eden ee cae ea 50 RRAGO: SPOUTS soak es ei hee ds ain et etere tee eee, O Mamie a owe 35 GO TIES DOMNOG 5 ook iia Rha 4 NEE ORES CRS EE OS 100 GOWAIAG, TOUNIE 6iiiok ob eo ews Hans HENS ROE HR EES 40 Sugar, granulated, pounds cee ee eee eee eens . 100 Baking powder, pounds cece eee ee ee ee eee 8 BACON, POUNIG sce ceviche asec tert ee echoes eeeevendes 200 BOGE, DOWNIE: 55 6 iodo hes ee keane 195 eed eee eredenernes 2 Yeast cakes (6 in package), packages eeeeee 6 BOM, WOWMIS: iii succes es ewean en teeter enhereas 15 POPPOr, POUNAS 2... cc ccc cece nerceesrererereesevereens 1 Mustard, POUNGE 2. cc ccc ete c ence encore revert eeebeneens % CHMMEY, DOUNE cs crew cece reece deere enierewerensens % Apples, evaporated, poundS cece cece cere eee 25 Peaches, evaporated, pounds eee e eee ee ee ee eens 25 Apricots, evaporated, pounds secs eee eee eeee 25 Piel, DOUDGG. scccscccrrccrsersorsernes seks geen er ene ays 25 Pitted plums, pounds cece eee cee eee eter ee eees 10

Raisins, POUNdS ccc cece eee cece eee n eee rsercees 10

NECESSARY OUTFITS AND WHERE TO GET THEM. 71 ork Onions, evaporated, pounds cccce eee eeeeeceuee 50 ; Potatoes, evaporated, pounds cece cece eee 50 ae COMES, POUNAE vcore iscccrencccecccvecercceneveueeeeeees 24 ta sti- MOG; UR eats kad os oe ee OE REAO OG E S 5 eXx- Milk, condensed, dozen ccc cece c ee eee eee eeees 4 the Soap, UMATY, PAG voccccccccsscccvccccceceneceucnvenees 5 the MAtORGS, DACKAGOR: ccc icccc ccc eeeerscerredicccceusevoes 60 kon Soup vegetables, pounds ccc cece eee eee eee eeee 15 Butter, SCA1Ed, CANE cise cccecrcrccrneeeerccereveueeveese 25 on ToOHaccd,. At CIBCPERION. 6... ccc cece ccececrcveceeveevereees ry it fit BGG BEOED 6 alk orients Bhs 194. KOR ERS S daianen dalek ead 1 the 7 A (Sea aa 1 tof Granite buckets, 1 nest of ih hate poate eee eee ee 3 are MO ein5. db Baha Noe S.. VEE AES TAA ERE ELUNE DER IAA SERS 1 walt PIB COR: COLD). wi 405 Fe hh eae awa Oe eRe Ce Che wee eR 1 . Knives and forks, each ccc ccc c ce cee terete eens 1 mg Sndone—TER, Ts CABO vice caddie ec ee veces aceenve eens 2 ady WOUMRCUEG f:55 cs kad CONDO. SERRE ONCE bt REO Me ERS OLS 1 COME OG ei 5 5 CCE BER INR ai eS TR aes 1 f 0 PEC INe DONG 6.52 esiend saw nei eae dab ears et eaeree se eres 2 t 0 Ba GD jes: ign 8g WU Hece as VIS REARS Gy Ue aes Wore ER 1 0 SAW WHID cae iies beeen ees Wee Oke HOO L OeRE He OER i 5 PIAGGIO ck Soe pa ed ENO RN Ew OR Lees DULCE HOS Sa SRE eS 1 0 SHOVE], V6 SPINS viiees aces ccevensea veer evnages waa ewe 2 ne 0 Nalle, POUNGS .. 005. ceca se cere rreneerneneenserecsenegs 20 0 BETS? oii devi arasalee seca Rae WORT OS ear bs Ha Nae WORM OS 8 DrAWhlfe ... ccc cis veces erect n eee Ceeee ene estbenreen 1 i 0 MH BUNA NANAS crccicicevescd srice ci eesneredes ee news ues 1 ia 9 Chisel, U-inch 2... .. cece cece erence etree t eee eecsecees 3 ay 6 Btoher WOH cick cieseceescesvceeeear eae nbens eneengens 1 i 5 PHAMIME? 66k ce ee eed Oe we ee cess new ee bee eee enero 1 1 JACK Plane cc ccccccccccevccesesessvessevvsssevesanes 1 : SQUATE 2.0.6 cece ence cece rece cesses eneerereeeeeseseeens 1 ' % Yulton sleigh oo... ccc cece cw ence etre cere renner eecees 1 : 5 Lash rope, 4-inch, feet cc cece cece teen eee eee 60 f 5 Rope, M-inch, feet 0.0... . cece cee eee eee eee eee eee eeee 150 55 Pitch, pOUNdS cece cece eee e ee eee e teen ene e eens 15 i 5 Pick and handle cc ccc eee e cere cece erence eee eeees 1 " 0 Oakum, pounds PN NPT Tene eee TT Ces Cece ee Ts 10 f 0 If one is not going to build a boat, the oakum, pitch

72 Guide To The Klondike,

and tools can be dispensed with. In summer a sled is not necessary. Those going on a steamer by way of St. Mi- chaels are recommended to take plenty of delicacies, costing little but greatly appreciated. Above all, the caution is given, “take plenty.”

Very rarely is sufficient importance attached to the medical chest, which should have a place in every pros- pector’s pack. In case of emergency, drugs and appliances for the relief of pain are invaluable. A supply of citric acid should be carried for the relief of scurvy. The astring- ent property of the lime or lemon is due to this acid. A few drops mixed with water and sugar makes excellent lem- onade. ‘The drug store can furnish saccharin tablets in place of sugar; three-quarters of an ounce of this concen- trated sweet is equal to twenty-five pounds of sugar. It will be easily seen what a saving this would effect. One hundred pounds of sugar at five and one-half cents per pound would be five dollars and fifty cents. Add to this twenty-two cents per pound for packing over the summit at the pass, and the total cost is twenty-seven dollars and fifty cents, besides the room it would take. Saccharin costs but one dollar and fifty cents an ounce, and three ounces, equal to one hundred pounds of sugar, would cost but four dol- lars and fifty cents, the cost of packing being nominal for such small bulk.

The following articles would each be found of use, to be purchased in quantities according to the judgment of the individual: Liniment for sprains and cold on the lungs, tincture of iron to enrich the blood, extract of Ja- maica ginger, laudanum, vaseline, carbolic ointment, salts, cough tablets, mustard and adhesive plasters, surgeon’s lint, bandages, liver pills, powder for bleeding, absorbent cotton, surgeon’s sponge, needles and silk, quinine capsules and toothache drops.

The estimate as to amount of clothing, ete., required

not Mi- ting n is

the TOs- neces trie Ing-

A 3 in 2en-

Necessary Outfits And Where To Get Them. 73

varies considerably with different men and is largely a matter of individual opinion. ‘The following will give a fairly accurate idea of the necessities in this direction:

Woolen clothes—1 suit.

Boots and shoes—1 pair gum boots, 1 pair heavy leather shoes.

Snow-glasses.

Tent, 10x12 feet.

1 tarpaulin, 7x14 feet

5 yards mosquito netting for each man.

3 suits heavy underwear.

1 heavy mackinaw coat.

2 pairs heavy mackinaw pants.

1% dozen heavy wool socks,

14 dozen heavy wool mitts.

2 heavy overshirts.

3 pairs of blankets.

4 towels.

4 pairs of overalls.

Oilskin No. 3.

In purchasing an outfit, especially the clothing, care should be taken to purchase the very best. The difference in price between good and poor articles is a small matter, when the cost and labor of getting an outfit into the Yukon country is considered. The best is necessary, and it is econ- omy to purchase it. At a rough estimate such an outfit of provisions and clothing as is enumerated above, would cost in Seattle about one hundred and twenty-five to one hun- dred and fifty dollars, according to quality of goods.

There is one final word, and this an important word, about outfitting. The peculiar needs of the miners on the Yukon, both as to supplies and clothing and also as to the manner of packing outfits so as to have them in shape to stand the rough usage which they will encounter on the pack trails and in boats was not learned by even the miners themselves until after they had long experience. Seattle

74 Guide To The Klondike,

merchants have had long experience in catering to this trade. Of the men who were in the Yukon Country at the time the Clondyke strike was made, by far the greater num- ber purchased their supplies in this city. Those who came out to get new outfits for another year also traded exclu- sively in Seattle. Before the strike on the Clondyke was made the Yukon trade with Seattle had grown to such proportions that the requirements of the Yukon miners and prospectors were thoroughly understood. Special arti- cles of clothing, manufactured exnressly for this trade, were kept in stock here in all the clothing stores; and the putting up of an outfit for the Yukon was a mat- ter of daily, and an occasion of hourly, occurrence, in all of the leading grocery stores. So thoroughly equipped were Seattle merchants in this respect that when the Clondyke rush came they were enabled, without replenishing their stocks, and simply by adding a few extra men to their forces for a few days, to thoroughly equip twelve hundred men with a year’s supply of provisions and clothing, thoroughly adapted to the climate into which these men were going, Within the first two weeks. After the Clondyke excite- ment broke out, and at the end of that time, as their tele- graphic orders for further goods commenced to be filled, the stocks carried were heavier than when the first rush commenced.

Seattle merchants have handled this trade for years, and expect to retain the bulk of it for years to come. No busi- ness man in Seattle could afford to put up a bad outfit. A man’s life might depend upon the character of the pro- visions with which he is supplied. The news of spoiled goods among any outfit sent out would pass from mouth to mouth among the miners of the Yukon, and their indignation would take the prompt form of a boycott upon the offending tradesman. Neither is this Yukon trade a

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ush

Necessary Outfits And Where To Get Them. 75

matter simply of today. It is looked upon to increase and develop year by year; and to be a permanent source of trade to be carefully nursed and cultivated. The man who de- sires to equip himself with an outfit for the Yukon can put himself with perfect confidence in the hands of the leading firms, or, indeed, in any one of a dozen or more houses in Seattle, and leave it entirely to their discretion as to the amount and character of the outfit. On the average, prices in Seattle will be found as cheap as those in any city.

For packing across the pass, and for the boat voyage down the river, it is necessary for outfits to be put up, in the first place, in convenient form for packing, either by man or by horse; and, in the second place, that they may be thoroughly protected against water or snow, to which they most certainly will be exposed. Portions of an outfit may lay for days in a snow drift, as, indeed, is the common and almost universal occurrence in crossing Chilkoot or White Pass in the early spring. Flour, sugar and the like are consequently put up by Seattle outfitters in oiled bags, carefully protected, however, from giving off any unpleas- ant taste to the enclosed goods. All of these matters as to the proper handling of outfits reouire a certain amount of experience which is only to be acquired in handling this particular trade. As a first and last word of advice, every man going to the Yukon by the way of Seattle should await until his arrival here before buying his outfit. He will have no occasion to regret his action if he does so.

It is reasonably certain that, as far as going to estab- lished mining centers is concerned, the year 1898 will be the last in which it will be necessary for a visitor to the Yukon or an immigrant to that country to carry in his own supplies. Lines will be established in numbers on the strength of the heavy increase in the mining population, and, with the improved transportation facilities now as-

sured, living on the Yukon will, after next year, be little

more expensive, if any, than in any mining camp uncon- nected by rail with the centers of trade and population.

GUIDE To THE KLONDIKE.

Chapter Vii.

Climate And Agricultural Possibilities.

The term “Arctic” has been applied to the climate of the Yukon rather inappropriately. It is true some por- tions of the Yukon basin lie within the Arctic circle, and that the best known gold fields which have as yet been un- covered are not at any great distance south of the circle. It should be, however, remembered that the entire gold dis- trict of the Yukon lies in the latitude of Northern Central Russia. glance at a map of the world ov glohe discloses this. It should further be remembered, as is pointed out by Dr. Dawson in his report, to which reference has heretofore been made, that the climatic conditions on western and eastern sides of the continent are by no means comparable, and that the isothermal lines representing the mean annual temperature trend northwestward from the Manitoba region. According to the same authority, the climatic con- ditions of the basin of the Yukon are substantially identical with the inland provinces of Russian, to which allusion has already been made. The province of Vologda, in European Russia, appears to offer the mean paralle). It is circum- stanced relatively to the western shores of Europe, as is the Yukon country to the western shores of the North Ameri- can continent. Its area is 155,498 square miles, situated between the 58th and 65th parallel of latitude. ‘The cli- mate in both cases is a continental one, in which severe winters alternate with warm summers, and the actual de- grees of heat and cold are not dissimilar. There is no heavy rainfall in either region, such as is found near the western

Climate And Agricultural Possibilties. 77

coasts bordering on the Atlantic and on the Pacific respec- tively. The agricultural products from the province of Vologda are oats, rye, barley, hemp, flax and pulse. The population of that province is 1,161,000.

The winter season on the Yukon is beyond all question long and severe. As early as August severe frosts occur, and the actual winter usually sets in the latter part of September. During the dead of winter, along in Janu- ary, the sun is above the horizon for only two hours a day. The nights, while excessively long, are not dark. The dawn and twilight hours are long, and even during the middle of the night in clear weather the stars and moon, reflecting from the snow-covered ground, give sufficient light to en- able ordinary outdoor avocations to be pursued, when the weather otherwise permits. The display of the Aurora Borealis is frequent, the whole heavens being lit up. While the cold is, as stated above, excessive, so far as the readings of the thermometer are concerned, it is not felt severely. The entire absence of humidity in the air renders the in- tense cold easily supportable to persons warmly clad. The greatest danger incurred is that of having ears and nose frost-bitten, a matter of common occurrence, as, indeed, it is in Russia.

The summers, while short, are hot. As high as 100° Fahrenheit has been recorded in the valley of the Upper Yukon in the neighborhood of Forty-Mile. For afew weeks during the summer this excessively hot weather lasts, and as there is pretty nearly twenty-four hours of sunshine in each day, vegetation makes wonderful growth during that period.

It will not be pretended that the Yukon wili ever be a farming country, but it has possibilities considerably in ad- vance of what it has been credited as possessing. ‘There is an abundance of grass during the summer months, which

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Climate And Agricultural Possibilities, 79

can be and is cut and used for hay. Mr. Ogilvie, Dominion land surveyor, in a report dated June 25, 1896, savs. Horses that have been in use here, packing to the mines in summer and hauling woed in the winter, for several years, are still serviceable, notwithstanding they live only on the coarse grasses of the country. They pack 200 pounds apiece from Forty-Mile River, at the mouth of Moose Creek, to the mines on Miller Creek (about 174 or 18 miles), and climb some very steep, long hills on the way, taking two days with loads and one day without; all they get to eat is what they find. In other reports Mr. Ogilvie says: “I made a survey of another island for a man named Gibson. This is in the delta of Forty-Mile Creek, and he intends to make a market garden for the growth of such vegetables as the country will produce. In my final report I will deal as fully as my experience here will permit on that phase of the coun- try’s character. Many here have small gardens and are fair- ly sueecssful with ordinary vegetables.” This was under date of June 5, 1896. Later in the same month he records that the gardens were doing well, and that some persons were experimenting with fodder plants. Irom all this it would appear that where suitable soil can be found it is quite possible, on the Yukon, to raise the ordinary garden vegetables which are of quick growth and not particularly susceptible to frost. ‘Chis may ultimately be a matter of considerable importance, as it will be some years, and trans- portation facilities will have to be vastly improved, before ‘resh vegetables can be taken into the ecuntry in the quan- tity needed.

All persons going in to the mineral district of the Yu- kon would do well to provide themselves with a few garden seeds of the hardy and quick-growing varieties of vege- tables, such as lettuce, radishes, beats, turnips, green peas and the like. The produce would be worth, literally, their weight in gold, if not for sale, to the grower himself. The probabilities are strong that such seeds would grow and produce eatable vegetables where the soil is good.

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80 Guide To The Klondike.

Chapter Viii. Game And Fish.

Game is far less abundant than it was before mining be- gan; and it is difficult, in fact impossible, to get any, except ducks and geese, close to the river. On the uplands, fifteen or twenty miles up the small streams, vast herds of caribou used to wander, but they are becoming scarcer year by year. Moose, which were very numerous along the river a few years since, are now seldom seen there. According to Mr. Ogilvie, there are two species of caribou in the country, one the ordinary kind, found in most parts of the Northwest and said to much resemble the reindeer; the other called the “wood caribou,” a much larger and more beautiful animal. Excepting that its antlers are smaller, it closely resembles the elk. The ordinary caribou runs in herds, often numbering hundreds. It is easily approached, and when fired at jumps around awhile as though wunde- cided what to do; it then runs a short distance, but as likely toward the hunter as from him, stops again, and so on for a number of times. At last, after many of them have been killed, the remainder start on a continuous run, and probably do not stop until they have covered twenty or thirty miles. When the Indians find a herd they surround it, gradually contracting the circle thus formed, when the animals, being too timid to escape by a sudden rush, are slaughtered wholesale.

There are four species of bear found in the district—the grizzly, brown, black and a small kind, called by the miners the “silver-tip,” the latter being gray in color, with a white throat and beard, hence its name. It is said to be very fierce,

Game And Fish, Si

and Indians and white men both give them a wide berth, unless specially well armed. Wolves are scarce; a few only of the common gray ones being seen in the country.

The common rabbit or hare is in some seasons quite plentiful; at other seasons they are rare. The Arctic hare is occasionally seen.

Mountain sheep and mountain goats exist through- out the entire section of the country, but, as they frequent the mountains, they are seldom seen from the bank of the river. Wild geese and ducks are extremely plentiful during the season. A shotgun is an indispensible article of equipment for this reason. More garce will be secured by it than by the rifle.

Accounts as to the fishing in Alaska differ greatly. Men who have passed many years in the country report fish as abundant and the fishing excellent. Mr. Ogilvie, however, in his report to the Dominion government, says that with the exception of a small species, locally called the Arctic trout, fish are not numerous. This so-called trout seldom exceeds ten inches in length, and has fins very large for its size, which give it, when in motion, the appearance of hav- ing wings. Its dorsal fin is very large, being fully half the length of the body and very high. It is of a brownish gray color on the back and sides and lighter on the belly. It is found in large quantities in the upper part of the river, espe- cially where the current is swift, and takes any kind of bait greedily. The flesh is somewhat soft and not very palatable. Lake trout are caught in the lakes. They take a troll bait readily. The largest will weigh six or seven pounds. Sal- mon ascend the river as high as Lake Labarge, but are gen- erally in poor condition when they reach that point. Dur- ing the season of 1895 the salmon run all along the river was light. Indirectly the light run of salmon was responsi- ble for the discovery of the Klondike, for Cormack, the first discoverer of the rich deposits, went prospecting up the river because the salmon fishery, in which he was en- gaged, proved to be unprofitable.

82 Guide To The Klondike.

Chapter Ix.

Coal And Quartz.

Both coal and quartz ledges have been discovered on the Upper Yukon, in Northwest Territory, within the past year, the former of which will go far toward settling the fuel problem in that section, while the latter insures a perma- nent mining population, even after the placers are ex- hausted, if ever. In regard to the coal discoveries, Mr. Ogilvie’s report reads as follows: “A couple of coal claims have been staked and applied for, which I will survey in the spring, and at the same time make an examination of the coal area where they are. I may anticipate this to a certain extent by saying that a few days after I reported to you last fall I went up Coal Creek to search for this coal, to which I referred in my report of 1887 and 1888. I found it about seven miles up the creek, overlaying a coarse sandstone and under drift clay and gravel. The seam is 12 feet 6 inches thick. It seems to me to be of a good quality of lignite. I have packed out thirty or forty pounds of the best specimens found a few feet in and will send them to you in the spring that a test may be made. That exposure has now been staked and applied for to the agent here. Both exposures furnish, so far as external features show, the same chax- acter of coal and are about the same level, so that it is fair to assume that they are the same seam. I will make a search in the intervening distance to determine this when I make a survey of the claims. Coal is reported in the drift on Chandinn, about thirty miles up the river from here, which would go to show that there is another area or continuation

Coai, And Quartz. 83

of this one there.” This report was under date of January 8, 1896.

In a later report, under date of June 6, Mr. Ogilvie re- cords other discoveries made. An expert in the employ of N. A. T. & T. Co. discovered extensive deposits of coal on Twelve-Mile Creek, about twenty miles above its mouth.

Prospecting for quartz has never been carried on to any extent, or in fact at all, until within the last two years. The recent rich discoveries in the Klondike will serve to give an impetus to prospecting in this direction, especially since it is known that some discoveries of good gold-bearing quartz have been made. The theory still finds plenty of adherents among mining men that all gold found in river benches and bars comes from quartz ledges, disintegrated by weather and water, and the gold deposited, nature acting in this matter precisely as art does in the extraction of gold from free-milling ore. If this theory be correct, the original ledge from which the gold in the Klondike came would be the wonder of the world when found. So far, however, the quartz ledges which have been found are of low grade, and require capital on a large scale to be enlisted before they can be profitably worked. The mountains which hem in the valley of Sixty-Mile Creek are composed principally of quartz and schists, which no doubt originally held the gold found in the valleys. If thoroughly prospected, as undoubt- edly they will be within the next few years, some wonderful discoveries may be made.

In the early part of 1896 the most important quartz discovery so far made on the Yukon was struck in Cone hill, which stands midway in the valley of Forty-Mile river, two miles above its junction with the Yukon. The quantity in sight rivals the Treadwell, and the quality is better, so much so that it is thought it will pay to work, even at the present high rate of wages. The whole hill is of metallifer-

84 Guide To The Klondike.

ous rock. Assays of the Cone hill quartz are reported to be good, but their values have not been published. Five tone of the rock have been shipped out for a mill test.

An expert in the employ of the N. A. T. & T. Co. found a ledge of gold-bearing quartz in the spring of 1895 on Twelve-Mile Creek, about two miles up, and located two full claims on it. He reported to Mr. Ogilvie that the assay he had made of the specimens of it was much more satisfactory than that of Cone Hill, and that on this ledge was where quartz mining should commence in the Yukon country with no fears of the result.

Copper has been found near Fort Reliance, and some specimens of native copper have been brought in from the head of White River, near the international boundary line, but on which side is not yet known. Some poor specimens of asbestos has been found in the vicinity of Fort Cudahy, but none as yet of commercial value. Sufficient from this, however, appears to warrant much further prospecting for ledges of quartz.

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Canadian Government'S Oppressive Policy, 85

Chapter X.

Canadian Government’S Oppressive Policy.

The Klondike, Stewart and Indian Rivers and their tributaries, to which attention is now being so largely at- tracted, and from the former of which such enormous amounts of gold have already been extracted by a relatively small number of men, lie wholly within British territory, being part of the Northwest Territory. These districts, as, indeed, all of the other mineral districts upon the Yu- kon, were discovered and opened to the world almost ex- clusively by American prospectors. They opened the passes, which had always before been jealously guarded by a power- ful and warlike band of coast Indians; they whipsawed lum- ber out of the trees and built boats, or lashed logs together in rafts, and, launching themselves upon the waters of a practically unknown stream, descended it for hundreds of miles, and ascended hundreds of its tributaries for a dis- tance aggregating thousands of miles. Along the rapids and canyons of the Upper Yukon are the graves of dozens

of such prospectors, who lost their lives in braving the un-

known torrents. Up to the present time none of this work of exploration has been aided by a dollar of government money from any source. Nearly a decade passed in this work before really profitable mines were discovered. As soon as it developed that in this unknown wilderness a handful of American pioneers had opened a new gold region, the Canadian government sent in surveyors to locate the international boundary line. It proved that some of the

86 Guide To The Klondike,

claims were in Canadian territory. Forthwith a detachment of mounted police and a gold commissioner appeared upon the ground, accompanied by customs officers. Fach miner was promptly taxed the sum of fifteen dollars as a fee for his license, and one hundred dollars annually thereafter; while the customs officers proceeded to collect duties from the goods imported into the country to feed the mining population. ‘This was naturally to be expected, and no com- plaint was heard from the miners.

When the news of the wonderfully rich discoveries on the Klondike went forth, the Dominion government at once proceeded to consider measures by which some con- siderable portion of the wealth which the miners were pro- ducing might be turned into the Dominion coffers. Vari- ous schemes have been proposed. The one which has received the most favorable consideration, and which, in- deed, it has heen announced the Dominion cabinet has de- cided upon, is to issue orders in council imposing a royalty of ten per cent. upon the gross product of all mining claims which produce five hundred dollars per month or upwards, and twenty per cent. on mines whose product is in-excess of that amount. This is in addition to the $100 a year license fee. It is also proposed to reserve each alternate claim to the government. The only objections which the Canadian government are considering to this proposed pol- icy is the extreme difficulty to be found in collecting the revenue, and in learning what the amount of product of each claim might be without a resort to inquisitorial meas- ures which would create intense friction. The question at present turns whether this royalty shall be imposed or whether the same result may be arrived at by the imposition of an export duty on gold.

They have also stationed customs officers at the in- ternational boundary line to collect duty from all Ameri-

Canadian Government'S Oppressive Policy. $7

can miners upon their personal outfits of food and clothing, which they are compelled to take with them into the coun- try. As long as the American exploration of the country in search of gold brought nothing to the explorers except hardship, suffering and often death, the country was freely opened to them, and they were encouraged to do a work of exploration and prospecting, which will directly and in- directly result in adding countless millions of dollars in value to Canadian territory, and which will result in the building up in a region which had heretofore ranked as a desolate waste, of settled communities, with thousands of inhabitants. They have created in Canadian territory, or at least they have opened to the world, an industry which will result in a golden stream being poured out to the world for generations to come.

This work of exploration and exploitation having been successfully accomplished; the eyes of the world having been opened to the riches of the Yukon portion of the Northwest Territory, and the stream of immigration having been turned that way in such a resistless volume that noth- ing can arrest its onward flow, the Canadian government now proceeds to “cinch” the American miners and pros- pectors in a manner which has never been witnessed in a civilized country. The Boers of South Africa did not en- courage English miners to exploit the mineral wealth of the Transvaal; they protested against it; they did not invite, but endeavored to repel the immigration which resulted in un- veiling the riches of South Africa. Yet their treatment of the British miners in South Africa was liberality itself as compared to the manner in which the Canadian govern- ment has elected to treat the explorers, prospectors and miners of the Northwest Territory. In literal sober fact, without the faintest exaggeration, their conduct in this re- spect is precisely what might have been expected from the

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88 Guide To The Klondike.

wild chief of a South African negro tribe, who had force sufficient to carry out his plans. The Canadians plead re- taliation as a possible excuse for this action. They claim that the laws of the United States which forbid an alien from acquiring title to mining property are justification for the imposition of this enormous income tax upon American miners in Canada. If retaliation is the plea, why not retali- ate in kind, by excluding American miners who refuse to take the oath of allegiance to the British crown? The answer to this is simple. They did not exclude American miners from the country, for the good and sufficient reason that, had this been done, their mineral country would never have been explored and opened for generations to come. They preferred to encourage the Americans to invest their brains, their capital and their energies in opening to the world the Canadian mines, and then to relieve them of a heavy percentage of their hard-earned wealth on the plea of retaliation against alaw, which in prac- tical effect never excluded a British-born subject from the ownership of a foot of American mineral land; for the courts were always opened, and the naturalization oath is a meaningless form to many who have sought our shores, and to none more than those who claim England and Canada as their native homes.

The American Mines, 89

Chapter Xi.

The American Mines.

While Klondike is now engaging the attention of the majority of those who are seeking the Yukon, it should not be forgotten that up to the time of the accidental discovery of the Klondike by an American miner, it was the mines on the American side of the boundary line which were pro- ducing the greatest wealth. On the upper creeks of Sixty- Mile and Forty-Mile, within the boundaries of Alaska, are placer mines by the hundred, which in any other country in the world would be considered as fortunes to the lucky owners. Down the river from Dawson City 240 miles, is Circle City. A short porage from the Yukon at this point will bring one into the headwaters of Birch Creek. There are dozens of tributary streams in this creek from which gold has been extracted in large quantities. Hundreds of claims have paid as high as $40 a day to every man em- ployed; and claims which ran as low as an ounce or $16 a day were not looked at. Far down the Yukon, the Koya- kuk, one of the most important tributaries of the lower river, has its mouth. On this stream, for some years past, the Indians, working with crude rockers, made in imitation of those used by the white men, have been taking out ten to fifteen dollars a day to the man. Last summer a small party of miners from Circle City went down to prospect this river. When returning miners from the Klondike were passing down this river on the steamer they were hailed from the bank by one of this party, who wished to send out

mail. Ile was told of the rich strikes on the Klondike, and

go GUIDE TO THE KLONDIKE,

in turn told of equally rich strikes made by his party. There is no improbability about this story, and a few weeks’ time will probably prove or disprove it. Whether this par- ticular story be true or not, it is absolutely unquestioned that there are on the American side of the international boundary thousands of claims on which good wages can be made, and hundreds are known which in a very few years’ working would yield fortunes to their owners.

The writer stated in a preceding paragraph that the upper creeks of Forty-Mile were in American territory. As a matter of fact, there is a strong probability that the entire creek, from its mouth up, is American. Only a short dis- tance from the mouth up is claimed by the Canadian au- thorities to be within their borders.

A recent report of the United States surveyors as to the boundary line in this connection said: “In substance these determinations throw the diggings at the mouth of Forty- Mile Creek within the territory of the United States. The whole valley of this rich creek is also in the United States. Most of the gold is to the west of the crossing of the one hundred and forty-first meridian at Forty-Mile Creek. If we produce the one hundred and forty-first meridian on a chart, the mouth of Miller’s Creek, a tributary of Sixty-Mile Creek, and a valuable gold region, is five miles in a direct line, or seven miles according to the winding of the stream, all within the territory of the United States. In substance, the only places in the Yukon region where gold in quantity has been found are all to the west of the boundary line be- tween Canada and the United States.”

“The gold,” said General Duffield, Superintendent of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, in discussing the question, “has been ground out of the quartz by the pressure of the glaciers which lie and move along the courses of the streams, exerting a tremendous pressure.

THE AMERICAN MINES, gI

y. The force is present to a more appreciable extent in Alaska

s than elsewhere, and I believe that, as a consequence, more

r- placer gold will be found in that region than in any other part of the world.”

al : General Duffield thinks the hunters on the American

e side have made the mistake of prospecting the large streams

8’ instead of the small ones. “When gold is precipitated,”

he said, “it sinks. It does not float far down stream. It is

e therefore to be looked for along the small creeks and about

S the headwaters of the larger tributaries of the Yukon.

e There is no reason why as rich finds may not be made on the S- American side of the line as in the Klondike region.”

- Again, it must be remembered that the value of a placer

claim depends to a great extent upon the number of men

e who can profitably be put to work upon it. The gross tax e levied by the Canadian government upon the products of - Canadian placers will render it unprofitable to employ men le upon any except the richest of the mines. [or example, a . claim which paid twenty dollars a day to the man would e produce, worked by one man, enough to render its owner f liable to the twenty per cent penalty. For every man he

employed he would be compelled to pay to the government a monthly tax of one hundred and four dollars, in addition

t to wages. With wages at fifteen dollars a day, the net result y to the owner of a Canadian claim paying twenty dollars a 5 day to the man would be just ten dollars; in other words, y the claim would be unprofitable to work except alone and

. single-handed, until at least wages reach a very much lower

level. On the American side of the line claims of the same f class, at the same rate of wages, would net to the owner $130 5 a month for every man employed. Claims producing less than $20 a day on the Canadian side of the line will be practically valueless for many years to come. Not only

this, but in other respects the American mining laws are

92 Guide To The Klondike.

more liberal. In Northwest Territory claims are limited to five hundred feet in length. A license fee of fifteen dollars a year is imposed for the first year and after that a fee of one hundred dollars a year. Neither has a miner any vested interest in the mine. He simply has a license from the government which is good for but one year. After the year runs on it will have to be renewed. In the meantime addi- tional restrictions such as those recently imposed, may be put on at any time. The royalty may be doubled, or the license fee raised to five hundred dollars a month, in par- ticularly rich districts. ‘There is absolutely no security tor capital or labor invested in any placer mining proposition in the Northwest Territory for any longer period of time than one year from the date of the original location.

On the American side of the line the general mining laws of the United States are in force. These permit the entry of twenty acres of land except in cases where the miners of a district, by adoption of local regulations of their own, limit the amount of the claim. The only expense or tax connected with it is the payment of a recording fee, the amount fixed by the miners themselves, to the recorder of the district elected by themselves. Subject to further local regulations prescribed by the miners of a district, a man’s right to a claim attaches the instant he files, and no law of the United States could ever be passed to divest him of that right, or to impose further restrictions upon him than were contained in the law at the time he filed. Should he desire to do so, he can, after expending five hundred dollars’ worth of work on a claim, have it surveyed and can receive a patent from the United States to it. No license fees are extorted from him; the claim is his, and no royalty is or ever can be imposed upon the gold which he takes out.

It would seem clear that in the present rush to the Yukon gold fields, men who really desire to acquire placer

Rep DD

t e e a t e

The American Mines. 93

mining property for their own use and benefit, and not for the benefit of the Canadian Government, will exercise a wise discretion if they confine their prospecting and locating to the American side of the international boundary, where there are placers rich enough to satisfy any moderate ambi- tion, and where there may be new Klondikes discovered any day which will rival or surpass the discoveries made in Northwest Territory last year.

94 Guide To The Klondike,

Chapter Nii.

The Diseases To Be Guarded Against.

As a final word to those who have made up their minds to sojourn for a few years on the Yukon, in the hope of acquiring wealth, sorne information about the diseases which are prevalent in the country and against which pre- cautions will have to be taken may not be amiss. This information is contained in the report of Assistant Surgeon A. E. Wills, who was stationed at Fort Cudahy, with the detachment of Canadian mounted police. The climate in summer is wet. The rainfall last summer (1895) was heavy. Although there is almost continuous sunlight during the summer, evaporation is very slow, owing to the thick moss, which will not conduct heat, in consequence of which the ground is always swampy. It is only after several years of draining that the ground will become sufficiently dry to allow the frost ta go out, and then only for a few feet. Dur- ing the winter months the cold is intense, with usually con- siderable wind. A heavy mist rising from open places in the river settles down in some of the valleys in calm, ex- tremely cold weather. This dampness makes the cold felt much more and is conducive to rheumatic pains, colds, etc.

Miners are a very mixed class of people. They represent many nationalities and come from all climates. Their lives are certainly not enviable. The regulation “miner’s cabin” is twelve by fourteen feet, with walls six feet and gables eight feet in height. The roof is heavily earthed and the cabin is generally very warm. Two and sometimes three or four men will occupy a house of this size. The ventila-

The Diseases To Be Guarded Against, 95

tion is usually bad. The miners who do not work their claims during the winter confine themselves in these small huts most of the time.

Very often they become indolent and careless, only eat- ing those things which are most easily cooked or prepared. During the busy time in summer when they are “shoveling in,” they work hard and for long hours, sparing little time for eating and still less for cooking. ‘This manner of living is quite common among beginners, and soon leads to debility and sometimes to scurvy. Old miners have learned from experience to value health more than gold and they there- fore spare no expense in procuring the best and most varied outfit of food that can be obtained. In a cold climate such as this, where it is impossible to get fresh vegetables and fruits, it is most important that the best substitutes for these should be provided. Nature helps to supply these wants by growing cranberries and other wild fruits in abundance, but men in summer are too busy to avail themselves of these.

The diseases met with in the country are dyspepsia, anaemia, scurvy, caused by improperly cooked food, same- ness of diet, overwork, want of fresh vegetables, overheated and badly ventilated houses; rheumatsm, pneumenia, bron- chitis, enteritis, cystitis and other acute diseases from ex- posure and wet; debility and chronic diseases, due to ex- cesses. Venereal diseases are not uncommon. One case of typhoid fever occurred at Forty-Mile last fall, probably due to drinking water polluted with decayed vegetable matter.

Men who intend to go to the Yukon gold country should be sober, strong and healthy. They should be practical men, able to adapt themselves to their surroundings. Spe- cial care should be taken to see that their lungs are sound, that they are free from rheumatism and rheu matic tenden- cies, and that their joints, especially their knee joints, are sound and have never been weakened by injury or disease.

95 Guide To The Klondike.

It is also important to consider the temper. Men should be of cheerful, hopeful dispositions and willing to work. Those of sullen, morose natures, although they may be good miners, are very apt, as soon as the novelty of the country wears off, to become dissatisfied, pessimistic and melancholy.

Conclusion.

Seattle bankers and merchants are prepared to buy all the gold which comes down from the mines at its actual mint value. Some of the banks have already procured the services of expert assayers, so that this value may be determined. A strong effort is on foot to have a govern- ment assay office established in this city. If this is done, as there seems every reason to believe will be done at the next session of congress, every dollar of the gold which comes out from the Klondike next season, and which reaches Seattle by the transportation lines, will be pur- chased in this city. All of this gold, with the exception of unimportant amounts, will come down the Yukon, and out by the way of St. Michael’s. Whatever the route for going into the mining country may be, the “all-water” route is the one wiuch miners with gold will adopt in leaving the country.

Appendix. 97

Appe-Ndix.

Table Of Distances.

Via Chilkoot Pass.

Miles Bontele tO: DVR ieee hee che ta ed creer e Viveeeernnns 884 Dyea to Foot of Canyon 06. bake Riera een hae 7 Canyon to Sheep Camp ecesveece Preece cr TS eRe ee 5 Sheep Camp to Summit cceeeeeues POP Pee Te 3 Summit to Lake Lindeman wc. cccccccecccecvveeee 9 Lake Lindeman (length) cccees escceccevecveees 6 Portage to Lake Bennett ceeececeeevees errs ’ 1 Lake Bennett (length) 0.. reve Tere eT ee ee 25.8 Cariboo Crossing to Lake Tagish sseeseeeeees 2.7

Via White’S Pass.

Seattle to Skaguay cccscccccccevccvee seeeeeeeses 884 Dyea to Tako ALM icc cece cette eee e eee eereneeeeees 35 Tako Arm to Lake Tagish cceceeceseecrecevvere 20 Tagish Lake (length) sscceeeeeereseeeeverneees 16.6 River to Lake Marsh cceecececcecrcseceveervers i) Lake Marsh (length) cceeeceseeceececeeeecenes 20 Head of Lake Marsh to Miles Canyon seeeeeeeees 23 Miles Canyon to White Horse Rapids eseeseeee 2% White Horse Rapids ceeceecceccreveeeceneeeees ly Foot of White Horse Rapids to Tahkeena River 13 Tahkeena River to Lake Le Barge eeeeeeeeeevees 11% Lake Le Barge (length) eseeeeeceereeeseeeevenes 31 Lake Le Barge to Hootalinqua River +.ssseeeeees 27% Hootalinqua River to Big Salmon RIVED... cc coc wenslevasos 31 Big Salmon River to Little Salmon FRAVOL: ccaacee seater ee 34 Little Salmon River to Five Fingers +sssseeeseees 53 Five Fingers to Pelly River :eseseesseeeeeeeerees 55 Pelly River to White River :eeseeeeeereeeeeerees 9 White River to Stewart River :sseeeeeeeeeeeeees 9

98 GUIDE To THE KLONDIKE.

Miles Stewart River to Sixty-Mile River errr rT reece 21 Sixty-Mile River to Dawson City Pere coeuns 49 Dawson City to Forty-Mile ccccceees evened R 52 Forty-Mile to Fort Cudahy iPORER NESE ROE ORES % Fort Cudahy to Circle City OER EEK sosveaee 240 Total Dyea to Circle City via Chilkoot Pass 762.6

Total Skaguay to Circle City via White’s Pass 759.1

Via St. Michael’S And Yukon River.

Seattle to St. Michael’s ccc cece ce cscceveveveces 3000 St. Michael’s to Kutlikk ccccccccccccccccvccvececes 100 BOUCHE tO: ATIGVOATARL on cccvcrcceccrecdcecessetveneseevs 125 Andreafski to Holy Cross ccccccccececevcecevecs 145 Holy Cross to Koserefsky ccceccececs Cie aR 5 Koserefsky to Anvik ccccccccccccccecccceecs Kadi’ 75 Anvik to Nulato ccceeees lepine eevee eek as 225 Nulato to Narikatat ccccccceececs Leeann . 145 Naribkatat 0O-JONaNG. 0.60 css ccs ceveveceveneseepoeees eens 80 Janana tO Port Yukon ccccocsccdeccsceccescndecvens 450 Fort Yukon to Circle City ccc cece cc cee ee eee eees 80 Circle City to Forty-Mile cc sccccccccceccceveccccece 240 Forty-Mile to Dawson City ccccceccccvcvccecs 52

Useful Notes For Miners.

Gold and silver are bought and sold by Troy weight: 24 grains 1 pennyweight, 20 pennyweights 1 ounce, 12 ounces 1 pound.

The price established by the United States government for pure gold is $20.67 per ounce. That is for gold 1,000 fine or 24 karats.

The term karat is used by jewelers to express the degrees of fineness of gold, dividing it into 24 degrees or karats.

Pure gold is 24 karats fine and worth $20.67 per ounce. -22 karat gold..$18.94 16 karat gold..$13.78 10 karat gold..$8.61 20 “we okhiee 24 “4. 12.05 8 “4. 6.89

DR i a

Nn SZ SEZ Oe ie iw Ie Oe Oe es re lel

Appendix. 99

Gold in jewelry is seldom less than 6 karats fine

Per oz. Per oz. Gold 1000 fine is worth $20.67. Gold 500 fine is worth $10.33 Gold 900 “ “ " 18.60 Gold 400 “ “ " 8.26 Gold 800 “ “ "7 16,53 Gold 300 “ ‘“ sh 6.20 Gold 700 “ “ - 14.47 Gold 200 “ “ i‘ 4.13 Gold 600 “ “ 12.40 Gold 100 " “ - 2.06

Many persons are mistaken in thinking all ounces to be alike. An ounce Troy or Apothecaries’ weight contains 480 Troy grains. An ounce Avoirdupois weight contains 43744 Troy grains.

The grain is the unit of Troy and Apothecaries’ weight, and the ounce is the unit of the Avoirdupois weight.

One pound Troy or Apothecaries’ weight contains 5,760 Troy grains. One pound Avoirdupois weight couiains 7,000 Troy Grains.

All natural gold—that is, gold extracted from rocks or washed from the beds of streams—contains some alloy, gener- ally silver, but sometimes platinum, copper and tellurium, and it varies in amount in different localities. This is the reason some uiiners are disappointed when they sell their gold, as they imagine all gold to be pure.

Seattle Price List.

Following are the retail market prices in Seattle on August, 5, 1897, for the provisions and hardware which go to make up a Yukon miner’s outfit:

Flour, per sack of 50 pounds, $1.10.

Bacon, 814c to 11%c per pound.

Beans, 2c per pound.

Rolled oats, 3c to 344c per pound,

Tea, 25c to $1.00 per pound (sealed in cans).

Coffee, 15c to 35¢ per pound (sealed in cans).

Sugar, 514° per pound.

Evaporated potatoes, 20c per pound.

Evaporated onions, 50c per pound.

Salt, 1c.

Pepper, 25c.

Evaporated fruits, 8c to 10c.

Rice, 5c, best quality.

Guide To The Klondike.

HARDWARE. Yukon stove, $6.50.

Gold pan, 35c to 5c.

Axes, handled, $1.25. 6-inch files, 10c.

Picks with handle, $1.25 to $2.25. Shovel, $1.00.

Drawing knife, 60c to $1.00. Jackplane, 75c.

Hammer, 50c.

Whipsaw, $4.50 to $6.00. Nails, 4c per pound.

Yukon sleds, $6.00.

PLACER MINING REGULATIONS IN FORCE ON THE YU- KON RIVER AND 11TS TRIBUTARIES IN NORTHWEST TERRITORIES.

The following are the placer mining regulations which ap- ply to the Clondyke and other mining districts on the Canadian side of the line:

Nature And Size Of Claims.

1. Bar diggings, a strip of land 100 feet wide at higi- water mark and thence extending into the river to its lowest water level.

2. The sides of a claim for bar diggings shall be two parallel lines run as nearly as possible at right angles to the stream anu shall be marked by four legal posts, one at each end of the claim, at or about high-water mark; also one at each end of the claim at or about the edge of the water. One of the posts at high-water mark shall be legibly marked with . the name of the miner and the date upon which the claim was staked.

8. Dry diggings shall be 100 feet square, and shall have placed at each of its four corners a legal post, upon one of which shall be legibly marked the name of the miner and the date upon which the claim was staxed.

4, Creek and river claims shall be 500 feet long measured in the direction of the general course of the stream, and shall

Appendix Ioi

extend in width from base to base of the hill or bench on each side, but when the hills or benches are less than 100 fect apart the claim may be 100 feet in depth. The sides of a claim shall be two parallel lines run as nearly as possible at right angles to the stream. The sides shall be marked with legal posts at or about the edge of the water and at the rear boundaries of the claim. One of the legal posts at the stream shall be legibly marked with the name of the miner and the date upon which the claim was staked.

5. Bench claims shall be 100 feet square.

6. In defining the size of claims they shall be measured

horizontally, irrespective of inequalities on the surface of the ground.

7. If any person or persons shall discover a new mine, and such discovery shall be established to the satisfaction of the gold commissioner, a claim for bar diggings 750 feet in length may be granted. A new stratum or auriferous earth or gravel situated in a locality where the claims are abandoned shall for this purpose be deemed a new mine, although the same locality shall have been previously worked at a different level.

8. The forms of application for a grant for placer mining and the grant of the same shall be those contained in forms “H” and “I” in the schedule hereto,

9. A claim shall be recorded with the go!d commissioner in whose district it is situated within three days after the loca- tion thereof, if it is located within ten miles of the commission- er’s office. One extra day shall be allowed for making such record for every additional ten miles or fraction thereof.

10. In the event of the absence of the gold commissioner from his office, entry for a claim may be granted by any person whom he may appoint to perform his duties in his absence.

11. Entry shall not be granted for a claim which has not been staked by the applicant in person in the manner specified in these reguiztions. An affidavit that the claim was staked out by the applicant shall be embodied in form “H” of the schedule hereto.

42. Anentry fee of $15.00 shall be charged for the first year ard an annual fee of $100.00 for each of the following years. This provision shall apply to jocations for which entries have already been granted.

12. After the recording of a claim the removal of any post

102 Guide To The Ki,Ondike.

by the holder thereof or by any person acting in his behalf for the purpose of changing the boundaries of his claim shall act as a forfeiture of the claim.

14. The entry of every holder for a grant for placer mining must be renewed and his receipt relinquished and replaced every year. The entry fee being paid each year.

15. No miner shall receive a grant for more than one min- ing claim in the same locality, but the same miner may hold any number of claims by purchase, and any number of miners may unite to work their claims in common upon such terms as they may arrange, provided such agreement be registered with the gold commissioner and a fee of $5.00 paid for each regis- tration.

16. Any miner or miners may sell, mortgage or dispose ot his or their claims, provided such disposal be registered with a fee of $2.00 paid to the gold commissioner, who shail there- upon give the assignee a certificate in form ‘J’ in the schedule hereto.

17. Every miner shall during the continuance of his grant have the exclusive right of entry upon his own claim, for the miner-like working thereof, and the construction of a residence thereon, and shall be entitled exclusively to all the proceeds realized therefrom; but he shall have no surface rights therein; and the gold commissioner may grant to the holders of adjacent claims such right of entry thereon as may be absolutely neces; sary for the working of their claims, upon such terms as may to him seem reasonable. He may also grant permits to miners to cut timber thereon for their own use, upon payment of the dues prescribed by the regulations in that behalf.

18. Every miner shall be entitled to the use of so much of the water naturally flowing through or past his claim, and not already lawfully appropriated, as shall, in the opinion of the gold commissioner be necessary for the due working there- of; and shall be entitled to drain his own claim free of charge.

19. A claim shall be deemed to be abandoned and open to occupation and entry by any person when the same shall have remained unworked on working days by the grantee there- of or by some person on his behalf for the space of seventy-two hours, unless sickness or other reasonable cause be shown to the satisfaction of the gold commissioner, or unless the grantee

ee ESE Ren ce

Ss eee

Ot nr een Oa ED

Appendix, 103

is absent on leave given by the commissioner, and the gold commissioner, upon obtaining evidence satisfactory to himself that this provision is not being complied with, may cancel the entry given for claim.

20. If the land upon which a claim has been located is not the property of the crown, it will be necessary for the person who applied for entry to furnish proof that he has ac- quired from the owner of the land the surface rights before entry can be granted.

21. If the occupier of the lands has not received a patent therefor, the purchase money of the surface rights must be paid to the crown, and a patent of the surface rights will issue to the party who acquired the mining rights. The money so col- lected will either be refunded to the occupier of the land, when he is entitled to a patent therefor, or will be credited to him on account of payment for land.

22. When the party obtaining the mining rights to lands cannot make an arrangement with the owner thereof for the acquisition of the surface rights, it shall be lawful for him to give notice to the owner or his agent or the occupier to appoint an arbitrator to act with another arbitrator named by him, in order to award the amount of compensation to which the owner or occupant shall be entitled. The notice mentioned in this section shall be according to form to be obtained upon applica- tion from the gold commissioner for the district in which the lands in question lie, and shall, when practicable, be personally served on such owner, or his agent, if known, or occupant; and after reasonable efforts have been made to effect personal service without success, then such notice shall be served by leaving it at, or sending by registered letter to, the last place of abode of the owner, agent or occupant. Such notice shall be served upon the owner, or agent, within a period to be fixed by the gold commissioner before the expiration of the time limited in such notice. If the proprietor refuses or declines to appoint an arbitrator, or when, for any other reason, no arbitrator is appointed by the proprietor in the time limited therefor in the notice provided for by this section, the gold commissioner for the district in which the lands in question lie shall, on being satisfied by affidavit that such notice has come to the knowledge of such owner, agent or occupant, or

104 Guide To The Klondike.

that such owner, agent or occupant wilfully evades the service of such notice, or cannot be found, and that reasonable efforts have been made to effect such service, and that the notice was left at the last place of abode of such owner, agent or occupant, appoint an arbitrator on his behalf.

23. (a) All arbitrators appointed under the authority of these regulations shall be sworn before a Justice of the Peace to the impartial discharge of the duties assigned to them, and they shall forthwith proceed to estimate the reasonable dam- ages which the owner or ocupants of such lands, according to their several interests therein, shall sustain by reason of such prospecting and mining operations.

(b) In estimating such damages, the arbitrators shall de- termine the value of the land irrespectively of any enhance- ment thereof from the existence of minerals therein.

(c) In case such arbitrators cannot agree ,they may select a third arbitrator, and when the two arbitrators cannot agree upon a third arbitratcr the Gold Commissioner for the district in which the lands in question lie shall select such third arbi- trator.

(d) ‘rhe award of any two such arbitrators made in writ- ing shall be final, and shall be filed with the Gold Commis- sioner for the district in which the lands lie.

If any case arise for which no provision is made in these regulations, the provisions of the regulations governing the dis- posal of mineral lands other than coal lands approved by His Excellency the Governor in Council on the 9th of November, 1889, shall apply.

Form “J” Certificate Of The Assignment Of A

Placer Mining Claim.

Department Of The Interior.

ABOICY 06-06-68 a hereon’ 189..

This is to certify that (B. C.) has (or have) filed

an assignment in due form dated 189.., and accom- panied by a registration fee of two dollars, of the grant to ee ee eee (A. B.) of 0f the right (insert de-

Appendix. 105

scription of claim) to mine in ERIE Te See erry eee ee bee Oe ea eee for one year from 189..

This certificate entitled the said (B. C.) to all the rights and privileges of the CC PA are (A, B.) in

respect of the claim assigned, that is to say, to the exclusive right of entry upon the said claim for miner-like working thereof and the construction of a residence thereon, and the exclusive right to all the proceeds therefrom, for the remaining portion of the year for which the said claim was granted to the BON ciscca vitenegeeees (A. B.) that is to say, until the day Ol csices woes 189.., the said (B. C.) shall be enti- tled to the use of so much of the water naturally flowing through or past his (or their) claim and not already lawfully apropriated as shall be necessary for the due working thereof, and to drain the claim free of charge.

This grant does not convey to the said (B. C.) any surface rights in said claim, or any rights of ownership in the soil covered by said claim, and the said grant shall lapse and be forfeited unless the claim is continually, and in good faith, worked by the said (BL Cale ins case os or his (or their) asociates.

The rights hereby granted are those laid down in the Do- minion Mining Regulations, and no more, and are subject to all the provisions of the said regulations, whether the same are expressed herein or not.

FORM “H.” APPLICATION FOR GRANT FOR PLACER MINING CLAIM AND AFFIDAVIT OF APPLICANT.

T, (OF WE) eeeeee OL vicdcnsenda hereby apply under the Dominion Mining Regulations, for a grant of a claim for placer mining as defined in the said regulations, in (here describe VOCALLY) oc ccoccessceen seenenecocee eonrecereenerogeedes and I (or we) solemnly swear:

1. That I (or we) have discovered therein a deposit of (here name the metal or mineral.)

2. That I (or we) aiu (or are) to the best of my (or our)

106 Guide To The Klondike.

knowledge and belief, the first discoverer (or discoverers) of the said deposit; or,

8. That the said claim was previously granted to (here name the last grantee), but has remained unworked by the said grantee for not less than

4, That I (or we) am (or are) unaware that the land is other than vacant Dominion Land.

5. That I (or we) did, on the day of mark out on the ground, in accordance in every particular with the provisions of the Mining Regulations for the Yukon River and its tributaries, the claim for which I (or we) make this appli- cation, and that in so doing I (or we) did not encroach on any other claim or mining location previously laid out by any other

person. 6. That the said mining claim contained, as nearly as I (or we) could measure or estimate, an area of square

feet, and that the description (and sketch, if any) of this date hereto attached, signed by me (or us) sets (or set) forth in detail, to the best of my (or our) knowledge and ability, its position, form and dimensions.

7. That I( or we) make this application in good faith, to acquire the claim for the sole purpose of mining, prosecuted by myself (or us) or by myself and associates, or by my (or our) asigns.

Sworn before me at 00. CRIB. cases day of

ipa acne eaatat , 189.. (Signature) ME brasaces oh drdie blocs. aetna. hk hn a ein heeoets

Form “Ji.”

Grant For. Placer Claim.

Department Of The Interior.

In consideration of the payment of the fee prescribed by Clause 12 of the mining regulations for the Yukon River and its Tributaries by (A. B.) of accompanying his (c their) application No 5 MBUGO GS in are vei sa ws 189.. for a mining claim in (here insert description of locality), the Minister of the Interior hereby grants to the said Chie Bibs via vixesn) for the term of one year from the date hereof the exclusive right of entry upon the claim (here

sp ame

Appendix, 107

describe in detail the claim granted) for the miner-like work- ing thereof and the construction of a residence thereon, and the exclusive right to all the proceeds realized therefrom.

The said CAs Eo) caewewn’ shall be entitled to the use of so much water naturally flowing through or past his (or their) claim, and not already lawfully appropriated, as shall be necessary for the due working thereof, and to drain his (or their) claim, free of charge.

This grant does not convey to the said (AV Bi cccees any surface rights in the said claim, or any right of owner- ship in the soil covered by the said claim; and the said grant shall lapse and be forfeited unless the claim is continuously and in good faith worked by the said (A. Bu). ccese or his (or their) associates.

The rights hereby granted are those laid down in the aforesaid mining regulations, and no more, and are subject to all the provisions of the said regulations, whether the same are expressed herein or not.

Gold Commisioner.

Alaska Mining Laws.

The Act of Congress of May 17, 1884, providing a civil government for Alaska, provides that: “The laws of the United States relating to mining claims and the rights in- cident thereto, shall, from and after the passage of this act, be in full force and effect in said district.” The further

mining laws applicable are as follows:

United States Revised Statutes.—Sec. 2318. In all cases lands valuable for minerals shall be reserved from sale, except as otherwise expressly directed by law.

Sec. 2319. All valuable mineral deposits in lands belonging to the United States, both surveyed and unsurveyed, are hereby declared to be free and open to exploration and pur- chase, and the lands in which they are found to occupation and purchase, by citizens of the United States and those who have declared their intention to become such, under regula- tions prescribed by law, and according to the local customs or rules of miners in the several mining districts, so far as the

108 Guide To The Klondike.

same are applicable and not inconsistent with the laws of the United States.

Sec. 2320. Mining claims upon veins or lodes or quartz or other rock in place, bearing gold, silver, cinnabar, lead, tin, copper, or other valuable deposits heretofore located, shall be governed ag to length along the vein or lode by the cus- toms, regulations, and laws in force at the date of location. A mining claim located after the tenth day of May, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, whether located by one or more persons, may equal, but shall not exceed, one thousand five hundred feet in length along the vein or lode; but no location of a mining claim shall be made until the discovery of the vein or lode within the limits of the claim located. No claim shall extend more than three hundred feet on each side of the middle of the vein at the surface, nor shall any claim be limited by any mining regulation to less than twenty-five feet on each side of the middle of the vein at the surface, except where adverse rights existing on the tenth day of May, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, render such limitation necessary. The end lines of each claim shall be parallel to each other.

Sec. 2322. The locators of all mining locations heretofore made or which shall hereafter be made, on any mineral vein, Icde, or ledge, situated on the public domain, their heirs and and assigns, where no adverse claim exists on the tenth day of May, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, so long as they comply with the laws of the United States, and with state, territorial, and local regulations not in conflict with the laws of the United States governing their possessory title, shall have the exclusive right of possession and enjoyment of all the surface included within the lines of their locations, and of all veins, lodes, and ledges throughout their entire depth, the top of apex of which lies inside of such surface lines extended downward vertically, although such veins, lodes, or ledges may so far depart from a perpendicular in their course downward as to extend outside the vertical side lines of such surface locations. But their right of possession to such out- side parts of such veins or ledges shall be confined to such portions thereof as lie between vertical planes drawn down- ward as above described, through the end lines of their loca- tions, so continued in their own direction that such planes

Appendix, 109

will intersect such exterior parts of such veins or ledges. And nothing in this section shall authorize the locator or posession of a vein or lode which extends in its downward course beyond the vertical lines of his claim to enter upon the surface of a claim owned or possesed by another.

Sec. 2324. The miners of each mining district may make regulations not in conflict with the laws of the United States, or with the laws of the state or territory in which the dis- trict is situated, governing the location, manner of recording, amount of work necessary to hold possession of a mining claim, subject to the following requirements: The location must be distinctly marked on the ground, so that its bound- aries can be readily traced. All records of mining claims hereafter made shall contain the name or names of the locators, the date of the location, and such description of the claim or claims located by reference to some natural object or permanent monument as will identify the claim. On each claim located after the tenth day of May, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, and until a patent has been issued therefor, not less than one hundred dollars’ worth of labor shall be performed or improvements made during each year. On all claims located prior to the tenth of May, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, ten dollars worth of labor shall be per- formed or improvements made by the tenth day of June, eighteen hundred and seventy-four, and each year thereafter, for each one hundred feet in length along the vein, until a patent has been issued therefor; but where such claims are held in common, such expenditure may be made upon any one claim; and upon a failure to comply with these condi- tions, the claim or mine upon which such failure occurred shall be opened to relocation in the same manner as if no location of the same had ever been made: Provided, That the original locators, their heirs, assigns, or legal representa- tives, have not resumed work upon the claim after failure and before such location. Upon the failure of any one of sev- eral co-owners to contribute his proportion of the expendi- tures required hereby, the co-owners who have perforrmed the labor or made the improvements may, at the expiration of the year, give such delinquent co-owner personal notice in writing or notice by publication in the newspaper published nearest the claim, for at least once a week for ninety days,

Iio Guide To The Klondike.

and if at the expiration of ninety days after such notice in writing or by publication such delinquent should fail or refuse to contribute his proportion of the expenditure required by this section, his interest in the claim shall become the prop- erty of his co-owners, who have made the expenditures.

Sec. 2336. Where two or more veins intersect or cross each other, priority of title shall govern, and such prior loca- tion shall be entitled to all ore or mineral contained within the space of intersection; but the subsequent location shall have the right of way through the space of intersection for the purposes of the convenient working of the mine. And where two or more veins unite, the oldest or prior location shall take the vein below the point of union, including all the space of intersection,

Sec. 2885. A patent for any land claimed and located for valuable deposits may be obtained in the following manner: Any person, association, or corporation authorized to locate a claim under this chapter, having claimed and located a piece of land for such purposes, who has, or have, complied with the terms of this chapter, may file in the proper land-office an aplication for a patent, under oath, showing such compliance, together with a plat and field-notes of the claim or claims in common, made by or under the direction of the United States Surveyor-General, showing accurately the boundaries of the claim or claims, which shall be distinctly marked by monu- ments on the ground, and shall post a copy of such plat, to- gether with a notice of such application for a patent, in a conspicuous place on the land embraced in such plat previous to the filing of the application for a patent, and shall file an affidavit of at least two persons that such notice has been duly posed, and shall file a copy of the notice in such land-office, and shall thereupon be entitled to a patent for the land, in the manner following: The register of the land-office, upon the filing of such application, plat, field-notes, notices, and affida- vits, shall publish a notice that such application has been made, for the period of sixty days, in a newspaper to‘be by him designated as published nearest to such claim; and he shall also post such notice in his office for the same period.The claimant at the time of filing this aplication, or at any time thereafter, within sixty days of publication, shall file with the register a certificate of the United States surveyor-general

SS eRe a any Tare eee rn

a ea Oe a

Appendix. Ii!

that five hundred dollars’ worth of labor has been expended on improvements made upon the claim by himself or grantors; that the plat is correct, with such further description by such reference to natural objects or permanent monuments as shall identify the claim, and furnish an accurate description, to be incorporated in the patent. At the expiration of the sixty days of publication the claimant shall file his affidavit, showing that the plat and notice have been posted in a conspicuous place on the claim during such period of publication, If no adverse claim shall have been filed with the register and the receiver of the proper land-office at the expiration of the sixty days of publication, it shall be assumed that the applicant is entitled to a patent, upon the payment to the proper officer of five dollars per acre, and that no adverse claim exists; and thereafter no objection from third parties to the issuance of a patent shall be heard, except it be shown that the applicant has failed to comply with the terms of this chapter.

Sec. 2327. The description of vein or lode claims, upon surveyed lands, shall designate the location of the claim with reference to the lines of the public surveys, but need not con- form therewith; but where a patent shall be issued for claims upon unsurveyed lands, the surveyor-general, in extending the surveys, shall adjust the same to the boundaries of such pat- ented claim, according to the plat or description thereof, but so as in no case to interfere with or change the location of any such patented claim.

Act of Congress of January 22, 1880.—An Act to amend sections twenty-three hundred and twenty-four and twenty- three hundred and twenty-five of the Revised Statutes of the United States concerning mineral lands.

Be it enacted, etc., That section twenty-three hundred and twenty-five of the Revised Statutes of the United States be amended by adding hereto the following words: “Provided, That where the claimant for a patent is not a resident of or within the land district wherein the vein, lode, ledge or de- posit sought to be patented is located, the application for pat- ent and the affidavits required to be made in this section by the claimant for such patent may be made by his, her, or its authorized agent, where said agent is conversant with the facts sought to be established by said affidavits: And provided,

Sones mente ence cet eiscica vibe winnie : “ UB AG, FRR iat

112 Guide To The Klondike.

That this section shall apply to all applications now pending for patents to mineral lands.”

Sec, 2. That section twenty-three hundred and twenty- four of the Revised Statutes of the United States be amended by adding thereto the following words: ‘Provided, That the period within which the work required to be done annually on all unpatented mineral claims shall commence on the first day of January succeeding the date of location of such claim, and this section shall apply to all claims located since the tenth of May, anno Domini eighteen hundred and seventy-two.”

Act of Congress of February 11, 1875.—An act to amend section two thousand three hundred and twenty-four of the Revised Statutes, relating to the development of the mining resources of the United States.

Be it enacted, etc., That section two thousand three hun- dred and twenty-four of the Revised Statutes be, and the same is hereby amended to that where a person or company has or may run a tunnel for the purpose of developing a lode or lodes, owned by said person or company, the money so expended in said tunnel shall be taken and considered as expended on said lode or lodes, whether located prior to or since the passage 0 said act, and such person or company shall not be required to perform work on the surface of said lode or lodes in order to hold the same as required by said act. [See page 43.]

United States Law.—Sec,. 23238. Where a tunnel is run for the development of a vein or lode, or for the discovery of mines, the owners of such tunnel shall have the right of possession of all veins or lodes within three thousand feet from the face of such tunnel on the line thereof, not previously known to exist, discovered in such tunnel, to the same extent as if dis- covered from the surface: and locations on the line of such tunnel of veins or lodes, not appearing on the surface, made by other parties after the commencement of the tunnel, and while the same is being prosecuted with reasonable diligence,

shall be invalid; but failure to prosecute the work on the tunnel for six months shall be considered as an abandonment of the

right to all undiscovered veins on the line of such tunnel.

Placer Claims.

Sec. 2329. Claims usually called ‘“‘placers,” including all forms of deposit, excepting veins of* quartz, or other rock in

Appendix, 113

place, shall be subject to entry and patent, under like circum- stances and conditions, and upon similar proceedings, as are provided for vein or lode claims; but where the lands have been previously surveyed by the United States, the entry in its exterior limits shall conform to the legal subdivisions of the public lands,

United States Law.—Sec. 2330. Legal subdivisions of forty acres may be subdivided into ten-acre tracts; and two or more persons, or associations of persons, having contiguous claims of any size, although such claims may be less than ten acres each, may make joint entry thereof; but no location of a placer-claim, made after the ninth day of July, eighteen hundred and seventy, shall exceed one hundred and sixty acres for any one person or association of persons, which loca- tion shall conform to the United States surveys; and nothing in this section contained shall defeat or impair any bona fide pre- emption or homestead claim upon agricultural lands, or au- thorize the sale of the improvements of any bona fide settler to any purchaser,

Sec, 2331. Where placer-claims are upon sui'veyed lands, and conform to legal subdivisions, no further survey or plat shall be required, and all placer mining claims located after the tenth of May, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, shail conform as near as practicable with the United States system of public-land surveys, and the rectangular subdivisions of such surveys, and no such location shall include more than twenty acres for each individual claimant; but where placer-claims can not be conformed to legal subdivisions, survey and plat shall be made as on unsurveyed lands; and where by the seg- regation of mineral lands in any legal subdivision a quantity of agricultural land less than forty acres remains, such frac- tional portions of agricultural land may be entered by any party qualified by law, for homestead or pre-emption purposes,

Placer Claims Containing Lodes.

United States Law.—Sec. 2333. Where the same person, association, or corporation is in posession of a placer-claim, and also a vein or lode included within the boundaries there- of, application shall be made for a patent for the placer claim, with the statement that it includes such vein or lode, and in such case a patent shall issue for a placer-claim, subject to the

114 Guide To, The Klondike.

provisions of this chapter, including such vein or lode, upon the payment of five dollars per acre for such vein or lode claim, and twenty-five feet of surface on each side thereof. The remainder of the placer claim, or any placer claim not embracing any vein or lode claim, shall be paid for at the rate of two dollars and fifty cents per acre, together with all costs of proceedings; and where a vein or lode, such as is described in section twenty-three hundied and twenty, is known io exist within the boundaries of a placer-claim, an application for a patent for such placer claim which does not include an applica- tion for the vein or lode claim shall be construed as a conclu- sive declaration that the claimant of the placer claim has no right of possession of the vein or lode claim; but where the existence of a vein or lode in a placer-claim is not known, a patent for the placer-claim shall convey all valuable mineral and other deposits within the boundaries thereof.

United States Law.—Sec. 2332. Where such person or as- sociation, they and their grantors, have held and worked their claims for a period equal to the time prescribed by the statute of limitations for mining claims of the State or Territory where the same may be situated, evidence of such possession and working of the claims for such period shall be sufficient to es- tablish a right to a patent thereto under this chapter, in the absence of any adverse claim; but nothing in this chapter shall be deemed to impair any lien which may have attached in any way whatever to any mining claim or property thereto at- tached prior to the issuance of a patent.

United States Law.—Sec. 2321. Proof of citizenship, under this chapater, may consist, in the case of an individual, of his own affidavit thereof; in the case of an association of persons unincorporated, of the affidavit of their authorized agent, made on his own knowledge, or upon information and belief; and in the case of a corporation organized under the laws of the United States, or of any State or Territory thereof, by the filing of a certified copy of their charter or certificate of incorpora- tion.

Latest Rules For The Yukon. 115

Latest Rules For The Yukon.

[ Since this book has gone to press the following has been received :]

OTTawa, Ont., Aug. 13.—Major Walsh, who com- manded the Northwest mounted police during the Riel rebellion, has been appointed administrator for the Yukon district at a salary of $5,000 a year.

The department of the interior has forwarded the following notice to the Yukon:

‘Clauses 4 and 8 of the regulations governing placer mining on the Yukon river and its tributaries are amended by reducing the length of a creek and river claim to 100 feet, and the length of a creek and river claim to be granted to the discoverer of a new mine to 200 feet. The fee for the renewal of an entry for a claim has been reduced from $1co to $15.

Seattle Hardware Co.

(Wholesale And Retail)

819, 821, 823 First Avenue

Seattle, Washington

The miners in Alaska must have the best goods made. We know what they want and carry in stock at all times sufficient goods to meet the largest demands that can be made upon us, either at wholesale or retail.

We are well aware that the demand for miners’ sup- plies will be enormous. Seattle, because of her com- manding situation, must supply the great bulk of the goods that go into the Yukon gold fields. We are equally confident that in all lines of Hardware, Tools, Guns and Ammunition we can meet this unusual demand. The fact that our purchases and sales of these goods are so large enables us to make prices that are always as low as good goods can be had anywhere.

The outfits that we recommend to prospectors going to the Yukon have been examined and approved by T. S. Lippy, former Secretary of the Y. M.C. A. of Seattle, and who now owns one of the best claims on the Klon- dyke. In buying from us, you run no risk of getting anything superfluous or useless.

Send us your orders, or call and see us when in our

city. Seattle Hardware Co, 819, 821 & 823 First Avenue

Seattle. + + + Washington

ath Sacre ANE SEES IIT RII a ara

H

Our Experience In Outfitting Miners

Covers many years. In fact we are the Pioneer Outfitters in the grocery line. Time and experience have prepared us to handle this trade in entire accordance with the wants of the Alaska miners. We are prepared to outfit almost an army; our establishment being one of the largest in the United States. The essential features of these outfits are Lightness in Weight, Greatness in Sustenance. Packages specially suited for rough handling and exposure to weather.

We cure the 1888 Brand of Bacon, Specially suited to Alaska’s climate Write us for further information.

hOUCH, AUGUSTINE & CO.

Wholesale and Retail

Grocers and Miners’ Outfitters 815 & 817 First Avenue SEATTLE, WASHINGTON

Seattle Woolen Manufacturing Co,

PIONEER ALASKA CLOTHING and BLANKET MANUFACTURERS

Having Our Own Mill we can make the special Extra Heavy Woolen Goods needed for the Yukon, Blanket Clothing of the heaviest kind: Heavy Wool Knit Goods for the head, hands and feet; Double Woven all wool Mackinaw Blankets, weighing trom twelve to twenty pounds; Mackinaw Suits, the best that wool and loom will make.

DON’T MAKE A MISTAKE BY BUYING A POOR CLOTHING OUTFIT Salesroom - - 1119 First Avenue, Seattle, Wash.

If you want to keep posted On the Great Alaskan Gold Fields

Read #—

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer

The Largest and Best Daily Paper in the State, Special Correspondents on the ground, Address JAMES D. HOGE, Jr., Manager POST-INTELLIGENCER, SEATTLE, WASH.

aS Se eens ee

For THE KLONDIKE

anD YUKON GOLD FIELDS

———@ Take The @——

Porthern Pacific Railway

Running from St. Paul to the cities on the North Pacific Coast. Its line is the DIRECT ROUTE for parties going to the Gold Fields.

Every train has Pullman Cars, Dining Cars, Tourist Pullman Cars, and everything conducive to a pleasant trip.

Before starting West be sure to call on or address any of the Northern Pacific Agents as shown below, who will give full information in regard to this line as well as the Yukon country, and book you through to Dawson City, Dyea, Skaguay or any other Alaskan points.

General And District Passenger Agents

F. A. GROSS, Dist. Pass. Agent 230 Washington Street, Boston, Mass. THOS. HENRY, Can. Pass. & Fr’t Agent 128 St. James Street, Montreal, Que. J. H. ROGERS, Jr , Dist. Pass. Agent 47S. Third Street, Philadelphia, Pa. L. L. BILLINGSLEA, Trav Pass Agent- 47 So. Third St., Philadelphia, Pa, WM. G. MASON Dist. Pass. Agent N dowon Sebesecreta 215 Ellicott’ Sq , Buffalo, N. Y. CHAS. EK. JOHNSON “SL $17 Cornemie Building, Pittsburgh, Pa. W.H. WHITAKER “ “¢ tr edt ddencesece 153 Jefferson Ave., Detroit, Mich. FERRY Phas ute St ewe eu cmonaods 52 Carew Building. Cincinnati, O. JNO. E. TURNER ee” att Me” emaadsctecs 42 Jackson Place, Indianapolis, Ind. Cc. G. LEMMON ky 2 OO owt lausweduwecs 208 So. Clark St., Chicago, Il. C.C MORDOUGH “ Megaman ceesens 377 Broadway, Milwaukee, Wis. P. H. NOEL, Bist Si 210 Commercial Bldg. St. Louis, Mo. ae D. ROGERS ss hy oe weatowas Fourth and Broadway, St. Paul, Minn, . W. JONES ison’ SP gttaing wiceeics 503 W. Locust St , Des Moines, Ta. GEO, WwW. McCASKEY" Ay SS SeduduneneeeupescukeseasGbu eine wees Butte, Mont. . O'NEILL ue 1 @itccnenioanawe 255 Morrison St., Portland, Ore. i I, RAYBURN, Trav. Pass. Agent 255 Morrison St . Portland, Ore. W. F. MERSHON, General Agent Pass’r Dept 319 Broadway, New York City F, H. FOGARTY, General AGONEs aiciwetsonn-acteateccuns 208 S. Clark Street, Chicago R. A. EVA General ARON bons ined onan ceae saneneneeecsncosusdebbe 250= Duluth, Minn. F, C. JACKSON, Assistant General Agent West Superior, Wis. H. SWINFORD, General Depot Building, Water St., Winnipeg, Man. A. D. EDGAR, General Agent Cor. Main and Grand Sts., Helena Mont, W,M. TUOHY, General Agent RendnacsunechesunRanninn 23 E. Broadway, Butte, Mont. J. G. BOYD, General AG ONG nnn aah cans csuscsasennecncukeennsusuieses Wallace, Idaho F, D. GIBBS, General Agent Spokane, Wash, I. A. NADEAU, General Agent Seattle, Wash. A. TINLING, General Agent 925 Pacific Avenue, Tacoma, Wash. T. K. STATEL ER, Gen’i Agent Pass’r Dept. 638 Market St., San Francisco, Cal. G. F. McNEILL, City Ticket Agt 19 Nicollet House Blk , Minneapolis, Minn. O. VANDERBILT, City Ticket Agt 162 F. Third St., St. Paul, Minn, A. D, CHARLTON, Asst. Gen’! Pass, Agt, 255 Morrison St. Portland, Ore. A. L, CRAIG, Asst. Gen’! Ticket Agt ee St, Pavl, Minn. CHAS. S. FEE, Gen’! Pass. and Ticket Agent St. Paul, Minn,

J. M. HANNAFORD, Gen’l Traffic MBNAR CP ncnneunnnaecwunnnevanion St. Paul, Minn,

f

Direct To Klondyke On Palage Steamers, —

Porth Firwericay. esto Cransportation and Crading Zo.

Merchants And Carriers

Operating Steamer lines from Seattle, Washington, direct to all of the Gold Fields of the Yukon River in the Interior of Alaska and the Northwest Territories ; and has well stocked and complete Stores at all of the principal mining towns on the Yuk...

The only old established Company running Steamers from Seattle, and always reliable.

For the Season of 1896s ——

We will have large, fast, new, and commodious steamert's leaving Seattle, June 10, and every fifteen days thereafter during the season, connecting at St. Michaels with our palace river steamers for

Yukon

All points . ln River,

on the

You can engage passage now for Season of 1898. For rates and further information call on or address any of the offices of the company.

San Francisco Office : Chicago Office: Seattle Office: $ California Street. Room 290 Old Colony Bldg. 61s First Avenue.