Klondike and Yukon guide; Alaska and Northwest territory gold fields ..
31 pp. incl. illus., maps
Public-domain full text preserved in the Mountain Man Mining Library. Original source: archive.org.
F 931 .K671 Copy 1
HE purpose of this Guide is to set forth intelligently and in a concise manner the replies to the thousand and one (}questions, which anyone who may be contemplating a trip to the famed Klondike Gold Fields will naturally ask.
Klondike
-Yukon Guide
Alaska and Northwest Territory
Gold Fields
'Where they are, how to get there, what to take along-, when to g-o and what to do to secure a claim.
Published By
Seattle-Alaska General Sipply Co.
Inc
106, 108, no Washington St. West. ScaUVc, AOasVv.
Press Of John J. Knoff Co., Colman Bloc, Seattle
Conducted under the
auspices of The Seattle Hardware Co. LoucH, Augustine & Co. J. A. Baillargeon
This Firm values the Reputation of its founders as its chief asset
Seattle=aia8ka
G177
Supply Co, 1 nc
106, 108, [I0 Washington Street West
A Miner'S
Department
Store
Established for the purpose of furnishing- under one ROOF Complete Miners' Outfits, each and every article supplied being- of guaranteed quality. A combination of the Pioneer Outiittinof Firms of Seattle.
Any Banker or Business Man of Seattle
Nothing But
The Best can be bought of this house
f
r
G
fl
m
£
Seattle-Alaska General Supply Co., Inc.
The Gold Fields
The wonderful gold fields now known the world over as the Klondike diggings, and situated on a branch of the Yukon river, in the Canadian Northwest Territories.
Gold was discovered in the Yukon basin in 1881 on a tributary of the Lewis river, during the next few years considerable mining was done on the Hootalinqua, which flows out of Teslin lake and into the Yukon. Since then gold has been found in paying quantities on Stewart river, Forty-mile creek. Glacier creek, Birch creek, and last but by no means least, the creeks tributary to the Klondike.
Forty-mile creek is for the most part in Alaska; the headwaters of Sixty-mile creek are also in United States territory; Miller, Glacier and Birch creeks were once thought to be in Alaska, but are now known to be in Canada, and of the wonderfully rich Klondike there has never been any doubt of its being in Canada.
Routes To The Yukon
The Klondike may be reached from two directions. One is by ocean steamer to St. Michael's island in Bering sea, and thence up the Yukon river. The other is by crossing over the Coast range of mountains to the headwaters of the Lewis branch of the Yukon and descending by boat. The shortest route from SEATTLE is that via the White pass, and is approximately 1,674 miles. Horses are used on this pass, hauling and packing for its entire length from salt water to the head of the lakes.
Another available route to the Lewis river is from Dyea, at the head of Lynn canal, via the Chilkoot pass. This distance is slightly longer than via the White pass.
A third route to the Lewis river is via Fort Wrangel and the Stickeen river to Telegraph creek and thence overland by pack train to Lake Teslin.
Still another route is from the head of Taku inlet, a little south rf Juneau, thence overland by the valley of the Taku river to Lake
106-108-110 Washington Street, West. 3
Teslin. The distance to Lake Teslin by this route is approximately the same as via the Stickeen route.
Table Of Distances
Seattle to Dyea 884 miles
Miles Miles from point
to to point.
FROM DYEA. 6 Head of canoe navigation 6
16% Summit of Chilkoot
pass 10%
261 Head of Lake Lind-
erman 9%
341 Foot of Lake Linder-
man 8
351/ Head of Lake Bennett 1
61% Foot of Lake Bennett 26%
641 Foot of Cariboo Crossing 2%
81% Foot of Tagish lake. 16% 86% Head of Lake Marsh 5 106% Foot of Lake Marsh. 20
123 Head of canyon 16%
123% Foot of canyon %
125% Head White Horse
rapids li
140* Tahkeenah river.. .. 14%
Head of Lake Le
Barge
, 16
Foot of Lake Le
Barge
, 31
Hootalinqua river . .
Cassiar bar
Big Salmon river. . .
2851/ Little Salmon river..
35
Five Fingers rapids.
Rink rapids
4031/2
Pelly river
53 Va
4991/2
White river
Stewart river
9y2
Sixty-mile post
Dawson City
Fort Reliance
Forty-mile post
629%
Fort Cudahy
%
Circle City
249%
From Circle City.
8 Birch creek
50 Deadwood creek 42
55 Greenhorn creek 5
60 Independence creek . . 5
61 Mastodon creek 1
68 Eagle creek 7
No one should start for the Yukon country with less than $200 in cash after he has purchased his outfit. Should you be so fortunate as to find a good claim the first season it is likely that you would not be able to realize from it immediately. Nearly all of the summer claims require drainage before they can be worked and that is both tedious and expensive. On the winter claims the pay gravel is taken out by drifting and then allowed to lie; on the bank until the following summer before the gold can be washed out. The necessity of having suflicient funds to carry you over a season is therefore very apparent. The trading companies operating stores on the Yukon WILL NOT extend credit, as all their goods find a ready sale at spot cash. If you have not the money to buy a winter's outfit in the event of a profitless season, you will have to subsist on a straight diet of flour, providing you are lucky enough to have the flour. DON'T go to the Yukon broke or with only a few dollars, or you may have abundant reasons to regret it.
4 Seattle-Alaska General Supply Co.. Inc.
Concerning Your Outfit
After having decided to tempt fortune in the Yukon country the .first consideration is your outfit, where to get it and what it should consist of. Nothing should be taken that is superfluous or it will probably be thrown away before the summit of the mountains is crossed. The outfit should consist only of your bedding, provisions and tools for mining and boat building. Those who have the money to invest frequently take in a two-years' supply of provisions and say it is profitable for them to do so. No one should go without at least a year's supply and the more you can take the better you will be off when you arrive at your destination. An outfit of fresh provisions will always find a ready sale at high prices at the mines and there is never any danger of taking in too much. What constitutes an ideal outfit depends much upon one's individual taste and the length of his purse.
One of the most laborious tasks in making the trip to the interior is in constructing a boat. This is generally done on the banks of Lake Bennett, a few miles below Lake Linderman, the best timber around the shores of the latter body of water having all been utilized, The tree from which the lumber is to be sawed is first felled, then dragged and mounted between the forks of two trees, which have previously been found, at an elevation of about six or eight feet above the ground. Once in position, a slab is sawed off and the log afterward squared. The boards are then marked and the handpower sawmill is ready to begin operations. The saw used is of the whip saw pattern and is operated by two men, one standing above on the log, the other underneath. To the uninitiated this is the hardest kind of work and to make an ordinary double-ended batteau such as is generally used, requires from five to ten days, according to one's endurance and ability to handle tools quickly. There is now in operation a small saw mill on the right-hand bank of Lake Bennett, immediately across the portage from Lake Linderman. The owners of the mill, make a specialty of building Yukon boats and have but limited facility for constructing crafts. By purchasing a boat of them much hard work is saved as well as the time spent in constructing one. In every party of prospectors there should be a rifle and a shot gun as there are plenty of opportunities to replenish one's lardeFwith wild game, which will be found a welcome change from a diet of salt pork.
Another very laborious feature in going to the Yukon is in getting one's provisions from Dyea or Skaguay to the lakes, a distance of twenty-six miles. Indian packers may be hired to carry your outfit, their charge being twenty-five cents per pound. Those who prefer to do their own packing on the Chilkoot pass sled their goods '.ip the trail as far as Sheep camp, which point is made a p;Gneral
106-108-110 Washington Street, West. 5
rendezvous by everyone, it being the last place where fuel for camp stoves can be procured. From here to the foot of the summit the outfits are taken in 100-pound loads, the cache being marked by sticking a long pole in the snow in the event of a heavy storm which would cover everything up and destroy all vestiges of the camp. After the entire outfit has reached the foot of the summit a favorable day is waited for upon which to make the crossing. On the mountain storms and blizzards are of frequent occurrence and are often of such severity that no human being could live through them. Once across the summit the hardest part of the journey is at an end.
When To Start
Persons who contemplate doing their own packing across the summit should leave Seattle between the first and middle of March. At that time the water courses are still frozen solidly and there is abundance of well packed snow for sliding purposes. As the season advances traveling becomes mich more difficult and expensive. The snow melts and becomes so rotten it will scarcely bear up one's weight and the mountain streams are swollen to small-sized rivers. Many persons choose the month of July in which to cross the summit. The trip at that season of the year possesses less hardships than at any other time, and if one's finances will permit of his having all his labor performed by others the journey will be found to be one of much pleasure and interest. As a rule it is only those who already have claims located or are in business who make the trip in the summer. In the spring when the great influx regularly occurs the trail soon becomes packed as hard as adamant and once beyond the summit prodigious loads can be hauled on a sled drawn by but one man. As the ice in the river breaks up several weeks before it does in the lakes a great many either purchase or build their boats at Lake Bennett, mount it on sleds and continue down the chain of lakes and river as long as the ice remains solid, often reaching the canyon above White Horse rapids before it becomes necessary to launch the boat. During the spring of the year a stiff breeze will always be found blowing down the Yukon and a sail hoisted on a sled will be of great assistance in moving the load along. Those who build their own boats should construct them as solidly as possible, as it requires a staunch craft to stand the rough water encountered in running the rapids.
How Long To Stay
The length of one's stay in the Yukon may be indefinite. But little can be accomplished in the way of acquiring a stake within less than three years, unless one is extraordinarily fortunate.
The first year is generally spent in looking over the country,
6 Seattle- Alaska General Supply Co., Inc.
visiting the different camps and latest strikes and prospecting for a claim. If a promising claim is found the first year the second is fully occupied in opening it up, either by burning the moss off and stripping to the pay streak, or draining and bringing in a ditch with sufficient fall to run your sluices. The end of the second year shoud see the claim ready to begin producing the following season; one might be able to take out some dust that same fall. In cases where the pay gravel lies eight and ten feet beneath the surface work may be carried on during the winter by drifting. The surface soil is not removed in such cases, being frozen into a solid compact mass. A shaft is sunk to the pay dirt, then a tunnel is run lengthwist of the same, the gravel being thawed out by log fires and afterward hoisted to the surface, where it lies until water for washing purposes may be obtained the following summer. Those who go to ihe Yukon in the spring and come out the same fall rarely make their expenses. Don't go unless you are prepared to stay three years, or two at least.
It THE JOURNEY
With your outfit, sled, etc., aboard the steamer at Seattle, bound for Dyea or Skaguay, the run to these points is 884 miles and is made in four days. From Dyea you tramp across the summit to Lake Linderman. Then a start down the chain of lakes is made. Lake Linderman is eight miles long, between which and the head of Lake Bennett is a small stream connecting the two bodies of water, almost a mile in length. 'In the summer time a portage is necessary here as the channel is filled with boulders to such an extent as to make navigation unsafe. At Lake Bennett a boat should either be built or purchased of the establishment located there. Mount your boat on two sleds, one forward and one aft, and pack your entire outfit inside. Lash the sleds firmly in place and you are ready to travel. Lake Bennett is twenty-six miles long, with an average breadth of two miles. The waters connecting Lake Bennett with Tagish lake constitute what is known as Caribou crossing. The current is rather sluggish and the channel is crooked and shallow. Passing through Lakes Tagish and Marsh, the latter twenty miles long, one soon arrives at the head of Grand canyon. The canyon is about three-quarters of a mile in length and has long been considered a dangerous piece of water. It has recently been successfully run by many boats, and much of the danger heretofore associated with it is conceded to have been imagined. A staunch boat, a level head and some knowledge of navigating rapid water are the principal requisites of a safe passage. The same may be said of White Horse rapids, two miles below the canyon. Before reaching the rapids a sign will be observed on the left bank. At this point, if desired, a landing can be made and the contents of the boats portaged over,
106-108-110 Washington Street, West. 7
a distance of about one mile, and the boat lined down from the bank by ropes; or, if after examination, it has been decided to run the rapids, exercise care as you did in the canyon and you will go through all right. The river below the White Horse has a current of nearly eight miles an hour, which gradually decreases until Lake Le Barge is entered. This lake is about thirty-one miles long, with an average width of five miles. Violent storms are of frequent occurrence here, and much care should be exercised in navigating, a sharp lookout being kept for squalls. The best course is to follow the left hand bank and pass between it and an island which will be found about half way down the lake. Nearly two hundred and twenty miles below the White Horse are the Five Fingers rapids. These are not at all formidable, and by following the passage to the extreme right no trouble need be feared. Five miles further down the river you will pass the Rink rapids, but the obstruction only covers the left half of the river and by keeping close to the right bank as you go you experience smooth water. The river from this point to the mouth, almost 2,000 miles, is open and free from obstructions of any kind other than islands. Near Fort Selkirk, just below the mouth of the Pelly river and fifty-five miles from the Five Fingers is a group of islands upon which grows some very good timber. Tf you are bound for Dawson Citj'', and have a little time to spare you can make several hundred dollars by stopping a week or two and putting in the time cutting down the merchantable trees.
At the diggings there is gold for every one, and if you have good health, plenty of pluck and endurance, and are not afraid of rough work and many hardships, you should be able to make a comfortable stake in a few years. The principal thing is to make the right start.
BACON is a most important item in a miner's
outfit. BACON if cured especiall\ for Alaska trade bv those
who know how will keep for years. BACON is bacon! Yes, but not always of the quality that you would wish to use for 12 months. BACON of many brands is offered to the public, but
there is only one "1888" brand. BACON branded "1888" is a delicacy on the Yukon,
It has been sold to those g"oing- there for the
past 11 years. BACON— the "1888" brand— has been sold as hig-h
as $1.00 per lb. on the Yukon.
Seattle-Alaska General Supply Co., Inc.
Hardware For Two Men
2 pair snow shoes 1 Yukon stove
1 hand bellows
2 Yukon sleds 2 picks
2 shovels
1 pit saw, with tiller and box
1 one-man saw
1 pit saw file
1 hand saw
1 rip saw
2 hand saw files
1 single or double-bit axe
1 hatchet or hunter's axe
1 claw hammer
1 calking iron
1 jack plane
1 draw knife
1 brace and 3 bits
1 screw driver 1 magnet 3 chisels 1 butcher knife 1 emery stone 3 fry pans
1 coflfee pot
3 granite plates
2 granite cups
3 knives, forks and spoons
1 nest of buckets
2 gold pans 1 gold scale
1 compass
25 lbs. wire nails 5 lbs. oakum 5 lbs. pitch
3 lbs. tallow
2 pack straps
Tenderfoot Strike
Many of the old miners who have been in Alaska for years, and who have prospected the Klondike region without success, say that it was tenderfoot ignorance that caused the strike. A hitherto infallible rule of placer mining has been that it is useless to dig through clay. The old timer that prospected first when they came to clay stopped, but the newcomers did not know enough to do so, and keeping on digging right through the clay made rich finds.
Frank Physcator, who came out this summer with $96,000, was formerly a waiter on one of the Yukon river steamboats.
Mrs. Wilson, wife of the agent of the Alaska Commercial Company, washed $154 from one panful of dirt.
Our
Hardware Department
I See List On Opposite Page 1
Has Learned
By Long
Experience
The Needs
OF AN A line of tools is carried, the qual-
XJ ASK 4 which cannot be duplicated
in this city, and which while lighter
MINER in weig-ht than the old-fashion
ones, are more durable. Nobody
wants to use a heavy tool without they have to.
In this department many little thinjrs, too numerous to mention, have not been listed. The extra cost of them is very insig-nificant, yet many of them are mighty handy to have when 1,500 miles away from anywhere.
We shall be lad to give suofo-estions, which in
some cases mav be valuable.
Our Guarantee Goes With Everything We Sell.
Buy Only the Best. Make out your lists as soon as possible and Send them to us.
Seattle-Alasta General Snpply Co.m
106, 108, 110 Washington St. West.
Seattle-Alaska General Supply Co., Inc.
The Mosquito Pest
Mosquitoes are the plague of life throughout Alaska and the Northwest Territory. Schwatka says they sting the bears so as to drive them crazy. When the poor animals are driven by hunger down to the river in mosquito time they are so bitten about the eyes as to become blinded, when thej die of starvation.
The late E. J. Glave wrote of the pest: "A liberal daubing of bacon fat and pitch around the eyes and ears of our animals kept those sensitive parts free from the pests, and when my own head grew so bumpy I could not get my hat on I applied the remedy to my own anatomy with a good deal of success. When not feeding, our horses would leave the sheltered places and seek the open stone to avail themselves of whatever breeze was blowing; they would then stand in couples, so that each would have the benefit of the other's tail as a switch.
"Cattle are so maddened by mosquitoes that they will gallop half a mile at top speed against the wind in an endeavor to shake them off, and then graze until the mosquitoes force them to make another dash for life.
"As the miners' camps are necessarily in the lowlands along creek bottoms the suffering from these pests is considerable."
Clothing Essentials
1 heavy Mackinaw suit, coat and
pants 1 suit fleeced lined duck, coat,
vest and pants.
1 pelt lined leather or duck top
coat or fur coat.
2 suits Mackinaw or heavy knit
underwear. 2 heavy flannel overshirts 1 double sweater 1 heavy cloth or fur cap 1 wool scarf or "Danco" for head
and face covering 1 pair wool mittens or gloves
1 pair heavy German socks or felt boots
6 to 1 2 pair heavy knit wool socks
1 pair "Huron" for German socks or "Perfections" for felt boots
1 pair hip rubber boots, crackproof or leather soles
1 pair heavy leather shoes
2 pair heavy California or Oregon
blankets or a fur robe, or a
sleeping bag. 1 pair overalls and Denim jumper 12 cotton Bandana handkerchiefs 1 pair buck or horse-hide mittens
or gloves.
Valuable Extras
1 suit oil clothing
Heavy Corduroy clothing, lined
Heavy Freeze clothing
An extra sweater
Extra Mackinaw pants
Extra pair of leather shoes
A wide brimmed planters' hat
A Corduroy lined leather coat
Extra wool and cotton shirts Unlined leather gloves for working Mosquito netting and veiling A sewing and repair kit
All such goods can be obtained in the greatest variety and best made, with a view of compactness, lightness and comfort.
Tlfi Cill il We
©
to Xhem Out
N Tiie Opposite Page
Is a list of the Clothing", Blankets, Boots and Shoes, Rubber Goods, etc., used in a first-class outfit.
In this line most of the articles are manufactured especially for the Alaska trade. Our goods come direct from the factory. We g-guarantee each article as g-ood as can be obtained and our prices as low as can be, consistent with our determination to sell
Everything of the Best
Seattle-Alaska General Supply Co. inc.
106, 108, 110 Washington St. West
. . . Seattle
Seattle-Alaska General Supply Co., Inc.
Groceries For One Man For One Year
400 lbs. flour 20 lbs. corn meal 40 lbs. rolled oats 25 lbs. rice 100 lbs. beaus 20 lbs. candles 25 lbs. dry salt pork 50 lbs. sugar, granulated
8 lbs. baking powder 150 lbs. bacon (1888 brand) 15 lbs. dried beef
2 lbs. soda or saleratus
6 packages jeast cakes 20 lbs. salt
1 lb. pepper Yz lb mustard % lb. ginger 20 lbs. apples evaporated 20 lbs. peaches, evaporated
20 lbs. apricots, evaporated
10 lbs. pears
10 lbs. pitted plums
5 lbs. raisins
5 lbs, onions, evaporated 50 lbs. potatoes, evaporated 25 lbs. corn (eastern sweet) evaporated 25 lbs. coffee 10 lbs. tea
2 doz. condensed milk 5 bars tar soap
5 bars laundry soap 1 can matches, 2 gross 5 lbs. soup vegetables
3 bottles Jamaica ginger Butter, sealed, 2-lb. cans, optional Tobacco, optional
6 pots extract of beef (4 oz.) 1 qt. evaporated vinegar
A Hard Journey
The Chilkoot pass, from October to March, is subject to furious storms in which life is endangered. The grade is not, however, very bad, and the chief cause of delay has been, this season, the' high prices charged for carrying goods over the pass by the Indians.
In winter the journey is made with sledges, drawn partly by the miner, partly by dogs, if he is taking in a full outfit of provisions. Sometimes, with a south wind blowing, the traveler rigs a jury mast on his sled and hoists an extemporized sail, and goes ice-boating away towards the Arctic circle at a great rate over the frozen lakes and rivers. There isn't much easy going of this sort, however, and the winter journey is by no means to be recommended. Going in in the spring is different. The best time is early, before the snow melts, as supplies can then be sledded over the pass, and there is still ice left in the lakes to drag or sail the sleds on.
The sleds should be about seven and a half feet long, seven inches high and sixteen inches wide. Brass runners are preferable to steel, and the frame will be much more elastic and durable if lashed together after the native fashion than if fastened with nails and bolts, which weaken the wood and give no "play." March 15 is early enough to start from Seattle for a spring trip.
After the ice has melted, canoes are used for six miles after
Our List of Food
[See Opposite Page]
Comprises the back-bone of your bill of fare for the first part of your sojourn on the Yukon. After a while, and not a very lono- while either, transportation will iDecome easier,and consequently cheaper, and then you will be able to enjoy many luxuries which are too heavy or bulky to receive attention at present.
Our long- experience enables us to advise just what to take and what to leave behind, We aim to sell 3ou what we ourselves would buy, were we go- \ng with you. If there is one thing* you want to be of the best quality obtainable, it is your food.
Gils
(1/
Our Guarantee With
Everything We Sell
SeailleAlaska Geieral Smly Co.m
106, 108, 110 Washington St. West
vj
1888 : Bacon
14 Seattle- Alaska General Supply Co., Inc.
leaving Ty-a. Then the packs are taken up through the canyon to Sheep camp. The next six miles up to the summit of the pass are the worst of the trip. The height is 3,378 feet. It is eight miles and a half from the summit down to Lake Linderman, an easy stage With snow on the ground, but rough and diflBicult in summer.
Amount Taken Out-Some Who Made Strikes
To give an accurate list of those who have returned from the north and the amounts they took out would be impossible. Below Is given a partial list. The list includes those who came down on the Excelsior and landed at San Francisco, as well as those who returned on the Portland landing at Se-ttle. The list foots up over $2,000,000. A partial list of strikes reported as follows:
Thomas Cook $10,000 Sam Collej 25,000
M. S. Norcross 10,000 Stewart and Hollenshead 45,000
J. Ernmerger 10,000 Chas. Myers and partner 22,000
T. S. Lippy 65,000 Johnny Marks 10,000
Henry Dore 50,000 Alex Orr 10,000
Victor Lord 15,000 Fred Price 15,000
William Stanley 112,000 Fred Latisceura 10,000
Clarence Berry 135,000 Tim Bell 31,000
Albert Galbraith 15,000 William Hayes 35,000
James McMahon 15,000 Dick McNulty 20,000
F. G. H. Bowker 90,000 Jake Halterman 15,000
Joe Ladue 10,000 Johnson and Olson 20,000
J. B. Hollingshead 25,000 Neil McArthur 50,000
Douglas McArthur 15,000 Charles Anderson 25,000
Bernard Anderson 14,000 Joe Morris 15,000
Robert Krook 14,000 Hank Peterson 12,000
Fred Lendesser 13,000 James McNamee 10,000
Ben Wall 50,000 Charles Vest 6,000
William Sloan 50,000 Joe Lowe ; 15,000
John Wilkerson 50,000 Harry Ash 10,000
Jim Clemens 50,000 J. S. Dinsmore 8,000
Frank Keller 35,000
There are a great many more going out with from |5,000 to $10,000 that I do not know.
Too Many Cooks Spoil the Broth!
Buy Everything of One House and
SEATTLE-ALASKA GENERAL SUPPLY CO., Inc.
Complete Outfitters 106, 108, 110 Washing"ton St. W.
Eat
And eat plenty, for unless you do you cannot work. It is also necessary that the food vou eat should be wholesome and appetizing-. Your daily bill of fare will naturally lack variety, but you will get used to that. If your Bacon is well cured (the (Qoe.) brand always is), if your Flour makes g-ood bread, if your Dried Fruits are new and free from worms, and if your other articles of food are of g-ood quality, you will be able to stand the cold and hard work as well as anybody. If, on the other hand, when you reach the Gold Fields you find that your order has been filled with stale, unusable food, what are you g-oing- to do? We beg- of you purchase to UUy LIIC UCIjLi a load a thpusan.d miles to find out that you have been packingrubbish.
We will Sell You The Best Only
And Every Article Sold is subjected to very Careful Inspection,
X X X X X X
COMPLETE Outfitters
Seattle-Alaska
General Supply Co.
lO, 108, no
Washington St. West
Statute Miles
Nautical Miles
Guide Map Of
ADJACENT TERRITORY iTbe 0. P. Anderson Map & Blue Print Co.. ic
Occidewtal Building. Seattle. U.S.A.
LCAVINi StATrLl
Seattle
106-108-110 Washington Street, West. 19
There Is Room For All
And yet there is room for all in Alaska. There are regions where rich finds have been made, which are not yet fully located by claimants.
Dividing the Yukon watershed into upper, lower and middle portions, it may be said in brief that the first finds were made in the upper section, the next in the middle section, while the lower portion has not been so much as explored.
Before exploiting the Klondike the richest recent strikes were on Forty-mile, Sixty-mile, Miller, Glacier and Birch creeks, Koyakuk river and their branches. Miller creek is the richest tributary of Sixty-mile creek. It had been prospected more or less, off and on, before 1892. In that year $37,000 was cleaned up on one claim. At one time 125 mines were on the creek.
Glacier creek is parallel with Sixty-mile creek, only three miles away. The dirt runs from a few cents to $4 a pan.
The climate befits the name. Mining Recorder Paddock made a trip of sixty-five miles to Miller creek in winter with the thermometer ranging from 44 to 77 degrees on the wrong side of zero. There are numerous other small creeks in this range not yet fully developed. Indian creek has been prospected for 100 miles and has furnished some paying claims.
The Yukon is formed by the junction of Lewis river, the western, and Pelly river, the eastern branches, at Fort Selkirk. It was discovered by a Hudson Bay Company scout named Robert Campbell, who built Fort Selkirk in 1848. It was plundered and destroyed by the Indians in 1852.
If shipment of your outfit is made in one lot the cost of freight and wharfage is about half what it would have been had it been divided into two or three portions. Therefore buy your entire outfit of Seattle-Alaska General Supply Co., and save expense.
Quartz Prospects
There seems to be little doubt among mining experts that extensive quartz mines will be located in this Yukon country before long. Xhis will mean the introduction into that country of all sorts of improved mining machinery, rock drills, stamp mills, and so on. Just what method will be employed to extract the ore from the rock will depend on what kind of ore is found. It may only have to be crushed and separated by mercury. It may be refractory ore and have to go through some one of the various processes now in use for separating such ore.
As soon as the mines are found, means of transporting the ma-
20 Seattle-Alaska General Supply Co., Inc.
chinery will be provided and the mines will be started. Mines in rock, of course, will not be delayed by the weather conditions which make placer mining so difficult in that country. Rock doesn't freeze and the deeper down the mines go the warmer it will get, so perhaps this kind of mining will be the pleasanter of the two.
Youth In The Van
A perennial charm of Yukon society is the fresh and youthful vigor of the men found there. Probably the average is less than thirty-five. "An old miner" does not need to be an old man. A pioneer in the region may have had but ten years' experience and be but little past thirty. The few women in the mines average even younger. The unfortunate there are, but not the aged, and poverty takes its ills philosophically, having seen too many of the ups and downs of life to despair of a turn in the luck.
The air is full of hope. There is zone in it. There is always the strike next week to allay the disappointments of today. And sometimes, as we all know now, the strike of to-day to salve yesterday's sorrows.
Advice To Gold Hunters
Gen. W. W. Duffield, superintendent of the coast and geodetic survey, in discussing the gold discoveries in Alaska, gives this advice to young men:
"If I were a young man," he said, "I should get a 75-ton schooner at Seattle, take supplies and engage the services of a first-class prospector. I should cruise along the southeastern part of Alaska, in what is called the Alexander archipelago. There are a number of islands there, and more gold lodes than at any place with which I am acquainted. The mining would not be 'placers,' but the ore can be gotten out very cheaply, and being directly on the sea, the transportation amounts to almost nothing, except the time spent on the trip."
ANYTHING I From a Navy Bean to a
M
\f/ COMPLETE
5ji; OUTFITTERS
I N E R t Seattle-Alaska General Supply Co. Inc.
Wants I
106, 108, 110 Washington St. West
Demaxvd
7V\/\NY necessary articles may be unobtainable.
yV\/\Ny necessary items may advance, in price.
7W/\NV necessar}' precautions in packin may be
overlooked. 7Vl/VNy unnecessary disappointments may occur.
Then why not send in your orders for your outfits at once, nm can make us a small deposit with your order, which amount we guarantee to refund on your arrival here if 3'ou are in any way dissatisfied. We g"ive a written g-guarantee to this effect. Write us regarding* this matter
Members of this firm have been
Seattle Alaska
General Supply Co, Inc
106, 108, 110
Washington Street West,
22 Seattle-Alaska General Supply Co., Inc.
New Routes
A new route is to be established to tbe Klondike. The journey will be made from Seattle to Wrangel, where a steamer will run up the Stickeen river a distance of 70 miles. From this point to Lake Teslin the trip will be made by stage. Lake Teslin is at the head of the Hootalinqua river, and from there a steamer will ply on the Lewis and Yukon rivers to Dawson City, a distance of 450 miles. The stage line will be owned and managed by John Allman, the wellknown stage proprietor. He will take ten coaches and 100 horses on the road. The fare is to be for the staging $1 a mile for passengers.
A small detachment of mounted police will proceed from Edmonton, Alberta, and endeavor to reach the Klondike from the Eastern slope of the Rocky mountains. Edmonton is the most northerly railroad point in the Canadian Northwest Territory, being 190 miles north of Calgary. The route to be followed is by the way of Nelson and Liard rivers to the Deafe, and up this river to the Pelly. They will follow the Pelly river to its junction with the Lees and the Lees to the Klondike, a total distance of 1,370 miles. This is not the Mackenzie river route. As the police are to take horses with them it is obvious that authorities consider this route practcable, or at any rate is worth examining.
An Experienced Man'S Advice
Mr. Fred. Price, of Seattle, who was one of the lucky ones who came down from the Klondike the past summer with several thousands of dollars in gold dust, has some good advice to give to those who are intending to go to the gold diggings. He has had a world of experience in the mining districts of the Northwest Territory and Alaska, and as he has profited by his experience, and has money to show, his words have considerable weight. He says: "I would advise any one who is going to the mines to go in with plenty of provisions. There is gold all over but it cannot be eaten, and money or its equivalent cannot always buy food. Last year there was almost a famine up the river, and in the camps around Dawson City men were living on beans and flour. When the first steamer got in last spring I saw men buy canned goods and delicacies and sit right down and eat them. It will cost $400 for a winter's outfit and nobody should take less.
"I would advise not starting too late. Those who are going up now will have little, if any, advantage over the men who will go north in the spring. A trip up to the mines by the river route will take forty days; by the way of Dyea and Skaguay with an outfit and crossing the summit the trip takes two months.
"It is a hard matter to find a location within 50 miles of Dawson
During. The -Rush
Hotel Accommadations Room Rent, Board, Etc.
Is Likely To Be
Why not save this money by arrang-- ing' to arrive here only a day or so previous to steamer's sailing* date. By ordering' your outfits before leaving" home ever3thing will be packed and read} to be shipped on the steamer you select to g-o by. No delay, no disappointments.
Everything We Sell We Guarantee
to be as we represent. Order as soon as convenient, sending* wjiatever amount of deposit you deem fit.
Mone3back on your arrival here if the transaction is not entirely satisfactory.
SEATTLE-ALASKA i
loe
SUPPLY CO. S Washington Street W.
INC t SEATTLE
We are Complete Outfitters. References: Any Bank in Seattle.
24 Seattle- Alaska General Supply Co., Inc.
City, everything having been staked out, but the tributaries to Stewart river have never been prospected yet, and I look for some rich finds up there. There is just as good pay dirt in other creeks that have not been touched as there in the districts that have been prospected and staked out."
How To Beat The Climate
There are only about two months of summer and three months of open working weather in the Yukon region. The ice gets out of the rivers about the middle of June and begins to skim over their surfaces again in mid-September. Meanwhile, if a man can stand it, he has daylight enough to work twenty hours a day.
The ground is perpetually frozen, thawing out only a little on the surface in summer. Thawing is aided by stripping off the moss that covers its surface, thus allowing the summer heat, which is as violent as it is brief, to do its work. But the miners have not the patience to wait for the sun; and no wonder. So they dig and tunnel and "drift" all winter, thawing out the frozen dirt under their cabins by building fires, and devote the open weather of summer to washing out the dirt thus prepared. It is customary for a man to go in with the intention of staying two years. If he strikes it rich, he can come out the second summer with plenty of dust. The first is devoted to sluicing, while the season of going in — or its remainder — is not too much for prospecting and picking out a claim.
Shooting White Horse Rapids
[ARLY BUYERS I TOil
MAIL ORDERS CbCapCSt
Will be entered at prices rul- '/I
ing" on the day such orders are Jki
received. The purchaser will /K 1/
thus be protected against ad- r.v lill Klj/
cline in price between date of receipt of order and that of shipment, the purchaser shall receive the
benefit of such decline.
Perfect Satisfaction or Deposit/Money Refunded
Our guarantee is g-ood: We refer you to any Bank in this city to substantiate this statement.
106, 108, 110 Washington St. West
Cowiplete Ouf='Ixxers
26 Seattle-Alaska General Supply Co., Inc.
Points For Klondikers
Some Rules to Paste in Your Hat on the Way to the New Land of Gold
On the road to the gold diggings don't waste a single ounce of anything, even if you don't like it. Put it away and it will come handy when you will like it.
If it is ever necessary to cache su load of provisions, put all articles next to the ground which will be most affected by heat, providing at the same time that dampness will not affect their food properties to any great extent. After piling your stuff, load it over carefully with heavy rocks. Take your compass bearings, and also note in your pocket some landmarks near by, and also the direction in which they lie from your cache — i. e., make your cache, if possible, come exactly north and south of two given prominent marks. In this way, even though covered by snow, you can locate your "existence." Don't forget that it is so.
Shoot a dog, if you have to, behind the base of the skull, a horse between the ears, ranging downward. Press the trigger of your rifle; don't pull it. Don't catch hold of the barrel when 30 degrees below zero is registered. Watch out for getting snow in your barrel. If you do, don't shoot it out.
A little dry grass or hay in the inside of your mitts, next your hands, will promote great heat, especially when it gets damp from the moisture of your hands. After the mitts are removed from the hands, remove the hay from the mitts and dry it. Failing that, throw it away.
If by any chance you are traveling across a plain (no trail) and a fog comes up, or a blinding snow storm, either of which will prevent you taking your bearings, camp, and don't move for any one until all is clear again.
106-108-110 Washington Street, West. 27
Keep all your drawstrings on clothing in good repair. Don't forget to use your goggles when the sun is bright on snow. A fellow is often tempted to leave them off. Don't you do it.
If you build a sledge for extreme cold, don't use steel runners. Use wooden and freeze water on same before starting out. Repeat the process if it begins to drag and screech.
If you cannot finish your rations for one day, don't put back any part, but put into your personal canvas outfit bag, you will need it later on, no doubt.
Take plenty of tow for packing possible cracks in your boat, also two pounds of good putty, some canvas and, if possible, a small can of tar or white lead.
Establish camp rules, especially regarding the food. Allot rations, those while idle to be less than when at work, and also pro rata during the heat and cold.
Keep your furs in good repair. One little slit may cause you untold agony during a march in a heavy storm. You cannot tell when such will be the case.
Travel as much on clear ice towards your goal as possible in the spring. Don't try to pull sledges over snow, especially if soft or crusty.
Be sure during the winter, to watch your footgear carefully. Change wet stockings before they freeze, or you may loose a toe or foot.
In building a sledge use lashing entirely. Bolts and screws jack a sledge to pieces in rough going, while lashing will "give."
Keep the hood of your kootelah back from your head, if not too cold, and allow the moisture from your body to escape that way.
When your nose is bitterly cold, stuff with fur, cotton, wool or anything both nostrils. The cold will cease.
Don't try to carry more than forty pounds of stuff over that pass, the first day, anyway.
If your furs get wet, dry them in a medium temperature. Don't hold them near a fire.
No man can continuously drag more than his own weight. Remember this is a fact.
In cases of extreme cold at toes and heel, wrap a piece of fur over each extremity.
Keep your sleeping bag clean. If it becomes inhabited, freeze the inhabitants out.
Remember success follows economy and persistency on an expedition like yours.
White snow over a crevasse, if hard, is safe. Yellow, or dirty color, never.
Don't eat snow or ice. Go thirsty until you can melt it.
Shoot a deer behind the left shoulder or in the head.
Choose your bunk as far from tent door as possible.
Keep a fire hole open near your camp.
t
Seattle-Alaska General Supply Co., Inc.
Regulations Governing Placer Mining
Along" the Yukon River and its Tributaries in the Northwest Territory
f THESE RULES DO NOT GOVERN THE AMERICAN SIDE I
Useful For The 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 1000 fine or 24 karats.
The term karat is used by jewelers to express the degrees of fineness of gold, divided 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, $13.85 10 karat gold, $8.61 20 karat gold, 17.22 14 karat gold, 12.05 8 karat gold, 6.89
18 karat gold, 15.50 12 karat gold, 10.33 1-3 6 karat gold, 5.16
Gold in jewelry is seldom less than 6 karats fine.
Gold—
Gold—
1000 fine is worth $20.67 per oz.
500 fine is worth $10.33
900 " 18.60 "
400 " 8.26
800 " 16.53 "
300 " 6.20
700 " 14.47
200 " 4.13
600 12.40
100 " 2.06
per oz.
Many persons are mistaken in thinking all ounces to be alike. An ounce Troy or Apothecaries' weight contains 480 Troy grains; an ounce Avordupois weight contains 437i/ 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 5760 Troy grains; one pound Avoirdupois weight contains 7000 Troy grains.
All natural gold — that is, gold extracted from rocks or washed from the beds of streams — contains some alloy, generally siver, but sometimes platinum, copper and telluriam, and it varies in amount in different localities. This is the reason some miners are disappointed when they sell their gold, as they imagine all gold to be pure.
Interpretation".
Bar diggings shall mean any part of a river over which the water extends when the water is in its flooded state, and which is not covered at low water.
Mines on benches shall be known as bench diggings, and shall, for the purpose of defining the size of such claims, be excepted from dry diggings.
Miner shall mean a male or female over the age of 18, but not under that age.
Claims shall mean the personal right of property in a placer mine
106-lOS-llO WASHINGTON STREET, WEST. 29
or diggings during the time for which grant of such mine or diggings is made.
Legal post shall mean a stake standing not less than four feet above the ground and squared on four sides for at least one foot from the top. Both sides so squared shall measure at least four inches across the face. It shall also mean any stump or tree cut off and squared or faced to the above height or size.
Close season shall mean the period of the year during which placer mining is generally suspended. The period to be fixed by the gold commissioner in whose district the claim is situated.
Locality shall mean the territory along a river (tributary to the the Yukon and its affluents).
Mineral shall include all minerals whatsoever other than coal.
Nature And Size Of Claims.
Bar diggings shall be a strip of land 100 feet wide at high-water mark and thence extending along into the river to its lowest water level.
The sides of a claim for bar diggings shall be two parallel lines run as nearly as possible at right angles to the stream, and shall be marked by four legal posts, one at each end of the claim at or about the edge of the water.
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 staked.
Creek and river claims shall be 500 feet long, measured in the direction of the general course of the stream, and shall 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 feet 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 shal 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.
Bench claims shall be 100 feet square.
In defining the size of the claims, they shall be measured horizontally, irrespective of inequalities on the surface of the ground.
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 the bar diggings 750 feet in length may be granted.
A new stratum of 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.
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 of the Regulations of Placer Mining.
A claim shall be recorded with the gold commissioner in whose district it is situated within three days after the location thereof, if it is located within ten miles of the commissioner's office. One extra day shall be allowed for making such record for every additional ten miles and fraction thereof.
In the event of the absence of the gold commissioner from his
30 Seattle-Alaska General Supply Co., Inc.
office, entry for a claim may be granted by any person whom he may appoint to perform his duties in his absence.
Entry shall not be granted for a claim which has not been staked by the applicant in person, in the manner specified in these regulations. An affidavit that the claim was staked out by the applicant shall be embodied in form H of the Regulations of Placer Mining.
An entry fee of $15 shall be charged the first year and an annual fee of $100 for each of the following years. This provision shall apply to the locations for which entries have already been granted.
After the recording of a claim, the removal of any post by the holder thereof, or any person acting in his behalf, for the purpose of changing the boundaries of his claim, shall act as a forfeiture of the claim.
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.
No miner shall receive a grant for more than one mining 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 paid for each registration.
Any miner or miners may sell, mortgage or dispose of his or their claims, provided such disposal to be registered with, and a fee of $2 paid to the gold commissioner, who shall thereupon give the assignee a certificate in form J of the Regulations of Placer Mining.
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 rights of entry thereon as may be absolutely necessary 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.
Every miner shall be entitled to 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 v/orking thereof, and shall be entitled to drain his own claim free of charge.
A claim shall be deemed to be abandoned and open to the occupation and entry by any person when the same shall have remained unworked on working days by the grantee thereof or by some person on his behalf for the space of seventy-two hours, unless sickness or other reasonable cause may be shown to the satisfaction of the gold commissioner, or unless the grantee is absent on leave given by the gold 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 a claim.
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 applies for entry to furnish proof that he has acquired from the owner of the land the surface right before entry can be granted.
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 shall be issued to the party who
106-108-110 Washington Street, West. 31
acquired the mining rights. The money so collected 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.
When the party obtaining the mining rights 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 application 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 upon such 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 in 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 that such owner, agent or occupant willfully evades the service of such police, or cannot be found, and that reasonable efforts have been made to effect such service, and that the notice was left at last place of abode of such owner, agent or occupant, appoint an arbitrator on his behalf.
All arbitrators appointed under the authority of these regulations shall be sworn before a justice of the peace lo the impartial discharge of the duties assigned to them, and they shall forthwith proceed to estimate the reasonable damages which the owner or occupant of such lands, according to their several interests therein, shall sustain by reason of such prospecting and mining operations.
In estimating such damages the arbitrators shall determine the value of the land, irrespective of any enhancement thereof from the existence of mineral therein.
In case such arbitrators cannot agree they may select a third arbitrator, and when the two arbitrators cannot agree upon a third arbitrator, the gold commissioner for the district in which the lands in question lie shall select such third arbitrator.
The award of any two such arbitrators made in writing shall be final, and shall be filed with the gold commissioner for the district in which the lands lie.
If any cases arise for which no provision is made in these regulations, the provisions governing the disposal of mineral lands other than coal lands, approved by His Excellency the Governor in Council on the 9th day of November, 1889, shall apply.
jc ?:: jc
We are indebted for much of the information in this pamphlet to the Seattle Post- Intelligencer and the Seattle Times.
xtt
AN ALASKA OlITfIT
Requires g*oods especially manufactured for that northern country. This is noticeably true in regard to Blankets, Clothing of all kinds and some articles of Hardware. Especial attention is called to the "Klondike" brand of axes and shoves; also, to the "Occident" and "Red Hot" makes of miners stoves. When we recommend a special brand the article is of extra quality.
SEATLLE-ALASKA GENERAL SUPPLY CO. Inc
Complete Outfitters
106, 108, 110 Washington St. West
a:
The Whole Thing
IJM A. We can supply you with every-
1VTITT thing- you need for your outfit.
" We g*guarantee to fill your orders
Olj pT ¥ with the best quality of each article. We will save you the expense of
extra drayag"e, wharfage and freig-ht which would be
incurred by shipping in small lots.
We can afford to give extra advantages to those who
send their orders by mail as early as possible, instead
of delaying doing so until the time when everybody
wants orders put up in a hurry.
We will return to you on your arrival here any
deposit-monev sent us with mail orders, if our business
dealings are not perfectly satisfactory.
Seattle-Alaska General Supply Co. inc.
Complete Outfitters
106, 108, 110 Washington Street West
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0 017 185 262 6 4
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Iinc
loe, I OS, no
\A/ashing:ton St. VA/est Soattio
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