The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-01-14

| II man goes out Tor the winter ne mas
 to spend considerable money, while fl
 he remains there he can be quite com
 fortable and have plenty of company
 such as it is. But there are many .oi
 these miners who are we'll educated
 men who have been accustomed to the
 better things of life.
 "There is said to be plenty of rich
 gold digging in British Columbia, along
 some of the streams and in the noun
 tains, but the British subjects are not working the mines very much, seem
 ing to lack the spirit of push and ad-
 venture that prompts the Americans to
 take all sorts of chances in a wild and
 unknown country.
 ''The country in dispute in the boun-
 dary controversy between Great Brit
 ain and the United States embraces
 some very rich gold mining sections
 and it is well worth fighting for. In- stead of developing her own gold mines
 England is trying to get the territory
 in Alaska. It would give her many other advantages, too, in a commercial
 way, and the tricky Englishmen are
 trying to get control of the big trade
 that comes from the Yukon miners,
 which is now controlled entirely by
 Americans.
 There are regular lines of steam
 boats on the Yukon river, and they are kept pretty busy in the summer carry ing in supplies and carrying out ore to
 be transferred to the ocean steamers
 and shipped to Puget sound points and
 San Francisco. From the point where supplies are landed in the interior of Alaska, Indian packers and dog sledges are extensively used for there are few reindeers up there, and the dogs are mans only freighters, but they are tough and strong, and can go a great distance and draw a heavy load with out any food except a few frozen fishes, and occasionally a little corn meal and bread
 "Juneau is the general fitting point for nearly all parts of the interior of Alaska. After securing an outfit at Juneau the next objective point is Chil- coot, or Dyah, which can be reached by small steamers. of which there are a number plying between Juneau and Chilcoot and occasionally they go to Chilkat By leaving Juneau in March or April the cost of packing is greatly lessened. The route followed to get in- to the Yukon country is across the Chill coot Pass. Indian packers charge SIS a hundred to pack from Dyah, which is the head of navigation. to Lake Linde- man, a distance of twenty-six miles, and $10 hundred from Dyah to the summit, a distance of fourteen miles If f1n ri ics 1a y1xr while there Is plenty of solid snow the miners can sled their outfit down the lakes until they find timber suita- ble for constructing boats or rafts, and after completing them await the break up of the ice before proceeding down the river.
 No difficulties will be met with in crossing Lake Bennett, Lake Takou and Marsh lake The first obstacle en- countered is at Miles canon, about fif- teen miles below Marsh lake Skillful boatmen can run this canon in safety, but the general custom is to make a portage. About two miles below the canon are the great White House rap ids, which are never run In a boat. Af- ter crossing Lake Lebarge and entering upon Lewis river, which Is really the head of the Yukon proper, the first tributary of any size that is encount- cred is the Hootatinqua river, which re- ceived considerable attention from mln- 1 CTS last season.
 Some very successful mining has been done along this river, but there | are only bar diggings,' which can be worked only in very low yater and | then the gold is very fine. After Ieav- ing the Hootatinqua river the Little | Salmon and the Big Salmon rivers are passed and then comes the Pelly, one of | the largest tributaries of the Yukon. | The White and Stewart rivers have | been worked successfully, but the gold | is found in such small particles that | miners go further on where the yields | are better. The greatest quantities of | coarse gold are now being taken from Forty-mile creek and it's two branches known as Davis creek and Sixty-mile 1 creek. A large number of claims have been located along these streams with in the last two seasons, and some very 'ich strikes are looked for Tn that sec 5ion of the country. There is very arge area of country in the Yukon that has never been explored or prospected, and the yield is practi- cally unlimited.
 1.-Two new routes In this country have been projected, one by way of the Chil- 1at river, as explored by MT. Glaive,j md the other by way of Moore's pass, 'ver which a good pack trail is to be quilt next summer. Both of these routes cad from Juneau into the Yukon val ey, and will be more desirable in manyI espects than the present route.
 Many persons regard Alaska as | region of perpetual snow and ice, l with no summer and no vegeta ton, but hat is because the country is so little 1nown. The climate of Sitka and other owns along the coast is very similar o the climate of Tacoma, Seattle, and Cortland. It may be a trifle colder, but lot much. It is never so cold there as t is in New York or Chicago. The sum- ners are always cool and pleasant 'here is great deal of rain at Sitka nd all points along the coast during he winter and a portion of the fall : nd spring, but the summer is dry and he sunshine very bright. Tn the n- erior it is much colder, but it is a dry old that is invigorating and as persons yynI fpr A I |