The Anaconda standard., 1895-04-10
WAY UP IN FAR ALASKA
An Interesting Letter From Former
Anaconda Bog.
'THE PEOPLE AND SCENERY
Adventures OF a Party Which Has
( Been Exploring Parts Of Uncle
Sans Possessions Near
the North Pole.

An interesting letter was received by
.. T. O'Brien. recently, from Ben Baker,
. well known Anaconda boy, who is now
travelling in Alaska with his parents.
The letter Is dated ut Fort Selkirk on the
Yukon river. an abandoned trading post
OF the Hudson Bay company.
''The party left Seattle on board the
Chilkat for Juneau. Alasia- on July "A,
The scenery on the voyage 10 beautiful"
the letter says. Large glaciers and
barren, rugged mountains are visible at
all times. At Juneau we stayed three
weeks making arrangements for trip
to tho Yukon river. Aug. %, we started
for lion, the head of salt water naviga-
tion. for the Yukon trail. From that point
we had our goods packed 30 miles across
The S.S oun'sn range to as the afss nr0dD. aTo%
tributaries of tho Yukon, springs. To
climb this range each one of us took q
pack weighing from 70 to 100 pounds,
strapped on his back. then began to crawl
a. fast as we could to keep up with tho
camp outfit. They charge Sz per 100
pounds for the trip and the white man who
hires them Is granted the privilege of
drinking q cup of his own tea. provided
he gets into camp before the packers have
drunk 1t all up at the end OF each days
Journey. We were seven days in the
mountains before we reached tho lakes.
Here we pitched camp and spent nine
days in ripping out lumber for two boats
to carry US for the rest of the trip.
we stopped for short time. IL Is the
principal camp of the gold fields and its
population consists OF about 300rniners and
10 white women. Tho miners winter there,
but in the spring scatter out to prospect
Tor gold.
Lake Bennett, Lake Takn and Lake Marsh
q distanceof 135 miles and then reached
Miles canyon through which the river
rushes with terrific force. To pass this
the boats were unpacked and sent through
empty while we carried the outfits around
and over the hills. Three miles below the
canyon are the famous White Horse
rapids, the most dangerous piece of water
on the river. The empty boats were low
cred through the rapids by rope. About
30 miles from here is Lake LaBurge, the
passed through this while the wind was
blowing a gale. With the boats loaded
till the sides were but three inches above
the water, and swelling waves running
seven and eight feet high, our posi-
1lSa made was me at ofsen mes l6er for and
safe footing on shore. We crossed it
safety and ran down the Lewis and Pelly
rivers at last reaching the Yukon. Down
A this we drifted with the current 200 miles
In i've and a half days, to Fort SeIkirk
where the ice was forming in the river SO
much that we could 60 no further, and
were compelled to winter here.
"The country through which we passed
after leaving Lake Lindeman is rough.
The mountains are low but rugged of
sandstone and basalt formation with
occasional hills of granite. There is an
abundance of pine and spruce timber.
"Mr. Harper. the post trader, q gentle-
man, who has been in this country for 25
years has given me q sketch of the min
ing camps in this vicinity which is as re-
liable as can be had from any one.
.tAbout 80 miners worked last season on
Stewart river, but with what success cam
not yet be learned. Sixty Mile creek comes
in on the west bank, 25 miles below Stew
art river. This creek is 100 miles long and
has two paying tributaries. .--
Report says that on Indian creek
miners earned last season $50 per day per
man. Forty Mile creek is 140 miles long
and yields both coarse and fine gold.
Buck creek, with three paying tributaries,
was discovered last season too late for
which paid from $25 to $50 per day to each
man, Buck creek is 240 miles from Forty
Mile creek.
ssMinouk creek is 400 miles below Buck
creek and is another new find reported as
likely to pay. well when worked.
MY AtNCk - IVY AAiASS AOnk anu
some work has been done along it with
fair results. This is as far down the
Yukon as prospectors have gone.
.The winters here are long and severe.
Mercury often drops to 60 degrees and
sometimes 20 degrees below zero. The
mining season lasts from three to fonr
months. Nothing grows here worth mem
tioniug except barley and oats. Toward
the mouth of the river, however, the cli-
mate is milder and 400 bushels of potatoes
have been raised to the acre.
"Mr. Harper says that n man can live
comfortably on miners fare for about
$3.50 q year. An outfit for the trip from
Juneau costs about 500. Market prices
here are as follows: Flour So per cwt.,
teaus 10c, bacon 35c, sugar 25c, tea Toe,
coffee 45c, dried fruit 30c pound. Butter
81 a roll and condensed milk SOC a can.
.Ths letter will be taken from here by a
Mr.. Cooper who came up Forty mile. and
who is stopping here to rest his dogs. He
travels with n team of five dogs and an
outfit of 500 pounds. He has an Indian
driver and he himself goes ahead on snow
shoes and breaks q trail. Mr.. Cooper is
dressed in reindeer and wolfskins and is
compelled to face many hardships and
dangers on his journey of $50 miles to
Haines' mission. From there ii is sent to
juneau 130 miles" ~