Cottonwood report. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1893-1901, 1895-11-22
ALASKA AS IT NOW is
Miller Glacier, Gold Creek and
O,her Districts.
THE COST OF PROVISIONS
HOW Miners Get Ten Dollars Day in
Wages Pest of Mosquitoes Is
Very Bad.

Joseph p. Conway of Port Gamble has
| received an interesting letter from Dan
lei Donovan, who left here last spring
with Frank Carroll for the Yukon gold
helds, says the Seattle News. Both are
wintering on the Yukon and in the let
ter received Donovan makes known the
tact that they are getting along nicely,
considering the many difficulties with
Wnlch they have to contend in search
ing Tor gold amid the ice and snow.
Inc letter to Mr.. Conway Is dated For
ty-mile Post, September H. and in it
Mr.. Donovan says:
we are here in latitude GA degrees
north and longitude 1874 degrees west
Our trip In was not q hard one, still
there were few who, after attempting
TO cross the summit of Chilcat, came to
the conclusion that 1t was no place for
them and went back. We were too
late to sleigh over the lakes, SO We
Quit our boat at Lake Bennett, the
headwaters of the Yukon, and on the
list or June we reached the once fam
GUS forty-mile Post, but at present it
ooes not amount to very much. A great
many or those who came down the
river thought that their troubles would
De over when they reached Forty-mile
Post but imagine their CONSERVATION
When they learned that their actual
work had only begun.
Miller glacier, Gold creek and all of
the rest of the diggings lay, 1 might
say, all together, and about 80 miles
from Forty-mile Post, and 1t costs 30
cents pound to have provisions taken
in.
Here Is about what provisions cost
on the creek, that is, when they can
be procured at all, which Is only about
quarter of the time: Flour costs s38
to $40 hundred pounds; bacon, rs
cents pound; beans, so cents a pound :
tea, S1.50; coffee, 81; sugar, IS cents,
and all other eatables in proportion.
Butter, potatoes, etc., we hardly ever
get. In winter time provisions can be
freighted into the mines at a cost of 10
cents pound, but there never has
been provisions enough at the post to
freight in summers supply, conse-
quently 1t has to be packed In as soon
as the steamer arrives in the spring.
The Yukon basin is not by any
means the country it is represented to
be on the outside, and the large for
tunes made here in a few years, that
they tell about, are all exaggerations.
The most money ever taken out of here
by one man was $4,000, and that feat
has only been performed once. The
next largest amount made here was
$4,000.
Many man has put in from three
to six years here and worked hard all
the time, and today is in debt to the
Alaska Trading Company for provis-
Ions.
Still, there is gold here everywhere
a man may dig, but it is not in paying
quantities because Of the ground being
so hard to work; you see it never thaws
out more than foot on top during the
whole summer and like that of Siberia,
Is frozen to depth of 400 feet, and the
only way to get through is to burn, and
this can be done only in summer. as
the surface water flows in and browns
the fire, so that prospecting can be done
to a better advantage in winter.
There is no night here during the
summer months, and in fact the sun
never sets during the month of June,
but understand that in winter there is
no sun to be seen for several months.
1T is a very barren looking country.
with very little timber, and after the
timber line is left there is not a twig
of any kind of wood to be found. Moth
ing grows on the hills but long, wet
moss, from which the mosquitoes rise
in countless millions and woe be it,
to the man who is not prepared to meet
them.
1T Is hard to find a tree here more
than ten inches in diameter, and house
logs have to be brought 200 miles down
the Yukon; ftrewood, however, can be
had within eight or ten miles, but II
takes about an acre to make a cord.
which is worth from $12 to $40 in win
ter time.
Then they talk about wages being
$40 a day, which is true, in among the
creeks, but 80 or 40 days Is all that a
man can work out of the year. The
men are laid off from various causes.
sometimes there is too much water in
the gulch, at other times not enough.
and again because the. ground does not
pay and the man who is working for
wages is laid off four days in a week.
and all this time he is eating I'D his
food that costs him $50 for 100 pounds.
Then he must also furnish his own tools
to work with, which is no, small item.
assure you. Taking everything into
consideration, the man who works for
wages up here does not make very
much.
Il have located a claim and will pros
pect this winter. We are about 200
miles from Circle City, which is located
on Birch creek. Some reports from
there state that things are turning ont
first rate and there are reports to the
contrary. If my claim does not turn
out well this winter I intend to go to
Birch creek in the spring. Frank and
1 are now at work building a cabin for
the winter and we are both enjoying the
best of health"
Female Diplomat.
Wife-Do you believe that dreams come