The San Francisco call., 1896-04-19
miners are only awaiting the opportunity

miners are only awaiting the opportunity
to return home.
The news from the inlet should GER
talnly discourage those who intend trying
their fortune in the far north. The coun-
try is. overrun with prospectors, and in
some instances the suffering of the ad-
venturers is heartrending. Starvation
faces many who have forced their way
into the interior, and misery and privation
await all.
The steam schooner Excelsior, Captain
J. +. Higgins, arrived direct from Cooks
Inlet yesterday. The passengers were
Thomas Fleming, Alfred Corenue, G. H.
Hankerson, ]. e. La Shelle, John Lavig-
noui, Phillip Rinasso, Thomas Walker, ].
W. Holm, Joseph Cater and H. G.. Pende.
Nearly all OF these are men who had
enough of Alaska mining and had enough
money to pay their way home.
Cooks Inlet is not crowded with ice, -
said one of the miners yesterday, ''but it
is cold enough to make stove a necessity .
When man has to hug a stove all day
there is not much chance for mining. At
kachemak, where many of the miners are
camped, the thermometer occasionally
dropped to 40 deg. below zero. Ice is a
foot thick over some properties, and the
mass that covers all the reefs is under
yards OF snow. Ny advice to those con-
templating mining venture to Alaska is,
Dom IT, !"
The steam-schooner Excelsior is the ves-
sci that took a party of Oakland enthusi-
asts to Cooks Inlet. Prior to their depar-
ture they refused to reveal their destina-
ton. On March IL the steamer sailed
from Mission street wharf. and some of
the miners who went out on her returned
on her yesterday. The first point reached
was Sitka, and the run was without Incl
dent. On March 20 another start was
made, and heavy southeast gales were en-
couEtered. The vessel was not we'll fitted
to encounter them, as the cabins were
crowded, the holds overfiowing and the
decks Uttered with lumber, while num-
Der OF horses were penned up forward.
The weather turned extremely cold, and
four OF the horses died from the exposure.
On the Sd inst. the Excelsior reached
Kachemak. in Turnaganisarm Coal Point
was frozen over and all the lighters were
frozen In. Captain Higgins says the
weather was fine, but all the miners as
sert that 1t was the worst ever experienced
in Alaska and that no such thing as "fine
weather" is ever prevalent in Alaska. As
the lighters were frozen in some method
of landing the men and their belongings
had to be resorted to. Rats were made
out OF the ium Der and on these everything
was ferried ashore. There were no heavy
winds and no snow so the landing was
comparatively easy.
After getting rid of her cargo the Excel
sior sailed again for San Francisco on the
10th inst. and made good run of seven
and half days to this port. A letter re-
ceived by her says: do not come up
here. 1t is all fable about the richness
of the mines. Starvation and misery
thre aten all the men who came here with
a bare travelling allowance of coin.'
in spite of all these discouraging re-
ports the steam-schooner Albion is listed
to sail this morning for Cooks Inlet with
los miners, five of whom have their
families with them. Friday last the in
spectors of hulls and boilers limited the
number of passengers to eighty-four, but
since then extra accommodations have
been put IN and the horses and cattle Will
not be taken. Those of the party who
cannot get away on the Albion will 90 on
the Sophia Sutherland, which will sail
Monday or Tuesday.
The Albion is loaded down to the gun
wales, and if anything like rough weather
is experienced the passengers Will have a
hard time of it. AS it is there is not five
feet of space in which they can move
about, as every inch of deck room is taken
up with coal, hay, lumber and provisions.
Many of the men do not like the manner
in which the vessel is loaded down. but
will take their chances sooner than lose the
money they have paid for their passage.