The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1897-08-07
ALASKA AND
THE YUKON.
Some Facts About the Climate First
Work on the KlOndyke.
An INCH OF ICE FORMS IN AUGUST
Spruce and White Birch the Only Tim
Der and Not Much Of Where
Gold is Found -FascinatiOns for the
Hunters After Wealth.

hunters AIter wealth.
The following facts concerning AL
aska and the Yukon were taken from
the Vale Advocate, the editor of which
has spent considerable time in the
country.
The Alaska gold fields have created
an excitement akin to or even greater
than the early discoveries of California,
CASTOR or Caribou, and people from
every state in the union are on the road
hither. while thousands of others are
preparing to go.
A great deal of what has been said of
the country, as to richness of strikes,
cost of living, &c, is pure matter of fic-
ton,
Zen years ago we were with the party
that discovered the famons Bonanza
Bar on the ShitandaC Forty Mile")sixty
miles below the Klondyke. "French
joe, Old Man Steele and one or two
others each took out S135 in one day,
and in two weeks the bar was all wor-
ked out, being only small strip lying
next to the river at low water. No
body had more than $500 OF $500. but
several came out to Janeau that fall
with sacks of dust, and by the time the
news reached San Francisco, it had as
sumed an Importance almost equal to
the present KlOndyke excitement. The
result was, hundreds of men rushed in.
to the country and suffered hardships
and privation such as trip into this
region at that time entailed, and it is
said that during the following winter
many of these northern argonauts bare
ly escaped starvation.
Then there were no stores, only a
post at the north of the mouth of the
Steward river kept by Jack McQuistOn,
and which was moved to Forty Mile
in 1887. The supplies were limited both
in quantity and quality, and the spring
of 1887 opened without a pound of any
kind of provision for sale on the Yukon
and had it not been for an abundant
supply of reindeer, there would have
been actual want among the DO men
who passed that winter in the interior
around the mouth of the Shitanda and
Steward rivers.
Conditions have changed since then
and while provisions reached fabulous
prices last winter, it was occasioned
by the great number who went in late
last year and who created a demand in
excess of the supply.
One year ago flour was selling on the
Yukon for So sack, very reasonable
when one remembers that a few years
ago he paid Indians $l5 per cwt for
packing from the Dyea oyer Chilcoat
Pass, to Lake Linderman, a distance of
So miles. Other provision was selling
for proportional prices and it is prob
able by the first of August supplies can
be bought at Dawson City for one-half
what they can DO packed over Chilcoat
Pass, besides the trip can be made in
one half the time, as there are two por.
tages to be made after leaving the head
of Lake Linderman, each about one
half mile where everything, including
boats, must he packed.
One month later a person can learn
at Juneau what supplies have beer
brought up the river, or whether it will
be necessary to take them on over the
Pass. If there are sufficient supplies
on the river one may leave Juneau as
late as the Goth of August and 'react
the mines before the lakes and river
freeze, although we saw ice one incl
thick on the oath of August, but thi:
was only for a night and there was nc
permanent ice formed before the mid
die. of September.
The physical conditions of the coun
try are peculiar to the extreme north
the ground. save where very steep ant
rocky with southern slope or wher,
overlooked, is covered with a tundra Of