Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1897-09-15
CANE BACK FROM THE NORTH.
Prospectors Leave the Klondike t.
Escape Starvation.
They Say There Will Be Privatlon,
Sickness, Scurvy and Death In
the Gold Region This Winter.
story of AN Illinois Man Who
Gave Up the Trip.

the Gold Region 1Hi5 w inool
story of an Illinois Man Who
Gave Up the Trip.
Seattle. Wash, September l4.-lhe
steamer Humboldt has arrived from st.
Michaels. She brings fourteen passen-
gers and about $4,000 in gold. The
Humboldt was eleven days from st.
Michaels. The steamer Eliza Aneer-
son is anchored in Dutch harbor, where
she arrived on the 4th inst, and is de-
tanned by revenue officers. Her pas
sengers nave by this time entered the
Boring sea on a schooner chartered LOT
that purpose. Two of the passengers
on the Anderson were so Irlghleheu
that they gave up their search 1or golu
and returned south on the steamer
Humboldt.
The Humboldt brings back advices
which reiterate the stories OF the I'M
told wealth of the Klondike and 4u-
kon, and verify the previous rumors
of the shortage Of food supply IN the
interior. There will be privatlon,
sickness, starvation, scurvey and death
ON the Yukon this winter" is what the
returning gold hunters all say.
Only seven passengers have money.
1t is impossible to induce them to say
how much they have, out the purser
gives the figures as: j. A. Manager,
$500: E. Turner, $3.50; J. F. Creider,
$4,000; w. Urquhart, 5000; j. ID. Rog-
ers, $1,000. D. F. Atkins, $4,000; Capt.
]. w. Whitesides, $4,000.
]. M. Secretan says he came out to
avoid starvation at Dawson. He said:
Thus far over 1900 men have pushed
their way over the passes from Skag-
uay and Dyea, and have arrived al
Dawson City. The influx of miners
over the passes has frightened the old
timers in the interior, and all that can
arrange to winter in the States VIII
thus avoid what they believe will be a
winter of harship, suffering and prob
able murder and thievery.
I'VE left Dawson on July 26 on the
steamer P. B. Weare. At midnight on
the 81 the steamer ran on bar below
Circle City. After waiting seventeen
days the passengers were transferred
to the steamer Healy and arrived at
st. Michaels August rs. The next day
we took the Excelsior to San Francisco.
On the morning of August % the Elk
celsior went aground in ten feet of
water in the Boring sea, seventy miles
from land. The passengers moved sew
enty tons of coal from her hold to a
lighter, and at midnight she floated,
having broken two blades of her pro-
peller. She arrived at Unalaska Sep
TENDER 1. On the second day they
tried to beach her, and on the third
succeeded. On the fourth they took
off her propeller, and on the fifth put
On a new one. She sailed via Unger
for Dutch harbor September 6, where
we took the Humboldt for Seattle. On
the way from Dawson City 1 have paid
bhree fares; first to the North Amer
can Trading and Transportation Com
pany for transportation to Seattle. then
b120 to the Excelsior, and again S75 to
the Humboldt"
w. B. Price, of Danville, Ills, who
Tent up on the Eliza Anderson, and
who left that vessel at Dutch harbor,
returned on the Huboldt. He said:
"The entire trip was a series of mis-
naps The third day out from Dixon s
entrance bad weather came on, and
The wind blew terrifically. During the
drst night after the storm began the
fudder chain broke five times. Of
rourse, after this broke there was no
controlling the boat. Every minute it
seemed that she would go over. The
passengers were thrown out of their
hunks, the crew was insufficient to the
pumps, so the passengers took them in
charge.
Il was put in command and divided
the passengers up into squads of four
men each. Each squad worked two
hours. l also did the sounding to see
how much water there was. We kept
this up for forty-eight hours, and dur
Ing that time the Anderson drifted back
fourteen miles. The second day of our
trouble the other vessels were in sight.
Then the Merwin, which was being
lowed by the Holyoke, along with the
Bryant and Polistofsky, broke loose,
and the captain of the Holyoke turned
about, with the other two boats in two,
and picked up the Merwin. The next
place we reached was st. Paul, on Ko-
diak island. We should have taken
coal there to get to Dutch harbor. but
could not get it.
After leaving st. Paul the sea was
heavy and we were forced to cruise
along shore. We arrived within 1870
miles of Dutch harbor, when the coal
gave out. We were rigging a small
boat to send out for relief when we
sighted a small fishing smack with one
man in it, He told us we could reach
an abandoned cannery about twenty
miles distant, where coal had been
lying for five or six years. We had
enough coal to reach that point. All
Gay long the passengers worked in a
drilling rain to take on that coal, and
finally, on September 4, we reached
Dutch harbor. Capt. Hooper, Of the
revenue squadron, boarded us at Dutch
harbor, and seeing the unseaworthy
condition of the Anderson, forbade her
to go further. 1t was not necessary
1or him to go below, but upon seeing
that we had insufficient life boats he
gave the order to tie up there.
The passengers Of the Anderson.
with the exception of Mr.. Scott and
myself, raised $1,000 to charter the
schooner Parisoff to take the passen-
gers from there to st. Michaels."
CASE DECIDED