The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-08-26
BUCKETS OF GOLD
OWNED BY MAN IN ALASKA WHO
IS SHORT ON PRO-
VISIONS. .
NEWS FROM THE KLONDIKE.
STEAMER RETURNS WITH DETAILS
OF THE DOINGS OF THE
MINERS.
NEWS FROM THE KLoNDIKE
PORTLAND HAS NOT YET ARRIVED.
Press Tugs ON the Lookout to In
tercept the Treasure Ship When
She Arrives.

steamer Willamette pulled into the
ocean dock from Alaska today, carry
ing the following passengers: j. w. Vir-
gin, j. H. Weber, W. HI. Hockaday,
H. ]. Wiseman. A. Bell and Arthur
Needham. The Willamette left Skag-
uay Thursday, Aug. 10; Juneau, Fri
day and Sitka Saturday morning. She
brought down no gold, although $4,000
was offered by party of four men
who had crossed overland from Daw-
son City leaving there Sunday, July
4. These men, however, only wanted
to come as far as Juneau, where they
expected to winter, and as the purser
was not sure at the time the gold was
offered that the boat would stop at
Juneau, he declined. to take it on board.
They reported that provisions at Daw-
son are growing very short. One of
them said that he had a friend who had
several buckets of gold, but was living
on two spoonsful of beans and a piece
of bacon as large as his hand per day.
The Willamette saw nothing of the
Portland on her trip down, and her
officers say that so far nothing has
been heard Of her.
The officers of the Willamette en-
phatically deny the story that any one
was put in irons on the up trip The
story originated, they say, from the
fact that refractory stowaway from
Tacoma was put in irons between Seat
tie and Tacoma, before the boat left
for Skaguay.
Thomas Stanton, of Seattle, was one
of the returning passengers of the
steamer. He went north to join d
Seattle party that left on the Mexico.
The others had taken his outfit with
them, and he proposed to meet them
on the trail. The steamer was so much
delayed in starting that Stanton ar
rived too late and decided to wait till
spring before going to the Yukon. He
says:
1T is a shame the way the Skaguay
trail has been advertised, as every day
proves it to be more and more impfac-
ticable. I went over the trail as far as
Porcupine river, and that was all L
wanted, although I did not have any
pack to speak of. Dead horses can be
seen all along the trail, while many
others are so badly skinned up and
bruised that they are fit for nothing.
Footsore men and others with strained
backs are common, especially among
the men who went up with the inten-
ton of packing for wages.
PROSPECTIVE KLONDIKERS.
The biggest crowd of prospective
KIondikers is to be found camped along
the trail all the way from the bay to
will get through this year. Over at
Dyea, there seems to be very little
trouble. The trail is much sleeper, but
horses are not yet up to their necks
in mud and slush. Many men are go
ing. over the other way. Things are
very lively at the town, and on the
bay just now. At first it was all tents,
but frame buildings are rapidly going
up. Next week a saw mill will be Ill
operation Men are already at work
setting out lumber for the new mill at
good wages. Six stores carrying stocks
of mixed goods have started up and
are doing very WELL"
|. civil engineer Of Juneau, c. E.
GarthSide, and six assistants, are row
surveying the White pass, in the in
tereSt of an English syndicate, which
intends to run railroad from Skag-
uay, the entrance to the pass, to Taku
arm, distance of sixty-eight miles,
and eventually to the Hootallnqua
river, ITO miles. E. E. Bellinghurst, Of
Victoria, is one of the principal pro-
motors of the scheme This road, when
completed, will form the shortest and
quickest route to the Yukon country,
and it is the intention of the company
to build wharves and warehouses at
Skaguay. The highest altitude of the
road will be at the summit of the
White pass, $4,000 feet. The summit
is about twenty miles from Skaguay.
The surveying party has been at work
since July %, and expects to. have the
survey completed in two weeks. They
are now tWenty-one miles up the river
Although the exact cost cannot yet be
estimated, it is known that the road
will cost more per mile than most
roads, but as the trail is the natural
outlet from the Yukon, the promoters
expect to reap large returns.
The present trail over the pass, used
so much at present by in-going miners,
was cut by this company with the idea
of diverting the travel from Dyea and
the Chilkoot trail, and they made an
attempt to prevent professional pack
ers from charging more than fifteen
cents pound. In this, however, they
were unsuccessful, as the rate is now
thirty cents.
Mr.. Garthside stated that it will be
impossible for more than one quarter
of the people now on the trail to reach
the Klondike this year Work on the
railroad will be commenced in the
spring and the road to Taku will prob
ably be completed in six months from
then. Skaguay is destined to be q
large town, and should the railroad be-
come an assured fact, will distance
Juneau as an Quitting and general
commercial point. Many of the Juneau
merchants have opened branch stores
there already.