Evening journal., 1897-10-25
THE YUKON is TIED UP.
No Supplies Received in Klon-
dyke Since July.
STARVATION BEFORE THE MINERS

LIT T. I ia w ILL O0AAiA IN -
FEW MONTHS IN THE COLD RE
GION.
Through the courtesy of c. Il.
Hutchings, president of the Yukon Mip-
ing, Trading and Transportation Com
papy, the following account of the ter
rible privations now upon the miners
of Alaska, is given as printed in tnel
Daily Colonist, of Victoria, b. G.:
mot one steamer that started up the
river after mid-August and not onel
eager gold seeker who sailed from San
Francisco. Seattle or Victoria for ST.
Michaels since mid-July, has yet
reached Dawson City. No steamer can
arrive there this year. A few persever-
ing prcspectors may get through along
toward the middle of the terrible Win
ter. The rest arc either scattered along
the river at st. Michael's, or homeward
bound from there.
Such is the word brought by the G.. Z.
n. steamer Danube, Captain Meyer,
which returned to port last evening di-
rect from the mouth of the great river
of the North, bringing here the last
miners to get down the Yukon this
year before the seal of the Frost King
was set upon the waters-23 men and
women in all, with three times as
many disappointed prospectors who
were unable to get in to the gold coun-
try, and gold dust and nuggets. the APP
proximate value of which is decidedly
indefinite quantity.
Captain Meyer estimates two hun
dred thousand to a quarter of a million
as fairly near the mark. although the
returned miners are reticent as TO the
/ aT oil frt fhrfr
earnings. Others who also came down
by the Danube and ever accompanied
the upper Yukoners down the river
from the gold fields, say that $4,000 TO
$50 600 would be an outside estimate Of
the steamers treasure, not one of the
passengers from the neighborhood Of
Dawson having more than $4,000 in his
possession, and the purser having only
about $4,000 contlded to his keeping
for the voyage to Victoria.
Provisions will buy claims at Daw-
son and Forty Mile this winter that
money cannot touch. In the gulches
around Circle City the miners are sup
Piled. but in the city itself there is not
much more than twelve tons of -four.
Forty Mile has little or nothing, and a
| large part of Dawson must already be
on short rations.
"Such is the information brought
down by the Danube. Escape or starve
is the message that has been sent up
the river and when the history OF that
region comes to be written, the daring
and perseverance of the plucky man
who,s ,sat the risk Of his life undertook to
carry the warning to the thousands OF
people waiting anxiOusly for news will
have to be recorded
THE news brought overland some
days ago of the difficulties encountered
, by the river steamer Margaret in the
. attempt to reach Dawson City is amply
confirmed by the reports brought dowr
e by the Danube. Assistant Superintend
: ent Hansen of the ALASKA Commercial
Company, came down the river on tho
, Margaret after she had landed there
) half Of her cargo, to make heroic ef-
fort to get the remainder of the provis-
{ ions cached at DEVILS Teeth rapids
{ (and aptly are they named), for the re.
E lief of the threatened starvation al
( Dawson.
2 The attempts made TO get the boa
up the river all proved ftuitless, anC
- finally at the risk of sacrificing his OWL
life, the gallant captain started up in {
+ birch bark canoe to tell the belcagure,
) residents that no help could reach them
I and if they would live, they must MAKE
{ their way down to where food awaite,
- them. No word has been received from
= him since he was heard of as having
reached a point but a few miles beyon,
the rapids. and perhaps none will b
. until the warmth of the springtime sun
- uniocks the frozen gates which hav'
- closed fOrbiddingly and forbodingly Oh
- the upper reaches of that desolat
e stream
mo words seem too strong TO thos
r men who have come down from ST
el Michaels wherewith 20 depict the dan
r ger which exists for those who are still
q left in the vicinity of Dawson. Tn
r starvation viii not be for those at Daw
4 son, they say. but the dead men will b
Q between Dawson and Dyea; those VIII
= are going over the pass late will b
n caught in the winter storms and the
. must surely die
! "One and all agree that there is no
> enough money even in the rich Klon
= dyke region to induce them to attemp
n the journey over the trail this winter
A Men were flocking down to ST. Michaei'
| from Circle City. Every day boats al
4 rived heavily laden with men who ha
: been warned by those who started u
Devils Teeth impossible No one tell
any more Of gold, the cry is all 70
~ grub. The Margaret was to wait unit
! the last possible safe moment at tn
:, rapids, in the hope Of catching tn
/, downstream rush from Dawson CITY
/ to feed the hungry and convey all pos
- sible to where food awaited them lowe
7 down the river.
= "At Manook a camp of several hun
= dred men has been established by tn
- unloading by the steamers of the pas
sengers they could take no further. Tw
boats, one belonging to each of th
rival companies, arrived there togethe
!, and dumped their living freight upo
= the inhospitable reaches of that lionel
z. arctic spot Many Of them will wintC
- there. some of them will make othC
! but perhaps no. more successful effort
to get away; and, alas. some it is feare
= will fall victims to the rigor and hare
- ship of that dreadful place
Another possibility which lends ho
y ror to the contemplation of the fate