The herald., 1897-07-22

wonderland. The sight Of sacks full OF
nuggets ard yellow dust brought down
from the Clondyke by men who a year
ago were penniless, is what has created
the rush. Quitting establishments here
are crowded with buSneSs-in fact, can
not handle the orders that pour in for
campers outfits There is also a verit-
able boom in rough, heavy clothing, and
one house has sold out to the last article
its stocks of such goods as wooden I'M
aerwear heavy canvas clothing. etc.
Today the news spread about the city
that the st. Paul and Tacoma Mill COM
pany had voluntarily raised its schedule
of wages to prevent its employees leaving
for the gold fields. Inquiry showed that
this had not actually been done, but It
was expected. to become necessary with
in few days.
The Alaska fleet sailing from this port
is of course in no wise able to care for
the business that has suddenly grown
to such enormous proportions, and ev-
cry idle craft in this part of the sound
fit to make the run to the far north, is
Sbeing hurriedly fitted out, either to carry
freight or passengers or both. Not
day passes but that some one who when
last seen was without the price of a meal
shows up among his old friends with a
small fortune in gold dust.
John Simpson, who for several years
has worked on the water front as q
'longshoreman, is back among his
friends lavishly spending his quickly
earned wealth. He brought out $4,000
and was out of civilization less than nine
months He returned Oh the boat pre-
ceding the Portland and had been in
California for a>few days prior to re-
turning here.
A strange feature of the excitement is
that it is not confined TO any one class,
but that all kinds and conditions of peo-
pie are getting outfits TO carry north.
Bankers and real estate men are to be
counted among those who have engaged
passage on outgoing boats. Purchasing
Agent Payne of the Pacific Coast Steam
ship company said today the steamers
AL XII, Queen and Mexico will carry not
less than 1900 people on their next trips.
People who cannot get passage on the
next trip of boats are engaging places
ahead as far as August rs, in order to be
sure of getting into the gold fields. All
accommodation on the steamer Queen,
which will sail for Alaska tomorrow,
and the steamer Mexico, which will sail
Sunday have been sold. By this is
meant every foot of space on the vessel.
The decks, both under cover and unpro-
tected, will be made into temporary
sleeping quarters, and the harder of the
adventurers are only too glad to get
this chance to spread their blankets
rather than not get away.
A letter received here from John and
Mrs Vented, well known former Ia
comans, states that a dollar in the Clon-
dyke is easier to get than copper in this
city. That their party was averaging
$45 a day to each man, four Of them,
when they decided to leave those claims
for the Clondyke, and since their arrival
have, like all others, struck it rich.
CANADIAN ACTION
NEW YORK, July PA dispatch to
the Herald from Ottawa says: Now that
the Dominion government is in possess
sion Of authentic reports corroborative
of the first accounts sent out of the mar
velous richness of the new placer dig
gings in the Yukon and Clondyke re-
gions, the organization of the district is
being completed. Two years ago the
Department of the Interior dispatched
force of twenty Northwest mounted
police to Fort Cudahy, on the Canadian
side of the Alaskan frontier. The Off
Ger in command, Inspector Constan-
tine, established two posts, one at Fort
Cudahy and one at FortyMile Creek,
and proceeded to administer laws and
collect revenues for the customs de-
partment. He collected about $15, 900 the
first year. Encouraged by the prospects
of revenue, the government in 1895 ap-
pointed D. w. Davis, a former member
of Parliament for Alberta, to the posi-
ton of Customs Officer for the district,
and his returns, recently received,
swelled the total collections to about
$35 600.
The work of organization was first
suggested to the government by the
North American Trading and Transpor-
tation Company, which was anxious that
the British territory should be admins
tered so as to guarantee the safety of its
interests. 1t was not undertaken by
the Dominion authorities, however, I'M
til the surveying parties then in the field
had, with more or less difficulty located
the 141st meridian of west longitude,
which forms the boundary between
Alaska and the Canadian Northwest
Territory, from Mount St Elias to the
SHORES OIL the Arctic w men ILLS lldI
been accomplished and the selection of
police posts began, grumblings from the
Seattle and other American coast news
papers reached the ears of the govern
ment here. 1t was boldly charged that
the Canadians We're grabbing territory
in Alaska that did not belong to them.
William Ogilvie, chief Of the Canadian
International Boundary Survey, set all
doubts at rest regarding the Canadian
posts by reporting that the observations
of the Canadian and American parties as
to the boundary differed only a few
feet-six feet at Forty-MIile and the
same at Cudahy. Since then nothing has
been heard of the alleged grab Ogilvie
stayed in the country last winter and
busted himself in stalking off claims for
miners in the newly discovered placer
ground. the latter being well in Canadi-
an territory, and along the rivers and
creeks flowing into the Yukon from the
east-namely, Bonanza, Bowlder, Edo
RADIO, Carmacite, Clondyke and Stew
art OF the mounted police, who formed
Constantine's first detachment, not one
re-enliSted upon the eXpira ton of their
terms this spring, so that an entirely
new force had to be sent up this spring.
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