The true Democrat. [volume] (Bayou Sara [La.]) 1892-1928, 1897-10-23
LIFE IN THE KLONDIKE.
HOW THE PEOPLE KEEP HOUSE IN
TIE GREAT GOLD FIELD.

TIE GREAT GOLD FIELD.
WHITES. and Summer Habits and Custom:
AN Trading Done in Gold Dust-Tht
! Mosquitoes Are There - Interesting
Facts About the Natives of That Region
| From all accounts, it would seem
that the Klondike region is sort oil
earthly paradise; no fighting no shoot.
ing, no lylching, no theft.
It's curious, too, for there are in
Forty Mile Post, Dawson, Circle City
and other mining towns, saloons by
dozen, gambling hells, few women and
plenty of men just like those who used
to die with their boots on in California.
No one ever locks cabin door. You
can leave a few thousands in gold dust
lying around loose, and no one will
steal it. This forbearance is not SO
remarkable as it seems. If thief did
steal when there is nothing to break
through he couldn't spend his money
or leave the country unsupported.
The upper circles Of the Yukon Val
ley usually dwell in commodious homes
Of boards we'll banked up with tail
ings to keep the cold out, and measur-
ing some twelve feet by fourteen. A
common household ornament is hole
in the floor, through which the owner
can descend and dig pay dirt in the
fr(seall lQwels Of the earth when he has
time. Vfooking is done on sheet iron
stoves, very light and small, lugged
over the Chilkoot with other belong
ings. There isn't generally much to
cook on the stove except the three
"Bs"-bacon, beans and bread. In
summer there is fresh fish; in winter
also, if man cares to brave cold feet
by standing on the ice to fish through
a hole chopped in it. Besides, the
hole has a way Of freezing up again
rapidly.
The cold is not so terrible bugbear
as many imagine. The air is very dry,
and it causes no discomfort to work
out Of doors with the thermometer at
thirty below. General humidity makes
the cold as we'll as the heat worse to
bear.
Miners generally wear in winter the
native dress of skin trousers and
parka, with boots of seal or walrus
skin, made by the coast Indians. The
skin trousers are made Of woodchurch
pelts OF fawn-skin trimmed with white
wolfskins. Women wear the parka, or
skin coat filched from the fawn or
wolverine, but they have to deny them
selves the pleasures of dress reform so
far as to wear light short skirts over
their leather breaches and boots. In
summer one can dress as in New
York. -s.
housekeeping is most primitive.
Men are in vast majority, and it is
customary, as it was in California. for
them to select partners and live two in
shack" Or cabin, to save house
work and divide expense. In winter
there are no means Of bathing without
extraordinary trouble. The snow
seldom lies more than three feet deep.
there are no thaws to make crust on
its surface, and MI winter travelling is
done on shoeshoes.
Prices are extraordinarily high, and
vary according to circumstances. 90
that one can hardly tell what they will
be next spring, when the new crowd
gets into. tho diggings. Beef at tifty
or seventy-tiye cents pound is per-
haps affair example. Last winter. be-
cause the preceding summer had been
q bad one for salmon, bacon had to
be fed to the sled dogs at cost of
twenty-five or forty cents pound,
And there have been times when q
dog was worth $500 to kill to keen
some miner with plenty Of "dust5
but no GRUB from starving.
There are physicians in the Klon-
dixie and there will be hospitals at
several points, established by the Sis
tiers of Mercy from Montreal. Last
winter there was benefit perform
ance in Circle City, when a quarter Of
beef "snaked" into the country on a |
dog sled, was ratified off for $500 for
the hospital. Now Circle CITY is
pretty well deserted, and the hospital
will be needed more somewhere else
There is still post-office at Circle
Clly, aud mails come and 90 eyerv
month in winter, by carrier to Juneau.
-, In summer what q change there is!
The thermometer rises frequently
above ninety. Men work sixteen and
eighteen eng hours q dey, slucing out the
dlrt they have been digging out oil
winter, and drop dog tired into their
i hunks at night to dreamless sleep,
nhey can vary their food only little.
FRESH salmon are usually plenty, but
game is not. Hence the great bane of
!, country is scurvy. It is avoided
by drinking o great deal Of. lime Juice
A better way would be to get fresh
into the country, and there
IS n. no doubt that they could be grown
with wi perfect success, not perhaps at