The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1897-09-02

sartly very slow work. The freight is
sent of in boats towed by tugs, while
the passengers are landed in small
boats. Tourists, however, find ii worth
getting OF in the rain and slush, just
to see the mining camp, as II is called.
Lots are selling for $500 each. and
houses are going UP rapidly. Streets
are being laid out and given such high
sounding names as Fifth avenue and
broadway. A hotel run by two negro
women is fiourishinS. and the streets
are filled with cows and calves. Pack
ers here are paid S. day and board.
1t takes four days to make the round
trip over the pass-that Is to take
pack TO the summit of the mountain
and return for another fifty pounds.
One can easily see how long it would
take TO carry fifteen hundred pounds to
the lakes. That amount usually con-
stitutes a years provisions for two peo-
pie. All the men who are going to the
gold fields have landed at Skaguay and
think me very foolish to even think OF
going over the Chilkoot Pass shall go
TO Dyea, however, and make personal
/ inspection and inquiry about the hopes
Of getting over.
From all that / can gather there is
| likely TO be serious trouble at the pass
es before the winter is over. The Ca
madam officials are said TO be very die
tatoriel IN their treatment OF the min
ers, who have come so far. Even be-
1 fore the prospectors cross the noun
talns they are met By the revenue Of
hcers and forced to pay duty. Cana
dian teamsters are allowed TO come on
American soil and dispose of their SER
vices a; outrageously high prices. II.
however. an American strays over to
the other side, he is bullied into pay
ing duty. though he expects TO return
TO his own country within the day. 1t
IS this sort OF thing that mas exasperat-
ed the Americans. and there is likely
to be clash most any day.
DR.. E. W. Spotteswoode, of Missoula
Mont. surgeon Of the Northern Pa
citic. says that Skagnay's population
when the Queen sailed on August II.
was fully thirty-five hundred, IL not
four thousand people, while at Dyea
there are not more than five thousand
Or six thousand.
The Queen brought back several dis
gusted fortune seekers, among them a
.ormer longshoreman Of Seattle, named
Fred Story, who has had practical ex-
perience to relate, and a prospective
millionaire who was glad to secure a
luartermaster's berth on the Queen for
he homeward voyage. Story says that
the much-talked-of Skagnay or White
Pass trail was never opened until
Thursday last, the work OF cutting
through four-mile stretch OF noun
tain road only just having been COM
ple;ed. The soil is soft from the re-
cent rains. but cordaroy is being used
and the general character of this route
makes it the only one practicable for
horses.
Cn the other hand the Chilkoot Pass
being an older and more Travelled one,
is the only one to be thought of by
those who pack in their supplies, but
it is knee deep in mud. The anxiety
Of the prospectors TO get through their
goods at any cost, has led to most ex-
iravagant prices being offered and
gladly paid. AS an example, a San
Francisco party paid over 81 900 for
the transportation OF one ton OF sup
plies from Skagnay TO the upper lake,
and they were looked upon as fortu-
uate. The opinions of the returned for
tune seekers differ as to the general
prospect. One man declared with posi-
tive conviction that not a tenth OF
those now at Skagnay will get through
a. all The next witness declares that
al who want to will reach the upper
Yukon in time, while others assert that
any man. with average strength and
grit. will get through safely this year.
Time alone can disclose which is right.
Story. who was over portion OF the
WEie Pass, declares that the difficult
ties il presents are not by any means