The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-08-31

or going over the trail to the mines II. NJ.
lnder. a young man from British Column
bia, was indorsed by each of the other min
ers when he said:
Scores and perhaps hundreds of the men
who are now on their way to the klondike
Will leave their bones to bleach on the hills
or along the river of that God-torsaken
country. They will die of starvation. Ihere
can be no doubt of it. and those OF US wno
nave been there and know something OF the
conditions and surroundings are agreed on
this point. In fact, any man can prove 1t
to his own satisfaction by a few minutes
hguring. Last year 25,O00 tons or supplies
went up the Yukon, and there was snort
age before provisions began arriving TINS
year At that time there were not 70 eX-
ceed 1000 In that entire region. Practically
all OF these 1900 are now dependent upon
the companys stores for this winter 5 1000
if they are to remain in that country. In
addition to that there are now fully three
times as many people in that part OF the
country as there were last year, and most
of them have found their way there with
scarcely enough provisions TO take them TO
the diggings. Now ii is admitted by the
companyS agents at st. MichaelS and on
the upper Yukon that not to exceed 49,OuO
tons OF provisions and supplies Will go into
the Yukon this year, and you can readlly
see that this will not begin TO feed the
people there. A large percentage of this
year 5 supplies also consist of liquor, which
Will feed no one, but viii put the devil into
hundreds of starving men, and the result
is easy for any one to guess.
L was on the river above Dawson city
this summer with food enough TO last me
three months and with good prospects OF
Locating fine claim. but when the steamer
was due from down the river with its cargo
of supplies, / went way back TO Dawson
to buy enough to carry me through until
next year. The scene | witnessed when
that steamer landed is what sent me home.
| had been told that / could get provisions
there, and l had the money TO pay for
them, but men who had ordered and paid
for supplies in advance were on hand to
take all that the steamer had brought IN,
and even some of them were disappointed.
About that time we got reports of the in
nf he ma frCr1 hA
servative men there were agreed that there
would not be food enough to feed them all.
[ left what food l had on the river for
friend and came out for the winter to be
where l can at least get enough to eat if
l have money TO pay for It,"
j. Q. Cray. a Grand Army man from
Grand Rapids. Wis, corrobOrated every
word that Mr. Inder had said and told in
addition Of the alarming sanitary condi- .i
ground for a depth of a foot is covered
with moss and slush and the summer sun
has rotted the moss on the ground, max
ing horrible condition of affairs. Typhoid
fever is now prevalent at Dawson and the
miners say that no man or woman who
has been attacked with the fever thus far
has recovered. Mr.. Gray tells of two
Swede brothers, named Anderson who had
been on the Klondike several months and
who stal>ed out a good claim, which they
sold for $4,000 and then started for their
home in the old country. Both We're seized
nursed by a friend of Mr.. Gray. The two
brothers died and were buried at Dawson.
Mr.. Gray went to the Klondike last June
to look after his son, who was reported to
have fallen in with woman at Dawson
city and to have given her & Geed ~ his
claim on the Klondke The father hurried
through over Chilcat pass only to find
that his son had left for home two weeks
before. The boy caught the steamer Pert
land on her previous trip, and brought with
him $4,000 in cash. The father managed to
recover the title to the claim also hrt on
that his son had been killed while engaged
in row in Chicago. This morning ne re-
cceived a message from home telli1g him
that. his son had just arrived ir Grand
Rapids, and explaining his absence in Chi
cago by stating that The young mar bad
been on protracted spree in the Windy
City and had succeeded in running through
large part of -he stake he brought out
with him from the Klondlke The CID gen
tleman is putting in his time to-day look
ing up his fellow-passenyers on the steam
er Portland and explaining to ther1 ttat
his son Is alive.
The thirteen miners from the Klondike
who came down on the Portland assert that
the price of food will not prevent any man
IN that region from getting enough to eat,
who will not allow any human beng to
starve if the food can he got, but the
sin simple pic truth, they say; is that, the food is
not there, and will not be in sutficicnt guam
titles to provide for the wants Of the people
who will be IN need of it before next sum
mer arrives. They have asked that the fol-
lowing statement be sent as authorized by
them:
'"To the Public: We, the returning Klon-
dixie miners on board the steamer Port
land, warn all people to stay away from
the Yukon till next spring. Lots of people
there are bound to starve before spring
unless they get food and supplies from an
unexpected source. There is not enough
food in that country to feed the people who
are there, and some of our number have
come out to avoid facing what we consid-
cred certain starvation had we remained
there. We consider it little less than Grim
inal for the government to allow men to
go into that country to starve as they are
certainly doing now, because we know of
our personal knowledge that while few are
starting out without sufficient food to carry
them through, hundreds are throwing away
their supplies on the trails and are hurry
ing into the Klondike region with nothing
70 eat. We shudder to think of the starva-
tion that is certain to come out from that
country next year, and warn all men to
need these words of caution, which are
given solely in the interests of HUMANITY"
The men on the Portland also call atten-
tlon to the fact that there are now enough
men on the upper Yukon to stake off al!
the country about which ANYTHING is
known, and that those who go in hereafter
or are now on the way must prospect for
themselves. making entirely new discover
les. klondike is rich, they admit but they
say a man might well think of taking
possession of a brick block in a city as TO
try TO stake off a claim on any of the
creeks that have been so much talked of
recently. -