The record-union., 1897-10-23
SLOW TRAVEL UP THE YUKON
ONLY FIFTY MILES MADE IN
FOUR DAYS.
n. N. Kimball Writes Of His Ex-
perience-Adrift in an Alas
kan Blizzard.

L. S. Upson has just received a num-
Der Of letters from his partner, Nj. =.
Kimoall who went with the early rush
TO the Yukon this summer.
The last of these letters is dated at
AnviK, September 21st. The writer
was at that time on board barge that
was struggling TO ascend the Yukon
as far as possible before the river be-
came closed from ice. There was no
prospect whatever, Mr.. Kimball writes,
of any of the river expedition reaching
Dawson so the various parties We're
striking out for other diggings.
The party with which he was jour
neying were then about half way be-
tween St. Michaels and Alinook, where
the latest strikes of any magnitude
have been made They yet had rapids
and shoals to encounter, but hoped 10
overcome them. When the letter was
written the boat had just got off a
sand bar where it had been stranded
for a Gay and half.
Mr.. Kimban requests Mr.. Upson to
send him some packages of vegetable
seeds. He says that at Holy Cross
Mission, on the Yukon, he saw some Of
the finest cabbages, beets, turnips and
potatoes ever grown anywhere. They
were told by the Missionaries that these
vegetables can be grown anywhere in
Alaska.
The party had learned from the mis-
sionaries of the rich strikes that had
been made on Minook River. They ex-
pected to find about a thousand per-
sons on the ground when they reached
there. Efforts were being made, Mr..
Kimban states, to keep these strikes
from the outside world as much as
possible. in the hope of preventing an
other rush to the gold fields, as those
now there feel that there are enough
gold seekers now in the country.
The Ninook country, the letter states,
has one great advantage over many
other localities which the gold hunters
have sought. 1t is the best game dis
trict in Alaska. writes Mr. Kimball,
moose, caribou. bear and other animals
being found there in numbers, The
Yukon in that vicinity is also well sup
piled with fish and they We're never
without variety of this kind of food.
The natives catch the fish in traps and
trade them to the miners for other pro-
visions
On the 10th of September a fierce
gale blew up the Yukon River, and
Kimball says the waves were higher
than any he saw on the ocean trip
from San Francisco TO St. AIichaels. By
hugging close to the shore they man
aged to escape being wrecked. There
was a line Of three barges in tow of
the Governor Stoneman and just as
the line in front of the barge on which
his party was travelling was about to
break, the one behind gave way, and
the barge following went flying down
the Yukon. The launch Esperanza
which accompanied the expedition
managed to secure it, however Then
barge number 2 broke away, and in
twenty minutes they We're being tossed
about in the middle of the river, the
barge shipping water in great quanti-
ties. Every one on the barge, as we'll
as those on the steamer, thought the
party adrift We're doomed but the
Stoneman put to shore with it's only
remaining barge and then went to the
rescue of the one out in the river
Those on the steamer told them they
could not see the barge half the time,
and every time it went down out of
sight they thought it had foundered.
All the men aboard the barge, writes
Mr.. Kimball. We're thoroughly fright
ened. and all had removed most of
their clothing, expecting to have 20
swim for their lives. One man broke
up his bunk to get a board to help him
in keeping afloat
If anyone imagines'' writes Mr..
Kimball, that trip up the Yukon by
towooats and barges is a picnic, please
relate my experience and undeceive
him.
They had been four days making
fifty miles at the time the letter was
written.