The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1897-08-11
could. Prospectors are coming in here
from Sitka, Unalaska and Cooks Inlet.
HAL HOFFMAN
THEY FACE FAMINE.
One Thousand Poorly Equipped
Men Camped at White Horse
Pass.

One Thousand Poorly Equipped
Men Camped at White Horse
Pass.
DYEA, ALASKA, Aug. 4, via Seattle,
Wash, Aug. 10.-The British steamers
Islander and Gees have arrived with about
500 prospectors, which increases the num-
Der on the Dyea and Skagaway trails TO
fully 1900.
At Skagaway. which is generally known
as the White Horse Pass, about two thirds
of ;he gold seekers are camped, and the
little valley is full OF white tents and at
night the camp fires look like so many
twinkling stars in the heavens above.
Late reports, which l credit. have come
in to the effect that the Skagaway route is
open to the lakes and that it is about
forty-fve miles long. IL is of zgzag
course over the mountains and the road is
very soft There are some 200 or 300 horses
on the trail and they will soon tramp its
road in deplorable condition. The pro b.
ability of one man in ten reaching the
Klondike is remote.
Old Alaska prospectors, some of whom
have wintered in the Yukon and know
what to expect, are becoming frightened
and turning back not that they fear the
har ships, but that they are auprehensive
OF a famine on account OF so many men
rushing headlong to the mines without
enough provisions to last them two
months.
Five men from Juneau, when they re-
allied tho condition of affairs, quickly
sold their outfits and will wait for the
spring Three of them have spent years
of their lives in the Yukon and they say
that 1t will be impossible to feed the great
mass of destitute people who will winter
in the mines.
They "size up" the situation thus !:
Nearly 5000 people have this year gone to
the KondIke over this route, and almost
an equal mum ber went around by St.
Michaels. This crowd, with the 5000 or
5000 that were and will remain there. will
increase the number to about $4,000 in
habitants.
One of the steamers, the Arctic, was lost,
and the old timers aver that it will be i'm
possible for the remainder OF the feet to
carry enough provisions up the river to
feed that many people. Instances are
witnessed here every day where men
throw away their provisions, except forty
or fifty pounds, and start for the El Do
RADIO.
If the reports are true that such classes
are being shipped down the river from
the mines the situation may not be so
bad.
The rush is made up of all kinds of peo-
pie. To-day L saw ex-Superior Judge Os-
born of Seattle start off up the trail with
a fifty-pound sack of -four strapped to his
back and leading a or-backed cayuse
that was staggering along with couple
of hundred pounds of bacon.
Yesterday the Judge and three or four
Indians, with lines over their shoulders,
were hauling a canoe up the Dyea River.
1t is indeed surprising, not to say dis
tres.ing, to observe the large number of
young men and boys, none of whom are
remotely equipped for the undertaking,
who are pushing into the gold fields.
They go about the camp armed like small
sized arsenals.
An amusing incident occurred up the
canyon last night when two young lads
from Seattle, one of whom was a clerk in
the First National Bank and the other
Charles Heick, who was staked by the
proprietor of the Rainier Grand, had some
trouble about six slices of bacon with the
Indians
Heck drew a large-sized revolver and
was taking bead on Chilcoot, when he
was seized by another Indian and his
arms and ammunition taken away. To
add insult to injury the Indians returned
to Dyea and swore out a complaint be.
fore Com missioner Smith for the arrest of
Heick.
The latter was fined $50. That was the
first trial in Dyea.
These two boys have raised the cost of
packing from II to 20 cents pound. The
Indians and white packers realize that
they are "easy," and are taking their
money away from thera.
The romance of the trip to the Klondike
was taken out of Joaquin Miller before he
reached Lake Lindeman. The poet
started off with flying colors, with his
abbreviated bill of fare" as he called his
forty pounds of grub and clothing. Before
he had reached Sheep Camp, at the foot
of the mountain range, he had engaged a
packer to carry his pack.
The trip up to the summit was an awful
tax on his physical strength and he was
terribly exhausted. At the end of the
third day he reached the first lake with
slightly sprained ankle. There he en-
gagged passage on barge that was taking
a few bead of cattle down the river to the
Kondike.
The road between here and Sheep Camp
is in bad condition. lThe mud is nearly