The herald., 1897-11-29

cation would only be- for summer. A
railroad would be for all the year. Thu
Dalton trail goes over a very easy coun-
try of remarkably light grades. Its tive
SUBMITS are low, and the salt water ter
minus at Haines Mission, Chilkat, is ar
exceedingly fine one. A. c. Berger is In
the field surveying this route. We passed
him fourteen miles from Chilkat. He
is reported to have capital behind him
He said his company will begin work by
the first of January. Mr.. Macarthur. a
surveyor sent by the English govern
ment, went over the Dalton trail last
summer. He was led by Mr.. Dalton.
He was we'll satisfied with the route and
the grades.
"Of course, my opinion in this matter
is worth little, but feel how important
it is that a railroad should be built
through that country. Somewhere
quartz and placer mines of great extent
and richness are to be found in the
country through which we passed, and
it is my deliberate opinion that Califor-
MIA and Australia are likely to have their
past and present vastly outdistanced by
the development Of the next ten years In
that wide region. OF course, too, fairly
paying placers and wide, low-grade
quartz will be the rule. In saying this
I am not dreaming of adding stimulus
to the wild and blind helter-skelter rush
of aimless people. who have and will
be tumblng in all sorts of unprepared
shapes into that wild country.
at was a study in this connection to
see men apparently almost crazed with
haste breaking their necks almost III
rushing over the Skaguay trails to get
on toward Klondike, and later on to see
them in Dawson loafing around the
muck-hole streets there. doing nothing,
waiting for rich strikes which they ex
pected and did not find. Nearly all of
them were short of provisions, and the
great majority were suffering from the
blues and intense disappointment
Eight out of ten of them wished they had
not come. 1t was generally prophesied
at Dawson that there would next sum-
mer and fall be nearly as great hegire
of outgoers as of incomers. Some very
rich strikes. none of which were made
last summer and fall, may change this.
Transportation both ways on the river
can hardly be overdone."
In the opinion of Mr.. Magee, no large
amount was brought down on the
steamer. A very small amount of gold
dust can be brought overland, and he
did not think that the drafts carried by
Ferguson and Leak who had the largest
amount. would exceed $4,000.
MAGEES TRIP OUT
Mr.. Magee thus graphically describes
his trip out over the Dalton trail:
1.-THE town of Dawson boasted of only
one steamboat, named the Kiukuk She
was old. rickety and utterly broken
down. She had just made two trips up
the river, 200 miles, to Selkirk, taking
over eight days in each case to make the
trip.
zone would not have cared to make a
short trip in her In calm weather on an
inland river. Yet 200 passengers, at
least, in Dawson, utterly disappointed
by the non arrival of the big steamers
from St. Michaels, were willing to trust
their lives for over 1900 miles down the
river on this old shell. Twelve Of us
arranged to have her bought and make
this trip on her but Capt. Hanson of the
Alaska Commercial company persuaded
ingly doubtful that even if she made the
trip to St. Miehaels in safety we would
find an ocean steamer there. Therefore
we decided to go up the Yukon to Fort
Selkirk (Pelly), 200 miles further to
Chilkat.
Seven days were spent on this steam
er, and instead of taking us to Selkirk
she took us a distance of about thirty
five miles only. Her machinery broke
down from one to three times a day, and
she was constantly running aground.
"On one occasion, through misman-
agement, she was driven head-on at full
speed on to a rocky shore, where her
bow was torn away and her whole frame
shaken. But for double protection in her
bow she would have sunk. At the end
of the seventh day, surrounded by heavy
pack ice in the river, the trip was given
up and we all returned to Dawson. This
move cost us 5000 apiece.
After this failure to get up the Yukon
I met Jack Dalton in Dawson. He had
just come down from Selkirk with three
large RATS containing about five car
casses of cattle and horses and 200 sheep.
This meat he sold for 81 to s1.25 a pound.
1t will prove of vital value in keeping
the wolf of famine from the people of
Dawson. Mr.. Dalton is one of the best
known men in the Yukon region and
the Dalton trail is named after him. He
intended, with three of his men, to re-
turn at once to Selkirk, polling and tow
ing his canoes up stream. From that
point, with five horses, he meant to go
over his trail, distance Of $40 miles, to
Chilkat. Three old Yukon miners, Fer
guson, Celine and Leak, were going with
him. He agreed that we should accom-
pany him. In a canoe, with one of the
Indians and Ferguson, my son and l
left Dawson on October IA, with about
600 pounds of food and personal effects.
Mr.. Dalton, two days later, with an
Indian, in a 14-foot shell, and about 200
pounds of freight, followed. He over
took us ten days out and when the ice
was running very heavily in the Yukon.
On the fourth day we encountered very
severe obstacles in crossing the river
at point where it was much too deep
for polling. After two hours work and
repeated danger of drowning we finally
got across. The ice in the main river
grew worse daily until the ninth day,
when in slough with raging current,
high banks and overhanging trees, we
were caught in nearly ice-closed water.
Further progress seemed impossible.
The Indian grew wild over the dreadful
obstacles. He exhausted his vocabulary
of filthy English and Indian oaths over
and over again, and finally, in combined
rage and despair, broke wholly down and
cried.
To f,1rthar l.