The record-union., 1897-09-02


City and Tt Is Predicted That
There VIII be Intense Suffering
During the Winter Months.
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 1.-The ''Bul-
1etin' has received a letter from Charles
Haines, dated Dawson City, July 10th.
Mr. Haines is q welI-known newspaper
writer, and his letter is the first writ
ten by a trained newspaperman to come
out of the KIondil1e gold regions. He
says:
''The rich diggings have been compar-
atively idle during the summer, al
though the output from El Dorado and
Bonanza Creeks was enormous, and
there is plenty of gold in sight. There
is every prospect of an immense output
Of gold from the district next spring.
The total output this season is, as near
as I can judge. about $7,000,00O, but
very little ground has been worked, and
the dumps will like some of the tall
ings Of old California placers, pan out
thousands of dollars when worked with
improved machinery.
THE pIacers are the most puzzling
a man working on good color and
finding the ground worth only a few
dollars per day. and then turning to a
waste of mud and moss, with no surface
indications, and unearthing d bonanza.
That is the situation here and all over
Alaska
THE man who comes here to NINE
does so at the expense of health and
hi
of making a fortune quickly, or taking
chances with death. About me are
scores of men who can weigh their gold
by the bucketful, and who value their
claims at millions. Four hundred val
liable diggings are stretched along the
creeks, and every digging is a fabulous
mine of gold, yet there are weary men
who have gone and returned to Daw-
son after searching the great country
hereabout, and never a nugget do they
show for their toll, their long tramp
over broken ground and into a country
whose natural disadvantages are ex-
ceeded by no other place on earth.
This Alaska Northwest Territory
gold field is an odd prize-drawing prop
osition that I can liken to nothing that
admits of a better comparison than
on the creeks and rivers. and for one
year the miner labors. The year closes,
the water runs, and the seasons output
barely pays expenses. Not two miles
away from the unfortunate one works
a man who has taken from an unin-
viting bit of earth a sackful of gold.
The lucky one did not strike the pocket
because of his ability as q miner;
60 Il II
In short the miner guesses at it, and To-
Gates any and everywhere. In nineteen
cases out of twenty he misses it, and
he waits another year for a new trial.
Dawson is merely q collection of log
huts, saloons and mass of tents, about
600 in number. When the long nights
come and the glass goes down to 65 de-
grees below zero there win be intense
suffering here. and I shudder to think
of the results. Provisions are going
to be very scarce, and there is little rea-
son to doubt that the entire town will
have to so on short rations during the
winter. and that scurvy will be ram
pant.
''The gold that will go down the river
for San Francisco and Seattle will
amount to about $1,000, 000 There is
for it is used as an equivalent of money,
and is legal tender at S17 per ounce
OF the 5000 or 1000 inhabitants, only
a couple of hundred at the most have
made big strikes. There is plenty of
work at from SO to 500 per day, and
many men have paid 81 80 per day or
less for living, and saved the balance.
Reports of strikes are constantly re-
~osr-o4 Na,sa ~ oY7x- ora orf+bn,, 4fo
so far as Stewart and Pelly Rivers are
concerned, but nothing like so rich as
the Klondike has been reported.
quite a number of people are prepar-
ing to leave here for Juneau in case
the steamers do not get through with
provisions, and the outlook for a good
grub supply is not encouraging.
I'm conclusion. the Alaska and North
west Territory gold fields VIII be devel-
oued slowly. Ten thousand men may
come here, but they will be lost in the
vast country when they spre7d out to
prospect. Not more than 800 of them
will strike a mine. When they do
strike pay gravel their fortunes viii be
made. In years to come. when at the
sacrifice of human life and energy the
treasures of this great land are located,
the wealth OF the North viii be some
thing beyond comprehension.
THOUSANDS AT SKAGUAY.
PORT TOWNSEND, Sept 1.-The
steamer Farallon arrived tonight. six
days from Dyea and Skaguay The
officers of the steamer tell interesting
stories of the condition of affairs AT
both landings They say that at Dyea
the people are slowly but surely cross
ing the divide, and the road for ten
miles up the canyon is strewn with
tents. provisions, discarded baggage
and dead horses. Less than 1000 peo-
pie are on the beach at Dyea. as all
make efforts to get across the divide as
soon as landed.
At Skaguay things present a differ
ent appearance. there being between
5000 and COCO people at that place.
Less than fifty men have succeeded in
getting across White Pass, and hun
dreds have given MP trying to cross
until spring. The steamers officers
say rain has fallen continuously there
for eight days, and that it is utterly
impossible to cross. All kinds of busi-
ness is flourishing Many are selling
outfits for little or nothing. while 9th
ers are buying everything offered for
sale, and using the same to stock gem