The San Francisco call., 1897-07-21
ON GOES THE RUSH.
A Full List for the Excelslor-The
Choke of Transportation
Routes.

The Alaska Commercial Company yes.
terday closed its books for the Excelsior,
which will leave for st. Michaels on the
2Sth inst. Scores focked TO the company's s
office again Yesterday. and enough decided
to go that way to make up the 200 which
the steamer can carry.
A great aiority go from San Francisco,
but number belong to the interior of the
State, which is greatly supplying recruits
Tor the Yukon. This 200 is but q small
part of the California army which is mus
tering for the advance. Thousands in
San Francisco long to 60, hundreds have
about made up their minds to 60 and
scores, and perhaps hundreds, will go this
summer, majority taking the Juneau
route. A great many will let the season
for travel close with a firm intention of
going in The spring, but there Will be many
a story to read and digest before next
spring.
Yesterday the talk about the Yukon
was even more general and the fever
higher that the day before. Many little
parties are completing arrangements to
go. One feature of the talk is the run OF
popular imagination in the way of enter
prise. 1t is one mans idea that it would
be brilliant stroke to ship in a lot of
burros, as transportation is so meager and
costly. A great many see the brilliant op-
portunity afforded to charter vessels or
otherwise ship in stocks of whisky, proyi-
sions. etc. The transportation situation
does promiss many developments within
a few months. Several schemes to start
transportation lines by sea and the Yukon
River are already talked of, and If the
boom last another year some of them will
develop.
The one great need of the YUKON coun.
try now is freight transportation. The
present rush makes the situation like
herd OF sheep iamned at gate. The
Alaska Commercial Company and the
NorthAmerican Transp portation and Trad
ing Company own all the boats plying on
the Yukon, the former having five and
the latter three. They also have practi.
cal monopoly of the merchandise business
OF the gold region. Their own steamers
are inadequate to carry in all the mer-
chandise with which they want to stock
their stores, and they refuse to carry any
thing but little personal baggage for any
body. They would probably refuse freight
from rivals If they had steamer-room to
spare. To ship goods to the Yukon
country by river would involve not only
an ocean vessel to st. MichaeIs, but the
building of river steamer at the north, to
make the trip OF over 2000 miles up the
river. So these two companies have a
"cinch" in river transportation for this
season at least
1t is nearly as bad by the Juneau route.
That 25-mile climb over the pass TO the
laae from which boats and RATS NAV be
used involves packing everything for that
distance. That is long, hard and ex-
pensiVe at best, but in the present crush
and craze 1t would be next to an impossi-
billty to hire men to carry a small stock
OF goods over the mountains. Nearly
everybody up there is going to the Klon.
dyke, and in this rush the few packer.
left are hard TO get at fabulous prices.
All this explains the danger of a short
age OF provisions in the interior this win
ter or next spring. Nothing can be packed
IN few weeks hence. The commercial
companies are sending in all the merchan-
disc they can crowd on their boats. but
liquors take up such great proportion of
the room, ana hardware, dry goods and
so on take up so much more, that the
amount OF provisions thus going in is linn
ited. From early in September until next
July the population of the Yukon must
subsist on what has already been brought
in, and in this time of excitement the
proportion OF provisions to population
must be accidental.