The San Francisco call., 1897-09-11

though her machinery may possibly be
saved.
There is mach sickness at Dawson
City. 1t is a very un h eslthy place, and
for some time typhoid has been raging
You can imagine what this means up
there, where there are no facilities for
caring for invaiIds and little of anything z
absolutely necessary to the recovery Of the
average typhoid patient. So far as | could
learn there is but one licensed doctor in
Dawson, and OF course be has much more
business than he can handle. There are
several other doctors about the place, but
they have no Government license and
dare nos practice. They help out where
they can, but it is tough to be sick up
there at the best. do not know how
many cases there are at this time and
cannot tell how many deaths have oc-
CURED, but it is sufficient to know that
typhoid is raging in a place of that kind.
You ask me about the reports OF small
pox, 100. | never heard of any smallpox
in the klondike and believe that it Is a
hoax sent out with purpose Lottie
Burns is in the forward cabin now, very
sick with typhoid. She came out from
Dawson and came aboard with the fever.
Everything possib bic has been done for her
by all Of us on the down trip, but the
chances are against her recovery"
"How bout the other routesP"
knowing but the one route through
which l made my way into the district l
can say but little as compared with others
that are now spoken Of as superior, but l
will say this for the Chilcoot, there is
nothing there that should interfere with
any well-equpped party getting through,
l don't care how small It may be. 1 expe-
rienced little difficulty in going in last
spring and would certainly go the same
way should l return next year.
"The extreme low water in the river is
one of the most serious obstacles in the
way Of getting food up to Dawson, even
were there any satisfactory means OF
TRANSPORTATION. l have heard on good
authority that there are places in the river
where there is less than three feet of
water, places that boats must pass. None
Of the boats draw less than three feet six
inches and while they might scrape and
tumble their way down stream under
take them up stream with load.
II want also to say word with refer
ence TO the shelter furnished in that
country, and point out another danger
that lies in the way of those getting in
the district late this season. The princi-
pal houses are of course made of logs, so
called up there, and are not only very ex-
pensive but hard TO build because of lack
of material at hand. A loghouse up
there is made from poles, the largest of
which measure about four inches in di-
ameter Poles of this size and of suffi-
cient length for ca bin cost from "a to SIS
a piece, so you may understand what 1t
means to build log cabin in the Klon-
dixie.
"It is my intention to report to my
friends in Portland the whole truth as |
found it on the Klondike, and use my in
huence to prevent any foolish expeditions
out of season. Iknow that / am voicing
the sentiments of every man that has
come out of the Klondike in the past few
months, and say that it is worse than
foolish to make any attempt to get into
the mines this year. 1t makes little diff
ference whether one goes equipped with
plenty food or not. AS | have explained
to you before, The one thing to do is to
stay out at least until next spring, and
every man in the district Will lndorse
what saw on this point
J. HI. Writ and j. b. ey, both OF
Seattle, are passengers on the Cleveland
and are two of the crew OF ship carpen-
ters who went to st. Michael TO build the
steamer Hamilton. They say that they
had good trip both up and down and
that their WORK on the steamer was very
satisfactory. After finishing the Hamil-
ton they built barge, which was launched
Immediately after it was completed. The
entire crew worked through the fever heat
of the Klondike excitement and not a
single man left his task to 90 to the
mines They are ali proud OF the work
they have done and speak in laud atory
tones Of the new vessel their hands built
Blu; for the adverse reports from the min es
at the time the men finished their ship
carpentering it is likely that something
like dozen of th eIn would have gone int
the Klondike. The news brought down
about the scarcity of food led them to
excepting c. Cam pbell and Ed Buckman
luey ali Cdiile SOutu. DuCkulan went 10
visit brother in Dawson City and Camp.
bell accepted position on the new
steamer which he helped to build.
The shipbuilders have the honor, if it
can be so called, of starting the first grave
yard at st. Michael. One of their num-
ber. George GrinEier of Seattle, died g
short time after the crew reached the
scene Of their labor. He lies on the island
and plain white cross, significant of his
faith. was placed over his grave. On the
cross is the namo of the first white man
ever buried on S.. Michael Island. Grin