The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1897-09-20
AID TOR KLl)NDIEEBS
7 Nay Be Sent BY the Government If
Deemed Necessary.
SECRETARY ALeER's ACTIVITY.

The Head OF the War Department In-
vestigating Methods For Reaching
Dawson City Should the Inhabitants
Be Threatened With Starvation.
Washington. Sept. 2O--Two repre-
sentatives of the North American
Trading and Transportation company,
MGssrs. Porteus b. Weare and Michael
Cudahy. of Chicahy of Chicago, arrived
here yesterday, They came at the
special request of Secretary of War
Alger, who desired to confer with them
in regard to the question of sending
relief supplies to the gold seekers in
the Klondike country should the in
vestigation now being made by Cap
tain Ray, Of the army. show such
measures to be necessary. Shortly
after their arrival in the city the two
gentlemen went to the residence of
Secretary Alger where they remained
in consultation with him the greater
part of the evening. The possibility Of
the need of government aid to the
miners during the coming winter was
preached by Secretary Alger in a cab
met meeting during the past week, the
secretary feeling that the interests of
humanity dictated that some feasible
plan whereby aid could be extended
should be determined upon, in the
event 1t was found necessary. Last
nights conference was mainly q pre-
liminary one, In which. however, the
whole question was gone over in a
very thorough manner. Mr.. Weare,
who has spent some time In Alaska,
was able to give the secretary much
information bearing upon the topog-
raphy, climate, distances from place to
place and other conditions which would
have to be confronted If aid were un-
dertaken. Secretary Alger said today
that nothing final had been determined
upon, and that nothing would be until
a report had been received from Cap
tain Ray. The latter is supposed to be
now at Dawson City, and his report is
expected here about the middle of
October.
An important matter upon which
Secretary Alger especially desired the
opinion of Messrs. Weare and Cudahy
was the feasibility of a locomotive sled
designed to draw logs and other ma
terial over ice. This has been In sue
cessful operation in the logging camps
in Wisconsin, and its adaptability to
this work Influenced the secretary to
believe it might be put into practical
operation in Alaska should relief
measures be necessary. The representa-
tives of the Trading company had ex-
amined a drawing of the Sled and had
its working briefly explained to them,
and they expressed the opinion that 1t
might be feasible for the purpose con-
templated. Secretary Alger's idea is
that the sleds might be taken up to st.
Michaels by ship, but even If this were
not possible he believes they could be
taken piecemeal over the Chilkoot pass
and thence to the Yukon Messrs. Weare
and Cudahy say there are ample pro-
visions for 5000 men for one year at st.
Michaels, and they believe II found
necessary the sleds could be used to
transport these supplies to Dawson City
during the coming winter.
Secretary Alger has received letter
from the superintendent of construc-
ton for the patentee of the sleds in
which the writer says he understands
that the Yukon river freezes soliGly I
enough to be used as a road, also that
between White pass and Fort Selkirk, a
distance of $50 miles, the land Ia prac-
tically level and good wagon road can
be easily made. That, he says, is with
in 200 miles Of Dawson City, and the
river would furnish the road the rest of
the wav