The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1897-09-03
UPON A FALSE BASIS.
THE a HORRIBLE kLONDYKE
CRAZE A LOGICAL RESULT.
or The Financial Policy Which Makes
All Human Energies and Industries
subsersient to Gold-Clinton Furblah
Writes His Views.

nrst we read of returning heroes who
nad struck it rich up in klondyke.
they came back to civilization with
such treasure as would enable them to
let others toll while they enjoyed all
the delights and distinction that come
TO men OF wealth and intelligence.
mere were hints Of %hardships endured
out these were only such embellish-
nents as are given by heroes modestly
ana with reluctance. One of the fortu-
mates told Of the fate of his partner.
ne mad been for three years enduring
the extremes of Arctic winters when
the hlondyke craze was new. He was,
therefore, of little more use for active
work. He had been left to care for
the camp while the stronger came down
Win the dust to secure supplies for the
coming winter. In view of later de-
TAILS II IS easy to see why the worked
OUT partner was left to care for the
camp. Noting the contents of rough
Dass' cans, and other convenient re-
cep'acles borne by the adventurous
ones thousands are rushing to Klon-
oyke. Steamboats, are crowded to over
moving, and still the multitude presses
mao with the one desire to reach the
frozen gulches. Nor has this wild ON
Jest been diminished by later details.
IN some degree it seems that the more
horrible the picture the more intense
the craze becomes. There are others
VINO would care for the dying and
then divide the dust"
n what are these later lights
thrown on the picture? We knew in a
way of the dangerous water
voyages in such craft as might be found
IN that section. We had been told
OF the hundreds of miles of
passes over which the pilgrims must
cl'1ho. 1t was no new thing that
bitter cold prevailed through the lone
winter season. But gentle woman had
endured these hardships. Young brides
a followed their husbands, and lived
IN such habitations as might be ex-
pected where palaces boosted of two
rooms. One such had returned satisfied
10 leaVe her husband in the ditch while
sue would spend at home what he could
make. But now come stragglers with
no thought Of retracing their steps over
those horrible mountain passes. and in
giving advice and warning to intending
explorers make clear what should have
been known before. In preparing for
hiondyke one must provide himself
with one suit of the very heaviest IN
oerWear.' No need of two suits. Win
ter comes suddenly up there. and when
once o have put on winter clothes
they can not be taken off till the snm-
mer sun shall have removed the LANCER
OF such ~1mprudence. If cleanliness be
next to goodness, then there must he
little OF the latter on the Klondyke
where a bath during the nine months
OF winter means death. But it is also
not up there among the glaciers. No
night blesses the toiler under the SIM
mer sun. And the Thermometer aloe
rest from the winter cold by climbing
a hundred degrees above zero. And
these are the months when man mus+
work washing out what he has duo
during the winter.
From such variations OF heat and cola
there must be logical results. Natnre.e
laws are the same in Alaska as IN
South Africa. Looking up at each and
OF the Brooklyn bridge we see two 80
those long arms that reach down fror
above differing from the others =,
that they are wider apart at the haso
during midsummer than in tho oo1don
months. The explanation is found =,
the necessity for an expansion Joint to
allow for the effects of varying temner
allure, and we are told that the str,,o-
ture would not last long without s,cb
appliances. h range of heat and cold
is far greater in Klondyke than il
Brooklyn. Up in those frozen rep;one
the same causes produce the same eff
1ects. n so we learn that the
gulches are becoming one great grave
yard of exhausted humanity. In their
"lld eagerness men have neglected TO
consider their strength and have WELD
ed to the inevitable, while their treas-
ure has been divided among those who
cared for them" In better phrase n
would be said to have been divided
among those who watched for them tn
ole. But what chance would there
lave. been for a return in their weak
ened condition? Hundreds of miles If
mountain passes where the gnides
force the impatient traveller to camp
for a month at a time in snow and
sleet, because of the danger in those
lndescribable storms. The paths are