The record-union., 1897-10-24
RETURNING KLONDIKERS.
SAY THERE WILL BE MUCH
PRIVATION AT DAWSON.
at Least One Thousand People
Will Have to Flee From Inn
pending Starvation.

| SEATTLE, Oct. 23.-The steamer
Humboldt arrived tonight at 10
o'clock with five men from Dawson
| City, leaving there September Both,
and three men from Munaok and other
points on the Yukon. They say no
gold will come out this fall, as this
steamer has taken the last of those
who have come down the Yukon. The
river is already frozen hard, and the
river boats laid up for the winter. The
Humboldt left St. Michaels October
9th.
The five men from Dawson are: John
F. Miller and Frank E. Sims of this
| city, G. A. Harrison of Atchison, Kas.,
William Dubell, New Jersey and Will
| lam Braund of Black Diamond, Wash
They were passengers on the river
steamer Margaret.
! When they found the mouth of the
| river blocked with ice, they resolved
to come overland at all hazards. For
seven days they crept forward through
terrible wind and snowstorns. Some
of them fell in their tracks and had 10
be helped by their stronger compan-
ions. They crossed rivers covered
with thin coatings of ice by lying down
and pushing their packs before them,
and at night they sought shelter from
the storm by huddIing in an Eskimo
tent, or entirely unprotected from the
biting wind save by blankets.
or the five or six thousand people
| in Dawson and vicinity at least 1000
will be obliged to flee from impending
starvation. Up to September Sd, when
the Miller party left Dawson, new ar
rivals numbered from three to twenty
per day, and there is no doubt that the
ratio will be continued all winter.
Three hundred men were working in
the gulches, and in the hills were sew
eral hundred prospectors, all of whom
knew nothing of the shortage, and We're
| depending on the company stores for
provisions One way of relief is open
TO the miners. Five hundred or 1000
could winter at Circle City, 100 miles
below Dawson, and draw their supplies
| by dog train from Fort Yukon. Circle
| City has 500 houses, and is said to be
the largest log cabin town in the world.
| John F. Miller says there will not
necessarily be starvation, but certainly
miners will suffer extreme privations
| Five hundred men intended to come
down the river, but that is closed and
they cannot get out. There is nc, doubt
| alive to the situation for six weeks
| Our leaving said Sims. was the
| beginning of a stampede for grub.
Transportation companies at st. Mi
chaels and Fort Yukon claim the
liquor traffic has had no effect on the
supply of provisions. Not more than
thirty tons of liquor, they say, has gone
into the country. With the blockade
| OF the Yukon, every possibility van
| lshes of treasure by the steamer Port
land No gold will come out this year
There is any amount of gold at Daw-
son. 1t is not unusual to see horses
| loaded with dust. But the mines are
owned by men who know their value
"One sees money on every hand" say
| the returning miners, sit seems plenti-
! ful, but you must remember it was
more plentiful in the United States
treasury and is just as hard to get.
People who flock to the mines expect
| ing to pick gold up in the grass roots
| do not realize what they are up
| against
There is no doubt that a large
amount of treasure will come from the
Yukon basin next year, if the miners
| can get enough to eat to continue drift
| ing through the winter. The gold sent
| out early this year will not be cir
cumstance to the output of next year.
| Mr. Miller says nothing of consider
| able value has been found this smum-
/ mer. There is not an inch of ground
unstaked on the Klondike The fol-
lowing-pamed creeks have been To-
Gated: Sulphur, Quartz and Moose
| Hide for a distance of twelve miles
above the mouth; Henderson, Domin-
ion and Victoria Gulch. Moose Hide
/ Creek is five miles below Dawson
/ Henderson Greek is twelve miles above
| Stewart River, and Victoria Gulch is
twelve miles below Stewart River.