The San Francisco call., 1897-01-03

ing is enormous, and even employment at
$40 per day for sixty days out of the year
will not enable man to grow rich very
rapidly. Even employ for wages is
scarce, there being several applicants for
every job. Owing to the high prices for
supplies, no claim that does not pay at
least $40 day to each man working can
be worked except at loss. Many compe-
tent men who engage in mining here and
work faithfully experience failure and
are unable to earn enough to buy proVi-
sions
''In such a situation it is very difficult
to make ones way out of the country, for
the journey up the river along the usual
route requires upward of thirty days
hard work, and provisions must be bought
for the trip. The trip down the river and
back to civilization by steamer is very ex-
pensiye, and of late years the number
seeking to get out in that way has ex-
ceeded the carrying capacity of the few
steamers. Last year fully $50 men who
wished and intended to leave the country
by steamer were unable to do so, and are
still there.
"Under the conditions which now exist,
there are quite enough in the Yukon dis
trict already, and the object of this article
is TO discourage people from rushing there
without due consideration. Probably
80 out of every 100 men are untitled by
nature for such a life as Yukon mining
necessitates, and had much better never
make the attempt. The hundredth man
must be a miner and frontiersman by
nature, strong and patient, hard worker,
and lover of secluded life. Even such
man will very likely fail on account of
the large element of chance. and the most
successful miner obtains only few thou
sand dollars in profit after a number of
years patient work.
"Any great increase in the number of
men going into the Yukon district would
be disastrous, on account of the strict
limits of the food supply and facilities for
transportation. The result would be
famine, disorder and failure. Several years
ago this actually happened, when all the
Forty-mile miners were without food and
were obliged to travel down the Yukon
over the ice to st. Mchaels in the dead of
winter, terrible journey of nearly 1000
miles. At that time there were only a
few men in the country, but if the num-
ber mad been very much larger, even this
resource would have been impossible.
'My general advice to the average man
intending to go to the Yukon gold dis
trict is-to stay out. Many men go there
every year and suffer hardship, failure,
loss of capital, and sometimes health. If
any one undertakes the trip he should
take with him enough supplies to last as
long as he intends to stay-one year, two
years, or whatever amount. He should
have money enough to last him into the
country and out again, if necessary, and
should start early enough in the season
to enable him to return up the river if he
intends to come out the same year, for the
facilities for transportation by steamer
are likely to be entirely inadequate.
81. EDWARD SPURR,
United States Geological Survey"
The accompanying illustrations, which
are drawn from photographs taken by
members of Mr.. Spurr's party, show ex-
actly what sort of country and people
one sees in that desoat region where
Mammon, IN chill and hideous garb, holds
sway over all. 1t is more than probable
that the next five years Will see an army
of adventurers ana host of legitimate
miners brave the dangers and discomtorts
OF this locality, which, unlike California,
Will never be made to blossom like the
rose, though it may yield the riches of
the Indies.