The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-11-07


to return as far back as st. Mchaeps, but
no further and would not guarantee to get
through in case of a freeze in the river.
So the 'kickers" have decided to accept
that horn of the dilemma. Those who win
ter here will be taken UP to Dawson by the
first boat in the spring.
The statement of Captain Ray and his
brother officers has been given in full be-
cause it is a fair, unbiased representation
of the facts, and gives a concise view OF
the situation at the end Of the great rush
of 1897, so far as the Yukon route is con-
cerned. 1t will be source of much COM
fort to the thousands outside" who nave
friends and relatives wintering in Alaska to
learn from this semi-official statement what
to expect from, and how to plan for those
friends. Then, too, it may prevent the dis
sen1ination of the exaggerated reports that
always follow any friction between the
transportation companies and their patrons
and do much to confuse those who intend
to come into the country next spring by
way of the river.
A NEW METROPOLIS.
The uncertainty and impermanence OF
mining towns are proverbial. Forty Mile"
so long the Mecca of the Alaska miner, was
well-night depopulated in day when the
only twelve short months ago. This little
trading past, with its pompous title of fort,
and nothing else military about it, Circle
City, and all the other old-time towns and
settlements. rushed pell nell to stake claims
on the Klondike, Bonanza or FL Dorado,
and thus Dawson was soon the capital city
and took on all the airs usual to such cir
cumstances. But now the stampede is to-
ward the quiet old Fort Yukon again. Much
as the glittering sands of Dawson might al
lure the well-fed miner and tenderfoot alike,
it is another question when starvation
stares them in the face. The gold is being
abandoned now for the more prosacic but
far more necessary bacon and flour. And
so it has come to pass that all the deserted
cabins of old Fort Yukon are inhabited
again and many new ones being built.
The arrivals are fifteen to twenty daily,
and will constantly increase as the news
travels up the river that no more boats,
and, consequently, no more provisions, can
go up this year. There will be immense
exodus from Dawson as soon as the facts
are known, and, so long as the boats and
canoes and RATS can be made to do duty,
the rush to Fort Yukon will continue. I'm
fortunately, that cannot be very long, at
best, for the river is likely to freeze up
any night now, and then their escape will
be cut off. Sledging is feasible, but dogs are
scarce, and it makes the trip too expensive
for the majority and especially for the very
ones who will need most to get away-the
multitude who spent their every dollar in
getting to Dawson, expecting that all their
troubles would then be ended but only to
realize now that they have just commenced.
The distance from here to Circle City is
1v,Jxy asr p~,iIa hat hn hn
are there can make the trip easily, even if
the river freezes, bat those at Forty Mile,
800 miles from here, and those at Dawson,
372 miles, must come quickly or not at all.
From all the closer trading posts and dis
tricts the miners are scurrying in to this
point, so that long before the arctic night
settles upon us we will have the largest
city in Alaska.
The situation at Fort Yukon is really the
most natural site for a large town of any
point on the Yukon. The Porcupine river, a
large, though rocky and boisterous stream,
flows into the Yukon at this place. and
while it is not navigable, yet the valley
through which it runs is a wide one and
contains many Indian and Eskimo settle
ments. There are reports just now af1oat,
emanating, it is supposed, from party of
Swedes that has recently come in, that
there is q very rich district far up the Por-
cupine and to the northeast of its head
waters that will eclipse even the Klondike
in the spring. But the air is full of such
rumors. 1t is only the vague expression of
the universal feeling that next year is to
witness some fabulous Strikes" and the
opening of new and greater sections than
any so far discovered.
The Yukon flats" commence at this
point and for eighty miles the river widens
out to perfect sea of shallow water, with
countless islands, at least a thousand, and
a thousand channels running criss-cross in
every direction like an ancient labyrinth.
1t is supposed that this part of the river
was at one time an immense lake. The
islands are all heavily timbered, have an
almost impenetrable underground and TEEN
with rabbits, squirrels and grouse AS long
ago as 1S4S a Hudson Bay Company factor,
named Murray selected this place as the
site for trading post and gave it its pres
ent name. In 1869 the United States govern
ment caused the company to remove to Ca
madam soil, and it was then that Rampant
House, the present important station on the
Porcupine, was founded. Fort" has no
meaning in the case of these trading posts,
except to indicate that it was headquarters
Tor one Oh the f1uuSOn Day VI
agents. The word house is often used in
the same way, as Rampant House, Rocky
Mountain House and similar appellations.
The houses in the town are all alike, being
squatty, log affairs about twenty feet long
and twenty fet wide, with low fiat roofs
made of poles and moss, with a thick layer
of dirt on top of ALL The family plum
DER" that usually is relegated to the attic
in civilized countries, is thrown on the roof
of these mansions. and they present some
curious spectacles; sleds, skins, broken
china, bones, gold pans and all sorts of
odds and ends ornament these veritable
roof gardens for each season each roof pro-
duces an immense crop of weeds, and these
lend decidedly unique appearance to the
town. We arrived from Dawson among the
very first, and left there by small boats,
and were fortunate enough to secure one Of
the tightest little cabins in this settlement
To be sure, it has only one little door, and
a still smaller, a very much smaller-win-
dow, and the floor is of dirt and the walls
are very rough and bare and the poles
which support the roof are wholly innocent
of covering or ornamentation, but after
trip down the Yukon in September in frail
skiff and with no place to sleep but the
r;xyar bop If ceamG very caZV and de-