The record-union., 1897-08-30
Facts and Figures Fit For Serious
Confederation.
1t VIII BE Impossible to Land Suf-
fcient Food at Dawson to Sup
port the Population Already
Dependent on that Base of Sup
plies-Men Who Realize the
Danger and Are Coming Out to
Escape the Effects.

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 29.-W. A.
Ryan, one of the special correspondents
of the Associated Press now en- route
to the Klondike gold fields, writes from
st. Michaels Island, Alaska, under date
Of August 10th, as follows:
Nearly 300 impatient gold seekers are
fretting here in enforced idleness,
awaiting the arrival of Yukon River
steamers to transport them to the up
per river, Dawson and the diggings at
the Klondike. OF this number 16O
came on the steamship Portland and
113 on the Excelsior. There seems to
be little hope for a speedy transfer, as
the P. B. Weare, of the North Ameri-
can Trading and Transportation Com
pany, is now more than week over
due and such severe windstorms are
prevailing that the company's new
the Charles H Hamilton can
not possibly venture out.
For two days she lay upon the rocks,
threatened with destruction and was
only gotten out of danger yesterday.
Two days after she was launched she
was blown ashore. The damage to her
hull will postpone her departure for
nearly a week. The high winds will
also prevent the Portland from unload
ing or transferring her passengers. The
of the steamship Excelsior
are compelled to remain aboard the
vessel until the arrival of the steamers
Alice and Bella, due about the both
inst The waiting passengers have
this thought to beguile them, that there
is grave danger of a famine on the
klondike. According to all reports
from the upper country, it will be inn
possible to land sufficient food at Daw-
son to support the population already
dependent on that base of supplies.
During the voyage of the steamship
Excelsior to this port, an associa ton
for mutual benefit and advantage was
formed by the passengers. Upon the
arrival at ST. Michaels, reports were so
discouraging concerning the food sup
ply that a special meeting of the asso-
citation was held and a committee APP
pointed to wait upon the Alaska Com
mercial Company and demand that each
passenger be allowed to purchase a
years supply of food at this place and
that transportation be furnished for the
same. The managers are at present at
fore the latter part of this month. r. ID.
Lying, local agent for the company, de-
clares that there will be a scarcity of
provisions at Dawson. According to
his official advices there are from 200u
to 5000 idle men in Dawson and new
parties arriving every day by way of
Chilcoot Pass. He says that the total
am ount of freight landed in Dawson
this year will not exceed 1000 tons. of
which amount only $500 will be pro-
visions.
Miners returning from the upper
country who left the klondike in the
middle of July say that provender was
already running very low and that it
went out of the warehouses just about
as fast as it was put in off the steam
ers. They say that the old timers real
ize the situation and that the down
river boats will be crowded with men
eager to get to some safe place to WIN
ter. Distress and death are predicted
by them as the result of the Klondike
craze.
William Ogilvie, Dominion Land Sur
Veyor, who has been making a topo-
graphical survey of the British pos
sessions along the Klondike, is here
on his way to Ottawa, having been re-
called by the Dominion Government. He
will return home by way of San Fran
cisco. He has been called home for
over important matters af-
fecting the new gold fields and will
make a report embodying suggestions
for new mining laws, governing the
sale of liquors and the taking of wood
for fuel and many other points of OBJ
Seryation where custom alone estab-
lished the right which is more honored
in the breach than in the observance.
He has made a census of the produc-
tion of the new fields and finds that
twenty three claims produced SS26, 900.
and says that $70000,000 is no exag-
gerated estimate of the amount that
will be produced by the 130 claims on
Bonanza, Hunker and FL Dorado in
three years.
There were twenty persons here
when the Excelsior arrived who had
come down the river from the diggings,
fifteen of whom were miners. They
are said to have all the way from $780,
900 to 100000 among them. Few care
to say exactly how much they have.
preferring to remain silent on that
point, giving as their reasons the fact
that they have too little money, COM
pared to what those who went out ear
lier took away with them c. B. and
z. B. Patrick, father and son, brought
out $4,000. They took passage on
sailing vessel out of port two days af-
ter they arrived. Frederick w. Cobb.
of Boston, is credited with $4,000: c.
K. Zilly Of Seattle, with a like amount:
Thomas Rowan of Sitka, is SIC, 900 bet
ter off: w w. Caldwell Of Denver. 500
600; Timothy c. Bell of Vancouver, has
S31 900 in Canadian money, the result
of the sale of his holdings; G. S. Ian
sing of Bozeman, Mont, has $4,000
The others refuse to say how much
they have. The remaining members of
the party are Winfield Oler of Balti-
more, VIM. Zahn of Minneapolis. B.
H. Farman of Goodell, Ia; Z. Buckley
of st. Joseph, Mo-; NJ. N Goweler of
Winnipeg, Thomas r. Dunkerley of Ia
coma and n. w. Powers of Tucson,
Each has won what is called
in this region a home stake namely