The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1897-09-19

hermann IN TWO days. returning 10
Dyea on the third day, thus making two
trips a week. White men carry from 10
to 100 and 125 pounds, and it takes a
man with an adequate outfit a month to
get to the lake. There are manv here
who have been fivs or six weeks pack
ing their outfits over, and are not ready
to start down the river yet. All who
have come to Skaguay or Dyea within
the last week or two. who have come
in with a sufficient outfit, have paid
forty cents or more a pound. or do not
get in at all.
There are about 200 men here and
forty tents. Probably three or four
boats are getting away every day with
from two TO five passengers. There is
one sawmill here. with a capacity of
thousand feet day. and it has all he
orders it can fill in three weeks Lumber
is 5000 thousand, and rising. A great
many whipsaw their lumber, two men
turning ont about a hundred feet a
day. A boat carrying three men sells
for 500 to $500, according to the purse
of the purchaser
wages OF carpenters are 81 % a
day and board. Everything is high in
y
is % cents a drink, and s. a bottle, and
poor stuff at that. Alcohol is worth $40
a gallon. 1t makes ten gallons of Lake
Lindermann whisky. Meals cannot be
had for money, as everyone is holding
on to his provisions.
I never saw so much selishness any
where as is displayed on this trail You
pass hundred people withouE receiving
a response to your respectful Good
morning" and soon learn to keep your
mouth shut. There are so many on the
trail that it is like walking along the
streets of a city-the individual is lost
in the passing throng, and you are
recognized only by acquaintance. If
you ask for food in nine cases out Of ten
it will be refused.
+ 4 will close this letter with the. ex-
PLANTATION that it has been written I'M
der great mental stress and physical
suffering. l have tried to give you a
fair idea Of the hardships of this coun-
try, but feel my incapability to paint its
terrors. 1t is out of my line [ will
simply say that no one who has writ
ten on the subject has ever stated it's
difficulties. A man who got in to-day
over the Skaguay trail says that it is
even worse. He counted 172 dead horses
along the trail, and several men have
met with serious accidents. such as
a broken ankle, leg, etc. Several deaths
from drowning have occurred on both
trails, the swift current carrying pack
ers down stream. and their packs rem
dering them helpless.
Some movement ought to be made at
fn
bound to follow Every steamship that
has brought people up will have all it
can do for at least two trips in carrying
the unsuccessful people back to civiliza-
ton. and there ought to be some way to
force them to perform the service with
out compensation.
SAMUEL G. DUNHAM"
EFFORTS TO PREVENT A FAMINE.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 1S-Secretary
Algef- is now engaged in an attempt to
solve the question of how to get sup
plies into the Klondike gold regions.
and thereby prevent the threatened
starvation of many miners. The great
Yukon River, which has formed the
main reliance of the miners as the
means of getting their supplies UP to
Dawson. is without doubt already
closed to navigation by boats. and the
movement by Chilcoot is almost i'm
passable. The problem is. therefore,
a hard one, and has taxed the best
thought of General Alger and his
brother Cabinet officers. and of the
President, where the subject has been
earnestly discussed
Now. however, it is believed by the
Secretary, by means of q novel char
acter, transportation for supplies into
the gold country may be provided, even
in the midst of an Alaskan winter. He
has opened correspondence, Indirect
ly, with Chicago inventor who makes
a locomotive especially adapted for use
in log camps but which may be readily
adapted to the navigation of the Yukon
when it is frozen thickly. With a few
of these machines placed on the river.
il is proposed that a sufficient supply
of food ard other necessary stores NAV
be carried up the Yukon to relieve all
distress among the miners.
The Secretary has already had some
experience with this kind of locomotive.
so thai the scheme is not so radical an
experiment as it would at first be
thought to be. When engaged in lum-
bering in the Northwest he tried the
engine practically. and found that it
was capable of hauling many tons of
logs on sleds at a good speed, even as
high as twelve miles an hour. The en-
CINE is boxed in like a freight car, and
the engineer and fireman are thereby
protected from the rigors of the Win
( ter.
4,x-r A 49, L =
to Mr.. Weare. President of the Alas
kan Transportation Company, at Chi
cago. to see the inventor Of this appa-
/ ratus. and then to come to Washington
to talk over the possibilities of the
scheme with him. Mr.. Weare will do
so. and is expected here tomorrow. A
/ telegram was also sent to Jos. I.adue.
/ the founder of Dawson City. and. sup
! posed TO be now at Plattsburg. n. Y.
/ inviting him to come here to consult
! with the Secretary on the subject and
J give him the benefit of his practical
! knowledge Of the Yukon region. and
tell how the locomotive may be sup
| piled with fuel on the run up the river.
| The War Department late this after
noon learned that the TRANSFORMATION
Company had chartered the steamer
| Humboldt to start from Seattle for
T St. Michaels.
THE EXCELSIOR SAILS.
/ SAN FRANCISCO. Sept. Is. = The
steamer Excelsior sailed this afternoon
for St. Michaels. but declined to take
any passengers. She carried general
cargo of provisions for the Alaska Com
| mercial Company's store. and took four
/ shipwrights TO build barges at St.
Nichaels for next summers Yukon
River trade. The reason for her dis
/ patch so soon after her arrival is to