The record-union., 1897-11-29
Getting Out Before Starvation Over
takes Them.
Predictions Of Great Suffering There This
Winter.
There Are Many That Have Gone
in There Short of Food, and
There is None in the Stores
Prospects That q Railroad May
be Built Over the Dalton Trail
Some Time Next Spring.

oO"e Inc Nc4t SpIxAks
SEATTLE, Nov. 2S-Twenty-five men
arrived here to-day on the City of Seat
tie direct from Dawson City. They were
divided into two parties, the last one of
which left Dawson October 10th. The
party consisted of Thomas Magee, Sr.,
Thomas Magee, Jr., of San Francisco,
Swift Water Bill' Gates, Joe Boyle,
VIM. Haskins, F. Eckert, H. Robertson,
II. Raymond, Bert Nelson, John w.
Brauer, w. H. Chambers, N. w. Pond,
E. Ash, J. Gillis, Thomas Wilson, P.
McGraw, Jack Dalton, VIM. Peck,
Arthur Celine, Joseph Fairburn, j..
Smith, T. Warren and Jim Stephenson.
They came out over the Dalton trail.
They are reported to have between them
$4,000 in drafts and gold
dust All tell stories of a food shortage
in Dawson that is almost a famine. The
last person to leave Dawson was Jack
Dalton. When Dalton left the steamer
Alice and Bella had reached there
loaded light. It is said that the Bella S
cargo consisted of whisky and billiard
balls. She brought no provisions
The Canadian mounted police char
ItT6u the btild anu gave dil WIZ "A0ii-N
a free passage to Fort Yukon. The
Bella is reported to have left about Oc-
tober 18th with 200 men.
According to the statements made by
members of the Dalton party, there is
liable to be trouble of the most serious
kind this winter in Dawson. Billy Leak
told one of the men in party ahead of
him whom he met at Dyea that all the
r.
famine Men were gathered in groups
and cursing with might and main the
newcomers that were constantly COM
ing into the Klondike. loaded with
scarcely any provisions. The mounted
police We're offering free transportation
10 the grub piles further down the Yu
kon, but to countless hundreds who had
labored hard all summer accommodating
a grub stake the prospect was uninvit-
ing to say the least. These men figured
that it would take all their savings in
gold to pay their living expenses at Fort
Yukon during the winter, and that in
the spring they would not have even
enough left TO pay passage money back
to Dawson, to say nothing of purchasing
enough food to subsist until they could
get started again. To these poor fell
1CNS the OIlST u TIE IllOuIlSo pOiiIC W o-S
no better than the prospect at Dawson
of being compelled to winter on half
Iations until the supply boats could
reach the diggings in the spring.
John w. Brauer. the United States
mail carrier, who left Dawson Septem-
ber 21th said:
There is only one salvation for the
miners who are now at Dawson. and
ftsl
winter trip from Dawson to Fort Yu-
kon, a distance of 400 miles. There is
food at Fort Yukon; there is none at
Dawson and just as sure as the stars
shine. terrible suffering will be the fate
of the Dawson miner, unless he leaves
there before spring. l win make my
statement conservative and say that
when [ left Dawson the men who were
there had on an average four months
food supply. Some did not have
months supply; some had four or five.
The last restaurant closed the night ]
left 1t had been selling nothing but
beefsteak, for which the hungry paid
81 30.
When the people realized that the
boats would be unable to get up the
river they knew that starvation threat
ened them and the great stampede be-
gan. The first to leave went to Fort
Yukon. l guess there were about ten
in the party that left the first day. One
boat that came up from Fort Yukon
with several newspaper men aboard
among them being Correspondent Sam
Wall and a Mr.. McGilvray. They
brought the news that the Hamilton
had unloaded all of her cargo and tried
TO get over the bar light and failed in
her attempt, though she drew but two
feet of water. This news increased the
excitement and made the rush toward
food centers all the greater On Sep
tember 14th, Bert Nelson of Seattle and
myself left Circle City and started to
pole up the river to Dawson City, a
distance Of 800 miles. AT the time we
started from Circle City, the miners had
about all taken their departure. 1t took
Us eleven days and three hours TO make
1he journey, arriving in Dawson Sep
sember 26th. Captain Hanson with two
Indians, who had left Fort Yukon, beat
us into Dawson by about an hour and
half. Hanson gathered the Dawson City
miners together and made short
speech, in which he advised all who did
not have provisions to last them all
winter to either get out OF the country
20 civilization or try and reach points
IN the Yukon country where ii was
known that food could be found. That
night was the greatest one in the his
tory Of Dawson. The miners, as soon
as they heard the news, made hasty
preparations to get out and nightfall
saw the gold seekers and men who can
to-day sell out for many thousands,
leaving by the hundreds for down the
river and up the river. The little steam
er kiukuk. which was to make the trips
from Dawson to Pelly, where Jack Dali
tons trail starts, was brought into play.
She was besieged by would-be passen-
gers who offered as high as $3.50 that
they might be aboard while she made
her journey of 115 miles to Pelly. The
Kiukuk left Dawson on the afternoon
of September 9TH with twelve or fifteen
passengers
The next day we made up a party,
including Herbert Raymond of Seattle,
Bert Nelson of Seattle. Harry Robert
son of San Francisco and myself. We
started up the river in small river
boat. the same one We had used in
going from Circle City TO Dawson. We