Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-10-13
WHITE PASS BLOCKED
Miles Of Mud Through Which Gold
Hunters Founder.
DEATH OF HUNDREDS OF HORSES
indignation at Commissioner Smith
at Skaguay.
HIS REMOVAL DEMANDED
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.

Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.
SKAGUAY, Alaska, September 3d. 1897.
The White Pass through the mountains to
the headwaters Of the Yukon, is blocked,
and is daily becoming more impossible, all
reports to the contrary notwithstanding.
On our way from Sitka and since we have
been here we have been approached by
number of men who declared that much
work had been done on the pass, the roads
ccrduroyed and all the difficulties over
come. But these men are the emissaries Of
the gamblers, the saloon keepers and the
storekeepers, sent out to lure other unwary
victims to join the thousands of poor devils
already here. and strung out between here
and the summit The exploitation of
Skaguay and the White Pass has been al
NEST criminal, resulting, as 1t has, in i'm
mense loss of money, time and provisions,
the death Of hundreds of horses and a con-
siderable loss of life and health among the
prospectors; none of which has happened
on the other trails.
The history of this place and of the White
Pass is curious, and goes to show how men
will believe any story, however impossible
or impracticable, and follow any will-o'-
the-wisp, however faint, when it holds out
the least hope of leading them on to for
tune.
There has been a steady, though small
travel through the Chilkoot Pass and over
the Dalton trail to the Yukon country for
number of years, and about six years
ago man by the name of Ben Moore. fore
seeing, to certain extent, the present
rush, located trading post of 1G0 acres at
the mouth of the Skaguay river and built
a small house there. 1t was for some time
called Moore's Store, the summit beyond
the headwaters of the Skaguay river was
marked on Canadian map Moore's Pass
out nnally the place came to be called
ohasuay. Moore seems to have done all
that the law required to make good his
title to the land as trading post, and for
a long time endeavored to arouse the in
terest OF capitalists in his future town and
ms pass. Finally, last spring, he persuaded
Victoria parties to send out a party of en-
s1reers to examine into the possibility and
feasibility of building a railroad from Ska
quay along the course of the river and over
the summit to Lake Bennett. The engi-
neers went through to the lake, bazed a
trail, and returned the same way reportjng
In favor of the project On the LIST Of
august there were at .Skaglay three
houses, one the residence of Moore and two
belonging to the Alaska and Northwest
ern Trading Company. From Skaguay to
the lake there was nothing but mere path
blazed out through the lofty woods and al
most 1mpenetrabie underbrush.
Attracted to the White Pnss
The news of the report Of the engineers
who crossed the White Pass leaked out
in Victoria, and party of about a dozen
or more was made up to go over this route
to the Klondike. On the steamer which
picked up this party at Victoria were sew
eral hundred prospectors bound for Dyea.
The. news of the White Pass, exaggerated
with each repetition, spread among them,
and by the time the steamer turned her
head into Lynn canal the majority of the
prospectors went to the captain and asked
him to land them at Skaguay instead of at
Dyea. This the captain consented to do
When Skaguay was reached the prospect of
an easy landing and a low pass ahead of
them was SO alluring that everybody final
ly landed there, and Immediately there
sprang up village of several hundred
tents.
The news rapidly spread that a new pass
had been discovered, which was 1000 or
1,5OO feet lower than the Chilkoot Pass,
and over which pack animals could be used
all the way to the lakes, and Immediately
there was wholesale desertion from
Dyea, word was sent to Seattle and Victoria
to send up horses and other pack animals,
and the newspaper men on the ground not
waiting to verify the statements concern
ing the pass, sent out the stories broad
cast. The place was SO widely and thor
oughly advertised that every steamer COM
ing up brought hundreds, horses began to
pour Ill., stores ana restaurants were OPEN
ed and by the middle of August at least
1000 persons had landed at Skaguay 1t
dld not take the prospectors long to dis
cover that there was no trail at ALL and
that the path lay over series of sharp
boulders and soft marshes which became
more impossible after each travellers pass
ing.
The friends of Moore claim that he is not
to blame for the condition of affairs, but
that i is due to a series of circumstances
AMI to the widely published stories of the
newspaper correspondents. Yet Moore and
other people here continue to send out sto-
ries to the effect that the pass is open. and
that much work has been done and is be-
ing done on the trial. But / have talked
with several reputable men who unimped-
ed by baggage, went over the trail In order
to satisfy themselves as to what it really
Is, ana their stories put a different light
on the matter.
The trail follows the course Of the Ska
quay river for number Of miles. There is
one frail bridge built across the river, and
the timber and underbrush has been cleared
away to the width of a wagon road. The
whole valley is marsh. interspersed with
boulders and sharp rocks. There are four
hills to cross before the highest summit is
reached. These hills are as Doggy and
marshy as the lower lands. For a distance
of twenty miles from Skaguay the trail has
traversed it, into soft mud, from three to
six feet deep, in which. at many places, the
men sink to their hips and the horses to
their bellies. The horses founder about
apd sometimes extricate themselves, but
more frequently they become exhausted
and either die are shot At other places
there are huge bohlders to cross, and many
horses have slipped from these, broken
their legs and been shot. My informant
counted the putrid carcasses of nearly 300
poor horses between Skaguay and the sum-
init. He says that the trail is of the same
description all the way. 1t is long forty
five miles in length, and strikes the lakes
only short distance from the end of the
Dyea trail. The thousands who have left
Skagtlay since the LIST of August are still
on the trial. only mere handful having
reached the lakes. and these in an exhaust
ed condition. On the other hand, at least
5000 have gone in over the Chilkoot Pass
since spring. Several hundred prospectors
have recently returned from the White
Pass. and are abandoning or selling OUT
their outfits preparatory to returning to
the states on the next steamer. Others,
realizing the impcssibility Of getting
fbrOYpfl nnu hrft honfre> ~ oct fy,rc,,c,L