The record-union., 1897-08-05

ers.
SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 4-The big
steamer Walla Walla sailed for the
north this morning with 800 passengers,
of whom at least one-third We're bound
for the Klondyke gold fields. Her de-
parture was greeted most enthusiastic
cally by a much larger crowd than
has attended the sailing of any pre-
Vious expedition for Alaska. The scene
at Broadway wharf was one of indie
scribable excitement and confusion just
before the steamer left her berth.
The river steamer Thomas Dwyer is
to be sent up to Alaska to ply between
st. Michaels and Dawson City. She
has been bought by the Yukon Exploi-
tation Company, of which Burnett G.
Haskell, the attorney, is the head. The
vessel has been engaged in the river
trade on the Sacramento for some
years. and is we'll fitted for the pur-
pose for which she is intended. She
draws but eighteen inches of water
when loaded, and can carry several
hundred tons of freight.
The DWyer was brought down from
the Sacramento River to-day, and will
be taken to Anderson's ways, where
she Will be fitted with staterooms, and
a new deck placed on her. The steamer
viii then be taken apart, and she will
be carried to St. Michaels on the deck
of a steam schooner which will leave
here about August 10Th.
THE CLEVELAND TO SAIL To-
DAY.
SEATTLE, Aug. mo boats left
here to-day for Alaska, but the lull
was more than filed in with prepara-
tions for tomorrow, when the steam
ship Cleveland, chartered by the North
American Transportation and Trading
Company, will sail for ST. Michaels,
transferring passengers and freight
there to river steamers for Dawson
City The Cleveland will have = - pas
sengers and over 1000 tons Of freight.
Among her passengers win be Captain
p NJ. Ray and Lieutenant Richardson,
L. S. A. the officers who will command
the troops ordered from Fort Russell
to duty in the Yukon region. They
are under sealed orders and carry three
tons of supplies. They will be followed
by sixty soldiers next spring.
Steamboat men are getting so scarce
that a strike of deckhands on a sound
steamer last night induced the COM
pany to raise wages 50 a month all
along the line, from captain to cook.
The deckhands, who have been getting
$50 a month were raised to $40. So
great is the demand for men to work on
the Alaska bound vessels that compa-
MES operating on the sound find diff
Guilty in holding their employees.
e,t.a lot < fitted
by the Seattle Wharf and Land Com
pany to run to Dyea and Skaguay, car
rying passengers and freight She has
accommodations for sixty people and
100 tons of freight 1t is the intention
of the operators to run this fall as
long as the rush continues, and next
spring to put the boat on the route
from Juneau to Dyea.
Charles H. Hamilton, Secretary and
Traffic Manager of the North Amer
lean Transportation and Trading Com
pany. to-day let a contract to- Moran
Brothers of this city for building four
more river steamers of the same size
and power as the first of the line be-
longing to the company on the Yukon.
This work given to the Morans to-day
makes its contracts with the n. A. T.
and T. Co.. include eight separate
steamers, all let to them within two
weeks The river steamers are all of
large capacity, only two being less
than 400 tons.
CANADA'S CLAIM.
OTTAWA (Ont.), Aug. 4.-R. w.
Scott. Secretary of State, was inter
view regarding the statement from
Washington claiming that Great Bri-
tain on the official maps had drawn
the boundary line on the Pacific Coast
so as to deprive the United States of
hundreds of miles of territory adjoin-
ing the Klondyke gold fields.
He said he had gone into the question
with a member of the Mackenzie ad-
ministration in 1878 and the point now
raised was discussed then.
The treaty of st. Petersburg of
1925 said he. defines the line dividing
Russian territOry-now Alaska-from
British America by line drawn north
from the foot of Prince of Wales ISL
and through Portland Channel until it
struck the mountains, when the meth
cd of delimitation was set forth. The
map will show that a line running
north from the foot Of Prince of Wales
Island must go through the Benin Ca
nal. and that to reach Portland Canal
the line would have to go east through
the open sea a considerable distance
before it could reach Portland Chan
mel or. canal.
The British contention. as shown by
the dispatches of George Canning to Sir
Charles Bagot. when British Embassa-
dor to St. Petersburg, is that Portland
was to be in British territory and that
the words Portland Canal in the con-
vention was a mistake for Benin canal
or else what is now called Portland
canal was not then so called. This is
supported by the physical impossibility
of running a line due north through
Portland Canal from the foot of Prince
of Wales Island, so that Canadian maps
show the boundary line as running
north through the Benin canal The
difference is great, in view of the dis
coveries of gold. and it can only be
settled by an international arbitration
THE disputed territory with the ten
marine leagues back from the coast
added could not however, embrace the