The San Francisco call., 1897-08-21
RAILROAD TO kLONDIkE.
From Tide water on the Pacific to
the Head OF Navigation in the
Yukon Basin.

| the Head or NaVigation IN the
Yukon Basin.
| A railroad from, tidewater on the Pacific
Coast to he head of navigation in the
| Yukon basin, and its completion by the
earliest possible day is now we'll assured;
also that it will follow the Taku River
route over the divide to the head Of Tes
! lin Lake.
| Juneau merchants and property-hol olders
are taking a most lively interest in the
matter. 1t was at first proposed to make
| the western terminus of the road at the
! head of the Taku Inlet, some thirty miles
east of Juneau. Now, that the building OF
| the road seems near, the merchants and
| property-owners of that city are awaken
| ing 10 the fact that it will catch all OF the
overland Yukon trade, and if they are not
| alive to their own interests Juneau will
| be left out on the side, hence they are
urging that that city be made the starting
point, or if that cannot be secured that an
extension be run from the Taku Inlet ter
minus up the beach to the city. Whether
they will succeed on either proposition re-
mains to be seon, as the parties at the
head of the enterprise are more interested
| in making money for themselves than in
y
| neau.
While making Juneau the terminus
| would mean great enhancement of
property Values there and justify her
| people in making large subscriptions
toward the cost OF building the road at
the same time the terminus on Taku
Inlet would mean the founding and
building up of new city that would soor
L..
| its proprietors.
The concern having the enterprise in
hand is the Yukon Mining Trading and
Transportation Company, composed of
Charles F. Hutchins, Willard Salisbury
and Others of Wilmington, Del, and
| several New York and Canadian capital
lists, with P. ]. Packard of Portland, Or.
| The company was organized about two
years ago and soon after sent Mr.. Packard
to examine the several routes and report
as 10 the most practicable one for q rail-
road, which was from the first one of the
leading features of the com pany's plans.
| Mr.. Packard spent the whole of last sea-
son in the field, and after examining the
! Chllkoot Skaguay and Stickeen River
routes. as well as the Taku, returned TO
the East in October last and laid the re-
suits of his investigation before the di-
rectors OF his company, with a recon men-
dation in favor of the latter route. 1t was
| adopted and charters were sought and OBJ
tanned from the United States, Canada
and British Colum bia. The latter Gov
ernment, in addition to granting the
charter, gives the pany bonus of
5120 acres of land for every mile OF road
constructed. AS the road will be some
130 miles long this will give them a total
OF over $50, 900 acres in promising min
eral region.
Teslin Lake is drained by the Hoo,a-
linqua or Teslin River, which EN- mpties
into the Lewis River some distance below
Lake LeDarge. Light draught steamers
of $50 or 200 tons can run the whole length
of the lake, and there are no obstacles in
on the Chilcoot and Lake Linderman
either river such as the WhIte-horse rapids
| route to hinder free passage. 1t is in
| tended to run line of such steamers be-
| tween the head of Teslin Lake and Daw-
son-conne citing with the railroad-and
it is calculated that the trip from Taku
10 Klondke can be made in five or at
most six days.
Mr.. Packard was engaged in making
further examination of the Taku route
| preliminary to putting q locating party
| in the field when the news from the Klon.
dixie came down, and this decided the
com pany 10 begn the work of location and
follow with the construction without
delay.
While the Taku River route presents
no such heavy grades as would be encoun-
| tered on the Chilcoot or the Skaguay
route nor any engineering problems as Sc
rious as have been overcome on the Cana.
| dian Pacitic or several roads in the United
| States there will be some entirely new
| ones.
| In several places between uneau and
! Taku and up Taku River the road will
have to be carried across the face of broad
| glaciers which, starting high up in the
mountains, thrust their broad fronts quite
down to the waters edge. Just how these
difficulties will be met will, of course, be
governed by the peculiar conditions of
| each case.
With this road in operation it is not
proba BILE that any other will be started, as
the advantages all lie with this route.
COIJND CITIES CPnNDEn