The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1897-12-10


ating il purposes to contract to carry
| freight from Dyea to the lake at price
much below what it would cost to pack
il over. and to handle it SO promptly
/ that by the time the owner can walk
over the trail his freight viii get
through. With this tramway in opera
tion, and nothing similar on the skag-
nav trail, the Chilkoot pass would get
all the travel. There are, however,
still other tramways and railroad pro-
iects on both trails, but when they will
be ready for use is uncertain. At the
present time.it would seem as though
| this Chilkoot tramway will be the only
thing ready early enough to aceommo-
/ date the first rush in February and
March. Until that time, there isap-
parently little choice between the trails
for winter travel, and those who 90 in
before February mi4y take either For
those who 60 in over the snow a Yu-
kon sled is necessary. This is a strong
skeleton sled and may be purchased at
any regular Quitting point. Many
take dogs to help draw sleds, but all
can not do this. If it is done, special
provision must be made for food for
the animals.
After the lakes have beer reached,
the remainder OF the routeis the same
for both passes, consisting Of abont 800
miles of lake and river navigation to
Dawson City, at the mouth Of the
Klondike. 1t is 90 miles further to
Forty-MiIe, and Circle City is 800
miles down the river from Dawson.
The new town of Rampant City is still
/ about 500 miles further down the Yu-
kon, at the mouth of Munook creek,
not far above the point where the
Tannanah flows into the great river.
This entire lake and river journey is
made in strong boats, usually built out
of timber whipsawed by the Yukoners
on the banks OF Lakes Lindermann or
Bennett. There is a small saw mill
there, but it is unable to cut enough
timber to fill the demand. Doubtless
other mills will be taken in as soon as
the tramway is completed, but miners
should not rely upon this, but should
take an outfit OF tools and material for
| building boat, as we'll as oars and
rowlocks. Efforts to take in boats over
the pass last fall were unsuccessful,
even in sections. Though it might be
easier to do SO over the snow, it is
| doubtful if it would not consume as
much extra time and labor as the
building Of boat would require.
When the tramway is at work, special
ly constructed boats could no doubt be
taken in to advantage, and valuable
time be saved.
The route leads through Lake Linder-
mann, miles, portage to Lake Ben
nett, mile; down the lake, "a miles;
through Cariboo crossing to Lake Tag
ish, miles; down the lake 10 miles;
by river to Lake Marsh, miles;
across the lake passing Windy Arm,
10 miles, Those who go in the win
ter and early spring can proceed to this
point by drawing their boats on sleds,
but there they must wait for the ice to
break up before proceeding down the
river in their boats, unless they intend
to go through light, dragging a sled
over the snow and ice. Twenty
miles below Lake Marsh is the dreaded
Miles canyon, and just below this
place are White Horse rapids. Both
Of these places may be safely run in
the boat if the utmost care is exer-
cised. Many boats have been wrecked
here and their contents lost, while sew
eral unfortunate men have been
drowned No one should attempt these
difficult passages without first having
carefully studied the situation. Thirty
miles further down the river is Lake
lie Barge, 80 miles long. Five Finger
rapids are 1853 miles below this lake,
and Rink rapids are miles further
These are the last of the specially dan
/ gerous places, though care must be ex-
ercised during the entire journey.
As to other routes from the coast,
there are but three that have any
prominence, and none OF them is as yet
sufficiently known to make it advisa.
BILE for the ordinary gold seeker to at
tempt them. One of them is the Dal-
ton trail, leading nottherly over the
mountains just west of the Chilkoot
pass, and paralleling the lake and
river route for about 800 miles, finally
striking the Yukon below the most
dangerous rapids. 1t is claimed that
this is the best route for a railroad, but
it is yet to be shown how practicable
it is for general use. The government
will probably attempt to send in re.
lief expedition by this route early in
the spring.
The Taku and the Stiekeen routes,
one starting from Taku inlet, near Ju.
neau, and the other from the Stickeen
river, near Wrangel, converge at Lake
Teslin. Small river steamers can nav.
| igate this lake and pass down the
Hootalinqua river to the Yukon below
the rapids, and thus to Dawson and be-
yond. 1t is claimed that such steam
ers will be built on the lake in the
spring, and that trails will be opened
up to the lake and pack trains put on,
to be followed soon by railroads; but
until this is actually done the gold
seeker would do we'll not to intrust
himself to the uncertainties of those
routes.
Undoubtedly the most comfortable