The San Francisco call., 1897-07-20
INE KLAUS TIBLE
RICHES OF THE
KLONDYKE
Continued from Second Page.

to stand little hardship if it comes his
way; and it is quite likely to before he
gets back TO civilization. There is no civ
iIization in Dawson City. It's only a
hamlet of q few struggling cabins near the
bend of the river. I've read some pesky
yarn about nntting in electric lights in
Dawson City. What the miners would
like to see before electric lights is plenty
OF grub, with some little variety.
''It is only twenty-eight miles from salt
water to Lake Lindermaun, from where
yo1 drop down the Lewis River In boats
to Klondyke, Forty-mile and Circle City,
on the Yukon. l travelled 1000 miles to
st. Mlchaels once to get something to eat
for me and my partner" continued Mr..
Macarthur, still never omitting an oppor-
tunlty to refer to his favorite subject
something to eat" "Cold Well, If lit S any
CO lder up at the north pole than it is back
in the mountains no Thermometer has
ever been built large enough below the
zero point TO show it. OH it runs up and
down from 35 to 20 degrees below zero.
But you don't mind it when you get
acclimated. The boys throw their coats
off when it's 40 or so degrees below and
work in their shirtsleeVes. You don't
mind it when you get used to it. We
worked in our shirtsleeves last Christ
mas day when the thermometer was As
below. The air and col is dry. 1t is not
so piercing and uncomfortable as it would
be if the atmosphere were moist. In get
ting over that twenty eight miles of dis
tance, throughout Chilkoot Pass to Lake
Lindermann, the total portage is over 100
miles. That's what makes it so expensive
to pack IN supplies. Indians and other
packers are scarce, and they will charge
you all the traffic will stand. Prices range
from Is cents to 81 25 pound
'Is it possible to prospect in the winter
timer"
Certainly it is. Winter is the best
time to work" said Miner Macarthur,
and in this particular his information is
wholly at variance with the common un-
derstanding of possibilities of mining in
Alaska or anywhere in the country trib-
utary to the Yukon. Since the inception
of the present mining excitement stories
have been published to the effect that
during the long winter months prospect
ing and mining are entirely suspended,
when the fact is that the mining con-
tinues all winter long and is in truth the
busiest season. Fires are built to thaw
and the prospecting is done in drifts and
tunnels excavated in any or all directions
from the shaft, below the frost line.
at is much easier to WORK in the win
ter" said Mr.. Macarthur. I'm the few
weeks of summer the water greatly inter
feres with the work. The snow m elts and
the water overfows everything. 1t would
drown you or run you away from your
diggings. In the summer, when there is
plenty of water, the boys sluice the ground
they have dug out in the winter. It's
healthy work, too-ii you have enough TO
eat My advice? 1 do not want to ad wise
anybody about going to the Klondyke.
Nobody advised me, but 1 had plenty of
provisions when 1 went in. l will say,
if you want to go and have money
for at least a years provisions and good
health, you won't miss anything; but if
you have neither provisions nor money
nor good health, if you do go you will re-
gret it many times before you get out of
the country. A man should no more
think OF starting for the north pole un-
prepared than for the Upper Yukon
Dougald Macarthur is a Scotch Cana
dian, about 43 years old. He went into
Alaska nine years ago and has not been
out Of the country since until the present
time. He lived when a boy at Glenelge,
near Montreal, Quebec, and that Is where
his relatives now live. He would not
state how much gold he brought out OF
the Klondyke, for ''thsts figures, and it's
nobody's business but my own. But I've
got more than enough gold to do me for
the remainder of my life," he said.
Mr.. Macarthur will leave for Montreal
and Grenelge tomorrow morning. If he
recovers completely from the scury and
gets well rested up he may return to the
new Ell Dorado of tho Arctic next spring.
he went into the Klondyke early last
winter and got all his gold in the one sea.
son.