The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-08-22

reached, il the journey is by boat, the worst OF
tho difficulty, is over, but there, is stu q great
The current Of the river is so swift that the
boats travel with great speed. There are sew
tromoiy dangerous, which only experienced
around those rapids and tho 'i boats let down
1t is Hdimculttp for the mon. who come up from
the States to comprehend the tremendous
and Il Is never hot, but there is q very heavy
for both. Tho warm waters prevent the cold.
and tho warm winds meeting tho cold winds
and fog. But once over the coast range thu,
situation is entirely changed. In the interior
the Thermometer climbs to a tremendous height
In the summer and gets into n terrible state of
depression In the winter. AT Circle City there
has been a range of 1866 within a twelvemonth,
the summer and to sa' below zero in the winter i
In tho uminer time there is q growth of veg.
citation which is almost tropical In its album
dance, 1t begins as soon as the surface of the
ground begins to thaw out. Tho whole country Is
ploteIy. SO Tho f9is sun nns gets 81 the PsVf frost sh@ out G Sor a Few;
feet In tho summer and then the moss and the
grass and the rank underground OF shrubs and
weeds and reeds como on with amazing rapid
ity. Much OF tho country is like n swamp or
marsh and mosquitoes infest II in myriads such
never dared to imagine. 1t Ia told up here with
straight, face and unwinking oye that, they even
MI IL UIR CINNAMON pears Lnht lHIlhDlU lnc. III
terror. Alaskans who have been into the Yukon
country believe that story, whether the mex
porienccd residents of the States will or will not.
But mosquitoes are not the only pests. There
arc flies by the hundred billions; black flies,
such as mike life unbcarable In the Adirondacks
for a month each summer, and gnats in swarms,
of insect that ever was devised that could bite
grease, all the schemes that hunters have found
available in civilized countries lose their charm
SmudReS have no terrOra for tleae DeustS. and
the only way which q man can defend himself
WITT any sort Of SUCCESS is by wearing stout
quito netting. and even that must be kept away
from his face and neck by the brim of his hat;
foolishness OF doing that is now apparent when
St. Michael the whole winter. The Srst boats
up the Yukon will start out In May, II they have
that time the men who go in over the asses will
beet 20 either e. at M ihS Sd,ST ~ cS or vel n ON their ell s wMy
for the winter, II the man who tells It has no re-
gard for the truth. There is neither frewood nor
fresh water there. The wood Is mostly drift,
RATS. 1t makes q t1ne big smoke, and once in u
while some fire. Water is brought from tho
nothing to do but wait and watch the ocean and
the rain when fogs lift so you can see anything.
must iSWd do so ON his Claim aPDu wh see he gets snf It. In m the
first place it must be understood that the gold.
bearing sand is not on the surface OF the ground.
your feet. You have got to dig. and 1t is the hard
est kind of digging, human beings ever had. The
until he comes to a place where the surface in
d%ications reveal to bis experience the presence
S Sef .hs P sc DE-. III & fn sSls, th MS s sst' say 8 st Gsa en i
tS %s1, I. r pay ies ssfSs sI5;x is ,b= sn synr5sss, from ten te
POSSIBLY he et may ye Conclude inS ' to- dig in the bottom
OF the river, in a place where there isn't any
bar, II he does that, he spends a few cheerful
weeks in the laborious construction OF a wing
dam. He carries his apron down far enough to
give him a chance at the, bottom; then he goci
time that he has got to 1t. II he is playing in tn
right sort of bad luck. high water comes aiong
san ee other od dam ms " not %insda ansn and nd Does hi Il
work all over again.
But II he prospects on q bar he very soon get
to the point beyond which the sun has no
begins for sure. II he waits patiently. and 1t +
70 eight inches Of mud each day. Each night h,
shovcls of what the sun has thawed. He keep
ssrsas up F Hnat a y oniy two ~ h pia sss' IN { the sn Sh p;
Interior where miners have succeeded in gettinl
thaw out in the summer as much as froze up il
the preceding winter.
dump. It's only within the last two years tina
time. before that the season ended when tn
frost came in the, fall. bu: now the frost does no
interfere particularly because the miners hay
learned how to substitute fire for sun. Fac
night the miner piles up a lot Of logs in tn
place where he wants to work and builds a fire
or ten inches Of dirt IS iSawe out. II il is !
the pay streak the miner shovels tn
fire. II he is just sinking. the shat
he shovels out the refuse and builds hi
Pound dlf that &c fr a S aesRs II IN q sRis f Tas n Gravel h sn
dirt dynamite was OF no use. They tried to bias
Mish E soI but succeeded SsSsG1d. only M,Ey 4, hn. blowing Tin tS Sut tn tn
stream that is frozen solid. and il has no eiec
Srauiics also, but the streams only bored it'd
nne holes into TO the mud or gravel ana q nothin
with the sun or with fire.
The reports which have, come out Of the int
rior have been extremely misleading to me
usually failed to consider the time which hs
been spent in the digginRs by the men who mad
has been accomplished in the Yukon by. les
than a three years stay. A good part Of III
first season is consumedi in getting to tho mine
1t takes the second season usually for prelim
nary, work. even II q claim Is at once discovere
claim ought to Be- well opened up. and perhaI
enough money made d to pay expenses; The thir
It Is true that some of the best strikes, on ii
but that Il accounted for By = situation whic
strikes ON the KlonIike were made in the fall
'95. and they were 80 rich that they were beyon
Yukon. Nothing that California ever produce
could hold a candle to them. The men who ha
been prospecting the hlOnulke bent uOWn
!, Circle City and Forty Mile and reported the
| discovery. That was the year when the Birt
Creek and Miller Creek ~diggings were most gu
~cessfui; The miners who had been at work
those diggingp laughed at the reports from Il
!, Klondike, and nobody started from Circle Gil
l for the new ~diggings until the mon who were
: work on the new strikes did not come In for Il
winter. Then the boys in Circle City and Fort
|: Mile came to the conclusion that there must
some truth in tho reports OF the new FL Dorad
t and started out there. Last year they devote
: very largely TO- prospecting, and not mar
q claims were well opened up. SO 1t happen'
0 that some of the tenderfeet who went In the
0 along toward tho close OF last years season al
Q early this spring got hold Of some Of the be
claims In tho district. That. thing has new
happened before in Alaska, and 1t isn't likely
o The stories that have gone Town from up he
Q about the great wages that have been paid
: the diggings are no doubt responsible for a lar
I part OF the large rush up here. Many or me M
3 who have come have come with the belief tn
0 even II they do notistrike claims which.willy vie
n them comfortable fortunes In q short time, III!
o can at least get plenty of work at wages so Z
In advance OF what they have been getting
d the States that they can accumulate a fair
turn for their work. In the main that Ia a IN
9 take. For a time in tho summer when the
Endr M n ND