The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-11-07

It is equally certain that the section Of
country around the Klondilxe is only one Of
many rich sections, and, like the old days
in California and Montana, each new strike
will seem the greatest. Hundreds and thou
sands of men will abandon good paying
claims next spring to follow some ''stam-
pede," while newcomers will take up and
get rich from the mines thus deserted.
There are always numbers Of men in all
callings, but it seems especially true in
the case of miners. who always will throw
away a reasonably good thing to pursue
visionary prospects of greater and quicker
success.
The whole Yukon valley and in fact the
whole western watershed of the Rocky
mountains in Alaska, is undoubtedly one
immense gold-bearing tract. There will be
room there for all the surplus population
in America, and there will be no need to
hurry in next spring at the risk of life
in order to be on the ground first. The
Klondike country already is all taken up,
and as to the rest of the country it is all
practically new and everyone is on an equal
footing in finding new districts. There win
be plenty Of new ground" for years to
come and ten years from now will still
see new districts opened and fortunes made
in a day. 1t is an immense country, and
so rough and broken, so full of dangers. so
inaccessible and so difficult to supply with
food, that the progress of a year will
scarcely be perceptible, even with thou
sands of eager gold seekers doing their ut
most to explore it. The actual prospecting
season is only three months at most. and
practically the month of August is the only
one in which it can be done with anything
like comfort and rapidity.
Don't worry about the gold. It's there.
Don't be in a hurry. There will be an
abundance of it left these many years. The
men who wait patiently to properly equip
themselves so as to live at the best in this
terribly trying climate, who take enough
time to have their supplies properly han
died, SO that they are in good condition
when they finally reach their destination,
are the men who will succeed in Alaska.
The race here will not be to the speedy
ones, the rash ones, who rush away from
civilization and he common necessaries of
life, with scarcely a thought of preparation.
but to those who cautiously arrange for
those wants and comforts peculiar to each
individual wherever located and who will
thus be able to make house wherever
they go. These will have the power and
facilities for concentrating their efforts
upon the one simple idea of getting gold.
and even if success does not come at once
they can wait and compel it,
THE GREAT DRAWBACK.
Ihose who rush into the country without
such preparation must devote most of their
time after arrival to securing subsistence.
and for many years to come that will be
the vital question in Alaska. Pack trains
and river steamers can never supply. in a
fractional degree, the demand of the i'm
provldent ones. That always is to be the
drawback in Alaska 1t can never be a
country for railroad operation, nor can large
supplies be raised in the country on ac-
count OF the shortness of the growing sea-
son. All supplies must, in the main be
packed or sent by the little river steamers
and no matter how much the service may
be increased, it will always fall far behind
the demand as long as there is new ground
to keep up the excitement and consequent
influx of new people. The increase in popu-
latlon will be, so long as the gold excite
ment lasts, just as far ahead of the means
OF supply as it has been this summer. and
consequently only those who go thoroughly
prepared and wholly Independent of the
trading posts will be prepared to withstand
encouragement and the loss of time SO in
eVitable in this country.
Before our embarkment for Fort Yukon
the situation at Dawson has changed for
the better somewhat in the matter of sup
plies. Two hundred beeves have arrived
over the trail, and it was reported that six
hundred mutton carcasses were on the way
down the river. The Stick Indian who
brought in this last item Of news is notori-
ously unreliable. which makes the matter
somewhIt doubtful, but nevertheless it had
wonderfully Frightening effect on the
community, for that much fresh meat, to-
gether with the salt and canned meats on
hand, would go long way to help out the
city's larder. II must not be concealed,
however, that there exists the gravest dan
ger at Dawson of the most intense suffering
for lack of food, and if the river freezes
soon, as there is every prospect that it will,
so that only a comparatively few can get
down the river, nothing short of a miracle
will prevent the kind of trouble that makes
men forget they are other than wild beasts
in their fight for life.
The people outside can hardly realize
what it all means, and, perhaps, before
word can go out, the calamity will have
occurred. Every argument, every influence,
through the press, through the pulpit, and
by all possible means the government should
be induced to act, and act quickly before it
is too late. 1t will take months even after
the work has been commenced before sup
plies could be got into the Klondike and
every days delay may mean loss of life
and incalculable suffering in the most hor-
ribe form imaginable.