The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-12-21
THE DESTITUTE IN ALASKA
SECRETARY ALGEH PREPARING
TO SEND THEM RELIEF

Captain Brainard to be Placed I'm Com.
mand Of tho Relief fExpedition-Bids to
be Called for to Furnish tho supplies-TO
Ask Canada's Permission to Gross Her
Territory With . Military Expedition.
Renders for the journey to be Bought
In Norway
Washington, December 1S.-It is
probable that Captain David L. Brain
ard, of the subsistence department Of
the army, will be placed in charge OF
the relief party that Secretary Alger
will send to the Klondyke region with
provisions. He is now at the army
building in New York city and has
been ordered to report to General Mer-
riam, the commander of the depart
ment of the Columbia at Portland,
Ore. One the way he will have
particular charge OF the commissary
tain Brainard accompanied General
Greeley on his Arctic explorations and
is was largely owing to his heroism
that the small remnant of the party
was enabled to prolong life until sue
cor arrived. Bra'inard also held the
Qonor, until Nansen's feat, of having
made the farthest north ever reached.
Secretary Alger is giving much study
to the best means of getting in sup
plies to the miners in the Yukon coun-
try and has decided to ask bids for the
delivery OF stores directly at Dyea,
Skaguay or Chiliat. ALREADY a great
deal of rivalry has sprung up among
the towns on OUT Pacific coast for hon
or of being the shipping port Of the
stores and business that will follow,
and by requiring bidders to deliver
their goods directly in Alaska the sec
retary of war will be saved the neces-
sity of making a choice among them.
THE one question that has engaged
the Secretary'S attention is that OF Sc
curing the consent of the Canadian gov
ernment for the passage Of the relief
expedition over that part of Canadian
territory which must necessarily be
traversed in reaching the mines. 1T
will be necessary to obtain a permit
for a military expedition to pass and
also to secure remission OF duties on
the supplies that are to be carried in.
1t is probable that to obtain his object
in the shortest possible period of time
Secreary Alger Will go himself to O't-
taIwa in d few days and deal directly
with the Canadian authorities instead
of relying the slow moving process
ses of diplomcy.
The following telegram was received
today by the secretary and by him re-
ferred to General Merriam, at Port
land.
Seattle, Wash, Dec. II.
Secretary Alger:-The Post-Intelli-
It<p<lt/
have made all preparations to send an
expeditio to Dawson City leaving
Seattle next Tuesday on the steamer
Corona, for Skaguay. It is we'll
equipped with oxen and dogs and will
reach Dawson City by February 18th.
1T is the pioneer mid-winter expedition
and it's services are offered to you for
reconnUiters and such other purposes
as you may he able to suggest.
''(Signed) EDGAR B. PIPER
This afternoon Secretary Alger sent
a telegram to General Merriam COM
manding the department of the Co
lumIbia, instructing him to pick out two
officers and fifty of his best men to act
as guards for the relief expeditions and
to equip them with the clothing neces-
sary for the journey. Captain Brain
ard is to devote himself first to super
intending the selection of stores, their
delivery and proper packing at Dyea
for the trip across the passes. AFTER
ward he may go across with one of the
expeditions. The present idea is that
there will 'be twenty of these parties
and they will be loaded with 1000 tons
of food, for which Secretary Alger will
advertise Immediately under condition
of delivery at Dyea.
The United States military attachee
of the legation at Stockholm has been
cabled to purchase the reindeer needed
as draft animals and ship them to
Dyea. Mr.. KjeImann, the chief he1der
of the Alaskan reindeer herd, is now
in Lapland, where he has been getting
an option on the animals needed. The
route to be followed from Dyea inland
to the Klondyke has not yet been de-
termined and will depend upon the
reports of the military officers.
The president this afternoon signed
the joint resolutions passed by congress
today for the relief of the miners in
the Yukon river country and changing
the appropriation for the government
building and display at the Omaha
Nebraska. exposition.