The San Francisco call., 1897-09-09

SEATTLE, WASH Sept. s.-CharIes H.
Hamilton, secretary of the North Ameri-
can Transportation and Trading Com
pany, in an interview to- night admitted
that the provisions at Dawson City at
present. together with those that will go
In before the river freezes over, will not
he sufficient 10 prevent starvation in the
kIOndIke country this winter. But he be-
Iieves there will be no deaths. He says:
in my judgment, the miners now at
Dawson will realize that the food supply
IL insufficient and that they will have to
get out or starve. Our river steamers
Will carry in about 700 tons more food
from St. Michael. That will feed 1900
men for a year. There will still be time
Tor the miners to act, and they will, in
my Judgment, do then as they did in
1887. At that time food was expected by
the steamer Arctic. She broke down,
and the miners realized that they would
have to act. They drew lots as to who
should be allowed to have the food.
Those who won remained in the country,
those who lost went to st. Michael for the
winter. l think the same thing will fol-
low this year. The next steamers that
arrive from Dawson will have hundreds of
miners aboard, who will winter at St.
Michael and return to Dawson in the
spring"
The main purport Of the interview given
out by Hamilton tonight is a denial OF
the story brought to Eureka, Cal, yester-
day by the steamer National City from ST.
Michael to the effect that the steamer Ex-
celsior, due at San Francisco, will have
virtually ali OF the gold and passengers
expected on the Cleveland, and that the
Cleveland will arrive in local port with
comparatively nothing.
Hamilton believes the Excelsior will
have less Than 81, SOC, 900 aboard. Hamli-
ton said:
The Eureka article says that when the
National City left st. Michael the steamer
Cleveland was taking in ballast, and ex-
pected to sail for the sound ports August
80. and that many OF the passengers who
had tickets :or the Cleveland took passage
on the Excelsior. That statement is, |
believe, inaccurate.
WHY should passengers who came
down the river on the steamers of the
North American Transportation and
Trading Company's steamer take passage
on the Excelsior when they had tickets on
ready 10 sail, and will arrive not later than
a day after the Excelsior in San Francisco
If the passengers iOr some unex planned
reason did take passage on the Excelsior,
they must have plenty OF money and an
insane desire TO spend II. The North
American Trans Dortatlon and Tradin-
Company in nine cases out OF every ten
sells its passengers tickets from Dawson
City TO Seattle. Now and then man gets
one from Dawson to st. Michael, out that
is when he does not desire to travel
further
The Eureka story states that on the
wav down the river the HeaIy met the
Weare hard and fast On a bar, that the
Weare's passengers and freight were trans
ferred TO the Healy and that the Healy
then proceeded toward St. Michael, leav-
ing the unfortunate boat hard and fast
aground with small chance of getting off
before the river closes. l don't believe
that story. 1t NAV be all right, but it is
not reasonable, and any one who is ac-
ouainted with the condition of affairs up
there must realize it. The Healy is one
OF our steamers. She is goods and
strong. According TO the Eureka news
been aground for some days. The only
thing she did, we are 10 infer, was to trans
fer her passengers and freight. The
Weare had no freight. River steamers on
the Yukon do not have fre ght when
bound for the mouth. SThey carry plenty
of il north. but not to ST. Michael. 1t is
very strange to me that the Healy should
not have at least made an effort to get the
Weare from her position on the bar. AS
a matter of fact she could have dragged
her off without any great amount of
trouble, and | belleve she would have
done it the first thing 1t would require
no great work TO rescue thu Weare, no
matter how hard she was aground or what
.aer condition might be. Certainly she
did not go up TO leave her there for the
winter.
THE Eureka dispatch states that with
the exception of the three passengers on
the National City all the passengers
brought down by the Healy took passage
on the Excelsior. 1t further states that
the Weare when met by the Healy had
aboard $50 passengers, all OF whom were
transferred to the Healy. The Heaiy
must nave had some passengers. Say she
Mad fifty, the Weare's passengers increased
her list TO zoo. If all the passengers OF
the Healy with the exception of the three
who arrived at Eureka took passage on
the Excelsior. then we may expect the
Cleveland to arrive here without any pas
-$ngers. But the Eureka telegram, after