The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1897-11-12
THE PASSING THRONG.

A writer IN the Railway Age this week
tells the following incident Of man well
known In Seattle.
From the exhaustive article In last
weeks Railway Age I notice that North
ern Pacific men are somewhat nnu,erously
interested In transportation 10 the klon-
dixie Andrew +. Burieigh appears to be
backing the Chiikas pass route: James T.
Mcknight Is for Skaguay and the White
pass: the Chilkoos sramway seems 10 have
the support Of W. G. Pearce. while c. j.
Smith. OF the Oregon Improvement Com
pany. uphoids the banner OF the Prince
William and Copper river line. They are
ali-of course-excelient men, but. of the
bunch. propose 20 pin my confidence 10
Gen. Mcknight. He has had experience
IN frontier life and is probably the great
est living exponent Of the art OF pioneer
ing In a silk hat
1T was many years ago when Puget
sound was very remote country and the
Northern Pacifie-weil. II knew consider
ably less of the wickedness OF men and
or the courts than Ii does now. Il was. I
believe. n Port Townsend that Mcknight
arrived. and at Port Townsend then the
only people that wore full dress suits were
the totem poles. But Mcknight walked
ashore In a silk hat II was a great mo-
ment. There has not been such q sensa-
ton among the seals of Puget sound
since; unless 1t was when the newspaper
men OF the Willard party hanqueted the
entire government of British Columbia on
board their steamboat fthe story OF which
must some day be written>. The entire
population of Port OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES.
dogs and all-marchesi behind the hat in
procession through the town. Even Mount
Rainier hid its own white cap in clouds.
feeling itself eclipsed. That week the one
forlorn local newspaper came out with a
doubie-leaded editorial headed 'Ecce
Homo" 10. He comes. The man IN the
silk hat! The harbinger Of new civiliza-
ton TO the Sound-the herald of evening
dress and truffles and booming corner
lots! In the gloss Of McNaught's hat was
mirrored all the magnificent future which
lay before the great Northwest.
James 7. Mcknight is the man they
need in Dawson City"
THE best days shooting I ever had"
said Col. w. e. Mckee yesterday, was
back In Jefferson county. Iowa. 1t was
in mid-winter, and the thermometer stood
at % degrees below zero. You can get
some idea Of the intense cold from the
fact that I carried a piece of bread and
meat In my hunting coat pocket as a light
luncheon. When l went to eat 1t. 1t was
frozen stiff as a board and / could not
bite or break 1t.
There were only two Of US in the hunt
We took an early start from the town of
Jefferson, and a little after sunrise We
were at our destination, Goose lake. 1t
was frozen over solid with the exception
OF small area in the center. where a
flock OF ducks had spent the night and
kept the water from freezing. There must
have been 200 or 800 OF them. We crept
out on the ice among the weeds as far
as We could towards them, and bagged
probably half a dozen. Then the fun be-
gan. A strong south gale was blowing.
All day long ducks were coming in from
across the prairies, and in the teeth Of
the gale they flew very low. Our firing
must have sounded like a skirmish line
going into action. / made at least twenty
doubles during the day. When night came
and we closed our bag We had just 10
ducks between the two Of us, and every
blessed one OF them was a mallard.
took them into my place In Des Moines.
They filled three big beer casks. I stacked
them up In the front window, sent out a
general invitation to friends to help them
selves. and there was many a roast duck
for dinner that day in Des Motnes.''
DR.. w. c. Gibson returned yesterday
from two weeks visit east. He spent
most of his time at St Paul. Minneapolis
and Morristown, the latter being his
former home 1t was his first visit there
for seven years. and the personal pleas
ure it afforded him was in direct ratio to
the length of time he had been absent
from old friends and associations.
II found" said DR.. Gibson last night
that Seattle, and particularly in connec-
ton with the Klondike, is the chief topic
OF conversation among all classes of reo-
pie. Even in the little town of Norris
town / found the interest in this subject
almost universal. In ST. Paul and Mime
apolis the same theme is on every tongue.
..Js 10 &c ha an,
pot talked of In this connection. As soon
as people found out l was from Seattle
/ was besieged on all sides and with all
imaginable questions about Seattle and
the Klondike.
Yes. hundreds OF people are getting
ready to come from tina. section. As from
all other parts of the United States.
Two men from Colorado came out on the
train with me and one from Boston, all
three going to the kloudike. in the spring
and all expecting TO outfit In Seattle and
spend the winter here studying their fu-
ture field of work. | also met a number
OF people who are planning to locate in
Seattle under the conviction that this
city is destined 10 experience a great
commercial and industrial advance"
George Fritch. OF San Francisco. manag-
ing owner of the steamer Homer which
he has chartered TO the Pacific Coast
steamship Company for six months, with
the option OF a six months extension. and
Albert Meyer, OF the same city manag-
ing owner of the Farallon. were discuss
ing In the lobby of the Butler last night
the question whether there would be suf-
ficient tonnage on the Coast TO handle the
Alaska business next season. Mr.. Meyer
said the Faralion would continue in that
business, and that he would probably put
on more steamers in the spring.
Il have no doubt there Will he enough
boats" said Mr.. Frltch. ''rhe Pacific
Coast Steamship Company Is building
new : od9-ton steamer a: the Union Iron
Works, and the Alaska Commercial Com
pany is building one OF abou. the same
size. According 20 the newspapers one
Is being built al New York"
Nr. Meyer recalled ;hat Capt. Goodail.
% Goodali. Perkins & Co, had gone East
to buy another boat.
The two ship owners were reminded that
the lowest estimate OF the number OF per-
sons who would go To Alaska in the spring
was loo 40, hot they remained mistaken
in their opinion.
TWO representatives Of a Boston bank
which IS largely interested in Western
railroads arrived IN the city yesterday and
are At the Butler. They are ". II,
Rernick and w y Csoodnow. and they are
accompanied by W. r., Furihurt- of Port
land general passenger agent. and Robert
Burns. general agent a Walia Waiia, OF
the o. r. Il y. Co. The principal inter-