The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-11-29
PROVISIONS VERY SCARCE
HUNDREDS OF MINERS FORCED TO
QUIT WORK AND SEEK FOOD.
Stampede to Fort Yukon and other
TOwns-Interesting Talks with
Thomas Magee and Others.

were divided into two parties, the last one
of which left Dawson City Oct. Is. The
party consisted of Thomas Magee ST..
Thomas Magee, jr., of San Francisco,
Swift Water Bill Gales, Joe Boyle, Will
lam Huskins, f. Rekert, II. Robertson, H.
Raymond, Bert Mason, John Brauer, w.
H. Chambers, E. w. Pond, r.. Ash, ]. Gill
lish, Thomas Wilson, =. McGraw, Jack
Dalton, William Leake, Arthur Celine Jo-
seph Fairburn, j. Smith, T. Warren and
Jim Stephenson and two others whose
names could not be ascertained tonight.
They came out over the Dalton trail. They
have between them $4,000 in drafts gold
dust and nuggets. All tell stories of food
shortage in Dawson that is almost
famine.
The last person TO leave Dawson was
Jack Dalton. When Dalton Jeff rhe steam-
ers Alice and Bella had reached there load
ed lightly. 1t is said that the Bela's cergo
consisted of whisky and billiard balls She
brought no provisions. Tie Canadian gov
ernment's mounted police chartered the
Bella and gave all who wished a free pass
to the Yukon. The Bella is reported to
have left about Oct. II with one nundl ed
men.
According to the statements made by
to be trouble of the most serious kind This
winter in Dawson. Billy LaaKe told one of
the men in a party ahead Of him, whom he
met at Dyea, that all the pc )ple talk about
at Dawson was the food famine. Men were
gathering in groups and cursing with might
and main the newcomers that were con-
stantly coming into the Klondike with
scarcely any provisions. The mounted po-
lice were Offering free transportation to
the grub piles further down the Yukon, but
to the countless hundreds who had labored
hard all through the summer accommodating
a grub stake the prospect was uninviting,
to say the least. The men figured that it
would take all their earnings in gold to
pay their living expenses at Fort Yukon
during the winter and that in the spring
they would not have even enough left to
pay passage money back to Dawson, to say
nothing of purchasing enough food to sub
sist on until they could get started again.
To these poor fellows the offer of the
mounted police was better than the
prospect at Dawson of being compelled to
live on half rations until the supply boats
could reach the diggings in the spring.
A MAIL CARRIERS STORY.
John Brauer, the United States mail car
rier who left Dawson Sept n, said There
is only one salvation for the miners who
are at Dawson City, and that is for them
to undertake the awful winter trip from
Dawson to Fort Yukon, distance of four
hundred miles. There is no food at Fort
Yukon, there is none at Dawson, and, just
as sure as the stars shine, terrible suffering
will be the fate of the Dawson miner UNI
less he leaves there before spring When
left Dawson the men who were there had
on an average of four months food supply.
Some did not have months supply, some
had four or five. The restaurant closed
the night 1 left. 1t had been selling
nothing but beefsteak. for which the hum
cry paid $3.50. When the people realized
the boats would be unable to get up the
river they knew that starvation threatened
them, and the stampede began. The first
to leave went to Fort Yukon. l guess there
were about ten in the party that left the
first day. One boat that came up from
Fort Yukon had several newspaper men
aboard, among them Correspondent Sam
Wall and Mr.. McGilvray. They brought
the news that the Hamilton had unloaded
all of her cargo and tried to get over the
bar light, and failed in her efforts, though
she drew but two feet of water. This news
increased the excitement and made the
rush towards food centers all the greater.
"On Sept IA Bert Wilson, of Seattle, and
myself left Circle City and started to pole
up the river to Dawson City. distance OF
ed from Circle City the miners had
about taken their departure 1t took us
eleven days and three hours to make the
journey, arriving at Dawson Sept. rs. Cap
tain Hanson, with two Indians, who had
left Fort Yukon, beat us into Dawson by
about an hour and a half. Hanson gath
cred the Dawson City miners together and
made a short speech, in which he advised
all who did not have provisions to last them
all winter to either get out of the country
TO civilization or try and reach points in
known food could be secured. That night
was the greatest one in the history of Daw-
heard the news, made hasty preparations
to get out, and nightfall saw the gold
seekers and men who can to-day sell out
for many thousands leaving by thousands
for down-the-river or up-the-river points.
The little steamer Kiukuk, which was to
make the trips from Dawson to Pelly.
where the Jack Dalton trail starts, was
brought into use. She was besieged by
would-be passengers. who offered as high
as $3.50 that they might be aboard while
she made her journey of IT'S miles to Pelly.
The boat left Dawson on the afternoon
of Sept. n with twelve or fifteen passen-
gers The next day we made up a party,
Including Herbert Raymond, of Seattle;
Bert Nelson, of Seattle; Harry Robertson.
of San Francisco, and myself. We started
up the river in a small river boat, the
same one we had used in going from Circle
City to Dawson. We left Dawson about
p m, and were soon on our way up the
river.
BAKING POWDER. BUT NO FLOUR.
while Jack Dalton left Dawson a couple
of days later, the situation there then was
the same as it was when we left and /
can tell you in a few words. The only
thing you could possibly buy sugar,
baking powder spices and some dried
fruit No flour, bacon or anything of that
kind could be purchased from any of the
stores, simply because they did not have
them. So long as the stores had any pro-
visions prices remained the same. / want
to say that the stores treated the men all
right and never advanced the prices al
though knowing that there was a shortage
and that they had but to ask for higher
prices to receive them. i know Of in
stance where a private party sold tC a
miner a sack OF flour for SIS ands bacon at
81 a pound"
H. A. Ferguson said 1.-The situation at
Dawson was relieved by the exodus to Fort
Yukon. I doubt If there will be any actual
starvation there. but there will be a short
age. The old timers have provisions enough
to carry them through. The stores are prac-
ticaly cleaned out. All they would sell was
five pounds of sugar to the man. Flour
could not be bought at all. One or two
sacks were quickly picked up at $40 per