The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1897-08-03
''IMl NIllIIy'| D|Rg DISTRICT
A Circular Which Gives General
=, Information Concerning II.
DIFFERENT ROUTES DESCRIBED.
It Is Estimated That Fifty Thousand
People VIII Make the Trip Next
spring-The Value OF Pay Streaks.
Petroleum Lake Discovered,

Seattle, Aug. 81. A. Nadeau. the
general agent Of the Northern Pacific,
has prepared q circular concerning the
iiUuGike district. The circular Ia full
of Information, and IL In part as fol-
lows:
There are two established routes
into the Klondike country. One is via
the ocean to st. Michael's, thence via
steamer up the Yukon to Dawson City
The mouth Of the Yukon river is 60
miles from st. Michael's, and the dis
tance from St. Michael's to Klondike
is 1000 miles. The facilities on the
Yukon consist of two stern-wheel
steamers belonging to the Alaska Com
mercial company, and the steamers p
B. WeaTe, J. J. Healy, of the North
American Transportation and Trading
company, and a third boat, the c. H.
Hamilton, OF the latter company, which
is expected to be ready in a couple OF
weeks. The Yukon is shallow In places,
and it is impracticable to operate any
steamers having draught of more
than Az feet.
THE other route. and the one which
will be principally travelled, is from
Dyea, over the trail via Chilcoot Pass
to Lake Linderman, thence through the
chain of lakes which you will see on
any Alaska map into Lewis river and
down the Yukon to the Klondike. The
route via Dyea is by steamer from
Seattle running direct to Dyea, where
they pack over Chilcoot to Lake Lin
derman. at which place they build boats
usually 20 to "a feet long and Az to
feet wide, which are taken through the
lakes, while the provisions have to be
packed over two short portages, one
one and half miles and one of about
three-Quarters Of mile, while the boat
is taken through the small streams,
The distance from Seattle to Janeau
is Sss miles. Juneau to Dyea 96 miles,
and Dyea to Dawson City GOA miles.
THE Klondike ID variously estimated
at from 10 to 200 miles south of Circle
City, and is located in Canadian terri
tory. 1t is a stream about 40 miles
in length, running in a general westerly
direction, and the gold bearing creeks
where the richest finds have been made
run into the Klondike from O general
southerly direction.
THE gold streak Is anywhere from
eight to thirty feet from the surface,
and is reached by sinking a shaft from
two to three feet wide and six feet long
down to the pay streak. Sinking this
shaft and working the pay streak are
made difficult from the fact that from
the surface to the deepest depth that
has yet been reached the ground Is
perpgtually frozen and q process of fir
ing in order to thaw out the ground is
employed. A brush and wood fire Is
built in the bottom of the shaft, which,
burning all night, thaWs out the ground
from eight to fourteen inches. The
gravel is shoveled out during the day,
and the operation is repeated until the
desired depth is reached. The average
progress in the shaft Is from eight to
fourteen inches per day. When the
pay streak Is reached they drift under
the ground, which does not have to be
supported by timbsrs on account of it's
being perpetually frozen. The fire, in
thawins out the pay streak, generates
a very obnoxious gas, which, after the
fire has burned out, must be expelled
before work can be done. This is ac-
comphshed by the use of bellows, fans
and other devices. A machine, how
ever, is being manufactured in Seattle
that it is expected will expel these
gases speedily.
THE value of the pay streak varies
from as high as few cents per pan to
as high as $5A5, as one miner took out
a little over $1,000 in gold from two
pans, and miners pan contains two
shovelfus Of dirt, so you can realize
the richness of some of this ground
The gold is coarse, very little -four
gold exists, and it runs largely to mug
gets. The value Of the gold is about
SIT per ounce, $500 per pound. The
summers are short and winters long
and weather severe, the thermometer
registering as low as 10 degrees below
zero. There is very little wind, how
ever, and such low temperature Is
somewhat unusual. The great plaques
in that section during the summer are
the mosquitoes and gnats, which
swarm in great numbers and are ex-
cecdingly vicious, compelling people
who are at all susceptible to insect
| poisoning, and in fact nearly every one,
TO wear nets to protect their faces and
| gloves to protect their hands.
1T is estimated that there will be no
| less than $4,000 people, exclusive of ex-
cursonists, going into Alaska next
| spring or the early summer. The time
| required in making the inland trip is
as follows: Seattle to Dyea, five to
seven days: Dyea across Chilkoot Pass
| to Lake Linderman, ten days; to con-
| struct a boat at Lake Linderman, and
make the trip via the lakes and rivers
to Dawson City, requires about "a days.
| Via st. Michaels route the time re-
| CURED Is as follows: Seattle to st.
Michaels, IA days; St. Michaels to
Dawson city, about 81 days, with the
possibility of waiting at st. Mchaes
for the up-river boats"
The steamer Queen, which arrived
at Tacoma from Alaska yesterday
brought word that the mounted police
of the northwest territory are meeting
all people bound for the Yukon cOun-
try at the British line, and compelling
all who have not supply of provis.
| ions to return to the coast.