Evening journal., 1897-07-26
ALL FOR GOLD.
James sW. Seamans, of This
City, Describes a Trip
OVER THE 0HILKOOT PAS

/ - AAAA@ a t@NC-N RC'@C II AA<A~AfA's
There is a man in Wilmington who
has performed the wonderful feat of
travelling over the Chilkoot, the Chill
kat and the White Passes leading to
the chain of lakes at the entrance to
the gold mines of the Yukon territory
in Alaska and British territory.
There are a few men in this country
who nave Travelled over the Chilkoot
Pass, but the man to whom we refer
believes that he is the only man who
has successfully gone over the three
| passes. His name is j. w. Seamans.
and his home is in Victoria b. c. Hel
is now living at No. 70S Market street.
With p l. Packard, the Alaskan ex-
plorer, now here, he discovered the
Taku Pass over which the Yukon Min
ing. Trading and Transportation Com
pany, formed here, will build a ROAD
from Taku Inlet, on the Alaskan coast,
to Teslin Lake at the head Of the navi-
gable waters of the Yukon river. Mr.
Seamans gives on interesting account
of a trip over the Chilkoot Pass, the
route which is generally used by miners
who want to get into the Yukon gold
! fields. and the route by which many
men who have started for the Klon
dyke, in the past two weeks, will
travel The Yukon territory, Mr.. Sea-
mans said, gets it's name from a river
OF that name which runs through it.
The Yukon river runs in horseshoe
fashion from British America through
Alaska and into the Behring sea. All
along it's course are rich gold districts,
; such as the Klondyke, the Forty Mile
Birch Creek, Eldorado and Bonanza.
There are five or six routes into the
Yukon region, but only two are used
by miners. These are, the routes by
; steamer via Saint Michaels Island, on
the coast of Alaska, and up the Yu-
kon. and by the Chilkoot Pass. The
t Chilkoot is the overland route to the
/ gold fields. Miners prefer it because it
! gets them to the fields quicker than the
a water route They like to go over the
3 Chilkoot when the snow is on it, be-
I cause the snow fills up crevasses
= which are bare in summer.
The ChilkOOt mountain is a part OF
e the Alaskan Coast Range system.
Starting from Seattle about March
10 on a Pacific steamer a miner goes to
juneau Juneau is about 200 miles
above Seattle and the trip is made in
- about five days on fast steamer. Ju-
o neau is the Quitting point for the Yu-
r kon territory. Near it is the famous
r Treadwel gold mine, one of the richest
d in the world. The population of Ju-
= neau is about $500
r Arriving at Juneau if he did not buy
d them in Seattle, the miner gets his
supplies, such as coffee sugar, tea
n rice and other food, as well as cloth
y ing. His outfit in Juneau will cos
: about $780,
4.I 10 M ~
Juneau are packed in canvass to in
d sure against breakage on the trip owe
l. the mountain.
From Juneau a steamer takes thu
miner 112 miles north TO Dyea, at thu
= head of Lynn Canal. Here he gets il
4 a. canoe and goes up the stream a dis
. tance of about six miles, where he en-
: counters a long stretch of timber lan'
=, leading to the dangerous mountail
= pass. He traYerses this land for sew
ii eral miles and strikes Sheep Camp
4, which is a mile from the foot of thu
70 mountain All the time he travels ol
= undulsting ground covered with snow
with his supplies packed on his back o
sleigh. At Sheep Camp he may b.
Obliged to wait several days for favor
able weather before ascending tn
: mountain. With his pack on his bacl
- he begins to climb the steep snow-hil
- He cannot take horses with him.
- miner who takes more supplies that h
- can carry in one load is obliged t
- make more than one trip up the noun
tain If he succeeds in getting to tn
v top bis journey down is easy and h
is brought to the head Of Lake Linder
man. Here he pitches his camp and ]
= obligel to whip-saw timber for boat
AN f,ts 1ao IN nQUfuufn tn
~ chain Of lakes separating him from tn
- gold fields If he knows nothing abou
y. the art Of whip-sawing timber the tas
~ will not be any easy one. After he ha
the timber cut he must allow it to sea
y , son for several days before he can pu
p it into the boat. Then, after he ha
~ the boat built he must wait till the ic
~ breaks in the lake, from the 1st to tn
ooo 18th OF May. He then launches hi
oo0 boat and follows the ice down, camp
oo ing along the shores when night tall'
oS From Lake Linderman he goes {
oS Marsh Lake and then into Mud Lake
o0 Here be is Obliged to relieve his boat O
on its burden and push 1t short dis
tance, on account of the shallow water
From Mud Lake he goes through ser
les Of small lakes, till he gets to tn
~ Windy Arm of Taku Lake Thi
arm gets llS name DecduSe VI lue WlAu
oy that cavort around it. The water in tn
OF arm is shallow, but the winds lash
e. into fury. He may encounter a storI
I'll at the arm and be Obliged to wait tw
or or three days. From the Windy Arr
ic he makes his way to the Grand Canyo
d, at the entrance to the Fifty Mile rive
le. Below the Grand Canyon are the Whit
as Horse rapids, which run at the rate {
DIS twenty miles an hour. Few men hav
be shot these falls successfully in boa
as Below the rapids along the shore ar
It boulders and rocks which are pointe
is. out to strangers as the graves Of In
dians, but in reality they are tn
.E graves of unfortunates who have al
iff tempted to go over the rapids.
", When he gets to the Grand Canyo
nd he must make portage of his bo;
ed and supplies along a trail which take
in him t. the foot of the rapids, and int
o. the Fifty Mile river On the Fifty Mi
a river he must use extraordinary cai
lot in navigation. as the stream Is file