The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-07-20
Since Reports From the Klon.
dyke Have Been Confirmed.
THOUSANDS WILL GO.
Will Not Wait Till Spring as
Advised to Do.
Great Suffering and Famine
Are Predicted.

1 NAAC COdSl mas gone SOlO II1dQ ABOUT the
Klondyke. The Alaska Commercial COM
| pany's steamers will not be able to car
ry tenth of the hordes now preparing
to start for the frozen gold fields.
| Joaquin Miller, the poet, has left for
| Alaska. Whether he is lured by the
promise of fortune or goes to get mater
| ials of an epic no one knows.
| All day long a great procession of
| men and some women filed in and out
of the steamship office asking particu-
| lars about transportation and rates. It
is estimated that 5000 people will start
| from San Francisco towards Alaska be-
fore August.
From the ports of Puget Sound as
| many more will embark Tacoma re-
| ports that men of wealth in that city
are forming syndicates and advancing
| sruo STAKES, with the understanding
- ma u me men who will do the work are
10 receive ha1f of the gold they secure
| Lhese syndicates are made up of from
~ 10 70 men,and each one signs the con-
| ceeds.
Each party will scatter on reaching
tne PAGERS, and it is estimated that two
| at ieast out of each party of ten will
| STRIKE 1t rich and bring the average of
all up to not less than 100000
| The biggest scheme of ali is to charter
the Northern Pacific steamer City of
Seattle, provision her and load her
down with all sorts of goods suita BILE for
use in the far north.
II IS proposed to send the vessel I'D
the Yukon as far as possible and utilize
ner during the winter as headquarters
| for the Tacoma colony. All the exneri-
| enced Yukon miners insist that those
| VINO venture into the Klondyke country
must nave at least one years Supplv of
provisions, but such warnings are not
needed by many, who are only anxious
| 10 get into the gold fields and then trust
| 10 luck to make a living
All classes of people are joining the
| goo hunters, but street car employees
and policemen take the lead in point of
| numbers One capitalist who proposes
paying men IS a day and meet all their
necessary expenses, besides dividing
| earnings with them, was overwhelmed
| with applicants, and had to withdraw
| his offer
1t is leaking out that many who re-
turned last spring from Klondyke were
careful not to give true version of the
| wealth of the country. Maps of Alaska
| are in demand. The center of the new
| gold region is not within Alaskan terri
| tory but 40 miles are not much on a
map, and thousands of prospective adj
! venturers on the Pacific coast are now
STUDYING the somewhat uncertain lines
and charts that will serve to guide for
| tune hunters into the far northwest
| the advent of the Excelsior with its
| LOAD OF gold dust has diSpelled some of
| the hazy notions of this distant Yukon
| V. e.
| garded as dreary succession of inn
| passa bic snow mountains and illim-
| liable ice prairieS.
The gold hunters who returned with
fortunes tell OF country rich, not alone
| in minerals, but in variety of climate
| and resources. 1t is not an endless ice
| carnival up there. There are two
months of summer and sunshine There
| are trees, berries and flowers and where
cultiva ton of the soil has been attempt
ed,accord1ng to the requirements of that
| latitude, it has been successful.
Nevertheless, the dangers from cold
and famine are great, and the menace
| of snow, ice and the relentless winters
will have restraining influence on the
exodus.
The arrival of the steamer Portland
with 100000 in gold and a second party
of the miners is taken as full confirma-
ton of the stories of the richness of the
| mines. On the other hand it accen-
tuates the question many will ask be-
fore deciding to invest $500 or s., 900 in
the dangerous northern trip.
The question is: why are so many
of the miners returning with fortunes
as small as $4,000 or $4,000, if there is
such wealth of gold that any body
may Obtain?"
These miners might all have stayed
and become millionaires, judging by
their own descriptions, before the peo-
pie in this part of the continent had a
chance to get there. OF course, some
have given good reasons for coming
away so early: some are going back,
and all have brought gold enough to
force the skeptfcs into admission that
the discovery of Klondyke must have
been a rich one
If the new mines were in any ordina-
ry regions or even as accessible as the
foothills of the Sierras were in 1S49 the
chief deterring factor that may inf1u-
ence the gold seekers would be remov-
ed
But the regions of the Yukon and its
tributary, the Klondyke, are so barren
I.Af
dams exist there with difficulty. When
the winter shuts the mining camp in
from the world and the thermometer
marks the cold at 60 or 20 degrees be-
low zero, 1t is not easy to find food. The
miners, who have depended mainly on
the supplies brought by steamer, say
that they have been close to famine at
| times.
This winter the scarcity of food, it is
anticipated, may develop into actual
| ia mine, unless the transportation COM
panies or others take precaution to pro-
vide adequate supplies before winter ar
rives.
There has already been rush from
| all parts of Alaska to Dawson City and
| the Klondyke camps. If at the last mo-
ment there should be an unexpected
| rush of prOspectorS, with the importation
| of additional supplies cut off by the
| close of navigation, starvation would be
| the result.
| If the matter is left to the transpor-
| tation and trading companies, supplies
| of provisions may readily be regulated
so as to keep prices at the proper figure
| for the opportunity of cornering the
| market would be perfect.
| There is, however, talk of one or two
| steamers going north Independent
| Speculat ting trips.
| The miners recently arrived in San
| Francisco from the fabulously wealthy
| placer diggings are aghast at the out
| look and predict no end of suffering
| within the next II months They say
| that the people do not appreciate the
| magnitude of the undertaking nor the