The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-09-06
MORE ABOUT THE GOLD FIELDS.
Information by Man Who Spent six
Years in Alaska.
Prof VIM. Healey Dali, in the Forum

Prof. VIM. Healey DALI in the Forum
Ordinary wooden clothing for the body,
and leather boots for the feet, are of course
utterly unsuitable, and can be worn only at
serious risk when travelling. Indian snow
shoes are essential; the Norwegian variety
worthless.
AS the season advances the snow settles,
and at night a firm crust forms. The most
favorable months for travelling are March
and April. The midwinter days are short
with sunlight in some ATTITUDES from 10 in
the morning to 3 in the afternoon. When
necessary one can travel fairly well by
starlight and moonlight over the snowy
tundra, but not in the woods. In May the
snow is wet and heavy. and travel diff
cult. Pools of water and the first mos
quitoes then begin to appear BY May 20
the river bursts it's bonds of ice and foods
the lowlands; ice, debris and broken tim
Der pouring with a grinding noise, head
long toward the sea. For at least a week
navigation is impossible.
Summer, swift-foOted, trips upon the
heels of winter. The sun pourS down with
a violence not soon forgotten, though in
the shade it is always cool. The cry of
the brant, northward bound. is continually
appear on every hand All the minor forms
of life, native to the region or migrants
from the south with startling suddenness,
people the copseS and perVade the air. Veg
citation springs into leaf and flowers at a
bound; and, with hardly a hint of spring
summer is upon us.
Mosquitoes, the pest of the north. appear
in clouds. Except in midstream, or where
brisk breeze is blowing life without a
net anu iedIneT gloves Is misery. The IN
dams smear their faces with a mixture of
grease and charcoal. and paddle with a
smudge on square of turf in the bows
of their birch canoes. The caribou. moose.
and bear, driven from the thickets plunge
into the river for a temporary respite.
Curiously enough, during the three sum-
mers, black flies and midges, so plentiful to
the eastward. were encountered only once
on the Yukon; possibly near it's head
waters, our luck would have been worse
The records show that the lower Yukon
valley has summer temperature much In
excess of that normal to the latitude. As
the days are long, the traveller will pru-
IDENTIFY sleep at noon and utilize for his
work the cooler hours when the sun sweeps
low along the northern horizon and the
mosquitoes are less active
Frosts appeer in mid-September Early in
October the Yukon begins to be covered
with ice; though it IS not fully cebound
until late in November. So the round is
completed.
One serious danger menaces the large
population now pouring into the district.
The upper Yukon is a country where SUBJ
sistehce has always been difficult The
first party which ever reached ft--that
under Robert Campbell. Of the Hudson Bay
though composed of seasoned voyagers-
was If tradition be reliable, forced TO sup
port life by cannihalism before IL could
reach help. In 1866 not more than three
hundred Indians were able to find subsst-
ence between Fort Yukon and Fort Selkfrk
The abundant fish and game of the lower
Yukon are absent. The river steamers
available for transportation cannot dur
ing the remainder of the present season.
carry up to Dawson City much more food
than will supply its present population. II
seems improbable than any large proper
ton of the people now hurrying over the
Chilcat portage can transport--if indeed
they possess-food enough to carry them
over the winter and up TO the arrival OF
summer supplies from the lower Yukon
Very serious hardships. and even prob
able starvation. therefore confront thl