The herald., 1897-08-12
SIGNIFICANT SIGNS

vide.
SIGNIFICANT SIGNS
WASHINGTON, August 11.-Secre
tary of the Interior Bliss received toda
from the President Of the North Ameri
can Trading ard Transportation Com
pany Of Alaska the following telegram
II congratulate you and thank you 70
the official warning to people rushing t,
the Yukon Klondyke mining country a
tbis season of the year"
Acting Secretary Ryan, commentin;
upon the dispatch says it indicates tina
there must be very congested state o
affairs at Seattle and other points of de
parture for the Klondyke gold fields, o.
The President of large Transportation
company would not approve the warn
4ng issued yesterday by Secretary Bliss
Surveyor General Diston, recently ap
pointed for Alaska, qualified today anC
was at the Interior Department consult
ing with officials before taking his de
parture. He will go at once to Alaska
but will remain at Sitka, the capital
, awaiting further instructions from the
department. While it is probable thai
the Surveyor General will be ordered t.
the Yukon country next year, there is NJ
intention of sending him there this year
NICE LITTLE PRICES
TACOMA, Wash, Aug. lid. H
4aughlin writes from Dawson, Alaska
under date Of June Is that six hundred
claims in the creeks are selling at prices
ranging from $4,000 to $3.50 900 each.
There are about 150 claims that are
good on these two creeks. A miner
bought claim in February for $45, 600
on the installment plan, and was 10
make the last payment on July 1, but
did not need 50 much time, for he paid
the last the day we arrived. He has
80 feet of ground left and a surplus of
$4,000. The pay streak is from forty to
eighty feet wide, and the pay is in and
on the bed rock.
These are not drift diggings, and have
to be worked in the winter. The
ground is frozen from fifteen to thirty
feet deep. Times will be quiet here
until about October /, when there will
ibegwork for 1000 or 5000 men. There is
. small saw mill here and lumber is
worth s140 per thousand feet. The
camp was not started until last August,
and 1t is estimated that the output is
about $500, 600 to date, and will prob
ably be twenty five or thirty millions
next year. The companies think they
Dan supply enough provisions for the
winter.
The Circle City camp is about de-
Sefted, and the claim owners are offer
Ing $3.50 per day ard board.
The camp is well supplied with pro-
visions at present. Flour is worth $12
per hundred pounds, and bacon so cents
q pound, beans 121a cents coffee rs
GENTS, milk so cents per can, table fruit
Is cents per can, shovels So each.
If any one should. want to come here
this summer or fall he would advise
them to come by the mouth of the Yu
koE. In early spring they should come
by the land and water route.
/. REASON FOR WRECK
SEATTLE, Aug. 1L-It will require an
Enquiry by the government inspector of
shulls to determine the facts and circum-
stances of the wrecking of the Pacific
Coast Steamship company's steamer
Mexico at the entrance to Dixon's sound
on themorning of August 5th. Various
staIes have been told of the accident and
jseveral theories have been advanced. 1t
was stated with seeming authority that
1.-THE rock which was the cause of the
EMexico's undoing was the West Devil
brock and that it shows on the charts. The
first accounts of the disaster sent out
from Victoria are to the effect that the
rock was hidden beneath the waves and
was not down on the charts. Dixon's
Sound is on the inside route to Alaska,
and has been considered an open high
way
1t was stated on the authority of DR..
D. Anderson, a passenger on the
Mexico, that the steamers course was
so as to send her outside in the
hope of saving sixteen hours on the
trip. The change was made by the cap
tain as a result of a petition circulated
by the Christian Endeavor excursionists
on the boat, who were anxious to reach
Seattle before the time limit of their re-
turn tickets to the east had expired.
Pilot Cornell is an experienced navi-
gator and has been employed in these
waters for number of years. He was
on watch and Captain Thomas was in
his stateroom. Therefore the RESPONSE
bility rested upon the pilot.
The board of inquiry began taking tes-
timony today Pilot Cornell was called
and testified. The hearing was con-
Quoted in the office of Inspector Bryant
and behind closed doors.
CANADIAN PLANS
: OTTAWA, Ont, Aug. 11.-Influenced
by a protest from both politicians and
business men of the northwestern por-
ton of the dominion the government has
decided to abandon its scheme to force
miners of the placer regions of the Klon-
dyke to pay royalty of 10 or Is per cent
on all gold taken out here. Many busi-
ness men declared in their representa-
tions to the government that such a rule,
If put into force. would undoubtedly lead
to infinite trouble and might cause
bloodshed.
The storekeepers and outfitters of Brit
ish Columbia are busy now arraging
their plans to compel all prospectors to
buy their supplies of them'by enforcing
the payment of duty on all outfits which
are carried into the upper Yukon valley.
THE HUMBOLDT SAILS
SAN FRANCISO, Aug. lit was not
until 4:40 O'Clock this afternoon that the
steamship Humboldt dropped out into
the stream and headed for the Golden
Gate.
At st. Michael the vessel will have to
anchor some 600 yards or more from
shore, and the lightering must be done
with the boats carried upon the ship.
Ovvuprg and m tars, nj x-ac,ca1e, 20