The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-08-30

fever has broken out in England and
all through Europe. One hears of the
gold fields everywhere, and hundreds
of voices are heard to declare an in
tention of trying to win from fortune
when the coming spring arrives.
Not even the diamond fields of Africa
or the anterior gold discoveries created
the excitement throughout Britain and
Europe that the Klondike finds have
aroused. In the first place, it is def
nitely settled now thai the klondike
region is all British soil. That in itself
stirs the average Englishman to vigor,
for he feels that if he makes the jour
ney there, he is still under the protec-
ton of his own flag and subject to laws
which his natural prejudice causes him
to believe are entirely just. Say it
softly, but it is true also that the
Britisher feels he will not be at the
mercy of what he terms the Yankee
prospector," and that under the laws
of the Dominion government he will
have a distinct advantage.
The general impression here is that
the Klondike region is pound to be de-
veloped 1t is held, and very logically
too it seems, that where such wealth
of mineral deposit is clearly apparent
civilization will force thick settlement
Conservative men here believe that
within the next quarter of a century
a great city will spring up in the
Klondike region, to which numerous
smaller cities will pay tribute, and
that here will be found what comes
nearer being the tabled Eldorado than
anything else upon which the eye of
man has yet rested. This may almost
be said to be the national opinion, and
such being the case it requires no
logician to determine how intense the
national feeling on the subject must
be.
1 notice the general sentiment as ex-
pressed in the London newspapers
which fairly TEEN with Elondike tales
and advices. The London newspaper
is not as quick to reflect public opinion
as the newspaper of the United States
but when any one subject attracts the
attention of all the newspapers in suf-
1icient degree to warrant plenty of
space being given to it, then it may
safely be reckoned that the public is
as one man interested therein. The
discussion is. intelligent and conserva-
tive. For instance, here is what one
newspaper says:
There seems little reason to doubt
that in the newly discovered gold fields
we are face to face with one of those
unexpected happenings, which, at least
thrice already within the present CEN
fury, have sufficed to change the char
acter and direct the development of a
continent. In few years time, in all
human probability, the country that is
now ice and snow will be transformed
by the magic influence of gold.
But it is almost certain that it will
be at the cost of an army corps or SO
of human lives. Twas ever thus
Souter's discovery of gold in California
in the autumn of 1847 was followed by
the mad rush of 40, when in one single
week 100000 people set out from the
Eastern states to cross the great plains,
Of whom not more than a third ever
returned to their homes.
-Four years later when gold was first
found in Australia a similar scene was
re-enacted; and again in South Africa,
at a comparatively recent date In each
case the discovery of the precious
metal has resulted primarily in a de-
plOrable loss of life, ana In each case.
too, it has given birth to great cities
San Francisco, Melbourne, Johannes
burg to wit.
There is no reason to doubt, nay, it
is an almost absolute certainty. that
the history of the past in California, in
Australia, and in South Africa, will be
the history of the future in British
Columbia. Only, probably, there will
be far greater loss Of life Nature is
very stern in these icy solitudes, and
altogether pitiless. 1t may we'll be that
the year 1897, the year of the opening
n lo n
year rendered forever hideous to all
English-speaking posterity by the
memory of an unparalleled tragedy.
ALREADY the authorities are viewing
with ill-cOncealed dismay the influx of
tens of thousands of men, mad with
the lust for gold, and reckless, because
ignorant, of the terrible vengeance
Nature invariably exacts from those
rash enough to venture unasked and
unprepared into the regions she has
seen fit to dedicate to the reign of the
Frost King. And the worst of it is
nothing can apparently be done to
save them from themselves. The gold
fever has laid hold upon these armies
of immigrants, and they rush blindly
to evils they know not Of Death is
DOGGY that loses its power of fright
when gold is to be won.
'And what sort of a country is this,
into which men are pouring at this
present moment at the rate OIL nun
dreds per day? 1t is a bleak, terribly
inhOspitable land, inhabited until late
" by a few semi barbaric people, many
OF whom have long known the royal
metal yet have despised it, except, per-
hapS. as a means of personal adorn-
ment Vegetation struggles out to bluff
upon bluff of stunted pines, with patch
es of white moss, which weary the eye
with unending monotony.
ffROckS and cragS. which have to be
surmounted by the intrepid traveller,
increase in size making the shortest
land journey precarious and difficult.
There is no break to the monotony of
the scene, so one nights camping place
differs scarcely at all from the last.
The climate is arctic; for short period
the sun has considerable power; but
for the greater part of the year the
land is plunged in the horrors of that
winter which may not be described;
frozen up by cold which cannot be
imagined, save by those who have I'M
Gergone it."
While it is true that the average
Briton has a very dim idea of the geo
graphical features of the United States,
the Klondike excitement has made it
clearly apparent that when it comes to
English possessions the Englishman is
thoroughly up to date. He knows all
about Alaska and how England fought
to have had it" instead of Uncle Sam,
and is thoroughly familiar with the
climate condition of that portion of
British Columbia which contains the
Klondike. 1 quote from a London
newspaper, the statements given being
those made by a correspondent who