The San Francisco call., 1897-09-11

The captain of the Cleveland says that
on August "a a heavy gale sprung up off
! kodiac, and the Eliza Anderson became
| separated from the rest OF the fotilla, A
| short time previous she had signaed to
! the HoIvoke that she was short of coal,
and asked the tug to come to her assist
ance. Before the latter could do so the
barge she was towing broke away and she
was forced to go in search of it. While
she was absent the Eliza Anderson was
down out of sight of the other two vessels
and her fate is unknown. 1t is possible
that she managed to reach kodiac, but
the best posted men along the Alaskan
coast consider it most unlikely.
Every sign points to an unusually early
winter in northern latitudes this year.
Natives and white men, who have passed
many wears IN that region, say it will be
one of the earliest winters ever known.
Already ice is forming along the banks of
the Yukon, and when the last boat came
down the river before the departure of the
Cleveland, it was slowly but surely spread
ing out over the broad surface to the GEN.
ter.
The first of October will find it impas
sable for boats, and navigation may be
ClOScQ dltcE tuG lOll Ol DC DISmD D6T. Ii LQe
Weare should get off the mudfiats below
Circle City she, with the Bella, Healy and
Alice. may get through to Dawson. The
Hamilton is now we'll up the river and
will in all probability get through. The
Hamilton carried considerable quantity
of provisions, but not enough to last
month in the constantly growing town of
| Dawson.
/ Miners who started down the river on
the Weare and finished the journey to st.
| Michael on the Healy after the wreck of
the former vessel say that the stores of the
Alaska Commercial Com pany and the
North America Transportation and Trad
ing Company had exhausted their stocks
| by July 20, and not pound OF food OF
any description remained on sale at either
store. A month before they had taken
the precaution to limit the sale to each
customer, and all the gold a miner could
carry on his shoulder would not have pur-
chased for himself two sacks of -four.
One sack was the limit, so were fifty
pounds of bacon and twenty-five pounds
OF beans all that one man could purchase.
| Should the Hamilton be the only boat
| to reach Dawson this fall one can easily
picture the frghtful suffering there is sure
to follow. Even if all the steamers get
through which by any possibility can
make the trip. the stores they will carry
will not be sufficient to feed the inh abb
tants until Christmas.
Added to those already on the ground,
people are pouring into camp by way of
| the trail and lakes at the rate of twenty to
| one hundred day. The great majority
of these have insufficient clothing, and
| are even worse off in the matter of pro-
visions. These are now scattering in q II
directions seeking the precious metal, but
with the coming of snow they will be
driven into Dawson to add to the suffer
| ing of those already there. With this
dreadful situation staring them in the
face, people of Dawson and the Klondike
region are intensely wrought up over the
action OF the two companies that have ex-
| elusive control of the navigation of the
Yukon as we'll as trading stations.
Though the food supply has been ex.
hausted for six weeks the supply of liquor
is limitess The stores are closed, but
the doors Of the saloons, the dance halls
and the gambling hells are open day and
night, Sundays as well.
Open charges are made that both COM
| DdnleS nave DiaCtQ LneiT tIdnS pOItS dt Tue
service of the liquor dealers In preference
to conveying sufficient provisions to nour-
! ish honest miners their wives and chill
dren during the terrible months of winter.
| This seems to be borne out by the state
men:s of passengers on the Cleveland who
| have come down the river within a few
weeks. They tell that the steamer Alice
on her last trip up the river had in tow
the large barge Marguerite. On the decks
of the Alice were piles of provisions in
large quantities, while large part of the
cargo of the barge was liquors OF every
description. Off Old Fort Yukon the
Marguerite was caught by the swift cur
rent and swung high up on the mud
banks, great hole being stove in her bot
ton. Her career was at an end, but not
her spirituous cargo. Hastily the crew of
the Alice set to work and dumped tons