The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-12-22

that could aid in a small way, but with the
number there now this cuts no figure.
The gold seekers next year can no more
succeed in landing a surplus on the klon-
dixie than they did this year. Only very
VIII get In there with more than ton of
stuff do not care how early they start,
they must have food for the season of 1898
and the winter of 1889
TRAILS WILL BE BLOCKADED.
If they cannot succeed in this. they may
as Well remain away. Now, where is the
food to come from to feed those who are
now there and who. when next seasons
tide gets in, will be found with nothing?
want to go on record again, and stand
or fall with it, and 1 will commit myself
to the proposition, that the disasters of next
year viii only intensity and aggravate this
years experience. l can forecast the con-
dltons on the Skaguay and Dyea trans
when men begin TO crowd them beyond
their capacity. | can see the wagon road
over the granite rocks and the mountain
Dogs OF the nrst mentioned of these two
Trans. have seen wagon traits rail- IN
LOCO, get blocked and put INTO almost mex
trlcdDie CONFUSION wnefe lne loauou wagons
met WIN the empty aSonS IN passlns; ana
the country ABOUT fllnOie was paraulse
10 Wagons compared with the CnIkooI
mountains.
l freely concede that a wagon road will
be a great neIp. 1t would nave expedited
tne crowd TINS year, but VIII sun be wholly
inadequate Tor the matchmaking hu-
man tempest that VIII hurl Itself
against barriers year.
or course, ABOUT all VIII want 10 make an
early start. 1 appTenend that the steam
snip lines Will be WnOny inadequate 10 the
prompt hanoIlng OF the crown. 1T would
nave no enect Whatever ON this coming
tnfOnS, II every man, woman and. cnIIu
starved to death TINS winter in interior
Alaska.
1ne wreck of a passenger train has no
m nA
The Individual Wrechlng OF thousands OF
tenderIeet Viii mean fortunes TO the few
and there VIII be precisely the same eXhI-
bltion OF human nature next year tnat there
was this year.
but l 90 not intend to penetrate the in
terror myself. l certainly do intend to go
inside, ana shall go with a faIr degree of
comfort, and en- route snail gam in earthly
beionglngS-that is ii in TINS thrOng there
are not 100 many discerners to devise my
own plan. Am SellSh IN not disclosing IL <
l do not think so. w ould there De any sense
in stampedng herd my own way and
make all hands all around suffer from the
inundation?
My own plan is perfectly available up to
certain limit. So is the Yukon river propo-
sitIon; SO are the trails. The misery is
when they are once taxed to ten times their
capacity. | do not propose to invite a herd
that VIII throw Itself upon my path like
ueluge and Illustrate the entire business. /
am neither selfish nor hard-hearted. have
an object to accomplish to which l have
given considerable preliminary work. Per-
portatlOn scheme. L have simply planned
my own, and 500 or 1909 persons on the
same plan at the same time would involve
1t all in utter wreck
L calculate that the gold belt of the north
ern country must involve at least 81 ,0C0
square miles. The area is probably much
larger. OF necessity, the country can only
be prOspected slowly. Stern, frowning gran
lite mountain walls, timbered at their bases
and bare, perhaps, 1900 feet then to I'M
known depths covered with snow and ice,
the accessible portions covered with moss
such is the layout for the quartz hunter.
In the placer the case is different Gold
is found in situations at variance with all
former signs. The surface may be marsh,
with a sub-Stratum of Il dozen feet of pure
muck, and which has been constantly frozen
from time thousands of years anterior to
the laying of the stones OF Babylonia.
The country is almost an incessant
wrinkled area of mountains. The Pacific
and the Arctic oceans incloSe two sides of
the great continental corner, and the Hud-
son bay system might be considered as
croWdng the other side.
Flatten out her mountains and Alaska
would expand so per cent. The immense
chain, coming up almost from Terra del
Fuego, seems to have got staggered and
confused, finding itself hemmed in, in this
corner, then to have tramped around
awhile, leaving its mighty imprints before
jumping across into Asia.
l am not advising men to stampede to
this country. l am going to set forth the
bedrock bottom facts. Judge we then for
yourselves. But this l say unto you all:
Pin your faith to heavy grub stake.