The herald., 1897-08-10

kneedeep in mud during the short sum-
mer Altogether, the trip by boat is eX-
hausting and disagreeable, not the least
of its disadvantages being that it lands
the gold-seeker at last after floating
down the river from Port Selkirk TO the
mouth of the Klondike, in camp just
at the beginning of the ten-months
winter.
Chilkoot pass is mighty onsartin'
after September Is. There may De
snowstorms at almost any time, SO
fierce and wild as to interrupt passage.
Still later in the season, it will be TOOL
hardy for greenhorns to attempt the
trip at all. But the greed of gold is
powerful incentive, and it is certain
that travel inland will be continued THIS
fall long after the usual quitting time,
and will be attempted in good weather
in winter. And as those who partlci-
pate in 1t will be in many cases men
unused TO danger and exposure, 1t Is
difficult to see how loss of life is to be
avoided After the first heavy snow
falls, sledges can be used to transport
goods over the pass, and dogs employed
to drag them, in a cold which would
soon render pack ponies useless. When
the ice has sufficiently frozen the lakes
and rivers, nature has prepared a per-
fectly smooth road for the sledges, and
many miles day may be made with
the utmost ease.
On a running stream, new ice is
treacherous, and an involuntary bath
in the October or November waters of
the upper Yukon is not thing to be
greatly desired. But men who are used
to it travel all winter long in the neigh
borhood of the Arctic circle. Circle City
and other points above enjoy mail
once a month The runners who take
out and bring in letters are men Injured
to exposure and thoroughly acquainted
with the road.
"Sledging i'm is pleasanter process
| in the spring than at any other time.
Then, with a thermometer never very
many degrees below zero, the heavy
snow has filled up the rough places on
the rocky pass and has become suff1-
| ciently hard to bear the sledges well.
| Fresh falls of snow are rather less like
" than in the autumn, the days are
longer and the wind generally blows
from the south. At such time the
voyageur can often extemporize sail
out of a "three-point blanket" slung to
crotched stake, pile his quarreling,
biting dogs on top of the load and go
| ice-boa ting away to the north, twenty
or thirty miles at a time, at spank
ing. satisfactory rate. There's many a
bad tip-over in this kind of progress
but it's easy and it's quick, and these
are reasons that appeal powerfully to a
man in a hurry for gold.
Dogs are worth from $500 to $500 In
1 the neghborhood of Dawson, the new
city. The supply of dogs that will stand
the climate is limited and the price
mounted sharply upon news of the big
gold strike. Many dog bought at such
prices will be killed and eaten this COM
ing winter on the Klondike. AS by thai
time the poor dog will be reduced to
skin and bone and will not weigh much
his meat may represent SIS to $40
pound But Klondike will be lucky II
meat doesn't run even higher, before
spring brings a new supply.
The new places are indubitably or
British soil; but as the road thither
whether by the Yukon or by Chilkoot
pass leads through United States terri
tory, there should be a settlement OF
the long vexed Alaska boundary ques-
ton. The line crosses the Yukon in the
heart of the gold region. Here there Is
no dispute. The 141st parallel of lati-
tude is the line, needing only surveying
and making. But from Mt. st. Ella:
southwark John Bull wants to measure
the ten marine leagues inland, which
the line is not to exceed, from the outel
edge of the islands instead of from thu
shore of the mainland itself. This makes
very considerable distance in a regior
likely soon to be very useful for agri
culture, for fishcanning and hydraulic
mining and stamp milling. Much O
Alaska's gold still comes from quart;
mills near salt water, in spite of thu
superior richness of the less easil!
reached Klondike.
Copyright, 1897. by Bacheller Syndicate.