The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-11-29

SEATTLE, Wash, Nov. 25.-Twenty-
five men arrived here today on the City
Of Seattle direct from Dawson City.
They were divided into two parties, the
last one Of which left Dawson Oct. 16.
The party consisted Of Thomas McGee
ST., Thomas MCGEE Jr., Of San Fran
cisco; Swift Water Bill' Gates, Joe
Boyle, William Huskins, +. Eckert, H.
Robertson, H. Raymond, Bert Mason,
John w. Brauer, w. H. Chambers, E.
w. Pond, E. Ash, J. Gillespie, Thomas
Wilson, p. McGraw, Jack Dalton, Will
liam Leak, Arthur Celine, Joseph Fair
burn, ]. Smith, T. Warren and Jim
Stephenson. They came out over the
Dalton trail. They are reported to
have between them $4,000 in drafts and
gold dust.
All tell stories Of a food shortgae in
Dawson that is almost a famine. The
laI5 person to leave Dawson was Jack
Dalton. When Dalton left the steam
ers Alice and Bella had reached there
loaded light.
1t is said that the Bella's cargo con-
sisted of whisky and billiard balls. She
brought no provisions. The Canadian
government mounted police chartered
the Bella and gave all who wished a
free passage to Fort Yukon. The Bella
is reported to have left about Oct. IL
with 200 men.
According to the statements made by
members of the Dalton party there is
liable to be trouble of the most seri-
Gus kind this winter in Dawson. Billy
Leak told one of the men in the party
ahead of him, whom he met at Dyea,
that all the people talk about at Daw-
son was the food famine. Men were
gathering in groups and cursing with
might and main the newcomers that
were constantly coming into the Klon-
dixie loaded with scarcely any provi-
sions. The mounted police were offer
ing free transportation to the grub
placers further down the Yukon to Fort
Yukon, but to the countless hundreds
who had labored hard all through the
summer accommodating a grub stake the
prospect was uninviting, to say the
least.
The men figured that 1t would take
all their earnings in gold to pay their
living expenses at Fort Yukon during
the winter, and that in the spring they
would not even have enough left to
to say nothing Of purchasing enough
food to subsist until they could get
started again To these poor fellows
the offer of the mounted police was no
better than the prospect at Dawson of
being compelled to live on half rations
until the supply boats could reach the
diggings in the spring.
ONLY ONE SALVATION.
John w. Brauer, the United States
mail carrier, who left Dawson Sept. 27,
said: There is only one salvation for
the miners who are now at Dawson
City, and that is for them to undertake
the awful winter trip from Dawson to
Fort Yukon, 400 miles. There is no
food at Fort Yukon, there is none at
Dawson, and just as sure as the stars
shine, terrible suffering will be the fate
of the Dawson miner unless he leaves
there before spring. l will make my
statement that when I left Dawson
the men who were there had on an av-
erage four months food supply Some
did not have a months supply, ano
some had four or five. TIE restaurant
closed the night I left. 1t had been
selling nothing but beefsteak, for
which the hungry paid $3.50.
when the people realized that the
boats would be unable to get up the
river, they knew that starvation threat
ened them and the great stampede be-
gan. The first to leave went to Fort
Yukon. I guess there were about ten in
the party that left the first day. One
boat that came up from Fort Yukon had
several newspaper men aboard, among
them Correspondent Sam Wall and a
Mr. McGilvray They brought the news
that the Hamilton had unloaded all of
her cargo and tried to get over the bar
light and failed in her efforts. This
news increased the excitement and
made the rush toward food centers all
the greater. On Sept. IA, Bert Nelson,
of Seattle, and myself left Circle City
and started to pole up the river to
Dawson, 300 miles. At the time we
started from Circle City the miners had
about taken their departure. 1t took
us eleven days and three hours to
make the journey, arriving at Dawson
Sept. 26. Capt Hanson, with two In
dams, who had left Fort Yukon, beat
us into Dawson by about one hour and
a half Hanson gathered the Dawson
CITY miners together and made short
speech, in which he advised all who did
not have provisions to last the winter
to go to civilization. or try and reach
points in the Yukon river country,
where it was known food could be Sc
cured. That night was the greatest
one in the history of Dawson. The min
ers, as soon as they heard the news,
made hasty preparations to get out,
and night-fall saw the gold seekers
and men who can today sell out for
many thousands of dollars leaving by
thousands for down the river or up the
river. The little steamer Kiukuk, which
was to make the trips from Dawson
to Pelly, where the Jack Dalton trail
starts, was brought into play She
was besieged by would-be passengers
who offered as high as $3.50 that they
might be aboard while she made her
Journey of 175 miles to Pelly. The
Kiukuk left Dawson on the afternoon