The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1898-08-22
HECHT & COMPANY.
SIS Seventh St.
A WoMAN's JOURNEY.
sirs. Field, of ST. Paul. Returns From
the KIondil%
From the New YORK Times.)

A slight. pretty. bIack-eyed young wo-
man IS Mrs. A D. Field. of 55S Broad
way, and her diamind ear drops. her dia-
mond pin, her diamond rings are as
bright as herself. But Mrs Field has
Just returned from a journey 10 Dawson
City by steamship. steamboat. canoe.
sledge. horseback, and snowshOes. She
was never sick one hour. She met with
no accidents And she carried her gilt
teriag diamonds all the way to the Arctic
circle and back again
Mrs Field has been married six years
/ She has no children. Last January she
| started with her husband for the KIon-
/ dixie They expected 20 go by way. OF
! Wrangel and the Stikeen route. They ar
| rived at Wransel in the latter part of
/ January. and found that the Stikeen
/ route was almost impossible. II was. in
/ fact. afterwards abandoned by all travel
( ers- WranGei has many frame houses
/ Mrs. Fields stay Of six weeks there was
/ comfortable When they determined 70
| take the ChilkoOt pass Mrs. Field and
her husband went on up to Dyea- She
J walked across the summit OF the pass
/ along steps cut in the snow She was
carried on a sledge the most of the way
10 Lake Lindeman. where they encamped
and remained two months Part OF the
1 distance over from Dyea she rode on
| horseback ard astride. For there were no
side-saddles in Alaska. and, besides. she
/ wore corduroy boomers and a short skirt
I While at Lindeman she was distressed BY
the death of many felIOw-eampers. These
I were men that had tOiled severely in the
transporting OF supplies and the building
of boats. Constantly exposed. sleeping in
the cold and damp. they fell victims to
spinal meningitis
When the ice went out. that is. went
north. about June l. Mr. and Mrs Field
starred in their own boat along the lakls
and rivers toward Dawson They camp
ed out every night on the shore The
weather. which had been cold during me
Winter. but endurable had then become
warm and agreeable. The mGsqu. toes and
sand flies. however. were torture The
voyage 20 Dawson consumed three
weeks. June 20. when she reached tAe
KIondike Mrs Field found its capital A
town of a. COO people. No boats had hen
arrived from the mouth OF the Yukon
Provisions were very dear. We could
have sold our canned tomatoes. said
Mrs Field for s. a can as fast as we
could unpack them, so many men were
sicI, with the scurvy.'' Oranges were 81
apiece. Mrs Field ate fresh meat daily
but she paid $50 or 81 a pound for the
| de icacv. Meals at any restaurant were
then worth $3.50 each Potatoes in great
demand because of scurvy. were salaDie
at $50 a pound or 500 a sack Ars-
Fields little two-roomed log cabin was
secured for $50 a month without a single
modern Improvement. not even open
a month after her arrival the small.
black-eyed traveller accepted the escort 10
, the coast of a special messenger SEM
down by the Canadian government 10
take dispatches to Ottawa He was one
: of A party of thirty-five including aneth-
: or woman Mr. Field remained in Daw-
son where ne had established a most
= nrosperous business. The journey out
I was quickly made in twenty days steam
5 boats conveyed the party 70 the chaln OF
I lakes beyond the ChilkOOt. and thence
i small boats and horses carried everybody
{ across 10 the coast. II had not been no.
/, Dawson. anticfpatiOns TO the contra
~ and the MOSQUITOES even had been
( much less annoying On the tap down
r the mosquitoes again appeared, but the
= weather remained cool
There is said TO be a good many claims
} | still to be had not very far rom DaW-
SON. commented Mrs. Field. but the
uenfhat went up there last Spring dldn I
feel like rustling out after work They
thought that, once at Dawson. their trou-
bIes would be at an end But. IN TACT
they were only beginning. So the men
wouldn't go forty miles out from town
. and begin prospecting. but they walked
I'D and down Dawson streets all the I'VE
long day, waiting for a mine 70 jump IN
a to their pockets, 1 suppose But, aI'eI
all the mining regulations were very en-
coura ging.
:. .sTbere'd be a line of claims across the
valley here. taken up by prospectors
but tie next line would go to the queen
;, The next line would be private and th5
! r,ext went 10 the queen. And then 10 pei
: cent of all the gold removed had 10 b,
: paid over TO the queen. also. as roy
aItv. So one man has S20O.0OG worth OF
gold all dug out and ready TO renOv-
from his mine but he's waiting for tbs
. mining law to be changed so that HI
: won't have to pay over $4,000 as a roy
atty. Many other miners are keeping
their gold in the same way Indeed
there's a royalty On everything. even
: they say-though / guess that's a NIB
on the moss they fill up chinks with be
tween the logs of their cabins Every
body's dreadfuIly dissatisfied with tn
= regulations. They're more severe. peO
~ pie say. than We're ever imposed in an,
other mining country.
II had the very best treatment every
IN where. and l never saw any shooting
re scrapes or trouble Property is perfectl
1r safe. The mounted police are very strict
m and then it would be impossible for
o. criminal to escape. Men guilty of smal
IL offenses are at once ordered out OF town
mo. / never was sick and I didn't I'm
the climate too cold or too hOt. ] wa
sr not at all strong when 1 stared. bu
a. my experience buiIt me right up
Dawson is located Just over marsh
You can make well in front OF you
u house by digging down few feet. AIT
n everybody that drinks water drinks sha
III kind II isn't very wholesome. The hos
n pital was filed. I understand that man
n men were sick in town. Lack Of fTes
provisions had mostly 70 do with al thi
sickness. and l don't think that Dawso
is going TO be very well supplied mex
Winter. either. People expected that IN
first boats would bring up provisions
ne But, instead all the boats that arrive
-, in July when 1 was there, were packe
no | with passengers. and they had scarcel
to any provisions at al
st IT'S awfully hot down here. isn't it
I've been half dead with the heat eve
since reached Seattle But l wOuidn
r take $4,000 for my trip 70 the Kl0ndik'
and I'll probably go back next SPRING