The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1898-10-08
A LETTER FROM KL0NDYKE.
G. j. Butler Remembers a Neihart
Friend with an Interesting Epis-
xta

~Pe
tie.
Dawson, n. w. r., August II, 1898.
Friend Bulge: As it is some time since
| wrote you | though, | would drop in
on you unexpectedly while you are
standing in front of the drug store dis
cussing the Inst act of Dewey Or Samp-
son on the poor misguided Spaniards.
But friend, we do not get much news,
july "a being the last. Still we are
told that Uncle Sam and Germs any are
Mt war but this is only a rumor George.
this is the only time in my life that |
am sorry to be out of my own country
two OF three wars going on and the
latest news NC get IN this country is al
ways a month old. and when We do get
il, it is second handed. For az soon as
papers get in they are gobbled up by
saloon men at five dollars a piece and
then read out loud by some crank to
! the crowd that stands around. so that
you must stay up all night to hear some
one else read the news and then if YOU
are lucky you will probably be able to
buy a paper at a news stand at n dol
lar per copy before the next one comes
in, which is about once II month. We
get mail once a month and it takes from
five to seven days to distribute it: and
then if you are lucky again you get your
mail the first day; but if you Nre lucky,
YOU fall in line every dav for about a
week and then you may De successful.
If you are unlucky enough to have your
letters come in by private carrier you
pay one dollar and go away happy.
Such is life in klondyke. | could
write You n big book on my trip down
the Yukon and up the Stewart river.
but | will not, only | must tell You
that l had n most ENJOYABLE trip--one
that | can think OF and tell my children
about when ] get as old as you must be
by this time. George, you should take
II trip through Miles canyon, the White
Horse and Five Finger rapids, and |
will venture to say there would be no
tracks III the now or sand around your
back door for at least Il month. If YOU
had your "~supermenti" department in
Dawson, you would have Il Klondvkc
10y yourself, as it sells here at from S2o
to $50 per gallon and from 80 cents to
81 per drink.
| have been in Dawson about two
weeks now and have built Il cabin and
will move in tomorrow. have sup.
plies enough to last till next July and
consequently the world looks bright to
me. But there are thousands Of people
here and stranded on the river that have
neither supplies or money for this whit
er. They come here expecting to get
work and now that they cannot get it
they want to get ont. 1t takes $3.50 to
} get TO Seattle and lots of them have not,
$3.50.
Everything is high, Meals ore SO
and board and lodging is $40 per day.
Beef, potatoes, onions, and dried fruits
are 81 per pound. Flour Sl5 per hun
dred and everything else, such is beans,
bacon, tea, coffee, rice and meal is so
snd 70 cents q pound. Eggs are 81 per
dozen; lemons and oranges, S25 pei doz.
en-. Fresh fruit. $3.50 per ID. Water
%iuelous, $3.50 per 3D.; live chickens, S25
each; milk $50 per gallon; chewing to.
bacco is now down to 81 per pound; it
was IS a pound u week ago.
Well, George, this country is over cs.
timated; but that there is lots of gold
here there is u 10 doubt. All the money
in circulation is in coarse or fine gold.
md am going to try very hard to get
some Of it. ] have now two or three
chances to get in on claims but yon can
not see them in summer as they are full
OF water. The only time they work
mines here is in winter, so | will put in
my time looking up claims for a while
yet, rnd ! NAV find something that suits
me.
Will cut this short by saying that
Charley Boyle, Alex Thompson, and