The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1898-06-30

the trip n early spring The first be.
ing that the source of the river is in .
much warmer latitude than its mouth
and thus giving 10 outlet for the
early spring floods caused by rains
and the melting of the snow. Conse-
qnently gorges form and back water
foods the adjacent low lands and navi
CATION is rendered more uncertain and
dangerous The second peril is the
Five Finger and White Rapids, which
are ready, without invitation, to mix
up the -four and freshen the bacon of
the Argonauts. Boats, at these dan
ger points, are mostly put in charge of
skilled pilots. but with all this we may
expect to hear that more than one of
the small craft has stranded on the
rocks. Just now those who from the
first planned to reach the gold region
by way of the Yukon, as we'll as the
transportation companies, that must
carry in all supplies for sale and the
development of the country are,
anxiously, waiting for the opening of
navigation. The reports from the
great river are far from encouraging.
One is,that ships cannot enter Behr-
ing Sea until late in July and another
that the ice will probably not leave
the river before early August. If re-
ports are true, worse feature of the
situation is that the water is very low,
and that the snowfall last winter, of
not much over foot in depth, in the
valley of the river will not afford wa
ter enough for navigation except to
the smallest class of steamers. There
are ships enough to forward all sup
plies to St. Michaels, but there is rea
son for apprehension that with a short
season and low water there will again
be difficulty in getting supplies up as
far as Dawson, the present centre of
population.
Does some one ask, "What about
Copper rivera" Well, my opinion is
that all who went there found that
they had hard road to travel. 1 am
sure 1 was disappointed to find that
there are no passes by which the
mountain range, which is only few
miles back from the coast, can he
crossed and that the annual precipita-
ton, which, including snow, is over
80 inches and makes the snow fall in
winter and spring so heavy as to rem
der an attempt to reach the gold fields,
located in the valley between the great
bend of Copper river and the Tannana,
both arduous and dangerous. The
landing is at Port Valdes, a new place,
and the route by the Miles Glacier,
which fills the valley from bank to
bank with the river, which, at times,
discharges an immense volume of wa
ter, flowing underneath. It will be re-
membered that the party headed by
A. l.. Foster of Echo, went to this
point. Our friends, Sloane and Rog-
ers, took the all land route by Edmon-
ton and have, no doubt ere this, come
to the conclusion that they must get a
good rich find to repay the toll and
hardships of the trip. Take it all in
all there are more men on the way to
the Klondike than to Cuba and we
cannot help asking the question,
"What will be the outcome?" The
stories or guessers as to the amount
of gold that will be brought down the
Yukon during July and August are
wide apart-from 100000 to
$2O,OOO,OOO- and the country is wait
ing the verdict.
If the first treasure ships bring out
100000 or SIS, 100000, with the as
surance of much more to come the
present belief in the richness of the
county will be assured or, if 81 10000
comes out early and with it reasonable
evidence of as much on the way the
people will again go wild over an Arc
tic Eldorado. But if, on the other
hand, only a million or two reaches
the outside world, future investments
in Alaska will be slow and intending
prospectors will, at the least, wait un-
I'll fhosa already on the wav have time