The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-07-19
BY SAM w. WALL.


Is. the day that stands in the calendar
OF the Yukon from year to year for the
arrival at this point of the first up
river boat I found already tied up at
the front the little steamer May West,
the Richardson boat that wintered be-
low Minook The still smaller steamer
Victoria, belonging to the Alaska Com
mercial Company party that was ice
bound at Circle City, had already ar
rived and that day left for the Pelly
River with a few passengers who were
going out over the Dalton trail. The
May West was listing passengers for
St. Michael. The Porteus B. Weare Of
the National Alaska Transportation
Company, that wintered at Circle, had
also arrived, discharged cargo and was
away hunting wood. The Bella Of the
Alaska Commercial Company, which
wintered at Circle, was reported to have
left a barge on a bar near Circle City
and to have cut loose and gone back to
Fort Hamlin for another cargo.
The river is falling rapidly. 1t had
opened many days ahead of the lakes.
1t rose high and flooded all the fiat
upon which the business portion of
Dawson stands and threatened to carry
the city down with it For several days
the water was knee deep on Front
street and men walked round the bill
Hard tables or sat at faro in their
rubber boots, the water above their
ankles.
The food subsidized as it had come,
almost in a day, and left Dawson as
found it, a marvel of new cities.
When l started out over the ice in
March last Dawson was q town Of
about 1000 people. The business portion
consisted mainly of the stores of the
two big companies, the Alaska Com
mercial and the North American Trad
Ing and Transportation, together with a
dozen or more saloons and dance houses
which stood in a frequently broken
line along one side of First avenue or
Front street. me residence portion was
a group of log cabins on the first rise
Of a hill to the northward.
I come back to find both sides of
Front street built up almost without a
break for d distance of nearly three
quarters Of a mile and the business
pushed into the cross streets and along
Second avenue. The water front down
on the river is packed closely for a mile
and a half with boats and barges, two
and three deep, many Of them with
goods for sale and flying banners of
new photographers, dentists,
doctors and laWy erS-all manner of peO-
pie. At the mouth Of the Klondike
southwark on both sides the tents of
the new Corners resemble an army in
camp, and northward of the town On
the rise Of the hill is another army.
There Major Walsh, commissioner or
governor of the territory, has pitched
his tent where he can command a view
of the town.
All the surrounding hilIsides that last
winter were merely wooded spaces are
rapidly being resolved into the City Of
Dawson. The trees are down and IN
their place stand cabins in all stages
OF construction, most Of them on the
simplest architectural plans, but many
being built with a care and neatness
that indicate permanent residence.
Most Of the business places on Front
street are mere rough board or canvas
affairs, put up with regard to speed
rather than appearance or permanency.
but there are a few quite pretentious
buildings Of newer order. These are.
without exception, saloons and gam
bling and lodging-houses. They are all
doing a great business.
Front street long and wide as it is,
is crowded with people at every hour
Of the twenty-four, and particularly in
the evening from 5 o'clock until mid
night Life is at high tension. The
great number of new corners is hourly
being increased by the boats and
barges, and the circle Of tents widens
daily; saloons and dance houses now
are numbered by the score; the water
side of Front street resembles the ap-
prOach to a State fair.
In the hastily constructed booths
every line of traffic is represented, in
Guiding lemonade cat so cents a glass;,
icecream. news and peanut stands.
Both sides of the street boast side
walks, but the roadway is axle deep
with mud The street is Uttered with
logs and the wreckage of buildings.
The Klondike Nugget and the Yukon
Midnight Sun are two newspapers al
ready established, while at least half
a dozen other plants are here or are
on the way.
A little steamboat, the Bellingham,
that came down from the lakes, run
ming the rapids successfully, plies hour
ly between the A. G. Company's wharf
and Klondike City, on the other side
of the Klondike, and carries a crowd
Of. passengers at every trip at 81
head.
The camp knows no rest. There are
now twenty-four hours of broad day
light to every day and twenty hours
of warm, bright sunlight. And there
is a general indisposition on the part
Of the inhabitants to sleep. The hours
claimed by night in San Francisco
from o'clock of the evening until
Of the morning-are the pleasantest of
the day, being cooler and the light
more subdued, although for nine hours
of that time the sun is above the hori-
zon. For this reason many sleep dur
ing the warm hours of the day and the
streets are full of life every hour of
the so-called night.
There Is one little pause once a week
in the hurlyburly. Commissioner
Walsh has pronounced a Sunday law.
At II o'clock sharp on Saturday night
business stops, particularly that of the
saloons. including gambling. In such
great respect is this regulation held
that neither friendship, love nor money
can procure a drink over bar after
~ o'clock midnight of Saturday or be-
fore midnight of Sunday. The big lag
of the week is given these few hours
In which to recover itself and know the