The Eddy current., 1898-04-16


Yukon river route and as be- states, is
frozen IN az present about lifly miles
up the river lie rs farther from the
gold le DIS than are the people of Eddy
at present and person could start
from here now and get into Dawson q
few days ahead of the party which Is
frozen In az the mouth OF the Yukon.
The river route is not the best II II is
the easiest stalcup and I'D iiackley
say they would like 10 be- with Henry
aud all send regards:
NoNAwAK BAR, Jan %. 1898.
STEAMER W. X. MERwiLL.
DEAR FATHER.
As / have an opportunity of sending
letter out by L. ). officials, ! viii
take advantage Of the situation. |
must iirst tell you how this unexpect-
ed happened. About four weeks ago
u. officers from the revenue cutter
lieur came by this point on the Yukon
on.route fof ~ Barrows, Arctic
ocean. They had mail which they
opened aud 1 was one of the lucky ones
90 get letter from YOU, although IL
was q long time on 1.-The road These
parties now going out met those going
Ia about 600 miles north of here Al
| IT. BarrOws are 300 whalers where the
ships were caught In the Ice and reck
ed They are destitute, without pro
visions. Whether the government can
aid them much Is a question, as tray
cling Is very difficulty and can only he
accomplished with dog teams and then
travel very light. The snow gets so
frozen that It Is as hard To pull sled
through as though II were sand. IL
does not pack hard, mind you, so you
can 90 on the crust, but Il seems TO
crystallze and cut into the runners.
| Everything here is snow and ice now.
The mercury has been down % 40 be
low zero and several of the boys have
been "burnt," as we call it, but not
seriously. There are three boats froz.
en In here on the Kennedy river, q
small tributary 10 the Yucon. In the
spring we will have 90 steam up the
stream 90 get ont of the ice which runs
/ la the main river. The boats are the
! Alice, belonging 90 the A r. Co., the
Tuerwice aud the Thomas Dwyer.
Where I wrote my last from was at
| PastOlic Bay, when we were caught In
the Ice, but got out Sept. 20, 1897, and
| up the river 90 miles, where we now
are and will stay until the first OF
June. With everything favorable we
will reach Dawson City some time In
June This is the hardest country TO
get into In the world. Any one com.
| ing here by this river route must leave
on the first boats In the spring 10 get
In that season. The trail Is also a very
dangerous way and man must be an
expert boatman to get to the Klondike
country with an outfit The river Is
full OF boats frozen In and very few
who start get into the country at all.
Gold seems 90 be found everywhere
IL is prospected for. lt is known 70
exist over a vast area In paying quanti-
ties. The long cold winter, hot sum.
mers and the mode OF transportation
makes II necessarily slow prospecting.
Moss grows over the whole country 20
a depth of several Inches and beneath
II Is frozen. Provisions are very scarce
and as yet one cannot go great dis.
tance from the main river itself, You
will pay on an average $500 per ton for
food stun. ! know as yet very little
about the country. We cannot hear
as much about the country as you can
on the outside But | believe there
]
out of the Yukon basin this spring.
Remember great deal of dust goes
out privately that no one knows any
thing about. We saw q great many
going out, when we lrst got into ST
! Michaels, and every one had his sack
well Il led. The point where we are Is
200 miles below the gold belt so you
see can do nothing this winter: an.
other year lost. The days are short
and the nights very long. The sun
shines very weakly about four hours a
day. our principal amusement Is
playing cards reading aud arguing
every point under the sun. We have
q Jolly party, all good honest men and
SO far there has been no trouble. II
one gets mad tie rest laugh him 10
ridicule and In few minutes every
thing Is going on nicely again There
are four women IN the party and they
have sorry old time of II ] never
could see what man wants 90 drag
his wife into country like this for,
when he does not know where he Is
going.
There Is about 100 Of as all told, a
good many Of the original party turn
ing back az st. Mlchaels We had a
terrible trip all the way through. We
struck a bad outfit. Have nothing to
do with the Yukon Transportation Coz
they are robbers aud deeeiyers, Our
grub now Is bad, beans, bacon, bread
and dried fruit our principal food No
sugar, no milk, no syrup, although my
health was never better, as Is SO with
nearly all the rest Tell I'D lIackley
| wish he was with me, and also Stal
cup. Tell them 20 write me at Dawson
City Northwest Territory, w. IL Wei.
den; use both initials. Send clipping
from papers IN letters as you can not
send papers Tell n. also 90 write me
at Dawson.
Hoping your health Is good and I
may receive letter &c Dawson, ! um
very respectfully your son,
W. n. WELDEN.
j. II. jones, Cyrus James, j. NJ
scanun aud j. j. B ythe came In from