The San Francisco call., 1898-08-11

! lower Yukon to ascend the stream It ! must be remembered that but few of the
 many river craft constructed at San l Francisco and other Pacific Coast points l reachcd the Yukon this summer many be-
 were badly disabled. Out of the few that l did get there, a number were incomplete, their owners intending to finish them on
 the beach. Perhaps half a dozen out of all the large new fleet have made trips up the Yukon and other streams, so that the bulk of the work of transporting pro visions to Dawson and Fort Yukon has been left, after all, to the few steamboats of the Alaska Commercial Company and | the North American Transportation and | Trading Company. That these two have i done their best goes without the saying, but the fates seem to have been against i them this summer.
 The first note of warning was sent down | the Yukon by Captain Healy. the gen. Dawson He ordered the company's trad CTS at lower river points to raise prices or goods At least this is the report which | now comes out of the country. Quickly | the fact became evident to the thousands along the Yukon that the traders had lost confidence in their ability to supply the up-river stations and were beginning to hedge. The stern realities of the situa ton were appreciated in Dawson by the end of July, when but few boats had arrived. Hundreds began 10 leave and drift down | the Yukon toward Fort Yukon and Min ook Many thousands, however, refused to leave Dawson and the klondike region,
 
 starvation rather than give up the quest for gold after having gone so far and en- dured so much, to say nothing of the ex- psnSe incurred.
 1 It Is these people, perhaps twenty thou sand in number. who will give the gov ernments of both the United States and Canada plenty of trouble before next spring, unless all of the signs are wrong. 4 large proportion of them will no doubt, drift down to Fort Yukon late in the fall, when there is no chance to reach St.
 iNh and 4har- 1f,Io the military post. It was at Fort Yukon last winter that so much trouble occurred and where bloody riots would have un- doubtedly tranSpired had 1t not been for the courage and firmness of Captain P. H.
 Ray of the United States army and his efficient assistant, Lieutenant Richardson.
 These two men stood off an armed mob
 of several hundred desperate men from Dawson, who were intent upon footing the two caches of the trading companies and taking for themselves the provisions that were needed to sustain life in about eight hundred souls through the Arctic winter. These officers then seized the caches and ! rationed the supplies out fairly among all who needed them, at the same time exacting payment from those who had money and work from those who were l indigent, so that the trading companies would lose no money by the operation. At present there are no troops at Fort l Yukon, not even one army officer, all hav- ing been withdrawn on account of the war. There is, however, a quantity of supplies at the post, unprotected from l marauders, if ali reports are true. The Government will, no doubt, be obliged to seize these supplies, and add much
 more as possible, bringing the same from
 the Lower Yukon. Even then there Is
 strong probability of a shortage and of
 consequent suffering, if not actual starva-
 ton.
 The Secretary of War, despite his many
 duties in connection with the war has
 not lost sight of Alaska, having been kept posted by Major General Merriam, who has been in touch with news sources in Alaska.
 It will be remembered that the general
 had charge of the work of Alaskan re- lief last winter, by direction of the Sec
 retary of War, and was authorized in
 addition to send exploring parties of sol
 dierS through unknown portions of the
 territory to bring back information con
 cerning the country. These parties are
 now at work in various parts of Alaska,
 and are making their reports as oppor-
 tunity offers. Recently General Merriam
 heard from Captain Abercrombie, in
 charge of one of the parties on Copper
 River the erea4 captain Eep493rti1ng that there
 the Copper River, and that something
 would have to be done for their relief,
 CT they might starve This report was
 in turn, forwarded to Washington for the
 consideration of Secretary Alger. It
 should be stated that the Secretary still
 has at his disposal over $100,O00 of the
 $200 900 appropriated by Congress last year
 to relieve the oIsrress in Dawson. This
 money Is now available for use without
 further warrant of Congress. It will be
 spent, in so far as necessary for the re-
 lief and military eXepdition to Fort Yu-
 kon.
 General Merriam will quickly determine
 which battery will be sent to Alaska
 having now some choice in the matter
 owing to the apparent ending of the war
 1t is probable that the troops will be dis
 patched within a week.
 Speaking on this subject yesterday, the
 general remarked:
 Tt is now late in the season and we
 will be obliged to move with all possible
 dispatch in order to get. the battery up
 to Fort Yukon before the river freezes
 over. It will be a tight squeeze, at best.
 There will be no parleying done at St.
 Michael with steamboat owners. If neces-
 sary the United States army officer in
 charge will undoubtedly seize all of the
 available transportation facilities. He
 will take as large quantity of supplies
 up the stream as possible. It is the in
 tention to make Fort Yukon the base of
 operations. The War Department does
 rot intend to be caught unprepared up in
 Alaska, as you can juoge from these
 preparations. It is very much feared that serious disturbances may occur in
 the Yukon Valley next winter The trans portation companies have utterly failed
 to get in the necessary quantity of sup
 plies for the multitude of people there.
 Something has to be done and done at
 How about the relief of the miners re-
 ported to be suffering on Copper River?"
 was asked.
 "Those men can easily be reachcd.' re- sponded the general. "They are virtually on the seacoast. None of them are more than a hundred miles or so from salt water If the department sees fit to send relief to them 1t can be easily done in a week or two of time. I do not know how their cases will be regarded It is a question whether the Government is un- der obligations to send ships to a far away region to bring back several thou sand people who went there with their
 eyes open and who knew of the risks they incurred. It may be that the duty of the Government is limited to supplying those people with the necessary food to keep them from starving where they are. The question of steamboat transportation is altogether different. Still they may be brought away. ] cannot say. Already the officer in charge of the troops at Fort St. Michael has given needy miners
 there transportation orders on the Gov ernment which have been honored by the steamship companies and the men brought back. ne officer did this on his
 own responsibility, and the papers in the case have been forwarded to Washington for the approval CT disapproval of the de-
 partment. Perhaps the same thing will
 be done at Copper River If the officer there thinks that the exigencies of the situation so require He will have to take the chances of satisfactorily explain ing afterward and the possibility Of hav- ing his tranSDOrtatiOn orders deduct ed