The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-09-01

Thomas Boundy, formery editor of
the Jermyn Press, now a prospector
in the Klondike, has written the fol-
lowing interesting and valuable letter
to j. G. Taylor, superintendent of the
public schools. 1t is one which should
be read and thoroughly digested by
every one who may be affected with
the Klondike fever.
Dawson, N. w. T., July 6, 1898.
superintendent J. G. Taylor.
Dear Sir-I promised to write you a
letter from Klondike. Here it is. Have
1t published If you wish. Its publi-
cation can do no harm; 1t may do
good, for 1t Is an unvarnished story
from an unprejudiced mind. AS an
opening remark l may say that the
great rush of 1898 ought not to have
taken place. The rush of 1897 met all
requirements, all statements to the
contrary emanating from biased
minds or from writer's who have been
dazzled by the sight of a few nuggets.
Cool Judgment, tempered by sufficient
time for consideration, shows that 1t
Is about time the world knew the truth
concerning the Klondike. 1 present the
facts here as I have ascertained them.
EVERYTHING is STAKED.
This is the comforting salutation to
every newcomer. In general sense
this is too true. The whole country
within forty miles of Dawson has been
explored and staked. In connection
with this there has been much chican-
cry, crooked work and even perjury.
1t is known fact that men have gone
into valleys single-handed and have
staked ten or a dozen consecutive
claims under assumed names. Some
Of these claims have been duly re-
4v,IA Ill L.
greater number are unrecorded and
worthless. Yet the new conner is led
to believe that they are valuable or
they would not have been staked. They
are also for sale, but woe betide the
unwary purchaser! Only the prospect
of an immediate sale will induce the
constituencies stalker to have such a
claim recorded and even this must
be done by proxy. Nevertheless, it is
often done, sale effected, the price
multiplied by ten is made public and
an unwarrantable boom given to
claims in that locality.
The reader will probably suggest that
a radius of forty miles from Dawson
does not cover the whole of the north
west gold field and that beyond this
area there are hills and valleys still
unexplored and consequently unstaked.
True, and this brings me to the sec
ond important point of my letter.
Transportation is difficult and ex-
pensive At this season of the year
there are but two methods Of trans
portation available, packing on horses
and on ones own shoulders. The form
er is expensive to the verge of pro-
hibition; the latter exceeds in hardship
the slavery of ante-bellum days. Sui
phur Creek is forty miles from Daw-
son, and the present rate Of freight be-
tween the two places is $125 per 100
pounds.
A man working on this creek must
pay this price or carry his food him
self. If he Is strong he can make a
trip in four days and carry fifty
pounds. He loses four days wages
amounting, at the old rate, to $50. Dur
ing the winter freighting is much
cheaper, usually about one-third Of
the present rates. But the new COM
er has to deal with the present. He
finds that in order to stake a claim
that may or may not be worth the
recorders fee, he must go so far from
Dawson that when he reaches his des-
tination 1t is time to go back for more
supplies. A few-and only a few
have overcome this difficulty by pur-
chasing horse. This enables two
men to move over the trail with 100
pounds of food apiece besides tent and
blankets. Thus equipped they can do
little prospecting with the possibility
that before winter they will have dis
covered something to their advantage.
When Joaquin Miller visited the
Klondike in 1897 he predicted a
great influx of miners and en-
ployment for many thousands. His
estimate was about one hundred per-
sons to the mile. A variety of cir
cumstances have converged to bring
about a different state of affairs.
have already shown that many claims
are unrecorded, and, consequently, un-
worked. These We're all included in
Miller's estimate. Thousands of claims
staked and recorded since last July
are unworked. Consequently what
was expected to be a gold field teem-
ing with busy miners, is still compara-
lively a wilderness.
First, because the prospects of find
ing gold thereon are very slim; second,
these claims We're staked only to sell.
1t costs a claim holder about $1,000 a
year to hold his claim unworked; new
ertheless it is done and the man who
comes here expecting to Immediately
secure work has to wait an indefinite
length of time.
Estimates of the spring rush varv
from $1,000 to $4,000 persons. And still
they come. Many are going down the
river to streams on the American side
of the boundary But Dawson is still
crowded, crowded with men who are
waiting for winter, waiting for some
thing to turn up, waiting for the piO-
neer prospectors to turn up something,
and then all will rush pell nell over
each other to the new discovery, nine
times out of ten to find that they have
been cruelty deceived
Reports of rich finds are very COM
mon; but-and / say ii advisedly-in
this country more than in any other
that have visited the Psalmist would
have been justified in saying: "All
men are liars" one consolation to the
thousands who are waiting is that
practically every man has n years
provisions on hand.
There is no destitution, nor Is II
likely that there will be any; but the
fact cannot be gainsaid that the rush
of the fall of 1897 furnished all the
men necessary here for some time. All
others are in excess of the demand.
During the past winter wages ranged
from 81 to $3.50 an hour, according to
distance from Dawson. The unpre-
cedented influx of labor, and that, too,
at a season when all work is practic-
ally suspended, has had a bad effect.
A dollar an hour is now the maxim,
and ] have heard of mine owners Of
fering as little as 65 cents 1t is lust
possible that this condition of the
labor market may be modified by the
rapid thinning of the population be-
fore winter sets in, and that the mine
owners will still have to pay the old
figures. But they claim, and with
some show of reason, that under pres
ent conditions they cannot operate
their mines to the mutual advantage
OF employer and employed.
One serious obstacle is the royalty
OF 10 per cent. demanded by the gov
ernment. II this were levied only on
the net profits the owners say they
would have but little cause of COM
plant, but as II is on the gross out
put 1t comes as a hardship. The spring
wash-up has shown that many claims