The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1898-04-23

4
''The River Trip to the Klondike" is
the title of an article in the Century,
written by John Sidney Webb. The
author says:
On the morning Of Aug. II, at about
O'Clock, broad daylight, we came up
to that collection of forty large log
cabins and FIVE hundred tents, sprawled
at the foot of Moose-skin Mountain,
named Dawson City. Helter-skelter,
in a marsh, lies this collection of odds
and ends of houses and habitations,
the warehouses of the two companies
cheek by jowl with cabins and tents;
row of bar-rooms called Front street;
the side streets deep in mud; the river
bank mass of miners boats, Indian
canoes, and logs; the screeching of the
sawmill; the dismal, tuneless scraping
Of the violin of the dance-halls, still
wide open; the dogs everywhere, fight
ing and suarling; the men either
"Whooping it up" or working with the
greatest rapidity to unload the precious
freight we had brought. all of this
rustling and hustling made the scene
more like the outside of a circus-tent,
including the smell of the sawdust,
than anything else in the world. This,
then, is the real Ell Dorado! One won
ders where they all live. One wonders
in amazement where they are all going
to live through the awful winter that is
approaching. Here is the true pinch of
the situation. It is not a question of
food; it is a question of shelter. There
are no logs fit to make cabin to be
found on the river within thirty miles
of Dawson City. To wait for winter
means that it will be too late to build
a cabin, because the moss which is
used to fill the chinks between the logs
by that time will be frozen solid, and
be useless unless thawed out over a
fire, a very wearisome job. The old
timers have got used to 10 degrees be-
low zero in tents; and even If the robe
over them freezes solid, a match is
smuggled from under the bedclothes,
fire somehow lighted in the sheetiron
stove, and there they lie until the stove
is red-hot before they dare emerge
are the newcomers to survive the cruel
exposure-the lawyers, clerks, doctors
and mechanics? Dawson City seems
like a joke. Eighteen hundred and fif- |
ty miles from st. Michael Island-this |
is where they have gold, millions of |
gold, and nothing better than mud |
dy swamp to live in; gold-dust and |
nuggets in profusion, and yet the ne-
groes in the cabins of a Southern plan
tation live better than the richest man
in the country. Our arrival at Dawson
was at very critical time. We had
brought with us nearly four hundred
tons of provisions, and this fact served
to allay the anxious fears of many who
were becoming panic-stricken at the
idea that there would be a scarcity of
God during the winter. No news had
'ome to us by way of the ocean of later
late than June TO- but newspapers had
)een received over the summit at Daw-
son of date as late as July 26; and so
he report that crowds were swarming
INTO the gold-fields had reached them,
tut was news to us. The town was
thoroughly scared, and was overrun
With men who had come down from the
liggings, often twenty and twenty-five
niles, to make sure of their outfits for
he winter; and so determined were
hey to procure them that they sat
themselves down calmly in line, like
men waiting to buy seats at a first
light performance, determined to wait
Until the goods were put up and set
side in their names. An outfit for
miner means everything that he uses
uring the winter, and this, being re-
uced to its lowest terms, means, ba-
on and beans. There are other things.
I course, in tins and in gunny-sacks-
our, sugar, salt, pickles, dried fruits
esiccated potatoes-to suit the taste.
ut the work is done, and the gold is
0und and cleaned up, and miles and J
lilies Of the wilderness conquered, and
old weather and wintry winds with
TODD, on bacon and beans. 1t is the :
asiest food to pack, the quickest to ;
repare, and the most lasting and sus- :
lining. The miner usually reckons ON :
citing his outfit in November becausa
e can carry on a sledge, after the :
low has set in, four times as mucb &c =
Q can pack on his back, and If he is =
'rtunate enough to have dogs he can =
raw much more.