The herald., 1898-10-10
StICkeen and the KIondike
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| WIN B, Hudson of Highland Park, who
left here for Alaska in February last,
| in company with Harry Swarth of this
city, writes to his parents and also to
personal friend, under date Of August 4th.
that he had reached Dawson City. He
went by the Stickeen and Lake Teslin
route, and was one of $50 out of several
thousand that started that way who sue
ceeded in getting through. He desires to
| warn all who intend going to Alaska to
avoid the Stickeen country. The follow
| ing extracts from his letter will be of inter-
est to many of our readers:
There are about $1,000 in Dawson and
| 10, 900 In the mines and prospecting, or from
80. 900 to IS, ,OOO people in and near Dawson.
Not many of the mines are being worked.
Most of them seem to be bought and sold
on speculation.
There is talk Of opening up several of
| the larger mines, and there will probably
| be work for 6OOO or 5000 people the coming
winter.
THE mines that are being worked are
all from Is to 20 miles from Dawson. The
mouth of the Eldorado Is IS miles from
Dawson.
I'VE have located two claims on the Sec
ond branch of the Eldorado. 1t takes u
days to make one prospect on a claim, as
| all the ground has to be thawed. :.
Food is fairly cheap at Dawson, but will
l think, be worth three times as much in
three months.
There Is not half enough grub in Daw
son to supply the people for a year. The
present prices of food are as follows Flour
le cents per pound; sugar. 30 cents; salt
25 cents; beans 10 cents; bacon. 90 to %
cents; fruit, 25 to 80 cents; oranges, rs cents
each; onions. Is cents a pound. I saw a
watermelon for sale for s25. and it was
about the size of those that sell in Los
Angeles at two for a nickel. Orange. so
cents each: lemons, % cents, and apples. 81
each. There are a few grapes and pears,
but I was afraid to price them.
Mail is delivered once every two weeks.
"The usual wages paid are from 81 to
s15O per hour. but at present there is moth
| ing for anybody to do.
"A nugget worth $4oO, recently taken
| from Eldorado, created quite stir in
Dawson. . 1 shot moose on Lake
Teslin and had quite an exciting chase.
II was in swimming about $50 p. m, and
as l was dressing I saw pair Of moose
swimming across the lake. Three of us
had pulled about five minutes a squall
|struck US and made things pretty lively.
saw that the moose were gaining on u.s.
and so I dropped an oar and took the rife
and here the fun began. The waves were
about three feet high and the rain came
down in torrents I stood up in the boat
land, with one leg around the mast and my
wet undercothing flying In the wind, COM
menced to shoot and managed to kill one
moose and wounded the other. AS the wa
ter was coming in over the bow, we made
| for shore, and just as we reached 1t saw
the wounded moose start back. I ran down
the stony beach after him for half mile,
my only clothing being set of summer
underclothes, but I could not get close
lenough and the 'skeeters' got me before
| 1 could reach camp. Next day I shot a
beaver and shot at big bear, but he was
too distant for my shot to tell. I helped
to kill a small bear on the Eldorado July
81. I made a big mistake in coming
| by the Stickeen route. Most of the repre-
sentations made by transportation COM
panies at Victoria in regard to that route
proved absolutely false and misleading.
The fact that nine out of ten of those who
attempted to go that way were compelled
to retrace their steps proves what 1 have
said. If I have good luck this
coming winter I will go out in the spring
and return in the fall of 80. Most of the
people here seem to be studying how they
cap get ont >"