The San Francisco call., 1898-08-08
BEACHCOMBINC AT ST. MICHAEL PrivatiOnS of Fortune
 Hunters.
WAITING FOR RIVER BOATS
CURSING THE TRANSPORTATION
 COMPANIES.
Putting in the Long Days Sleeping and Fighting squ1toes-Women Who Are Cheerful Even
 in Their Misery.

ST. MICHAEL ISLAND, Alaska, July 22.-For month or two at least this place bids fair to rival San Francisco in the amount of shipping in the har- bor. Every day a craft of some kind is added to the fleet already here, and each brings news of more to follow. The loss of so many river boats which were being lowed up has caused much inconvenience to passengers bound for Dawson and intermediate points. Pos sibly a stronger term would be more applicable, as many persons have ar rived here who have paid out about all the money they had for their trans portation, and now find that the river boat which their ocean vessel was to connect with has foundered, and to an extent they are stranded on very in hospitable shores. In many cases the companies who booked them in San Francisco or Seattle did so at a figure so low that it Is impossible to get other river steamers (of which there are plenty) to take them off their hands. unless either the passengers themselves or those that brought them will sustain the difference in price charged from here.
 Some who bought tickets only to St.
 
 connections rather congratulate them selves as they now can take their choice from the river fleet. The captain of some of the ocean vessels have had serious thought of changing their business and returning to a life of seclusion. They find that coming to St. Michael IS too much of a strain on their nerves.
 In several cases passengers have aDSo- lutely refused to leave the vessels that brought them until they were assured of a way of getting up the river In this nod lx-If ln mil n- mander here, who refuses to permit Sh1p- Ing companies to forcibly put people ashore without providing a way for them to leave the island.
 There are vessels here which have been holding large numbers of passengers for two weeks or over, and the deadlock still continues. The steamer Dirlgo was the last to fall into distress, as her passen- gers were booked for the James Eva, winch was lost while in tow of the Ma tional City.
 connections were the Gamecock and Stag hound, which vessels were lost while be- ing lowed out of Portland by the Elihu Thompson-arrived with large number of passengers booked at "cut rates" and had about the usual trouble in getting rid of them. The tactful captain, how ever, by coaxing some, ca1oilng others, ana by perhaps using strong language to still others, such as threatening to. take them back to San Francisco minus bag gage, which had all been placed on a
  steamer started to get the last one off: Some spread their tents on the shore and resigned themselves to wait for the arr1- val of the river boat that had been sub stituted by the charterer of the Humboldt to take them to the end of their voyage; others of whom several were ladies, found shelter on the barge on which the freight and baggage of the Humboldt had been discharged. Here trunks and boxes were utilized as beds and those that had covering managed between mosquito bites I, a
 I went on the barge yesterday and saw the huddled-up mass of humanity. Un- comfortable they were, but not one was discourag ged Every heart beat high with hope. Each and all are certain of return ing after a brief sojourn in the frozen land with at least competence, II not large fortune.
 A gently nurtured lady whose former occupation had been school teaching. showed me where she had passed the night before A large. hat-topped trunk formed the bed and her waterproof cloak inc covering She assured me with great earnestness that she did not mind it in II came to rough it, and I should be dis appointed were I not to find the opportun- ity of doing so Then, after all, 1t Is not so very bad. It Is always day time; you lie in one position until tired, then get up and walk about. and then try new
 All this time the rain falls continuously and at intervals the wind comes with such force that vessels cannot discharge cargo. The sun at this time sets about 10 D. rn and rises again at 2:30 a. m., and one can read the finest print in the in teryal Of the waiting multitude here who have no particular occupation aside from berating the transportation compa- nies, probably as many sleep during the day as in the night. Indeed. 1t is only by consulting a watch that we know when night comes. as we seldom see the sun.
 Down on the beach, between the build ings of the two old companies, Is a long line of tents occupied by prospective Klondikers, who are dubbed by the old residents as ''beachcombers." In some of these the first lessons in cookery are be- ing taken, and the "Klondike stove." which seems to have been invented to try the souls of men, receives the amount of profanity to which it is justly entitled Wet driftwood, which is the only fuel obtainable, stands sponsor for soggy bread and half-cooked beans: but here, as in other places, hopefulness and good spirits are the general rule.
 A very charming woman who has come to meet her brother and accompany him to the mines, tells me she is really en- toying the experience. Tt is so different from anything I have ever seen before, you know she said. As I saw her stoop- ing to the ground trying to coax the fire