The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1898-04-06
DR.. Webber's KlOndike Letter to the
Oil City Derrick.
SKAGuAY, Alaska, March %, 1s9s.

eueClS duu views unrlValeu anyWntIo III INC
world:
Sksguay isia town of board houses and
tents. Here we have all kinds of eating
houses. Gambling schemes and games are
in full blast, and all sorts of amusements go
on night and day to fleece "the child like
and bland" The town has about ., 900 per-
manent and about 5000 transient people.
From five to ten vessels day arrive here
vomiting out men, dogs, horses, provisions
and outfits The scene presents a most
amusing and interesting sight-all sorts of
women, good, bad and Indifferent, arrayed
in furs, boomers, rubber boots, etc.-boys
and men all the way from 10 TO 60 years clad
in furs, woolens, leather and every imagin-
able garment and as varied in hue and color
as Joseph's famous coat. Dogs are here by
the hundreds, ours of low and high degree,
the Alaska half wolf and all-devil mastiffs,
Newfouudlands and so on. Dogs are of
little use in this country, unless for light
draft on practically level ground. even then
the Alaskan dogs are the only ones able to
stand the wear and tear of the work. There
are four large docks here and all the freight
is handled easily and promptly. There is
no blockage in freight as reported There
is no difficulty in procuring wagons to trans
port your outfit seven miles TO snow line,
where the adventurer begins his climb.
The cost of the haul is $500 per ton. We
have made all arrangements to have our
stuff hauled to the summit of White Pass,
over which we have concluded to travel. 1t
costs about six cents per pound to portage
the outfit to the summit.
THE PASS NOT so BAD.
The trip to the summit is easily made in
one day when you land on British soil
After reaching the summit through the
customs the way is not difficult TO Lake
Bennett by way of frozen lakes. This is GER
tainly the more desirable route to the Edo
RADIO of the Ice king, relieving one of the
hard climb and terrors of the Chilkoot and
enabling the prospector 10 reach fresh water
much sooner. learn from the mounted
police that the latest reports of finds are
from Big Salmon creek, which empties into
the Yukon just below the confluence of the
Lewis and Hootaliqua rivers There the
ground is reported as frozen only to depth
of eight feet and the returns run near the
top from ST. so to $500 per pan. These re-
ported finds are in the direct line of our
route. We will be among the very first to
get there, barring accidents We expect to
stop and investigate the finds We pur-
chased our clothing outfit in Chicago, where
every prospector should buy such goods, al
| Montgomery & Wards and our provisions
| in Vancouver, this lets us in duty free
| Skaguay is the best place from which tC
cross over the White Pass for many reasons
among which may be mentioned that it IL
800 feet lower than the Chilkoot, pack horses
can cross any time and in a short time a
good road will be finished clear to the head
of the summit. At Dyea, or the Chilkat
six miles further up the pass, the elevatior
is much higher and no pack horses can
cross. There is no such thing as tramway
or trolley over the Chilkat or part of that
| route All this section is called the Port OF
Dyea, but all vessels land at Skaguay and
none at Dyea. The custom house is al
Skaguay, and it costs So, per ton to get stuff
to the head of canoe navigation, at Chilkat
| where your misery only begins. The Chilka
| remains frozen over longer than the White
Pass, but as long as the latter pass is frozen
| it is the pass to take beyond doubt. There
is no sickness in Skaguay to speak of
CAUSES OF MANY DEATHS.
Now and then one of the many idiots whC
come into this rough aud trying countr,
| without Judgment or means takes it into hi
head to cross over the pass, overheats him
self, drinks tnself full of snow water, sit
down, gets cold, takes pneumonia and die
AS he ought to Quite frequently, how
ever, a man dies here with his boots on il
some dive or saloon in fact, the average i
| from one to three per night There has no
been a single case of spinal meningitis a
Skaguay this spring, all reports to the con
trary Notwithstanding. Such reports wer
raised by the Stikeen river people to diver
| trade and traffic that way. All man ha
to do in Skaguay is TO dress warm aud stay
/ tn ,,inbf will Ind trnn hla unlaS
| he looks for it.
| MANY CASES OF ROBBERY.
There is a good deal of stealing and rob
| berry here. The other day a man went int
| a back yard where he was told there was
man in Distress and his trip cost him on
hundred and fifty dollars. The Lynn cana
| is narrow channel several hundred fee
deep, and running between two ranges o
mountains about fine thousand feet high
there are only four or five places along tn,
canal where buildings can be erected, and
the largest of these places is Skaguay, wher
the tide rises 40 feet every day. When th'
tide is highest it comes right up to tn
| buildings, when it recedes il leaves a beacl
| 200 feet wide We have the best outfit o
any parties we have seen going IL, and Will
we have no reason to complain about ou
outfitting, it is a strange fact that you cal
outfit at Skaguay cheaper than any plac
else. This is the proper thing to do and
saves all trouble about customs and freights
Sleds sells at Vancouver for S. Here yol
can buy -four for 81 .65 a sack, and bacon 70
10 cents per pound, and everything els
in proper ton from % to 30 cents you get
good meal and first class bed from % cent
to 81. Everything is reasonable,as Skagua
is only six or seven days from the Pacifi
coast cities. Don't take any stock in tn
newspaper reports to the contrary. / fee
like big 240-pound stuffed toad with m
heavy clothing on and belt and revOlve
full of cartridges. Before we get in th
Klondike think my clothes will not fit m
so quick. You haye no idea how warm ou
clothing is, but it takes good man to carr
il around. Horses sell here for 500 to 81
each, there is not very much game IN thi
section, but lots of fish over the pass calle
bull-trout, which weigh as high as Il
pounds each. At Fort Wraugleyou can bu
| all the deer you want from 81 to 81 each
the noble Siwash brave takes boat and
gang of them sail down from Fort Wrangl
10 some island along the coast, and in da
or so returns with from 90 to Is deer. Th
reason the deer are so plenty on the coa'
islands is that the wolves keep chasing thel
in from the mountains on the mainlan
continually, and the noble red man profit
by it.
A PERFECT HUNTING GROUND.
Vancouver Island is perfect Paradis
for all kinds of game, and is full of deer fC
the same reason. have tried to give
true and unprejudiced account of the tri
and the general conditions as we find then
and must confess that everything seen
more favorable than we expected. J he me
who spread all sorts of bad reports abou
this section are the cutters; some quit 8
Wrangle, some at Seattle, some at Skagua
some at Dyea. and some at the summit, bu
if man reaches the summit, he usual
gets in. Not more than one-third of thos