The San Francisco call., 1898-03-19
BY SAM w. WALL.

BY SAM w. WALL.
 CIRCLE CITY, January 13 Cto Dyea by special courier and by steamship to Seattle, March 1O.-There are num- Der of persons who came in this year, destination Dawson, who are wintering here against their will. The following passengers of the little steamer St. Michael are in winter quarters: c. R. Stewart, John D. Barmorly, c. H. liar vey, Herman Carpenter, Fred T. Barry, Ben Oleson, B. Mosses, all of New York; Charles R. Stewart of New Jersey, Pat Boland s. Marks, Thomas Gillespie, James Thomas, John Partridge of Mon- tana, Jesse Nevremont, H. Carroll, Ben Davis of California, P. Habernall of Washington, Captain Pasco of Idaho, Jules LaSalle, Colorado; Captain George Dunn and Thomas Marshall of Mas sachusetts, Dr. Fly. Watkins, Dr. George H. Merryman of Illinois, Comte dHauteville, R. Polimere, L. Tremblay of Denver, Alan H. Craig, Missouri; James Schaffer, Alaska; James Troo- ton, Colorado; Clarence Craig, Ken lucky.
 These were passengers on the Excel sior from San Francisco: John Field, Charles Sylterig, George Knutson, Si- vert Bradley, AXel Johnson, F. Jaccord, L. Jaccord and V. A. Jaccord, ali of San Francisco; w. E. Ray, George F. Benlis Of Sanger, Cal; E. Griffin, K F. Benjamin Clark of Los Angeles, A. N. Thomas of Idaho, Fred B. Cruz, Charley Brooks.
 The following have left Circle and have probably arrived by this time in Dawson: G. M. Hill of Berkeley, H.
 
 Fl m, Shellay Graves, Captain c. E. Tebbetts, Jack O'Hara, Ed Lung of Ia coma, William Moore of San Francisco, L. N. Graef Of Juneau.
 Dr. Spencer Harris, formerly of Oak land, Cal, and lately connected with the Alaska Commercial Company g store here, died December 21, and his remains were buried December g.
 The holding up of the steamers Weare and Bella at Circle City OH their way up the river, the taking com mand of those boats by the crowd on their return down at Forty Mile and Circle City, the armed attack on the cache of the American Commercial Company at this place, the forcible re- lease of prisoner at Circle City, to- gether with reports of other raids said to be in contemplation, have convinced Captain Ray that unless some force suf- ficient to maintain order is posted on
 
 an extravaganza of lawlessness that will be very discreditable to the Gov ernment. He believes that there is q large element here bent upon making a clean up as highwaymen do it. He is convinced that the attack upon the American Commercial Company's cache was not an impulse of the con- greSated unfortunateS, but was the development of a plan formed in Dawson, the weapons and ammunitions being secured there and at Circle City
 That so many rifles should turn up in a crowd otherwise destitute he con siders strong evidence in support of the information he has on that point He is also warned and believes that the boats that this summer may be ex- pected to carry out great weights of gold stand in imminent danger of be- ing held up and footed. Had the at tack upon the cache here been success wFul Captain Ray believes that similar fmoves would have been made at Daw- son and Circle City.
 To meet and prevent any such at tempt in the future he thinks the Gov ernment should establish military posts along the river with an army of ficer in command having the right and power to act. A civil government in a country like this where the popula- tion is composed almost entirely of so- journers rather than residents he be- lieves would be impotent. With re- gard to the action that should be taken by the Government to advance and maintain American interests Captain Ray is anxious to lay before the President a plan for the establish ment of a mail route from Cooks h. let to the mouth of the Panama. He believes that a post route would in one season demonstrate to private capital the feasa ability of a railroad, the estab- lishment of which would solve the whole problem. It would insure cheap CT provisions besides communication with the outside.
 With these would come cheaper labor, the opening up of the Panama country, thought to be the richest in this rich region, and the establishment of a SUD- ply center at the Panama accessible from the outside all the year round, thus dispelling forever the fear of hun ger that has always hung over this en- tire northern country. It is to press these matters upon the attention of the Government that Captain Ray is so anxious to reach Washington this win ter.
 Monumental blundering seems to have marked the course of the com panies' agents with regard to the man. lagement of the boats, and great loss land disappointment has resulted inso- much that both companies are under suspicion of having acted in bad faith with their patrons and to have con- nived at the failure of the boats to get through the flats last fall
 Having reached Dawson with almost no provisions, boats started down the river crowded with men, Those on the Weare were employed with the de- clared purpose of unloading quickly at