Washington sentinel., 1898-07-23
The Rush TO Klondyke.
Finanefak Meas


to the Klondike has been the erea
ton along the route, from the cOas
TO Dawson City, of a number o
temporary cities of tents. Perhap:
the largest and most interesting o
these is the great encampment al
the head Of Lake Bennett, known
as the city OF Bennett. This point
is the head Of navigation, and con-
sequently all the people who have
come in too late to reach Dawson
City over the ice remain here, build
boats, and make other necessary
preoarations for continuing their
journey by water as soon the ice
melts away from the lakes and
rivers. Bennett is not the only
point where large numbers of peo-
pie have been encamped for some
time pursuing these preparations;
but as it is most conveniently situ-
ated tor logs, and is also, as / have
said. the head of navigation, it is
much the most popular point AT
the foot of the Chilkoot Pass there
is another sheet Of navigable water
Lake Linderman; but as naviga-
ton from there to Bennett is later
rupted by small stream, shallow,
very rapid, and only navigable
with safety in light canoes, most
people prefer to build their boats
below that point. Nevertheless,
there are even now fullv 1000
people in camp at the head OF Lake
Linderman, and they will start
from there intending to portage
their goods from the foot OF Lake
Linderman to the head OF Bennett,
a distance oil about three. quarters
of a mile. 1t is estimated that
there are now at Bennett over 900
people, and altogether from the
head of Lindermann to Lake Tag
ish there are certainly over 1900
in camp ready to start for points
on the Yukon river as soon as the
ice disappears. Though the ice
holds out so late in the season it
must not be supposed that warm
weather has not yet set in. | have
been here now nearly three weeks,
and during the whole of that time
the weather has been exceedingly
agreeable, with warm, and occa-
sIonally even hot, days.
The conditions OF life in this tenn
pOrary city Of Bennett are, of
course, novel, and in many respects
such as have never occurred before
IN any place in the world. To be-
gin with the whole population is
under canvas. The majority OF
the tents are formed into boat
building camps, But there is at
least one business street, known as
Main street. This is situated along
the shore Of the lake, and extends
for a distance Of half a mile. All
along it, on either side, are canvas
stores, hotels, saloons, doctors and
lawyers Offices, and other places
of business. The hotels and sal.
oons, of course, predominant. and
occasionally at night these are
pretty lively places. Nevertheless,
under the strict rule Of the police,
who are stationed here in some
force, abuses are fairly well kept
in check. The worst that can be
said of the saloons here is that,
apparently, they observe no closing
hours, and that a mild form of
gambling-mostly the local game
OF black jack, is allowed to be car
ried on openly. There are sur
prisingly few drunken brawls, and
tor the general good order which
prevails great credit is certainly
due TO the Northwest Mounted
Police and the British Columbian
officials. During the day
time lite in Bennett is almost as
much a matter Of humdrum rout-
inc as in any ordinary country
town. But there is one great and
all absorbing industry which occu-
pies time and thought of 90 men
out Of every 100 in the camp. Ben
nett is today, without doubt, the
busiest boat building yard in the
whole world. Every man in the
place is directly or indirectly inter
ested IN the construction of some
particular steamer. barge, boat or
canoe. AS there are fully 5000
men here, and 1000 more at Lin
derman, It will not be surprising
to learn that there are certainly at
least 1000 boats Of all kinds at
these two places in course Of con-
struction or already completed.
The police have made regulation
compelling every owner to register
his boat, and to paint upon it
number, and today, although the
regulation has onlV been in force
less than a week, there have al
ready been registered considerably
over 1000. Indeed, taking into
account the large number that are
being built further down the lakes,
it is a moderate estimate that fully
1000 boats will start tor the
Yukon river this season.
How many will get there, and
how many will be lost on the way,
is another matter On this point
gloomy forebodings are freely in
dulged in by the "old timers" who
have done the journey before, and
it is only necessary to consider the
circumstances for a moment to
realize that these sinister predic-
tions are not without foundation.
To begin with, the great majority
OF the boats are being built by men
who have never built boats in their
lives before. They are constructed
out of the very roughest kind of
material-lumber sawn by hand in
saw pits, out of the native logs,
which are such as would be