Mexico weekly ledger., 1898-08-18
A LECTURE
ON ALASKA.
ELDER HEADINaToN TELLS OF
HIS RECENT TRIP TO THAT
WONDERFUL COUNTRY.
Graphic Description of What he Saw
Told in An Interesting Manner
SAll is Not Gold That
G~lltters"- Thrill
ing Narratives.


Elder j. A. Headington in his lecture
at the Christian church Monday night
told, in a graphic manner, OF the
latter-day Mecca for seekers after the
gold hidden away in the remote
recesses of that land of ice and snow
British Columbia, the Northwest Ter
ritory and Alaska, sections of which
countries MIR. Headington traversed
in his recent trip to that far-away,
frozen part of the globe. Mr.. Head
ington is we'll equipped to speak of the
peculiar and interesting features of
these strange lands, as he has been
there. Being a man of keen perception
and a close observer, he noted all the
incidents worthy of retention and in
his lecture narrates them in q manner
highly satisfactory to his audience.
Mr.. Headington is a fluent talker,
possesses a remarkably clear and dis
tinct voice and his illustrations are
readily understood. His lecture last
night vas much enjoyed and those
who heard 1t never lost a word the
speaker said.
A number of stereopticon views
were shown and as they passed over
the curtain one could almost imagine
he was actually on the scene. The
apparatus was successfully operated
by Jos. Weimer and each scene was
explained by the speaker.
Mr.. Headington was a member of
the party of about one hundred that
left Mexico on March 1, 1898, bound
for the Klondyke-he pronounces it
Clonedike-country, the largest body
of men that aver left the United States
together for Alaska and the North
west. The party left here in a train
of Northern Pacific sleepers, which
run over the Wabash to Ottumwa,
Iowa; to Mason City, Iowa, over the
Iowa Central; to st. Paul over the
Chicago, Milwaukee & st. Paul; over
the Northern Pacific to Tacoma,
| WASH, where on March 7th the party
set sail on the steamer City of Seattle
for Dyea via juneau. At Dyea the
party disembarked and started on
their long trip across the Chilkoot
Pass and down the lakes and rivers to
Dawson City, where the crowd split up
and each went his way.
Mr.. Headington says there is gold
in that country by the tons, but those
who make a successful strike are few
he says not one, perhaps, in a thous-
and ever gets enough to pay his pass-
age to and from the gold regions. He
had been told of men who had ex-
pended fortunes, broke down their
constitutions and suffered every
privation of life and became stranded
in a strange country without a dollar.
"You can have no conception" the
speaker said, ''of the topography of
the country. Mountains everywhere
the eye is turned, range after range;
impenetrable depths, canyon walls
hundreds of feet high, now beneath
and almost continual snow above, the
particles winter than the snow of our
section and as fine as -four, which
freezes as it falls and becomes solid
ice; a stake driven into the snow was
the same as driven into solid ground
and would resist as much pressure"
The expanse Of territory was great
half as large as the entire United
States-a barren waste, except the few
spots where civilization had demanded
that small villages be erected. Most
all of the houses were built of logs,
but were warm and substantial.
The trees on the sides of the noun
tains were tall pines, very straight
and only eight or ten inches in
diameter. Some he examined con-
tanned 125 rings, thus demonstrating
they were 125 years old, and yet they
appeared Like shrubs as compared to
the giants of our forests.
The formation of the rocks peculiar
to that region is wonderful and the
geologist, when he begins to examine
them, finds himself at sea. In Is milei
travel from Dyea Mr.. Headington did
not see a strata of rock that laid hori.
zontaliy; they are all broken mp and
scattered promiscuously, n upon
the other, and none Of them are large
enough for building stone. The scien'
lists theories Of rock formations dc
not hold good in that country.
To operate mines successfully it Ii
frequently necessary to dismantle ar
entire mountain and remove 1t stone
after stone. Particularly is this the
case at the Treadwell mines neal
juneau, the greatest quartz mine il
the world, which yields only 81 to the
ton but Is easily worked. The rock ID
washed to obtain the precious metal
gold being taken from the crevasses
"The situation at st. Michael is sim
ply appalling" said Mr.. Headington
"and at Dawson City what the result
there of the great influx will be NJ
human tongue can describe. The dis
tress of those brave and resolute mel
seeking bread and struggling for ex
istence is we'll calculated to excit'
the sympathy Of the American PEG
pie"
"The government" continued tn
speaker, oshould esnd relief withou