The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-03-07
IT is A DISMAL PICTURE
j. C. Kimball Returns From Ska
quay Thoroughly Disguised.
HUNDREDS ARE STARVING
Meningitis Is Taking the People Off Like
a Plague Wells Dug Close to Cess
pools-Miners Huddled To-
gether Like Sheep.


restauranteur. returned to the city yes
terday from Skaguay, Alaska, pretty
thoroughly Disguised to think he al
lowed himself to be misled into join
ing the rush to the north. Mr.. Kim
ball said the situation at Skaguay is
of the gloomiest character imaginable.
He closed up his business in Park
street in January and. in company with
j. l.. Ledford who formerly managed
the Silver Bow meat market, started
for Skaguay expecting to open an eat
ing house and reap rich harvest from
the anticipated rush to the gold fields
Of Alaska and the northwest territor-
les. The two stayed in Skaguay eight
days and took the next steamer back
to Gods country as he put II, using
a term he says is on the tongue oil
hundreds of unfortunate mortals who
are stranded on the dismal Alaskan
coast
Il Judged from all the accounts |
heard and read before going to Alas
ka," said Mr.. <imball yesterday, that
we could at least exist at Skaguay, and
Mr. Ledford and myself figured we
could stand ii and that by opening
meat market or restaurant at Skaguay
or one of the other places through
which the traffic to the Klondike Will
be heavy, we could make considerable
money, but excuse me. / would not
stay in Skaguay another day for the
best claim on the Klondike. The situa-
ton is simply beyond adequate descrip-
ton. There are some 5000 or 1000 peo-
pie in the place and hundreds of them
are on the very verge of starvation
What will become of them all, ] can't
imagine, for / can't see where they
get enough now to keep them alive.
to, ,snlx oh
of rough board cabins and tents. The
ground is low and you only have to
go a few feet for water and in the
jumbled manner in which the town has
sprung up. wells have been dug ana
alongside, perhaps but lew feet
away. will be a cesspool. Imagine
thousands of people using water from
such wells. Why, you put bucket or
it on a stove and in a few minutes
thick, Shiny scum will raise to the top.
Meningitis is taking the people off like
the plague but the wonder to me is
that there is not hundred times more
sickness than there is.
"Huddled together like sheep and liv-
ing in such surroundings, the great
majority of the people at Skaguay are
rapidly approaching a desperate condi-
ton, and as | said. | can't see what III
the world is going to become of them.
for the great majority had barely
/ enough money on starting to get them
1 there and now they are fiat broke
! They have not money TO go on to the
! Klondike or to come back on, and there
/ is nothing for them to do and ii seems
| to me they must literally starve unless
4 the transportation companies open
/ their hearts and bring the untortunateS
back to the states"
! Speaking of the preparations for GO
! ing to the Klondike with the opening
of spring, Mr.. Kimball said: The peo-
/ pie now at Skaguay and all the way
4 between here and there seem simply
Klondike mad. and if the gold fever is
not the cause of more suffering in the
Northwest in the next year than has
been known anywhere for years, l shall
be greatly mistaken From Skaguay
all the way up the trail leading to the
/ pass supplies of intended klondikers
are stored with men watching them.
They are strewn along for miles and
one looking at the piles would think
there We're not steamers enough on the
coast to have carried them, but the
number who own them is small in com
parison with the number of people al
Skaguay and the unfortunates who
went in without anything are not ben
Gifted. for the supplies are as jealousy
guarded as money would be.
The conditions are so bad that peo-
pie are beginning to come back almost
as fast as they were going in some time
ago. Everybody who can is coming
back One man who went to Skaguas
with 5000 worth of provisions gave vi
i'm despair and sold out for S125 ano
started back. / met another man or
the Rosalie. coming down. who tool
his family to Skaguay. He had $500
but he spent ii all trying to live
through the winter and finally. wher
he had just enough left to pay his
wife's fare, he started back. working
his own passage. When he got TO Seat
tie he was broke fiat. and the captain
of the steamer gave him so to live OF
until he could get work. There were
down on. and all have the same STORY
TO tell. They We're utterly heartsicl
and disguised. glad 10 get back alive.
'Lawlessness is one of the wors
features. The place is run by tn,
thugs and gamblers. 'Soapey' Woods
is there at the head of a gang of 80 o.
20 toughs. He is the ringleader and hi
men all dress like laborers and lay 70
the new Corners. AS soon as n boa
gets in they are out, laying for the ar
rivals who have money, and the wa,
they rob the people is something shock
ing. We stayed eight days and cam
back. and | can tell you. Butte is goot
enough for us"
Mr. Ledford left Mr.. Kimball a
Great Falls. the two having returne'
by the Great Northern but il is expect
ed he will reach home to-day.