The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1898-09-24

In a Hurry--Meanest Men in the
Whole kIOndike Tricks of In
dian Plots.
One steamboat made the trip one wa,
between the Island of St. Michael an<
the mining camps without being stranded
on bar Or leaving part of herself o.
her cargo behind her. She merely hat
the kind Of luck you believe in but canno
understand, and she showed contrition TO
her error the next trip by running her nos
into the woods and losing enough of he
paddles to make the rest of no account
The first steamer ever built for the rive
had q draft of three and one-half feet
and every time that her captain worked
her off a sandbar he declared that on
with draft of three feet could go from
Circle City to St. Michael as easily as
shingle But the one of three feet draf
that was subsequently built was no better
than the other, and then he needed
steamer of two and one-half feet draft
This, in turn, he got, and she started fol
Dawson overland, like the rest, as soon a.
she reached the Yukon flats. It is 1,6O(
miles from st. Michael to Dawson and E
steamer is supposed to make the trip IL
eight days. counting stops. Ours took
twelve days. counting stops, says Fred.
erick Palmer in the New York Press; an6
about three and one-half not counting
stops. We had siesta on a sandbar, we
broke our paddle wheel, and why we
didn't sink we never knew.
Though the ice in the river went out I'M
usually early this year. the steamers were
unusually late in arriving at Dawson; for
1t took longer to get them off the sand
bars in the lower country than usual. The
steamers, with the exception of tramp,
belong to the Alaska Commercial COM
pany and the North American Trading
and Transportation company. Two of the
North American Transportation COM
pany's steamers arrived long before the
Alaska Commercial company's.
Now the manager of the N. A. T. COM
pany in Dawson, Capt Healey, has the
reputation, among the miners, of being
the meanest man in the Klondilxe. The
president of the company, Eli Weare, say
the miners, would like to be the captain,
and consequently he figures as only the
second meanest man in the country The
miners freely express a desire to hang
Healey; and Healey, who has an appreci-
alton of humor, grins as he says that the
mounted police would never let them
do it.
Healey and all the officers of the COM
pany have been made very, rich men sim
ply because the hard work of the pioneers
Of the country led to the discoveries on
the Klondike. And Healey gave us def
mite assurance that his steamer would
leave Dawson by the 18th of June. He
charged $500 for passage to Seattle, and
made the passengers sign a contract that
they would not take out any gold with
out paying the company 2h per cent on
it. This made, with the government
royalty, 1219 per cent which every claim
owner had to pay on his product. Finally
our steamer started on the Oath. The
steamer of the rival company had arrived
then. and there was no further oppor-
tunity to increase the passenger list
Healey had sold 200 first-class tickets,
and he had all the passengers on one
steamer and sent the other steamer down
the river empty. We were on the steamer
called the Hamilton and the captain said
that the gold was on our steamer. We
knew that it was not however, for an
ex-United States marshal from Oklahoma,
who says he has killed sixteen men, and
three or four other bad me guarded the
passageway into the hold of the other
steamer, the Weare. So we did not come
on the treasure Ship but just had the
treasure ship for company. It carried
about $120O,OOO in gold. The company
seemed greatly exercised lest we should
secrete this about our persons. It was
packed in boxes weighing half ton each.
The company was also worried about
Spanish privateers, Japanese pirates and
possible organizations of bad men who
would hold the steamer up down the
river. So we were sent on ahead to bear
the brunt of this imaginary attack.
Those of us who had staterooms would
not have minded it if we had had any,
thing to eat. One hundred and twenty
five of us slept on the floor down stairs
among the woodpiles and the Indians. We
were under the impression that the COM
pany agreed to feed us, and the company
seemed to have the humanitarian idea
that if some of us died from starvation
there would be more sleeping room. II
treated us to all Of it's refuse stores OF
the last four or five years that it could
not sell. We had stale rice and bacon tc
eat and Yukon water to drink. Men who
had stood day after days hard travelling
on the winter trail, who had packed thirty
and forty and fifty pounds up mountain
sides and through underbrush on pros
pecting trips, who had fought their way
through ice foes in open boats, who ha(
been for weeks without change of gar
ments, became Ill as a result of this jour
ney.
When steamer leaves for the outside
particularly the first one of the year al
Dawson, including the Malamute dogs
gathers to witness it's departure. The Old
timers had the front rank by right of ex
perience and Of their acquaintance with
most of the men on the steamer. Back O
them stood the giant multitude of "Chee
chakos.' then arrived at their Mecca
''broke' and hopeful. Two or three day:
before departure every man whom 70,
knew pressed letters and nuggets upor
you to be taken home to his friends. A
the last moment there came a final rus1
of mail, while the old-timers continued t.
slang one another in the phrase of tn.
country. Frank Conrad came in for mos
of the badinage. Conrad hadn't been on
of the country for thirteen years. Hi
friends were telling him how to- act OF
the outside, and that it wasn't too lat
yet to turn back from his rash journey
Frank was perfectly willing to admit tina
he was going to paint what he could o
the world outside a brilliant red, ant
when I said good-by to him in Seattle h
was doing this to the best of his ability
In boyhood he was apprenticed to hi
father, who machinist in Ham
burg, Germany He ran away to Amer
lea and kept on moving westward unit
he reached the Yukon.
'I'm going over to see the old man,
said Frank. "Oh, I'll show him a time
I've got twenty thousand cold with m,
and I'm coming back to Seattle dead
stone broke. I know TIL be broke and
want to be broke. That's what I'm goini
out for. I've got two good claims that:
got more gold in them, and $4,000 In the
bank at Dawson. But I'll come back anG
get some more dust and go with the boys
to the Paris exposition in 1907
There were at least twenty Of our pas
sengers who had not been out of the
Il country for anywhere from four to ter
years. With some Of these the leave-tak
Ing was final and, strange as 1t may seem
1t cost them a pang. While always look
ing forward to the time when they might
leave it, at the last moment they realized
their liking for the independent life OF 8
man who lives IN q cabin. does his sxu
sa ss ne s3s ssss 4s fass