Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1898-01-24
FOOD ENOUGH At DAWSON
10 Last Until the Yukon Is Open to
Navigation.
Inc Winter in the Interior Of Alaska
Has Been Mild, and Thirty Mile
River Is Still Open-A Committee
Of Miners on Their Way to Otta-
Waffle Canadian Mining Laws.

Skaguay, Alaska, January 7, via Sc
attic. Wash, January 23.-Thirty
persons have arrived here during the
past week from the Klondike mining
region. They say there is food enough
at Dawson to last until the Yukon riv-
er is open and navigation is resumed.
Supplies must be received by that
time, though if suffering is to be
averted In reference to the proposed
government relief expedition all agree
that it will be impossible to forward
supplies dowe the river on the ice.
In the first place, the Yukon river
between Dawson and Pelly is so
rough that dog trains can haul but
a small amount of provisions-barely
enough for the party accompanying
them-and the route is impossible to
horses. The Iewes, or Thirty-Mile
river, is still open, but it is with con-
siderable difficulty that dog trains or
men on foot can make their way along
the shores. The
WINTER IN THE INTERIOR
up to the present has been mild, and
it is the opinion of oldtimerS that
Lewes river will not freeze over this
winter.
Inspector of Mines James McGregor,
who left Skaguay some weeks ago
with seven tons of provisions and fif-
teen horses, has only reached White
Horse range. 1t will be impossible
for him to take the horses down
Lewes river unless he can build RATS
and float them down the river, and,
this is considered to be a very hazard
Gus undertaking. He and his party are
now building a road around White
Horse rapids and are making fair
progress.
Among the weeks arrivals was a
committee representing the miners of
the Klondike country, en- route to OF
tawa. where they will interview the
Canadian government concerning
THE MINING LAWS
and endeavor to secure their amend
ment. The committee is composed Of
DR.. Wills, formerly of Belle Hille, On
tario, for the past three years north
west mounted police surgeon at Daw-
son; Max Landreville, an eX-member
of the Canadian Parliament, and E. j.
Livernash, of San Francisco. The
members of the committee declined to
make any statement for publication
until they had conferred with the Can
adam government 1t is understood,
however that they have with them a
petition bearing several thousand
names, asking for a revocation of the
royalty clause and the alternate claim
lo+ al 70 Tnctnpp6 tn
the original distance, 500 feet.
Speaking of the food situation. DR..
Wills said: If we can get food into
Dawson by the first water, the
SITUATION WILL BE RELIEVED.
It is no use to try to sled provisions
down the Yukon to Dawson; it cannot
be done, owing to the fact that the
Lewes river is still open and the great
ridges of ice which block the Yukon
below the Big Salmon. If the Ameri-
can government wishes to send in sup
plies, the only feasible plan is to
freight supplies to the foot of Lebarge,
on the ice, and have them ready to
ship down the river as soon as navi-
CATION opens, probably about the 18th
of Nav. There will be suffering in
Dawson in April-there always is.
Food will be scarce and scurvy will
break out, but the situation will be no
more serious than it has always been
at that time of year.
The question of the right Of Cana
dian customs officials to levy duties on
American goods at Lake Bennett has
been explicitly raised by Will S.
Thorpe, a well known cattle man Of
Washington.