The evening times., 1898-10-26
ABOUT THE KLoNDIKE.

klondfke. Here is the story written In
letters to friends by Chris" Reilly, OF
Hartford, and published In the Courant:
'On leaving Seattle tickets were bought
by the Big Square Route TO Seventy Mile,
on the steamer Progresso. On reaching
St. MichaePs II was found that the COM
pany was bankrupt and that the river
steamers they had bought were afioat
somewhere on the broad Pacific and the
passengers including Reilly and Couture,
were stranded 1,700 miles from the point
agreed upon. At st Mikes The trans
portation companies wanted as much to
take passengers up the river as the whole
price from Seattle, which had been paid.
Reilly finally met a Texan named Will
hams. whom he had known In New York
and as he was fitting out a party to go
up the Yukon, for $500 a contract was
entered into. This resulted in landing
them at Rampant City. where they went
into camp.
THE following day Reilly and Couture
started with some Montana miners on a
prospecting tour up the river and over
the hills. The brush and underground
was so dense that it was impossible TO
move on land and the party waded up
the river, meeting adventures by the
hundreds coming down in small parties
In their own boats, many of them rude
structures, made by themselves, all cry
ing out Go back, you suckers, go back
With fifty pounds of baggage strapped to
his back Reilly waded up the river.
stumbling over boulders in midstream
and lodging quicksands, stemming cur
rents that ran like a mill race with the
water two to three feet deep. The trip
took from Monday to Saturday and as it
rained most of the time il was 'trifie
damp for camping out at night. with
nothing but blankets and tarpaulins over
him. On the last day out Couture gave
it up and gave notice that he was going
to sell his outfit. and Reilly, having but
81 left, agreed with him Both men had
been suffering from chills and fever, ReiI-
ly not having recovered from the hard
ships of the shipwrecl, on the Jane Grey
Getting back to Rampant City Reil-
ly managed TO sell out at good advant-
age. and started down the river in a
steamer called the May D., which ne
says was the smallest steam vessel he
ever saw. There were sixteen persons
aboard OF her, crew and all, and six of
the passengers had TO sleep on the floor
of the engine room. Notwithstanding
her small size, she was frequently on
the rocks. and once was eighteen hours
! stalled. In making from the mouth of
! the river for ST. MichaePs squall came
| up. and II was close shave from going
| to the bottom. The boat put for the
| beach, and all passengers wore their life
| preseryerS.
"At st. Michaels, for the second time
/ Reilly and his partner shipped on the
| two-masted schooner Lizzie Colby. with
I thirty passengers. On the first night out
1 a gale struck the vessel, carrying away
! the foretopmast. and for the entire week
| on the Bering Sea the weather was very
/ rough. At Unimak Pass, which is the
| passageway from Bering Sea to the Pa
! cffc. the vessel was becalmed for a day
/ and the passengers fished for cod, Reilly
| pulling In one that weighed twenty-eight
| pounds. Late in the afternoon a school
| of immense whales surrounded the vessel
| some of them half as big as the boat her
self. and for nearly twenty-four hours
they were in sight of a volcano in full
! eruption, vomiting forth both fame and
| smoke. The trip from Unimak Pass 10
Seattle was lively one. gales prevailing
all the time, and for four days hea win :
| kept the vessel off Flattery, Jane Crey's
| burying ground. The transportation com
| panies We're unable to keep their con-
| tracts, some of them only fed their pas
sengers twice day. and then on bread
and coffee.
Reilly sums up his idea of the country
as 1t appeared TO him, in lively fashion
| The country presents a rugged appear.
| ance, although il is somewhat toneL
down by the covering of moss that is up
on everything. There is no shrubbery o!
| trees of any kind when the country i.
first seen, and the lower hills along tht
coast line have the appearance of artif
ciai parks with the grass kept in proper
trim. The mountains back from the coas
line are now all snow covered so thai
there are but two colors to be seen
green and white. Approaching St Mi
chael'S there are no high hills and tn.
effect is as of one continuous green park
The first hundred miles up the Yukon l.
through dead fat country like the west
ern prairies, but after that there is
| growth of willow and then punches o
small trees and when up 700 miles tn
country is virtually one dense mass o
| forest, spruce, white birch and cotton
wood trees ranging in size from 10 l
inches through. The roots do not strik
into the ground very deep. but interweav
with one another below the moss. Th
ground only thaws out for three feet i
| depth in the summer, and as there is
| constant rise of moisture from the ice IN
| effect in the growth of all kinds of bushe
| is like that of a tropical forest
There is a great profusion of berries
| whortleberries raspberries and cranber
| ries. the bushes numbered by millions
This makes good feed for the bears, whic
are only less plentiful than the m0squi
toes, all fat as butter. As for the mos
quitoes the descriptive power of man fai!
him who attempts to do justice to III
subject and Reilly gives it up.
THE natives are a degenerate lot. III
most wretched, God-forsaken creature
| Imaginable. great proportion of ther
cripples and the rest dying of consump
ton, even the little children having tn
disease. The race is apparently dyin
out The smell of an Alaskan village
something that cannot be described.
In closing his letter Reilly says: Alas
ka is a country of Misrepresentation, eX
aggeration and Justification The cOndi
} tions seem to make an Ananias of trut
itself. Whoever leaves a good thing 70
the fabulous fortunes in Klondike gOlC
follows pipe dream. No white man ca
live for two years in the country. and ol
| settlers always come into the States afte
a year and brace up for another q
| Thousands are coming out of the gol
regions, wrecked in health. with loss
money, and many Respondent ones AZ
, | committing suicide.
Domestic Problems.
(From the Omaha Bee.)
The growth of trusts and monOpolies the r
latiors Of labor and capital. the increase Of co
| nd most of al