The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-01-18
A STRIKE At DAWSON.
In the First Contest Between
Capital and Labor
Labor Loses and Wages Are
Cut to 81 an Hour.
How the Liar Develops and F1ourishes
on the Klondike-Inside Informa-
ton From a Returned
Prospector.


Democrat says:
| Sam Archer, a former Seattle news
paper man who has just returned from
! the KlondIke for the winter, making
/ the trip overland on the ice, tells the
| best story yet obtained anent life in the
| gold fields, experiences in getting there
| and how to get out. AS a result of his
| 6O0-nile tramp from the Arctic to tide
! water, he is brOnzed and weather.
! beaten, and his face is covered with
growth OF red, white and blue WhiSkerS
| red where they have been frOSt-bit-
| ten, white where the trails of worry
and hardship are shown, and blue
| where the billiards. blast blew ferceSt.
Archer will return to the Klondike in
| March to look after his properties. His
| story of his experiences and observa-
| tons, graphically told, is as follows:
after living half a. year on bacon,
bread and beans, I am glad to be back
| in Seattle, even if it is for only q short
| time And the weather here, although
1t may be rain for "a hours in the day,
beats the frigid climate of the far
North all to pieces, notwithstanding
the pretended claims of some to the
contrary. 1t is true that a man can
stand exceedingly cold weather up
there, for it is still and dry, but he
freezes his face or nose before he
knows it, and this is quite irritating. /
dare say there is hardly a KIondiker
who has not had some portion of his
anatomy frOst-bitten, and it has be-
come almost a josh to tell the man
you meet coming in the opposite direc-
\ ton that his nose is frozen. He always
finds the information to be cOrrect-hiS
nose is white as marble, and then he
half-freezes his fingers rubbing his
nose with snow to take the frost out
Robe yourself up as you may, and yet
the frost is liable to nip you in some
aggravat1ng or serious manner. In
Dawson City we had a. cold spell during
the latter part of November and the
first couple of days in December, the
temperature generally ranging from 40
to So degrees below zero, although the
thermometer registered as low as 60
degrees below one day, some saying
their instruments indicated 62, 65 and
68 degrees below on December /.
There is no city government at
Dawson, but things are conducted I'M
der a sort of martial law, the Canadian
mounted police being in charge. All
matters pertaining to mines and min
ing, however, are subject to the author
ity of the gold commissioner. On our
way out we met Major Walsh, the new
" appointed administrator of govern
mental affairs for the Yukon district of
the Northwest Territory, who was on
his way in.
'tAH the creeks, gulches and pups
for miles about Dawson are StalIed and
recorded, and one must go a long dis
lance away over mountain and through
brush to find INDICATED placer claims.
Speaking of the general stalking of any
thing and everything for wildcat spec
ulatiOn reminds me of the great
amount of perjury committed in the re-
cOrder's office at Dawson. Not one in
a hundred of the claims staked are
the office is thrOnged daily by crowds
who stand before the commissioner, the
Bible in one hand, the other raised re-
Verently toward heaven, and SoIemnly
swear that they found gold on the
claim staked; that they believe them
selves to be the original discoveries of
the deposit, etc, when the truth is it
IS very rare that even a color has been
found and some of the applicants have
not even seen the ground applied for,
their stakes having been driven in by
others. What a farrell
I believe much more work would
have been done had it not been for the
cut in wages and the strike of the min
ers. The mine owners organized and
declared a cut from 81. so to 81 per hour.
and the wage workers struck to main
tain the old scale of $3.50. 1t is
true that some mines could not be
worked prOfita bly, at $3.50 per hour, and
on the other hand miners could save
little or nothing at 81 a per hour in
view of the high price of provisions
and freighting and the fact that dur
ing the winter season they work but
six and one-half to eight hours per day.
And singularly enough, some of the
richest mine owners were the firmest
in the demand for a reduction, the Ber-
rvs, vulgar and animal like, being
loudest in the general clanOr. While |
up on Ell Dorado one day I stopped in |
the cabin of Frank Berry, who Superin-
tends the properties of his brother |
Clarence Berry, and talked over the
wage question. In one breath this fell
low said he could not afford to pay
more than 81 per hour, and in the |
next brazenly told me that he would |
take 81, 900 600 out of his Ell Dorado |
claims this season, as the pay streak |
was wide and deep, and he had it 10 /
Gated dead sure Then with rudeIy af- |
fected carelessness, he picked up sew
eral quart chow-chOW jars filled with |
gold dust and nuggets and showed them |
over the table for me to admire. These |
things show how far at variance from !
the truth were his statements, and |
he was considered the prime mover for |
THE strike lasted about two months. |
and the wage workers lost. Extra good !
drifters, however, went back to work |
at s1.50; many got work at SIPS, but the |
majority are getting 81 per hour, the !
going wage Some few mines refused |
to join in the cut, and still continue to |
pay hands $3.50, among them being |
Prof. Lippy's claim, No. 16 Ell Dorado.
Grub is the absorbing question on |
the Yukon, but the scandalous reports |
published in the outside world would |
be laughed at by the 'KIondiker,' were |
they not so harmful. Harmful, because |
they reach the ears of hundreds having |
husbands, fathers, brothers and sons |
away I'D there. Believing the stories |
they are of course distressed and in a |
state of terrible anxiety, imagining |
their relatives condition desperate, |
perhaps starving to death.
There might be some excuse for such /
wild exaggeration were there subs tan
tial truth on which to base it, but there |
is not. There is a shortage in the food |
supply at Dawson, to be sure, but it is |
certainly within the bounds of truth to |
say that without the arrival of anoth- !
er pound of food there this winter and |
early next spring, there will not be half |
the suffering for lack Of nourishment |
that will be experienced in most any |
of the large cities in the states, where |
inexhaustible supplies of food are now |
stored.