The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-02-04
FACE DEATH FOR GOLD.
PERILS OF THE KLONDI<E TOLD By
ONE WHO HAS BEEN THERE.

Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand
Are Ready to COAL Cannot Keep
Alive During the Long Months OF
Winter-NOt the Place for a Poor
Man-NeverthcIess Alaska Is the
Richest Speculative Field on
Earth.
From the Chicago Times Herald.
quarter of million persons are ready
TO go to the Klondike at the first approach
of spring. Some are fortune seekers,
others are capitalists, and a few are adj
venturers
There will be more suffering, more dan
ger of starvation, and o greater scarcity
of provisions in the Klondike next fall
and winter than there will be at any time
this winter. The number of boats carry
ing freight and food up the Yukon can
not possibly be large enough TO supply
the provisions necessary to keep an the
people alive during the long months of
cold and darkness.
Dawson City is destined to be a great
commercial and speculative market with
in comparatively short time.
The day has now passed when poor
man has any business to go to the Klon-
dixie, but the richest speculative field on
earth for the shrewd capitalist is that of
the gold mines of Alaska.
These are some of the statements made
by two men recently returned from Alas
ka who arrived in this city yesterday One
of them is ]. NJ Kepner, who went there
last July, not to prospect but to pur-
chase claims, and who has returned with
deeds to rich properties on Eldorado and
Bonanza creeks. The other is Pat Gal
win, who went across the pass four years
ago poor man and who came out last
| August worth something like $S,OO00OO.
While these men. We're telling of their ex-
! periences and giving some valuable infor-
nation concerning the new Eldorado,
| party of Chcagoans under the name of
! the Gypsy Queen Gold Mining Company
and headed by P. d. Whitehead president
of the company, were preparing to leave
| for Dawson City via st. Paul and Tacoma
| at o'clock this morning, Their arrival in
the Klondike will be the beginning of the
influx that Mr.. Kepner and Pat Calvin say
will reach the 100000 mark before the close
| of the summer season.
/
experience in the western fields He is on
his way to New York and London in the
| interests of his newly acquired properties
| in Alaska. Modestly he shows a few sam
pies of gold nuggets in his rooms at the
Great Northern. With equal modesty and
with the utmost truthfulness he relates his
experiences aud imparts the knowledge he
has of route, climate conditions and pos
sibiltes. On the hotel register he halls
| from some little town in the state of
| Washington. This is done to avoid public
mention, because he really claims Dawson
City as his home, to which he will return
| in May.
He was the first white man to cross the
| SkagaWay pass and to go down the river
! to Dawson City. He went across the in
ner route with the City of Mexico on the
| last trip she made. On her return trip
she went down with a precious cargo
Joaquin. Miller made the journey with
him, and the two met again just before
| KepnAr began his journey homeward. Dec
Z, 1897 The poet of the Sierras had
trudged all the way back from Circle City
dragging his sled behind him, because he
could not get down the Yukon by boat
| His feet were frozen, and he was suffering
| terribly from the effects of the cold, which
had overtaken him when he was ll-pre-
! pared for its hardships.
| Mir. Kepner reached Skagaway New
| Years day, and on Jan. 8 was aboard the
City of Seattle, bound for America He
| says that during the few days he waited
| for transportation four or five vessels
| steamed into the harbor loaded down with
| passengers On The route to Seattle he
| passed boat after boat all crowded from
the upper decks to the hatchways with
men and women, who We're expecting to
| push their way across the dangerous pass
| es to Dawson City When he arrived in
Seattle it was the same story. The docks
were thronged, the streets were lively and
| departing steamers were packd with those
who are now going madly to the most
| dangerous spot on the continent
Maj Walsh of the Canadian government
| told Mr.. Kepner before he came out that
| 10000 English capitalists were making ar
| rangements TO go to the Klondike in the
! spring On almost as good authority he
| believes, that 1900 moneyed men will
| leave South Africa as soon as is practi-
| cable From the transportation compa-
MES he has obtained some idea of the num-
| Der of tickets already secured From all
| these estimates he comes to the mathe-
NAUTICAL result which announces that a
| quarter of million will be an under figure
for the increased population of the gold
district in September, 1898.
| BY a rough guess it is estimated that
there may be perhaps a hundred boats
! engaged in the transporta ton of passen-
| gers and food up the Yukon next sum-
mer II would be absolutely impossible
for that number or for much greater
number of vessels to carry in sufficient
| supply of food to last the miners and the
idlers during the months of winter. This
is the reason why Mr. Kepner believes
there will be more suffering in the future
than there has been in the past
Then he talks of the immense possibili-
ties Of the mines in the vast territory
around Dawson City The amount of
gold on the claims already settled. the
| almost inexhaustible veins and gulches
and benches yet undiscovered all the way
from Dawson City to the great
dome in the mountains seventy
five miles above 49, these things, he
says have not been exaggerated
With enough capitalists going there TO
make city uuassisted by government
| grants or unreasonable inducements, ard
with these men prepared to speculate in
mining property, to legitmatey buy and
| sell or exchange, every condition necessary
to build up a great commercial center is
supplied. Therefore. Mr.. Kepner predicts
that Dawson City will be one of the great
est cities of the world in time.
And when he says the Klondike Is not
| the place for the poor man to stake his
| life and his fortune, Mr.. Kepner is most
earnest but for the good Of the men who