Gulf Coast breeze. [volume] (Crawfordville, Fla.) 1897-19??, 1898-02-04
FAMINEIN DAWSON CITY
:RlcHTFuL sUFFERlNcs AMONG THE
kloNolkE GOLD HUNTERS,

Food ut Fabulous Prices and the Police
Won't Arrest Lawless LoRfers Because
There Is Nothing to Feed Them with \
Lucky Timer -Woebegone Adventures
James II. Keene, the famous Wall
street Spectator, has received the fol.
lowing letter, dated Dawson CITY,
Northwest Territory, at his Office III
New York, from an expert mining en-
gineer who, with an assistant, was
sent to the Klondike region last fall
by capitalists to investigate and report
on the situation there;
"A more God 'forsaken place you
never saw. The town lies on n flat on
the east side Of the river, immediately
back of which are hills about five hun
dred feet high. The river is about
three.eights of a mile wide, and is, |
should Judge, quite deep. The eleva'
tion above sea level is approximately
one thousand feet. Where the town
is located must have been an old
moose swamp. During the summer
time it is undoubtedly regular quag-
mire.
"There are fully five hundred loaf
ers in town who won't work and eX-
pect to be fed, and there is no food to
feed them with. The police won't ar
rest them, because they haven't any
food with which to feed them. Every
thing is frozen except the whiskey,
and there seems to be an unlimited
supply Of that article at fifty cents n
drink, or $40 per bottle. Champagne
is S36 per bottle, and l suppose other
beverages are at corresponding fig
ures.
Five cent cigars cost fifty cents
each, and -four, outside Of the compa-
ny's contracts, 1926 for ffty.pound
sack; candles, 81 apiece. Seventy
five dollars is paid for a five'gallon
can of coal oil. In fact, none is for
sale. Sugar is thirty cents and tea 81
q pound. Coffee 81 pound and not
fit for dogs. Ordinary dog meat,
which means dried fish, 81 pound.
No man works for less than Sl5 for
nine hours, and confers q very great
favor upon you even at that rate.
Cordwood, sawed and split, is $50 n
cord in the yard. Can't say what it
will be before this winter is over.
Cooking stoves are not to be had
for love or money. Some sheet iron
ones can be obtained at cost ranging
from S7b to 800. There is one timer
in town working five men, and his or
ders are thirty days ahead. Sawed
lumber, the poorest quality, sells,
when YOU can get it, for $50 for II
thousand feet, aud flooring is twenty
cents foot. The restaurants are all
closed because they cannot buy sup
plies. Bakeries closed because there
is no -four to be obtained. There is
no hotel and there are no lodging
houses.
"What in the world these people are
going to do before the season is over
| cannot say. Every building on the
Main street is either saloon with II
gambling outfit or u dance house.
There are only two stores, which be-
long to the companies, respectively,
the Alaska Commercial company and
the North American Transportation
and Trading company. They close at
five o'clock because they have no can
dies or oil to burn. There is absolute
w no place to go. There will be no
more steamers here until next July.
"The people are still coming in over
the trail without provisions. The po-
lice here arc driving every one down
The river IA he arrives, and the com
panies will assist in pushing out OF
town all persons who are not supplied
with food.
"rhe condition of affairs is very
precarious here. There is a possibility
of there being bloodshed on account
of the starving population. The stores
sell nothing, and are only partially
filling orders in rotation to the best OF
their ability. do not dare to move
until ] am first settled. Caches, where
individual supplies are kept, are being
nightly robbed, and people are on the
qui vive. In several instances thieves
have been detected and shot, and do
not dare to leave this place without
some one in it, for to lose our supplies
at this stage Of affairs in Dawson
would simply mean-Death. Money
can't buy food, and the actual staple
of life, -four, is unobtainable.