The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1898-03-10
THE REDWOOD GAZETTE.
BY AIKEN E. SCHMAHL.
THURSDAY, MARCH 10, 1898.
UNSEAWORTHY SHIPS.
That are Taking the Throng to
Alaska.

Alaska.
To THE EDITOR Several things
have occurred lately which bring the
danger and Inconvenience of the trip
to Alaska forcibly to mind.
There had been a feeling of insecu-
rity all along, in the mind of those
who had the opportunity of judging
in regard to the safety of the steamers
that we're being put on the run to
Skaguay and Dyea, which now is in
the mind of all who propose to make
the trip and of the public as we'll, by
reason of the loss of the Clara Nevada
on her return trip few days ago, by
reason of defective boilers. An ex-
plosion, a flash of fire, and in five
minutes all was over with the sixty hu-
man beings on board. This boat was
an old craft, bought up for small
price, given new name and coat of
paint and advertised as staunch and
seaworthy. Only two weeks before
the Corona that left Seattle with a
large passenger list and loaded to the
guards with freight, ran on the rocks
and was lost with all her cargo, the
passengers barely escaping by reason
of having a pilot who did not know
the channel.
1t looks as if the bone yards from
San Francisco to Puget Sound had
been raked over and every craft that
could be made to float by little
patching, put into the Alaska trade.
There is much criticism of the gov
eminent inspectors, who are supposed
to protect the interests of the people,
who in the nature of the case can
know very little as to the kind of boat
the slick agent is trying to persuade
them to take and it is felt that the
inspectors are in league with the boat
owners in allowing them to run unsafe
boats and to take on too much cargo
and thus risk too many lives.
If some inquisitive reporter, with a
good nose for trails and facts, should
get write-up of the steamers in the
Skaguay traffic, showing to what uses
they had been put formerly, how much
they cost present owners and the
amount they are earning now, he would
add an interesting chapter to the his
tory of the boom and show that the
steamboat men have dead sure thing
aud strike pay dirt every time without
the trouble of going down to he'd rock.
An example of this is shown in case of
the City of Seattle, one of the best
and largest ships in the trade, which
was chartered at $500 a month for
five years before the excitement broke
out when business was at a normal
stage, while during the late fall an
other ship of the same capacity, chart
cred at $4,000 per month, is making
big money. "Query for your young
readers, "How much is the City of Sc
attic making?" The answer is, say,
"big money"-an unknown quantity
plus $16,5OO month.
[ have met onl y one party from near
Redwood Falls going out with the
throng. This was A. L. Foster aud
two others from Echo and three from
Minneapolis, who left two or three
days ago on the Alliance for Copper
River.
There has, for the past month, been
a serious state of affairs at Skaguay,
Dyea and vicinity. A great many hui
man vultures have found their way to
those places for the purpose of rob-
bling and plumber, who have been rum
ming things with high hand. Muir
ders have occurred and robbery has
been carried on without law or hind
rance. These fellows do not belong
to the gold seekers but seem to COM
prise picked lot of thieves and thugs
with just enough money to reach these
places, who have made life a burden
to all decent men. The 400 soldiers
sent out by the government have
probably reached there by this time
and will restore order.
The harbor master reports Fl ships
as loading for Alaska today. Of