El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-03-31

chief thought was of establishment al
| running an ocean vessel thrOuy b
| forests and past rocks of enormous
height, often not thirty feet from US on
either SIDE Of the saip We arrived
at Skaguay lake on the afternoon of
February 18th, and at Dyea on Sunday,
Fe b. 18th. Here we have ST. ce re-
msiUed, waicing-at first Or ord srs to
go over the Pass, now, for orders for
disposition Of ,u- supplies. We know
that the ''R slief Exp edition" id has
| been abandored. as the powers that be
have at lat become convinced that
relief is not and has n"ver baen re-
qnired, but nothi official has yet
come to Us, and we are compelled to
wait on aud on.
do not know that my feeble words
can have mucn effect; bat [ sh 81 ell
yOu little of what one must 90
through to get 10 Alaska. and shall
feel amply repaid if l shall inf zen q
even one man to stay away. Nearly
all who start for h-' e are firm in the
belief that paying fare and prepay ing
freight to Skaguay or Dyea ends al
the troubles. Poor devi S! it does not
take long tt undeceive them.!
Before the H ndike excitement, the
fare from Portland or SEATTLE to this
port was 500, ard passengers were
treated kindly aad were made comic =
liable; now, it is $50 90, and for any
approach to comfort one must thieve
or bully the ships officers. When
found. god is easy to get out that
the ''Klondike" is call d the "Poor
Mans Gold Fields;' but it is not al
ways found, add to get to it one re-
qulres a small fortune-w4ta another
one to bring it back.
L ,isl L.
and one naturally thinks that his
my hearty, There is wharfage
charge of $500 per ton which must
then be paid, besides a storage charge
of $3.50 per ton for sto age for the ii st
"a hours and S1.5O per ton for each adj
ditiOnal "a hours. 1t is almost impos-
BILE TO have goods hauled except in
wagons owned or controlled by the
transportation companies-for from
SO 90 to $3.50 per ton and the ode
mirage charge" is, therefore, easily
rurg in. All these charges, too, are
on the freig ut rs billed from the start
ing point-not as received:-no indivi-
dual or business use has ever Yet
received all shipped. | have person al
knoxledge of a couple OF young fellows
who paid Wharfage, storage, demur-
rage (4S hour-). ard drayage charges
on billing of tons of right, of
which less than tons were received
and delivered
Rates are always quoted: 1850 fare
to Skaguay or Dyea," freight similar
ly. To get to Dy ga, each pass pger is
pitched on To q scow-S1 .25-and push
ed by rug up until the scow grounds;
then, he waits until tae tide goes out
and he can be carried ashore. For his
freight he pays ia Ska9uay all but
the storage charges, with an additional
charge of $500 per ton for Fighter
age" and $500 per ton for "whar-
fage" 1.-THE "wharf" being the beach as
Dams Nature made and left it;) of
course, drsyage and storage charges
come in also-all charges, recollect,
being on the freight as billed.
Ha~dships, physical and financial
be ct one on every side the moment
he sets foot on shore. 1 do not think
that the actual cold here is as great as
I have frequently, for weeks at time,
known it, in Montana and the Dakots s.;
but it is accompanied by wind which
cuts through and through, against
hich the thickest clothing gives lit
, tie protection. Many people are MS
lead into the b.iief that the climate
of Skaguay and Dyea is like thas of
Portland and tt at there is not great
degree of cold, because of the Japan
CURRENT but that current Is more
than 200 mile distant, and its EFFECT
upon temperature is not very sppreci-
abb. At a certain season of the year,
it Goes moi rsin-srd rains as Ell Pa
soa rarely even dream Of:-but thai
season, naturally, is not very long. 1t
is fortunate that this is so: the very
bottom drops out of the soil, aid it is
almost i'm possible to move about. The
worst feature in the climate is its
abrupt changes. For the first ten DAYS
or two we ks afte~ our arrival eight
and ten below was the warmest we rad
and the wind blew at rate which
made our lives naught but a wre' ched
existence. We We Mt to be d one night
with the wind a gale and the themo-
meter-10, only to wake up to a tenn
perature Of-20, with scsrcey any
wind. Had we gone home before the
! change, we would have locked upon as
malicious liars all who might tell us
that Dyea could ev r know wfat It is
10 he without that dreadful wind
similarly, | imagin. that nobody ar
irving in still, calm weather would be-
| lieve our truthful tales of wind, cold
and suffer Jog.
Generosity abHundS of course, and
acts of unselfshness are frequently
known Of, but some of the most cruel
| de eds are perpetrat2d, and the ac.or is
very se'd m punished. Two sht TT
tale s, in illustra tion: Two men become
| "psrtners''-one snores-Other dis
covers it and is made so unc ,mfortable
by it that he becomes angry and insis. S
upon breaking 40 the partnership
| The snOrer resepts this. ar draws his
''gun," bang! bang. One dead-one
mortally wounded.
The steamer "Whitelsw," at anchor
! in hp h rhur at 10 5iSoova,
ed to be on fire. No effort is made to
run her ashore, and the passengers are
not allowed to step into the small boats
which have run along side until each