Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-02-09
VIEWS OF YUKON VALLEY
Resources, Temperature and Other Conditions
in the Gold Country.
Mr.. George w. Grecnup Details His
Experiences While Visiting That
Section Last Summer.

Star reporter Of his observations in Alaska
| during a recent visit there:
EARLY last summer l became imbued
with an earnest desire to see for myself
our Russian purchase, that / might the
better judge of it's resources, availa bility,
temperature, and the means Of access to
the gold fields. / started from Louisville
alone, supplying myself with about six
| hundred pounds of clothing, blankets, etc.
Ny first stop was Seattle, Washington,
where a large number of gold hunters
n AXE up their outfits. At Seattle / got
together about two tons of provisions, flour,
sugar, coffee and the like. 1 also had to
lay in some extra mackinac clothing
blankets and Indian muk-luks for the cold
and wet region into which l was going, for
there 1t rains or SHOWS nearly all the time.
l went by steamer from Seattle to Dyea-
On the way we stopped at Victoria, Ninai-
mo, Wrangell, Juneau ard other points. l
went ashore at WranseH and Investigated
the trail for that route. 1 do not consider
kon in winter time. l also went out part
way on the Dalton trail at Pyramid Har-
Dor, and from the outlook 1 think it will
do for summer trip Only. 1 do not be-
heve it ought 10 be considered when WIN
ter road is wanted
Il got to Dyea August 10. 1t was a city
of one house, HealeyS store and two tents
There We're just two white people there. 1
gins; mud from one to three feet deep and
continued fog or rain. We were lowed
from the steamer TO the head of Lynn ca
nal on a scow. From there we went by
short stages to the foot of the Chilcoot
pass. When l say there just three
of rs at Dyea, of course, you must under
stand that there were many coming and
going on the trail all the time.
Each Carries His Own.
Each man took out from Dyea what he
could carry of his outfit, and conveyed it
TO some convenient place FIVE to seven
miles beyond. There he laid it down and
covered it up so as to protect it from the
weather as well as he could. Then he dou-
bled back on his trail and took out another
load. This process was repeated as often
as necessary to get the whole outfit to the
first stopping place out from Dyea. Then
the process was repeated until the foot of
the pass was reached.
"On this trip from Dyea to the pass
met Major Walsh, governor of the North
west territory under the Canadian govern
ment, and from him learned a great deal
OF the operations of the Canadian govern
ment in that section. He, of course, had
no authority at Dyea, it is on American
SOIL Everything is protected there by the
same law that moves the vigilance commit
tee in any new country. Any wrong-doer
is summarily dealt with: hence our goods
were safe piled along the trail Every
group of men is a law unto itself, and
ed with a strong hand. The quickest man
with the trigger carries the day, but there
are usually in such a country enough right
minded men ready with guns for self-in-
terests if for no other reason, to keep
things straight. But Major Walsh had
company of soldiers with him. and the Ca
madam government was on hand with suffi-
cient force to preserve order as soon as we
crossed into their territory.
There was notable difference between
the hardness with which our government
appeared on the grounds on the way to the
gold diggings and the promptness of the
British in having the blue and the gray Of
the Canadian army at it's post of duty in
the new country. / saw no official of the
United States government at all on my
way out after leaving Fort Wrangell.
Major Walsh was going over the Chilcoot
as I went, and l was treated as kindly by
him as if had been of his own people. 1
took dinner with him at Sheep Camp, Just
this side of Chilcoot. 1t was not exactly
such function as you mean by dinner
here in Washington; no official etiquette
to bother anybody. But we had enough to
eat and a jolly time of it in spite of the
difficulties of our situation"
The Crucial Point.
How did you get over the pass?' asked
the reporter.
THAT, Of course, was the crucial point
of the trip. No one can appreciate that
pass without seeing it. No animal can
carry a load across it, at least none ex-
cept an. We hired Indians to take our
provisions over and paid them SIS a day.
Major Walsh paid 30 cents a pound and
one big IEGian made $50 one day working
for him. Chilcoot canon is seven and a
half miles long. and where the trail threads
along the mountains side 1t is about 1000
feet from the bottom and 5000 feet from
the top of the canon, suspended in mid
air as 1t were on a wall of solid masonry
one and one-quarter miles in height. On
the way over the pass l met with an acct
dent which will make me remember it as
long as 1 live / fell down the slope near
ly 200 feet into the edge eff Crater lake
with a seventy-pound pack on my pack. A
Zig rock in the rim of the lake caught me
with a rough bump or 1 shouldn't be here
today. My Indians, who were packing
goods over with at the time l fell.
came down quickly as they could and
carried me on to a place of safety. Major
Walsh's men heard of the accident and
conveyed me to his tent at Lake Under
man. I was pretty badly bruised UP with
the fall, but in few days was able to be
about again.
"At Lake Linderman we had to camp for
a week to build a boat for the sail down
the Yukon. AS this is an extremely hazard.
trip the boat must be built out OF
heavy lumber, which the tourist must saw
out himself. A boat twenty feet long is
the usual size. With the boat finished and
packed we-my Indian, Stick Charley, and
myself-rowed through the lakes and then
started down the river which has an aver
age width there of about one mile. In
some places the shores are precipitous.
while in others they gradually recede,
and are heavily covered with pine, spruce
and other northern varieties of timber.
Besides the timber, however, there is no
vegetation whatever, except the reindeer
moss, which in places Is matted to the
depth of two feet The ground never thaws
out and nothing Of an agricultural nature
is raised. the natives living upon fish and
game. The traveller must keep his almanac
with him, for nobody there knows the day
of the week or month, or much else about
time except the time Of year. 1t must
have been somewhere about the middle Of
September when I reached Selkirk.
"Ninety-five per cent of the fortune hunt
ers going into that country are Americans.
Many of them are sturdy and honest.
Some are air-castle builders, and others are
of the gambling and criminal classes.
Many have gone into the interior wholly
unprepared for the hardships found there,
and by exposure and excesses have con-
tracted rheumatism, bronchitis and other
diseases; hence the untold suffering that
was to be observed"
Use of Steam Sled.
''Win the steam sled be practicable on
the Yukon?' the reporter inquired.
eft certafnly cannot he utilized for the