The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-02-27
ROUTE TO THE KLoNDIKE.
HOW TO GET THERE BY ONE WHO
HAS MADE THE TRIP.

when YOu Know How, 1t Is Not So
Very Hard, Though the Way Is
Beset With DanSers-The Articles
Necessary in an OUTFIT.
New York, Feb. 2O.-Getting to the Klon-
dixie is easy if you start at the right time.
Getting to the North Pole is another mat
ter because the weather is never very good
at the pole. But at certain seasons Alas
ka is soft and beautiful and those who
have for years gone there on an annual
summer pleasure trip testify that they
never found anything better.
The time to go is in our summer. This
/ begins the middle of June and lasts
through June, July and August. During
this time it is summer in Alaska as well
as here.
But in making the start, you must re-
member that you must leave your home
! long before the first of June or you will
not get there in time. The trip, if you go
from the California coast, will take you
surely twenty days, and then there is an
other journey of two weeks before you
strike the gold country.
To be sure, Alaska is all Of gold forma-
ton, and consequently all gold, but the
near by claims are all staked out and taxi
en-, and now you must travel further be-
fore you reach undeveloped, unowned gold
fields.
If 1 were going to take the trip again 1
would start now. The first of March
would see me well on my way, and by the
roiddla IF A Dril 7 should expact RI Ia rrattxy
near the Yukon. During May 1 should be
stalking out and building, and when the
freshets of June came I should stand ready
with my tools to catch the first wash of
gold through the gold-laden rivers. 1
should also be getting ready for the melt
ing of the snow inland where the great
nuggets lie unseen, but waiting for me.
1t is foolish to think that Alaska is
all hardship. If you go in March and re-
turn in September, giving yourself only
two months in the Klondike you escape
all the rough weather and can perhaps
pick up enough to last you all the year.
| But this is chance. Gold must be worked
for by the sweat of the brow and the
roughening of the hands In Alaska, as well
as here, and you can't walk in and come
out with your hands full. There are too
! many there before you.
The question was asked of a steamship
agent if there was gold enough in Alaska
| for all who Will go there this spring.
There is" said he, land 1 can speak dis
interestedly because every passage on my
line is taken for every trip until Septem-
Der. But 1 can surely promise that any
man who goes to the Yukon, will come
home full in pocket unless he gets quar-
relsome and takes TO drink
The most valuable claims lie along the
Yukon. This river you must seek at once,
and when you find it you can cry Eure-
kav
This is the important river of Alaska.
1t runs through the gold fields past Cir
Gle City, Forty Mile and near Dawson. II
has its mouth at St. MichaePs, where a
flat-bottomed steamer must be taken, and
ii terminates in the interior of the Klon-
dixie gold fields.
The favorite trip for those going to
Alaska is the water route from St. Mi
chaers to Circle City. This takes about
ten days and one travels over about 15(
miles.
But this water route right to the heart
of the nugget country is possible only fol
ten weeks of the year. The Yukon is the
coolest river known to commerce, and
from September it is frozen over. 1t thaws
out in June, and then for few weeks il
!
fresh water made by the melting of the
icebergs and snowdrifts in the hills, and
through this swollen stream experiment.
ers can easily sail.
After the middle of August the Yukor
gradually shrinks, until the first of Sep.
TENDER it is dry in places and you heal
of vessels getting stuck in its bed. Their
the ice begins to form, and the unhappy
vessel that has ventured up the river i:
held in the ice until spring, while its crew
is fortunate if rescued.
The Yukon trip is the cheapest, and The
most comfortable way of going, but If vol
get TO ST. MichaeNs later than Aug.
your chances are pretty poor.
Remember that to get to the YukoT
steamers you must travel from Seattle fol-
fifteen days on a Seattle steamer, ant
thus you lose two weeks time, for which
you must allow.
This is one chosen by persons who go t.
the Yukon in March before the river is
open, and who want to be on hand wheT
the warm weather arrives.
To travel overland you follow well-beat
en- routes, yet so wild and snow-coVeret
that they seem as if fresh from natures
hand.
At Juneau you take a steamer up the
Dyea river. This is the pleasantest par
of the journey. The trip up to Dyea take.
about ten hours, and you find yourself ii
a very active little settlement. Here YOU
can purchase nearly everything you want
You can buy provisions, furs and sled
and with these you start 70 travel through
Dyea canyon. This is the hardest par
of the trip, for, though you pass only
about five miles of ascent and as many
more of descent you find you have th(
struggle of your life. Through the water.
of the canyon you can get in about day
but then you begin to toll upward, and yoJ
suddenly find that you must ask assist
ance of the Indians or give up. These
worthy fellows have either been previously
hired by you or are waiting around ready
10 be hired and now for 50 per day yol
find that they Will get you up the noun
tain, down on the other side and to Lake
Iindeman without too much difficulty.
The strangest devices have been tried by
the Indians to get their charges over the
pass, for it is probably Chilkoot pass you
have tackled though there are three noun
tain routes, but the Chilkoot is the most