The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-12-26
KANSAS NEWS.
A Miami County Boy Ret urns
From the KIondike.
Left His Fathers Home at FOn :
tana 10 Years Ago.
OWNS DALTON TRAIL.
Brought Back Several Thousand
Dollars in Gold
Is An Expert on Alaska and In
dian Trading
DALTON TRAIL.

| and started out to make his fortune.
He returned Thursday, unexpectedly,
with bags of gold dust in his valise,
nuggets of gold in his pockets and with
| business interests in the Klondike and
Alaska worth hundreds of thousands Of
dollars. His name, as the owner of the
Dalton trail to the interior of Alaska
and his fame as the best posted man on
| Alaska in the world, had gone before
| him. but neither this nor his riches has
turned his head.
HE is just the same boy as he used
to be- said his gray haired mother.
''only, of course, he has grown older
and things round here in Miami
county have not changed much, either,
added Dalton.
Jack Dalton is SO years old. His haid
is short, crisp and black, while his flow
ing moustache is more golden in hue
than the nuggets he carries.
Dalton settled in Alaska Is years ago,
when it was an unknown country.
After leaving here five years previously
he had gone to Texas, then into Arizona
and New Mexico. Central America next
attracted his attention and then he
turned sailor and Whaler and cruised
wav into the far east and into the
Behring sea. The United States gov
eminent was trying to find out what 1t
had gotten from Russia in the purchase
of Alaska and geodetic and surveying
expeditions were being started. Dalton
became a member of several OF these
and displayed such pluck and adapta-
bility to all sorts of hard life that the
toughest tasks were intrusted to him.
He was the first white man to penetrate
into the interior in many directions ana
he became known in Alaska as the man
with the best and most reliable knowl-
edge of the country. While he was out
on these exploring tours he was quick
to see the business chances and he was
soon able to make more money for him
self than the government could pay
him.
Was an Indian Trader.
He started in as a trader on q, small
scale, giving the Indian trappers pro
visions an exchange for the furs of the
otter, mink, bear and fox. His business
grew and he established outlying trad
ing posts. The country gradually was
settled up more or less and the posts
became centers of supplies for the min
ers Some one came up there with
money and Dalton undertook the trans
portation of them and their baggage.
Others came who took advantage of the
trails Dalton and his men had made.
He then hit upon the plan of improving
the main thoroughfare, called the Dial
ton trail, and he put thousands of dol
lars, smoothing off the toughest
edges" as he calls it, and building
bridges. Then he put in toll collectors
and today those who use his road pay
for 1t. Later he began importing cattle
into the country for fresh beef. Others
paid SO for every head of stock he took
over the trail, and this put the owner
IN a DOS1IAOn Oh advantage. O4 JIG
shipment he cleared nearly $4,000
4 would not advise anybody to go
into Alaska Dalton said to a reporter.
There are so many difficulties up there
that a man never figures on. And the
worst of it is that they all come at
once, 1t seems. The cold weather, alb
sence of friends, very hard work and
hundreds of details that can't enurner-
ate now make new man feel
pretty blue. I've been up in the interior
when it was so cold that a. solid chunk
of ice four, five and six inches thick
would cover the lower part of a mans
face. The only way to get 1T off was to
take a stick and hit it.
Can Talk Indian Dialect.
'"The Indians. as a rule, are pretty
good people, when you know now to
handle them. can talk their language
and don't have any trouble. After 1
had started the trail had little
trouble with them because 1T was shut
ting them out Of their work of river
transportation. We had a meeting down
at the cannery at Permanent harbor,
where the trail starts for Selkirk-
Everything seemed all right and l
started for home
"AIl Of a sudden a crowd of them
began shooting at me with Winchesters
and how escaped I don't know. 1 did
not have any weapons with me, al
though I usually carry a Winchester.
saddle gun and a six shooter.
II went up into the White river coun-
try some time ago. Up there they have
rings in their noses and ears and around
their ankles and wrists and many of
them wear a piece of ivory stuck
through their lower lip. These fellows
carry bows and arrows, and 1 tell you
I'd soon stand up in front of a rifle at
100 yards than before one of them.
They dress in buckskin. People
have an idea that furs are the only
thing up there for dress, but they are
not You wear a fur and get so hot
that you steam. This freezes on the
lining of the coat, and I've often seen
around a man. It's not unusual to
have it 40 to so below, but at the same
time the summers are hot.
About Dawson City.
Dawson City has about 5000 people
now, and you can't buy property on
Front street A little piece just big
enough to build a house on costs $40,-
900 or $50, 900. Dawson City is built on
under ground, frozen swamp. Old man
Ladue who laid out the town, went
down there in my boat, I took him
down myself
Alaska has the biggest gold mill in
the world, Treadway'S on Douglass is
land. It runs 900 stamps. I know that
Alaska is rich in copper, and it won't
be long before it is generally known.
The country, in my opinion, has a great
future / would not live back here in
what you call civilization for a good
deal. I want the excitement and the
fresh air you can get only in Alaska.
Inside of a month I expect to be back
up there"
Dalton has several sacks Of gold dust
with him. Each is the size of the foot
of a stocking. Instead of being dust
like it is in little Jumps like gravel.
Several pieces are worth $40 each. In
his pocket with a lot of copper pennies