Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1898-02-10
FROM SKH6UHy, hLhSKH,
Interesting Details of Life And Conditions In
The Par Northwest.

ted to give our readers an abstract OF
a most interesting letter from Alaska.
1t is from Mr.. Jackson's son, r. V.
jackson, who is stationed at Skaguay
and was written Jan. 2. 1898, to his
brother at Waukesha. Wisconsin. The
por 5ions relating to the country are
contained below:
Il have not heard from you for
long time and am beginning to think
you are i'll or have had scrap with
the ''bike" and got wo!sted'
Iexpect to get letter in every
mail saying you are coming up here.
only wish you could; l think it is
the ouly place for young man.
Can't you find some rich son of a gun
who will grub-stake you? | should
like very much to have you go in with
us. l think it would do you good
and from what have seen am conf
dent man stands a better chance
here than anywhere | know that is in
the interior, of course.
do not wish to influence you in
any way but that is just my idea OF
the matter. do not think, however,
there is any business a man could en-
ter into in this town or Dyea, for
from the present standpoint every
line is amply represented and l should
say overdone at the latter point. A
good bunk-house and restaurant at
the lakes or over farther in would pay.
do not say there are not some there
already, for know of several and had
an opportunity to 60 into deal of
that kind myself, but could not.
presume you think we are having
very cold weather here now, and it
may surprise you to know that it was
not colder than 20 below throughout
December. At present it is very mild
and has been for the past ten days,
raining and showing little, but for
the most part pretty good weather.
The coolest we have had was from
the 18th to the 25th of November and
then it went only to 2 below for one
night but there was a strong north
wind that made it seem much colder.
l wish it would snow and get colder
so the winter trail could be made.
OF course it is much colder over
the divides, some say So below, but
there is no wind which makes a big
difference.
There are lots of parties coming
out from the interior now. Every
day or two a party reaches here or
Dyea all report scarcity of food but
no actual suffering. The stores have
nothing to sell and large numbers of
people have gone down the river to
Circle City, where there is plenty of
food.
When the stores had it they sold at
very reasonable prices. Sugar was
IS cents for brown and 80 cents for
white. Candles and oil are scarce
oil selling for $40 gallon and candles
for 81 so to 5000 apiece.
A great many of those coming out
have had dogs and have made the
trip in from 26 to AZ days. The ma
jority of them do not wear any furs
at all and appear to be in excellent
health. All agree, however, that it is
hard trip. Quite a number only
went in and came right out again.
One fact that gives me so much
confidence in the interior of this coun-
try is that nearly all that have come
out are going back again and seem to
be well satisfied. One party told me
it was 60 below at one time but they
did not mind it much as there was no
wind.
There have been no new strikes re-
ported but some think that the great
est amount of gold will be taken out
of the Eldorado district Others
think that the output will be greatly
decreased on account of lack of light
in the mines.
Every indication here at present
points to a rush in the spring that
will exceed that OF last fall.
The boats are running pretty regu-
lar and every one that comes brings
a full load of passengers and freight
even now.
There are no wharves at Dyea yet
and it is said that S. S. companies
will not sell tickets for that point;
none of the boats &c over there any
wav, and the freight they bring for