Mexico weekly ledger., 1898-10-06
LAKENAN'S LETTER,
Correct News Of the Klondyke Country
Hay Is Worth Money.
To Mr.. Joseph Lakenan. MEXICO. Mo,

W
letters, n from you dated June 18th
and n from Liza dated June 4th.
These are the only letters I have re-
ceived since leaving Bennett and I
need not add than they gave great
pleasure. 1 hope you got the letters I
sent you soon after arriving here. i
have put Off writing in the hope of
having a location to report, but have
not set nay stake as yet, for when /
investigated the situation here 1 found
1t to be a killing and almost hopeless
task for q mar to start out and find an
undiscovered claim, as 1t is almost
impossible for him to carry provisions
enough to last him outside the staked
territory and return. Therefore,
rather than 60 out all summer with 80
many chances against my finding any
thing and returning In the fall with
little money and no preparation for
winter, l decided to remain here and
try to make some SURF money and
take chances on getting a mine some
other way. I am onto a scheme now
by which 1 hope to make q location
September LIST.
There are q number of claims near
here and some of them are on good
creeks that have not been represented
according to law ard will be thrown
open for relocation on Sept. LIST.
Many Of these claims, no doubt, are
worthless, but 1t Is the best chance 1
know of at present.
Now ] viii tell you about some of
my doings here In the past two months.
Harry Harper, of Phoenix, Ariz., is
one of the boys that 1 have been with
since leaving San Francisco. He and
l are equal partners in our trans
actions here. Nels Anderson, of our
party, got sick of the country and has
gone back to California.
We started here by preparing one
third acre of ground for seeding. We
did this with apiek. We planted some
lettuce, radishes, spInac, carrots and
turnips. We have had some radishes
and green's to use and the turnips look
fairly well, but the esson was rather
dry for them. We next built q little
cabin about ten feet square inside,
well chinked with moss. The lumber
in our boat made a good floor, door,
etc. AS soon as the cabin was COM
pleted we started out to find q good
location for chopping wood, which we
thought was about the best thing in
sight, as wood is worth from S25 to $40
per cord. But instead of the wood we
expected to find, we discovered q
patch of red-top hay growing in a
nook on the steep mountain side. We
came back to town and got q permit
to cut the hay and moved camp over
there, which is directly across the
Yukon river from here and about two
miles distant. We cut some with q
reaping hook, but used the scythe
principally. You may think me crazy
when 1 tell you that we paid a man $50
per ton to put up some of the hay, but
at the same time we were delivering
and selling it here for $3.50 a ton or
22k cents per pound. The price soon
went down to $500 per ton and we
quit selling. We got altogether about
AZ tons and sold one ton. We tied 1t
up in bundles weighing from so to 80
pounds and packed it down the hill
through the timber more than q mile
to the river, where we put 1t in a row
boat and landed it in town. A man
and team are worth $40 per hour here
and they a afford to pay for hay.
Joe, do not advise any of your
friends to come here or enemies either,
unless you have a special grudge
against them, but IL there are any who
can't be contented without taking the
trip and who hate themselves hard
enough, let them come. If you could
see the Thousands that I see every
day who are unable to get q days
work and who can see nothing else to
do you would think the same way
about it. They are just as anxious to
get out of here as they were to get
here in the spring and are leaving on
every steamboat, in small boats and
in every way possible almost as fast
as they came. never saw so many
disguised, homesick men in all my life
before. I do not mean they are all
that way, for some are making for
tunes and many are doing well, but 1
think 1t is safe to say that one-third
of the 10000 people In and around
Dawson are in very poor circum-
stances and wish they had not started
on this trip. AS for myself, I am glad
I came and feel that I can do better
than I could have done in Colorado,
but time alone can tell. I am glad
you saw Fred Groom and liked him.
He is q first rate fellow.
Do not send me papers In wrappers
for nc mail in that form is delivered
here, but if you should send any seal
them up just like a letter. The river
Is so low the boats are having q hard
time getting up here, although many
large boats belonging to the big COM
panies here have come up and some
have made two trips, but they have
good pilots and r provided with
wood along the route. I am q little
afraid that your Missouri Alaska boat
Is either having trouble about getting
dry wood or is stuck on q sand bar
below here, as it has not
arrived yet. 1t may make 1t all right,
however, as boats are arriving every
day. Provisions are plentiful and are
reasonable.
Should We sell hay for q good
price this winter and can get enough
money together to justify the trip,
Harvey and l think something Of
going out to the coast, possibly to
Seattle, in February, q by that time
we a tell In what goods there is q
shortage, and would propose to be the
arst boat in here next spring, but 1t IL
hard to tell what We Will do, as we are
open for almost any kind of engage
nents.
I should have heard from Thede be-
lore this, as I feel sure Mary and Ed
win have written II he didn't. IL
brought Q shot gun and six-shooter
me, bat have not used either one
speak Of. Salmon have been quite
.lArsfr1 hAAA h- L----At