The record-union., 1898-03-03

.
unhealthy one in those months. The
people get their water from holes in the
river ice, or else melt ice or snow. and
this they will have to do altogether be-
fore long.
The river is frozen over in front of the
town, and yesterday men crossed over
on it,
There have been some exciting scenes
on the river already. One day last week
the river was blocked. then big ice jam
came down from up the river, carrying
along scores of boats, scows and log
RATS, leaving some people stranded on
| the banks and as the mass struck the
blockade everything began to crack and
curl The water began to rise from
/ below and rush over the top, and soon
the Whole mass was a seething caldron
of foam, snow, ice and boats and whirl-
ing logs, while some cakes of ice thirty
or forty feet long and about two feet
thick would rise in air and come down
with a crash like the sound of many
guns. Big boats would be turned over
on end, and logs forty feet long would
be crushed and ground like pipestems.
Then the whole mass went seething and
crashing down the river.
| About midnight another ice jam came
down the river, and with it whole lot
more boats, some of them loaded with
outfits of miners who had managed to
escape from the ice when it broke away.
/ One boat still had party of men
aboard, and the jam stopped in front of
town for about an hour, and the men,
with the assistance of men on shore,
succeeded in landing with their stuff, -
and just hardly got to safety when the
whole thing broke away again and went
whirling off.
| The people talk Of little else but
grub" because it is a serious matter
with hundreds and perhaps thousands
or them who have not enough to last
them through till next summer, when
the steamers are supposed to bring in
supplies Actual want stares many
people in the face already, notwith-
standing there is a great deal of grub to
| be had at fabulous prices. Whole out
! fits can be readily purchased now at 81
| or 81 % per pound right through-four,
/ beans, bacon, rice, dried fruit coffee,
/ tea, canned goods, picks, shovels and
miners tools.
One of the men in this cabin with me
paid S120 yesterday or the day before
for two sacks of flour. Beef, mutton and
venison meat can be had in any guam
tity at 81 to 81 80 per pound, coffee 81
per pound bacon, lard, salt pork, tea,
flour and baking powder all the same.
Quart tins bring 81 80, two-quart tin of
syrup 81, beans 81 per pound, ordinary
cans of corn beef 81, condensed milk the
same any kind of dried fruit 75c per
pound. quart can of tomatoes 30 cents,
two-pound tin of butter So, evaporated
vegetables % cents to 81 per pound, and
sugar 80 to 30 cents per pound.
There are only two large stores in
town, the Alaska Commercial Com
lpanys and the North American Trading
Company, and they control everything
/ in the country. Their warehouses are
full, but they sell nothing. only fill the
orders of miners and mine owners who
placed their orders with the cash along
! in the summer.
Since we have been here they have
sold over their counters some clothing
and only few of the lesser articles of
food except sugar, which they have
! been selling right along at 30 cents per
pound. We bought 16S pounds of brown
and 30 of white sugar.
/ The stores sell nothing now in the way
/ of clothing or footwear, but heavy socks
can be had outside for 81 80 per pair;
! German socks, So heavy wooden under
skirts and drawers, SO per suit; Mack
I NAV pants or shirts, IS 80 to S10 same
kind of coat, S12 to SO; leather coats,
SO. Rubber overshoes or Arctics are
almost impossible to get, and I find. them
the most comfortable to work or travel
in, 81 30 per pair. There are lots of
| leather shoes and boots, but one can't
use them. Rubbers reaching nearly to
the knee are SO, and felt boots Ito wear
inside rubbers), 81 30 to so.
In this fur country everything in the
way of furs or skins is held at fabulous
prices. We are not much concerned in
the fur trade, but l bought a moose robe
for $50 after | saw blankets selling at
that figure (but you can't buy them now
at alb, and recognized the fact that our
blankets were insufficient. / am now
| offered 500 for the robe, but I'll hold it
till / get a better one. The fur cap l
| paid 81 30 for is worth an ounce SID
| here, but have not worn it yet, because
/ my wooden cap with ear-faps is warm
i enough so far Wooden mittens are
worth 50 80 moose hide mitts. lined
with fur and reaching clear to the elbow.
are from 81 80 to SD
/ MCcccsins (moose hide are worth from
SO 10 so. while a kind that reach clear
to the knee, made OF moose hide ormoose
and walrus hide, and sometimes moose,
| cariboo or seal fur on the legs, vary in
price from so to $50. All-fur mittens
for travelling are SO to SO. Wolf and
! lynx fur robes are $50 to $3.50, bear
coats 5000 to $3.50 moose and cariboo
robes 500 to 5000 each. Fur "parkes, y
q loose-ftting sack coat, cost $50 to
J 5000.
/ Picks are IS, shovels Sc, an ak is So,
and other tools in the same ratio Xxi
a tent costs SO, a sheetiron stove and
pipe S35, and few to be had. Rope is
worth 30 to - cents per pound for q or
/ =, candles are 81 80 each and coal oil
$500 can.
! am fixed very comfortably in a good
/ log cabin. with four other men, each
man cooking for himself and we have
I lots of fun over it. Every hour of spare
time has been put into wood-cutting and
hauling on sleds down the mountain to
| be ready for cold" weather (the boys
! just now tell me it was 80 degrees be-
low zero here last night
/ The men have been Shedding their
stuff from town, or hired ii done at l.
/ cents per pound, but have only brought
in what was needed for three or -four