The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-02-24
Truth About Alaska.

|
gion much information that is con-
servative-in fact many books nave
been written in recent months ABOUT
the Klondike, the important informa-
ton contained in them being almost
exclusively a direct appropriation OF
facts furnished by this reporter. lie
took "A good look at the Klondike re-
gion: he is one of the three men chosen
by the miners to go to Ottawa and pre-
sent their views respecting needed leg
islation.
For a recent edition of the Examiner
that of last Monday-Mr Livernash
prepared a very instructive summary
of the Alaskan situation. After many
columns of descriptive matter, this
article treats of scores of SUBJECTS IN
the form of question and answer-Mr
Livenash thus presents phases OF the
subject in a breezy way. For instance,
he has frequently been asked whether
a. man ought to have a dog-team to
sled his outfit to the lakes. HIS answer
is. Yes, if he cannot afford to nave
dog-team, he is too poor to stand much
chance of success in the gold-flelds.
Here are a few out of many OF
the questions and answers in the article
mentioned:
O. If Won wished to go to the klondike
| this Year. carrying a small outnt Win
! YOU, what would YOU do?
A. | should hurry my outfit to Skaguay
| or Dyea. sled it to the foot of Lake La
Barge as speedily as possible, ana, Whlle
! the ice is solid, there build barge. Then,
| seated amidst my goods and chattels,
| should float down to the gold fields as
soon as the heaviest of the ice had started
for Boring sea.
/ @. Is ii easy to Kill moose ana carlpou
near Dawson?
| A. Yes, If you happen to get near
enough and your aim is good. 1t should be
! explained, however that to gel near
enough In winter ordinarily takes a Tort
night of the hardest kind of tramping on
snow shoes throughout a wilderness, and
that when the game goes to earth the
problem of getting il to Dawson is worse
than the fourteen-fifteen puzzle. In sum-
mer hunting is about as diif1cult as III
winter Moose and caribou are not abun-
dant near the Yukon.
| @. What is the population OF DAWSON!
| A. Less than 1000.
| o. What is the appearance of Dawson?
A. Unovely. In summer about 800 more
or less picturesque log cabins swelteflhg
in a bog spread between a precipltous,
wooded mountain and a broad, sullen nv
err; in winter, the same cabins, more pic
turesouc. shivering amidst depth of Is
inches of snow and trying to be cheerful
, between n grim white mountain and a
broad river of tumbled ice backed by a
gloomy steep.
Q. What wages are paid in the klondike
, plaeers?
A. Last summer 81 80 an hour was paid
hut not many men could get employment
During this winter 81 an hour is the rui-
ing rate, and laborers work six hours d
/ day The workmen have to board and
clothe themselves. There are more labor
ers than the claim owners wish to EN-
ploy.
O. Have any of the recently organized
Transportation companies had any navi
gators studying the lower Yukon?
A. Not on the lower Yukon. unless they
are studying in log cabins, well inland
S and keeping very still about II.
= @. Is the steam snow sled adapted l,
. the Yukon?
A. Yes if ii can climb a tree.
Q. How much can horse pack
|. present over the Skaguay trail?
. A. Packers find 200 pounds an average
load
O. How long does 1t take n train o
loaded horses to travel from Skaguay t
: the head of Lake Bennett?
y A. Two or three days.
@ What are packers charging for NOV
ing freight from ohaEuaS TO inc hedo .
:. Lake Bennett and from Dyea to the sam
h point?
l. A. Forty cents n pound, with stron
: yearning to raise the rate as rapid
: as the pressure of business may enabl
9, them TO do 1t.
lie O. Could Il man make a bicycle tri
:. up the Yukon while the Ice is solid?
A Yes. If he GOULD hire somebody I
. pack his wheel
1t .. Is il possible to transport an outf
e. TO Dawson over the ice2
:. A. Not unless YOU can hire good, II
. liable flying machine.
II .. How much Iood should man tai
lie with him who starts for Dawson?
is A. Every pound ne can afford To handl
, and certainly enough to give him at leai
= Loco pounds of food. dry weight. al IL
n end of his journey Two thousand pound
ID would be safer.
20 Q. If a man eannot AFFORD to tai
enough food for 4 year what then?
A He should stay nj home Suicit
~ comes cheaper in the low ATTITUDES tha
tn i'm the frigid north and funerals don
l. cost so much. Consider: IL takes Wet
- TO dig grave nj Dawson, ana crepe sci
y for So yard.
y Here is a paragraph from Mr.. Live
- nash's summary in which his ma tn
az Judgment. after months spent in loo
~ ing over the field is summed up:
- More than two-thirds OF the men W
m went to the klondike last year will
C. poorer at the end Of their first year tia
i, they were at the beginning. y great maj
are penniless already. Not 10 per cent
~ the newcomers are succeeding at a
Sc. Many who planned TO get hold Of a elai
ne aud work il for their own benefit a
-, toiling like a galley slave for others, a
=" vii NOT al the close Of the season he
OF well fxed' as when they reached pa
Ia. son: and as TO the men who are work.
an untried claims, II should be consider
- that between now and summer many
III miner who has claim will have eat
he ne provisions he took with him to I
de i>londike and expended al ths money
mt could lay hands on, and that IN very Il