The San Francisco call., 1898-04-15
The LucerO Is to Be Got Ready for the Yacht
 ing Season.
A Fleet of Steamers and SailinQ Vessels Coming Here
 With Miners.
The Rush to KlOpdike Falling of and That to KOtzebue Only
 Just Beginning.

The gasoline yacht Lucero is to go into commission again and this season she will be seen almost constantly on the waters of the bay and along the coast. Of all the many pleasure craft that have been built for wealthy San Franciscans the 1ucero is the one that has done least for her owners enjoyment. It is not the fault of the launch, however, as faster or better vessel of her class does not float. She is a splendid sea boat and can make her fourteen knots with the best of them when called upon. Charles l.. Fair, her owner. is not very fond of the sea, but Colonel George A. Knight Mir. Fairs at torney. is, and when the Lucero goes into commission she will fly MT. Knights flag.
 The Lucero was built three years ago and in that time Mr Fair has not had her in commission three months. She made two or three trips to Santa Cruz and Monterey, but on each occasion the crew took the vessel down and MT Fair and his wife went overland and joined her there. Her hull was built at Puget Sound and her engines by the Union Gas Engine Company here. Without the knowledge of the engineers a larger wheel than the one sent up was put on and in conse- quence her trial trip was not a success The wheel that was originally made for
 
 to perfection.
 An engineer was sent from San Fran cisco to bring her down, but he got so very seasick that he could not attend to his work, and in consequence the engine bearings got hot and melted away all the babbitt metal. The Lucero was taken into Astoria, where the damage was re- paired and an engineer who was not sub ject to mal-de-mer brought her here in
 
 vessel, or rather has four engines, each of which can be worked independently or all together. Ever since those mis- haps everything has gone like clockwork, and Colonel Knights friends are figuring on some very pleasant excursions this season.
 The Lucero is at present in Oakland Creek, but she is now being overbauled and will shortly go over to .5auaa Atn. Mir. Knights launch Athlete is now fc- ce1Ying an overhauling in Oakland Creek and she will be used as a tender to the Lucero as soon as the latter goes into commission.
 Nearly thirty vessels are on their way from the East for the gold fields, and of that number twenty are coming, first of all, to San Francisco. The brig Harriett G is now out 14l days from New York; and was last heard from on December B in latitude g north, longitude 2S west. The bark Agate is out 5S days and the schoon- CT Actaea 4 days from New York. The steamer City of Columbia, out 1l9 days from New York, has met with several mishapS during her voyage and only left Valparaiso on the 4th inst.
 ,,i r rom Baltimore the steamers Elihu Thompson is out 60 days, the Roanoke A days and the Leelenan 43 days, while from Boston the schooners StoWell Sher- man is out 143 days, Abbie F. Morris III days, Julia E. Whalen 120 days Rue l.. Richardson 64 days and Mildred E 36 days. The Sherman left Santos, Brazil, on Feb ruary 4, the Morris left Bermuda on De- cember 20 and the Whalen was at Monte video on January 3l.
 The schooner Frank A. Rackliffe is no days out from Gloucester, Mass; the steamer rofessor Morse 37 days from New Orleans; the schooner Concord I25 days from Portsmouth, N. H.; and the schooner Thomas F. Bayard S3 days steamers Ohio 3S days, Lauranda 26 davs and Pennsylvania days from Philadel- phia- Of these, t-le only one spoken is the Concord, and she was at Montevideo on January 28 last. Nearly all of them have parties of goId hunters aboard. and all of them will outfit here.
 W nile the rush to the Klondike is wan ing, that 10 Kotzebue Sound is gaining strength daily. The steamer AustraIia has been withdrawn from the Dvea- Skaguay route, and the Queen and Vic torian are soon to follow suit. The tram ways over the Chilkoot and White passes are almost idle as there is little or no freight to handle On the other hand some of the wealthiest mining men in CaIIOrnla are going to kOtzebue Yes teIuay '. U, Lane, one of the owners of the Guca mine at Angels Camp, and his son, Louis Lane, and :. H. Rowland took passage on the Jane A. Halkinburg They VIII take some miners along with them. ana are in hopes of reaching the mother Iode which supplies both the Yukon and hubuck with their golden sands. Captain King of the famous Apollo mine on ITnga 4SIanu IS also going to KotZebue, and he VIII take a party of four men. A party of wealthy Oaklanders, all of whom made their fortunes in placer mines, have taken passage in the Catherine Sudden They say they are going north more for inc hunting than anything else, but the chances are that each and all of them Will be at work on the bank of some creek as soon as their destination is reached.
 The steamers of the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company will moi docir at Spear-street wharf again until that structure has been repaired. The Oregon street wharf, and the other steamers of the fleet WQl also -ock there for the pres ent.
 The ferr,Lboat sausaIito's steering gear broke down on the p. m. trip yesterday. and the steamer was fifteen minutes Iafe in reac.-ing her slip. The repairs were soon made, and the Sausalito went out on schedule time.
 The launch Yale, which came ont from New York on the deck of the steamer Morgan City, sank at her moorings in the Folsom-street slip yesterday. All her seams had been opened by The snn and when she was put in the water she began 10 leak No aLlcntion was paid to that fact, and the Yale went down in conse- quence. She was raised by means of a derrick, and the steamer Alert pumped her out She will be taken to Belvedere and put on the ways to-day.
 The Pacific Mail Company has put the steamer Aztec on the run to HongKong, and she. will go out with almost a fuli cargo or flour Captain Trask, formerly of the City of Pcking, will take out ,1e Aztec, and Captain Feeder, formerly of the Aztec, will take out the City of Para, vice Captain Brown, who is sick
 Thayer and Merom all got away for the canneries yesterday. The Thayer took her crew in the stream, but the others went away from the wharf and had no troupe With either the union or the men.