The islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1891-1899, 1898-01-06
A YUKON OUTFIT
WHAT THE GOLD HUNTER
SHOULD TAKE.
Sound Advice for Those Who Contem-
plate Seeking Their Fortunes in the
New Gold Fields Of Alaska and the
Northwest Territory.

plate Seeking Their Fortunes In the
Northwest Territory.
Special Correspondence
The most practical and vital question
to be decided by the man who intends
to go to the Yukon next year is the
composition and quantity of his outfit.
What should he take and how much of
it. This is far more important ques-
ton than that of the route he shall Sc
lect, since by any regular route he
would probably reach his destination,
while should he not have a proper out
fit, he would be likely to find his labor
to have been all in vain, with failure
and possible starvation staring him In
the face.
Whatever a man would require to
eat, to wear or to work with he should
take with him. To 60 into that coun-
try depending upon being able to pur-
chase any of the necessaries of LIE or
successful work is to run the risk OF
utter failure and calamity. Again and
again was this asserted by experienced
Yukoners when the excitement broke
out in July. Publicly through the
press and privately on all occasions
they advised gold seekers to take with
them a complete equipment for IL
months, certainly not less than year,
and to place no dependence whatever
upon being able to purchase what they
might need from trading posts. This
advice was BASED upon the well-known
conditions of work and transportation
in that region. The miner might be
located several hundred miles by trail
impassable in winter from the nearest
trading post, while the post itself, even
if accessible, might fail to secure
stock of goods.
The soundness of this advice has
been amply demonstrated the present
season. Hundreds who did not give it
sufficient weight, have rushed into
Dawson City with not enough food to
last them through the winter, only to
find't that not pound of food is to be
purchased there, and that they are but
adding to the distress of those already
threatened with starvation. They
have not done this in ignorance, but in
defiance of the advice of men Of expert
ence. The golden mirage of their i'm
aginations has blinded them to the
practical, and they have rushed head
long to needless hardships, if not de-
struction. Yet the majority of them
took this advice seriously at first, and
equipped themselves we'll for the jour-
ney. Very few, indeed. of those who
have reached Dawson with almost moth
ing for their support this winter, land
ed at Dyea or Skagway with less than
thousand pounds of supplies each.
The secret of their present shortness is
the difficulties of the trail and their in
tense eagerness to reach their destina-
ton. They have disposed of or aban-
doned the bulk of their outfits, trusting
to luck, or the deity supposed to have
fools in his special charge, to get
through the winter somehow. They
would have done better to have camped
at the lakes till spring, than to have
gone on to Dawson short of supplies.
They would have done still better, when
they found they could not get through
this fall in good shape, to have returned
to the coast and waited until spring for
another attempt fully equipped. Those
who followed this course are infnetly
better off than those who sacrificed
everything to their insane eagerness to
get through, and are now at Dawson
with nothing to do and threatened with
being overwhelmed by a calamity of
their own creation.
The value of the advice given to those
who started last fall has been. demon
strated by their experiences. The same
advice is as valuable to those who will
go in the spring. Take everything
with you that you anticipate to need
for year for any purpose, and do not
depend upon being able to buy anything
whatever. 1t is folly to take for grant
ed that there will be so many new
steamers on the river next year that the
country will be amply supplied with
food and other necessaries. Assuming
that transportation facilities will be in
creased ten times, this will be offset
by the undoubted fact that more than
ten times as many persons will 60 in as
are there now, and that the added trans
portation facilities will be used to carry
them and their outfits. To the thou
sands who are already there and must
depend entirely upon supplies brought
in for sale, must be added the other
thousands who will not heed the voice
of prudence and will rush in lightly
equipped, depending upon purchasing
what they need for the winter. 1t is
extremely doubtful whether enough
goods for sale can be taken in next
summer to supply this demand. In
deed, in view of the experiences of this
year, it is almost certain that they can
not.
Even if it were not for this uncer-
tainty, the conditions of successful work
there require that the miner take in a
full equipment and have it with him
wherever he goes. The Yukon gold
fields cover great area of country,
while the trading posts are few and at
present only along the Yukon river.
Other posts will doubtless be estab-
lished next year. near such new dis
tricts as may become populous, yet even
these will be only at points accessible
to steamers. Those going to the gold
fields must not expect to find claims
near the present centers of population.
They will be compelled to prospect dis
tant streams and gulches, and if sue
cessful, they may locate several hun