Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1898-06-20

NAV be of interest to our readers:
DUTCH HARBoR, UNALAsKA,
NAY 18th, 1898.
DEAR MONITOR:
In the mid>t Of far distant scenes
the thoughts Of the Wanderer turn IN :
stinctively homeward, and the friends
that we know in the old Green Noun
tain State and the home town. 1t
NAV be of interest, Mr.. Editor, to
some of your many readers to learn
orce more of the Vermont KIondike
Expedition, and to hear of, maybe,
from time to time, of it's fortunes and
experiences, as we'll as some of the
conditions of interior Alaska.
No doubt there are some at home
who will be ready to visit Alaska when
! they are sure a gold mine awaits them
as result Of their toll. To all such
lovers of the yellow metal let me say
keep in as close touch as possible
with us, we can tell you something at
| the end of a year Well, the Vermont
Klondike Expedition still exists, but
on account of dissentions within and
war without, its condition may we'll
be Iikened to the wonderful zone boss
shay" Suffice it to say, that whereas
several expeditions have come to
complete grief, thanks to the indom-
liable spirit of its manager, MIR. Rowe,
our organization is accomplishing its
chief purpose. We were spoken of
by the Seattle Post Intelligencer as one
of the largest and best equipped par
ties starting for the Klondike. Right
across the harbor from us at Seattle
lay the Columbia Navigation steamer
City of Columbia, having Mrs. Gould's
forty widows aboard her. Since their
misfortune in the Straits of Magellan,
their financial situation has revealed
itself as insolvent to the extent of
$4,000. What they will be able to do
with their passengers remains prob
lem. When war was declared, our
company made satisfactory settle
ment with any wishing to return
home. The remainder, sixty three in
number, by unanimous consent start
Valley an Great Northern r. r., in
two special tourist cars. So many
take the trip across the continent that
ours need not be described at length.
Mention, however, may we'll be made
of Lehigh Valley about Mauch Chunck
and of the mountain and coal regions
beyond The Great Northern, in com
mon with all the other overland
routes, possesses its interminable sue
cession of vast cultivated fields, graz
ing lands. plains of sagebrush, etc.
Of more particular interest on our
route were the vast coulees as we ap-
proach the Columbia river-immense
gorges in the sandy clay, spanned by
trestles two hundred feet in height
and running back from the river for
many miles, where tremendous
chasms exist, fifteen hundred feet in
depth. 1t is supposed that before
what is now the Columbia river, tore
it's present passage through Da Dalles
to the sea, the immense table lands ia
the distance were inland seas and in
their drainage these coulees had their
formation. Still again comes the
Cascade range, with the switchback.
Our special train Of three cars is to ken
by two engines zigzag to the summit
of the snowclad mountains, forty
five hundred feet, and again to the
valley on the Pacific slope. And now
we are for three days in Seattle, and
at a. M, Wednesday, May 4, our
staunch little steamer City of Brixam,
with full carg Of freight, 40 pas
sengers, and the Yukon river boat,
Gov. Pingree in tow, swings from her
wharf, farewells are spoken and we
are fairly away upon our three thous-
and mile ocean voyage to the far
away mouth of the Yukon in Behring
sea. What fields shall we encounter?
What icy obstacles? Or in what con-
dition shall we find those who have
spent the winter on the river, are all
momentous questions; for ours is the
first steamer to clear for the mouth of
the Yukon this spring. Our course is
first, up the coast in the direction of
Dyea until nearly opposite Fort Wran-
gel, thence out through Dixon's En-
| trance and straight out over the Pa
cific ocean to Dutch Harbor, Unalas-
ka, and from there to New Boston in
Hooper's Bay. This is the present
headquarters of the Boston and Alas
ka transportation Co.. near the en-
trance to the Yukon river. Here we
are to establish our camp and get in
readiness our supplies and river boats