The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-09-09
KLONDIKE HUMBUG.
Tricks of Transportation Companies
Exposed by a Traveller.

birmingham (Mich.) Letter in Detroit Trib-
une.
Henry G. Hooper, of this place, returned
from Dawson City yesterday. He left lie
Roy, n. Y, with three others, for the Klon-
dixie, March Is. Mr. Hooper is a we'll
built young blacksmith and is greatly
eiated to think he got back alive.
You can't Islander the -I<londike coun-
try said Mr.. Hooper to the Tribune. 1--WE
were three hours behind the snowslide of
April 2. 1 helped to dig out forty-four dead.
In packing up the summit a can of hot
coffee sheltered under my coat froze solid
in an hour. All the way to Lake Bennett
we met parties carrying back dead COM
rades. At Lake Bennett prospectors who
were building boats were dying off like
sheep with scurvy spinal meningitis and
dysentery. At different times when camped
at Lake Bennett 1 rode down the White
Horse rapids twelve times with Rudolph
Swiber, owner of pilot boat He was at
this plotting last year 1t was no trick for
him to shoot the rapids. Canadian authori-
ties got after him for a $50 license and
Swiber jumped the job. / went with him to
Dawson City. We prospected all the way
on Big Salmon, Little Salmon, Henderson.
Reindeer and Indian rivers and Swedish
we see anyone who had found any. One
party we met had been digging holes or
Indian river Tor over q year. were dead
broke, no provisions and had not found one
nugget.
THE trail and river are strewn with dead
horses, mules and dogs. / carried spring
water a couple of miles because / could not
stomach the river water befouled with the
remains of man and beast.
Everybody is selfish in that country.
Each one elbows his way regardless of what
becomes of the others. The only miners who
have made strikes there are men who have
married squaws The squaws they married
owned the mines that were found years agO
by the Indians Now and then some fellow
who didn't marry a squaW was lucky
CROUCH to hit the same lead and get some
thing
God help the people in Dawson City. 1t
smells to the heavens with human offaI and
reeks with filth. The hospital is crowded
and they are building another one. 1t costs
81 day TO lay up in the hospital. About an
Dawson City.
IF the government doesn't help those peo-
pie they will all be dead inside of year.
There are six sawmills, each employing
about ten men. There are 1000 applicants
for every job. met men in Dawson City
that / had seen six weeks before, when they
were great, stout fellows; now they were
thin discouraged and with tears rolling
down their cheeks. When ] asked them
what was the trouble the invariable answer
was;
any,
Il went to the Klondike with s7OO and
came back with very few l never dug
bit of gold, and the few nuggets that l
brought home bought, along with my ex-
perience
1T is virtually suicide to go to the Klon-
dixie Not one out of one thousand will get
are: First, the transportation companies;
next, the government. "a ten-dollar miners
license and a royalty Of 20 per cent?; and.
lastly, the hospital. / left Dawson City
July 16 There was an Indignation meeting
called for that night TO do away with the
official robbery .practiced by Canadian Off
Gals. The officials got wind of it and left
the city, but fresh lot have taken their
places.
"A miners license allows him to hunt and
fish A fellow who did not have a license
shot a moose and a calf. which he sold in
Dawson City for $3.50. The authorities go
pulled, his pockets Searched to find if he
could pay fine, and over $500 was found
on him. The fine was made to fit the. pile,
and he was also set up for three months.
Everybody that strikes Dawson City
with money enough to take him back again
to the coast will get there as soon as pos
sible. There are lots of women in Dawson
City Respectable women are treated with
great politeness but the other females are
a tough lot. was taken sick with jaundce.
j came back to the coast by way of st.
MichaePs 81 900 miles in a row,boat, then
about eighty Of us held up the steam
dredge Lowell Youngs and forced them TO
carry us TO the coast at rate of SIS
head and board ourselves.
You see the steam dredge was built to
find gold in the river 1t didn't find any
more than We did, so 1t started freighting
to keep up expenses, They had no license
to carry, passengers, aid were greatly tick
led to have us bully them into carrying
us at a good fare. This cleared them from
seizure.
ION the steamer Larado the purser came
into the cabin and said:
We want to make good showing in
the papers at Seattle. Now. ] have got in
my charge about two hundred pounds of
gold dust want to put you fellows down,
each one for a good round sum. 1t won't do
any harm, and will help us
Then he asked a forlorn, ragged fellow
If he would put him down for $4,000. The
ragged man smiled in a chastity way and
said yes. The next went down on the list
for $1,000, ard so on. When they came to
me | was mad.
1T was just such rascals as you.' said I.
hot clear through that brought me out to
this earthly hell. / won't help with this trap
to get poor fellows to patronize your steam
boats.
We'll, when we landed at Seattle the
RADIO landing with $50 rich miners return
ing from the gold fields with over a mil
lion in gold nuggets and gold dust.
Il never heard that the war was over I'M
purser published his big yarn he did not
know about the miner and his squaw wife
having the $50 pounds of gold dust.
MY advice to anyone thinking about go
ing to the Klondike is to jump in the sea,
smoke in powder house, go a ballooning
or raise a Spanish flag on American soil-in
fact any manner of violent taking off is pre-
ferable to the lingering suffering and mad.
ness of a trip to that hell on earth, the
KlOndike.
II want it published in the Tribune. be-
cause it's true" continued Mr.. Hooper. "I'll
back every word of it. It's a id shame
to fool poor fellows into losing their lives
and means in order to enrich a few trans
portauon companies. I'll make an affidavit,