The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1898-09-24
ST PAUL AND MINNEAPOLIS

yuo'Stns, anu oarules not WIN 1ellow
! auman beings, but with nature, for a
living. They wondered If, after all, they
would like the outside. No doubt they
| Will II the example of Matlock counts for
anything. Matlock hadn't been out of the
| country for sixteen years. He said he
knew that he wouldn't like civilization.
Ind 1t was with the greatest difficulty
that his friends persuaded him to 20 out
SIDE last year. But no sooner had Mat
ock reached Seattle than he found he
| liked it so we'll that he hired a. cab and
RODE IN 1t for three days with his feet
| sticking out of the window, He came
oacK TO the klondike this spring determined
| 10 sell out his properties, which were
vaiuaoie, and said: Boys, damned if +
aon't like the outside! You can call me
white-livered If you want to-, but I'm
going outside to live forever"
Inc majority of the passengers were in
the Yukon valley before the great strike
was made. A few had come @up into the
country only this summer, and, having
their fare haTrying home fro to pay }1s
country in disgust. Not over half of the
passengers would have over $500 clear
after~~ they reached Seattle. Probably
thirty were worth $4,000 and about ten
were worth $50, 900. Two partners on Ell
dorado had $4,000 apiece. A bow under
/
| nine months was going back to well-to-do
| parents with $50, OOO and he was the child
VINO had found the treasure in the rain
| bows end.
II don't suppose that what I've made
would be much in New York" he said
but I'm going back this summer to make
a lot more $780,,
TO offset the bright picture of those who
are going home to pay off the mortgage
on the old folks farm or to entertain
| themselves and their relatives with such
Other pleasures as they never had before
were the sick who came hobbling down
the gang plank from the hospital on their
crutches. We buried four of these-three
on the river and one at sea. One was a.
woman, 1ow-caste German, the mother
OF the first baby in Dawson. She had a.
complication of diseases. including dropsv
and scurvy. A young woman who was a
singer in music hall in Dawson 11ursed
her tenderly Two squaws, educated at
the mission, who had become the mis-
tresses of white men, took care of the
baby until we reached st. Michael where
1t was left to await the expected coming
Of it's father. One of the dead men was
Mason and young man who had many
friends We wanted to leave his BODY
to be buried by the Indians, which meant
that it wouldn't be buried at all. The
Masons on board wouldn't listen to this,
and with their own hands succeeded in
making hole to the depth of four feet in
the frozen ground, and the corpse was
then inferred according to the Masonic
ritual. Over the grave was placed plain
board with the name and age Of the pill
grim who slept underneath it. tf@
While the carpenter was making collins
q. stiff Soker game was going on at his
'- -=rith O e~oosv raaoE at 40 -~>7.-
greasy table between piles of wood and
piles Of doing Indians. One bet of
$500 was made on a pair of twos on
~ FOO nr~ ND 4.
band Of our music hall artistic went broke
He borrowed enough to go on with from
one Of the Eldorado kings with the un-
derstanding that the Eldorado king was
to have his wife if he didn't pay within
a certain tirne. .-..- :" '.. s..- D.
81 AS to the, Opportunities m the Klondike,
they depend upon the glass through
which you see them. The boy who had
O,OOO thought it was the most wonderful
place in the world in which to make
money; but the disappointed gold seek
ers who chewed tobacco and didn't take
the trouble to expectorate over the rail
damned the country right and left, They
said that there was only one Eldorado;
that there would never be another Eldor-
ado, and If you hadn't been on hand to
stake claim on this Eldorado you were
just as much tout of it, as if you sought
gold at the north pole. They didn't think
that any of the successful ones on board
had more than half of what they really
had. When we reached St. Michael and
met the pilgrims who were coming in
by the all-water route, those who had
had the baptism Of Yukon tardships en-
Joyed themselves. Every mothers son
of them gathered groups Of "cheechaw-
kos about him and told them to buy
return tickets If they would come back,
and the longer their faces grew the
gloon1ier he made the prospect. On the
ocean steamer the initiated found a. nros-
nRCtnS
and Transportation company The CAV
pamphlet said that one had only to reach
the klondike to pick nuggets out of the
moss, and that some great thinker, name
unmentioned, had estimated that the Yu-
kon. valley would increase the wealth of
the world by $4,000, OOO,O in virgin gold.
law Gawd!" said the initiated, "that's
what them poor cheechawkos have been
reading,' as If rolling luscious morsel
on their tongues One read line of the
pamphlet and the others would make
drawing sarcastic comments on it.
If we had had something to eat we
might have appreciated the scenery of
that wonderful river, so little known,
which discharges a third more water
than the Mississippi. With fine beef
steak in the stomach we could have
gone into raptures over the mountains
of the upper river, the midnight sun
which we saw on the Yukon flats and
the channel winding in among the thou
sands Of islands in the lower river
AS 1t was, we were anxious as to what
tricks the Indian pilot would play on u.s.
The companies must have some reason
for employing Indian pilots They say
that the Indians know the channel but
that cannot be the real reason, because
the Indians always run the steamers on
sandbars where there Is no excuse for it.
In the Yukon flats the river tries to
spread out over all creation, and pretty
well succeeds. The channel is constantly
changing, and is often not more than
three or four feet Deep A white man
with a good glass can tell, as a rule by
the appearance of the water where the
channel is. The Indian has a weakness
for looking at the sky to ascertain this.
| AS we had no cargo and our, draught
was light we went on finely tWo-thirds
! OF the distance through the fats: Then
we came to an island which had good
channel on either side of it. The captain
asked the pilot which channel to take, and
| the Indian said the one to the right. The
| captain turned the wheel accordingly
| Just as we had reached the point of the
Island the Indian saw something In the
! sky which made him change his mind.
lie leapt to the wheel and turned it in the
opposite direction with all his might.
| you fool You've done it now!" said
| the captain. The steamer hadn't enough
| Roadway to make the change, and the
! current bore us fairly on to the bar Of the
| Island. There we remained for day and
| a half, until the first mate got us off. The
nrst mate was marvellous man, with a
! marvellous command of oaths and he
could make the Indians work