Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1899-09-15

great agricultural country, but 1t GER
tainly will be q great mining country.
Our west. of the states, was opened
up by the immigrant with his prairie
schooner and the railroad soon fol-
Alaska was opened up by
the miner with his Yukon or
flatboat, and the railroad quickly
crossed the mountains and the steam
boat followed the ripple Of the miners
Yukon boat before it disappeared and
today a succession Of trading posts
have been established all along that
great river and it's many tributaries
great rivers in themselves-and the de-
velopment Of Alaska from a mining
standpoint will be swift-as swift as
the coming twentieth century Amer
lean activity can make it.
The Alaska coast Is also wonder
fully rich in minerals, and has an I'M
matched wealth Of massive timber,
which, in view of the rapid consunip-
ton of our vast forests near home,
will be one of the great supplies of
Wealth to the future.
There are many excellent business
opportunities both in Dawson, in the
interior Of Alaska, and along the coast,
but they all require capital, the same
as everywhere, and you know with
capital there are numerous business
openings in our w state, without the
attendant hardships, and l would not
advise any man who is doing we'll
here to make a change.
Wages last winter in the vicinity OF
Dawson We're in general $1.N per
hour, though a great many We're m
ployed at a less figure, and consider
ing the great number Of unemployed
men seeking work along the creeks,
wages were kept up remarkably well.
With the spring thrush OF supplies.
and the falling market, wages also be-
gan to decline, and when l left, the
last of July, contracts were being
made for the coming winter ut 500
per month and board, but on the sup
position that that rate continues, |
would advise the ordinary man to take
$50 90 per month in the states and
board himself.
Yes, the newspaper accounts OF sick
ness and death We're greatly exagger-
ated. There was some considerable
typhoid malaria both this summer and
last, but the cases yielded readily to
treatment, and lhe,death rate was very
small, and while there was much
scurvy in the winter, that is not Il
fatal disease. and what few cases re-
suited in death were Il result OF q
complication with something else. On
the 18th day of May, 1899, by actua,
count, there We're but 226 graves Ii
the six cemeteries in the vicinity OF
Dawson, which included all who hat
died and been buried since the dis
covery of gold. in 1896, and the police
records show less than 26O in all, b.!
deaths and drowning, covering DaW'
son, the tributary creeks, and up thu
Yukon river as far as the Stewar
river. This certainly does not SHOW
a great death rate.
Dawson, you know, might be termed
an American camp under CANADIAN
officials, for Il large majority of tn
great metropolitan rush from all sec
lions of the world to the gold field
!, of the reputed f%abulously rich Klon
! dixie were citizens of the Unite'
i, States. Its growth and daily life wa
. largely a repetition of Lcadville, Ross
! land, Cripple Creek, and other Amer
l lean mining camps, with their attend
I ant saloons and accompanying immol
; ality, but under the well regulate
Canadian police system, there wa
! strict enforcement Of the Sunday law
: and life and property were in gen
! eral as safe as in II W state.
: Seattle is still feeling the effects c
l the Klondike rush, and is the grow
ing city on the Pacific coast, and
D destined to be the great city of til
northwest, controlling not only til
x rapidly growing Alaskan trade, bt
e forging to the front with new lines
steamers as an entering wedge in til
+ Japanese-Chinese Pacific trade. whic
I is destined to revolutionize the T;
u cific coast in the next ten years.
A great many members Of both til
i United States senate and house vi:
tied the west this summer and too
the trip along the southeastern Ala:
kan coast personally Investigating hi
> rapidly progressing towns II wOl
l. derfully rich quartz mining prospec
in which eastern capital is just b
l. ginning to become Interested. The
have talked with her citizens, an
made themselves familiar with SON
of her present needs from Observable
on the spot and l do not think -Alasl
,e will, from this III, lack friends
l. Washington and warm champion
against even arbitration rs to tt
boundary line for there is no disput
e nothing but a shallow claim witho1
IL the first jot of a title Oh the part
10 our Canadian cousin.
III