The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1899-09-05

of lakes at the head of the mighty Yu-
kon. From Lake Bennett to the famous
White Horse rapids, only one hundred
miles, you have the choice of several
swift and c%ommodious lake and river
boats. AT White Horse freight and
baggage is transferred by a tramway to
the regular Yukon river steamers, on
which you will find well furnished
stateroOms and good meals, for the $50
miles across Lake LaBarge, down the
rapid and rocky Thirty Mile river and
the great and mighty Yukon TO Daw-
son. 1t is now, either in or out, simply
a pleasure trip, and next year will see
this magnificent trip n of the regular
tourist lines Of travel. OF course, 1.-THE
traveller prefers, he can continue on
down the river 1900 miles tOSt. Michael
and then enjoy twelve days on the Pa
ciic to Seattle, but the Alaskan coast
and the upper Yukon will be the popu-.
lar scenic route.
do not think Alaska will be q great
Agricultural country, but it certainly
will be a great mining country. Our
west of the states was opened up by
the immigrant with his prairie schooner
and the RAILROAD soon followed. Alas
ka was opened up by the miner with
his Yukon scow OF tlatboat, and the
railroad quickly crossed the mountains
and the steamship followed the ripple
of the miners Yukon boat before it dis
appeared and to-day a succession Of
trading posts have been established all
along that great river and its .tribut-
aries great rivers in themselves and
the developement of Alaska from a
mining standpoint will be swift, as
swift as the coming Goth century Amer.
lean activity can make it.
The Alaskan coast is also wonder
fully rich in minerals and has an un-
matched wealth Of massive timber,
which, in view of the rapid consump-
ton of our vast forests neal home, will
be n of the greatest supplies of wealth
to the future. auos
There are many excellent businesss
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 your own state without the
attending hardships and L would not
advise any man, who is doing we'll, to
make a change. ii
Wages last winter in the vicinity Of
Dawson were in general $l.lO per hour,
though a great many were employed at
aless figure, and considering the great
number of unemployed men seeking
work along the creeks, wages were
kept up remarkable we'll. With the
spring thrush Of. supplies and the falling
market wages also began to decline and
when I left, the last Of July, contracts
were being made for the coming winter
at n hundred dollars per month and
board, but OF the supposition that that
rate continues, | would advise the
o ordinary man to take fifty dollarsiperI
e month in the states and even board
himself.
. Yes, the newspaper accounts of sick
= ness and death were greatly exagger-
= ated. There was some considerable
= typhoid malaria, both this summer and
: last, but-the cases yielded readily to
. treatment and the death rate was very
small, and while there was much scurvy
: in the winter, that is not a fatal dis
: ease, and what few cases resulted; in
. death were a result of a complication
= with something else. On the 18th day
of May. 1899, by actual count, there
I were but 226 graves in the six ceme-
y teries in the vicinity OF Dawson, which
= included all who had died and been
buried since the discovery of gold in.
1896, and the police records show less
? than 260 in all, by death and drowning,
= covering Dawson, the tributary creeks
e and up the Yukon river as far as the
q Stewart river. This certainly does not
show a great death rate.
: Dawson, you know, might be termed
: an American camp under Canadian of
tcials, for a large majority of the great
cosmopolitan rush from all sections Of
: the world to the goldfields of the re-
puted fabnlously rich klondike were
citizens of the United States. It's
growth and daily life was largely a
repetition of Leadville, Rossland.
:, Cripple Greek and other American
mining camps, with their attendent
saloons and accompanying immortality,
= but under the we'll regulated Canadian
= police system there was strict enforce.
ment of the Sunday law, and life and
= property were in general as safe as in
your own state.
= Seattle IS still feeling the effects of
; the Klondike rush and is the growing
city on the Pacific coast and is destined
! to be the great city Of the Pacific North
4 | vIYnck oa,%ro1Isn~ MT o-1x, <ho ,o AL.