The San Francisco call., 1899-02-10
NEW STAMPED
FROM DAWSON
"Nigger Jim" Leads a
Lively Chase.
FOLLOWED BY A BIG CROWD
ALL RETURN DISGUSTED AND
MANY ARE FRoSTBITTEN.
Death of ather Judge, Who Founded
q. Hospital for Suffering Klon-
dikers and Did Much for
the Sick.
ALL RETURN DISGUSTED AND
MANY ARE FRoSTBITTEN.
BY SAM w. WALL.
Special Dispatch to The Gail.

Wash, Feb. 9.-The sensation of the
moment in Dawson is a stampede
started week ago by some old timers
and well-known characters of the coun-
}: try Several hundred men left the city
on last Tuesday and have not yet re-
turned, although it is more than
week ago Numbers have come in, as
Is always the case, having been COM
PEELED to drop out of the race short of
its destination Some of these had feet
or hands frozen. Some were merely
unable to keep the pace, while the gen.
eral complaint was a lack of provisions
for such a long run.
The destination of the stampeders is
not actually known TO any one here,
nor Is it known just exactly on what
Information the stampede is based, but
the tip" that started it is credited
with being straighter than anything Of
the kind that has come TO town for
some time.
: Niger Jim, who occupied such
wide space in the newspapers outside
last summer in the pose of an FL Dorado
King, is at the head of the procession,
wherever it is, and that fact. for his
name has a good deal of potency here,
is. responsible for the length of line
following A friend or partner of
Niger Jim's came to town on Mon
day and exchanged or deposited $4,000
in gold dust and made ready to leave
: again.
-: "Nigger" Jim himself is said to have
had much difficulty in securing the in
formation as to where the stuff had
been found. He prepared to accom-
pany his friend, but in the meantime
sent a messenger up the creek to notify
few other friends. The town was
soon agOg with the news, If 1t could be
so called, a vague report of big find
somewhere by somebody, and that
gathered in the street to watch a. dog
team that had been posted in front of
; the Pioneer saloon. Others. made ready
: TO follow the team when it should start,
:hitching up their own teams and load
ing their sleds with provisions. Mig
ger Jim's outfit and that of his friends
was stationed at the back of the sa-
loon, and when all was ready they
started from there as quickly as pos
sible Some saw the move at once
and followed; others were tardy and
the leaders were long way down the
river before they discovered what had
taken place. Many others. slow in get
ting the news, started late that night
and even the next day.
'"Nigger" Jim and his big following
have returned to town, all of them very
much the worse for very trying ex-
'perience, none of them having driven
a stake. Jim led them into the noun
.tains, where they f1oundered breast
deep in the snow for two days. He
made several attempts to elude the
crowd, but being unsuccessful. finally
= declared he had lost his way and took
the. back track. Many of the 500 suf-
.fered with frozen feet, hands and
faces, as the thermometer has ranged
about 80 below, few had proper equip
ment for such a trip and only the
chosen had snowshoes and sufficient
provisions
:. Various are the guesses concerning
the adventure. 1t is believed that Jim
will make another ana less conspicu-
Gus start for the new creek, although
ii is safe to say that few who followed
him this time will try it again. Others
believe. that the whole thing was sim
bly, a rank fake to gain notoriety.
From the Kuyokuk there is little
news. as yet A good deal of prospect
ing is going on, but at the time the
latest intelligence came out it was too
early for any definite knowledge of the
ground to have been obtained. Circle
and Eagle City are both reported in
cheerful spirits and thriving. Cabins OF
Circle empty last winter are nearly all
occupied again, and Eagle City has
grown to be a place of 300 cabins From
Captain Geiger and others / have
= learned the location and situation on
nearly all the steamboats, that are
frozen in on the river. The McArnold.
belonging to the Alaska Exploration
Company, is on the Yukon in not very
safe position twenty-five miles below
Minook; the Seattle No. 1, Seattle Yu-
kon Trading Company, and six small
steamboats, are at Minook, and none
of them in a very safe position; the
Herman, Alaska Exploration Company,
on a bar in the river forty miles below
the Tanana in a dangerous situation;
the Yukoner, belonging to Pat Calvin,
below the Tanana.
The Weare and the Hamilton of the
North American Transportation and
Trading Company are on the ways at
Fort Get There, being overhauled; Tan
ana Chief is 800 miles up the Tanana;
the John c. Barr of the North American
TRANSPORTATION and Trading Company
is in winter quarters thirty miles below
Forty Mile, safe; the Tacoma, Empire
Transportation Company, forty miles
above Circle City on bar in the river,
In bad situation; the Victoria, same
. company, at Circle, it will require con-
siderable work to make her safe; the
Sovereign, Columbia Navigation Com
pany. in the slough at Circle, unsafe
portation Company, fifteen miles below
Circle, in the middle of the river, situa-
ton dangerous; the Robert Kerr, be-
longing TO Frank Waterhouse, in the
river, forty miles below Circle, situa-
ton bad; the j. J. Healy, North Ameri-
can Transportation and Trading Com
pany, and the Victorian. belonging to
an English company, in a slough at
Fort Yukon, situation safe. The Mon
arch, Columbia Navigation Company;
the Evans, a Boston company; the
Mary T. Graft, Alaska Exploration
Company; the Rideout, the Ladue Com
pany; St Michael, Empire Transporta
ton Company; the Reindeer and the
Elzereno, are all in the Dali River, in
safe quarters.
At Dawson there is the Willie Iry-
ing, pulled out on the banks and safe;
the Aquilla in. the same shape; the Bel
lingham, same. The New York. the
big barge of the Boston Alaska Com
pany, is in the ice in a very dangerous