The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1899-01-22
WINTER TRAVEL
IS MADE EASY
Plenty of Road Houses
on Dawson Trails.
TO CARRY FOOD UNNECESSARY
BUT 1T is DIFFERENT ON THE
WAY TO ATLIN.
Many People Stampede to the New
Diggings When It Would Be as
Profitable and More Com
Portable at Home.
BY HAL HOFFMAN.
Special Dispatch to The Call.

Seattle, WASH, Jan. 19).-All north ana
south bound ships have been hunting
for cover in Lynn Canal for the past
three days on account of furious winds
and snow storms. Lynn Canal is full
of rocks, 50 they would not take
chances in the night or in the daytime
when it was too thick to see more than
a ships length ahead. For instance,
the steamship Al-Ki was forty-eight
hours making Skaguay from Juneau,
distance of about 100 miles. The gale
nearly blew the masthead light out of
the rigging. Storms on Alaskan wa
ters seem to turn the elements of
earth, air and water into a tumbling
chaos. l was once favored with being
strapped to the bridge, and it was a
wonder to me that the ship was not
beaten beneath the waves.
Nearly every day people are coming
out at Skaguay and Juneau from the in
side, the inside meaning Dawson and
extreme Yukon Basin. The road
houses in the snow making travelling
very easy as compared with last win
ter's trail. 1t is now quite possible for
hardy and adventurous man to leave
Dawson without a pound of grub and
reach tidewater all right, depending on
the roadhouses for his supplies. 1t
would be safer, however, for him to
take along few pounds of dried fish
for the dogs and himself in case of
being Unexpectedly snoWbound between
posts.
With decent regard for facts, it is
about the same story from Dawson
that it was thirty days ago when the
first-comers arrived out. There is an
or without raSII1tc
other than disappointing. The popu-
lation OF Circle City has increased con-
siderably by an overflow from Dawson
and the great Yukon River has now
gone into its long winter sleep through
its entire length.
Atlin Lake also went asleep early
this month and it remains unruffled by
the winds except as they whirl the
drifting snow. John Doe, that great
anonymous standby of the courts, is at
last dead. He died last week in Lake
Atlin, Alaska, and the courts will have
to hunt for another assumed name to
apply to unknown persons. A man
actually bearing that name went out
on the ice from Atlin City to test its
strength. He and his companion,
whose name was not Richard Roe,
| broke through and John Doe was
drowned. Where he came from is not
known.
Jack Russell Of Juneau has a good
Atlin story. He says he helped carry
eighty-three sacks of dirt down to the
sluice box few days p" on Captain
Sperry's claim on Pine Creek, and that
$3.50 60 was worked out of it. Jack
Barnes, also of Juneau. estimates that
Atlin will be a good tWenty-dollar
camp, meaning by that, at least $40 per
day to the man, with an area of coun-
try thirty-five miles around Atlin City
as yet hardly prospected.
That is now supposed to be the area
of the gold deposits. No valuable gold
! discoveries have yet been made out
| side that district About fifty men per
| day are now arriving at Atlin over the
! ice and the cutoff trail from Log Cabin
on the Skaguay trail. 1t is tough
! travelling. People would wait till
March or April if they knew before
hand what they would have to face.
otter Lake, about twelve miles long
which must be crossed. has twelve
inches of water on top of the ice, mixed
with snow. The mail carriers dogs,
after making the last trip across the
lake, were frozen to death. They were
thoroughly soaked and chilled, and the
mail carrier did not give them proper
care. Some real estate is already
changing hands at Atlin City. The
rush to Atlin might as well be post
poned till spring as nothing can be
done now in the way of mining and
! prospecting, but newcomers cannot be
made to see 1t that way. If advice to
that effect is given a stranger he Sus-
poets that an attempt is being made
to sidetrack him. Consequently he
goes in, sits around and does nothing
and eats up his grub till spring, when
| he could stay in the States or in
Alaska coast towns with much more
comfort and no more expense. All
north bound ships arriving here and at
| Skaguay are crowded.
Frank Gray, representing Victoria
and Vancouver parties who built
steamers for the Stickeen River which
were never used, is here and about to
take trip up the Taku with view to
putting the stern-wheelers on that
river in connection with the Taku trail
from Juneau. This trail will probably
become popular before the season Is
over. 1t is no longer than the White
Pass trail from Skaguay, is easy trav-
cling, and there is no summit to cross.
There Is already considerable travel
over it to the Atlin country.
A letter has been received here from
the Department Of Agriculture asking
for specifications for building at Sitka
suitable for the accommodation of an
agricultural agent and a signal Of
flcer. to be erected at an expense not
to exceed $4,000. This Is the first visible
sign anywhere that the Government
has serious intentions of developing the
agricultural resources of Alaska, the
possibilities Of which, particularly to
the westward, are believed by the ag-
ricultural expert who was here last
summer to be great. 1t is highly prob
able that within a few years Alaska
will be raising all the staple vegetables
consumed at home Results of expert
mental process of curing hay, air-tight
buildings for which were constructed
last summer on Juneau flats, al
Skaguay, Sitka and Cooks Inlet, are
most satisfactory. The hay is now be-
ing taken out of the buildings here. II
is still green and nutritious and fattens