Omaha daily bee., 1899-03-14
RETURNS FROM THE kLONDIAE
Harry Wilkins Tells of His Experience in
the Frozen North.
MINERS NOT THE MEN WHO MAKE MONEY
Country oc GOOD Prospects for Those
Who to There aud EnRngc
In business EN-
tCrprtScs,

Harry wilkins, one Of omaha's repre-
seu,atiyes in the Klondikc country, has just
returned. Mir. wilkins was not lurcd into
the polar regions through hopes of mining
success. He went as the representative of
one of the big South omaha meat packing
establishments and says that financially he
has no complaint to make of the trip.
Il left Omaha last May" said Mir. VIII
kins and went TO san Fracisco whore |
took steamer for ST. Michacl's. Before 60
ing we made arrangements with a trans
portation company to carry our merchandise
from St. Michael's UP the Yukon to Circle
City and Dawson. When we reached st.
Michaels we found that this transporta-
tion company had failed and were compelled
to make new arrangements for the transpor-
taton of our goods. This delayed us some
what and it was August before we reached
Dawson.
Shortly after reaching Dawson l expert
enccd about the only really dan
gerous adventure Of the trip, when
we left st. Michael's we had been
forced to ship our goods by two
steamers. owing to the failure of the COM
pany with which we had first made con-
tracts. The last steamer having a por-
tion of our goods aboard managed to get
caught in the ice just below Circle City aud
we took steam launch and started out 10
look for it. The river was rapidly filling
with ice and a great many times we found
ourselves jammed in so completely that the
ice had to be cut away before We could
proceed. Altogether it was an awful eX-
perience. We got stranded upon bars and
had to work for hours before we could get
off again. 1t took us five days to reach
Circle City. The morning after we left
the launch I tn NJ
and found that the ice had crushed 1t COM
pletely.
Money in Selling Goods.
"Tho people of this section have no idea
how bad the cold is on the Yukon. The
river freezes to the bottom with the ex-
ception of where the current is very strong.
No boat can live in it. The ice would
crush it like an eggshell. | think this
! boat on which the last of our provisions
were shipped was the last one to ascend
the river before it closed for the winter
and it had a terrible experience getting to
Circle City
IL staid in that region five months, being
sometimes at Dawson and sometimes at
Circle City, as our firm had a store in each
place In January, when we left for the
states, we had little or no difficulty in MAX
ing our way over the White Pass route. The
difficulties of the ascent TO the summit have
been greatly decreased, as a railroad is in
operation to that point now.
There are great prospects in that coun-
try, but they are principally along business
lines. These are the people who are making
the money. There very few becoming
rich digging gold. The gold brought out
last year was not much as had been
anticipated but it is thought that the output
this year will be much greater, owing to
the greater facilities for mining. or course
some of the spectators who have
monopoly on much gold land are making
money, but with very few exceptions they
are the only ones among the miners who
are. The merchants get high prices for
everything, though there was no famine
while l was i'll the country The only thing
that remember as almost Impossible to get
was condensed milk. At the time l left that
article was selling at 81 can and hard to
get at that"