The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1899-10-18
Dawson CITY

is the largest wooden city In the world
II had when | left lt some twenty ho-
tells and boarding houses, two banks,
and ave play houses. II is lighted by
electricity and has a water works which
when completed viii equal thai of Phil
adelphia. OF course, know that isn't
saving much, but Il is pretty good for
Dawson, which is really only about ave
wears old. II Is we'll drained and Its
sewerage system is nearly perfect
The wages there for the common
handler of the pick and shovel is dol
lar an hour. but II costs from six to nine
dollars a aAiay to board at any one OF the
twenty hotels, and meals range from
two 10 four dollars, depending upon
what YOU eat. have, on occasions
when was real hungry, devoured SlS
worth at a clip. On an average Il costs
man SIS day 90 live,
aThere is very little rOwdyism going on
at Dawson City. A great many people
think the town Is like the mining towns
OF Denver and san Francisco, and that
, everybody carries a gun, Ii is not So
, II they catch you with gun In the
town they arrest you and give YOU six
months at hard labor on the wood piles
for the queen.
The <londike is civilized That Is
proven by tn improvements We have
put in so rapidly up there. I'D rather
take my chances on the streets OF
Dawson with 5000 in gold in my pock-
cts than would in any Of your Eastern
cities with S25 Of gold,
Il is not entirely due to the mounted
pollce that the country Is so peaceable.
The men are all good men. There arr
no foreigners there who viii work Tor
/, almost nothing The miner is a miner.
&, He knows his work and he demands his
nay. Colonel Steele of the Northwest
mounted police, has won the respect
Of Americans and British alike. There
viii always be disputes in mining towns
concerning claims and stakes. But Col
ouel Steele has always handled these
\ ittle difficulties successfully.
Besides that the men love thea be-
cause OF the effective mail system they
have established during the close sea-
son when the boats which contract to
bring the mail cannot get through
The mounted police have relay stations
every twenty or thirty miles apart.
They carry the mail on dog sledges,
the dogs and the driver being changed
at each station. In this way the dis
tance from Skagway to Dawson, 6OC
miles. is covered in a remarkable short
time and the boys In Dawson Cay ge'
their mail from Seattle in twelve tC
fourteen days.
]. {. McCook, the United States con-
sui from Philadelphia, is another mar
| want TO say good word for. Their
were a number OF Americans who go
stranded in Dawson and applied to hin
10 help them out. He hadn't any mon
ey to do II with and they came bacl
10 this country and spread nasty re
ports about him. Every one Of then
Is untrue. He is serving his counirl
5 we'll and faithfully and has won th'
respect OF all true Americans In Daw
on City
There is nothing in the popular ide'
about the dangers OF the Klondike
Everywhere you hear stories OF suddeI
death in turbid waters or by freezing
do not deny that some men have los
2 their lives or had hard luck in Alaska
r but it was their own fault not the faul
D OF the country In the first place un
{ less you know something about min
D ing oy have money enough to buy tina
I knox ledge YOU had better not go. Blu
II you have the experience or the mon
= ey. the Klondike offers abundant op
Tortunity for a willing, hard-workin
e man.
There Is very little quartz minin
- done in Alaska, the most Of it Is place
: mining, OF course. when the water
Il frozen NJ for TWO or four months /
) the winter there is no washing don,
u But the work goes on just the SAM
& In the fall winter and spring We di
le oft the soil and pile It up near tn
sluice boxes. When the water is war;
in the summer and running freely "
III dump the dirt into the boxes and was
= out the gold. / have seen as much &
/ half a million in gold dust store
/ away in tin cans at the foot Of man
'e bed and the door was not locked nlgl
ID or day. The man who would stei
Sc arothers gold would not get out OF II
N country alive.
)r The difficulty which we must solve
le the Klondike is the frost in the groun
The cold in the air is not trOublesom
rs and when we are al dressed in fui
of we cease to think about It. The fro
v In the earth has to be thawed out b,
ID fore the soil will answer to the pic
le This Is done by means Of blower
fed by carosene, something like II
p. blower you see used on the aspha
n pavement. II is also done by steam.
y Shafts have been sunk 20 the dept
ID Of 275 feet in the hope Of getting belo
=. the frost, but without success. Pro