The San Francisco call., 1899-03-18

bedrock flume roposition-whieh is al
ready before Parliament. steam thaW-
ing is so vastly superior to the present
method of burning that it will soon
be generally employed-unless some
thing better is developed by the pusy
brains now working upon the pFopleIns
here presented. Steam thawing ma
chimes to the number of score nave
been employed THIS winter on Eldorado,
Bonanza Hunker and Dominion creeks
and Victoria and Gold hills. The ma
chimes are very simple, introducing
steam into the shaft by pipes hre
will thaw during night from tWelVe
to eighteen inches of gravel. Ihe smart
or drift is left full of smoke and unless
there be a connecting shaft giving
draft, which is every often not the
case, the men are unable to descend Tor
hours, and many have become Dhnoed
from the effects of working In the
smoke. With three hours appncat1on
of steam similar gravel is thawed to
depth of from five to ten feet, accord
ing to the volume of steam appheo.
Dawson is crowded with dlsappo1nt-
ed men who are simply waiting Ior the
opening of the river and the coming
of the boats to leave the country Ihe
number of these saloon settlers, as
they are called, runs into the thou
sands. Very many of them are without
the necessary outfit" and are objects
of charity General McCOok, the Amer
ican Consul, is besieged daily for as,
siStance and the committee appointed
early'in the year to obtain subscrlpt1onS
for relief of the INDECENT is still actively
| engaged Provision is already being
made for the sending of large num-
ber of this helpless class down the river
and out of the country as soon as the
river is open. They will be provided
with fiat or open boats and enough food
fO 10 CT float
the mouth of the river, from where
| some arrangement will be made for
their getting to the Sound or San Fran
| cisco by the ocean vessels.
The spectacle of three hundred people
| partaking of the free Christmas dinner
| given by the Salvation Army has been
| followed by a regularly filled Shelter
| every night of the winter. The Army
supplies wood sawyers and workmen
| at almost any trade at wages averaging
! 50 per day. Many of these idle people
! that crowd the town have had no work
and have made no money in any way
since they came into the country.
A party of eight men have just ar
rived on the ice from the outside
They tell the town that ten thousand
people are coming in here in the spring.
| Very well. Every man has right to
do as he wills so long as he can pay
his way 1 repeat that opportunity is
wide open here as it is at any legiti-
mate lottery or faro bank, but the con-
ditions under which it presents itself
are the Severest to be found any where
on earth Many of those coming in no
doubt are merchants bringing in stocks
of goods 1t may be interesting to them
/ to know that from a business stand
! point Dawson City is now the 'deadest'
! town on the continent and has been Tor
/ months and nobody expects much
! change for the better for still other
months. The big prices Of last fall
have dropped away.
There is now dime restaurant in
! Dawson-not a full meal for dime, to
! be sure, but where any one OF great
| variety of dishes of good quality and
quantity, from soup to coffee and the
cigars. may be had at that uniform
price. The four-bit meal has been ad-
| vertised at half q dozen places for a
long time. Whisky is two bits, and not
many drunkards at that. Whisky is
the thing. that many spectators
thought to get rich on this year, but
they all wear the same expression as
| the 1uclxless layman. Not one of the
MANY hopeful corners in provisions
planned in the fall has proved success
! full. the tendency in prices of every
thing being down, down, down, until
! those who held butter, cream, sugar
| and other things they had bought at
! high prices to make corner that re-
| fused to corner have been compelled to
let go with great loss.
| 1t is true that much money was made
in the spring and summer by those who
reached here early with desirable
| goods. But the conditions were pc
culiar last spring, and will be repeated
this coming spring only in slight meas
ure. Last winter the whole country
! here was literally starved out. Bacon
and beans and flapjacks repeated them
selves three times day on nearly
| every table in the whole district
through the entire winter, and indeed
he was accounted lucky who had plenty
of those three For long time there
was not a restaurant open. Afterward
| it became possible to secure very un-
satisfactory meal for So so and 81 so.
| All this time gold was being taken out
| of the creeks by the handful. When
| the ice foated out of the river and i'm
| mediately behind 1t came the early
merchant with fresh meat, eggs, milk,
vegetables fruit, nuts and candy, he
found a market, a very eager and hun
CRY market, standing on the river bank
to meet him and that had no thought
| prices might be. So these early mer-
stocks, grew suddenly rich. But that
SO SO meal of last winter may be dupli-
Gated to-day for from four to six bits.
| There are provisions enough in the
| warehouses of the big companies, new
and old, to feed the whole country for
at the very least another year.