The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-04-10
THE LAND OF GOLD.
A w,i,er,s Vivid Description Of Dawson
civ in the KIondike'
CFrom Golfers WeeklyD

~ +ha river and the quietness OF IHt
,,.aal,s of work on the trail into the
main street of a town of some twenty
rbonsand to thirty thousand people
s,l win most of them on the same
street is bawiIdering in the extreme
~ MS narbaDs. is was less so than &c
a vast majority, because we mad DeeI
nr-7ared in a great measure by frlenas
who had come from Dawson to the
s.sasrr river and described its Won
d ers to US.
Tho town is most orderly ana rows
ara exceedingly rare. Drunkenness -
a., a,aanti0n- perhaps attributable 10
tba high urice and quality OF the ilquot
ana t0 the efficiency of the noIluWes
r1ounred police. who are d hne Douy u
srranping young men, well olllctIeu'
and deservedly popular among al el"ss
IS for their justice and zeal ,..5
The main street of the town i ny LIl'9 ~
in the business portion, by the Dis u AZ -,
ing stores, saw mills, small STORES VI az
kinds. and saloons alternating eNsl'
Two or three stores. In nearly every sa-
loon is either a dance nail OF salIol'I-7
room, generally D0In. .,,,o
The saloon takes the place oil CIup'
and becomes the common HleellLs
ground of all classes, AS it becomes
necessary to meet all classes Of men
in this country. the most fastldlOus OF
men finds himself obliged TO become a
regular visitor of one or TWO saloons III
the course of his mining experience
The gambling rooms are generally III
the rear of the saloon, and run VIDE
OPEN" They are usually thronged our
ing the summer all night long, and the
best of good nature and order prevail
A. the dance halls an evening Vaude-
Vile performance (so-called) usually
preceies the dancing, and in one there
is generally a play of some sort with
an extremely good orchestra for such
place. In fact there are two or three
small orchestras in the town. one sa-
loon has a cafe in its rear, which is eX-
cellent in point of service and cooking.
while during the dinner one listens TO
playing by one of the viOlins of we'll
known San Francisco orchestra, and at
times a very good baritone song by an
eX-memDer of one of our eastern opera
companies.
During the summer there is but little
work going on on the creeks; the town
therefore is filed with men. This sum-
mer this crowd was augmented by an
enormous number of people who came
in over the trail or up the river and
hung around the town, either trying TO
get work or on their way prospecting
up the creeks and rivers.
If any one We're to ask what the
general topic of conversation was, L
should say food in all its forms. In
stead of asking a man whether he was
we'll or what news ne had, the most
natural question would be to ask him
if he had any evapOrated cream in his
cache or if he knew what the price
of butter was that day. This becomes
so much the case that you Will notice
in the newspaper reports Of returning
klOndikers that they will enumerdte
long lists of the prices Of food instead
of giving mining news of any i'm
portance. This does not imply that food
is scarce, because food is very plentl-
full.
During the summer fresh vegetables
and fresh fruit came in on the boats
in abundanCe-at high prices, to be
sure-but still they were in Dawson.
Fresh meat was plentiful and supplied
to the sick in the hospitals at times
when it was a great luxury
There are two or three hospitals in
Dawson, the largest the Catholic Hos
pital, conducted by the Jesuits, the
nurses being Sisters Of Charity. Father
Judge of the Jesuits, who is looked up
to by every resident OF Dawson, has
had charge Of this hospital and has
managed 1t in the face
of extreme difficulties.
The smaller hospitals, II which ! be-
&c 7~fT re-
summer. All We're filled to overhowing
owing to the great number of fever
cases prevalent, 1t is perhaps right TO
say that this large number of fever
cases in Dawson is due more to eN-
posture on the trail and poorly prepared
and sCant food than to the unsanitary
condition of the town itself although
there has been little attempt by the
government to improve this condition.
Only the fact that the stagnant water
in what bitches there are is water
thawing from the frozen muck under
the moss, and therefore at a low tenn
perature, prevents a really enormous
amount Of i'll health. Most of the wa
ter used for drinking comes from
springs of glacial character in the hill
sides and is very good.
For the moral support Of the inhab-
ltants there are three Churches-an
a Presbyterian. and a
Catholic-the largest being the latter
the building a gift of one Of the most
prominent Of the miners. It is fair
sized building built Of logs, and i'll
deed an example of proportion and
good taste in design to many an ar.
chitect of more accessible regions.
Most Of the inhabitants are Ameri-
cans, a great number Swedes, Cana
dlans, Australians, South Africans and
while there is a fair rep
resentation of every nationality.