The Opelousas courier., 1899-10-21
LIFE AT DAWSON CITY.
Interesting Facts About the Metropolis o
the KlOndike.

Interesting Facts About the Metropolis o
the Klondike.
A journey of forty-fve miles from
Sixty-mile Post brought us to Dawson
City, the wonderful city of the new
mining district, populated almost in
night. Although really sixty-tiv'
miles distant from the Klondike, it is
a typical mining camp, minus the
guns. The laws of the British govern
ment are enforced at Dawson, and
those laws prohibit the use of fire
arms; consequently few men carry
guns. In and around Dawson at the
present time there are about foul
thousand men and one hundred and
fifty women. Dawson, OF course, is
very primitive and verydirty, although
from q recent conversation with Mr..
Ladue I understand that every effort
is being made to clean it. There are
large stocks of provisions III all the
s~torehouses, and it looks as though
there could be no hunger in the klon,
dixie. There will lie little or no law.
lessness, and there is probability OF
very little sickness. The Alaskan
winters are healthful. In September
can be seen quantities Of black ducks
vending their way southwark, and
even on the streets of Dawson you
can see the sparrow and hear its
chirping. Here, as everywhere IL
Alaska, nature has stored her trea.
sures in a safe of ice; in fact, one
writer has called Alaska the nations
icebox, but to me it represents the
future paradise of poet and painter.
Nature has done much for Dawson, but
the energetic American hasdone more.
He has built warehouses in which he
has stored acres Of food, built com
Portable log-cabins, erected q theatre,
established many saloons, billiard
rooms and dance halls. The sums OF
money spent in these billiard saloons
and dance halls are simply fabulous:
fortunes changed hands every night
at the different gambling devices. A,
poker in a single night 500, 900 fire.
%quently changed hands, it being moth.
ing unusual to see $40, 600 bet on a
single hand. Yet do not infer from
this that all the miners are gamblers.
Many of them never enter Il saloon 0,
dance hall.
have a little friend out there, an
old schoolmate, who is teaching school.
She hugely enjoys her winters there.
She is at Circle City. She takes &
daily ride behind splendid dog team.
and, I tell you, it's great fun. You
ride a while, and then you get out ant
run; then you get in and ride again
No one really knows what a sleighride
is until he rides behind a fine dog
team. The inhabitants manage to gel
considerable amusement. They have
private dances. parties, and in the
summer time they even have picnics.
The Arctic winters are most keenly
felt by those miners who are obliged
all through the long, dark winter tC
live in tents and dugouts.
Dawson City is rectangular in shape.
1t is laid out in town lots. It's streets
are sixty-six feet wide. 1t is situated
on a stretch of low ground on the
northwest bank of the Yukon, just be.
low the mouth of the klondike. Towr
lots in Dawson City are selling % al
$1,000 each. Up to the present time
50 cents at Dawson is the smallest
2ie'e of money used; it is called fou,
bits. Both Protestants and Roman
Catholics have already established
mission churches in Dawson. Those
who visit Dawson next spring will see
a live metropolis.