The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1899-01-13
DAWSON CITY, Nov. 10. 1913.

DAWSON CITY, Nov. IS, 1913.
Dear Ones:-I have just heard there
lis mail going out today over the ice
to Skagway SO have but short time
to write. Old winter is here IN good
earnest, Il notice the thermometer on the
outside Of our door stands at 40 below
zero and the frost on our one little win
dow is so thick as to almost shut out
the light. We have daylight now from
$50 a. m. to $3.50 p. M, but we see the
sun only once in great while. When
1T is Sc cold there is Il dense fog hangs
over everything which does not give a
very cheerful appearance to things.
\ The y ukon which during the month
aof October vas full. OF running ice, froze
Z solid at this point on November Sd.
The next morning people crossed over
to west Dawson on the ice and the old
miners said, people must understand
now that winter is here. its surface is
very rough, the cakes of ice which have
been running in the river are piled up
crisis cross and every other way. But
they say it is not so bad as last winter
when they we're jammed and piled up
twenty or thirty feet high. 1t is pre-.
dicted that 5000 people will leave Daw-
son this winter over the ice. Men are
striking bed rock every day and finding
nothing. become discouraged. tell
you when three or four fellows spend
I i- fuyo mr. throo nnonfhs h,,;,d;v., n ooh;,
getting up twenty or thirty cords of
wood and sink shaft through frozen
ground for fifty or sixty feet, and then
come to bed rock as bare Of gold as the
ground at the surface. they seem rather
\ dazed for while but when they re-
& cover they generally pike straight for
home 'cprsing the country at every step.
Igo to work next week on Little
Sk00kins Hill. have one-half inter
est in claim. Five dollars to the pan
i has just been struck on the adjoining
claim, and we'll make a ''stake''if we
strike it as rich as they. IT we don't
we will be no more unfortunate than
the majority of other fellows around
as. People are beginning to under.
J stand that you can't dig everywhere,
even in rich district, and find gold.
Paying quantities are only found in old
river BEDS and gulleys into which the
gold bearing gravel has slid. Aurora
continues to blaze during the nights
with all of her brilliancy and grandeur,
lighting up the scenery of the Yukon
as well as would old Luna herself.
The more spitefully cold the night the
more brilliant the illumination as
though trying to lure some unsuspect-
ing treasure seeker out at such time
as indeed it does as someone is passing
here with sled at all hours of the
night. / have only heard of two deaths
from freezing so far this winter. These
two were crossing the divide from
DOmiOn to BOnanzie creek and were
( found on the side frozen, one poor fell
low, the Dominion surveyor, in return.
4 ing to Dawson, broke through the ice
of the Kl0ndyke river up to his arms
and was frozen. There he was found
the next morning with his head and
shoulders above the ice but the lower
4 part of his body in the current held
firmly in this position by theice. 1t is
very common thing to seq d man tgo
ing along with his cheeks Dr nose as
white as wax. There is one thing we
can congratulate ourselves on, oul
cabin is warm, water has not frozen in
it during the coolest nights which
seems almost incredible. 1t is in size
12x13 feet in the inside, that seems
large compared with tent. Our beds
take up thirty inches along one side
our mattresses consist Of the soft side
Of board, but we don't mind that al
all now after our experience camping