The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1899-02-24
All. Celradl and VIII CsnvIll
IN he KleI(ils.
svsvIvt Two sNlpwatcxs
Company Comes to oriet-Clsims
staksd Out-Mv. MllIsr-Eassie
Rampant City.

Christian Conradt has received Z
letter from his brother August, who
left here to join a Klondike expedi
ton August Is at Rampant City, ol
was on October 81, 1888, when the mai
came out. The young man says:
You no doubt will be very much sur
prised to hear that Willie Cornwel
and have left our Happy Home on tn,
;. $. Dawson City and are now at Ram
part City with billie" cassie. ] sup
pose you have already heard from the
coast that Willie came up from Sar
Francisco to join us. was surprised
when he put in an appearance while
the Dawson City was hard and fast on
a sand bar and was sorry that he had
left San FRANCISCO 10 find us In such
pilikia.
Ever since we left st. Michael We
have had a hard time of II on the
river. running on sand bars and get.
ting firewood for the steamer.
After much hard work and getting AZ
far as st. James Mission we were un.
fortunately east on a sand bar by the
swift current. You know the river
runs at the rate of six miles an hour
When We struck shallow water the
captain stopped the engines only to be
carried on this bar In just about two
minutes.
We realized the dangerous condition
our boat was in and commenced right
away TO get her freight OF. for the
river was falling about a foot each
day. We worked night and day, but
as fast as We would discharge out OF
the ship the river would fall and In
just five days after We struck we waded
around in water only knee deep, SC
you can imagine how fast the water
dropped at that time Of the year. This
was after the rainy season was over
and all the tributaries frozen up, thus
causing the drop.
1t was hard work getting everything
out Of her. On top Of this to see our
boat high and dry on land was what
call hard luck. Don't you? The cap.
tain, who was acting manager, said II
was utterly impossible to save the
steamer. and We decided to winter a,
st. James Mission. The 8. 8. Dawson
City still lies on the sand bar and all
the old-timers and Indians say she will
surely be broken up by the ice next
spring.
As the company lives no more with.
out boat, Willie and / decided to take
the first boat to Rampant City to bin
Billie cassie again. On the night OF
september 30 there came into St
James Mission small tug boat, called
the Governor Stoneman-and guess
who We found on board? Mr.. Miller
from home, the old gentleman who had
the cabinet shop in Hotel street. He
was SO glad to meet us that he nearly
cried.
We boarded the tug and asked the
captain to let us work our way to
Rampant City. After some talk he
agreed to let us have the whole of the
hurricane deck to ourselves, and We &C.
cepted with pleasure. We left the next
morning and had to saw and split
wood TO pay our way. We had not gone
sixty miles when We were shipwrecked
for the second time on the Yukon. The
Governor Stoneman ran on a bar ex-
actly the same way as our boat had
done only few weeks before, giving
Ms second unpleasant experience on
a stranded river steamer. The captain
gave her up at once and took ashore
everything Of value. We had been in
camp two days when a large steamer
called the Monarch came along and
picked us all up. The fare required for
passage to Rampant was SIS una viii
and ] told them We would pay when we
reached the place and not before. II
seemed like old times at home when
the pursar gave us staterooms. Will
and l cleaned up bit, for when we
went aboard We had on our heavy
klondike boots and blue denims. II
was fine to get bath and have clean
clothes again.
IL took the Monarch two days to
make Rampant and we were quite sur
prised to find 1t such city. There
are about 400 cabins. There are seven
stores and besides saloons, restaurants
saw mills and population OF 1000.
The Y. s. Government has detachment
OF fifty soldiers here under Lieut.. Bell.
We found quite a Hawaiian colony.
The members included Mr.. cassie, Mr..
Scott, Gus Maurer. Frank Grace and
Ed Hopkins and wife. With Mr.. Mil
Ter, Willie and myself 1t made ssci-
able total. Mr.. cassie was at the
steamer to meet me, for he had heard
about the Dawson City's loss and had
written me to come up to Rampant and
join him, but the letter did not reach
me. He took Will and to his cabin
and We will work for him till we go in
for ourselves,
Cornwell and l have staked claims 8
ana IL on Gold Pan creek and they
say II Is rich up there Our informa-
non came from reliable man in the
miiitary. The creek is twenty miles
from here and We walked to It in one
day IN deep snow. It was mighty
nard tramping. While there we slept
in a shack, Just rough cabin. a roof
without any walls. We were cold. as
we had not brought along enough
blankets. We came back to Ramnart
all the way on the Ice and It was flne.
smooth travelling. We have also ac'
luired lots in Rampant and will stale
more claims IN week or 80. RamDart
will be the best doomed town in Aiasra
lext year. Everybody Gays II il roin~
o be bigger place than Dawson