Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-10-26
Resources of the Land of the Mid
night Sun.
LONG WINTERS and SHORT SUMMERS
Enterprises and Thriftiness of the
Town of Dawson.
SOME STRIKE IT "RICH"
DAWSON, Yukon Territory,

DAWSON, Yukon Territory,
October Z, 1901.
While Dawson is not in United States
territory, it is so near to 1t, and is so iden-
teal with the interests of this country's
possession that any mention of ALASKA
would be incomplete without the story OF
this capital of the golden Klondike. An
American miner made the first discovery
on rich Bonanza creek, and in the historic
rush which followed the announcement Of
his wonderful strike Americans outnum
bered all other nationalities two to one
There are two Americans for every Eng
lishman in Dawson at the present time,
which goes to show that wherever there Is
anything in sight worth having the irdt-
vfdual subject of Uncle Sam does rot taxi
a back seat for anybody. In order to get
the reader started right, it may be well to
say that the Yukon territory is bounded on
the north by the Arctic ocean, on the east
by the crest of the Rocky mountains, on
the south by British Columbia and on the
west by Alaska. Its area is 19S,3oo square
miles.
The klondiSe proper consists of only 500
square miles and embraces what are known
Bonanza. Eldorado. Dominion, HuESer
and SULPHUR creeks. During the past fEe
years the miner has diverted the water
from these streams and literally TUNED
their beds upside down with his pick ana
shovel Their sands proved to be fabuiously
rich with virgin gold. The lucky men who
own these claims have taken out over eighty
millions of treasure, and the greater por-
ton of them are still being worked. One
Of the accompanying illustrations is q re-
production from photograph of the giant
RisdOn dredge. ready for operation on Be-
ndnza creek, near Dawson. This MASSIVE
machine is the first of the Kind to be used
in the KlUndike, and if it operates success
fully will practically rev0lutionize the man
ner of working the claims. 1t is expected
10 do the work much more thoroughly Inan
it can be accomplished By any other meth
cd and Will result in large increase IN
the output of the various properties along
the creeks. When it is considered that tile
output Of the klondike since its discovery
would more than buy all of the horses and
mules or all of the hogs and sheep in the
United States, it is indeed a wonderful
showing.
Dawson is many respects the most re-
r1arkable mining town in the world. When
the recent boom started there the gold COM
Inissioner's Office was in a little SX10 cabin
that would not hold over dozen persons
comfortably. and 100 men stood in line out
side day and night waiting their turn While
the thermometer was 30 degrees below zero.
Every one was so gold crazy that ordi-
nary labor could hardly be secured at any
price. 1t cost $50 in gold dust to hire
man to cut and deliver a cord of wood and
-four sold for $50 a sack. In the fall of
1886 town lots sold for s.. Two years later
some of the same lots sold as high as
$50 eco or 81 600 per front foot. A single
milking frcm the first cow brought to Daw-
son sold for so, and she did not give very
much at that on account of her very long
Journey from the states and the excitement
at her unusual Surroundings. Dawson is over
] 800 miles from Seattle, the nearest base
OF supplies. and the Yukon is open to nav
isation only about five months in the year.
Considering these facts and that the place
is less than five years of age, the accom-
psuying Illustrations of its substantial
buildings. together with the enumeration
of it's various enterprises and general
thriftiness. will come in the nature of
surprise to most people. 1t has quickly
passed from a mere stopping place for the
miner 10 social and commercial center.
Until a few years ago the climate of the