The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-05-01
FOURTH OF JULYIN DAWSON
The Day Celebrated by British ard
Americans.

Americans.
Graphic and Interesting Account
of Trip Through Alaska by
Special Agent of the Agricultural
Depnrtm for Cultivation
In a report just issued by the AgricuI-
turaI Department, which contains a de
-seriptiou of the work Of the special agent
in charge Of Alaska Investigations,
graphic account is given of trip from
White Horse to Dawson
We finally left White Horse on the
steamer ZeaIandian June so" the writer
begins. ''rhr same evening our boat
stuck fast "a the mud at the entrance Of
Lake Labarge- The rapid current in the
river carries down much sediment, which
! is dropped when the current slackens on
entering the wide expause of the lake
/ In consequence of this an extensive mud
! fat IS formed, on which large boats fire.
quentIy get stuck when the water is low
that is three and one-haIf feet or less
There are channels of deeper water. but
they are so shifting with the varying
force of the current that even the best
pilots are apt to miss them Sand bars
often fern with such rapidity that in q"
hour or so the mud may be built UP about
a boat which lies still and it becomes ut
terIy helpless.
After a delay of eighteen hours. during
which time every available expedient was
tried to get the boat of, she got clear by
removing part of her freight to a smaller
boat. Thus Iightened, she got into deep
ct water where the freight was again
+ taken aboard From the upper end of
+ Lake Labarge to the mouth of Big Sal
mon River is a stretch Of thirty miles
/ known as the Thirty Mile in which the
( current is very swift and navigation diff
+ fiCult. Here also the water is clear. the
/ sediment having been deposited in the
| lakes which form part of the upper river
/ course. Below the Big Salmon, and thence
/ &c the mouth the Yukon resembles liquid
mud The river takes a northwesteTly
! course to the mouth Of the White River,
a lite north of latitude 81 degrees; then
. II turns north till Dawson is reached, a
( little north of latitude 81 degrees No
high mountains are in sight from the
river at any point.
/ The country south and east Of Daw-
( son is succession of hills and daIes
. many of which can be farned. and nearly
all Of which viii afford fair pastuTage for
. cattle and sheep. Frequently steep bluffs
flank the river. and again there are ex-
tensive stretches Of rich bottom lands
These latter, however, are usually heavily
timbered- At Fort SeIllirk, about fif-
t. miles below Five Finger Rap
los, is rather extensive tract
O. level country. 1t has the appearance
of being excellent farming land. As
matter Of fact. an American citizen
Frank Bach of Douglas Island has oh
/ tanned franchise from the Dominion
/ government to improve a farm there,
/ and It is reported that ne was very Sue
( cesStui in his farming operations the past
! season
We reached Dawson on the morning of
{ July 8 Ihe Dig gold camp IS Quit on
; fiat along the river. ana the hillside a
I quarter OF a mile back of II has also a
/ liberal SDTiHkiing Of log cabins and small
( houses The principal streets in which
4 tie business IS done run parallel Win
the river. In these the log cabins for
[ the most part have given place to frame
( buildings. though there are several large
I and substantial structures built of logs
( The water front IS simply Uttered with
/ scUwS and small boats which have come
I GSWn with freight ana DFOspecjpTs. and
! hidden away among this swarm OF scoEs.
V',Te some three or four short docks At
2 which the steamers land
There seemed TO ne d large number Of
people IN town The hotels were full
/ and il was hard to get accommodations
Z at any price. The aPprOa ching celebration
+ Of the Fourth of July had attracted min
erS ana pTCspecJoTS from the creeks cor
( miles around, and later in the day the
/ toEE, especially portion OF the street
/ fronting the river, WAS crowded with a
/ hustliHg mass Of humanity in which the
I CENTER sex was represented by about one
/ IL twenty
steamer would 20 down the river So we
/ could reach American territory and begin
work. The short summer was rapidly
passing and all our work still before US
/ To this end we made enquiries Of all the
companies which had steamers on the
I river. but nothing definite could be learn
I'D H.. h. r-s-4 ono F-g.~
I Michael The water had been low in the
I lower river and nobody could say when
/ a boat would come Several might come
at any time ana II might be week OF
more Yukon River boats do not run on
schedule time. Under the circumstances
decided 10 wait Gay or Two and watch
for an opportunity 10 20 Wn-
/ The crowded condition Of the town
made it difficult to find lodging anywhere
} But l. r. Fulda, Manager Of the Alaska
Exploration Company invited Us TO be
/ come the guests Of his company at cheiT
I messhOusa during our enforced stay, and
/ as the hotels turned guests away. We &C
/ Cepted-
a large majority Of the people in Daw-
son are American citizens ana all the
leading business houses are owned by
/ Americans. 1t was. therefore, no great
| surprise TO find that the Fourth OF July
/ was celebrated with as much enthusiasm
there as in an American city But il was
| somewhat of a surprise to see the Cana
dian mounted police march In the pro-
ceSSioG IN honor Of the daE- The cole
ti&tiytl N'+S tSNtltieIA 81 EAitdbl" 40 tl-#
American contingent N Dawson 4 com
mittee had arranged programme which
u : well carried out All American bust
/ ness houses were closed the entire day and
/ many OF them were handsomely decorat-
ed The Star and Stripes were much IN
/ evidence everywhere Thousands of we'll
dressed and wellN5ehaved men crowded
the sidewalks \ long procession Of floats
symbolic Of the day or representative Of
! business enterprises tFaVerSFd the DTiHci-
pal streets Later in the day races and
field sports completed the programme ]
saw but little drunkenness and DO rowEE-
ism i was gopd-uatuTed and even
/ courteous crowd. which had come tege5h-
/ er 10 show their respect for the day and
do honor 70 the country of which they
VeT. citizens
..,rh-r. arc eeveraI snecessfuI rn.rket