Mexico weekly ledger., 1901-01-31
@. W. wYLDE.
He Writes the Mexico Ledger an In
teresting Letter from Canada.

". W. Wgluc, VI DtubOu Clbyi NO.,
went to the Klondyke country nearly
three years ago with a party Of one
hundred who left here for the gold
fields. Mr.. Wylde was one Of Au-
drains most conservative and sub
stantial citizens and all were of the
opinion that he would stick to it until
he succeeded. Most OF the members
Of the party have returned without
any money; others have died, and
some have disappeared altogether.
The following letter just received by
the LEDGER will be Of interest to all
who have friends in the Klondyke
country, whether they are from Au-
drain or any other part of the country:
Correspondence of the Ledger
CARIBOU CITY, YUKON TERRITORY,
CANADA, Dec. 25.-As / sit by my
little Yukon stove this cold, gloomy
day, my mind wanders back to old
Missouri, the land of sunshine and
good cheer, and l wonder how my
friends out there are spending their
Christmas as compared with ours here
in this land of of "Aurora and frozen
noses" In Dawson City, Of course,
there is some attempt at celebrating
in a civilized way, but out here
amongst the mining camps there are
no church services or Christmas trees.
The festivities are decidedly of a more
hilarious character-music, dancing,
drinking, gambling and the more
noise the better. One hotel nearby
is said to have taken in $1,000 last
night. The saloon keeper is here, of
course, and rakes in the nuggets from
the reckless miners, very much like a
hen gathering her chicks on the near
approach Of a summer storm. The
wine and champagne flows freely at
SIS per bottle. In view Of this ! pre-
fer my own firesides to-day and so
write this letter to the LEDGER. For
our dinner to-day we had moose meat,
tender and nice as a spring chicken or
Missouri turkey, homemade bread,
potatoes called "spuds" herel a stew
made from poultry canned in Gcrma-
ny, and my partner made some deli
cious pumpkin pies from pumpkins
canned in Iowa, and so we had a
Christmas dinner, if not ht for a.
king, at least fit for a "Klondiker.
Since boats have been coming into
Dawson there is a chance to obtain
better food, but prices are still enor-
nous. We had snow on the noun
talns early as August this year, but
winter proper did not set In until
about October 20. Since then we have
had good sleighing and steady cold
weather with the thermometer stand
ing the last three weeks at IS degrees
below zero, with an occasional dart
downwards Of several degrees, by way
OF dlyersion;but everybody goes on with
their work, the same as In mild
weather. There has to be a frozen hand
or limb amputated occasionally, but
this is all taken as a matter of course
and causes but little comment. One
must necessarily be here n or two
seasons before they can know how to
properly take care Of themselves in
this climate. l have no u%neasiness on
this score, as / have been here three
years. lam now what the natives term
a fu~ll-ledged 'sour dough-" The
name comes from the white men bak-
ing bread from yeast which is a novel
idea to the untutored Eskimo" as
well as an altogether unnecessary arti-
Gle Of diet. Since the middle of Mo-
vember | have been rum ng a meat
shop and grocery store here at Caribou
City on Dominion Greek, forty miles
southeast of Dawson. / am a partner
with a Mr.. Barnard, from Montana,
who, by the way, is a relative of Mrs.
T. H. Hicks, of Benton City; we hope
to do fairly well. A good partner is a
necessity here in order to succeed in
any thing. While n Of us attends
store, the other delivers meats and
other provisions along the creeks to
hungry miners. W. are selling beef
steak at 10 cts. per h.; pork and NUT
ton 81 per h.; frozen chicken sl.25 per
h.; eggs sL5O per doz.; other things
correspondingly high. Our delivery
outfit consists of a Yukon sled and a
dog team; four well broken Alaskan
dogs are harnessed and hitched up tol
a sled, in single file, and are driven
without lines. One word from the
driver, "mush on" and they trot off
as obediently as horses would. They
are capable of drawing heavy loads
and are much more desirable in the
winter season than the horse, which is
in great danger of freezing to death,
besides 1t takes $500 to buy even a
pony here, while the same amount
will purchase four good dogs. At the
present prices Of grain out here 1t Will
cost from six to ten dollars per day to
feed a horse, while a dog can be kept
for sl.5O 70 50 per day. Caribou City
is a much higher and healthier lOea-
tion than Dawson. The gold here on
Dominion is Of the very finest quality.
Owing to the introduction Of s much
machinery there is not so much min
ing done in winter as formerly, but
much more in summer and more gold
is taken out per man. The frozen
ground is thawed by means Of steam
joints, so-called; that is, a hollow
tube Of steel with a sharp point is
driven down into the ground or gravel,
this is then connected with a steam
hose. When the steam is turned on it
escapes through small holes, near the
joint, which thaws the ground for a
distance Of three feet on each side.
Usually, three joints can be operated
with one hose. This is still a good
gold producing country, but just how
long It may last no n can tell. The
Canadian Government allows no more
claims taken in the gold bearing
region, as it is known to exist. Wages
are still good and money a be made
here in various other ways outside of
mining, If one has the health and
courage to 'stay with it," There are
several varieties of Arctic birds here
all snow white with plumage com
pletely covering beak and feet. The