The Alaska prospector., 1902-06-26


 kinds and conditions of people. from the -four corners of the earth" :" and they came in every imaginable kind of water craft known to man. kind. They brought with them every conceivable device that the human mind could devise for the purpose of helping them to find the precious metal, and in most cases the inspiration for making them must have come from the devil as they were intolerance rather than a help to the prospector.
 All manner, styles, species, sorts and descriptions of edibles, wearing apparel, modes of conveyance, gold finding and gold saving devices and other paraphernalia that the cum ming and crafty merchant of San Francisco and Seattle could unload on the un suspecting checacho, was bought and shipped to Alaska at exhorbitant freight rates, and the boats were crowded and over loaded in defiance of law. The poor ''land lubbers" were crowded into ill smelling, filthy, unsafe and unsound vessels, and all kinds of indignities were heaped upon them.
 The people were mad. Reports of the wonderful richness of the Klon- dike, the Copper river and Alaska in general, were in every news paper in the world and in most cases the reports were exaggerated. It meant fortunes for the tranSpor- tation companies, merchants and. outtitters, and they helped to boom the country in glaring advertis- ments and in many other ways. Expeditions of all kinds were or ganized for the new Fl Dorado. Good positions were given up. Businesses were closed out, homes mortgaged, families broken up or deserted by husband and father in order to go to Alaska and gain wealth.
 In San Francisco there was the greatest rush of business since the tifties, and the crafty merchant brought out his moldy goods that had been stored away for decade, brushed and cleaned them up, put on new fables. and sold them to the unsuspecting tenderfoot who they never expected to either see again or do any further business with. It was difficult to find an honest firm in that great city where a bill of goods could be bought, and the purchaser get what he paid for. Even if he stood over the clerks and watched them, some article would either be left out or an infer for one substituted. For this reason more than any other San Francisco lost the Alaska trade.
 Seattle was dead when the Alas ka gold excitement broke out, but she soon awOke from her lethargy and put on new life and energy. Not being as large as San Fran cisco, Seattle soon got rid of the old moth eaten clothing, musty and stale provisions and other old trash that had been laying around since the great fire in 1889. Then she began to awaken to the fact that the new mining industry in the far North was to be perma- nent thing, and if she desired to hold and control the Alaska trade, her merchants must handle the best of goods and deal fairly with the Alaska people. This she soon began to do and today does the bulk of the Alaska business.
 Tacoma sold but few goods in the early days, and generally gave satisfaction. Portland, not being in the direct line of ocean travel to Alaska and not seeming to care for the trade, sold less.
 So, with few exceptions, the first rush of gold seekers came laden down with lot of "stuff," and were not to blame. The merchant had been to Alaska and knew just what