The sun., 1903-02-22
PROGRESS or DAWSON CITY.
II ID Becoming Less OF Mining Camp and
More Of . Civilized Town.


More Of . Civilized Town.
According to the latest official informa-
ton Dawson City Is being transformed
into a town with q good deal OF general
business beside golo mining and Is acquir-
ing a settled and . civilized aspect.
There are now five miles Of macadamized
streets In the city. The settled population
is about seven thousand. nearly half OF
the total population Of the Klondike mining
district. Two hundred of the Canada,
Mounted Police maintain order.
Tho Catholics. Episcopalians, Presby-
terians, Methodists and Salvation Army all
have we'll built places Of worship. Five
small hospitals are maintained for the
sick. Three daily newspapers are pub
lished, thirty.three lawyers practi e in the
courts, three theatres afford amusement
and there arc four mutual benefit societies.
Three companies with twenty-three
steamers give facilities for freight and
passengers on the upper Yukon, and eight
other steamboat companies with forty
one steamers handle the traffic Of the river
between Dawson and the sea.
There has been large drop In the prices
Of many commodities as the facilities for
transportation between Dawson and the
ocean have improved. Coffee is now sold
at so cents a pound. canned meats at 80
cents a can, fresh beefs the cattle being
driven into the country at the very low
price OF rs cents q pound, pork and fish at
so cents a pound. butter IS cents a pound.
eggs at so cents q dozen, potatoes at $50
a bushel, and oranges at SO cents q dozen.
On the whole, however. living. judged by
our standards Is still very dear. Many
cigars sell as high as a dollar apiece.
The wages of miners is 81 day, and
even at this rate their savings are not
very large. 1t was estimated that in 1901
the averag, purchasing power OF 81 in
east ,rn Canada was equal to that OF - at
Dawson. The ratio in 1902 was estimated
at 81 to q so, showing that the high prices
at Dawson are gradually decreasing.
The smallest piece OF money that has
currency in the Klondike is rs cents. The
daily papers are smaller than the one cent
papers OF eastern Canada. but they sell
for rs cents a number. 81 by the month
and $40 by the year. payable in advance.
A wcI-known person in Dawson. who
recently said that the period OF fancy
prices had now passed away forever, was
compelled to admit that he had just paid
a quarter OF dollar for pair Of ordinary
shoestrings.
Rents are still very high. An Office
which in eastern Canada would be rented
for $50 a month costs $3.50 on the klondike.
A table waitress receives 500 a month
and maid Of all work earns from SIS to
Si25 a month.
Hotel charges are high. but not exor-
bitant for this out-of-the-way part Of the
world A small room costs S2 so q day,
breakfast and lunch are served at rs cents
each, dinner at 81, and the meals are better
than might be expected 40 far away in the
wilderness.
1t il probable that for many years the
Klondike region will be very important
in the gold industry. though 1t may never
again equal its past annual record. The
placers Of the Klondike yielded according
to official figures in 1897 S2,2j0 900 with
no machinery and no roads, so that trans
portation was very difficult. The output
in 1898 was $40 Oo0. 900 and in 1899 SIC 900 600.
In 1900. thanks TO the employment OF
machinery and to the facilities given by
many well built roads. the placers turned
out S22 275 900. All the other gold centres
Of Canada in that year yielded only
Se,OOo.Ooo,
The gold product OF the Klondike In
1901 amounted to 81 600 .ooo which was
81, 900 900 more than the output from all
our gold mines in Alaska during the same
year It Ia not expected that the Klondike
production Ia 1902 will equal that of 1901.
for no new discovery Of gold was made
during the year.
1t was due entirely to the wonderful de-
velopment Of gold mining in the Klondike
that Canada attained in 1901 the third place
among the gold producing countries. II
was surpassed only by the United States
with SIS. .eSs, 700 and Australia with S75,-
2s3 200. and took it's place in advance Of
Russia. which mined S23. 600 800.
The Klondike in the first three years after
it's discovery yielded one hundred times more
gold than the Witwatersrand in the first
three years after gold was found in tina,
remarkable region, and nothing is more
certain than that We have not yet begun
to fathom the wonderful mineral wealth
Of Alaska and tho other northern parts of
North Amerios
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