The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-08-04
Louis SakS, c1o1n1ez Q 1he Whole Family

| tect you from the open sea, and 1t was hard to believe that we were on salt wa | ter; it seemed like a great river. Van | couver Island alone is almost 300 miles | long. Almost the entire trip was between mountains capped with snow and we vis- ited the great Taku Glacier and saw ice bergs being formed from the glacier where l 1t emptied into the sea. All the noun tains up to about 4000 feet were covered with timber and in this barren region | there is a future resource in this respect | that will last the Pacific country for | great many years, and I was informed that Oregon pine was shipped as far east as Pittsburg, and that they were now | building coal boats out of it to ship coal | from Pittsburg to New Orleans. We sailed for hundreds of miles through an | absolute wilderness, even the interior or VancouNer Island is almost unknown
 Coal Is abundant in this country, but | not first class in quality, still it is great l boon for the mining interests.
 Alaska -TreadweIl Mines.
 we visited the Alaska-Treadwell mines and saw five hundred and fifty stamps | at work crushing the ore They mine | four thousand tons a day and handle this | ore profitably although 1t Is yielding less | than two dollars per ton in gold while they pay labor three dollars and fifty cents per day. The vein is very large and everything is worked in the most scientific manner and with the best labor saving machinery that can be devised, | Reaching Skaguay we took the tra1n on the White Pass and Yukon railroad. This is a little narrow gauge line that goes over White Pass rising about thirty five hundred feet in twenty miles. It took three engines to carry up seven pas l senger coaches, and one can judge of the grade from this. At White Pass, twenty one miles out the cars pass from Alaska into British territory. The road is no miles long and terminates at White Horse, | which Is on the upper waters or the l Yukon river. The scenery up to the White Pass is as grand and beautiful as any | where in the world. I was informed that the cost of carrying freight over this line of the road was $60 ton. At White Pass, after being the recipients of ban quet which lasted until 2:30 o'clock in the morning, and yet was adjourned in daylight, we took steamer and went down the great Yukon for two days through fine scenery, but not near as grand as that which we had passed through, arriving at aDwson at night and still in daylight
 Dawson's Attractlveness.
 
 where perfect order is maintained by the admirable system of the Canadian mount ed police, and is the center of the great gold producing region, which we know as the 'Klondike.' We were delightfully."- entertained during our visit here and drove all over the various creeks: Bo- | nanza creek, Eldorado creek, etc, and were pointed out claims that were only five hundred feet long and which had | produced one million and a half of gold and were still productive. This region in eight years has turned out one hundred and ten million dollars in gold. The op- portunity for the individual Is very large ly lacking in this region. That which is left here is mainly fine gold distributed through the gravel and it will take cap ital to bring water from the mountains to wash it. 1 have no doubt that this re zion will produce many millions still but 1t will be done by large corporations and not by individual effort. Wages are high and the miner receives seven dollars a day where he boards hmselS and five dollars with board. man and a horse were worth twelve dollars a day. The cost of eggs were fifty cents each and hay was eighty-five dollars ton, news papers brought twenty-five cents each. talked with some of the citizens about these big prices. and they remarked that 1t didn't make any difference about them selves, but when the stranger came there they got his gold.
 Police System.
 One of the most remarkable things to an outsider was the magnificent order maintained here. People don't even lock the house doors at night, and 1 am told that this is so wherever the Canadian mounted police are in control. They dif- fer entirely from our method of handling crime, because the police themselves have magisterial powers and can not only ar rest but can try and convict without the intervention of any civil courts. Of course this is limited to minor crimes, but it enables them to act instantly when a disturbance occurs. These police have a military organization and many of the officers are from the regular British army. and they pensioned after a reason able term of service. The whole corps seems to be admirably managed. The judges are appointed for life and are paid SIC, 900 a year. and this removes the ques- ton of punishment and trial entirely from political control. Too much cannot be said about this feature of life In the Canadian district, because I am informed quite the reverse in the case in Ameri- can colonies of Alaska, not far away.
 One thing worried Us considerably and that was when to go to sleep. While we were in Dawson the sun set at 11:30 at night and rose at 12:lo. and you would not know that there was any twilight. If person wants to realize what the 24- hour day Is you can find it right there.
 ''The flowers are beautiful in the woods, and the lettuce and vegetables grow in great profusion. Theyh ave "A hours of sunlight to grow in and they make double time
 Not Equal to Birmingham.
 T find that minors ali over this great western mining country have a great many more things to conquer than we have in this district. That most of the mines are at the most inaccessible heights conceivable. They have had to build rail- roads to get the ore down. and invest large amounts of capital to bring the nec- essary machinery and start these mines before cent could be realized. All this in the fact of an adverse climate and yet the average yield of the mining interests proper outside of the placer deposits were no richer than we have right here in Alabama, and I was profoundly impress ed with the fact that our own resources