Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-10-20
RACING ON THE YUKON.
Cy Warman Tells of River
RivaIries and Betting.
DAWSON TO WHITE HORSE
Undesired Help for Rival Stranded on
Sandbar.
FAMOUS FIVE-FINGER RAPIDS
Four and Half Days Time Because
Superintendent Preferred Mail
to "Brooms"
Written for The Star by Cy warman.

Written for The Star by Cy Warman.
River steamers, like locomotives, may all
look alike, but they are not. Piece for piece,
bolt for bolt, the Victorian was like the
Canadian and the Columbian was precisely
the same, yet the two last-named steamers
would each use hundred dollars worth Of
wood more than the Victorian would burn
on the four days run from Dawson to
White Horse Rapids.
Naturally there was a good deal of jeal-
ousy between the crews Of the three boats.
Not only did the Victorian beat them in
the fuel record, but she outran them all and
carried the broom" which meant to all
the other boats that she was the pacemaker.
But there was some racing, nevertheless.
AS we were coming down the river we met
one Of our sister boats hung high sand
bar. but with new broom nailed to her
flagpole The captain of the Victorian had
expressed the hope that she might wriggle
OF before we reached her, for he did not
care to humiliate her by hauling her from
the bar. That was before he saw the
broom. After that discovery, he bore down
upon her at full speed, wearing cruel
smile and chewing vigorously at the stem of
his big pipe.
They saw us coming We knew that by
the running about, by the frantic signaling to
the men who were taking a line ashore,
quarter of a mile away, and by the furious
whirl OF the wheel. Oh, but she did twist
and wriggle and kick up the sand, but she
couldn't leave the sandbar. The captain,
walking the wide upper deck, waved us
away, but our captain would not under
stand.
We swung alongside threw them a line
which they could not well refuse, seeing
the superintendent was on our boat-drop-
ped down with the current, and the strand
ed boat was afloat again.
Sailing away, we WhiStled them good-by,
but they made no answer.
Still Another Broom.
From this stranded boat, and others that
we spoke going down, we learned that
rival company was on the river with fly
steamer that was claiming record of three
days and something to the rapids. When
we reached Dawson we found this rapid
runner with still another broom. There
we're three champions on the run now.
In less than an hour from the time We
landed our crew had wagered all their
papers were full of defies and notices of
thousands Of dollars deposited here and
there to be covered by the opposition boat
and won lost in time race to White
Horse. Betting on the turn of a card was
not even pleasurable pastne now. In all
the gambling halls men were putting their
money on one or the other of the river
racers.
All this betting and bluffing gave rise to
rumor that the Victorian, on the up trip,
would try to make run that would shut
off all argument. The officials of the COM
pany said there would be no race, but Off
Gals always say that. -.rE ,,--
The crew were all nervously alert. For
canvas had been screaming that the Vic
torian would sail at pm. Wednesday.
At go every man Of the crew was at his
post At 1:55 the general manager of the
l{,,n nj oct Of fbn
ngs. He opened his watch. / spoke to
him, but he made no answer. All the people
who hadN come to say good-by to friends
had been hustled ashore. a.
AS the last second licked off the captain
above us called to the men to cast off, and
Immediately the boat began to drop down
stream, drifting slowly from the wharf.
When she was two or three feet from the
landing pretty woman came running
down the sloping bank, lifted her skirts
the least BIT and, without Stacking her
pace, leaped gracefully aboard.
The great crowd cheered wildly as the
pretty woman turned and kissed her hand
to her father, who had followed her down
to the boat to say good-by.
At Klondike City we touched again, only
for moment. and here. too, people were
coming at the last minute to take the boat.
Now, with long good-by, we steamed
away on a 45O-mile run to the White
Horse. 1t is all up stream. At places we
must go against a f1ve-mile current. At
one place we must catch hold Of steel
cable and haul ourselves over the rapids.
Doing Her Best.
We knew by the culver of the boat and
the beat Of the engines that she was doing
her best. Each hour from the moment we
left she burned cord of wood that cost
the company So. A hundred hours a hun
bred cords-$sOO to $1,000 for fuel was one
Of the items that cut deeply into the earn
ings.
Four days and four nights she pounded
away, stopping only when it was necessary
to take on wood or pick up the mail at the
mounted police stations Many craft were
floating down the NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. RATS
of logs and scows laden with freight of all
sorts.
Now and then we passed steamer hung
up high and dry on a sandbar. -
1t was O'Clock one morning, but the sun
was shining brilliantly, when we reached
the famous Five-finger Rapids. It is thrill
ing to stand on the upper deck and watch
them drop a boat down this chute, but it is
a little less interesting to see her push her
nose slowly up into the swift, narrow
stream. When she has, gone as far as she
steel cable that is made fast far up the
river, and begins to draw herself up through
the narrows.
the center Of the stream that rushes by SO
smoothly that it looks, in the shadow of
the wall, to be perfectly still, like the
stream that flows from the nozzle of fire
hose Only where it strikes and splits on
her nose we see how rapidly the river runs.
Bow Begins to Lift.
When she Is half way through, just at
the swiftest and narrowest point-when we
can scarcely see whether she is moving at
all-her bow begins to lift. When she is
over the crest her nose comes down again
and her wheel goes out of the wafer. Then,
being perfectly helpless, she has to be drag
ged bodily up to the level surface of the
wide pool of still water, when her stern
settles down and her wheel begins to work
again.
Not many people are seen on the banks
Once in a while we pass rude scaffold
upon which salmon are drying and we know
by that token that a Siwash Is somewhere
near.
At dusk one day we passed quite vii
lage. The Indians all wore clothes, the
women shawls or blankets some Of them
very bright and clean looking. They ran
LIZ 4l.a foxr half y