The Alaska daily empire., 1920-10-07
5 YUKON VESSELS
STRANDED IN |CE;.
TRAVELLERS STUCK
Early Yukon Freeze Catches
Boats Unawares; No Hope
OF Reaching Dawson.
LAND TRAIL ONLY OUT
Women and Children Facing
Rough Overland Trip to
Win Way Outside.

Every steamer of the American
Yukon Navigation Company now be-
low Dawson are frozen in on the
Yukon River and probably will not
be able to reach their destination
at Dawson, according to reports re-
ceived here today. Four river steam
ers and one large gas-powered mail
boat are stuck in the stretch of
the Yukon between Dawson and
Tanana, at least three of which have
passengers aboard bound for the
States. No fears are entertained for
their safety.
The two largest passenger steam
ers of the company, the Alaska and
Yukon, have been forced to stop at
Tanana on account of ice conditions
and low water. One of them, the
Alaska, is reported to be trying to
make Rampant to relieve 80 passen-
gers aboard a third vessel, the Sc
attic No. 8. A smaller steamer. the
Washburn, and the mail boat Kestrel,
are both reported to have passed
CiiSic but nave 5O itif ldiiSuf W T0tt a.
the next point of communication on
the river at Eagle. sa.
Conditions Unfavorable , aa
Conditions on the Yukon are res
ported to be very unfavorable. in
fact, even worse than those existing
last season, when two of the boats.
after fight against the ice for sew
eral days, finally succeeded in win
ming through several jams and 20
Dawson. The situation Is said 10
be complicated this year by an ex-
treme stage of low water prevalent
on both the Yukon river and side
streams.
There are passengers on the AL
aska Yukon and Seattle No. 3. but
whether others are on the Washburn
and Kestrel is not known. The first
two named were scheduled to sail
from Nenana on October l, with the
last outbound passengers by the river
route from the Interior.
May Use Trail Route
1t is reported that the Alaska ard
Yukon both will go into winter quar-
ters at Tanana, it being consider I'D
useless to attempt to buck the ice
run and low vater from there 70
Dawson If the Alaska succeeds IN
getting the passengers frcm the Sc
attic No. 3, back to Tanana, it may
| be possible to send them all back to
Fairbanks in small gas boats and
| from thence over the trail to the
coast No great Inconvenience is
anticipated to those aboard any of
the ships as everything they need In
the way of food and other supplies
will be available at either Rampant
or Tanana.
River Route improbable
1t is believed that the downriver
route from Tanana to st. Michael
will not offer any solution to the
difficulty The Victoria is the only
outbound boat scheduled to sail from
Seward Peninsula points and is al
ready more than booked to capacity
| for its last trip from Nome on Oct
ober Is
| In case it proves impossible to
transfer the passengers from Tanana
TO Fairbanks by small boats. those
who are familiar with conditions
say that it will be necessary to
make a hard overland trip over rough
trails for a distance of 275 miles to
Fairbanks This trip, 1t is believed,
would be almost impossible for wonl-
en- and children before sufficient
snow has fallen to make shedding
possible. which may not be before
some time in November.