IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 1.25 ,-.: mi IM 11 AO 1.4 IIIIIM IM 1.6 Vi rf" ^;. ;> c» /^ r Photographic Sciences Corporation ^: ^^ S s ,v '^ \ •(^ '^P^fi^ C^ \j "% V a WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872 4503 CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical IVIicroreproductions Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques 1980 i Technical and Bibliographic Notes/Notes techniques . v-^-'ii- I'll i ' i i I I ^p'*; VfV( '**»*«,- K/ ■ ;.•*? AM/-^ ^i^-*:^^;. • '< v^Bbt0red|itihePOstotteefttCy4)«te-„«««M4«^MbijbtW^^~''^^ ^■!»ftt*«I^P-- X :x- 4 ./ ' V '''•' ...-^ •i "•^SKi*-*. t^ i N ^t^tmXWlVO'rtltS T^Km OyiElftAND RQUTES from JUNEAU TO FIVE FIMeKK lAtlQS ON THE LEWteS )ti\^[m« WHIC|I JOINING WITH THE PELI*y RIVER AT FORT SEfclEMiiL IIAKES The YUkJN RIVER. ^, ^ anted brIiielkqiMlrtmmt Of jA»bi4i«i|or«(^ V ^m. iwsfe ^-p [•\mKtmmMv mmimii 'mmm'>'f wmfi^i,. 'umi^K-: - m^Mms^: I is I -!" '' .rl '■W'Zim^'¥^^f^ 4flBiN>v'?^ ;'•• » :^i ^Y < o yi *as u H 03 ■MPVMHMMH 1 vV. ;<:? .si 1 V.'; H ' ^ I 1 V ■''< ,;.;,< I ■.'Jl 'i , if;:- ■■•» H u a. C b P. THE OFFICIAL GUIDE / *» TO THE KLONDYKE COUNTRY AND THE -J U DC U OS c b •T. u: ». (U X Gold Fields of Alaska With the Official Maps ^ro/use^y Siiusiratecl is . ' ■ ,.:• VIVID DESCRIPTIONS AND TlfelLLING EXPERIENCES THE MOST COMPLETE AND THOROUGHLY EXHAUSTIVE COL LECTION OF EVERY KNOWN INFORMATION NECESSARY TO A FULL REALIZATION OF THE IMMENSE RESOURCES OF THE COLD FIELDS OF ALASKA, AND REPLETE WITH AUTHENTIC INSTRUCTIONS REGARD- ING HOW TO GET THERE, WHEN TO GO, AND WHAT TO DO WHEN THE NEW ELDORADO OF THE GREAT NORTHWEST ' : . : IS REACHED ^^m w CHIOflOO: W. B. OONKEY COMPrtNY, Publishers, 1397 A ^^^^^am^mm , k .; 5 r Vi.~.^ Ks 0^5 213970 0(k Entsred according to act of Congress, In the year 1897, by W. B, CON KEY COMPANY. In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. Al-L RIQHTS HESCRVCa ■■]...,; i ii I .J t ■■■'■ !■' t' Uv' fi' PuBusHCRS' Notice. ^%M^tfV^MM^ Scarcely a word of explanation seems called for as to the issue of this Guide at the present time. The vast majority of books are launched into the world with a kind of half apology for their coming. Only a few can be said to appear in fulfillment of a public need. If ever there was a book issued to meet a genu- ine want and in response to a general demand it is the volume now in the hands of the reader. The name of "Klondyke" has suddenly become a talisman. The gold of the Yukon valley is in the thought and on the lips of the entire people. The brain and brawn of the country are joining in a rush for wealth to the Alaskan wilderness. Meanwhile our new treasure- house is comparatively unknown. The information concerning it is scant and scattered. This Guide pre- sents all there is that can be regarded as useful and trustworthy. It has been specially prepared for the use of intending gold-seekers. Tnere is living and re- liable authority at the back of almost every statement. Even here we must express our thanks for the facts g^ven by transportation companies and by others who hdve official relations with Alaska. The maps themselves indicate the official source from which they were obtained, and the illustra tions arc all true photographic reproductions. ,•'»;■ '' ^ \ nwTi •^■T'/T^'.-^iM.jl'lJUttl^ttMBWgBW ■. '^-V-''-: "■.■"?'>'•*-" V- .'.Si;..'."*'-*-'. .,_vt^Vr('.':-N^i ', ^, ^^ ♦ i>i ■'M ffiltli^^ '^•m^'^^iM^.^i'tmiti^^i^: CONTENTS. \ CHAPTER I. PAOi The Days of 97 21 CHAPTER H. rhcGold Fever 51 CHAPTER III. Discovery and Location of Klondyke 78 CHAPTER IV. At the Klondyke Mines 104 CHAPTER V. Romance of the Mines 145 CHAPTER VI. Life at Dawson City 183 CHAPTER Vn. To the Klondyke by Water 207 CHAPTER VIII. Overland to the Klondyke 221 CHAPTER IX. Transportation — Past, Present and Future 240 CHAPTER X. The Two Governments 258 CHAPTER XL The Territory of Alaska 276 ^ CHAPTER XII. Resources of Alaska 284 -:■?■ \1 1 i s ■ F '■'■'■ "'.. "'if. - -^^^ 1 ' I^^K-^ ■■•■;-".-.' ^^^k'' "B . 1 i' .'■'■■■'.-■ "• ' -S: /■ ' ' ':'tH i V 1 f ;•;■-■. ' , ' , . , ; ' -S ■•''■■'' "";■ '^B 1 /;. ■■ ,.L' 1 ■' ■ • - . .^ ; -rj. ■■',. "* ' . .'Siiiv^ -I I ! I. ■'• i ■ •■ ( s - '^l^^^^Hsf' 1 '» .... .J..,.™g™KC :JB 1 ■ ii''„y.. ■ . ' ■ .^jaj^ji^AJHj&L '^^B &,'••.'>-; ■ ■ J '^'i iJl^lH^^^K'^ <.^H 1 •■ ; ■■■ ' Va^^^^^^^Kv S . .; ''; ^ -^^m- 1 :'', 'V 1 ', M , * ^H 1 ! i/ ^B :i 1 n^^g iris ! J. ■ • '^WW^ ■''^» 1 i /..Mggj^aa^ ^g^^^ w > 1 1 ,1 H ^^^^^^^^^^Hf-' ■ «■ ^^^hF^'' ' ;^r' -)'; '-'^^^K' -^ J 1^ ■f ■ ''■^;V' i:^$|*j;« ^1 LIST or MAPS. ^^^^>^^^»^ North American Transportation Company's Map of Alaska and route by steamer to the Yukon gold fields. Map showing the three overland routes from Juneau to Lewes river and the gold fields, by the Department of the Interior of the Dominion of Canada. Map of Yukon river and its tributaries, by the Department of the interior of the Dominion of Canada. Map of North America. Map of Klondyke river and its affluents, by th. Department of the Interior of the Dominion of Canada. Map of Alaska, showing known area of gold-producing rock in 1896, by J. Edward Spurr, U. S. Geological Survey. Map of the gold fields of the Northwest. \ ', UST or lUUSTRATIONS. TMM, Buster's 40-Milc Favorite 9 Supplies for Circle City 10 Saw Mill, Head of Lake Bennett 19 Russian Mission, Lower River 20 Crossing Dyea River 37 Placer Mining, Miller Creek 3P 40-Mile from Across Creek 47 Group of Indian Children, Lower River 48 First Meal After Leaving Dyea ... 57 Steamer F. B. Weare 58 Start of Raft on Lake Lindeman 75 Opening Up of a Claim 76 Bonanza Creek Valley 79 Juneau. Bird's-eye View 85 Building The White Horse 86 Wooding Station, Lower River 95 Group of 40-Mile Miners , . 96 Fort Cudahy Warehouses 113 Steamer Sea Lion, Litauya Bay 114 Dog Team 123 Pelly Indians 124 Group (if Miller Creek Indians 133 Steamt r Arctic 134 Mr. Clarence Berry .• 146 Mrs. Clarence Berry 148 Mission, Fort Selkirk 151 60-Mile Post 152 Canoes and Indian Village, Litauya Bay 161 Group of Esquimaux, St. Lawrence Island 162 Camp Life 171 Trading Scene on Lake Le Barge 172 Joseph Ladue's Home 186 Yakuiat 189 Caught in the Ice 190 Indians Near Mouth of Yukon 199 Kadiak 200 Joseph Ladue 206 Working Outfit 220 M i Id U u ■fi ■^r CHAPTER I. THE DAYS OF '97. "Klondyke or Bust"— Richest the World Has Known — Compared with "the Days of '49" — Poor Mar\'s Mines — On to the Klondyke — "Tenderfeet" Are Winners — Made $1,000 in a Day — Big Wages for Laborers— Has All the Gold He Wants— "Che- chockoes" — The Craze — The Luck of a BoN' — Pan- ning in the Cabins — A Happy Scotchman — Misfor- tune Made Hestwood Rich — Stanley Struck It Warm — A Thousand in a Pan — Found It in Clear Water — A Lot of Lucky Ones — London Gets the Fever — Tacoma Goes Wild — Wall Street Has It — The Mining Exchange Crazy — JMany Syndicates Proposed — Keene and the . I'ondyke — British Co- lumbia Excited — More Argonauts Sail Away — Joanquin Speaks Again — Going on a Bet. This country has been seized with the gold fever many times in the last fifty years, but never since the yellow particles were first found in the Sacramento Valley has there been any such widespread interest as is now displayed over the Yukon discoveries. Men, and even women, talk of little else. In nearly every city parties are being organized to invade the Klon- dyke district. Experienced miners who have spent years in Alaska advise them that the road is beset with hardships, that cold and hunger and probably death, await many of those who go there at the wrong season of the year, but this friendly counsel has no effect in stemming the rush. » OFFICIAL GUIDB TO THB KLONDTKB COUNTRY Corrobprative evidence of the richness of the new fields was received in Seattle in the shape of $2,000,000 worth of gold dust, and now the cry of "Klondyke or Bust" is raised in all parts of the land. There is noth- ing like the sight of gold to incite a desire for posses- sion of it. People will read with calmness of rich discoveries in various sections of the world so long as the actual product itself is not handed out for inspec- tion, but when the nuggets and dust are passed around the craze strikes in deep and lasting. This is the secret of the present Klondyke excitement. For years it has been known there was gold in the Yukon country, but it was not until an immense lot of it was brought back by successful prospectors that the people generally were seized with the determina- tion to get some of it. RICHEST THE WORLD HAS KNOWN. The United States Government in 1867 paid Russia $7,200,000 for the Territory of Alaska. Alaska has paid back her purchase money in gold four times, having produced during the time it has been a part of the United States about $30,000,000 of the precious yellow metal. ' Today the eyes of the world are turned toward our frozen acquisition in the North, for within its borders has been discovered an Eldorado, seemingly "richer than Pluto's mine." Not long ago the word Klon- dyke, literally translated as Deer River, was known only to geographers and a few miners on the Yukon ; today it is on every tongue and is known as the desig- nation, if the reports be but half true, for a gold- bearing district greater in area and richer in character than any the world has known, with the possible ex- JikT^ AND THS GOLD FlBliOS OF ALASKA. S ception of California. Klondyke is the new c^en sesame to Aladdin's cave; it supplants "Pike's Peak or Bust" in the gold-seeker's vernacular. "The days of '97" may become as celebrated a phrase as "the days of '49," for the same fever that seized upon the people and dotted the Western prairies with emigrant trains bound for the Pacific Coast is now claiming victims by the thousands, all eager to brave the perils of the Arctic circle and wrest a fortune from the frozen zone. COMPARED WITH "THE DAYS OF '49. >» The reported gold discoveries of the present day in Alaska and the reported gold discoveries of '49 in California afford many parallels. To the average man the treasures of the Coast State were seemingly as inaccessible as are the riches of the Yukon and its tributaries. One was more than 2,000 miles across a trackless desert and over snow-bound mountain passes, beset by savages, whose deadly attacks marked the trail with bleaching bones across the Western States; the other is nearly 7,000 miles by water, through a rigorous climate, or almost 4,000 miles by land and water, with mountain passes to scale as dan- gerous as those of the Swiss Alps. The fabulous tales of wealth sent out by the Califor- nia pioneers were no less wonderful than those brought bade by the men who braved the last cold season in the Klondyke mineral belt, and in both cases those who returned brought back with them great nuggets of the precious stuff that left little or no doubt in the mind of the hearer. The CaHfornia miner in the song who had «o many nuggets that he was accus- tomed to "go a hatful blind" finds his parallel in the Yukon miner who claims to have "washed out" $212 31 OFFICIAL GUIDE TO THIS KLONDTKB COUNTilT in one panful of dirt — z process that requires ten or twelve minutes. POOR MAN'S MINES. The Alaska and California gold fields are alike also in being placer mines. Placer mining is commonly called "poor man's mining," for the reason that it is done without machinery, while the implements re- quired in the work are few and of small cost. A placer miner can get along very well with a pick, shovel and gold pan. If the dirt is not rich he can accomplish better results by running it through a sluice box, but where the yield is in nuggets instead of fine gold he prefers to "pan" it. The great Klondyke strike was made nine months ago, but nothing was known of it in the United States , until June 15, when a vessel called the Excelsior arrived in San Francisco laden with miners from the Klondyke, who in turn were L»den with gold. They told almost incredible tciles of the richness of the newly discovered district, where fortunes had been accumulated in a few months. Experienced miners and "tenderfeet" seemed to have shared good fortune alike, and with some justice, too, for the credit of the discovery of the new gold fields is due to the inexpe- rienced men. Another vessel brought to Seattle a second party of successful prospectors and a ton and a half of gold. These men had endured peril and undergone great hardships in accumulating the fortunes they brought, and they told a story that had a dark as well as a bright side. To follow their example means a risk of wealth, health and even life, but for those who are willing to take the chances the prospect they hold out is alluring. AND TfiB GOUD FIELDS OP AUUIKA. ON TO THE KLONDYKE. When gold can be picked up in heavy tiuggets, peo- ple who want to gather it in its native state, turn in- stantly from the slower processes of milling, crushing, smelting and all that, to placers when they hear of a region where the yellow stuff "pans big." Hence, at this moment throughout the world the cry and the act are "On to the Klondyke." The steamer Portland arrived at Seattle, on Puget Sound, July 17, 1897. Revelations from on board set Seattle City stark mad, and the crLze has spread over the civilized earth. The Portland came from St. Michael's, Alaska, at the mouth of the Yukon, with at least a million and a quarter in gold dust as freight and sixty-eight miners aboard. . . Some of the miners had $75,000, and not one of them has less than $5,000, every dollar of which has been taken from the Klondyke within the year, and most of these men, with a competency now in their hands, have claims in that fabulously rich region that almost beyond doubt will net them hundreds of thous- ands more. In the captain's cabin were three chests and a large safe filled with the precious nuggets, most of it taken out of the ground in less than three months of last winter. In size the nuggets range from that of a pea to a guinea hen's tgg. "TENDERFEET" ARE WINNERS." One peculiar feature to be noticed is that the big strikes were made by "tenderfeet," while the old miners of many years' experience, after suffering inde- scribable hardships and privations in Alaska and the =i ■iiS r-' 29 OFFICIAL aUIDB TO THB KLONDTKB! OOtJNTRT Northwest Territory, had only a few thousand dollars to show for their labor. Fortune seemed to smile on the inexperienced men who went into the mining dis- tricts late last year, as nearly all of them were the most fortunate. Instances are noted where single individuals have taken out, in tv o and a half months, gold to the value of over $150,000. Clarence Berry is regarded as the luckiest man on the Klondyke. With a miner it is all luck; nothing else. Ten months ago Mr. Berry was a poor miner, $5,000 in debt, but new he is returned to his home in Fresno, Cal., with $130,000 in gold nuggets and a claim in the Klondyke that will yet produce untold wealth. He said rather modestly: "Yes, I've been rather fortunate. Last winter I took out $130,000 in thirty box lengths. A box length is 12 by 15 feet, and in one length I found $to,ooo. Another time the sec- ond largest nugget ever found in the Yukon was taken out in my claim. It weighed thirteen ounces and was worth $231. MADE $1,000 A DAY. "I have known men to take out $1,000 a day from a drift claim. Of course the gold was found in pock- ets, and those finds, you can rest assured, were very scarce. I would not advise a man to take an outfit that would cost less than $500. He must expect to be disappointed, and the chances are that he may pros- pect for years without finding a paying claim, and again he may be lucky enough to strike it rich. "The country is wild, rough and full of hardships for those unused to the rigors of Arctic winters. If a man makes a fortune he is liable to earn it by severe hardship and sufferings. But grit, perseverance and AND TKB OOLD FIELDS OF ALASKA. luck will probably reward a hard worker with a com- fortable income for life." Inspector Strickland of the Canadian mounted po- lice has returned to Ottawa on official business. His statements were guarded and conservative. He said there were only two mining districts in what is known as the Klondyke section, and they are called the "Hunker" and "Bonanza" districts. He added: "When I left Dawson City a month ago there were 800 claims staked out, and there were between 2,000 and 3,000 people there. We can safely say that there was about $1,500,000 in gold mined last winter. The wages in the mines were $15 a day, and the saw mill paid laborers $10 a day. BIG WAGES FOR LABORERS. "The claims now staked out will, afford employment for about 5,000 men. If a man is strong, healthy and wants to work, he can find employment at good wages. Several men worked on an interest or what is termed a 'lay,' and during the winter realized from $5,000 to $10,000 each. The mines arc from thirty-five to lOO miles from the Alaska boundary." William Stanley, of Seattle, was among the passen- gers. He left his son in charge of his interests in a couple of claims. He went to the Klondyke last year and now returns with nearly $90,000 in gold. Henry Anderson, a native of Sweden, and well known on the Sound, sold a one-half interest in his claim on Eldorado Creek and came back to Seattle • with $45,000 spot cash, the proceeds of the sale. T. J. Kelly and son of Tacoma, went in last year and made $10,000. The son is in charge of the claim and the father was among the Portland's passenger*. ^ t i 1 • i i ■ 1 ; - ■ ' i j ii Itf h f ,r !'. I ! ! M OFFICIAJL OtJIDB TO THB KLONDTKX COUmrRT Richard Blake, o! Dung^ess, has been successful and is coming back to the place where he was born and reared with a big sack full of nuggets. William Sloan, formerly a dry goods merchant of Nanaimo, B. C, sold his claim for $52,000, and with the gold he took from the mine has come back to civilization. HAS ALL THE GOLD HE WANTS. Another man by the name of Wilkenson, of the same city, sold his claim for $40,000, and is back to stay. Bob Strong, of Port Townsend, has a good claim and is in a fair way to make a fortune, but his brother, William G. Strong, was not so fortunate. They are both working on the Eldorado River. Jack Home of Tacoma, formerly a well-known lightweight pugilist of Puget Sound, went to the Klondyke last fall and worked on a "lay,'.' returning with something over $6,000. Frank Kellar, of Los Angeles, brings $3S>ooo. He went in last year, mined during the win- ter and in June sold the claim for that sum. Briefly, such was the story of nearly all the miners. They all had gold, and it was piled about the state- rooms like so much hand baggage. All of the miners laid Q^reat stress on the necessity of taking in plenty of supplies, and say that the proper outfit will cost not less than $500 to each man. "CHECHOCKOES." The captain of the steamer, speaking of the passen- gers, said: "These men are every one what the Yu- koners call 'Chechockoes,' or newcomers, and up to last winter they had nothing. Today you see them wealthy and happy. These fortunate people felt so happy that anything would suffice for them. They s^fpgpfwsfjBW^v ''^■'^fff'^'pf^- ▲ND TRB GOLD r^OTDS OP ALAIKA. H Were grumblers, without a cent in the world, and. nothing on the boat was ' good enough for them. Some of these successful miners do not even own claims. They have been working for other men for $15 a day, and thu& have accumulated small forttmes. Their average on this boat is not less than $10,000 to the man, and the very smallest sack is $3,000. It is held by C A. Branan, of Seattle, a happy young fel- low just 18 years old. There is no country on earth like the Yukon." THE CRAZE. A telegram from Seattle on the date of the Port- land's arrival, said: "This verification of reports of great gCiJ discoveries in Alaska has caused intense excitement. All classes of society are represented in the feverish rush to get north. Men neglect their business and congregate in groups on the streets in excited discussions. Peo- ple are telegraphing friends and relatives to come and join them in the new Eldorado." THE LUCK OF A BOY. The richest strike has been made by a 21 -year-old boy named George Hornblower, of Indianapolis. In the heart of a barren waste known as Boulder Field he found a nugget for which the transportation com- pany gave him $5,700. He located his claim at the find and in four months had taken out over $100,000. The richest section of Alaska, Moss says, is as yet un- developed. It is 100 miles from Klondyke and known as The Black Hole of Calcutta. It is inhabited by ex-convicts of Bohemia, and murders and riots take the place of law and order. A few months ago the «to«»«l|^*^y^.«(tf!4■*«^;^ 4 m owncuxs ampK to trs klondtxs oountrt Klotidyke settlers organized a Justice Committee, and its law prevails there now. With the great crowds preparing to go to the scene now, Moss says, hunger and suffering will be great, when added to other hardships to be overcome by those who survive. Moss returned with $6,000 in dust, and left promptly for his old home at Dubuque, Iowa, where he will spend the balance of his years. PANNING IN THE CABINS. Henry Lamprecht writes from the Klondyke to say that there are miles of rich pay dirt all through the region. Men have taken a tub of water into their cabin and with a pan "panned out" $2,000 in less than a day. This is said to be equal to about $40,000 a day in the summer with sluice boxes. They get from $10 to $100 a pan average and a choice or picked pan as high as $250, and it takes about thirty minutes to wash a pan of dirt. Mr. Lamprecht also reports Circle City deserted. Excited men travel up and down the river and hardly know what to do. Wages have gone up to $15 a day of seven hours at Klondyke. Men will not work for wages any more; they can find ground of their own that will pay wages, and have good chances of finding it rich. Men who had to talk a long time to get their victuals last fall on credit, having not a dollar to pay on their outfit, are rich now, and some of them have opportunities of becoming millionaires. This letter, received July 17, is dated March 24. Only two mails came to Circle City last winter, one being received March 23, which had been on the road from Juneau since January. i! •Sfpff-^'^y* ■ AND TBM qpLP WBLW 09 AY«AliK4 , a HAPPY SCOTCHMAN. Allan McL«od, of Perth, Scotland, came back with $92,500. His hands and feet were tied up in bandages, and his clothing was ragged and dirty as a result of a long sojourn in Alaska. He looked anything but prosperous, yet in his pocket reposed a draft for $92,- 500, and an attendant took care of a deer hide sack heavy with gold nuggets. Mr. McLeod is a baker by trade, a restaurant cook and proprietor by circumstance, a gold miner by acci- dent, and a rich man by luck. Inflammatory rheuma< tism, contracted in the gold fields, made a temporary cripple of him and rendered his journey painful, yet he had a light heart as he pictured the surprise he would give his old friends in Scotland when he landed with his treasure. "I went to Alaska early last summer," said Mr. McLeod, "with a crowd of miners who came up the Sound from San Francisco, I was out of money and work, or I doubt whether I would have accepted the offer they made me to go along as cook. We reached Cook's Inlet June 20, and things looked so discourage ing we went back to Juneau. There we bought sup- plies and started for Dawson City, 750 miles away. We camped there, and I did the cooking for the boys. They did very well, but the gold fever took them farther East, and I remained to cook for another gang of miners. I made good wages, and finally had enough to start a restaurant. In two weeks I sold the place for $5,000 and went placer mining with a half-breed for a partner. **We had good luck from the start, md I would have remained but for a severe attack of inflammatory rheumatism. It would have killed me but for the <^,^;yf:(r,giei ' i > i\ tt OFFICIAL GUIDE TO THE ItLONDTKB COUNTRY nursing of my partner. He carried me most of the way to Juneau, where I got passage on a fishing schooner to 'Frisco. I am satisfied with what I've got in money, and hope to get rid of my rheumatism be- fore long. Great fortunes are being found by many men, and no one knows the extent of the gold fields that are constantly developing." MISFORTUNE MADE HESTWOOD RICH. J. O. Hestwood, of Seattle, is a typical returned Argonaut. He is a small man, weighing not over 140 pounds, and has light blue eyes, clear skin, and a firm square jaw. He has been a preacher, teacher and lecturer, having delivered lectures all over the Coast of Alaska to pay his way up there. He spent three years in the territory before his great opportunity came. He was at Glacier Creek when the news was brought down of the immense strike on Bonanza Creek. Here is his story in his own words, which gives an admirable idea of the way the mines are worked : "With hundreds I rushed to the new fields. After a few days I became disgusted and started to leave the country. I had gone only a short distance down the river when my boat got stuck in the ice and I was forced to foot it back to Dawson City. "Well, it was Providence that did that. I purchased claim No. 60, below Discovery claim, and it proved one of the richest pieces of ground in the district. My claim will average 16 or 17 cents to the pan, and in addition to what I have already taken out, there is at least $250,000 in sight. Last season I worked thirty men, and I intend to employ more next year. "Our manner of reaching gold is simple and not par- ticularly expensive when one considers returns, Huge «fc4. M .■':M '-'^H 4^IH »?^^3^lp^^?l(f^pf^^H^^^ ,i 1 ® ▲ND THB COLD FIXLSW OF ALABKA.. « fires are built over ground, and when it is thawed out men set to work. The frost is so hard, however, that the biggest fire thaws the ground for only one foot. STANLEY STRUCK IT WARM. William Stanley is one of the fortunate ones who returned on the Portland. He belonged in Seattle, and when he got back among the people who used to help him by giving him lo or 15 cents to support his wife and several children, they could hardly realize it. At the closing of an interview, he said: "When we had taken out the last of the $112,000, I threw down my pick and, turning my eyes heaven^ ward, said: *Good-by, old friend, I will never pick you up again,' and I spoke the truth. "I love gold and I have it. Many times in my life the wolf has been close to the door. Now I have riches and will never work again, but in March I will go back and manage our properties." In addition to his present fortune, he is interested with his son and two New Yorkers in claims which, he says, will yield $2,000,000. During his absence in the far north the family struggled to eke out an existence, for everything that Stanley had went to pay his expenses to the gold fields. Stanley is well on in years. His hair is gray, and when he left Seattle he looked as though a few more years would find him sleeping beneath the sod. He was not accustomed to hardships; for years he con- ducted a little book store in an out-of-the-way cofner. A THOUSAND IN A PAN. B. W. Shaw, formerly a prominent insurance man of I 'i^it i*??r'^'^'^''''^'^'''''^:t'"^' '*>" ' ■tll''*^'t.-'f**^''Hf^:*f.^^B?*'l^?fSii*^^ M OFFICIAL OXJWm TO TRB KLONDTKB COUMTllT Seattle, writes to an old business associate from Klon- dyke about the diggings and frankly says that he does not expect to be believed. "This is a great mining strike," says Shaw, "probably ihe greatest on the American continent, or in the world. I know you will not believe me if I tell you all about it. Gold has not been found in great paying quantities except on the creeks, about 200 claims. "Some of the pay streaks are nearly all gold. One thousand dollars to the pan is not an uncommon thing, and as high as 100 ounces have been taken out of a single pan. It is not unusual to see men coming in with all the gold dust they can carry. "You would not believe me when I tell you that I went into one cabin and counted five five-gallon oil cans full of gold dust, but it is a fact. It is the result of the work of two men during the winter, and the dump is not much more than half worked out. "There ha^ been about $3,000,000 in dust taken out so far in the district. At a low estimate I believe there will be $50,000,000 taken out during the next year." FOUND IT IN CLEAR WATER. Frank Phiscator, of Baroda, Michigan, went to the Klondyke last winter and has returned rich. He de- scribed the hardships of his quest for gold and de- clared most emphatically he would not care to repeat the experience. Phiscator reached the i>eld in the dead of winter. He dug a hole in th« ground large enough to hold himself and his provissoiis and settled down to make a fortune. He was discouraged, almost frozen and weak from insufficient food and over exer- tion, and he began to doubt that there was any gold to be found in Alaska, when one day, after a twenty- . &.- AND THS OOLO ITBLDfl OF AZJUMU. S mile tramp, he came upon a little stream which flowed down the side of a mountain and emptied into a sort of basin. The water was clear and the gravel bottom was covered with nuggets. He plunged into the icy water and picked up all the metal in sight. He buried the gold in the ground. From this time on things came easier. Phiscator joined a crowd of prospectors and they unearthed several claims of considerable value. He carried a deposit check for $50,000 to sub- stantiate his story. A LOT OF LUCKY ONES. William Kulju — "I brought down just 1,000 ounces of dust and sold it to smelting works. I worked at Eldorado Creek, near Dawson, and was in that coun- try about -^ year, and had a couple of dollars and a pack last summer when I went in. I sold my claim for $25,000, part cash and the balance to be paid as it is taken out. Now I am taking a trip to the old country — Finland — and am coming back next year." Fred Lendeseen — "I went to Alaska two years ago, and when I left there six weeks ago I brought $13,000 in gold dust with me. I have had considerable expe- rience in mining, and say, without hesitation, that Alaska is the richest country I have ever seen. I have interest in a claim near Dawson and am going back in the spring * Greg Stewart — "I had a partner and sold out my interest for $45,000 and put my money back again at interest in mines. My partner had 1,500 ounces of dust, but it fell short four ounces on the way down. The dust will go over $17 an ounce, but we are all waiting for returns from the smelting works. I brought a few hundred ounces with me, but I get interest of 2 .iV M OFFICIAL GUIDE TO THE KLONDTKB COUNTRY per cent on shoit loans. I expect to return next spring." John Marks — "I brought $11,500 in gold dust with me, but I had to work for eviry bit ot it. There is plenty of gold in Alaska — more, I believe, than the most sanguine imagine — but it cannot be obtained without great effort and endurance. The first thing for a poor man to do when he reaches the country is to begin prospecting. As snow is from two to five feet deep, prospecting is not easy. Snow must first be shoveled away, and then a fire built on the ground to melt the ice. As the ground thaws the shaft muf>t be sunk ui:til bed rock is reached. The average pros- pector has to sink a great many shafts before he reaches anything worth his while. If gold is found in sufficient quantities to pay for working, he may begin drifting from the shaft, and continue to do so as long as he finds enough gold to pay." M. S. Norcross — "I was sick and couldn't work, so I cooked for Mr. Mc?«Jamee. Still I had a claim on the Bonanza, but didn't know what wp : rn it, because I couldn't work it. I sold out last spring for $10,000, and wa^ satisfied to get a chance to return to my home in Los Angeles." . "* Thomas Flack — "My dust will bring more than $6,000. I have an interest in two claims on the Eldo- rado. One partner sold out for $50,000 and another for $55 OGO. I had an offer of $50,0 jo, but refused Jt just before I came out." J. B. Hollingshead — "I was in the diggings about two years, and brought out about 1,500 ounces, which I suppose will bring $17 an ounce. I'm not sure about going back, though I have a claim on Gold Bottom Creek, fifteen miles from Bonanza. It is less than a J I i i i J; -A I i I I I n cpjssing dyka river. I I i ! 2* ^ CO c X!-0 c o hf o rt -Ki 1^ lU ^ U bo }-i a V >M -! ^^ *~* to— 4 U ^H Q- c 'n o 05 H o /: 3-. ci> rt 8 U <«> n o a> ^ 4-^ rt n 4-J o 'f) ft! •-« S U rt »» D fft OJ I H .1 •^qMjfe^^ijrywf liWpw^ ■ AND THE GOLD FIELDS OF ALASKA. year since I located my claim. My dust will bring over $25,000." Albert Fox — "I and partner went into the district in 1895 ^^^ secured two claims. We sold one for $45,000. I brought 300 ounces, which netted $5,000. Everybody is at Dawson for the present. The district is apt to be overrun. I wouldn't advise anyone to go there this fall, fc»r people are liable to go hungry before spring. About 800 went over the summit from Juneau, 600 miles, so there may not be food enough for all" LONDON GETS THE FEVER. Klondyke discoveries promise lo start a fever in London, as well as New York. The South African successes have educated the Londoner up to the gold fevers, and the agents of the Atlantic Transportation Company and other cheap lines tell of many applica- tions from men wishing to go to Alaska. The new Canadian Transatlantic line is actuilly hur- rying work up on a line of new boats so as to get its share of the rush. The tremendous number of experienced gold miners in London who have worked in South Africa would make formidable rivals to the amateur American for- tune seekers. . s n It ' ' TACOMA GOES WILD. ''r .*. the Klondyke gold fever struck Tacoma the towi. V f irned inside out. The condition of the peo- ple can be described in no word save rrazy. They are literally insane with the thirst for gold, /Jl classes share in the exv 'er^ent. Employes in every calling are beginning to leave their places to go to Alaska and dig in the river beds i'l 'i 4» OFFICIAL QUIDEl TO THB KLONDTKE COUNTRT for the shining nuggets. The result is that nobody is looking for work. Telegrams have been received from New York and London, inquiring how many hundred men can be equipped on short notice for a journey to the gold fields. The street car employes of the town held a meeting, selected nine men to go to Klondyke, and will back them. The profits of the venture are to be divided by all. The fever has smitten business men, doctors, law- yers and politicians. Ex-Governor McGraw is a vic- tim and has gone to the gold country. ' I \: 1 i ■ a, WALL STREFT HAS IT. In New York knots of bro*vt .'■ : ■ f !■ r 1 ■ I t ( ! i I OFinCIAL aUIDB TO THE KLOKDTKB COUNTRY Company. Of course, Addicks is president; E. F. J. Gaylor, auditor of the Manhattan Elevated, is treas- urer, and Charles H. Kittinger, secretary. Mr. Ad- dicks* office, in the Manhattan Life Building, No. 66 Broadway, was at once thronged with investors. From the opening of the office until 3 p. m. investors came and went. All sorts and conditions of subscrib- ers added their amounts, both large and small, to the fund, for exploring and developing the headwaters of the Yukon River. George A. Kelly, who has charge of the office, said that the amount of shares taken exceeded expectations, and that advices from Phila- delphia indicate the same condition. One party sent out by the company has sailed in charge of General M. E. Carr. Another party, headed by George P. Kittinger, a well-known mining expert, will leave Se- attle August 12. Six experienced miners will accom- pany him. They will go to Juneau and proceed over- land by way of the Chilkat Pass. KEENE AND THE KLONDYKE. James R. Keene, the veteran Wail street operator, is enthusiastic over the gold fields of the Klondyke. He says: ' . ,. .' .' -t'::-'.y "I am confident, from the reports received — which there is no reason to doubt — that an immense amount of gold will be added to the world's store from this field. Of course, hundreds of poor fellows will go there under intense excitement, without proper pro- visions, clothing or working outfit. Many of them will fall by the wayside. This has been the case in every previous excitement of the kind, and history repeats itself. "The- most serious problem is that of transporta- AND THB GOLD FIELDS OF ALASKA. tion. Everything depends on a successful solution of this problem. Reports indicate that thus far the means of ingress and egress are very limited at all periods of the year, and during the winter practically do not exist. If fodder for the mules which carry pro- visions to the camp must be carried on the miners* backs, compelling, in many cases, the killing of the animals, owing to lack of fodder, the problem is indeed a serious one. As soon as it can be solved I believe large amounts of capital will be invested there. "The matter of sending representatives to the fields I know to be under discussion among several Wall street men. Given the right man, there is no doubt Wall street money would be forthcoming in neces- sary amount to send him to the Klondyke with a suf- ficient force of men to accomplish something." BRITISH COLUMBIA EXCITED. The town of Nanaimo, British Columbia, is aflame with excitement over the discoveries in the Klondyke. All the population want to move to the gold fields because two of its citizens have come home with dazzling fortunes made in a year in the Yukon. John Wilkinson and William Sloan tired of coal mining and went to the Yukon. - ,A sack containing over $50,000 worth of gold nug- gets, displayed in a Nanaimo Bank window today, shows more vividly than words could express the profits of Mr. Wilkinson. Sloan has as much or more, &,ad they both have their claims, which are said to be worth a million each yet. Wilkinson has just given orders for the construction of one of the finest houses in British Columbia. Speak- ing of the Klondyke, he said: i% 'il I ^ ( f 1 f > i U OFFICIAL GUIDE TO THE KLONDTKE COUNTRY "On Bonanza Creek there are sixty good paying claims below the discovery this year and fifty above. Every one of these will require from five to eight years to get the gold out, working twenty men on each, and all the time. On the Eldorado there are forty good paying claims. Besides these creeks there are many more in which the pay dirt is plentiful, so that there is room for thousands of miners for years to come." Mr. Wilkinson does not belittle the hardships of the Yukon experienced. He says he stood at the wind- lass on his claim when the temperature was sixty de- grees below zero, and it took his party three months to pack in their outfits, which weighed a ton to each man. Even with that supply their provisions ran out, and both Sloan and Wilkinson believe that there will t . suffering this winter for lack of food. They say a man can take out half an ounce a day almost any- where, but that they would scorn to work on such poor dirt. Sloan exhibits a very large nugget, while Wilkinson has one nearly as large as a man's hand. Sloan says that he could go into the Klondyke now in thirty days without supplies, but he very much doubts whether the hundreds who are starting now, intend- ing to pack in their own outfits, will get through be- fore the Yukon is frozen. Packing in with horses, he says, is next to impossible. Sometimes the horses have to be hauled up steep places with ropes, and feed is scarce and hard to take along. , 'i I MORE ARGONAUTS SAIL AWAY. One who writes quaintly tells this story of the sailing of a great crowd of gold-seekers for the fields of Klondyke: 1 ^ ^ AND THB (SOLD FIBLDB OF ALASKA. « " 'Let US go above where we may see the crowd. God does not give us many scenes like this,' says Joaquin Miller, 'and a little later, as we stand on the hurricane deck of 'the Mexico and face the great throng that lines the shore, the poet is heard mur- muring some lines that Walt Whitman wrote. 'Faces, faces, human faces,' one's ear catches distinctly as this remarkable man gazes and gazes, his kindly eyes glistening with feeling; then, though his lips move, no words are heard. '* 'Give me faces, human faces,' the voice is audible again. " 'Wait a bit,' exclaims the artist, 'I must catch him so.' "No wonder. "The tall figure of the poet looms commandingly above the passengers on the deck. "The spectacle around is deeply touching. The docks of Seattle and the craft afloat in the blue waters of the Sound are dotted with those who have come to witness the departure, and the pier from which we are casting off could not easily hold more than have thronged thither. The decks of the Mexico are crowded with the adventuresome four hundred bound for the gold fields of the Klondyke. "There is peculiar pathos in. the eagerness, the hope* fulness, the absence of tears. Few faces aboard the steamship that are not aglow with a distressing some- thing that seems to tell of soul-fever lest even while these moments of parting are winging my' chances of fortune in the land of the midnight sun are forfeiting. Tempering this painful anxiety comes the soft yearn- ings of the dear ones left behind; but not a tear shed they. Indeed, if there are those aboard ship or along i m ii^ I i mmmimmm \ \ i ! i , i ! 1 ( 1 ! : 1 ' ^ s ' 1 ' : I 1 1 . ; \ 1 ^ 1 { 46 OFFICIAL GUIDE TO THE KLONDYKE COUNTRx shore, in whose eves the mists gather visibly, not any of our party sees them. "There is a frenzy in it that fevers the heart too much for tears, and herein is the supreme sadness, for that it can be so argues a world awry. As the last rope is let slip and the Mexico swings slowly out from her dock cheer on cheer rings out on the morning air and answering shouts arise from the voyagers; 'ker- chiefs wave and godspeeds hurry the steamer for- ward. . V "Slowly the vessel creeps out into the Sound, and the cheers are borne to us faintly and more faintly, and the faces on the shore lose their individuality, and now the crowd its shape. Yet a little while and the thronging city fades into blue, and the lingering eye gives its best glances to the Rainier alone, majertic Rainier, like Blanc, a monarch of mountains: 'They crown'd him long ago on a throne of rocks, In robes of clouds, with a diadem of snow,' JOAQUIN SPEAKS AGAIN. " 'I never saw a cleaner, .nore respectable assembly of men before for the mines.' "It is the poet, again, who is speaking. The voyag- ers are of many classes, but there is a noticeable ab- sence of roughs and a notable presence of men mani- festly unused to the life of a miner. They are a healthy- looking, resolute-appearing set of fellows, for the greater part, dressed for a plain life in the wilds, and earnest to the degree that gives the lookers-on a heart- ache in apprehension that not all among them will fare well in the land whither they are sailing. The barrier between classes has been battered down ; fellow- feeling as to the mines has already made chums of !i ■I ■', Sid U w OS u (/) (/) o PS u < o cc b o nil ' J lis I- I 4 I •■ i i ■ '. i f. u u [t. k: I* li. men who would hold aloof from each other under ordinary circumstances. There, for instance, sprawled out full length and chatting as though friends for many y<.'ars, arc a bright- seeming lawyer and a man who long has been a hostler in Portland. Beside the rail, engrossed in ex- change information sit an ex- Judge of Seattle, and a drayman, who journeyed on the train that bore our party from San Francisco. Here stands Joaquin Miller, Hstening intently to the opinions of a thin- faced youth, who abandoned employment in a Tacoma restaurant that he might seek gold near the Arctic Circle. "There is a physician aboard the Mexico who is as thin as Senator Ingalls and as pale as a summer cloud. He believes he has consumption, and was heard to observe that at best he could not liv more than two years longer. He is bound for Dawson City by way of the Chilkoot Pass and intends»to mine. *' 'There won't be much need of Doctors up there,* he explains, 'and even if I could make something by practice of my profession, I could not afford to throw away the better opportunity the mines afford. I want to leave my little ones a fortune.' " M GOING ON A BET. "An example of very different type is afforded by J. D. Thagard. He was the proprietor of the North- ern Hotel, in Seattle, until recently. He has no need, financially, of following the fortunes of a miner. More- over, he weighs 300 pounds, and has the paunch of Falstaff. On his cards, which he is distributing glee- fully, these words are printed in the left upper corner: " 'The bigge.^t thing that ever started on the trail for the Klondyke.' I t 11 t ' a si M it I ■srssH miBii ■i BO OFFICIAL GUIDE TO THB KLONDTKB COUNTRY ** *A friend offered to v;ager $500 I could not go ID Dawson by the r'^cuntain route,' he tells, 'and as I thought I would like to do a bit of mining, I ac- cepte . the wager. So I am going through the Chil- koot Pass, or die in the attempt. I don't expect to have a funeral on the way, and Vm so dead sure ct that $500 I feel genuinely sorry for the other fel- low.' 'There are several women aboard who are deter- mined to press through to the min^s, no matter what the perils. They are wives, and accompany their hus- bands. One of them, Mrs. P. Sutherland, of Ballard, Wis., is exceedingly enthusiastic, and not anything in the way of narrative of danger or hardship could dull the edge of her enthusiasm. 'Of course, I shall mine,' she says, 'when I can look up from my housework. Why shouldn't I? I'm sure it will be perfectly lovely. Did I ever mine? Well, no; but what difference could that make?" fK CHAPTER II. THE GOLD FEVER. San Francisco Stirred Up— Thousands Will Seek Fortunes — Great Rush to t^e Land of Gold — Port- land Catches the Craze — Seattle Greatly Excited — A Large Party for Alaska — An Ok! Yale Man Aboard — A Representative Scene — Richest Mines in the World — Deserting Alaskan Towns — Off for the Klondyke — Crazed by Lust of Wealth — Love of Gold All-Absorbing — Pathos of the Scenes — Klondyke Fever Spreads Far — Minneapolis Feels It — Milwaukeeans Are Going — Gold the Magic Word — Chicago Catches the Infection — Many Seek In- formation — Ovcvland Route Advised — Speculators in Clover — Gold Fever K^^aches New York — A Can- adian Report — Marvelous Results — Superb Panning — Coal Prospects — Gr^-at Rush to Take Claims — Workings Are Usually Rich — Valuable Claims, San Francisco has not b^en stirred by any mining discovery since the opening up of the great bonanzas on the Comstock lode in Nevada, nearly thirty years ago, as it has been in these days by tlie stories of two score sun-tanned and hard-featured miners who have returned from the new Klondyke camp on the Yukon River in far Alaska. The stories would have excited dension were it not that all these men were able to fu nish ocular proof of their tales with pounds of yellow gold. Nol one of the party went into this camp last fall with anything more than his outfit and a few hundred dollars. Not t i I ^ \ , I W"W"'''''v|. '.l.'"*^' .r-"- •.tr'rE«'r?!:'-^^i:V(. :-',v ■..*:■.,,,...,. OFFICUII4 GUIDE TO THB KLONDTKE COUNTRT one came out with less than $5,ocx), a dozen cleaned up from $JO,ooo to $20,000, while half a dozen aver- aged from $20,000 to $90,000. Scores of them left claims that they valued at $20,000 to $1,000,000, which are now being worked by their partners or by hired laborers. They are not boasters or boomers. In fact they are careful to warn anyone about venturing into the Yukon country unless he is young, vigorous and brave, able to bear hardships, and has from $500 to $1,000 for outfit and current expenses after reaching the new gold fields. Perhaps it is these very con- servative views which have made their talk take such powerful hold on the popular imagination. FISLDB OF AlJlBKiu M countrycnough aroundDawson Citytosupport a great population, and the only danger lies in the scarcity of provisions during the long winters, when fresh sup- plies cannot be brought in. Should transportation companies do no better than they have done for the last two years, and should 20,000 or 30,000 men crowd into Klondyke, there will be actual starvation, with possible crime. GREAT RUSH TO THE LAND OF GOLD. An indication of the ,'hich actuates men found in the following from San Francisco: In spite of the warnings that have been given out by returning miners concerning the possibilities of starvation in the Klondyke country during the coming fall and winter, thousands of people here are bending every energy to reach the land of gold. Most of the available steamers and \achts have been chartered by private individuals and speculators, and there seems to be no doubt that they will have a full complement of passengers when tl.c time for sail- ing arrives. The gasoline steamer Chalco^ ms been purchased by an English syndicate for $8,oo(» 1* is the inirpose of ^e syndicate to take one hundred ni<'i who will put up $1,000. They will work on the co-Oj>erative plan. The gasoline schooner Hattie H. has also been sold to a company of adventurers. The schooner Jam< s A. Garfield has been chartered by the Alaska Commer- cial company to take a load of merchandise to St. Michaels/' 1 ,1 w m :J i Hi 4 II 1 9RS ■s ,^717» ^V^'A<*^^■*"^■■■ r I • 1 1 1 i ' } i . M OFFIOIAIi OUIDB TO TR8 KUOfWTKB COXSHTSLlt PORTLAND CATCHES THE CRAZE. Portland, Oregon, also felt the swift rush of en- thusiasm, as the following from a local paper will show: "The announcement thatthc steamship Gforge Elder would sail from Portland July 30 direct for Alaska has caused a rush to the office of the Pacific Coast Steamship Company, and already one-half of the pas- senger accommodations have been sold and "^ large amount of freight space disposed of. "Orders for miners' supplies have been coming into the city by the hundreds, and merchants in Seattle are unable to meet the enormous demand. A wholesale dry goods house of this city has had a force of seven- ty-five men and twenty-five girls at work night and day for five days on rush orders of clothing for intend- ing prospectors. "A bag company is also hard at work on an order for 1,600 canvas bags to be made especially for the carrying of clothing and provisions. They are also se- curing a large number of tents. The woolen mills at Salem, Ore.; Oregon City and Albany have all in- creased their forces to meet the demand for heavy woolen goods. SEATTLE GREATLY EXCITED. Seattle went wild, a'? did every western city, when the news of the Eldorado struck it. Following are a few ecerpts from local papers: "It is authoritatively stated here tonight that ex- Governor J. H. McGraw and General E. M. '^"arr, who left Seattle Thursdayon the Portland for the Klondyke, go as representatives of a New York company with $5/xx>,ooo capita], headed by J. Edward Addicks of Pi i>5' t [ -«*«^' AND TBE GOLD FIELDS OF ALASKA. I VI. Pi Delaware. The company is to complete incorpora- tion in New York Monday. The Western directors are ex-Gcvcmor McGraw, General Carr, and George B. Kittinger of this city. It is also said that Senator John L. Wilson is interested. It is to be incorporated under the name of the Yukon, Caribou, British Colum- bia Gold Mining Development company, limited. Ge^r^e B. Kittinger, Mr. Addicks' confidential "man- ager, will follow McGraw and Carr tc* the north in a few days.** A LARGE PARTY FOR ALASKA. Here is another story from Seattle indicative of the strength of the fever as it obtained on the coast: "Aii of Seattle crowded down to the harbor today to say farewell to the gold hunters who started on the Portland for the Klondyke fields at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. "The city was in holiday attire and business was practically suspended. All interest focused on the wharf, where fully 10,000 persons gathered and talked of gold. Nothing else is talked of here. Discipline in the municipal departments, stores and every sort of business is gone. Every salaried man is endeavoring to get passage to Alaska, and employers, fearful of being left without help, have nothing to say when clerks choose to go to the wharves or step out to t'Jk of gold with any chance acquaintance. "From 12 o'clock noon up to 'le time of departure ten thousand people thronged the wharf, constantly coming and going. People were scattered along the bluflf and could be seen in all windows overlooking the bay. Last farewells were said dozens of times, and while some laughed and joked, others were sad, 'I ■1 ''-i ■ 5 I in f i and not a few shed tears. The moment the words 'cast off the lines' were heard a hush swept over the crowd. The big black hulk moved away from the wharf and the crowd surged nearer and nearer to the water's edge. Then it was that the motliers, wives and sweet- hearts hid their faces and wept. Those on board were more 'cheerful than those on shore. The adventurous spirits who seek gold, to make and in many cases re- coup fortunes, held ev i ■• point of vantage on the steamer. Five or six women were counted and one lo-year-old girl. I I AN OLD YALE MAN ABOARD. "Ex-Governor John H. McGraw stood on top of the cabin. At his side was his son Thomas, a mere boy. General E. M. Carr of the national guard was at the governor's elbow. Captain A. J. Balliet, one of Yale's famous oarsmen, and George Folsom, member of a prominent family of Boston, could be seen. "The Portland is owned by the North American Transportation Company and will unload 7,000 tons of provisions at Dawson this season. She has 1,000 tons of general merchandise on board this trip, mostly food. Her official list shows 128 passengers. The steamer Cleveland, which has been chartered by the same company that owns the Portland, sails for St. Michaels and Klondyke Aug. 5, and will land passen- gers there Sept. 10. "Fred Price, a Se-^ttle man who has returned from Klondyke with several thousand dollars in gold dust, says that there is great fear of suffering on the part of those who attempt to go into that country without an abundance of supplies of provisions. He does not ; I F !1 o 'A > u H i: < i j;l •! ' J ; i ^ u u u u H l> i i I ia 't^ >^Si.|• ,t'-<»i .■ >^t\ A* V ' T.X.- AKD THK GOI4> FIELDS OF ALASKA. Bl believe the trading companies can begin to supply the demand which will be made on them.. Price thinks the men who take up horses to cross the pass from Dyea will do well. They can get their provisions in easy that way and sell the horses for meat afterward. A REPRESENTATIVE SCENE. Here is a story fairly descriptive of the scenes on the Western coast: "When the steamer Alki turned her nose northward today she carried more than loo enthusiastic gold hunters bound for the Klondyke regions in Alaska. "The piers were black with crowds of people, who cheered the departing friends lustily and wished them good luck. Many of those who managed to secure passage are making their last journey, for the climate of Alaska is no respecter of persons, and only the most rugged and healthy can hope to survive the rigors and hardships of the new camp. "But even with the knowledge that they were going to almost certain death the fortune hunters made merry and mocked at those unable to crowd on the steamer. "The majority of those starting today will make what is called the overland trip to Klondyke. From Juneau they go loo miles further by water to Dyea then over the mountain passes, down Lakes Linder- man and Bennett to the Yukon River, and from that river to the new discoveries. . ^ , * i,^ RICHEST MINES IN THE WORLD. "Thomas Morah, an old miner, who has just come from the Klondyke after a three years' sojourn, bring- ing with him $25,000 worth of gold dust, left this *,'■'•■"'•'' ^ ■' I! < f I' s ii I !| ri I 'J 5 I « omciAL ouiou: to the klondtkb country morning for San Francisco. Before going he said that it was beyond the power of one's mind to realize the wealth that was being taken from Mother Earth. 'Pockets are being discovered/ he said, 'that contain large amounts of pure virgin gold." Mr. Moran also gave the first account of what is known in the Klondyke as "Too Much Gold Creek.' . Only two white men have ever reached it, and they had to give up and turn back because they had no pro- visions. This creek of fabulous wealth is about 700 miles from the Klondyke and is known to Indians, who refuse to reveal its location. The Indians sayi there is too much gold for white men, meaning that if the secret is given out there will be another rush." DESERTING ALASKAN TOWNS. A telegram to Port Townsend, Wash., says: "The excursion steamer Queen has arrived from Alaska with 170 passengers, principally tourists. The officers of the Queen state the merchants and trades- men in both Juneau and Sitka are closing their stores and shops and hastening to the new Eldorado. Fifty business men left Juneau for Dawson City on July 12, and 150 would leave on the i6th, two days after the Queen sailed. "The officers say that by the time the Queen re- turns to Juneau on her return trip, nine days hence, there will not be an able-bodied man left in town. Many men are leaving Juneau for the gold fields with- out provisions or means to buy them. "The steamer Alki sailed for Alaska at midnight. She carries forty horses and 1,000 sheep for Dyea, where they will be landed and driven across the sum- mit to the Yukon Valley. Stockmen say the sheep .■'••*Vj AND THV GOLD FIELDS OF ALASKA. « arc the finest band ever collected oflF Eastern Washing- ton ranges. They will be taken to Circle City and Klondyke and slaughtered. Any kind of fresh meat there sells at 50 cents a pound. OFF FOR THE KLONDYKE. The new Golconda made men mad when the first news was brought in. In Seattle the craze was un- bounded. Hear what authentic eye-witnesses say of it: "Trembling with the gold hunting fever, flushed with stories of others' marvelous luck, old and young, sick and well, herded with sheep and horses on board the steamer Alki today, lest they should miss the first chance to go to the gold Golconda of the Klondyke district in Alaska. "The rush to the new gold field where fortunes are being dug out every day began today. The stories of the returned miners, loaded with gold and tales of wealth still hidden in the earth, have started a fever among the residents of the Pacific states. The first boat to leave for Alaska was crowded and the fever has spread so much that San Francisco capitalists are planning to build a railroad from the mouth of the Yukon River to the heart of the gold district along the Klondyke River." CRAZED BY LUST OF WEALTH. "The steamer Portland arrived from Alaska yester- day bearing gold and more tales of the richness of the new find under the Polar star. Stories of the hard win- ter and rough conditions of existence in the Klondyke with eyes of chagrin and envy on the lucky ones as the fever from taking the first trip to the uew Eldorado. i iir I ti . :l ^1' II m OFFICIAL aUIDB TO THB KLONDTKB COUNTRY And Seattle was crowded today with people who had gone mad for wealth — those who had resolved to take passage in the steamer Alki and those who could not afford to pay for a ticket. "The Alki started for Alaska this afternoon with 125 passengers, 800 sheep and 50 horses. Crazed with the gold fever and tlie hope of reaching Klon- dyke quickly, the passengers bade good-bye to thou- sands on shore who were crazed because they could not go. Food, comfort, sleep were ignored in the fierce desire to get to the gold fields. Those who could not go to Alaska stayed on the dock all day, shaking hands with tliose who were going and gazing with eyes of chagrin anc" envy on the lucky ones as. the steamer started for the north. "A rumor was circulated last night that the Alki would not be able to carry all the passengers who had bought tickets and that it would leave port during the night. Those who heard the rumor carried their out- fit with them and spent the night on the dock in a fever of waiting lest the boat should go without them. f LOVE OF GOLD ALL-ABSORBING. "l-ieto«-e dawn both the lucky ones with tickets and those who could not afiford to go began to gather on the dock. Most of the passengers were wild-eyed and unkempt, as if they had spent a restless night and had been in too much of a hurry to wash themselves. They gazed with hungry eyes on the steamer, looked vainly for the gangplank, and hugged their outfits as if they were favorite children. All human passions and de- sires except fear seemed to be submerged in the all- absorbing lust for gold. The fear that shone in the eyes of the passengers was that of missing the boat and fabulous wealth. . , Mo., tlie Kiondyke fever has found a lodgment and a company known as the Alaska Min- ing company has been formed, while twenty advance prospectors are to be sent to the gold country, MINNEAPOLIS FEELS IT. This is from a Minneapolis paper and shows the prevalent feeling: "The three railroads running out of Minneapolis to uie coast are sending parties to Alaska who will pros- pect for gold in tlie new fields. "The excitement has been incteajsed bv the; wonder- ful rcportft received during the ihe last few days, and the liicket ofikes are beaicged daily with doxcm of i'if 4 mteimm^isi^mmmmim>! ANt> THB QOLD FIELDS QV ALASKA. people who inquire about rates, and state their inten- tion of leaving- Minneapolis for the gold fields. "The cost of transportation from ".Minneapolis is $150, and this is too large an amount for many. Some are going so far as to dispose of their pn:)perty inter- ests here that they may have the necessary funds. "The Great Northern received a report from L. S. McCleiman and W, W. Cleveland, who left here last week, and they said they were offered a bonus of $40 for their tickets when they reached the oast, because of the rush for accommodations on steamship lines. MILWAUKEEANS ARK GOING. "Many people in this city have been inoculated with tlie Alaska gold virus, and about twenty mcji will go , from lure at once to the famed fields of the Klondyke. General Agent Youtig of the Great Northerti road was flooded with inquiries today as to the cost of trans- portation and the quickest route to the frigid Eldo- rado. ''Many of those who came to the office said that they would leave immediately, and others said they would go witiiin a few weeks. The agent of the Northern Pacific was also the recipient of man\ in- quiries for transportation to the new gold fields. In nearly every case those intpuring are men who have had no experience in mining. The attack of the fever is considered acute for this conser\ative town, and Milwaukee can be counted on to turnisii its quota of workers in the new gold fields. GOLD THE MAGIC WORD. "Gold," magic word, rings from one end of Chicago to the other — says a Chicago report. !i^ ■ \ '111 ! !l I i i"' '':■; t'li) m OFFICIAL GUIDE TO THE KLONDTKB COtTNTIlT Since the {^erms ot the infection first reached here from the Pacific coast, the gold fever has been sweeping the city like a plague. Thousands and thousands in Chicago are in the worst stages, anxi- ously trying to plan immediate expeditions into the Klondyke regions. Thousands more in the country near Chicago are just as much excited. It is not con* ncd to the men alone. Women have caught the enthusiasm from husbands, fathers and brothers. Children, listening to the conversa- tions of their elders, arc abla/e with a desire to go themselves to the chilly tiorth. imagining this alone is necessary to pick up wealth. CHICAGO CATCHES THE INFECTION. I i : : J: .i ^ 1 i ! News of the retnarkabU' gold discoveries has caused much excitement in Chicago, and since the first word of the richness of the lieUls was received hundreds have declared tlioir inlenlion of starting for the north- ern country. Women as well as men are interested and already have arranged their affairs so they can go to the new Eldorado, h ts a great undertaking, and that tliis fact is well known is evidenced by tlie class of person? making up the ititended emigrants. They realize there is little chance f