Golden Alaska Part 5

Provisions.--There was a report that Canadian mounted police would guard the pa.s.ses during the latter part of the summer of 1897 and refuse admission to anyone who did not bring a year's provisions with him. This has been estimated as weighing 1,800 pounds. Whether this is true or not, it is certain that no one should go into the Yukon country without taking a large supply of food, and taking it from his starting-point.

Whatever is the most condensed and nutritious is the cheapest, and this should be collected with great care. There is well-grounded fear that famine may overtake all the camps there before the opening of navigation in the spring. Newspapers on August 2nd reported agents of the Alaska Commercial Company as saying:

"We shall refuse to take pa.s.sengers at all in our next steamer. We could sell every berth at the price we have been asking--$250, as against $120 last spring--but we shall not sell one. We shall fill up with provisions, and I have no doubt the Pacific Coast Company will do the same. We are afraid. Those who are mad to get to the diggings will probably be able to get transportation by chartering tramp steamers, and there is a serious risk that there will not be food enough for them at Juneau or on the Yukon. After the season closes it will be next to impossible to get supplies into the Yukon country, and a large proportion of the gold seekers may starve to death. That would be an ominous beginning for the new camp. Alaska is not like California or Australia or South Africa. It produces nothing. When the supplies from outside are exhausted, famine must follow--to what degree no one can tell."

[Ill.u.s.tration: PANORAMIC VIEW OF JUNEAU.]

It was further understood at this date that there are 2,000 tons of food at St. Michael, and the Alaska Company has three large and three small steamers to carry it up river. It is hard to ascertain how much there is at Juneau; it is vaguely stated that there are 5,000 tons. At a pinch steamers might work their way for several months to come through the ice to that port from Seattle, which is only three days distant. But it may be nip and tuck if there is any rush of gold seekers from the East.

Alaskan Mails.--Between Seattle and Sitka the mail steamers ply regularly. On the City of Topeka there has been established a regular sea post-office service. W. R. Curtis is the clerk in charge. Between Sitka and Juneau there is a closed pouch steamboat service. Seattle makes up closed pouches for Douglas, Fort Wrangel, Juneau, Killisnoo, Ketchikan, Mary Island, Sitka, and Metlakatlah. Connecting at Sitka is other sea service between that point and Unalaska, 1,400 miles to the west. This service consists of one trip a month between Sitka and Unalaska from April to October and leaves Sitka immediately upon arrival of the mails from Seattle. Captain J. E. Hanson is acting clerk. From Unalaska the mails are dispatched to St. Michael and thence to points on the Yukon.

The Postoffice department has perfected not only a summer but a winter star route service between Juneau and Circle City. The route is overland and by boats and rafts over the lakes and down the Yukon, and is 900 miles long. A Chicago man named Beddoe carries the summer mail, making five trips between June and November, and is paid $500 a trip. Two Juneau men, Frank Corwin and Albert Hayes, operate the winter service and draw for each round trip $1,700 in gold. About 1,200 letters are carried on each trip. The cost of forwarding letters from Circle City to Dawson City is one dollar for each letter and two for each paper, the mails being sent over once a month. The Chilkoot Pa.s.s is crossed with the mail by means of Indian carriers. On the previous trips the carriers, after finis.h.i.+ng the pa.s.s, built their boats, but they now have their own to pa.s.s the lakes and the Lewes River.

In the winter transportation is carried on by means of dogsleds, and it is hoped that under the present contracts there will be no stoppage, no matter how low the temperature may go. The contractor has reported that he was sending a boat, in sections, by way of St. Michael, up the Yukon River, to be used on the waterway of the route, and it is thought much time will be saved by this, as formerly it was necessary for the carriers to stop and build boats or rafts to pa.s.s the lakes.

[Ill.u.s.tration: VIEW OF WRANGELL (FROM CHIEF'S HOUSE).]

Contracts have been made with two steamboat companies for two trips from Seattle to St. Michael. When the steamers reach St. Michael, the mail will be transferred to the flat-bottomed boats running up the Yukon as far as Circle City. It is believed the boats now run further up.

The contracts for the overland route call for only first-cla.s.s matter, whereas the steamers in summer carry everything, up to five tons, each trip.

Sledges and Dogs.--The sleds are heavy and shod with bone sawed from the upper edge of the jaw of the bowright whale. The rest of the sled is of spruce and will carry from six to eight hundred pounds. The sleds used in the interior are lighter and differently constructed. They consist of a narrow box four feet long, the front half being covered or boxed in, mounted on a floor eight feet long resting on runners. In this box the pa.s.senger sits, wrapped in rabbit skins so that he can hardly move, his head and shoulders only projecting. In front and behind and on top of the box is placed all the luggage, covered with canvas and securely lashed, to withstand all the jolting and possible upsets, and our snow shoes within easy reach.

An important item is the dog-whip, terrible to the dog if used by a skillful hand and terrible to the user if he be a novice; for he is sure to half strangle himself or to hurt his own face with the business end of the lash. The whip I measured had a handle nine inches long and lash thirty feet, and weighed four pounds. The lash was of folded and plaited seal hide, and for five feet from the handle measured five inches round, then for fourteen feet it gradually tapered off, ending in a single thong half an inch thick and eleven feet long. Wonderful the dexterity with which a driver can pick out a dog and almost a spot on a dog with this lash. The lash must be trailing at full length behind, when a jerk and turn of the wrist causes it to fly forward, the thick part first, and the tapering end continuing the motion till it is at full length in front, and the lash making the fur fly from the victim. But often it is made to crack over the heads of the dogs as a warning.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A TEAM OF DOGS AND DOG SLEDGES.]

The eleven dogs were harnessed to the front of the sled, each by a separate thong of seal hide, all of different lengths, fastened to a light canvas harness. The nearest dog was about fifteen feet from the sled, and the leader, with bells on her, about fifty feet, the thongs thus increasing in length by about three feet. When the going is good the dogs spread out like the fingers of a hand, but when the snow is deep they fall into each other's tracks in almost single file. As they continually cross and recross each other, the thongs get gradually plaited almost up to the rearmost dog, when a halt is called, the dogs are made to lie down, and the driver carefully disentangles them, taking care that no dog gets away meanwhile. They are guided by the voice, using "husky," that is, Eskimo words: "Owk," go to the right; "arrah," to the left, and "holt," straight on. But often one of the men must run ahead on snowshoes for the dogs to follow him.

The dogs are of all colors, somewhat the height of the Newfoundland, but with shorter legs. The usual number is from five to seven, according to the load.

List of prices that have been current in Dawson City during 1897:

Flour, per 100 lbs. $12.00 to $120.00 Moose ham, per lb. 1.00 to 2.00 Caribou meat, lb. .65 Beans, per lb. .10 Rice, per lb. .25 to .75 Sugar, per lb. .25 Bacon, per lb. .40 to .80 b.u.t.ter, per roll 1.50 to 2.50 Eggs, per doz. 1.50 to 3.00 Better eggs, doz. 2.00 Salmon, each 1.00 to 1.50 Potatoes, per lb. .25 Turnips, per lb. .15 Tea, per lb. 1.00 to 3.00 Coffee, per lb. .50 to 2.25 Dried fruits, per lb. .35 Canned fruits .50 to 2.25 Lemons, each .20 to .25 Oranges, each .50 Tobacco, per lb. 1.50 to 2.00 Liquors, per drink .50 Shovels 2.50 to 18.00 Picks 5.00 to 7.00 Coal oil, per gal. 1.00 to 2.50 Overalls 1.50 Underwear, per suit 5.00 to 7.50 Shoes 5.00 to 8.00 Rubber boots 15.00 to 18.00

Based on supply and demand the above quoted prices may vary several hundred per cent. on some articles at any time.

Fare to Seattle by way of Northern Pacific, $81.50.

Fee for Pullman sleeper, $20.50.

Fee for tourist sleeper, run only west of St. Paul, $55.

Meals served in dining car for entire trip, $16.

Meals are served at stations along the route a la carte.

Distance from New York to Seattle, 3,290 miles.

Days required to make the journey, about six.

Fare for steamer from Seattle to Juneau, including cabin and meals, $35.

Days, Seattle to Juneau, about five.

Number of miles from Seattle to Juneau, 725.

Cost of living in Juneau, about $3 per day.

Distance on Lynn Ca.n.a.l to Healey's Store, steamboat, seventy-five miles.

Number of days, New York to Healey's Store, twelve.

Cost of complete outfit for overland journey, about $150.

Cost of provisions for one year, about $200.

Cost of dogs, sled and outfit, about $150.

Steamer leaves Seattle once a week.

Best time to start is early in the Spring.

Total cost of trip, New York to Klondike, about $667.

Number of days required for journey, New York to Klondike, thirty-six to forty.

Total distance, New York to the mines at Klondike, 4,650 miles.

Doane & McDonald

233-235 Monroe St., Chicago, Ill.

Leather and Duck Clothing Fur Garments and Robes Prospectors' Clothing Three-Point Blankets Exquimaux Suits Sleeping Bags