USA > Alaska > Alaska and the Klondike > Part 2
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16
Hydraulic Mining, Silver Bow Basin
18
ALASKA AND THE KLONDIKE
have paid the purchase price of the whole district of Alaska.
This great property has its romance, too. The story is that the Treadwell mine, while yet little more than a prospect hole, was forced upon a San Francisco builder, John Treadwell, in 1881, to satisfy a loan of $150. The Treadwell Company makes excellent provision for its men in the way of reading-rooms, bath houses, bowling alleys, billiard-rooms, lecture and amusement halls, and hospital accommodations. Only two holidays, Christmas and the Fourth of July, are recognised in these mines, the work being carried on day and night on all other days.
Juneau, which is across the narrow channel from the Treadwell mine, is the centre of a region in which there were at the time of our visit, 6,000 men engaged in min- ing and prospecting. New strikes and recent develop- ments in what are known as the Nowell properties, recently transferred to the Treadwell Company, have combined with other things to give Juneau something of a boom. These new developments on the Nowell properties in Ber- ner Bay, made during the summer of 1904, are said to open a still larger and richer deposit of gold quartz than that found in the Treadwell mines, and possibly the greatest gold-quartz deposit in the world.
Juneau is an incorporated town of about 2,000 people, thrifty, attractive in appearance, and gives promise of growth and stability. It is now the capital of Alaska, all the territorial offices having been removed there from Sitka except that of the governor, which remains at Sitka be-
Juneau in Winter
₹
20
ALASKA AND THE KLONDIKE
cause that is the home of the present governor. A change in the incumbency of the office would doubtless change the location of that office to this very picturesque city. Juneau takes its name from Joseph Juneau, a prospector, who won the confidence of the Indians, and learned from
" Mushing " over White Pass in 1898
them where they got the gold of their ornaments. They took him to what is now known as Silver Bow Basin, and then, requiring that he should become a tribesman and pre- serve their secret, it was with great difficulty that he escaped to Sitka to report his great find.
21
THE " INSIDE PASSAGE "
Late in the evening we approached what looked first like a small forest fire, but which we afterwards discovered to be mosquito smudges around the tents of the men engaged in clearing the ground for the new military post at Haines Mission. The Government was preparing here for a four- company post which is to be the principal military station in Alaska. As evidence of the fact that clearing the ground and improving a farm in that part of Alaska is a serious business, it cost the Government $195 an acre to clear the ground for the post.
When we awoke on the morning of July 3, the Dol- phin lay at the dock in Skagway at the foot of the cele- brated White Pass, over whose rugged and icy heights thousands of pilgrims to the Klondike Mecca, both men and women, struggled and toiled during the winter of 1897-98.
II SKAGWAY TO DAWSON
H OME of the North Wind" is the translation furnished me for the Anglicised Indian word Skagway, applied to the town at the head of Lynn Canal, where the Alaska-bound senatorial party dis- embarked on the morning of July 3. But the north wind was not at home that day. The air was that of a charm- ing summer morning in Minnesota, temperature about 65, the sky clear and blue. Of course the poetic idea expressed in the name of the place suggested its Indian origin and an Indian legend, and this is what they told me about it: An old Indian chief who lived here stood one day on shore watching his son trying to land in a canoe. The wind swept down the canyon with terrific force, but he was a strong lad and skilful, and his father had little fear. The boy was blown around the point, however, and out of sight. A little later his canoe was seen floating bottom up. Its late occupant was never found. And so the old chief named the place Skagua, which means Home of the North Wind. But the men who write waybills and mark freight boxes and spare not, have made it Skagway.
Skagway lies between the mountain slopes of a narrow canyon, up which the sea has crept until it can go no far- ther, although it seems to be making repeated efforts,
22
23
SKAGWAY TO DAWSON
as the tide here in Lynn Canal rises sixteen to eighteen feet. Skagway is the port which our British neighbours were so anxious to get control of, as this is naturally the best entrance to Dawson and all the British Yukon. In the census of 1900 it had a population of 3, 117; to-day about 1,200. At the time of the great excitement over the Klondike, in the winter of '97 and '98, this little val- ley from the water's edge to the foot of " Dead Horse Trail," two miles and a half up the Skagway River, was covered with the shacks and tents of 10,000 stampeders, trying to get their supplies packed over the trail or wait- ing for the completion of the wagon road then under construction.
In the long June and July days there is no lack of sun- shine and daylight, even in this valley, but in winter, when the sun drops low in the southern sky, it seems almost to leap across the narrow opening toward the south from the mountain peak on the one side to the mountain peak on the other. It is visible only about twenty minutes on the shortest days and the stores and offices keep the electric lights burning practically all day from November to March.
Captain Moore, a citizen of Canada, who had been prospecting for gold in the Canadian northwest in the year 1886, was far-seeing enough to discover that the White Pass would be the most feasible gateway to the British interior, in case important gold discoveries should be made there, and attempted to homestead the present site of Skagway. When he applied to the Canadian
24
ALASKA AND THE KLONDIKE
authorities for the privilege, he was notified that the land vas not on British territory, but belonged to the United States, and that he must obtain his rights from that Gov- ernment. This his son subsequently did, but in that trans- action the British authorities placed themselves on record as recognising the title of the United States to territory which Canada afterwards claimed, but doubtless never would have claimed if it had not been for the Klondike discoveries.
Skagway was found to be literally swathed in bunting. This, however, was not all on account of the arrival of the senatorial party. Next day was the Fourth of July and an elaborate programme of parades, speeches, games and a sham battle was carried out by these disfranchised Americans in Alaska, who seem to take more interest in the national holiday and in the old-time patriotic celebra- tion than we do in the States.
Monday morning, July 6, our party took the train on the White Pass and Yukon route for Dawson. This is a nar- row-gauge road, financed by British capital, but constructed and operated by Americans. It follows at the outset the route taken by the wagon road, the construction of which was commenced by George A. Brackett, of Minneapolis, in the fall of 1897, and carried by him nearly to the summit of the range before the railroad company had organised and overtaken him. The wagon road was sold out to the railroad company and the railroad was completed within a year from Skagway to White Horse, a distance of 112 miles. It climbs within a track distance of 20
White Horse Rapids
26
ALASKA AND THE KLONDIKE
miles from tide water to a height of 2,940 feet, with a maximum grade of 4 per cent. and an average of 3 per cent. The ride over the White Pass route is an experi- ence to be remembered, not that the engineering diffi- culties overcome here are greater than those mastered by builders of the mountain roads in the States, but the sensa- tion of bold mountain ascent is enhanced by the quick transi- tion from sea level to the snow-capped mountain summit. While scaling the walls of the rugged canyon occasional glimpses may be had of the distant sea far below at the mouth of the gorge. As the train proceeds along its nar- row roadway around the face of a projecting cliff its movement seems more like a flight through air than a hard and difficult climb up a mountainside. A foam- ing stream plunges downward through the gorge, while on the opposite side of the canyon beautiful cascades drop their silvery veils hundreds of feet down the face of the mountain. Winding along the opposite precipice one may catch occasional glimpses of the old " Dead Horse Trail," over which thousands of resolute men and women struggled under the burden of their heavy packs, conveying by repeated trips across the summit the scanty supply of food which was to sustain their lives until they had found their fortunes in the sands and gravel of the Klondike basin. Horses were employed in great num- bers on this trail, and cruelty unspeakable was visited upon these faithful beasts. Insufficiently fed, they often staggered under their loads of 200 or 250 pounds, lost their footing on the narrow, icy path and were dashed to
SKAGWAY TO DAWSON
death below, while hundreds of others met a more cruel fate in wicked desertion in midwinter by their owners on the bleak and wind-swept waste of the northern slopes.
After a long, hard pull of about twenty miles and last- ing three hours, the violent throbbing of the engine sud- denly ceases and the train comes to a halt at the summit, where two flags float from tall poles set about twenty-five feet apart. Between them, driven into a crevice in the rocks, is an iron stake, the inscription on the top of which tells us that here is the boundary line between the United States and Canada. Since the arbitrators have decided the Alaska boundary dispute the iron stake has given place to an aluminum-bronze post about two and one-half feet in height, whose forked base is set firmly with cement in holes drilled in the solid rock. Similar posts placed when practicable at intervals of half a mile, will mark the entire boundary between Alaska and the British possessions.
Here, at the very outset of our journey through British territory to the great mining camp of the north, are found those representatives of Canadian authority whose pres- ence brings a sense of security to the law-abiding man and a feeling of terror to evil-doers-the Northwest Mounted Police. We shall meet with them frequently and learn more of their organisation and its wonderful efficiency, but that they are here holding the first foot of territory to which their Government can lay valid claim is as signifi- cant as the fact that there are no representatives of Ameri- can authority within twenty miles.
The first stop is at Lake Bennett, now merely a station
28
ALASKA AND THE KLONDIKE
and a watering place, but once the site of a city of tents. Here, at the head of this lake, in the spring of '98, 5,000 men and women camped waiting for transportation down
Bishop Bompas
the lake on barges or on rafts, flat boats, scows or canoes of their own construction. The advent of the railroad changed all that and carried this traffic eighty-five miles farther to a point just below the White Horse rapids.
29
SKAGWAY TO DAWSON
On the way we stop again at Caribou Crossing, the point at which boats are taken for the Atlin mining district. Here is a little settlement and from a log cabin squatted on the sand at the water's edge come an old gentleman, clad in the garb of a bishop of the Episcopal Church, and his wife, a sweet-faced, little old lady, who is to take leave of him at the station as he starts on one of his missionary tours among the English churches and Indian missions along the Yukon. Bishop William Bompas of the Selkirk diocese came from England in 1865 to relieve a missionary stationed at Port Simpson, which was then an important trading post of the Hudson Bay company. He remained at Port Simpson until 1874, when he returned to England and brought out his bride, the delicate and gentle, but courageous and faithful little woman who dismisses him now on his long journey with many little attentions and admonitions as to the care of himself while on his mission. Bishop Bompas is now 70 years old; his diocese extends through the Yukon ter- ritory and a part of northern British Columbia. His life has been spent chiefly among the Indians. He pays a tribute of praise to the Hudson Bay company in its rela- tions to the Indians, speaks of the good faith which that institution has always maintained with them and of the assistance which it has rendered the church in its mission- ary work among them. For over forty years he has travelled along the rivers and over the Indian trails in summer and in winter, in canoes and on snowshoes and with dog teams, with Indians for his guides and com-
30
ALASKA AND THE KLONDIKE
panions, and has found these simple people models of hospitality and kindness and devotion, where not corrupted by the white man. He does not regard his life thus spent as one of hardship. It has brought him health and much happiness. He speaks with enthusiasm of the beauties of the rivers and mountains, and of the beautiful valley of the Peace River lying within the borders of his ex- tensive diocese. But it is with considerable difficulty that he is persuaded to tell us something of his long journeys over the cold and trackless expanse traversed by the great Mackenzie, to whose mouth on the Arctic Ocean his mission to the native hunters and trappers has carried him on more than one occasion. His tones are low and his manner diffident as he yields with apparent reluctance to every effort to obtain from him a story of his life on the far frontier. His hand fumbles nervously among the straps of his leathern bags trimmed with Indian bead- work, the thank-offering of his devoted and affectionate Indian followers. Caribou Crossing, so remote, so dreary and desolate to the traveller, does not seem so unattractive to the quaint and cheery old lady, who has for over thirty years shared the fortunes and the hardships which have fallen to the lot of this servant of the church. "It is very nice here," she says. " I like it better on the other side of the river," pointing to her humble cabin set on the opposite bank. " It is not so sandy over there."
Left to himself, the bishop spends much time in read- ing the " Dictionary of the Church of England " and one who knows something of his history informs me that he
31
SKAGWAY TO DAWSON
is an author of some note in church circles, prominent among his works being one entitled "Northern Lights on the Bible." He travelled with us the remainder of the day and the next and it was noticed that as Indian settlements are passed along the river he seemed to be recognised from shore and his hands are lifted and his lips move, as if in benediction of the rude and simple peo- ple who seem to be greeting him as he passes.
White Horse, the terminus of the railroad on the Lewes River, is a neat Canadian village where are great ware- houses in which have been stored large quantities of pro- visions and other supplies, including unusual shipments of heavy machinery waiting for the opening of the river. The movement of mining machinery is just now particu- larly heavy, because for a short time the Dominion Gov- ernment has remitted the duties in order to encourage the introduction of machinery into the mining regions. The distinguishing features of the village are extensive warehouses along the river bank from which the Dawson boats are loaded; a station of the Northwest Mounted Police, with substantial log barracks laid out in military style and kept with military neatness and cleanliness; grounds prepared for baseball, cricket, tennis and other outdoor sports of which the Britishers are so fond; a read- ing-room well equipped, a Government telegraph station and a number of substantial store buildings; and every- where there is that trimness and orderliness which evidence the efficient administration of authority.
In the early evening we go aboard the Yukoner, a
32
ALASKA AND THE KLONDIKE
boat belonging to the same company which operates the railroad, and forming part of its line between Skagway and Dawson. These boats are equal to any on the upper Mississippi, furnish comfortable accommodations, serve excellent meals and rob travel on the Yukon and its tributaries of every anticipated hardship. The first-class passenger fare from Seattle to Dawson over this route is $80 and from Dawson to Seattle $100. The differ- ence is due mainly to the longer time required for the trip up the river.
In these long, early July days the sun stays with us until nearly 10 o'clock and returns before three, while its slant- ing rays seem to lighten the upper air the whole night through.
There is so much to interest and so much of daylight to improve that sleep comes only after repeated invita- tions and one is reminded of the expressive remark of a returning Yukoner who has been spending the winter in the States, and whose husband awaits her at Dawson. With a genuine Bowery accent she speaks of the unbroken daylight of midsummer and adds that humankind are not the only ones inconvenienced on their first arrival by inability to sleep. The imported animals and fowls, too, seem at first to experience the same .confusion of the orderly habits which prevail elsewhere, for, says she, " there is no night and de very chickens, why dey walks demselves to det." And just at this time not only is the sunlight almost constant, but during the sun's short ab- sences the moon shines with an effulgence which seems
Typical Upper Yukon Craft in 1898
34
ALASKA AND THE KLONDIKE
never to have been observed in lower latitudes, and tempts the man with the camera to try its effects upon the sensi- tised film in the middle of the night, with results which are highly satisfactory as photographs, although they can- not be so successfully reproduced in half-tones.
Midnight of July 7 finds us at Fort Selkirk on the bank of the Lewes River, upon which we have travelled from White Horse northwestward to the Pelly, which here comes in from the east and together with the Lewes makes up the Yukon. Selkirk is an old Hudson Bay trading post and we are interested in it in passing because we are told that here are located the most successful farms in the British Yukon. One farmer at this point is reported to have made a clear profit of $3,000 during the past year on his crops of hay and potatoes, for which he finds a market in Dawson. His success is said to be encourag- ing others to seek their fortunes in agriculture at this point as surer than prospecting for gold along the creeks.
The Yukon is a deep, rapid stream, carrying more water here than flows in the Mississippi between the St. Croix and Lake Pepin. Its banks are high, and, for the most part, wooded with stunted spruce and birch and large willows, affording ample fuel supply and serviceable in mining, but not large enough to make merchantable lum- ber in any considerable quantity. The upper Yukon boats are supplied with fuel from woodyards located at con- venient intervals. Two or three times a day the boat is tied to the shore while the Indian deckhands take on ten or fifteen cords for the furnaces for the next run.
1
-
Travelling on the Yukon
36
ALASKA AND THE KLONDIKE
Here in its upper stretches the river flows among hills which rise at times almost to the dignity of mountains, and which are often covered well up their slopes with spruce and birch. There are no evidences of animal life visible except a few birds. Among these are the robin, the thrush, the meadow lark and the eagle. Deer, cari- bou, mountain sheep and bears are found on the moun- tains and the rivers abound in fish, of which the most common are the greyling and the salmon.
One can almost persuade himself, on this journey down the great Yukon, that he is an original explorer, wander- ing in the primeval wilds. Nature is unmarred by the hand of man and the vast solitude is impressive. Occa- sionally, at intervals of hours, there may be seen a solitary cabin of a woodchopper and at long intervals on the upper stretches of this lonesome stream, flowing forever, silent and deep, toward the north, we find the cabins of a Mounted Police station, or a group of three or four tents occupied by ten or a dozen Indians, who come to the Yukon in summer to fish, but that is all. The scene is never uninteresting, however. The river is tortuous and rapid, its banks generally green with luxuriant vegetation and the meadows gay with an endless variety of flowers, one species known as the fire weed spreading a flame-like colour over patches of hundreds of acres of sloping coun- try. Again the river leaves the rolling meadow lands and pours its flood against the solid masonry of earth on whose seared and broken face is written for the geol- ogist the history of time. Narrow gorges are entered
YUKON
-
---
" Wooding up " on the Yukon
38
ALASKA AND THE KLONDIKE
and at one place we are treated to the sensation of "run- ning the rapids " through which the widest channel be- tween the rocky walls is scarcely more than twice the width of our well-handled boat.
If we are of a practical turn of mind, we may question the economy of nature and wonder whether these im- mense areas of unpeopled wilderness will ever serve any human purpose, or whether they are only the foundations of earth upon which have been built the habitable and inhabited portions of the world. The face of nature is fair enough, surely, at this season, and sufficiently pro- ductive of vegetable life to suggest the possibility that this country may some day be made practical use of by others than the daring seekers after gold. But nature has other moods and her wintry aspect is not so kindly. Still, I am inclined to think that, if the treasures of gold hold out, man, with his wonderful powers of adaptation, will utilise considerable areas of the unquestionably fertile val- ley lands of this region in producing many of the vegetables and dairy and meat products which the mining camps must now transport over thousands of miles at great expense. But of the agricultural possibilities of these northern lands, and particularly of Alaska, I shall present some evidence on a later page.
As we pass the mouth of the White River flowing in from the west we observe the appropriateness of its name, for it immediately imparts to the Yukon its own colour, and from that point to its mouth the waters of the Yukon boil and roll the sands and mud of the soft bottom as does
39
SKAGWAY TO DAWSON
the Missouri throughout the greater part of its course. At the mouth of the Stewart River we pass the scene of the earliest important mining operations on the British Yukon, where placer mining was carried on prior to 1887, after which the Forty-Mile district nearer Dawson became the centre of interest until the Klondike overshadowed everything else.
Dawson is reached in the afternoon of July 8. It lies on a broad, gently sloping bench under an encircling hill on the right bank of the river. Its site is that of an old glacier. As it comes into view it has the appearance of a considerable city. Conspicuous objects are the large warehouses of the transportation and trading companies. Along the shore numerous river boats lie against the bank, and our landing is effected across the decks of two other boats. While the early rush has preceded us, the arrival of the boat from the upper river is still an object of interest. Men struggle through the crowd and come rush- ing on board to greet the new arrivals; wives and children who have been " outside " all winter meet husbands and fathers, and friends clasp hands with friends with many demonstrations of joy at the ending of the long and dis- tant separation.
As you step ashore you will probably experience a feel- ing that you are a little farther " out of the world " than you have ever been before, although you may have been something of a globe-trotter. In spite of the throng and the sight of a face or two that you may have known before and although you hear your own language, Dawson,
40
ALASKA AND THE KLONDIKE
lying almost upon the Arctic Circle, had always seemed to me one of the most remote outposts on the edge of the habitable world. But how accessible after all-in summer one thousand miles of the quiet waters of the "inside passage " from Seattle to Skagway occupying four days;
Five Finger Rapids on the Upper Yukon
I12 miles of railroad travel over the coast range requir- ing about ten hours; and 450 miles down the Lewes and the Yukon from White Horse to Dawson consum- ing less than two days; in winter the last division of this route, between White Horse and Dawson, is covered by stages and sleds drawn by horses and accommodating nine passengers. Roadhouses are maintained at frequent inter- vals and the tri-weekly stages are well patronised.
III A " CHEE-CHA-KO " IN THE KLONDIKE
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.