KLONDYKE NEWS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVIII, Issue 255, 3 November 1897, Page 5

KLONDYKE NEWS.

FAMINE AND DISEASE THREATEN

DAWSON CITY,

Professor P. C. Richardson, who has recently returned from the Alaskan Goldfields, has in a letter given to the press some interesting facts concerning the already famous Klondyke mining district. Mr Richardson left Puget Sound July 25th, and reached Dawson City August 12th. When Mr Richardson arrived at Dawson City he found a camp of COO tents and possibly 100 cabins in course of construction. Very little preparation for the winter was being made, most of the people failing to appreciate the rigorous weather that they must undergo. In that city nearly every one sejm_ ed to be employed, money was plentiful, but a feeling prevailed that owing to the scarcity of provisions great destitution must prevail throughout the coming winter. Two serious questions confront the people of Dawson City, namely, the food supply and the health of the inhabitants. Dawson itself is built on a swamp at the mouth of the Klondyke River, which in the winter is frozen, solid, and in the summer is thawed to the depth of about a foot. No provision has been made for drainage. There being no outhouses, all the offal is dumped at the back doors or in the streets, and when the warm weather comes it seems inevitable that disease should rage. On August 15th Mr Richardson states , that two supply companies held a conference and estimated that there were ab0ut.5,500 people in the Klondyke country. It is thoug-ht that the Alaska Commercial Company, to-g-ether with the North American Trading- Company, will be able to care for the people who remain at Dawson during- the winter. Enormous sums of money have been brought in nuggets this year by the returning miners and it is expected that the coming spring will witness a larger number of prospectors than any season heretofore.