THE KLONDIKE GOLDFIELDS.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXVII, Issue 3331, 13 January 1898, Page 4

THE KLONDIKE GOLDFIELDS.

THE STRUGGLE FOR FOOD IN 1 DAWSON CITY. ; A GIGANTIC SCHEME OF BRITISH ' CAPITAL. Miners returning from Klondike bring ■ ■further news showing that while there are ( piles of gold on every hand there is very little food. The price of good; in Dawson , City is shown by the fact that recently two ( sacks of flour were sold for XIO and.sUlb of j bacon for 43 per lb, and it was expected ( that in a few' days flour would be selling at 6s to 8s per lb, and other provisions at proportionate rates. The population of ( Dawson was estimated to be over 5000 at the end of September, and was increasing at the rate of 100 poi day. It was ascertained on the best authority that not one of the seven steamers en route to Dawson with supplies ivouid bo able to get up the Yukon River before it froze over. Every effort was made to get the steamers in, but in vain, and every store in Dawson is now guarded by the North-west Mounted Police, and it was stated that it was only through fear of t hem that the inhabitants have not sacked the buildings. A MAIL CAKKIEb’S STOET. John W. Brauer, the United States mail carrier, who left Dawson on September 27 th, said; There is only one salvation for the miners who are now at Dawson City, and that is for them to undertake the awful winter trip from Dawson to Fort Yukon, a distance of 400 miles. There is food at Fort Yukon; there is none at Dawson, and just as sure as the stars shine 1 terrible suffering will be the fate of the Dawson miner unless he leaves there before spring. I will make my statement conservative, and say that when X left Dawson the men who were there had on an average four months’ food supply. Some did not have a month’s supplies, some had four or five. The last restaurant closed the night I left. It had been selling nothing but beef steak, for which the hungry paid 10s. When the people realised that no more boats would be up the river they knew that starvation threatened them, and the stampede began. The first to leave went to Fort Yukon. I guess there wore about IQQ in the party that left the first day. One boat came up from Fort Yukon with several newspaper men aboard. They brought the news that the Hamilton had unloaded all of her cargo and tried to get over the bar light, and failed in her efforts, though she drew but about 2ft of water. This news increased the excitement and made the rush toward food centres all the greater. On September 14th, Bert Nelson, of Seattle, and myself left Circle City and started to pole up the river to Dawson City, a distance of 300 miles.. At the time we started from Circle City, the miners had about all taken their departure. It took ns II days and three hours to make the journey, arriving at Dawcon on September 26th. Captain Hanson,with two Indians, who had left Fort Yukon, beat us into Dawson by about an hour and a half. Hanson gathered the Dawson City miners together and made a short speech, in which he advised all who did not have provisions to last them all winter to either get out of the country to civilisation or try to reach points in the Yukon country where it was known that food could be found. That night was the greatest one in the history of Dawson City. The miners, as soon as they heard the news, made hasty preparations to get out, and nightfall saw these goldseefcers and men ’who can to-day sell out for many thousands, leaving by the’ hundreds for down the tiver had up the river. The little 1 steamer Kinkuk, which was to make the trips from Dawson to Pelly, where Jack Dalton’s trail starts, was brought into play. She was besieged by would-be passengers, who offered as high as XSO that they might be aboard while she made her journey of 175 miles to Pelly. The only thing yon could possibly buy at 1 Dawson when X left was sugar, baking powder, spices and seme dried fruit. No flour, baoou, or anything of that kind could * be purchased from the stores, simply because they did not have them. So long as the stores had any provisions the prices 7 remained the same. I want to say that the Stores treated the men all right and never advanced the prices, notwithstanding that they were aware of the shortage, and knew that they had but to ask for high prices and receive them. I know of an j instance where a private party sold to a miner a sack of flour for XIS and bacon at 4a a pound. gTI£L THE BUSH KEEPS ON. W. H. Chalmers, who has returned from Dawson, says that on the way down the Yukon he passed as many as 25 boats a day, and though these people were , warned of the folly of going on, many of , them without adequate supplies, they still persisted in their mad rush onward. A LUOKT 'BISHMAN. ’ Miners just returned from Dawson City bear out the other glowing stories of the immense wealth of the Klondike - gold region which reach us from time to time. 1 These miners assert on the strength of • their own experience that during the i year shipments of gold to the value of p .£26,000,000 may bo reasonably expected ‘ from the Yukon Valley. Amongst this company of prophets is an Irishman named Patrick Galvin, who seems to have abundantly enriched himself by his labours in the goldfields. He says that he went to the Yukon three years ago in a penniless condition, without any great expectations, and he is now returning to Cork, his native city, a rich man. Before leaving Dawson City he disposed of one of his claims for .£20,000. He displays a nugget the size of an oyster as one of the trophies of his in- ■ dustry. • A GREAT MINING SCHEME. The prospectus of the long-talked-of and j gigantic British-American Corporation has been issued in London. The capital is .£1,500,000 sterling. One million pounds of the shares are now offered at par, the issue being limited to the shareholders of > the London and Globe Finance Corporation. The directors are the Marquis of * Dufferin j Lord Loch ? Lieutenant-Governor Mackintosh, of the North-west Territories j Mr Edward A. Hoare, one of the directors of the Bank of British North Amerisaj and Mr Whittaker Wright, a well--1 known London financier. The Cor--1 poration has secured the famous Le Roi and Josle mines, as well as eight other well-known Rossland mines and Nelson properties It also secures as a going concern the Alaska Commercial Company with the town site at Dawson <‘ity, apd claims on the Bonanza, El . Dorado, Bear and other Klondike creeks. The Victoria Colonist remarks that this i new§ will be received with great pleasure 1 in all parts of Canada. "It is/' adds that paper, * f the best of news that the great f Kootenay gold mines are passing into the bands of British capitalists." SHEEP IN A NEW CAPACITY. An enterprising sheep-owner of Oregon proposes to take 2000 of his strong-limbed ( wethers to Dyea, and from there use them to pack supplies into the gold camps at Klondike. His idea is to have a pack- , saddle made for each wether, and load them with 30lbs of freight. One-half will carry oats for their own feed, and the remainder such light merchandise as may be offered for transport. The merchandise will bring in dfilSOO freight money, and the 2000 sheep, on reaching Dawson, can be sold for Si a head. If the scheme is successful the owner will realise, a small fortune.