Down tlte Yukon.

DOWN THE YUKON.I ~

IN the summer of 1887 much had beenwritten about the Yukon country; whitemen had been in there trading for-manyyears, and gold mining carried on forfive or six; and a good map had beenpublished in 1884. Yet I found it hardto get any exact information before start-ing for that far-off land; as most peoplewould say, "a tough countrv." - "bad

Overland Monthly, 1891, June.v. v. 17, No. 102. Second Series.

William A. Redmond.

'o;( 7· '1 ~ IfG~.

1891.]

Down the Yukon.

some intelligence of importance to giveto Mr. McQuesten. As far as I havebeen able to find out, what he wishedcould only have been to tell him thatcoarse gold had been struck on Forty-Mile Creek, and to advise him as tothe amount of provisions it would bereally necessary to fetch into the coun-try. Of course, as Stewart River dig-gings had been already almost playedout, and nothing else had turned up,it would not have been worth whilefor any trader to risk getting a largestock of food into the country, had notgold been struck on Forty-Mile. Mostof the miners would have left, for thecountry is not one to go pleasuring in,and the expenses of living are necessa-rily high.

Again, as to the mode and best timefor making a start, it was difficult to gettrustworthy information. I was assuredthat the ice would be out of the lakes

"1/ 33(;,765/"1 HiSTOftCAt,eea.ss,,'j No"~2'-L.Z ...

OC 9 1943

UBRARY AND ,L EUMJU EAU

viVo, bz1§-<:::

between the r yth and 25th of May;whereas experience showed that a monthlater would be nearer the truth; in pointof fact, we did not get through the iceon Lake Le Barge until the zoth of June.Reports about the amount of gameand facilities for getting it were alsovague and untrustworthy. Fish, again,were renrf".<:f'ntprl tn hI" m()nr1prfll11~, ple?-

w InandI for

snotus. II ac-dis-

rneytingand[his

.....VUl.ll.~y vv ci.o lUU1\..CU U11 a.s d. sor i U1 lastchance for placer mines, for those ofCaribou, Granite Creek, Stickeen, andCassiar, were almost if not quite workedout; and it is doubtful, on account ofclimatic severity, whether, should othermines be discovered further north, theycould be worked.

In my account of this journey, whichI shall give somewhat in the manner ofa diary, some of the hardships of travelin a rough, cold country may seem ex- ,aggerated; but I do not wish to makelight of what is really a severe journey,for it is a serious matter to lead anyoneinto undertaking it that has not bothsufficient means and much physicalstrength and endurance. Once in thecountry, one has to depend on himselfalone; and the getting in, as I shallshow, is a far simpler matter than thegetting out.

Now as to getting into the Yukoncountry there are several ways, but the

-- -- -- - ~

< '

Down tile Yukon.

:qOWN THE YUKON.

I 0;( 7. '? ~ IFe~.

1891.]

IN the summer of r887 much had beenwritten about the Yukon country; whitemen had been in there trading for manyyears, and gold mining carried on forfive or six; and a good map had beenpublished in r884. Yet I found it hardto get any exact information before start-ing for that far-off land; as most peoplewould say, "a tough country," - ,IbadIndians,"-and shake their heads.

There were also the vaguest ideas re-garding the gold finds on the Lewis,Stewart, and Forty-Mile Creek. A gooddeal of excitementwas caused last winterby the report that Williams, who unfor-tunately died from the hardships he~et on the journey from Stewart Riverto Chilcoot, was the bearer of some verystartling news from the gold fields. Be-fore his death, which occurred at Chil-coot a couple of days after he was packedin from the divide, he said that he hadsome intelligence of importance to giveto Mr. McQuesten. As far as I havebeen able to find out, what he wishedcould only have been to tell him thatcoarse gold had been struck on Forty-Mile Creek, and to advise him as tothe amount of provisions it would bereally necessary to fetch into the coun-try. Of course, as Stewart River dig-gings had been already almost playedout, and nothing else had turned up,it would not have been worth whilefor any trader to risk getting a largestock of food into the country, had notgold been struck on Forty-Mile. Mostof the miners would have left, for thecountry is not one to go pleasuring in,and the expenses of living are necessa-rily high.

Again, as to the mode and best timefor making a start, it was difficult to gettrustworthy information. I was assuredthat the ice would be out of the lakes

... /33 {;,7GG/'I ~~~~RICAtees.s .. ', NO.:z,gL.

DC 9 1943

ltBRARY AND ,lsEUMJJJ EAU

~o( b7!L~

between the r5th and 25th of May;whereas experience showed that a monthlater would be nearer the truth; in pointof fact, we did not get through the iceon Lake Le Barge until the zoth of June.Reports about the amount of gameand facilities for getting it were alsovague and untrustworthy. Fish, again,were represented to be wonderfully plen-ty,-indeed, one had only to throw ina small net just before meal time, andthen choose the best of the catch forcooking.

All this loose kind of information is notonly misleading, but may be dangerous. Iam therefore tempted to publish an. ac-count, although I fear a somewhat dis-jointed and.imperfect one, of a journeyI made in the summer of r887, gettinginto the country by way of Chilcoot andleaving by the mouth of the river: Thiscountry was looked on as a sort of lastchance for placer mines, for those ofCaribou, Granite Creek, Stickeen, andCassiar, were almost if not quite workedout; and it is doubtful, on account ofclimatic severity, whether, should othermines be discovered further north, theycould be worked.

In my account of this journey, whichI shall give somewhat in the manner ofa diary, some of the hardships of travelin a rough, cold country may seem ex- ,aggerated; but I do not wish to makelight of what is really a severe journey,for it is a serious matter to lead anyoneinto undertaking it that has not bothsufficient means and much physicalstrength and endurance. Once in thecountry, one has to depend on himselfalone; and the getting in, as I shallshow, is a far simpler matter than thegetting out.

Now as to getting into the Yukoncountry there are several ways, but the

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612 Down the Yukon. [June,

easiest two are by the Chilcoot route,and by the mouth of the river.

The second, though easy, is slow andsomewhat expensive. You leave SanFrancisco by the Alaska Fur Company'sboat, St. Paul, in May; arrive at St.Michaels the next month, then go upriver by one of the small steamers, andarrive at Forty-Mile Creek, about thezoth of July. You will then have to layin your store of provisions, either buildor buy .a suitable river boat, and poleand track up the creek; prospect, or buya claim; get in two months' work; thenprepare for the winter. Of course, goingout the same year is not advisable; youwould have gone to, great expense ingetting in for nothing, perhaps, havinghad so little time to work. Moreover, asyet there is no regular means of gettingout by the mouth in the fall of the year.St. Michaels is not a place of call forsealers and whalers. A United Statesrevenue cutter usually calls at St. Mi-chaels in the fall on her way south, andhas taken off men who had no othermeans of getting away, on the represen-tation of the agen t there that there wasno accommodation or sufficient food forthem during the winter; but this is akind of off-chance,- the cutter is, I be-lieve, supposed only to relieve distressedand shipwreckedwhalers,- and it is pos-sible for the too trusting miner to beleft to cool his heels and stomach fornine months, or until the next steamerfrom San Francisco arrives. And if yougo up stream from Forty-Mile Creek,you have before you a tough journey ofsome seven hundred miles, against acurrent running four or five miles anhour; and might to leave not later thanthe middle of August, so as to get overthe divide before bad weather sets in. Ihear of men making the journey intwenty-eight days; but I am disposed tothink that, for other than very experttravelers, thirty-five days' good workwould be nearer the mark. I wouldtherefore advise a miner, in order to give

the country a fair chance, to come inprepared to stay for a couple of seasons,and to have means, say $300 or $400, tokeep him over the first winter, in case heshould not make his grub stake to com-mence with.

The Chilcoot route is perhaps the best,although rough; yet it is the cheapest,and a man can get down to the diggingsin good time. He can cross the dividein February or March, and travel downthe lakes and river on the ice as far ashe thinks fit, packing his stuff by sleigh;and then he may build his boat and fin-ish the journey. Or, if not in a hurry,he may cross the divide about the lastof April, and get over Lindeman on ice,build his boat on Payen's Portage at hisleisure, and go down with the ice. Whiletraveling over the ice he must look outfor air holes. The ice may be four orfive feet thick, and everything apparent-ly safe, when suddenly the sleigh andcontents go' plum p through, destroyingthe cargo and risking life.

He must not delay crossing the di-vide after the last of April, as the ice inthe cafion leading from the summit toLake Lindeman begins to break up soonafter that, when the travel is of theroughest kind imaginable; should it beinconvenient to cross at this time, itwould then be much better to wait untilthe snow is off, and travel by the sum-mer trail. There are, however, objec-tions all round; in the winter time menhave had to lie at Sheep Camp, a shortdistance this side of Summit, for a longtime, waiting for an opportunity to crossthe divide, the passage of which attimes, owing to wind, mist, and gener-ally blizzardy weather, is not possible;in the summer the trail is not so direct,and the stuff has to be packed on theback a long distance, over a pretty roughroad. Taking one thing with another,perhaps the end of March would be aboutas good as any time to cross, and thenproceed along the lakes by sleigh to asuitable place for building boats. ::

1891.] Down the Yukon. '613

We built ours on Payen Portage (be- many different opimons : large partiestween Lindeman and Bennet), but could always split up, and then there is alwaysnot make a start from there until the some trouble about the tools and mining14th of June. Even then we were de- appliances, which cannot always be di-layed by ice at several points. vided. For those reasons a small, well

Timber is somewhat scarce on the assorted party, particularly, if possible,Portage. A good deal close by has been men who have .been previously acquaint-cut down, and much destroyed by fire. ed, is more likely to make a success thanStill, enough can be got to build boats, a big crowd. I am also of opinion, fromwithout going very far. The kind of experience, that a careful method of pro-craft that are useful for going down ceeding - no overwork, no rushing onestream are of no value for coming up. time and idling the next, but a steadyFor that reason many prefer rough rafts application to the business in hand - iswith a platform, which it is little trouble an important element of success to eitherto put together. A raft is, however, the explorer or miner; with good food'unmanageable, and hard to get off if and clothing, plenty of rest and shelter,firmly gounded on a bar. I think that no rashness or foolhardiness, and abovegood rough boats are the best means of all no making the work harder than itconveyance, made with plenty of beam. really is. Many young men seem to de-for light draft and to carry cargo well. light in disdaining precautions. TheyA sail can be improvised out of a tent or like to run chances and do the tough.fly. Time would be saved - and some How many cases of snow blindness,of the mosquitoes, at least, avoided - if scurvy, or black-leg, and loss of cargo orsome arrangement could be made to do life, may be attributable to these causes!a little of the cooking on board the boat, Every inch of this country requires towhich drifts swiftly down the stream all be traversed with care.the time. This, however, can only be I also think that in the eagerness todone on a raft or large boat, and with a get on, many places have not been pros-small party. pected that would pay to work,- a thing

In the spring and summer time the certainly likely enough, when your boatwind is almost always blowing from the goes rushing down stream at the rate ofsoutheast,- that is, down the lakes,- one hundred and twenty miles a day. Itstrong and sometimes a little squally. is almost a trouble to stop, and many aThere is frequently a very strong wind, likely spot is passed in a moment beforewith a sea on, at Windy Arm, a point a resolution is reached whether to stopimmediately after the narrows that lead and prospect or not. Our party, nine infrom Lake Bennet into Takko. Here number, left Victoria on the arst ofone ought to be careful with a heavily April, eighteen hundred and eighty-loaded boat. seven, on the Olympian, and arrived at

It may perhaps be as well here to re- Juneau on the 24th. There was nothingfer to the size of the party most con- remarkable about our sea voyage, whichvenient for this country. I think from was however a rapid one, and nothingthree to five about the thing; probably particular may be said about Juneau, ex-three is the best number. In a larger cept that we had one fine day duringparty there are many drawbacks. For our stay of ten days there.example, it is one man's work and hard There were several parties there out-work, too, to cook for a large party. fitting for the Yukon, and there seemedShould a few fish be caught or a few to be a want of information regardingbirds shot, they go nowhere among a the advisability of taking sleighs along.big crowd. Then there are always too I remember looking at a picture sign

[Jnne,

During the passage through the- LyrrrrCanal the weather was calm and dry, sun-ny and clear, and at midday warm, withcold, frosty nights. The scenery wasgrand, -fantastic snow-capped moun-tains on either side, bright blue skyabove, and smooth sea. A few miles 'make a most wonderful change of cli-mate here, from the continual rain ofJuneau to what I have described.

We passed Chilcoot Mission on theafternoon of the 6th, saw the UnitedStates gunboat Pinto anchored there,-and soon entered the river. The chan-nel is very tortuous, and you keep to theright,- following, that is, the left bank"of the river. We got up to within abouta mile and a half of the rancheria, un-loaded, and packed our stuff up to thevillage, where we camped close to Hea-ly's store. Farther up the village isanother store,-Dickinson's. 'I

Chilcoot is on a nice dry site,- a largesandy flat, covered with grass -and smalltrees, running back from the edge of theriver to the hilly country at the back.There are quite a number of Indianshere during the summer months. Theywinter at the Mission. They do all thepacking into the Yukon country, andjealously keep out the Stick Indians,whose 'country is on the other side ofthe divide.

At this time of the year the Indianswould only pack to the Summit, forwhich the price was ten dollars per onehundred pounds. The chief, who wasnot a favorite with either white men orIndians, tried to bounce new-comers intopaying him double price for his ownpack, twenty-five pounds. In some caseshe was successful.

The weather here was delightful,-clear, dry, and sunny; and it seemed al-most impossible to conceive that a day'swalk farther on would carry you into acountry where there was nothing but iceand snow.

Having arranged about the packing,and given the Indians pieces of paper

614 Down the Yukon.

over a store, representing a miner trav-ersing what seemed to me the directroute to the North Pole, his rifle slung,and he seemed to be dragging an enor-mous load on his sleigh. I felt thankfulat the time in my blissful ignorance thatour journey was to be made in the sum-mer, and that there would be none ofthat amusement for us, - no frozen re-gions to traverse. A few days, however,taught us otherwise; for very shortlyafter we were harnessed up ourselves,and toiling over the ice and snow likethe veriest Arctic dogs.

At this time there seemed to he quitea stir in Juneau, - the outfitting storesbusy, and some buildings going up.There were several parties who intendedto prospect for ledges in the immediatevicinity during the summer. Thesewere making their preparations for astart.

Douglass Island and the Treadwellmines are so well know as not to requiremuch comment. Their total productwas about $67,000 per month; the minewas worked night and day. I was toldthat it was bought at one time for $500.If so, it was rather a good investment.

Our next move after laying in ourstock of provisions, (to which subject, animportant one, I shall refer later on,)was to reach Chilcoot, distant about onehundred miles. There were a couple ofodd-looking steam launches plying atuncertain intervals between Juneau andChilcoot, for the transport of minersand their stores. The fare charged wasten dollars. As our party was a largeone, and the accommodation in these"steamships" seemed to be somewhatlimited, we hired a large open boat, withtwo men, for sixty-four dollars.

We stowed away our grub, etc., andmade a start on the morning of the 4thof May. The weather, wonderful to re-late, was fine, dry and sunny. As therewas little wind on this trip" we rowedmost of the way, and camped in theevenings on the beach.

6151891.] Down the Yukon.

with the amount marked on, we brokeup camp on the morning of the oth ofMay, amidst a scene of clatter and con-fusion, the Indians scrambling for thepacks and suiting them to their individ-ual capacities. Seven of us went onahead, leaving the other two to see theIndians well under way. We carriedwith us our tents, blankets, and cookingoutfit, with present-use provisions.

The trail led along the right bank ofthe river, and was pretty good for a shortdistance; then along the river bottom.Sometimes the route crossed stretchesof pathless sand, then there would be alittle beaten trail, and then a bit overrough bowlders. The stream was crossedabout five times. About four in the af-ternoon we reached the mouth of thecanon, where we found another partycamped. Although the weather was dryland hot, yet we found here ice on theedges of the stream and snow in patches.

Next day, May roth, we proceededthrough the canon, seven of the partycarrying packs of about fifty pounds,which contained our blankets,provisions,cooking utensils, etc. At first startingthere is a steep dim b of about a mileor so over a ridge, and then the trailleads over rocks, stumps, swamps, mud-holes, then snow, ice, and bowlders, uritilthe end of the canon, where the timberends, and where we camped on a rockypoint on the side of the stream.

Next day, at five in the morning, wewent on. The Indians, with their packs,had overtaken us at this point. Theway led over a sharp ascent of snow.The crust was firm, but the walking wasslow and difficult. After about threemiles the ascent became steeper, and thesides of the pass narrowed together.About a half mile from the summit theascent became very steep, progress pain-ful, and frequent rests necessary. Wehad to dig our toes and staves into the.crust, and indeed, sometimes to crawl,on all-fours, to prevent returning inChilcoot direction with considerable ce-lerity. Several of the party were glad

to transfer their loads to the Indians,-paying them well, and glad to do so.The Indians showed wonderful endur-ance. One man, Skookum Jim, toiledalong with over one hundred pounds onhis back, and his squaw, a slight lookingwoman, had about fifty pounds.

At length the summit was reached,-a dreary waste of snow, swept by a cold,piercing wind and mist. After the some-what rapid change from the warmer re-gions below, and heated as we were fromthe climb, we were rapidly chilledthrough. Moisture was condensed andfrozen on our beards, and those who hadmits were glad to use them. Fortunate-ly there was a big hole in the snow-bank,which we scooped out a bit and madeinto a kind of snow-house, into which wewere glad to crawl for protection againstthe cold and bitter wind. We needed itto warm our fingers enough to get outmoney to pay the Indians, who now be-gan to straggle in and present theirchecks. We paid them their well earnedmoney, and they lost no time in gettingaway homewards from that inhospitable.spot.

Here lay the frozen remains of thelast dog that was left with Williamswhen he reached this mountain pass ina starved, frozen, and dying condition.His dog remained at the spot, faithfulto the last, and was frozen to death athis post, guarding the mail bag. Wil-liams was packed into Chilcoot, withgreat risk and exertion, by the Indianwho accompanied him, and another In-dian whom they met. There he livedtwo days.

On looking over our stores, we foundthat some four hundred pounds of flourhad been, by some error, left at themouth of the canon,- a grave loss.

vVe now found that, without sleighs,farther progress would have been impos-sible. Fortunately we found two sleighson the summit, and took the liberty ofborrowing them. It was a serious lib-erty to take, but we were sure to be ableto return them in a couple of days. In

616 Down the YUk01i; [Jnne,

deed, we saw no other course open. Weloaded up the sleighs, therefore, and pro-ceeded down the descent for about fivehundred yards, when we came to a pointwhere there was a sudden very steepdrop, down which it was impossible evento lower the sleighs. So we placed themon the brink, and giving them as good adirection as possible, let them go andtake their chance. Away they went, andthe momentum carried them about ahalf-mile into the plain below. We thendescended, unloaded the sleighs, draggedthem up again to the summit, loaded up,and repeated the process, un til we gotall our cargo down.

We then loaded the sleighs with thetents, cooking outfit, etc., and some pro-visions. Cacheing the remainder andcovering them up with the fly, we wenton slowly with our load over a mostdreary waste of frozen plain, surroundedin the distance with snowy mountains.We had before us now some eight orten miles, before reaching timber tocamp in.

For a couple of miles the travel wasnot bad, although the snow was verydeep and the crust soft, and the sleighsconsequently sank a good deal at times.At last we reached the descending canon,where the snowdrifts became heavier.Here the traveling' became very bad.There were deep snow-banks, and theice on the water (for our way led over asmall lake and along the course of astream flowing down canon) was rotten,so that the sleigh frequently brokethrough or overturned, and we sank our-selves, sometimes to the middle, inslushy ice and snow.

We wearily struggled along untilnightfall, and then, having reached tim-ber, we camped in the snow at a pointabout two miles from the first lake,Lindeman. Our camp consisted ofbrushthrown on the crust of snow, which wasabout ten feet deep in places, so build-ing a fire, getting water, and cooking",ere done with considerable difficulty.

N ext day, at four in the morning, sixof the party started back with the sleighsto Summit, to fetch more of the stufffrom our cache. The other three wereemployed moving camp a mile fartheron, and mending the trail, which was nowbecoming very bad. The same troublein travel was repeated,- continuallybreaking through the crust, building upthe trail, and at one time two of us tum-bled right into a deep pool of ice-water,to vary the monotony a bit. Thus workcontinued until nightfall, when wecamped as before, on the snow.

Next day three men started back toSummit after the stuff still left there,and the others mended the trail. Allwere suffering badly from the effects oflabor and hardship, and the midday glareof sun on the snow. Two of the partywere snow-blind. On this day two white\\.men passed our camp, going out. Oneof them was named Leslie. They cameover the ice on footfrom Stewart River,and reported serious trouble with theIndians there, and starvation times.Their account was that two or threewhite men and five Indians had beenshot at Harper's Post, Stewart River,by. Indians who were in a starving con-dition, and had been refused provisionsby white men. This story, which weafterwards found to be without founda-tion, deterred several parties from com-ing into the country. Some even turnedback after they had started. On May14, the next day, two men started backto look after the missing four hundredpounds of flour, and two went down tothe lake with small boats. Three of uswere now snow-blind. The two men re-turned with three hundred pounds of theflour.It had turned soft weather in the

meantime, and the trail had become verybad. The rain continued on the ryth,with high wind, and it was heavy workmoving our stuff, tents, etc., to a pointabout a half-mile down the lake, wherewe camped on a rocky bluff. The trail

1891.1 Down the Yukon. 617

was very bad, and the men sinkingthrough the crust at almost every stepup to the hips; and it took our greatestefforts to move the sleighs along thetrail, which was all the time becoming.worse.

The roth we spent in camp resting.Therewas a strong southeast wind, thaw-ing the ice on lake, which was three orfour feet thick, with air holes at someplaces. This Lake Lindeman, is aboutsix miles long and one and one-half mileswide. It is hemmed in by high, rockymountains, bare above, with a little bal-sam and spruce below and along theedges.

The night was cold, windy, with a hardfrost, and the 17th proved fine and bright.The surrounding snowy mountains weredazzling in the midday sun. The t Sthalso was a bright, sunny day. In theevening of that day, when there had beensufficient frost to put a crust on the ice,we moved our stuff to the end of thelake. This took up from about elevenat night to six in the morning and wasa heavy drag. Our loads were large, andthe sleighs, being of rough make, ranvery hard. At the end of our journeyacross, our clothes were quite saturatedwith perspiration. It began to freezestiff on us. It was necessary to chopwood, make a fire, undress, and get ondry clothes. We camped here on theedge of the lake ..

A stream runs out of this lake into thenext, Lake Bennett, and later in the sea-son boats can enter and run down to apoint a few hundred yards down, wherethe cargo should be taken out, and theboats dropped down by line alongtherighthand bank. A t this time of the yearthe stream was frozen up, so we portagedour. cargo across for about three fourthsof a mile, and camped on the edge of asmall slough close to the head of LakeBennett. The portage here is calledPayen Portage.

On the zoth of May we began cuttingtim ber for boat building. The best of

the timber had been weeded out, andforest fires had destroyed much. Theweather was cloudy and rainy, withstrong southeasterly wind, and the iceand snow were disappearing very slowly.The ice on the lake was thick and stronggenerally, but dangerous to travel overon account of occasional air holes. Ashort time before this a party were trav-eling at a great rate down the lake on asleigh helped by a sail they riggedout~when suddenly they went into an airhole. They lost most of their cargo andsaved their lives with difficulty.

From this date to the end of the monthwe were employed in sawing lumber andbuilding boats. The weather was gen-erally fine during day, cold and frosty atnight. An occasional shower fell andthe wind was generally southerly. Nogame except a few ptarmigan wereseen, with which and a few divers andsawbills we supplemented our diet. OnJune znd a party of six Indians, Sticks,carrying packs of skins, came up thelakes. They were bound for Chilcoot totrade. These Indians have to smuggletheir peltries into Chilcoot, as the Chil-coot Indians monopolize. the trade attheir side of the mountain, and do notallow the interior Indians to fetch intheir furs except by paying a heavy duty.

We were unable to get away from thisplace until the 14th of June, when theice having cleared away, we left the port-age in our boats, six in one boat and threein the other. We made about seven.miles down the lake, sometimes gettingpatches of open water, and again havingto force our way through floating ice.We camped in the evening; went onagain next morning; and by towing,'poling, and forcing our way through thebroken ice, with great labor, reached apoint about three miles from the N ar-rows, where we camped.

On the way we saw a large black beardescending a canon. Some of the partyfired at him, but did not hit him.

On the roth we went on through the

618 Down the Yukon. [June,

N arrows, which are tortuous and veryshallow in places, sandy bottom andrapid current. We got aground severaltimes, and all hands had to get out inorder to get our boats afloat. We sawa moose and then a bear crossing thestream, but not near enough to shootat.

The Narrows open out into the secondpart of the lake, or Lake Takko, 'at thehead of which and to the right is thegorge or canon I have spoken of, calledso appropriately Windy Arm from thestrong breeze here which is here gener-ally foul for downward-bounders. Wehad a heavy and long pull to get into thelake, where we found it blowing prettystiffly and quite a sea on, which madeconsiderable care necessary in the man-agement of our boats. At times we hadto shorten our sail.

Close to Windy Arm is a small, rockyislet called Bird Island. This rock isfrequented by gulls, and at times eggsare collected in abundance.

We made a rapid run across LakeTakko, and then came to the passageleading into Mud Lake, or Marsh. Im-mediately before these narrows the lakebecomes shallow, and large white rockscrop up here and there. Some of themare just awash, and care is necessary toprevent injury to boats. We had astrong southeast wind, which swept usrapidly through these narrows, wherethere is also a very rapid current. Wethen came to a rancheria on the leftbank, where there were a few Indians.To the right is a large lagoon, wherethere were a good many ducks. Youare now at the entrance of Lake Marsh,or Mud Lake. Its shores are sandy, witha growth of poplar and balsam, and abackground of high, barren, rocky moun-tains, with snow patches here and there.

We had a very strong southeast wind,which took us rapidly across abouttwenty or twenty-five miles of lake, andtowards evening we entered the river atthe other end. This is the Lewis River,

down which we went about ten miles,and camped for the night. The banksof the river here are high and bluffy,with occasional sandy beaches and bars,and back from the river banks are manyopen spaces. We caught a few laketrout here with our spoon bait, and foundthem excellent eating.

On Friday, the 17th of June, we wenton down river, which is very tortuous,with occaasional high, sandy banks, andlevel patches of table land on the top,and groves of poplar. As we descended,the banks of the river became higher,and at points presented peculiar barepromontories of a Gothic arch shape.The current was very rapid, perhapsabout five miles an hour, even more atsome places.

We were looking out closely now forthe entrance to Miles Canon, but onaccount of the peculiar winding of the \\river we found ourselves, notwithstand-ing our care, suddenly and somewhatunexpectedly at the entrance to thisimportant place for the Yukon traveler.One might very easily be drawn into thecanon unawares, and consequently haveto run through and take chances.

This rocky canon presents a some-what somber appearance at its entrance,which is about seventy yards wide, withhigh, rocky portals on the left side. Thewater is broken with rocks, but there isa deep channel to the right, throughwhich the water rushes with an uglyswirl. It is about three quarters of amile long, bounded by perpendicularmasses of black rock two or three hun-dred feet high. There is a kind of basinin the center, which narrows again to asecond gorge.

You take the right hand bank abouttwo hundred yards from the entrance ofthe canon, and make your preparations,which consist in lightening your boat ifnecessary, covering your cargo well, es-pecially in the bows, and placing yourmen so as to exercise the best controlover the boat in order to keep her

1891.] Down tlte Yukon. 619

straight. You now enter the canon to case the occupants would probably bethe right, and are swept swiftly onwards drowned. There is a good 'portage onfor about three hundred yards; then the right, where those not going in theabout the center of the channel there is boats, and part of the cargo, pass over.broken water, with three or four great The time occupied in running this canon

I waves with ugly looking crests. To the is about one minute.left of this, close to the base of the cliff, For some three miles below the canonis a smoother channel. You then reach a good many bars, small rapids, andthe central basin, which is smooth, and spaces of broken water,are encountered,gives you a rest for a short time before necessitating some care. You then comeentering the second part of the canon, to the White Horse Rapids. It is neces-through which you sweep rapidly, and at sary to watch for these rapids carefully,the end pass through some rough, brok- as just before coming to them there is aen water, You are then quite through, . bend in the river, and one might getand pull into the bank on the right, into the broken water unexpectedly.where there is a kind of eddy and muddy Wilen the rapids are reached, you takebeach. the left bank and unload your boat.

In passing through this canon it is These rapids are about a half mile long;difficult to avoid the broken water in the and at the end there is a kind of fall or.first part, into which you seem to be bad water. Just to the left of and abovedrawn with great force. The usual this fall is an eddy. Unloaded boats can'clumsy boat does not yield rapidly to the be easily run down the left side of thestroke of the paddle, and the passage is rapids, close to the bank, and guidedso swift that you are in the breakers into the eddy, from which there is aalmost immediately. With a light boat small portage of about twenty yards overit is possible, by exercising considerable rocks or snow, as the case may be, lead-judgment and muscle, to get into the ing into the river again. Parties, aftersmooth channel to the left. In our case, unloading their boats above the rapids,although we had a light boat and not ought to look at the place before run-very heavy cargo, and tried our best, we ning down their boats. If one is doubt-were swept right into the bad water, and ful about this method, they can be easilyshipped a good deal. You have just time dropped down by line. You portage yourto realize the possibly awkward position cargo along the left bank when going upin which you are placed, when you find the river. The other side offers betteryourself well washed down two or three facilities for towing.times, and then safe in the central basin. For the next mile or so the river isThe broken water at the other end is bad, and bars and rocks are frequentlynot of any consequence. In a raft, of met with. We saw many rafts firmlycourse, you fasten everything on secure- stranded on them. The current is yeryly, and go right through. rapid. The channel, generally speaking,

I would advise everyone to look at the is to the left. About here almost any-place well before going through, and to where you can get a few small colors,-lighten the boat lis necessary, having the three to six to the pan of dirt. Thebows well out of water, and covered with river then widens out considerably, andwaterproof or substitute, to fend off the the water becomes smooth.water and protect the cargo. Broadside The evening of the 17th there was aoars are awkward to use. I have not smart frost. The t Sth was a fine, warm,heard of any serious accident here, but sunny day. We prospected occasionallya boat might easily get swamped through as we floated down stream, always find-

.overloading or carelessness, and in that ing a few colors of fine float gold. On

620 Down tile Yukon. [Jnne,

the rotb the river became very tortuous,and spread out into sheets like smalllakes, before we reached Lake Le Barge,At the entrance to this lake are numer-ous shoals and bars, and a large island tothe left .

We entered it about ten o'clock in themorning, and proceeded down it aboutten miles, when we met with ice stretch-ing across it We camped on the righthand shore and hauled up our boats, andshortly after which the ice closed in onus, Some peals of thunder and the cap-ture of three lake trout completed thehistory of the day. There was frost atnight

N ext day the ice was moving down the.lake, and the next we reached the endof it and entered the river again, At thepoint where the lake and river join, wecaught several large lake trout (eachweighing perhaps fourteen pounds ormore), with a spoon bait, at which theybit freely, This was the only point onthe river where fish bit well, and I shouldadvise travelers to camp here and catcha few fish, and perhaps salt down some,They will not have such a good chanceanywhere else; these fish are deliciouseating. .

At our camp there was rain, and themosquitoes were troublesome; and wewent on next day. in cloudy and coldweather. We now passed sandy bars inthe river, and occasional high banks.About four in the afternoon we reachedthe Hoodalinkie (marked lyon on theUnited States Coast and GeologicalSurvey map of 1884). We found severalmining parties camped there. Therewas heavy rain all that night, and themorning was cloudy, cold and rainy.

The men debated about proceeding upthis river to prospect. The water wasvery high, and the stream rapid. Thisriver, the Hoodalinkie, seems to be quiteas large as the main stream, We decid-ed at length to proceed down stream,and prospected at intervals, always find-ing colors, but nothing to warrant be-

ginning to work. We found several par-ties mining, mostly on the right bank,not doing very much, and thinking ofleaving. Mosquitoes were very trouble-some, and a fox and afew ducks the onlygame seen.

N ext day, the zath, we sawseveral oldclaims and spoke a few men. Some ofthem were doing a little work, but mosthad had to cease on account of the highwater. A good deal of work had beendone on what are called the CassiarBars, about four miles above the BigSalmon River. These bars were. nowalmost flooded, and a couple of men whoremained were about to leave. The barsare almost worked out. Mosquitoes weretoday again very troublesome .

The river banks that we passed onthe 25th present an odd, bench-like ap-pearance in places, like railroad worksor cuttings. There are high hills at theback, covered with coarse bunch grass,and occasional groves of poplar. Wepassed several small islands. The streamis here very rapid, perhaps averagingfour miles an hour.

We had fine, bright weather on thezoth. About midway we made the FiveFingers or Rink Rapids, which aremarked by a few irregular rocky cliffsor pillars in mid-stream, through whichare several channels. We took the righthand one, which I think is about thebest: There is a good deal of swift,broken water in it, and a few waves, butnothing of importance. Ordinary careonly is necessary, and boats need not beunloaded.

About three miles below these rapidsare some awkward rocky bars, the pas-sage through which must be watched,keeping to the right. The river abouthere and for some distance down is stud-ded with islands covered with a densegrowth of willow brush, and is about twohundred or two hundred and fifty yardswide. An occasional wild goose wasseen here,

On the 27th the river was winding

Down the Yukon. 6211891.]and studded with islands, whose shores with numerous islands. The currentpresented long, odd-looking benches. was, as usual, rapid, four or five miles anAn occasional Indian's grave was seen. hour. We camped at night on a smallThere is a good deal of high, grass-cov- island, and the next day continued ourered land, and many deep ravines. One voyage down the stream, which present-very remarkable cliff rises on the righ t ed the same general appearances as be-bank. There are occasional patches of fore,-sand bars, numerous islands, highlow land, with poplar and willow growth. timbered land on either side.We shot two geese today. We also fell We fell in with a big outfit of Indiansin with an Indian ranch, the first since traveling down stream on rafts and ca-Mud Lake, and got some dried moose noes. Their rafts were pretty well load-meat, which tasted good to us. Weed with skins and dried moose meat,passed the Li ttle. Salmon, but did not sleighs, dogs, and various impedimenta.notice it. Next day we saw a cow moose They had a kind of platform built onand calf crossing the river, and fired a them, and thole pins for using oars, atfew shots at the cow, but the rapid move- which the women toiled. Meanwhile,merit of the boat, and mistaken range on the bucks flitted round in light, birch-account of the clearness of the atmos- bark, one, man canoes. These little ves-phere, caused a miss each time. The sels are extremely light, weighing per-weather was still very fine. About four haps not more than ten or twelve pounds,in theaftemoon we reached the site of and beautifully made of birch bark, theMcQuesten's store, near the mouth of bow part covered in. They use a small,Stewart River. light, single-bladed paddle. These pea,

We expected here to find some notice pie are small, with well shaped handsor information regarding the where-· and feet. The whole outfit, rapidlyabouts of Forty-Mile Creek, but could drifting down the stream, with the ca-get nothing from the few Indians there. noes flitting about in a wonderfullyThe post seemed almost abandoned. swift way, presented a very picturesqueThere was one notice which stated that appearance. We traded a little tobacco" Still left here for St. Michaels, May with them for moose meat.4th, '87," and another as follows: "All Shortly after we struck a large ranch-gone to Hel1." There was not much eria on the right bank of the river. Onto be got out of this. We looked care- account of the story we had heard re-fully forbullet marks, remembering the garding the hostility of the Indians, wereport made to us by the man Leslie we approached with care, but we found themmet up the river, but found no sign of very friendly. They all insisted on shak-any firing. . ing hands, and saying" How de do-do-

After a deal of trouble, we managed do," with great earnestness. We did ato get out of the Indians that "plenty little more trading here for moose meat.white men farther down stream, and all The Indians were preparing for the sal-find a little gold." A squaw drew a man run.kind of rough map on a piece of wood We continued then down stream, andfor our direction, and it proved to be cor- towards evening arrived at Fort Reli-rect and of use to us. We then went on ance. This old trading post is aban-our way down stream. .doned, and in a state of dilapidation.

The weather was exquisite, and the The weather became cloudy during thescenery of this part of the river, which evening, and some rain fell. Next day,is about a mile wide, the finest we had the 30th, we went on down stream, pass-yet seen. The surrounding hills were ing the usual islands and sand-bars. Webright green, and the water was dotted saw the woods on fire at several points.

1322Down tlte Yukon. [June·

We kept a sharp lookout for the cree kfor if we had passed it we should havehad great trouble in making any head-way up stream again. In the afternoonwe made what turned out to be the creek

. we were looking for,- Forty-Mile, orFranklin. It is on the left bank of themain river, with very high land around.Close to the mouth of the creek is abluffy point, which seems to be an oldcamping ground. We here found acache and a notice board, with some di-rections regarding points up the stream,and a few letters stuck to a tree directedto parties outside. The creek water isof a light reddish tinge, probably fromswamps further up.

There is an island near the left bankat the mouth, with sandy and gravellybeach, where we camped, to escape themosquitoes, which were very bad nearthe brush. Two other parties reachedthe creek at the same time. After sup-per two moose calves came down to alittle cove about three hundred yardsfrom us. There was a rush for rifles,and fire was opened. After some ridic-ulous feats of shooting had been exhib-ited by some of Our supposed-to-be-goodhunters, the range was got, coolness es-tablished, and the calves were at lastbagged, much to our delight, after alarge expenditure of ammunition.

On prospecting round here a few col-ors could be got almost anywhere. Pros-pects get better on going farther up.

On July I we continued Our journeyup creek, towing the boats, wading our-selves at times, poling, and sometimeshaving some difficulty at the riffles. Wecamped on the left bank, about six anda half miles up, and two miles from thecanon.

On the ad three of our party wentahead to find out what was going on upthe creek, taking the small boat. An:other party went along about the sametime, and at the canon they helped eachother to tow. During the towing one ofthe boats was upset, the cargo lost, and

one man, named Lamont, was drowned.Another boat was also capsized, losingour remaining bacon. Last month twomen were drowned at this canon, by thecapsizing of their boats. One of thesecame into the country with Lamont.They separated, one going to Sixty_Mile Creek, .and crossing over into For-ty. They were both drowned at the sameplace, within a few days of each other.This canon does not look dangerous, andmen neglect to take precautions. Cargoought to be here portaged over badplaces, and great care taken.

On Saturday, the 9th of July, one ofour scouts returned, and reported fairdiggings up the creek, so the party de-cided to go up at once. I elected to re-main at the mouth of the creek, as I in-tended going down the river to themouth, and returning to Victoria, ifpossible

Nowa few words about the mining ex-periences met with during the trip,-although I fear that not being an expertI cannot do justice to the subject, andwhat I say will be expressed in a dis-jointed manner. Yet the information issuch as many people may be glad to get,particularly should they think of visit-ing the country.

We began to get colors almost any-where below the White Horse rapids,but not enough to encourage men towork. The water at this time of year,the end of June, was high, and still ris.ing, so that the prospecting done wasunsatisfactory. Morever the party werein a hurry to get on, and the stream wasso rapid that we occasionally passedspots that looked promising before de-ciding to stop and examine. The goldfound was very fine and superficial.

Below Lake Le Barge we experiencedabout the same result, - colors every-where, two to six to the pan. When wegot to the Hoodalinkie, we found theriver very high, and the time being shortwe again went on.

The bars above the Salmon River

(1891. ] Down the Yukon. 623

were nearly covered with water, andmen about leaving them. Some of these

en said they had been doing fairly wellduring low water, but were now movingdown to Forty-Mile. The Cassiar bars,about four miles above the Salmon, had~ielded fairly the year before, but wereabout worked out. I heard later that'fair prospects had been got immediatelybelow Five Fingers, or Rink Rapids,and I would advise miners not to passthat point without giving it so"meatten-ion.

After this part of the river, there arefew signs of gold until the Stewart isstruck. That year there were very fewmen in the Stewart, perhaps not a halfdozen. Two years before some $30,000were taken out of that river; in fact thecream was skimmed off, the gold beingsuperficial. That season on Stewart asmuch as $3.50 to the pan was found.

At Forty-Mile Creek there were threeparties working between the mouth andthe cafion ; one of these, about two milesup on left bank, was taking out 'about$10 or $12 a day. A man three milesabove that was doing $6 to $8 a day;and two men above them and two milesbelow the cation were doing about thesame. The gold was very fine, and wasfound in the light, sandy soil about afoot from the surface, and in patches.There was nothing deeper done. I in-terviewed a man named Raymur, whohad just come down the creek from apoint about forty miles up, where he hadbeen working. He had just sold hisclaim for about $300, I believe. Heshowed us some of his gold. It wasmuch coarser than any I had seen yet;one piece was about the size of a bean,and was considerably discolored anddirty. He said that most of the claimsup stream were c. spotty."

No deep mining had been done up thecreek: getting down to bed rock in the·frozen ground was a very hard and slowpY0CeSS,and where the season was soshort, men preferred to stick to a small

certainty, rather than to break through,with much labor, an uncertain depth offrozen ground to get to bed rock. Themining season is practically over by the15th of September, when the weatherbecomes too cold for work.

A few men were hired up the creek(at wages $8 a day and find themselves)by a company, Messrs. Franklin & Lam-bert, who had built a wingdam and weresluicing. .

This creek runs up a long way, anddivides into three forks. The gulch fromwhich great things were expected isabout one hundred and thirty miles fromthe mouth. To us it is evident thatthere is a large extent of country up hereto be prospected.

Some coarse gold was also found onSixty-Mile Creek, from the headwatersof which several men crossed over tothose of Forty-Mile. The headwatersof the Tananah, which opens into theYukon at Nucluckahyet, can be reachedalso by a short portage from the upperwaters of Forty-Mile. Diggings maybe struck on this river.

As I mentioned before, the diggingsup creek are spotted. I referred beforeto a claim that was sold; no doubt thevender was under the impression thatthere was not much more in it. How-ever, his successor took out twenty-sixand one half ounces of gold in two hours,according to his own statement. I sawa portion of the gold. It was coarse, thelargest nugget being about $7.50. Bythe way, I hear of much discolored goldbeing met with, and no doubt a. certainquantity has been thrown away or lost.A magnet would be of use in these casesin determining the presence of ferrugin-ous material. I was also told of a mannamed Hughes who took out $250 in aday. This was probably on Lewis River.One Steele had also done fairly well:he had in his possession two nuggets,one weighing $15..30; the other, whichwas mixed with quartz, seemed to con-tain about $30 of gold. There has been

Down tlte Yukon. [June,

as much as $38.75 taken out of a pan ofdirt (from a crevice) up the creek. Mr.Le Doux, who had just come down thecreek, reported another man as takingout $50 a day, rocking. To speak againof Stewart River,- during 1885 $15,000was supposed to have been taken off onebar.

A word here about these spottedclaims. Poplin's claim had been pros-pected several times before being takenup, and passed over.

About this. time, July 19, many menwere abandoning claims on the creekthat paid some $ 10 to $ I 5 a day, andgoing up to a gulch near the middlefork, one hundred and thirty miles up,where some very coarse gold had beenfound, and where the great bonanza wassupposed to be. Later on, with consid-erable toil, bed rock was struck in thegulch, about twelve feet down, and theprospect only realized about thirty cents

. to the pan. I understand that about thistime the men agreed to abandon workin the gulch until next year, and to re-turn to their claims down the creek, inorder to get out what they could beforethe season closed. A grub stake meansa good deal, as I shall presently show,taking into consideration the length ofthe winter and the necessarily highprice of provisions.

On the Franklin' Bar, thirty-six milesup, they were sluicing; and probablymaking about $30 a day. I heard ofanother man who made for a short time$40 a day, rocking. There are largegravel beds up this creek, they say, thirtyfeet deep, where there is gold whichcould be hydraulicked "if they were notfrozen."

N ow the gist of all this is, that over alarge area of country there is gold scat-tered in small quantities; the most"easily reached parts have been worked,and the cream skimmed off. The goldincreases in coarseness as you go upForty-Mile Creek. I should say therewere some two hundred and fifty men,

or perhaps more, on the creek in 1887,and the takings were from $ 5 a day to$424 (the 26Yz ounce supposed to havebeen taken out by Poplin). Wages were$8 per diem. The miners were very hope-ful that something good and lastingwould ultimately be struck, but they hadto contend with shortness of season anda frozen-up country.

The general method of mining was bythe rocker, gold being caught on blank-eting. have not heard of copper plat-ing being used much, perhaps in a halfdozen claims.

I t is possible that some men have madea few thousand dollars in this country,but most likely, as it usually is, the greatmajority find themselves as they were.

I saw some good specimens of goldquartz and galena found about this re-gion. There has also been some softccal found on a creek nearly opposite,and a little farther down than Forty-Mile. This may be of use, should any-thing permanent be struck about here,either in the placer or ledge way.' Theprice paid for this gold in the country is$16 per ounce.

N ow as to the question of supplies.Men coming into the country by way ofChilcoot generally get their supplies atJuneau, calculated to last for a variabletime, according to their means or ideas,-four. to six months, <is the case maybe. They depend for the rest on pro-visions fetched up the river from St.Michaels by Messrs. Harper, McQues-ten and Mayo, a firm of traders who havebeen in this part of the country for someyears. Up to the last two or three yearsbefore my trip there was no difficulty insupplying the few miners who came intothe country, but in the winter of 1886there was considerable scarcity of food,and a small steamer, the New Rocket,went down the river somewhat earlierin 1887 in order to get supplies and re-"turn immediately. A few people comingin from Chilcoot with supplies helped totide over matters. The New Rocket was

1891.J Down the Yukon. 62&

expected on the r yth of July, but didnot arrive until the zzth, by which timemany men were quite out of provisions.

Three days before, on the 24th, aminers' meeting was held, and after de-liberation it was resolved to open acache of provisions left near the mouthof the creek by some parties at presentIp country. This was accordingly done,nd a quantity of flour, bacon, coffeeuga'r, and other things, were removedy those in urgent need, and receiptslade out and deposited. .

Provisions come up the river by threeriver boats,-the Yukon, New Racket,.and Explorer. Their carrying capacitys almost nothing. The provisions areoaded in barges and towed. The quan-

tity is about as follows: Yukon, 48 tons;New Rocket, 8 to 10 tons; Explorer,12 tons. Now, supposing that each boatlade two trips, which is the utmost thatan be done, that would mean about 136ons of cargo,-say enough provisions

for one hundred and fifty men for aear. Of course, this may be supple-ented by fish and game, but these are

not to be depended on in this country.When I left, at the close of the seasonf 1887, no more supplies from below

could be looked for till the end of July,1888; and as there were then betweenwo hundred and fifty and three hundreden in the country, a good many must

have had to get out some way, or tomake their way down the river, to sayNuklukahyet, where some provisions are

1ways kept by the traders there, Messrs.Walker and Frederickson. It was hopedhat if there were good reports that fall,

tlhe Alaska Fur Company might put awo hundred-ton boat on the river in

1888; in that case there would be nourther anxiety on the subject of pro-isions. Men wintering in the country

ought to keep clearly before their mindsthat they ought to have a year's supplyf provisions always in advance. Whenhe July or August boat unloads, thereill be no more until the following year.

VOL.xvii.-40.

I would advise no one to go mining inthe country unless he were prepared tostay two years at the least. The seasonsare so short that little may be done ex-cept to prospect the first year. Thenthe long journey out and in again is verytrying. A man had better winter andbe on the spot, ready for work in thespring. It would also be better for aman to have say $300 in hand also, incase he does not make his grub stake.to see him over the winter,-althoughthe traders up the river are extremelykind arid obliging in these matters. Inconcluding what I have to say aboutmining, I may add that the gold seems.to have been pretty well followed up;and whether rich placer diggings existwill soon be made apparent. There must·be somewhere in this region very rich.deposits in the quartz to give rise, byits slow disintegration, to such extensive-and wide-spread .deposits of auriferousmatter.

N ow, as regards the climate of thecountry traversed, a few words only arenecessary. That on the coast of Alaskaand Juneau in particular, is a very humidone, very heavy rainfall: as you go in-land through the Lynn Canal, the cli-mate becomes drier, and at Chilcoot thesummer is pleasant enough. As youproceed up the creek towards the sum-mit, say in the month of May, a fewhours' walking takes you from warm.sunny weather to what seems midwinter.On the summit, and for hundreds ofmiles beyond, nothing but enormousmasses of ice and snow were to be seen.The middays about this time (May) arewarm and sunny, nights cold and frosty.About the end of May and beginning ofJune a little rain frequently occurs.July and August on the Yukon are gen-erally fine, sunshiny months, with a fewshowers, and an occasional thunderstorm. Night frosts commonly occur,Septem ber, I was told, is fi ne and frosty;in October ·the weather becomes cold;in November it goes down to an occa-

626 Down the Yukon. [June,

sional- 30° ; and dunng the remainderof the winter extreme cold reign~,- 60°to - 800

• I have been assured, at allevents that - 800 has been registered. Ishould say, however, that - 70Q wouldbe nearer the mark, cold enough to suitanyone that wants a bracing climate.

I do not see how any mining workcan be done before the end of May.Perhaps, with difficulty, three and a halfor four months' work can be got in dur-ing the year. I am disposed to thinkthat the ice is not out of the lakes be-fore the roth of June. This year it wasthe zoth ; but one's visit to a new coun-try, by some curious coincidence, is in-variably made when the seasons are attheir worst. Towards the end of August-even at tiines the weather becomes tem-pestuous, and rain and some sleet falls;and even at that early time of the yearthe passage of the summit is sometimesnot unattended with. difficulty. TheChilcoot or Dayai River is also swollenand rapid. I understood that some per-sons, having in view the trouble peopleexperience in getting into the 'countryby Chilcoot and the mountain pass, werelooking for a route entering some fewmiles below Juneau, through the Tar-kon inlet, and striking the second por-tion of Lake Bennett, or Lake Takko, atWindy Arm,-or, as it is marked on themap, Falls of N otalinga River. Therewas also some talk of placing a coupleof small steamers on the lakes" in theevent of the success of the mines justi-fying the venture. There are, however,many serious obstacles to steamboatingon the upper Yukon. No doubt, shouldmining prove a success, either a newroute will be found, or the present oneacross the pass may be improved in someway. ' A few men ascended the Hooda-linkie (Iyon) river in 1887, and I under-stand struck fair prospects. There is ashort cut to the upper waters of theHoodalinkie by a portage of about thirtymiles, striking in near the head of Mudor Marsh Lake.

A few words as to game and fish:-The miner or traveler must not dependon either; he may perhaps supplementhis ordinary diet by them, but nothingmore. Along the lakes we saw onlya few grouse, a couple of bears, andat the narrows at the end of Lake Ben-nett, a moose. Three moose were seengoing down stream, and a few bears,-the latter seem to be pretty plentiful.The country is very thickly wooded, andit is difficult to travel without making agood deal of noise, and the moose is ashy animal. During the month of July,the cow moose is traveling round witha calf, and consequently does not movevery rapidly, especially in crossing thewater, which they frequently do; lateron, when the bulls are running, you mayby chance fall across one; still laterhunting is difficult on account of thecold.

In some places, up Forty-Mile Creek,for instance, I have been told by goodauthority that caribou are plentiful inthe winter; it is necessary, however, toascend the mountains to the limit oftimber line, and then hunt on the baldhills. The caribou travel in large bands.Deer also are reported plentiful up thePorcupine River, where they are fre-quently killed by spearing while crossingthe river. Geese are fairly abundant onsome portions of the river, for instance,below the Rink Rapids, and again nearthe mouth of the river; ducks not sonumerous as I expected to find them,-they are, however, pretty thick in thelagoon close to the Indian village at theentrance to Mud Lake.

Whitefish and lake trout are the prin-cipal fish on the Upper Yukon. Theyare of the finest kind and good flavor.The whitefish is caught only by the net,and a spoon is the best for the trout.They are not, however, so plentiful as Iexpected, except at one point, the exitof Lake Le Barge, and a short distancedown the Lewis from the lake. Therethey bit freely, and were certainly the

1891.) Down th« Yukon. 627

nest fish I ever saw or tasted. ThoseI caught averaged from fourteen towenty pounds in weight. From Stew-

art River, down, king salmon are very'fine, and become more plentiful and inbetter condition as you descend. I

auld therefore impress on the travelerhe advisability of taking along a spoonr artificial bait, and a gill net. I believefew fish have been taken up the smallreeks with a fly.Now with regard to arms i-« To begin

t the bottom of the list, I should saydon't trouble about taking a pistol,- itis so much weight, and you will have no

se for it. Neither is a shotgun of muchuse; should one, however, be taken, it

ught to be a heavy to-bore, well choked.good rifle is, however, indispensable,

nd it ought to be a good, serviceablegun, of caliber not less th an 45, andchambered for a long cartridge of notess than seventy grains of powder.

our game is bear, moose, and deer, ands you may not have a chance every day

you want a powerful weapon. TheWinchester is good, and the Springfield(needle gun)as used in the United Statesservice is a good weapon, strong shoot-ing and not liable to be injured by roughusage. An important matter about riflesis to have them carefully sighted andtried, so that you can depend on theperformance, and then have a guard overthe foresight, to protect during roughtravel and boating.It is as well to know that there are

such things as mosquitoes in the Yukoncountry. They begin to get troublesomebelow the lakes, and increase in num-bers and ferocity as you descend. Onthe lower Yukon they are a perfect ter-ror, so take along plenty of mosquitonetting. A carefully closed tent will, ofcourse, also be an efficient protection.

The Indians met with in this countryare, as a rule, friendly and harmless, withthe exception of the Tananah tribe, whoare on account of their isolated positionnot often brought into contact with

white men. They are therefore prettysavage, and I believe at times dangerous.The Chilcoots are good packers. Aftercrossing the divide you meet very fewIndians, or perhaps none, until MudLake is reached, where there is a smallrancheria of Sticks. They are thenscarce until you get near Stewart River,and as you descend the Yukon they be-come more numerous.

Now as regards the amount of provis-ions to be taken into the country. Thisimportant matter rests entirely with theideas of the party, and' of course mustbe, regulated according to their means.It cost $ro a hundred in 1887 to getstuff packed from Chilcoot to the sum-mit, and say $13 to $15 to the lake.After that it is a matter of personaltime and labor to complete the transpor-tation. Some hardy men have donetheir own packing. The usual provis-ions taken by travelers are flour, bacon,beans, rice, a little fruit, and some con-diments. Should they depend on thesupply coming in by the mouth, andreaching Forty-Mile about the end ofJuly or beginning of August, and en-ter the country in the early spring,the quantity can be easily calculated. Iwould, however, ad vise men not to cutdown too fine such articles as tea, coffee,sugar, tobacco, and either baking pow-der or a supply of soda and acid for thesame purpose. These articles are nevera drug in the market. A few tins offruit or jam are also useful as antiscor-butics.

The Juneau prices are about as fol-lows: sugar, ro cents a pound; bacon,21 cents; beans, 4 cents; flour, $3 forroo pounds; rice, 9 cents; baking pow-der, 60 cents one-half pound; coffee,5 pounds for $ 1.25 ; black tea, 75 cents;tobacco, 70 cents a pound. The pricesat Forty-Mile Creek are about as fol-lows: flour, $18 for roo pounds; bacon,40 cents; beans, about 35 cents; rice, 30cents; tea, $ t.50 ; sugar, 30 cents ; milk,75 cents a tin; butter, 75 cents a pound;

628 Down tlte Yukoll. [June,

baking powder, 75 cents a quarter-poundtin.

This was on arrival of Messrs. Mayoand McQuesten's boat, New Racket,on the 27th of july, Before that, onaccount of the scarcity of Iood, largeprices were offered, such as $30 or moresometimes for 100 pounds of flour. Anymoney was offered for tobacco, whichhad quite run out. Last winter many menwere tightly pressed for food. I haveheard of moss being dried, pulverized,and mixed with flour to make it spin out.

As regards sleighs, they are of coursenecessary up to the end of May, andmust be taken along. They can be pur-chased at Juneau. or can be made by theparties themselves. I have heard theJuneau sleighs well spoken of, althoughthey are high-priced.

N ow as to the effect of the climateand travel on health. The country, gen-erally speaking, is a healthy one. Snow-blindness is a complaint frequently metwith among parties traveling in earlyspring, and occurs commonly amongmen coming into the country over thesummit. It is characterized by an in.flamed condition of the conjunctiva, orexternal lining membrane of the eye-ball, some pain, and intolerance of light.A bad attack renders the person quiteincapable of using his eyes for somedays. It is caused by the bright glareof the sun reflected from the snow. Thedeeper structures of the eye are occa-sionally affected, the retina more partic-ularly. Precaution is better than cure.Eyes should be shaded when the per-son feels the glare inconvenient. For

[The following notes have been kindly furnished usby Mr. Ivan Petroff, U. S. Census Agent.for Alaska, tobring the information contained in this article down todate.-ED.]

Page 6r4.- The Chilcoot Indians never winter at theMission, which was built in a romantic spot in the hopeof getting the Indians to move, but the latter preferred'salmon to scenery.

Page 6r6.-This man Leslie has sincebeen driven outof the country, being suspected of having committedfour or five murders himself.

that purpose, one can use tinted glasses,pieces of leather or gum boot, with asmall central opening, so as to limit theentrance of light; or, perhaps, as goodas anything is a piece of green mosquitonetting, rolled round the hat, and usedas a screen. The best treatment seemsto be rest for a few days in a darkenedtent, hot fomentations, tea-leaf poultices,and later on a mild eye wash, made bydissolving five grains of zinc sulphate ina cup of water.

Scurvy in the form of black-leg is oc-casionaJJ y met with, especially afterwintering. The causes are confinementto the house, and diet not sufficientlyvaried,- deficient in vegetable matter,and perhaps consisting too much ofbread and bacon,- and so a general lowering of health. People so affected gen-erally recover rapidly in the spring, whenthey begin to move round a bit, and per-haps get some lam b's quarter and wildonion, both of which may be found. Afavorite remedy is an infusion of cotton-wood bark and spruce tops. Fresh meat,fruit, and lime juice, and canned vege-tables would of course be proper.

This closes what I have to say regard-ing the trip to the placer mines onForty-Mile Creek. I have endeavoredto place before the reader, as accuratelyas possible, the state of matters existingat the time there; and have describedthe journey, so as to give informationfully, and on as many points as possible,to those interested in the coun try, or toany who may contemplate paying it avisit. I left the Yukon by the mouth ofthe river.

Wm. A. Redmond.Page 625.-A powerful boat carrying 250 tons now

makes two or three trips during the season between St.Michael and the mining region on the Upper YUkon.

Page 626.-Considerable work is now done during thewinter by miners remaining in the country. They haullogs upon the gravel bars, and hy setting fire to themthey thaw the ground sufficiently to throw a quantity ofgravel upon the banks for washing in the spring.

The rush of miners to the Yukon diggings has almostceased. Less than fifteen men are on the road now,-against hundreds a few years ago.