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Show (..:;". tent the the event a'.l quit work and left. We cou'.l not on the other turn bark now go concluded to follow did 1 sr,vct any. I had our beds. After makinz evervtriir? over nut fast I unhitched the does and callin- lP to that time but was b them along we started to climb to the and in- ,f jirKcl Well, Hon-...j- top. This is no small task, I can tell with it a clear ou, and when we arrive at the Mrs; ,i..V la ning! ana no ; f. u bench it was after 2 o'clock. Here the while. liootaM breakfast I wind wa.- blowing very hard and cold hail one loud of .air.p outfit and ray and the small particles of ice that tame start. Breakfast with it cut my fa e and hands so that t".mi d..g ready consisted of frje f baron, cold bread, 1 could not face it or take off my mitcoffee and beans. iSoon after 4 o'clock tens. Here we found our beds and I I started for the ummit, three miles also managed to find a can of frozen away, up the steep mountain side. I corn beef which tasted very pood while was early at thj tM of the summit we sat for a short time behind a pile or last great riseiwikh is so steep that of goods to rest. We packed our beds up on men's backs from this bench to the next. The wind everything must or by windlass, j he angle is so great had now become so strong that it would that one might t k the mountain was almost carry me up the side. I believe fall that way. it would have been next to impossible leaning over an v Of course every i nz is covered with to go down again even, manv feet of buff. No men were "At the second bench I had hard working yet, so j left my load to be work to keep my feet at all but mantaken up when the windlass started aged to bind our beds on a sleigh, net t,f trvu''.e In fL!re g In j.jwn j ! -i 1 - 3 -- Mr. Charles II. Metcalf, writing from Dawson City on the Klondyke river, under recent date, ways: "Here 1 find myself at last in the midst of the greatest and most wonderful mining tamp the world has ever teen. Gold is so plenty that it has to he carried about in cotton hags, and lour or five men are required to park and protect the products of many of the claims. 1 have seen the result of one day's washing on a claim in Eldorado creek, and the figure was $lS.mO for twelve hours' work of four men. This claim was sold less than six months ago for 100, and will produce more than $1,000,01)0 before the end of the year. The excitement is now so great that do one will sell at any price, there Is iio chance for newcomer in this Immediate vicinity. The. count iy full of proprietors, and every nt ream "within a hundred miles is located ami claimed from one end to the other. On the bis creeks where the gold is f"Uiid, namely Bonanza and Kldorado, there 'ctre many men who tried in every way to sell their claims for a few hundred dollars last winter hut could find no takers. Those men are In possession of great wealth, which is even yet beyond their capacity to realize. I could not even attempt to picture this camp or city to you. Thousands of men, and women, too, for that matter, are liero living In tents, or log sheds, or houses of hoards with cloth roofs, each habitation taking a position to unit Itself with no regard for Us neighbor or any form of regularity. The sawmill Is running night and day, and men are rushing about at all times of day and night and buildings of all kinds are Koing up. Such is the power of gold that before cold weather cornea in September this wilderness will be a city in Sfact of many thousand people I shall go out to Ikmanza creek in a day or two and look the ground over there. I doubt, however, if anything can he done while everybody Is in this present Btate of excitement. Circle City is a city no longer; with one or two exceptions all tho stores and shops are closed and tho entire population has transferred Itself to this new Eldorado, earn and all full of hope in the great f olden handicap. Prospectors are rushing all over tho country looking for gold, but nothing of any consequence lias been found oulsldo of the two Litf creeeks I smoke of. A few men will ba made rich here, hut everybody Is spending money In the most lavish manner, and 1 am getting good prices for tho goods I have to sell. You remember the two dogskin robes that cost me ft. DO each, and which I wanted so much to bring a quantity of? Well, I sold them both yesterday at $10 each, and could sell a hundred more if 1 had them; and this Is a fair sample of i- the I relish do not river this year, but making another trip if I could help it. I don't mind the intently hard work s.j much, but I find the worry and anxiety about getting the goods safely over the lakes and river very trying, and people tell me I am looking thin. I hear indirectly that liooth (a young man Mr. Metcalf took with him) is doing very well on my claim. No. ii, on Mastodon creek. The weather is very hot and wiil result in much sickness and hiin'ering in thi.-- . damp marsh. Dr. Lo Dlaae lias business already, and will do exceedingly well I feel sure. He will locate here for the winter. While 1his town is a wonder at present and growing fast, I think its life will be short. prices. We had no trouble on ) i ACTUAL ITIOTOGRAFHS OF SCENES ATTENDING COLD Ice to break up. The Journey la tnea continued by drifting down a series of lakes and do vn the Yukon river. Before the traveler can realize it he is at the much talked of and treacherous 'White Horse Rapids" going through which many men have lost their lives. As soon as the warm weather begins gnats, poisonous flies and mosquitoes make life a burden. The stories told of the numbers and voraciousness of the native mosquitoes are almost incredible. Lieut. Schwatka states in his report of a voyage down the 'Yukon that he has seen mosquitoes in such numbers as to cloud the sun and obstruct the vision. Dogs and game have been killed by the bites of mosquitoes; even the huge black bear is not exempt from the pest as the continual bites produce inflammation of the eyes, causing blindness. Judging from reports an asbestos mosquito net should be in the outfit of every miner. Mining operations cannot begin until the EXCITEMENT IN THE KLONDIKE DISTRICT. l,..-;i- , - j At Ityea, one hundred miles from Juneau, the mttial journey begins and this is the most difficult and discouraging part of the many miles to be traversed. The mot favorable time for going into the interior is before the Munv melts from tin' mountains, which does not occur tiil the middle of April, for the abrupt passages and what Is known as the ".summit" arc better accomplished by hauling supplies on sleds, while the pass is covered with snow. After leaving Dyea goods must bo hauled .six miles over the Dyea Flats. From this point the route lies through what is known as the canyonj where the trail loads up the steep aim rugged sides of the mountains along n a timbered shelf overlooking the until Siicep Camp is reached, a distance, of twelve miles. Here a rest is taken to await favorable weather, which at best is something terrible with the thermometer as low as CO to SO degrees below zero. This stop Is to prepare one for the summit which is eight miles further up and 3,500 feet high and tho most difficult and tedious part of the journey. The trail leads up a narrow and precipitous defilo to restStone House, another a with imaginative place, purely ing name. This place is at the beginning of the more abrupt climb and is three miles from the summit. In fact, it 13 nothing more nor less than a ledge. An extract from one of Mr. Metcalf's letters describing his first trip over the summit Is interesting. "I had ten uiuu working at the summit hauling up goods with a windlass, which we made, and about 4,000 feet of rope which I brought for the purpose. Tho work had been delayed quite a time by storms, which are very fre quent on the mountains, but on Sunday night last I concluded that the work was far enough along bo that we might break camp the next morning and come to Lako Lindeman. I had taken the precaution to send over a ':-tic- it x:'-7juSAr- ! K f' A Vr " -- ! " - ' iV - "V fWfc. h ,V s-rV- s -- r? l 'Xy&'-T- A I M n - -- iC0O 5V r- STOVE '.,Ta,"''v"'-ov(-, ' k ice melts, from June 1st to the 15th, About the middle of September the sun drops so low that ice soon forms and active operations must be discontinued until the following season. The season is short, yet from June 15 until Aug. the sun shines twenty-tw- o hours out ol the twenty-fouand during the remaining two hours work can be dona Accordingly when a rich claim is found two or three sets of men are employed and work goes on conintially. The Yukon country no place for t man without money. Every man who goes there must expect to work and work hard. No credit is given on a man's face. That day is gone. Mn Mitchell says that before men mak a rush from Michigan to the Klondyke gold fields, it would be well to remember that while miners make from $11 to $20 a day, it is at the most for onlj about sixty days, and provisions ar about 50 cents an ounce; that there are 2,000 men existing in about 150 log huts, and thousands more were expected during the spring and summei and that the mails are most infrequent, and uncertain. Gold is there in to be sure, but the difficulty in getting it is exceedingly great. Mr. Metcalf cannot emphasize too stronglj the difficulties and dangers and hardships of a trip to the interior and would warn everybody to keep away unless provided with several hundred dollars and clothing and provisions to last for at least one year. 1 tan-yo- well-know- t- p r, OH TMtf DfRDeRrf and returned to camp. The round trip had taken four hours. Booth had been taking down the t:g tent and getting the last things ready while I was away. Breaking a camp Likes some time so that 10 o'clock found us but just ready to start. The sun vas quite warm and the snow soft when we started but I could see that there were light clouds on the mountain and some indication of wind. A3 we went up the wind began to Mow a little from the south or at our backs. As we came nearer the summit we began to meet the Indian packers coming down, having quit work above as the wind was getting so strong. There are two benches or narrow flat places tJ the side and our windlass was placed on the first one about 1,000 feet frotn the foot. We arrived at the foot a little before 1 o'clock to find that the first load uhich contained our beds, had gone up, but before this time the wind had gained such velocity above that our men had V f c sis' , Ja RETURN witm IN & their TfieMORt tho dogs in and start for the last climb. I never again expect to see such a storm as was raging at the top! Snow was now coming with the icy wind and drift3 were forming in all the protected places. The noise of the storm was so great that no other sound could be heard. The war of contending elements was magnificent but I felt quite too insignificant long to be a witness and was glad to get away as soon as possible. The decent on this side is g very steep hut not so long. After the slecli go down we just sat down in the soft snow and slid or dropped to the level below, which is quite a large body of water called 'Crater Lake,' supposed to be the site of an old volcano. It lies far above the timber line and is alwaj-- frozen. Just at the foot there was very little wind and we stoprl for a short time to rest before starting out on the long run of nine miles through the snow and wind storm to this camp. "Before the first few miles were passed the drifting snow had so covered the trail that the dogs could not follow it and I ha to go ahead and keep the road while Booth looked after the team. To find and keep a blind trail we use a long sh..rp stick and by constant punching we can tell the hard trail from the soft snow at the side. I broke trail that day most of the time on the run for nearly seven miles, through a snow storm so thick that nothing could be seen and the wind howling at our backs like a pack of hungry wolves. At the top of the canyon the wind was less severe but the snow was drifting and the gathering darkness made our trip down the gorge rather uncanny. "We arrived safe and well only to find that our tent was not yet up. Two Iiout3 more, at 10 oclock. our regular meal of bacon, beans and bread found a very hearty reception, after which I went to bed very tired, of course, after nineteen hours of constant exertion but comfortable in the feeling of good health and strength which successful combat with these grand and rugged mountains must give to any one, and not sorry to have seen this strange land and its elements while at play in one of their wildest moods. abun-danc- e LIVING UP A TREE. let-lin- 5 5) .rVJv.W.-.- ) ji 'Z&S. X 3 7 I V" ( r T 1 1 - . 4 J V w . L l.A JJ I L !'L 7 to r . - J . r- -V ! f i r Years ago a Lousiana planter, aptly named Wildeson, went to establish himself on the Rama river in Nicaragua, where he raises bananas and rubber trees with profit. A Mr. Drew, who visited him on business, describes his three-stor- y house as literally built in a tree a sturdy eboe-tre- e e feet from the ground. sixty-thre- To get tip and down between tho ground and the house an elevator is used, so constructed with block and tackle that the person using it raises himself or controls his descent by means cf a rope. There is also a chicken-hous- e from a limb into which, the poultry is collected at night. After a day of free picking and strolling, the feathered bipeds come of thcmsel, to be raised to their roost. eus-pend- ed A good snake story goes with the rest. Mr. Drew says: "A thing that struck me curiously was tho sight of a twelve-foo- t gliding about on the ground at the' foot of the tree, climbing over the roofs of the laborers' cabins, even entering them, and in general making himself perfectly at home on the plantation. or "'Nohody'd think of harming him, said the old man to me when I spoke to him about the big snake. 'He's perfectly harmless to any one, and ho keeps the placa clear of mice and moles that eat the roots of my young banana and chocolate trees. Eat chickens! Never knew him to do such a thing. Still, while they're little, I don't put temptation in his way, but keep them in a snake-tigcoop of ht A fields of alaska - THE DIRECT STEAMER ROUTE F ROM SEATTLE TO CIRCLE CITY. Klondike (Tbe district, which is In hltif.h Columbia, lies to the eastward of Fort CmViiv ind Fort Reliance. The nearest ari'vonch by steamer Is Circle City, from which point the Journey raa,: 0vcr!a:ul.) Tun gold ' trip to the Interior abounds In wire-nettin- " many such hardships and adventures. The safest way to get there is to cross The German marine is only half a Lako Lindeman in February or March, ctntury old, the first naval officer while it is frozen, and stop at Lake having been appointed by King FredBeu,neU o build boa's and wait for the erick William on May 27, 1S17. |