The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, July 24, 1897, Page 1

VOLUME LXXXIL—N 0. 54, SAN FRANCISCO, MO SATURDA RNING, JULY 24, 1897. E FIVE CENTS. TO CHECK 'THE RUSH NORTHWARD Ned Greeno Predicts Acts of Lawlessness at the Chil- coot Pass. STARVATION AND MURDER MAY BE THE RESULT. Nevertheless the Stream of Gold-Seekers to the Klondyke Continues and Steamers Bound for Alaska Are Crowded. PORTLAND, Or., J be lawle: 24 —“There will and murder on the Chil- winter if this rush ts, expecting to Pass t con- Men without out , men wit t outfits and ney to pay their fareto Dyea, r by some hook or crook to make over the pass; men but parti- ed with provisions, believing the interior they will be sup- P ing in this senseless stem- pede to the Yukon. Mark me, the result will be hardsh suffering, starvation and then a fierce battle between those who have reached the Chilcoot Pass, prepared ose who have gone north sting to luck,” said Ned Greeno, a French Canadian from Quebec and a pio- neer of both the Cassier, Juneau and Yukon excitements. Greeno ison his re- turn to the Yukon from a visit to his Can- adian relatives, the first in seventeen yea to winter, and 1 am actually aghast at what the con- sequences of this mad rush into the Yukon at this season of the year will be. i he people are act ng insanely in most in- stances, the exception being the few ex- perienced Yukoners returning, ana who, in reaching their destination in the in- terior, are reaching what to them has been home for years past. They know a welcome is awaiting them from the part- ners left behind; they know that these same partners hav- made ample provision for the winter's work by purchasing sup- plies from the company’s boatsduring the latter’s summer trips up and down tae river. Itis not necessary for them—as, for instance, myself—io take in a ton of pro- visions. All I require is a month’s grub. This a Siwash and myself will pack over the divide to Lake Bennett in two d and from there on down the river my work is comparatively easy, lightly bur- dened as I will be. ““In all probability I will meet a number of old Yukoners going in with just about the same equipm nt as myself and we will join forces, whipsawing lumber for and building one large boat in which to go down the river. But wbat in the name of heaven is to become of these men crossir onto the beach at Dyea with their outfits is a question to trouble any man with a feeling for his fellows. They cannot se- cure Indian packers in sufficient numbers. for the Chilcats, as the tribe } ng at the head of Lynn Caral is named. claim ju diction over the p. and the other tribes of the Thlinket nation are airaid of them and will not enter into competition. What the whites have done in the past years toward making the pass ier of acces< and packing I do not know, for I came out by the way of St. Michaels and it was four years ago that I went in from Chileat. «I have heard of packhorses and cables now being in use, but I cannot believe that the Chilcat Pass has in those four years bven so improved and rid of the pre- cipitous ‘jump-offs’ which formerly marked it as to allow of the travel of pack animals, The result of all this will be that & thousand or more men will be ranged in tents on the Leach at Dyea to winter, unable to get their supplies across, for to be caught on the pass in one of the blinding snowstorms that comes outof the | Takou and sweep into Lynn Canal throuch Gastineaux Channel means death, and no Siwash will attempt the passage. Some of the men in this city of tents will have supplies, others will not. Trouble will ensue. “What would your advice, then, be to those who propose to go into the country for the first time?”’ was asked. “Wait until spring,” emphatically de- clared Greeno. ‘‘Say that there will be a rush, eyery one will e fresh and prepared for it. He will or attempting it, and it he eannot hold i own in the rush he has little or no ness trying to make his way into the Uukon under any circumstances.”’ — ALL KINDS OF SCHEMES.i E nterprising Men of Seatile to Start Industries In the Gold Rezions. Wasn., July — fhe steamer Queen left at 9 o’clock this morn- ing for Dyea, with 400 passengers. Two hundred and tifty were headed for the SEATTLE, Yukon, the remainder being excursion- | ists whose passage had been engaged be- fore the gold excitement broke out, in- cluding a number of Christian Endeav ers. Some hing like 1500 tons of ou for miners and suppiies for the mines have sold by Seattle merchants hin the pasi week. There was a threat- ened <hortage of supplies, principally dried fruits, but the prompt filling of tele- @raph orders enabled all demands to be been save tbe nine months’| supplies he will consume by going in now | | met. Heavy stocks have bean ordered by wire to be prepared for any possible rush. Twenty employes cf the Seattle and In- iernational Railway have formed a syndi- cate for a mining and trading expedition to the Yukon. The twenty bined, each depo-iting $600 in a common fund. Robert Moran has agreed to build for §5000 in ninety days a steel compart- ment boat sixty feet in length by twelve feet beam, to be launched in six feet of water, will be in such shupe that the twenty men in the company can easily put the | parts together on Lake Linderman. The boi'er will have a pressure of 250 pounds to the square inch and the engines will ve forty horsepower. A speed of ten miles an hour is guaranteed. The cargo capacity will be twenty tons. The twenty railroad men will pack the steamer across the summit and will set it up on the Upper Yukon. Ten men wiil stay by the steamer, doing a transportation business, | and ten will go prospecting. A sawmill will also be carried in, and the boat is so arranged that it can be beached and will iarnish power to operate the sawmill. | The company wili go prepared to Jo ten | years’ business. : | This vlan was original with C. J. Doo- littie, an engineer on the Seattle and In- ternational Overland on the run to Sumas, Among others interested are: Samuel Mc- Gaffey, a conductor; Joseph Clark, con- ductor; Georgs Peak, engineer; Jack Ed- gerton, conductor; Harry Phillips, the | general superintendent’s stenographer: James Hoyt, engineer; John Monahan, tireman; George Berry, brakesman, and Nick Younger, engineer. Allare employes of the Seattie and International. The steamer Monte Cristo, built for the Skagit River trade and owned in Skagit County, is to be sent to St. Michaels with- | o the Yukon in the next two weeks to ply irom the mouth to Dawson Ci A question much discussed is whether it be possible to get the 1500 to 2000 tons of provisicns whicu have been or are being | shipped 1o Dyea across the pass and down | The | the Yukon vefore the river closes. goods will bave to be packed across the traill 200 miles on ponies. One hundred and sixiy-five horses Lhave alreaay been shipped up to Dyea and there are forty or fifty up there already. It is considered as impossible for this number of horses to handie this freight in the limited time left Very few persons from outside of the State have yet appeared on the groand to take part in the rush to the gold fields. So far, with the exception of the excur- _sionists, nearly all tne passengers north bound to St. Michaels and to Dyea are citizens of Washington. | The Arctic Sawmill Company was in- corporated here yesterday to build two sawmills, one at Lake Linlerman, across the pass from Dyea, and one at some point on the Yukon. Part of the ma- chinery was shipped north on the Queen this morning. The rest is being con- siructed by Moran Brothers. W. H. Wel- bon, superintendent of the Seattle Cedar Lumber Company, is manager of the new company and goes north Sunday on the Mexico with a force of men to carry the machinery over| the pass and set it up. C. J. Smith of the Oregon Railway Navi- gation Company and H. C. Henry, the railroad contractor, who built the western [division of the Great Northern, are the | financial backers uf the scheme. Bach miil will have a capacity of 20,000 cet. The mill at Linderman will cut lumber for building boats in which to tran.port | supplies down the river. The other mill | will be located where good timber can be | found, in proximity to the Kiondyke, for the purvose of cutting lumber for sluice- boxes, as well as house lumber. Nine men | will be tuken in as a crew for each of the mills. | A sideissue to the Klondye excitement has been the temporary eclipse of & num- | ber of promising mining propositions 1n i Western Washington. Tais State has | been enjoying a miniature mining boom | of itsown. Good copper, lead and gold jedges had been struck during the sum- | mer in large numbers. Fally 6000 ctaims | have been located in the Cascade Moun- | tains within the past two vears. Capital { bas been enlisted in quite n number of | these mines ana vevelopment work was | proceeding rapidlv. Hundreds of others | were attempting to secure the needed cap- {ital by the sa’e of treasury siock and were meeting with a fair degree of success. The | prospects were good for quite an extended development. But there is no sale for | any treasury stock in quartz mines in | this section of the country at present, | whether the mines be located on Trail | Creek or in some of the local districts, In | tact many of the holders of such stock are | ready to drop it at considerably less than | its quoted value to get a stake for the | Kloadye. The placers of the Yaukon have bave com- | He has guaranteed that the boat | | | CUBAN FORCES ARE BEING CONCENTRATED. While General Gomez Gathers Insurgent Troops for a Decisive Battle Weyler’s Unpopulatity Increases at Havana. HAVANA, CUBA, July 23.—Some 5000 insurgents are encamped in the hills of Manicaragua, near Sagua la Chica, Santa Clara province, under the Cuban leaders, Chucho Monteagudo, Cayito Alvarez and Ramon Robau. and in the hills of Mamby, near Sancti Spiritus, same province, Other large Cuban forces have been concentrated on the River Jiguibo These movements have been ordered by Gomez to bring together the Cuban bands now scattered throughout the provinces, numbering more than gooo men. The whole force will advance westward as his rear guard. Weyler, on his arrival at Havana, had a cold reception from the Spaniards. A commission of many uncompromising Spaniards called at the captain-general’s palace to remonstrate against arrests recently made at the capital of eig it was a grave mistake to treat loyalist Spaniards so badly when the enemy was so near. answered angrily, but did not venture td take any steps against the commission. ht Spanish business men. One of the visitors said to Weyler that Weyler Further arrests of Spaniards would produce a revolt among the volunteers, who number 40,000 in Havana City. The agitation against the United States and Consul-General Lee 1s growing more violent. ARE GOMEZS PLANS CHANGED? NEW YORK, N. Y., July 23.—The Journal’s copyrighted Havana special differs materially from other Cuban advices. It says that Gomez, upon crossing the Hanabana River and entering Matanzas, found Weyler’s troops from Pinar del Rio and Havana occupying strategic positions along the old line of march followed by Maceo and Gomez in the first invasion. He was thus forced materially to change his plans, breaking the new patriot army invading into small groups of men and flying cavalry squadrons, whose movements across Matanzas and entry into Havana by wide separated and long untraveled roads would be scarcely noticed and have no great moral or material effect either in Spanish circles or among the Cuban sympathizers. 5 % % 7 & Y e GENERAL MAXIMO GOMEZ, Commander-in-Chief % of the Cuban Insurgents. cast a deep shadow over all otber mining propositions for the present. EXODUS FROM TACOMA. Among Those Who Depart for the North on the Quean Ara Many Gold-Seekers, TACOMA., Wasn., July 23 —The exodus from Tacoma to tie Klondyke has fairly begun. The excursion steamer Queen I ft this morning for the north, carrying 420 people, 230 of whom were tourists and 190 gold-scekers bound for the Kiondyke. Among the tourists are ninety-one Ray- mond and Whitcom excursionists from the far East, and many of them, on account of tie mining contagion, have signified their intention of comingto the ground next spring and embarking with tee first installment of argonauts. The miners, almost to a man, took passage in the S steerage, with the idea of sooner becom- ing inured to the hardships which must inevitab'y be their lot. The traffic 1s so great that temporary bunks were fitted up in the forward part of the Queen and on the main d.ck. A notable circumstiance 1n connection with the excitement is the fact that while Seattle has been in a frenzy for nearly a week, Tacomans have been ratber indif- ferent, with a few exceptions, until last night, when the Queen arrived and the continuous stream of humanity began io pour toward the ocean dock, aud the transportation of tons of supnties for the miners was in progress. Uvon every corner knots of men from a dozen upward were assembled discussing the matter, and on all sides *he queries were heard: “Are you going?” and “When are you going to start?” Others moze frantic were falling over |- each other trying, at the eleventh honr, to accumulute the necessary ouifit and take passage on the Queen. One man, in his mad rush for the steamer, was heard to exelaim: *“I'm going up on that boat if I have to ride the smokestack.” Mills, ftactories, stores, railways, and nearly every other branch of trade are losing men who have the fever. Over a score of hands from the two principal sawmills have left, and over 100 millmen bave sig- nified t! eir inteniion of leaving and start- ing for the gold fields at once. The rail- road men of the Sound are on the eve of departing, including several ticket agents, besides a great number of conductors, en- gineers, brakem 'n and firemen. The demand for transportation is so heavy that the Pacific Coast Steamship Company has decided to secure the Continued on Third Page. ICY GOLD™ - LURES ON TO WHAT? A Wild Scramble for Riding Room in the Yukon Crusade. “Klondyke or Bust”” is blazoned on many a banner. They're going, and it looks as if there might be a jam in Chil- coot Pass. They justlaugh when the old men cry, “Try not the pass. Wait until next spring anyway.,” Two or tnree days ago the question was, ‘‘Shall I not go?” but now it is more than ever, *How can I get there?” IUs like the rush for the cable-cars at the park at 5P M. on Sun- days. All sorts of enterprises are now develop- ing, especially in the line of transporta- tion. Two gasoline scnooners were char- tered yesterday here, and they are being fitted out with the speed of the man who wakes up late twelve minutes before the train starts. There is nothing left but Juneau and the pass. Probably hundreds would go by the Yukon River route the two com- mercial companies would take them. Men crowd to the office of the Alaska Commercial Company and many offer tears and three fares fora ticket 1o Duw- son, but the Excelsior takes no more on the 28ih, and this company will sell no more berths. Ticket-scalpers missed a great chance here, for men are offering high premiums for Excelsior tickets. The Northwestern Transportation and Trading Company, which runs only from Seattle to St. Michaels and up the river, filled its book for the Portland days ago, and the extra steamer, the Cleveland, charterea Lere, has a full passenger list waiting for her on the sound. ‘There is a chance to get to Juneau, but everything is getting crowded. The pas- senger lists of the regular five-day steamers of the Pacific Coast Steamship Company are being filled well in advance. The extra steamer from Portland will be filled. There are various special enter- prises and they increase every day. Pacific Coast agents of Eastern railways are receiving queries about transporta- tion to Alaska constantly. Many who intended going are deciding to wait untii spring as wisdom dictates, with untoid hardships and a possible famine ahead of a great many who go now. By next year there will be all sorts of new routes and nsw transportation facilities developed. There will certainly be new competition and more steamers on the Yukon River next year, for one thing. Should new diggings be found this year to accelerate the rush next spring there will be a great development of the Yukon region, facilities for living there and ways of zeiting there next year. agz as members of D. J. Grauman’s spe- cial expedition by way of Juneau, and the 150 are expected to be secured to-day. More of the lucky ones who arrivea at Seattle in the Portland a few days agoar- rived in this City yesterday. William Stanley, his son,W. C, Btanley, and C. Worden came, and with them came from Seattle the wives of the two Stanleys and Mrs. McNamee, a friend. The Stanleys and the Worden brothers formed a company which owns seven and a half of the richest claims, ana Wil- liam Stanley brought out $20,000. Ay BERTHS AT A PREMIUM. Frantic Efforts Belng Made to Reach the Gold Fields—Vesseals Belng Adapted. Gold fever israging on the water front. Men and wom-n swarm the shipping oi- | fices and insist upon reaching the new El Dorado by hook or by crook. They seem to have lost all 1easoning power, and no matter what argument is advanced to de- tain them nor how piainly tbe folly of at- temptine to reach the gold fields during the winter months is shown them they one and all answer: *I am bound for Dawson City, and I intend getiing there as quick as the law allows.” The passenger-list by the Excelslor is closed, but the chances are that many of the men who paid for a passage on her will not be among tne list. Dozens of miners are eager to pay $500 for the priv- ilege of getting away on the Excelsior. Gilbert Cohn, the Mose Gunst of the water front, has a berth secured oa the Excelsior. Yesteraay a miner cffered bim $400 in gold coin for histicket and also agreed to buy his outfit. The young man refused the offer, saying he was going to take his chances with the rest of the boys. “Should you return with $250,000 in nug- gets,” said he in answer to the would-be purchaser,” your $250 bonus on my ticket would look mighty small to me. No, thankyou; I have my ticket and I'm going to take my chances.” H. Selbach, accompanied by an Alpine mountaineer, wili be among those who will go 1o the mines via the divide. They will leave here on the Umatilla, connec'- ing with the City of Topeka at Port Town- ]send, and expect to be in Dawson City Yesterday 84 men had paid their pass- | COLD RIDES HAVE GONE LIKE HOT CAKES. River Trip Berths Command High Pre- miums and Special Juneau Ate Crowded--—-The Low-Grade Gold. Steamers to about the end of August. These men are the representatives of the employes of the Palace Hotel, and every servant in that caravansary expects to become indepen« dent for life through their efforts. Vessels with a light draught are rapidly changing hands. Yesterday an English syndicate purchased the gasoline schooner Chetco from J. S. Kimball & Co., for $3000. | L. H. Griflith, who acted for the syndi- cate, says the schooner will get away for Yukon about the 18t of next month. The sale was consummated about noon yester- day, and two hours later a gang of men were at Work getting the vessel ready for the trip to Alaska. The proposition is to carry a year's supply of provisions to St. Michaels for fifty psople, und at that point put the goods into lighters that will be built, and then the steamer will tow the lighters up the river. Another vessel that is to change hands is the gasoline schooner Hettie B. Her gasoline machinery is to be taken out and a steam engine put in. The little boat can accommodate from fifteen to twenty niiners, and will have no difficulty in get- ting up the Yukon, and whenever neces- sary all hands will be sent ashore to gather wood for fuel. The Hettie B was at one time employed in the excursion trade between San Diego and the Catalina Islands, but the vent'ire was not a finan. cial success, so the vessel was sent to San Francisco. For some months she has been laid up, but now she is coming out of retirement, and will make a start for the new gold fields the first week in Au- gust. The steam schooner Noyo has been chartered for a trip to Juneau, and at least 200 miners will leave to-day and Sunday for that point on the steamers Umatilia and Cleveland. All are brim full of confi- dence, and not one but expects to bring back $50,000 next July. e e CHARITY IN THE NORTH. Cathollc Sisters WIIl Found a New House In the Klondyke Country. It will interest many to know that there will be several sisters of the order of Di- vine Providence in the Kiondyke country about as soon as the masses now heading that way arrive in the boreal regions of gold. Four sisters of this order have been ex- pected in this City for several days, but they have been delayed and will not ar- rive until the first of next week. There is not any branch of the sisters of he order of Divine Providence 1n this City, as the order consists mostly of | French Canadians. The sisters of - the Holy Name and others in the City, how- ever, know the Canadian order very well, and they say that the work they doamong the Indians is very important. Sister Stevens. the founder of some of the more important Catholic orders in Canada, went to Alaska three weeks ago and will resume her work in the mining regions. It1s the purpose of those who will go on the next steamer to found anew house and ao all they can for the sick and suffsr- ing with whom they may come in contact. ol A FREAKISH DIGGINGS. The Gold Is Low Grade and It Varles In Value a Good Deal. Here's something a little peculiar. Nuggets and dust from one gold patch in the Klondyke are worth considerable more than the gold from another patch, Some Klonayke gold is better than other Klondyke gold—thougn it’s all good, like the whisky in the story. | Bonanza Creek gold is worth a great deal more by the ton than EI Doraao Creek gold and the nuggets from Hunker Creek zre of better stuff than those from El Dorado Creek. Even on EI Dorado Creek, which is about three miles long, there is a difference of a dollar an ounce or so between the gold from the month of the creek and the gold from the head of the gulch. Bonanza Creek gzold is worth about §17 an ounce, as it comes from the mines with the dirt that is left in it. El Dorado gold is worth from $14 75 to §16. These variations are due, of course, to the varving proportions of silver in the gold. The miners up there do not know all this yet. It has been revealed in the course of the assays at the Selby Smelting Works, to which most of the gold has come. The 8:lby Smelting Company, by the way, has received already about $750,000 worth of the Klondyke gold, and it will go thence to the Mint here. About $250,- 000 worth has been sent from Seatile to ‘he Government ussay office at Helena, Mont., from where it will go to the Phila- deiphia mint. The Selby Smeliing Works received about $500,000 worth of gold from those who came on the Excelsior. Thais accounts for $1,000,000 o ihe Klondyke l