The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, August 3, 1897, Page 1

VOLUME LXXXIL—NO. 64, PRICE . FIVE COMPARES KLONDYKERS AND '49ERS; Joaquin Miller Talks of the Men Now Going to the ~ Gold Fields. MORE ORDERLY THAN EARLY CALIFORNIA MINERS. In the Present Rush the Poet of the Sierras Thinks an Attempt Is Being Made to Discourage Many Poor Prospectots. BOARD 1€0, OF THE 28 (via . Se on inour party of ne 1d- goid-seekers attracts STEAMSHIP | the Yukon River, down to the mines, from there to St. Michaels and back to San Franerseo, which will be done as soon as I can learn fully about the Klondyke coun- n as Jocguin Millér, the | try. It will be my endeavor to show the erras and a-pioneer of the | less fortunate gold-seekers, I mean the iscoveriés -in_California, | poor men, just how small an amount of He is the.object of , money & man requires to reach the mines pproach, a charming |and something about the work and wages. and possesses the typ- | My present ideas are that the hardships n both actions‘and | have been greatly magnified, and that in the betier.class of | theré is a disposition to keep the poorer ¢y miners of the gilden | class of men out of the mines for a while going to thevery heart ‘atleast. Nofth American continent, *'1 know that was what we did when we way from where: the imag- |- discovered ‘the Idaho mines in 1862, and y tic circle cuts off the longitudes, |-afterward 1n 1863 and 1864 in Montana, n the guise of a miner, strapped and ['‘and I am inclined to believe that is what ; with littfe or no provisions, | is being done in the Klondyke, It is only bor in the mines'and-do as | human nature for every man to want to He is the oldest mining | gt his friends in-before the rush comes. man i our party, being over 55 years of | Now, understand distinctly, that I know wears @ broad-brim hat, Jong, flow- | 'nothing about the minesor.the character n-gray locks of hair and beard, | of the country, or the hardships-to be en- ) correctly represent -the stage inter- | dured in the locality of the Klondyke, prétation of Rip Van Winkle returning [ and'I would not permit myseif to. advise Lome:afier twenty years of sleep. |:any one to0 go there busted. ~If 1 find' the Without a moment’s hesitation when I | hardships gréat I shall say so, and if I asked bigl ior an interview he readily con- | find the mines liniited in area or. riches, I sented and’told of the early mining days | shall stale the plain unvarnished -truth. on the Pacific Coast and compared them : And if I can’t zét through on my short with the pre-ent rush to the gold fields of | 'and rather abbreviated bill of fare I shall Alaskis, Hesaid: | say so, butI teel in great spirits and hope ‘“Although we have been together less | to do the poor miner ‘a- good .turn by my than a week I've not seen a pistol, heard | own example and experience. I want to an- oath, nor have I cbserved any rude-: show them, too, that there is no need of ness on the part'of any of our passengers. | whisky enroute or in the mines. And what & contra is, too, compared | “Personally 1 am not a teetotaler, anc pioneer =d of Pacific Coast through all of my manhood, like most 1 am not insipuating that the | Westerners, .1 used wines ‘and liguors s of miners were rude or ungen- | rather generously, but, of course, l've , but théy were of the rough and | nothing of this sort. with me now, and I sorg, ever ready to resent 2n unjust | shall cartainly not touch anything of the position, and their honest hearts were | k in the Klondyke, because, in the first S oin as tender as a chiid’s, Their composition were of .the most enduring qual- ities and were not so liable to getdis- | couraged and turn back when the actual hardships really commenced. S0 far our trip has been like a contin- nous Suaday. The reserve so common to civilization has melted away and we have come together, like the argonauts of old, formed life-long iriendships. that will last for many, many vears to come, This was not so easy in olden times, and. while this ghip has on board. 300 miners, men from place, it may not be of the very best qual- ity, and besides [ want to show the miners who are inclined to over-indulgence it is not necessary in that cold climate. Of course, 10 be sure, 1 may fail in many of my present plans, but 1 shall endeavor to do the best I can. And in conclusion the Bible says: ‘Let him who putteth on his armor not be rash with him who pulleth it off.’ 7’ Experienced as he is in mountain climb- ing, possessing sharp, bright and pene- trating eyes, a constitution of iron and a all parts of the world, I know of and have | will power of st«el, he does not under- heard of no clannishness nor selfiuhness. | estimate the-hardships that might - be. en- In the'olden days the Yankees kept to- | countered, and as a word of advice from gether to some extent, at least, and the | the standpoint of an old-iimer to the in- Missourians were very clannish indeed, as | experienced he sounds the words of cau- I remember, and huddled pretty much | tio ‘‘Beware, go slow and don’t get ex- together for & great many vears. But the | cited New Orleans people, gamblers and law-| To use his own words: *‘Be like Grant; yers, were clannigh to the very last.. In don’t be in a hurry, and if you start out to these and Jike things, judging . from short | do a thing do'it if it takes all summer.” observation, thiereis a noted improvement | That was to emphasize the necessity of over the California._miners of early days. | caution and . the necessity -of carefully These -Klandyke fellows are more ap- | looking after supplies before starting. proachable and of good breeding and easy | Many people going to the mines exercise address. exceptionally poor judgment, so I am-in- “I'have hesrd .a great many men say | formed, by improperly proportioning the that this is owing to what is generally re- | food ana ouifit of clothes, : garded as the rigid-and strict enforcement | Speaking of Joaquin Miller, he has the of - British law.' ‘As an American cilizen, | appearanca of an old-timer in all but one reared and educatéd -upon the sun-kissed | thihg, and. thay is a weakness to which slope of ‘the Pacific Coast, I shall not sub- | all human nature is-liable. On tne little scribe toany such asseriion, and 1 am free | finger of the right hand he wears a to say that [ beliéve it is due to the broad | lustrous diamond ring, the stone of which principles and interpretation of What con- | is as larie as:a pea. It creates a vast con- stitutes. good, able American. citizensbip | trast from the character he is assuming, rather than whatis termed respest or fear | of the British law.. -As for the miners and the class of people in the Yukon I know | nothing, but I am going there to find out. | s*‘About ‘myseli—~well, that's another | story: 1 hope to go straight through to | the beadwaters of ‘the Yukon and then | down the stream and - lakes as fast.as pos- | sible 16 the mines. - I'am requested by the | papers, - upon arriving at .the. mines,“to | Jeave off the handle of ‘my name and-ap- | ply-for work: the ' same as.any other oid | jifornia miner wouid do: “I am .expected- to work at. anythingI | can get to'do for & few weéks, sharingall | tbe hardships and privations that othet | miners endure, - T shall report the facts | as.I find them, the character ot-work, how easy or hard to get, tie supvly ol food and all”the available information. about : the placer minés, I am- taking with me forty- pounds of provisions, which I ex- pect to carry-on -1y back over.the moun- | tains. -1 vhall have tweénty pounds of ba- con, twelve pounas of sea:biscuit:and half | a pound’ of ‘tea. : My equipment will con- sist of -one pair. of biankers,-a’ rubper sliéet, a-mackintosh; some rope and a sail to rig on the raft which I expect.to build. | My hardware: consists of a- small” .ax,a small handfui of nairs and a jackknife. All-of the cooking utensils, ete., I wil have consist of & big sheet-iron cup.. I;'s my intention to ‘make’ the .trip entirely alone, but,-of _course, this.nxay be quali- fied according toisubsequent conditions. Reet assured_that-] ans nof -seeking hard ships or do/ng this thing for fun. : “L expect to go through ‘to ilie head of | and the one” weak point of human nature ds the desire 1o exhibit beautiful dia- monds. WirLiam M. JoxnEs. S EXCITEMENT AT- SEATTLE. tIs Caused.by the Circulation of a Rumor That the Steamer Port- land Had Been Lost. SEATTLE, Wasn.,, Augz. 2.—Notwith- standing that the order 10 send a company of troops to the Yukon has been coun ter- manded by the War Department, Captain Henry P. Ray, U. 8. A, Eighth Infantry, who was to have commanded the detach- ment, goes. to Circle City by the Cleve- land, which leaves on the 5th inst. He will - be accompanied by Second Lieutenant W. P.'Richardson of the same regiment. These officers are at present in “Montana, but passage has beeu engaged for them. -The nature of their mission has not been disclosed. It is surmised that they go to select a.suitabiesite for an army post Or posts, anticipating legisla- tion-.at the coming session of Cougress auther.zing the establishmeut of such posts and the assignment of troops for duty there. A wild rumor was flying around town to-day to the effect that the steamer Port- land, which left here July 22 ior St Michaels’ with 125 passengers bound ifor tbe Klondyke. baa been lost at sea, with all hands, and created much excitement among Jriends and relatives 6f the pas- sengers.” Tne origin of the rumor cculd voi be traced, bat it caused the sending of ietegrams to all p.ints on the nomnml Yy N A « (11144 THE POET OF THE SIERRAS, in an Interview With a “Call” Correspondent on Board the Steamship Mexico, Compares the Early Mining Days on the Pacific Coast With the Present Rush to the Gold Fields of the Far North. coast which counid be reached by tele- graph, with a result that no such word had been received anywhere. The course of the Portland after leaving bere was direct for the Aleutian Islands, and had any accicent happened to her the only maanér in which news could bave possibly been received would be through some sealing schooner, acci- dentaily in the vicinity, which subse- quently made port and brought the news, or through the landing of the shipwrecked crew and passengers on some point on the Alaskan or British Columbia coast in small boats. ‘The rumor was evidently a heartless fake. A party of six hardy timber-cruisers and river-drivers from Minnesota arrived here yesterday on their way to the Klion- dyke. They purchased a considerable vor- tion of their outfit in Minneapolis, and after coming here were disgusted to find that the prices which they paid averaged more than 30 per cent higher than the cost of the same goods here. They ~published a card on the sub- ject in one of the evening newspapers. A novelty in the manner in which they have outfitted is that each member of the party has a Peterborough canoe of the latest model and approved build. They will be one of the best (quipped parties gomng in. They have already let contracts for packing their outfits over White Pass to a packer, who takes north a string of ponies by the Al-Ki for use on the pass. | As one resalt of the rush the town is filling up with crooks of all descriptions from burglars to confidence men. Numer- ous sma:l burglaries bave been reported, a few holds-up, and a gang of four con- fidence men with a woman accomplice have beon arrested as they commenced work. Pickpockets have also done a thriv- ing business in the crowds which have assembled to see the steamers depart. Among those who go north on the Wil. lame:te is Charles ¥. Wallin, a shoemaker, who runs a little shop in Fremont, a suburb of Seattle. Some two years since ‘Wallin took into his home and kept for awhile a young man named C. Anderson, who was penniless and out of work. After stopping with Wallin awhile Aunderson gota job on one of the Pacific Coast steamers and made several trips to Alaska, He took the miring fever and went into the Yukon, He.was in the first rush to the Klondyke, and secnred a claim on Bonauza Creek. Anderson came down on the Portland, hunted up the man who befriended him, gave him a deed to half of the Bonanza Creek claim and sends Waliin out with one of the finest outfits ever taken north from here. Anderson himself is on the way Kast to get married, and will return in the spring with his bride. s lngi THE QUEEN AT VIiCTORIA. Comes Down Crowded With Pas- sengers, Who Talk of Scenes at Dyea and Skagway Bay. VICTORIA, B. C., Aug. 2—The Alaska excursion steamer Queén arrived here to- day, well crowded with passengers, whose talk is pot as usual of the picturesque scenery, but of the scenes witnessed at Dyea and Skagway Bay. There is a wharf at Skagwsy sand near by were groups of tents and tripods and pots, piles of freight and outfits stacked up in every direction. There were abont 400 miners, including the crowd brought by the Queen, at Skagway when she left. There were at Dyea not more than fifty. The landing of passengers and freight is very diffi- cuit. There is no wharf, and landing is made with the sbip’s boats. The tide rises and falis about twenty-ibree feet and the beach is so fong and flat that at bigh tide it 1s covered for about a mils inland irom where the sieamer anchors. The responsibilty ot the steamship com- | Continued on Third Page. DEATH AND ROIN [N THE FLOODS Appalling Calamities in Parts of Austria and Germany. Estimates of Loss of Life and Destruction of Property Impossible. Subscriptions for Suffarers Belng Opened Everywhere in Both Countries. VIENNA, AustriA, Aug. 2.—The Dan- ube at this point is over fifty-three meters above normal, so its height is bigher than ever known before. It is difficult to under- stand, considering the enormous breadth of the flood, how the water continues torise. The gates closing the entrance o the Donau canal, which traverses the city, and which is really a branch of the Danube, are submerged —a thing that bas never occurred before. There isseveral teet of water in the lower parts of the city. The great floodgates which held back the Grundlsee gave way to-night and an enormous volume of water rushed into the gorge below, flooding the town of Aussee. The break occurred at a late hour and most of the inhabitants of the town were asleep. There were many narrow es- capes from drowning. Hallstadt Lake, in Upper Austria, has overflowed, carrying the flood to Ischl, a fashionable watering-place. ‘The Empress is at Ischl, and has been much affected by the distress caused by the floods. She has announced that she will personaily receive contributions in aid of the suf- ferers. Owing to the crowds of summer guesta in town thereis a scarcity of food. The town of Pressburg on the Danube, in Hungary, is surrounded by water and the place is threaiened with damage. A house at Maaschemburg whose found- ations were undermined collapsed and twenty versons were drowned. At Freiheit a house was carried away bodily in the flood and seventeen persons perished. The streets of Trautenau present a frightfal spectacle. Mauy corpses can be seen floating about the town. A cradle, containing a crying infant, wasdiscovered as it was being curried away and the child was rescued. Many of the inhabitants of Reichenberg have lost their lives. Tne splendid public grouuds at Munden bave been entirely destroyed. The destruction of railroad embank- ments and bridges has been enormous and unprecedented. The Western railway is the worst suf- ferer. A large number of trains, inclua- ing the Orient express, are blocked, and it is impossible to say when traflic can be resumed. The loss caused by the destruc- tion of mills and houses and the carrying away of cattJe and crops is immense. The total damage done will amount to many millioas of florins, T'ibe town of Enns, at the junction of the Enns and the Danube, is practicaily sub- merged. Upward of 200 houses are under water. The bodies of twenty persons were re- covered at Trantenau, Bohemia, yester- day, the river Aupa having overflowed its banks and inundated a large part of the town. ‘The building occupied by the law courts at Trautenau was undermimed and the walls collapsed. Three boxes containing 150,000 florins, were stored in the building and carried away by the flood. The rise ‘of Lake Traun, or Gmunden Lake, threatens the town of Gmunden,and many other places are menaced by the still increasing’ volumes of water in the rivers and smaller streams. BERLIN, GermaNY, Aug. 2.—Reports come from many parts of the country giving details of the great damage done by the floods. The valleys of the Elbe and Oder rivers have suffered terribiy. Washouts have occurred in many places along the Saxon railway, and there 1s a éomplete cessation of traffic on that line. Subscriptions for the relief of the suffer- ers are being opened everywhere. Latest advices report 168 persons drowned in Silesia and Saxony and that the damage to property exceeds 12,000,000 marks. The people are panic-stricken at the appalling danger that threatens them. The King of Saxony, who was at Pillnitz castle, was obliged to flee yesterday, the waters having risen so high that inunda- tion of the castle was threatened. The survivors «f the floods in the devastated villages of Silesia and Saxony are entirely destitute of food and shelter. Princess Charlotte issued an appeal for a national subscription for the relief of the sufferers. SAYS McKINLEY IS COURAGEOQUS. Senator Morgan Praises the Stand of the President on Hawaiian Annexation. WASHINGTON, D. C., Aug. 2.—Senator Morgan has confirmed the report printed in THE CALL last Sunday that he will visit Hawaii in September. Captain Merry says the California people will undoubt- edly prepare a royal reception for the Al- abama Senator. Seuator Morgan is going partly for pleasure, but the chief object of his visit is to make a studv of the conditions there by personal observation, He will make a thorough study, and the information he acquires will be used to further the prono- sition of annexation when the treaty comes up in the Senate next session. He is the best informed man as to Hawaii in the Senate, and his trip will add to his in- formation. He said to-day tuat there was no doubt that the annexation treaty woula be acted un favorably by the Senate next session. ‘*‘There is,”” be said, “no organ- izad opposition and no opportunity to form such an opposition. There is no grounda upon which it could be built.”’ . Morgan was asked if he saw any indica- tion of a purpose on the part of the ad- ministration to take vigorous action as to Cubd. He said that he had no means of knowing what the administration would do more’'than any cit.zen had, but that lre regarded President McKinley as a cour- ageous, firm and patriotic man, who would do the proper thing when he thought the time had come to act. “When President McKinley, almost without consultation and of his own no- lion, negotiated the Hawaiian annexation treaty,” said Morgan, ‘“he placed it out of the right of any one to accuse him of be- ing timid and hesitating. That was a much more courageous act than recogniz- ing the belligerency of Cuba, and he han- died it with wisdom and courage.” AR R T has 4mother Fanderbilt Heirese. NEW YORK, N. Y., Aug. 2—Another heiress is announced in the Vanderbilt family. Barly to-day a daughter was bora to Mr. and Mrs. Ernesto Fabbri. She will inberit millions. She 18 a great- granddaugbter of the late William H. Vanderbilt. Mrs, Fabbri is a niece of | Cornelius . Vanderbilt and cousin of the Duchess of Marlborougi. TWO SHIPS =~ MAY START FOR PERU The Lancing Stir.s_‘ 2 Steamer as Her Rival for Mollendo. CONSUL DUDLEY WILL STUDY THE INCA GOLD FIELDS. Government Reports Speak of: Rich Rives Beds and Untold Wealth Hidden in the Ravines of the Hills. Peruvian stock was on the jump yester- day, and so hot became the excitement, the mad aesire to rush to the zold fields of Peru, that a new company entered the field, with a view of getting ahead of the Lancing and reaching the gold fields by steamer. Peter Bacigalupi, the former Peruvian merchant and theatrical manager, is the promoter of the new tour. ‘foa CALL re- porter yesterday he outlined the proposed trip as follows: “You may positively state that one of the biggest commercial firms in this City has chartered a steamer for the trip to Mollendo, end that the trip can be made to that port from here in sixteen days. If I were to tell you the name of the ship, w ich has all accommodations for hun- dreds, you would drop dead. “We propose to take passengers to Mol- lendo, first class, for $200; and the third- class fare will be $100. “The books for the trip will be opened to-day and I am the passenger agent. Any persons who desire to go to the -eold trip by calling at my office any time after to-day. We do not gnarantee that the tourists will find gold, but we will take them there in a turry, beating the steamer a month or six weeks. +I have spent twenty years of my lifein Peru and ! know what I am talgingabout when I say there is gold there. I have over 100 names now of persons who are ready to go on our snip. I tiave no donbt that the party will be off in less than two weeks. The ship we have chartered is one of the best in the serv.ce and it has every accommodation imaginable for the com- fort of the passengers. We as a company do not want to boom Peru. That1s sume- fields of Peru may find ful! details of the | thing for each man to weigh for himself. There are no reasons why we should : in- duce people to go there. But we do know that there are thonsarids of.people who are familiar with tiie mining of that land, and the many inquiries show that there are hundreds who would try their luck there 1f they could miss the Panama route with its countless .anpoyances and many dan- gers of fever. “The world is.wiser than it wasin the old days, and there are many miners and oth- ers who know-all about the country we offer to take them to.- If you could see the hundreds who have been coming here for information you would appreciate the intereést in'the question: “You may state without any hesitation that ‘there -is no faké or humbug about thkas provosition. - We have the names of about 100 who want to go ana who wiil put up the money. As soor as we get as many more names we are ready to steam through the Golden Gate and make the trip.” We will allow passengers to take ail the baggage they desire to carry, as the steamer will have ample room.” 1t the steamer goes it is thought that it will it no manner deter Captain Haifisld and his backers from making the trip with the Lancing. There are so many people applying to go that there will probably be enough- to fill several ships, as the gold fever séems to be abread. News of the proposed voyage ol the. spiendid four-masted Britieh ship Lincing to-Peru on a gold-hunting expedition reads like' a page from Spanish history in'tne sixteenth century. The days of the old argonauts seem to be returning, and the searchers for a modern Argo wili be equipped with scien- tific methods of mining in their irip to the land of the sun worshipers, From all yarts of the City, State and OFFICIAL REPORTS ON THE GOLD OF PERU. A conservative work issued by ‘the Bureau of American Republics in 1892 is called ‘“Mines and Mining Laws of Latin America.” In treating of the wealth of Peru the work says : “‘Nothing to be said about the mineral wealth of Peru will be equal to its immensity. It has been so well known and so well estab- lished for centuries that it has become proverbial in modern languages. In Spanish the words ‘Peruvian’ and ‘Peru’ have become accepted synonyms of ‘rich’ and ‘richness,” and the fact is not doubted in the United States or elsewhere that, as stated by the South Americrn Commission of 1884-85 in their report of April 25, 1885, ‘Upon the re- turn of peace in Peru and by permitting the ordinary forces of nature and commerce to do their work undisturbed the mines of Peru would open up a production not rivaled in the palmiest days.””’ The report states that Peru abounds in all classes of minerals and that gold, silver and quicksilver and other metals are plentifully found in its soil. “Gold,”’ -says the report, ‘‘is found in many places and nearly all the mountain streams carry it in their sands.. The mountains are in- terspersed with veins of gold and silver ores and with copper and lead.” : These reports are to be found in the House Executive Documents No. 50, Forty-ninth Congress, first session, page 234. Calderon’s ““Dictionory of Peruvian Law’’ gives the mining laws in detail and from these laws it seems there are ample safeguards for the discoverer of placers and quartz ledges. Consul Huie says the Peruvian laws guarantee the rights of property in a very satisfactory manner. ; : By reports contained in an official publication called ‘“‘Handbook of the American Republics,”” issued also by the Bureau of American Re- publics, Washington, it appears more specifically “what districts: in Peru are richest in gold. On page 205 ‘of the: volume, issued in Jan- uary, 1893, the following occurs : i Ay . ““Gold is found in the washings of the mountain streams leading into the great Amazon, while the southeastern :mountain’provinces of Carabaya, Cuzco and Sandia are rich in: auriferous ores.. The gold deposits along the slopes of the eastern Cordillera’ are. too numerous for detailed mention, though, owing to remoteness, the development of gold mining has been: small in comparison with that of silver: The mines of all kinds in operation in Peru increased from 1456 in 1886, to 4187 in 1891, when there were 427 gold mines in operation.”." . Peru had 883 miles of railway in 1891 and 1382 miles of telégraph wire, also cable communication with the. entire world.:- A telephone system is in operation between Callad and- Lima, ‘with many:connec- tions with other cities. There are 250 postoffices.in the republic.:: I 1887 the Government handled more than. 2,000,000 fetters; while - nearly a thousand ships entered the ports,of Caliao-and Mollendo. ¢ The republic has more than twenty-five cities of over 5000 inhabi- tants, the principal ones being Lima, 125,000; Callao, 36,000; Aré-- quipa, 35,008; Cuzco, 30,000; Ayacucho, 20,000, and Pasco, 15,000. The population of Peru is not far from 3,000,000, of whom a third - of a million are uncivilized Indians.. The républic is divided into nin teen states, called departments. :