The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 19, 1897, Page 4

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 19, 189 B — “THE ALASKA FARMER IS THE COMING MAN.” HERE is probably no section of the United States where la- bor is more in demand than in Alask z the southwest- > line the mines and vant men who will come families and make our land nt abode. When homes ed then will our future be nt I scarce believe 2 resid popula- 10,000. ut before there can be much immi- tion to Alaska there must be an n of the land laws. At present can secure mo title to deed is a quit- and you get on. in this way for been living ars. 1ining laws of the United States > been extended to Alaska, but not aws. Why, every man who of timber is a trespasser. The people realize that they are there on suff e, and there is no attempt to cut tir r for export out of the coun- try. The poor man has an equal chance with the capitalist so far as mining in the southern s is concerned. Of hen to outfitting, it ve that the rush into the ndike soon be diverted. As will nor 1 receive hundreds of Jetters king the country. these letters inquire about chances in the Copper River and Cooks Inlet dis- showing that an increasing r of people are now turning their >s in those directions, because they ve in their mineral wealth and information regarding 1se they are on American soil. We anticipate rush there, and wh it m > for a time a tran- i addition to the population of the country it will mean somewhat of a permanent settlement later on. At no distant day I believe there will be what may be termed *“the Alaska farmer.” As a result of my twenty years’ experience in this northern country I have no hesitancy in saying that it pe esses superior agricultural advantages to my old Indian stamping ground. I now raise fine garden truck, beef cattle, and am able to raise pigs with little difficulty. It is some trouble to get feed, but there is plenty of grass. The western islands and Cooks Inlet are covered with grass four feet high. Some day there will be a farming pop- afford perma- | ve noted that many ofe | change or amplification of the laws | at present in force. They ought to | confer and submit to Congress a prop- | osition to authorize the appointment | of a commission which can consider on | the ground the needs of Alaska. My | idea is that the commission should | consist of a Senator, a Representative | and three bona-fide Alaskans. If we | are ever able to get such a commission | something would be accomplished for the practical good of Alaska. Other- | wise the time devoted by Congress to Alaska will be frittered away in the consideration of numerous individual bills of.no benefit to the country as a whole. This man will want a right of way; that one certain privileges. 1‘ Each bill will be lobbied and pushed, | to the exclusion of more general mea- | sures, with the result that Alaska will stand where she “Ladies and gentlemen, as T have to lecture to you to-night, I think we will now begin!” It was Mark himself, who had chosen this amusing way for his introduction to them. Probably few introductions in Jo land are of the style a famous trav: experienced when lecturing in a back- IALASKA HAS B FOR HE eyes of the gold hunters of the world are on Alaska. With the coming year will begin one of the greatest gold rushes in the history of the world. It is safe to say that fully 100,000 adventurers will strain and struggle to be first in the mad race for the new EI Dorado. Is there a chance for all? ‘Will not hundreds perish in the race? Readers of those fascinating stories of glittering finds made on the Klon- dike must not think for a moment that any one can go there and pick up gold. things, strike on everlasting fortune, but his chances are infinitely smaller | than those of the capitalist who goes there with sufficient means to permit him to carefully comb over the pros- pects and select the offers of those com- | pelled by necessity to sacrifice their “aims. The men who have made the Dbig strikes to date went into the coun- try well supplied to battle with adverse fortidne and bad weather. Had they woods town on his travels. The chair- man was a local desperado, who began struck nothing they could have tided Far from it. The poor man who reaches there with a dollar in his| pocket may, in the wild juggle of IG PRIZES THE WINNERS. | selves within her lines. Robinson Cru- soe cut more of a figure on his lonely island than do the 400 miners now scratching the frozen ground along a few iceclad streams. Of all this vast expanse practically nothing is known. For instance, take Baranoff Island, where Sitka, the capital, is situated. It is eighty miles long by forty broad, and has been settled for over 100 years. | Yet no one has ever penetrated the | mountains of the interior. Since Vitus Bering discovered the country in 1741, while cruising for the Russian Government, it has lain al- most as quiet, unnoticed and undis- turbed by hustling white men as the | interior of China. As usual in the de- “velopment of new lands commerce hunters first opened it up. But out- side of furs and fish they discovered nothing for 150 years. But plain furs proved a giant bonanza for that big ‘monopoly, the Russian-American Fur Company. On one cargo of 80,000 sea otter skins aloneé they received $40 per pelt. Those were the days when the nobles of the Orient paid fancy prices for rare and fine furs. Governor Bar- BY GOVERNOR JOHN G. BRADY, BY EX-GOVERNOR JAMES SHEAKLEY AND THE KLONDIKE; A CHANCE FOR NOVELISTS, By Walter Besant. dike. First, gold was found on Stew- art river, a tributary of the Yukon, and prospectors began to drift _)nto that region. New mines were Adxscovex_"ed slowly. What was then considered rich diggings came to light, and Algska quietly and unostentatiously drifted toward competency and civilization. Last spring came the news of gold discoveries that set the world agos. And now expeditions are being form- ed in all parts of the world to venture into this almost unknown region. So much for the past development of the country. Alaska is entering upon an era of tremendous development and prosper- ity in comparison with the past. These new conditions demand new regula- tions and new laws for her government. Many new propositions will be present- ed to the coming Congress and many of them will be wild and impracticable. Tha best and safest proposition fox the people of Alaska is to have Con- gress pass an act allowing the President to appoint a commission of persons who have resided in Alaska and who are well acquainted with its needs and conditions, to draft a code of laws, both civil and criminal, and also to make such changes in the organic act and to establish such courts as may be necessary. From among the hardy, resourceful men who sprinkle gold rushes there will spring to the front brainy ones plenty capable of handling all local questions till the Government steps in. Alaska is in need of such people. They hustle around and force things into line. Alaska has hibernated so long that next spring’'s awakening will be something tremendous for her. The Indians have a saying: “White man heap fool; take gun and go out hunt bear. Indian take gun and go out and wait for bear.” In a rough fashion that has been the character of the country to date. Those Indians are a queer lot to enterprising white men. I remember a mine on Kotzebue Sound; it is a very rich silver mine and the farthest north in this country, where the manager went to San Francisco for the long winter, leaving several natives to watch the plant and the six tunnel mules till spring. When Green got back in July he asked the boss native what kind of a winter they had had. “Oh, fine; heap fine,” was the reply. “Heap plenty to eat. Everything heap plenty and fat.” They had eaten the six mules. anoff was the brains of the business. Alaska is probably the most inarces- sible country on stood for the last thirty years. The work of Congress will be fruitless and the simple laws we need will remain unenacted. But even as she is to-day, nothing can stop the great development and growth of Alaska. JOEN G. BRADY, Governor of Alaska SN As a rule, when one goes to hear a celebrated lecturer one is so eager and expectant to hear and see the great man himself that little notice is tak- en of the manner in which he is in- troduced to theau- dience by the chairman, though the method is cft- en veryamusing or curious, especially the gold fields. away any gold at ing Jjoints, away was rheumatism, torture and early death. that, I think, in some form or other, will be the portion of most of the Klondike dig- gers. The word has apparently been pass- ed to “boom” Klondike in the interest of the American outfitters, who will reap all the harvest for themselves. younger I would go to look at the place VERY now and then something happens which mal perately to be younger. Just now it is the rush to Klondike. mer there will be witnessed the most wonderful rush of men and the most wonderful improvised city of frame houses, with the most wonderful saloons, gambling places, dancing places, singing places, perhaps, that the world has ever seen. a rush to California in the old days. rush to Melbourne. I remember from time to time running across men who had been to None of them had brought newspapers, churches, There was There was a What they did bring bent bodies, creak- And / all. / If 1 were where the chair- man is a “self- made” man or a local “big-wig,” whose knowledge of literary, scienti- fic, or theological subjectsisno greater than it should be. At a well-known mechanics’ insti- tute in the north of England the chair, at a recent and the people. Alas! I cannot. It is no use recommending young novelists to go, because, no doubt, they are pre- | paring for a a start in March. There - were three young novelists. They all ! resolved—each thinking himself “the first—to go to Klondike, and there lay ' the scene of a novel certain to have a most enormous boom. They all thought | they would start in March—this ail hap- | pened next year. They went out by dif-| ferent boats; one by the Allan line, so as to get local color in Canada; one by the Cunard line, because they have never lost a passenger; and one by the White Star, “1 SHOULD VERY MUCH LIKE TO ’ JOIN THESE EXCITED ‘GOLD RUSHERS'. WALTER BESANT. kes one desire des-| were only themsel Next sum- and broksn his neck. They smiled, and went on. Dplace of all; the most terrible road in the whole world, and in the night one of the two remaining novelists vanished. ves, Then Assuredly he had gone over the was no more. pass would allow. would go home. of gold waching; New York; The other man, therefore, had rolled over something The third novelist went on with as light a heart as the perils and sufferings of that But the first who van- ished was not killed; he simply thought he On the bought all the Klondike he could find; he drew rough sketches; he drew pictures of houses, he took the train to wrote all the way across the Atlantic; up to London. * * * Six weeks later the great Klondike novel came out. It had an enormous boom. A quarter of a million copies went off the globe. To pros- pect the gold fields requires not only moral courage, but a great deal of physical strength and endurance. All its approaches are by water. Even the big part of the Ssummer traveling must be done by water, for there is not ten miles of roadway in all of the 600,000 sguare miles of territory. Even the trails are wretched apol- ogies for footwear. More cattle paths and rough roads were constructed last spring by the pioneer gold rush- ers than were built by the pelt-hunt- ers andfishersdur- ing the preceding 150 years. they came to the precipice, too; he way back he literature that of mountains, day 1long all he went in the first month. All previous boomers lay | down and died with envy. Then the mflli;:?;x::;fif l second traveler arrived. He, too, had not perished, but he had made up his mind to go mno further. Imagine his joy when he reached Liverpool to be offered the last edi- tion—they came out six a week—of the great Klondike novel! No; his own was refused everywhere. There could not be two booms about the same place. Lastly, there came, two months later, the man who had done it. 1 believe they allowed him to produce a “Journey to Xlondike,” which nobody cared about, because by this time the ers will be-ubliged to voyage are fre- quently visited by sudden storms. The vessels select- ed for the trips should be of the most stanch and seaworthy kind and should becom- manded by experi- enced and compe- tent navigators. I would sound a spring you must pass o shoes and take the caught in the blizzards whic ing that season visit the summ To me it is a matter of regret many people are determined to try ¢ get into this inhospitable during the coming spring and Thousands of them are going v proper preparation and a st amount of means. There is no tion but that many of them will disappointment, suffering and death. It will take years to properly de- velop the broad Alaskan gold fiel I earnestly advise those who planned to go and who have not ade quate means for a year’s camp t to patiently wait until better cheaper facilities for reaching Yukon basin are supplied. Comy have been formed to build railr into the interior from different poir on the coast. Several of these panies will no doubt have a railwuy constructed within the coming e There is no danger of the crop mines becoming exhausted within the next twenty-five years. I came to the California mines in 1852. I left in 1534 thinking the mines were worked out. I returned here forty-two years after- ward and found that gold-mining California was only in its infan more gold was produced this vear than will be produced in all Alaska and British Columbia within the next two years. Once in the gold fields, what are the chances for the poor man and the rich man? Briefly, then, without a proper outfit and supplies, it is absolutely hopeless for any one to tempt fortune by pros- pecting. The seasons are so shof't, liv ing so dear and traveling so difficult that to work for wages practically cuts a man off from aiming at anything higher. With from $500 to $1000 in his pocket, however, a man may reason- ably try his chances with the best of the prospectors. Consider some of the difficulties of mining there and you will see why this is so. As far as any one has dug down the ground is solidly frozen. One miner told me he had sunk a shaft forty-five feet and the ground was icebound ahead of him. Wood cannot be got for less than $20 a cord. The ground must be thawed with fire before it can be picked out. W, wages are $10 a day it costs about a foot to sink a hole. The poor can calculate how long he can hold Dav to sink a shaft on his prospect at #ich figures. But capital is going into the country No doubt it will give em- ployment to a large number of poor men, both in working the older mines and in prospecting for new ones. The gold field is very extensive. T be- leve that good mires will be discov- ered north of the Yukon, and that bigs fore many years ships will be trans-’ porting miners and supplies through , Bering Strait into the Arctle Ocean and landing them at the mouth of the Coquille River for the purpose of work- ing the mines on that and other streams which flow into the northern ocean. Outside of finding employment in the mines the poor man has practically no chance of earning a living. There is no country on earth where he can starve to death quicker. The cold temperature of almost eight months of the year makes it imperative that he shall have a proper amount of food and good clothing. True, the rush of adventurers will develop lines of busi- ness that must furnish supplies to the mines, but a limited number of men will fill all such billets. The fish and fur trades already have all the men they can handle. The lumber business cuts but a small figure on acccount of the scareity of good timber. Agricul- ture and grazing will always be very limited. Supplies will always have to come from abroad, and only \\'ealthyf companies will be able to handle th in the present rough and expensive = conditions of transportation. One point these gold-rushers should bear in mind: In prospecting the prac= tical miner has very little or no advan=< tage over the novice. In that country no person can figure on surface indi« cations while prospecting. Many of the big finds of this last year were in what you might call marshes. No practical miner would have dreamed word of warning of looking in such places for gold indi« in regard to those cations. There is an old saying: “Silver. lecture by a dis- tinguished clergy- ulation in Cooks Inlet. The transition in Alaska will be from papers were full of journeys to Klondike, because it was handy. They all got out 7 life at Klondike, want at Klondike, and ‘West—far West, to British Columbia, where ¥ old hulks and rives V] i Bold sto coal sad from o o = 0L g‘;n'lmw’flde':::: the start is made; on the morning of the J1y the rest of it. The moral of this is, of |yoats that are bef ilte‘s; ".lq1‘:‘:‘:os::ngo;t}e;is“gter:x:):gefinc ture. I have heard it said that the Yu- who had made | 5tart they met; face to face they met. They that if you are a novelist you don’t want to ing fitted up for| has proved the truth of this saying. kon Valley offers a field for barley un- surpassed anywhere in the world, even though the soil one foot or eighteen inches below the surface is eternally frozen. The fish industry is one of the great- est interests in Alaska. The business last yvear amounted to $3,000,000, but it needs to be regulated by a commission. The cannery men should be called to- gether in conference to decidethe many questions which should besettled where a fierce rivalry exists. All sides could be heard, and more intelligent laws than those now governing would re- sult. There are a number of instances I could give of the necessity of a com- ion. 'here is now an absence of Govern- ment machinery, which makes it im- possible for even constituted officials to enforce their authority. Think of the future of the fish indus- try! The grounds on the Atlantic coast are giving out, while ours are un- touched. Some day a majority of the fish consumed in the world will come from Alaska. The fur industry has seen its best days. On the western islands foxes, blue and silver, are being cultivated, and 1 understand those interested in the venture are having good success. 1 do not believe that Alaska has a large enough permanent population to warrant the creating of a Territory. I do, however, favor the appointment of a commission to visit Alaska and frame new laws for its government. The business men and officials of Alaska are concerned in effecting some most of his money and reputation in the grocery busi- ness, and whose attainments in theology had not soared above the Bible and church hymnal. Hence, when he announc- ed that the Rev. —— would now de- liver his lecture on smiles. All on the same anon they came to In the morning he had come by different routes and they miet on the same morning, face to face; grasped the situation in a moment; they broke into hollow laughter; they shook hands with wooden “Going to Klondike?” said one. that the third would tumble over and break his neck. ing happened. On the third day one of them, who had been quite silent and meditative all day, lay down at night beside the other two. had vanished. The other two looked at each other, Theré every man am I They started; “8o business, of course.” a tight place; two held aloof, hoping Noth- go to Klondike. At the same time I wish I was younger because I should very much like to join these excited “gold rushers.” Flowers have no speech nor language, but they are living creatures, and, when transplanted, from their own home haunts to ours, they claim the captive's due of tenderness, and they will reward love, like a child, with answering loveliness. rhyming to the woods and fields outside, the seasons faithfully remembered, the little exiles of the flowerpot bear mute witness that the house wherein they live is a “building of God, a house not made by hands.” the Alaska trade. I am satisfied that many of them will not reach their destination. If you go by Dyea and the Chilcoot Pass you will have 25 miles of land trav- el over an eleva- tion of 4000 feet high. If the trip is made in the early In their religious The chief advantage the practical miner will have over the novice will be in working and developing claims. 1 No man should set foot in the Yukonl gold fields without at least $500 in hig pocket. That will keep him till he gets work, and in case of a mishap or ill fortune he will have enough to carry him out of the country, for he might ag well be shipwrecked on an iceberg in the northern ocean as stranded in the interior of Alaska without subplies. é JAMES SHEAKLEY. | “The Canon; Its Composition and Place in History,” and went on to say that it was most important nowadays, with our com- mercial interests, that we should be quite up to date with all military and naval knowledge, etc., the audience was immensely tickled. It is not long ago that, when a great gathering had assembled to hear the inimitable Mark Twain lecture, they found an empty platform before them almost up to the very moment of start- ing. Then, just before the appointed hour, there came on the boards a rather simple-looking man who wan- dered aimlessly about, surveying first the audience, then the empty stage, then the roof, then the people again, till they thought him demented. His remarks were not less amusing. “Very nice hall; very nice! Nice peo- ple; very nice people!” And so on. Finally the audience lost patience and some called to him to “vanish’! Then he came forward to the foot- lights and said in a most serious voice: the proceedings in this style, evidently thinking that his dignity in the chair demanded supporting: “Gentlemen, this is Mr. —, who is going to tell us what he’s seen; and if any darned man contradicts or inter- feres he's got me to reckon with arter it's all over.” And, in acknowledgment, he placed a revolver on the table. The lecturer was not contradicted or interfered with. The famous composer of “The Mikado™ tells a laughable story of how he had once to apologize at a meeting in the far West, where a great crowd of people appeared on learning that “Sullivan” would lecture on a certain day. It was only when he had to con- front the audience that he discovered they had come expecting to hear J. L. Sullivan, the pugilist! The chairman and his supporters, in introducing the noted musician, had no small task in calming the disappointed “far-west- ers,” | over their bad luck and traveled safe- ly out of the country. Don’t go to Alaska unless you see your way clear to getting out, and bedr in mind that in that rough, hard country you will win no prizes in gold or trade without a hard, stubborn strugsle. Alaska is no place for a weakling in body or spirit. She has big prizes for the winners, but to gain them one must fight stoutly and steadfastly. Read the story of Alaska and you will find that only the stoutest hearted and most persistent have ever won for- tunes from her. I wonder if the impa- tient adventurers have any notion of the extent of her vast domains. Her mountains, moss piains, ice fields, for- ests and patches of flint, bushes, grass and waterways cover about 600,000 square miles, an area about as large as that part of the United States lying east of the Mississippi River. She has nearly three times as much coast line as the rest of the United States. Sev- eral millions of men could lose them- After his death the company gradually went to pleces and the fur trade lan- guished. In 1868 the Russian Govern- ment was glad to sell the country to the United States for $7,000,000. Under the Americans the fish trade was developed till it rivaled what was left of the fur seal trade. More than $6,000,000 is invested there now in sal- mon fisheries alone. The golden period began in a modest way about twenty years ago by the dis- covery of some placer mines near where the city of Juneau now stands. Quartz ledges were found later. The great Treadwell mine was developed and put into successful operation. It produces about $1,000,000 per annum, and has a plant valued at 3$2,000,000. This suc- cess led to the discovery and develop-| ment of other mining property throughout the territory, until South- eastern Alaska produced about $3,000,- 000 per annum. In 1886 came the discoveries fore- shadowing the rich finds on the Klon- PRESIDENT McKINLEY ON ALASKA'S NEEDS HE Territory of Alaska requires the prompt and early attention of Congress. The conditions now existing demand materialchanges in the laws relating to the Terri- tory. The great intlux of population during the past summer and fall, and the prospect of a still larger immigra- tion in the spring will not permit us to longer neglect the extension of civil A general system of public surveys has not yet been extended to Alaska, and all entries thus far made in that district are upon special surveys. The act of Congress extending to Alaska the mining laws of the United States contained the reservation that it should not be construed to put in force the general land laws of the country. By an act approved March 3, authority within the Territory 1891, authority was given for the entry of land for townsite purposes and also for the purchase of not exceeding 160 acres, then or thereafter occupied for purposes of trade and manufacture. I concur with the Secretary of War in his suggestions as to the necessity for a military force in the Territory of Alaska for the protection of persons | and property. Already a small force, consisting of twenty-five men, vgrn | two officers, under command of Liff tenant-Colonel Randall of the Big Infantry, has been sent to St. Michael to establish a military post. As it is to the interest of the Govern- ment to encourage the development i and settlement of the country and its§ duty to follow up the citizens there W with the benefits of legal machinery, = I earnestly urge upon the Congress tht; { establishment of a system of govern- i ment of such flexibility as will enable } it to adjust itself in the future ar greatest population. T