The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, January 23, 1898, Page 20

s p— THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, JANUARY 23, 159S. b oy 2 © 0 Qe SN PIIOIesd B DS \x,@y(ig} ) PP R MAC N 110 22y M M R L e LD 3 IS ALASKA A GOOD COUNTRY— For Women N compliance with the request of a friend of mine, who Wrote me from the East, 1 called on good-natured, gar- rulous old Simon Wheeler, and inquired after my friend's friend, Leonidas W. Smiley, as requested to do, and I here- unto append the result. I have a lurking suspicion that “Leonidas W.” Smiley is a myth; that my friend never knew such a personage; and that he only conjectured that if T esked old Wheeler about him it would remind him of his in- famous *Jim” Smiley, and he would g0 to work and bore me to death with some exasperating reminiscence of him as long and as tedious as it would be useless to me. If that was the design it succeeded. 3 I found Stmon Wheeler dozing comfortably by tte bar-room stove of the dilapidated tavern in the decayed mining camp of Angels, and T noticed that he was fat and bald-headed, and had an expression of winning gentleness ahd simplicity upon his tranquil countenance. He roused up, and gave me good- day. I told him a friend of mine had commissioned me to make some inquiries about a cherished companion of his boyhood named Leonidas W. Smiley—Rev. Leonidas W. Smiley, & young minister of the Gospel, who he had heard was at one time a resident of Angels Camp. I added that if Mr. Wheeler could tell me anything about this Rev. Leonidas W. Smiley, I would feel under many obligations to him. Simon Wheeler backed me into a corner and blockaded me there with his chair, and then sat down and reeled off the mo- notonous narrative which follows this paragraph. He never smiled, he never frowned, he never changed his voice from the gently flowing key to which he tuned his initial sentence, he never betrayed the slightest suspicion of enthusiasm; but all through the intermi le narrative there ran a vein of impres- sive earnestness a sincerity, which showed me plainly that so far f n his imagining that there was anything ridiculous or funny about his story, he regarded it as a really important matter, and admired s two heroes as men of transcendent genius in finesse. I let him go on in his own way, and never interrupted him once. “Rev. Leonidas W. H'm, Reverend Le—well, there was a fel- ler here once by the name of Jim Smiley, in the winter of "4— ormaybeitwas the spring of '50—I don't recollect exactly,some- how, though what makes me think it was one or the other is because I remember the big flume warn't finished when he first come to the camp; but any way he was th about always betting on anything that turned up you ever 1f he could get anybody to bet on the other side; and if couldn’t he'd ¢ Any way that guited the other m would suit him—any way just so's he got a bet, he w fied. But still he was lucky, uncommon lucky come out winner. He was always ready and 1 chance; there couldn’t be no solit'ry thing mentior feller'd offer to bet on it, and take ary but that ide you please, as I was Just telling you. If there was a horse race you'd find him flush or you'd find him busted at the end of it; if there w. fight he'd bet on it; if there was a ca there was a chicken he'd bet on it; why, if there w birds setting on a fence, he would bet you which fiy first; or if there was a camp Teg’ o bet on Parson Walker, which he judged to be t} exhorter about here, and so he was, t0o, and a good m he even see a straddle bug start to go neres, he wot you how long it would take him to get to—to wherever } going to, and if you took him up, he would follow that s bug to Mexico but what he would find out where he wa for and how long he was on the road. Lots of the boys has seen that Smiley, and can tell you about him. never made no difference to him—he'd bet on any dangdest feller. Parson Walker's wife laid very sick once, a good while, and it seemed as i warn't going to ¥ but one ning he come in, ar ed him how she was, and he said she was considerable better—thank the Lord for inf'nit mercy—and co: 18 on =0 smart that with the blessing of Prov'dence she'd get well yet; ana Smiley, be fore he thought, says, “Well, I'll resk two and 2 half she don't s a dog- -fight he'd bet on it; if y had a mare—the boys called her the fi- in fun, you know, because and he used to win money of course she was faster than that INING first brought California 1 as the El Doradu of the West. T of the Btate were laid with the beginn golden flood which poured from mighty Blerrra Nevadas. brief. Men were at first lacking 1 by little as the most profitable bars they began to search for the orl quartz adhering, and t directed to the veins w try. While these vei attention was ch thickl were foun to contain gold o stretching from Mariposa County northward. remarkable lode, sometimes able pings for miles at a stretch. For flssure occupled by the most important appearance of being continuous, and while cont here and there was characterized at great “blowouts” of qui c raphy of the country. a thickness at the base of 20 feet. It May Rock and present Carson Hill, Qua: due to the aggre. fon of quartz veins. its length it consists of numerous veins ecattere beit of black slate, through which course dikes of Of necessity the days of the rich surface placers were Ore experience, but little worked over it urce of the gold. In the placers gold had often been found with pieces of consequently intersected the coun a great area of the Sierra Nevada foothills, it was soon recognized that there was one remarkable mineral zone For over a hundred miles the prospector traced th to walk on its crop- Tong distances the vein had the he greatest body of quartz ex- Rofied above ground is found on the Mariposa grant in Mariposa County. It rises $0 feet with a length of 100 and is known as the a most striking appearance. Mountain and other eminences are The lode does not always occur as one great vein, for through much of n a mining along the lod een- stone parallel to the stratification. Thus it has happened that while the whole western siope of the Sierra Nevadas is more or less mineralized, the geological structure is such that it has favored greater development of fissures and subsequent quartz veins along a comparatively TO STAY AWAY FROM? By Mrs. John A. Logan. narrow line. Much Ras been said about the depth to which the gold ores of California extend. The question arises in every new camg. Do the veins go down? What reason have we to doubt that they go down? The velns cer- tainly go down, and if rich on the surface experience of many years has shown that they are not likely to grow poorer in depth. A=Y ~ By Mark Twain . on that horse, for all she was so slow and always had the asthma, or the distemper, or the consumption, or something of that kind. They used to give her two or three hundred yards' start, and then pass her under way; but always at the fag end of the race, she'd get excited and desperate like, and come ca- vorting and straddliing up, and scattering her legs around lim- ber, sometimes In the alr, and sometimes out to one side among the’ fences, and kicking up m-o-r-e dust and raising m-o-r-e racket with her coughing and sneezing and blowing ber nose— and always fetch up at the stand just about & neck ahead, as near as you could cipher it down. “And he had a little small bull pup, that to look at him you'd think he warn’t worth a cent but to set around and look ornery and lay for a chance to steal something. But as soon a8 money was up on him he was a different dog; his under- Jaw’'d begin to stick out like the fo'castle of a steamboat, and his teeth would uncover and shine like the furnaces. And a dog might tackle him and bullyrag him, and bite him, and throw him over his shoulder two or three times, and Andrew Jackson—which was the name of the pup—Andrew Jackson would never let on but what he was satisfied, and hadn’t ex- pected nothing else—and the bets being doubled and doubled on the other side all the time, till the money was all up; and then all of a sudden he would grab that other dog jest by the jint of is hind leg and freeze to it—not chaw, you understand, but only just grip and hang on till they throwed up the sponge, it it was a year. Smiley always come out winner on that pup till he harnessed a dog once that didn’t have no hind legs, be- cause they'd been sawed off in a circular saw, and when the thing had gone along far enough and the money was all up, and he come to make & snatch for his pet holt, he see in a min- ute how he’d been imposed upon, and how the other dog sorter had him In the door, so to speak. and he "peared surprised, and then he looked sorter discouraged like, and didn’t try no more to win the fight, so he got shucked out bad. He gave Smiley a look, as much as to say his heart was broke, and it was his fault, for putting up a dog that didn’t have no hind legs for him to take holt of, which was his main dependence in a fight, then he limped off a piece and laid down and died. It was a good pup, that Andrew Jackson, and would have made a name for himself if he'd lived, for the stuff was in him and he had genius—I know it, because he hadn’t no opportunities to speak of, and it don't stand to reason that a dog could make such a fight as he could under them circumstances if he hadn’t no talent. It always makes me feel sorry when I think of that last fight of his'n and the way it turned out. Well, thish-yer Smiley had rat-terriers, and chicken cocks, and tom-cats and all them kind of things, till you couldn’t rest, and vou couldn’t fetch nothing for him to bet on but he'd ou.” He ketched a frog one day, and took him Ryme, d he cal'lated to educate him; and €0 he never aone g for three months but set in his back yard and learn that frog to jump. And you bet he did learn him, too. He'd m a little-punch behind, and the next minute you'd see turning in the air like a doughnut—see him turn one :t, or maybe a couple, if he got a good start, and come -footed and all right. like a.cat, He got him up so in er of ketching flies, and kept him in practice so con- at he'd nail a fly every time as fur as he could see ey said all a frog wanted was education, and he ‘most anything—and I believe him. Why, I've seen 'l Webster down on this floor—Dan’l Webster was me of the frog—and sing out, ‘Flies, Dan’l, files!’ and 'n you could wink he'd spring straight up and snake a the counter there, and flop down on the floor ag'in as a gob of mud, and fall to scratching the side of his h his hind foot as indifferent as if he hadn’t no idea been doing any more'n any frog might do. You never see a frog so modest and straightfor'ard as he was, for all he was And when it come to fair and square jumping on a he could get over more ground at one straddle than Jumping on a dead level ; and when it come to that, i ante up money on him as long as he had a red. ous proud of his frog, and well he might be, for fellers that had traveled 1 everywheres, all said he laid over any frog that ever they see. ¥ 0O00000OOOOOQOOOOOOOOO0000000O0OOOOQ600000000000000000000000000000000000000003 “THE BIGGEST AND RICHEST BELT OF GOLD IN THE WORLD.” THE MOTHER LODE OF CALIFORNIA—By HAROLD W. FAIRBANKS. 0 prominence e foundations g of the almost every canyon through the length and breadth of the With the growth of experience in dealing with quartz veins the repu e lode for extent and richness world now the mother lode of Cali- ands as the finest example of the great gold of the world. Here have been developed the c of underground exploitation, ymical treatment of low-grade ia leads the world with her the most precise s, S0 that now eng Califor inent fissure system is one the lode. In many places unties the ground up wall Tock for: five to eight feet thick, and in one mine s t yrmous dimensions of forty feet, being filled with bowiders of the partially broken quartz T jn Calave e characteristic of the mother lode has a well-marked_banded e, and is that which the miner most likes to meet with. The great ore bodies of the larger mines which have been found so profitable have generally possessed this character, Different views have been advanced to account for the formation of these great masses of quartz. One is that they were deposited in open cavities which were formed thot feet t low the surfgce during the s, whereby hollows and pro- tuberances of the w were brought opposite each other. The second view does not admit that the great masses of qu z of the formed in this manner, but rather by a gradual replace- ment of the crushed material along the walls with silica from the percolating cs. On this theory we can structure of the ore, the rtz and chlorite formed during mountain-making moven or many years fr m the commencement of quartz the nature of the veins and ore ; ood. This resulted In a lack of ng_ on bodles was not unde confldence in ca when the ore bod found to pinch, as they all do at times in the most permanent of mines. Many a mine in this region which 1s to-day proving a bonanza for its owners has been abandoned at one or more periods in its history. Long years of experience has now changed &ll this and created such a belief in the permanency of the velns that undertakings of eat magnitude are carried out in faith that what has been found to be true in many cases will be found to be so in all the larger and *more important deposits. ‘Wken it Is realized that several thousand feet of the surface have been eroded in past geological ages, and that now some of the mines of Amador County are down more than 2000 feet without any apparent weakening of the veins scale these gold deposits were formed. formed subsequent to the folding and upheaval of the slates, and subsequent also to the intrusion of the erup- tive rocks, so that they have been little disturbed and faulted and are easily followed. generally quite simpl silver and gold are m work and so gene the gra quantity along th regions, the ores are oxidized down to the water level, but, in marked they stiil carry amount of free gold. always assoeiated with iron pyrites, from which it is ex- tracted with comparative e: mother lode and its richness ascribed to their peculiar character. that no combination of wall rocks will insure a rich vein. It does not seem reasonable that the gold should have- been derived from the walls, for the mines aro equall e Ereat rich mother lode could have been Tieh whetl found under any of reasonable to belleve that the deposition of the metallic particles is dependent more upon chemical reactions of a 5y k certatn kind. Of two veins Iying side by sido In ho same e %o 3 , mine one may be barren and the other constitnte the S-Opening And SShIGINAE S i Smere pay rock. The rock forming the walls upon the surface or at any depth which can be reached is no indication of the nature of the decp-seated rocks {rom which the . o underground development umerous dikes of diabase or greenstone so characters istic of the mother lode have given opportunity for the formation of extensive and well-defined fissures, and this “Well, Smiley kep’ the beast in a little lattice box, and he used to fetch him down town sometimes and lay for a bet. One day a feller—a stranger in camp, he was—come acrost him with his box, and says: 5 ‘What might it be that you've got in that box? “And Smiley says, sorter indifferent like, ‘It might be a parrot, or it might be a canary, maybe, but it ain't—it's only just a frog.’ “And the feller took it, and looked at it careful, and turned it round, this way and that, and says, ‘H'm—so 'tis. Well, what's he good for?' 'We}l, Smiley says, easy and careless, ‘he’s good enough for one thing, I should judge—he can outjump any frog in Cala- veras county.’ *“The feller took the box again, and took another long, par- ticular look, and give it back to Smiley, and says, vgry delibe ate, ‘Well,’ he says, ‘I don't see no p'ints about that Irog that's any better'n any other frog.’ “‘Maybe you don’t, Smiley says. ‘Maybe you understand frogs and maybe you don't understand ‘em; maybe you've had ‘experience, and maybe you ain’t only an amature, as it were. Anyways. I've got my opinion and I'll resk forty dollars that he can outjump any frog in Calaveras county.’ ‘And the feller studied a minute, and then says, kinder sad like, ‘Well, I'm only a stranger here, and I ain't got no frog; but if I had a frog I'd bet you.” “And then Smiley says, “That’s all right—that's all right— 1f you'll hold my box a minute, I'll go and get you a frog.” And 80 the feller took the box, and put up his forty dollars along with Smiley’s, and set down to wait. *So he sot there a good while thinking and thinking to his- gelf, and then he got the frog out and prized his mouth open and took a teaspoon and filled him full of quail shot—filled him pretty near up to his chin—and set him on the floor. Smiley he went to the swamp and slopped around in the mud for a long time, and finally he ketched a frog, and fetched him in, and give him tothis feller, and says: “Now, if you're ready, set him alongside of Dan’l, with his forepaws just even with Dan'l's, and I'll give e word.” Then he says, ‘One—two—three—git!" and him and the feller touched up the frogs from behind, and the new frog hopped oft lively, but Dan’l give a heave, and hysted up his shoulders—so—like a Frenchman, but it warn't no use—he couldn’t budge; he was planted as solid as a church, and he couldn’t no more stir than if he was anchored out. Smiley was a good deal surprised, and he was disgusted, too, but he didn’t have no idea what the matter was, of course. “The feller took the money and started away; and when he was going out the door, he sorter jerked his thumb over his shoulder—so— at Dan’l, any says again, very deliberate, ‘Well,” he says, ‘I don’t see no p'ints about that frog that's any bet- ter'n any other frog.’ “Smiley, he stood scratching his head and looking down at Dan’l a long time, and at last he says, ‘I do wonder what in the nation that frog throwed off for—I wonder if there ain’t some- thing the matter with him—he 'pears to look mighty baggy. And he ketched Dan’l by the nap of the necx and hefted him and says, ‘Why, blame my cats if he don’t weigh five poun: and turned him upside down and he belched out a double hand- ful of shot. And then he see how it was, and he was the mad- dest man—he set that frog down and took out after that feller, but he never ketched him. And— [Here Simon Wheeler heard his name called from the front yard, and got up to see what was wanted.] And turning to me 2s he moved away, he sald: “Just stay where you are, strang- er, and rest e I ain’t going to be gone a second.” But, by your leave,I did not think that a continuation of the history of the enterprising vagabond “Jim” Smiley would be likely to afford me much information concerning the Rev. “Leonidas W.” Smiley, and so I started aw At the door I met the sociable Wheeler returning, and he buttonholed me and recommenced: “Well, thish-yer Smiley had a yaller one-eved cow that didn’t have no tail, only jest a short stump like a bannanner, However, lacking both time and inclination, I did not walt to hear about the afflicted cow, but took my leave. s, it must be appreclated on what an enormous The system of veins constituting the mother lode was The ore of the veins constituting the mother lode is Those ores in which copper, ed, and which are so difficuit to y asociated together, especially in s of the State, are not found in any mother lode. Here, as in all other > Teg| istinction to the veins in the granite, below the line of oxidation a large When combined the gold is almost Much has been said about the wall rocks of the A careful study of the lode has convinced me whether in slate or at the contact of slate wit Good mines as well as poor ones can be these conditions. It seems more waters abstracted their mineral contents. The I believe has been the chief part played by them. The mother lode of California will probably never be equalled in the world. While the great mines now epen are gradually penetrating deeper Into the earth without diminution of- their output, new and now_hidden ore bodles will continue to be found and the product of gold increased for years to come. The permanency of the lode and the ability to work its low-grade ores have both been fully vindicated. O large a percentage of the peo- ple bound for Alaska are of the gentler and physically weaker sex that the question naturally arises in the mind of one deeply interested in woman's welfare, “Is Alaska a desirable country for ‘women?” Having been asked for my opinion on this subject, which 1s one that grows in importance as the number of women ploneers to that inhospitable country increases, I am constrained to give a conservative reply. From all that I bave been able to learn of existing con- ditions in the far north, I am led to the +oonclusion that Alaska at the present ‘time is an excellent country for women —to stay away from. Not alone do women in that region have to encounter physical hardships of almost every description in their eager rush to keep pace with men in search of gold, and endure the rigors of a climate that tests the endurance of the hardiest man; unless accompanied by husbands to protect them, they are compelled to sacrifice much of the dig: nity and reserve that are woman's patural birthright, and certainly her chief charm. Themethodoftravelover- land is npw such that women should think very seriously before undertak- ing it. In every way it is extremely trying upon the physique of men. ‘What must it be for women? The ‘mere matter of moneyed galn should not, it sems to me,/so enthuse them as to make them lose sight of graver things at stake. I would not be understood as taking & gloomy view of the Alaska question. It is undoubtedly a most wonderful country so far as its mineral riches are concerned, but there are few women who can encounter the privations and primitive conditions there without seri- ously impairing their. health. Even those who go as companions to their 'husbands and in their watchful care {sun a great physical risk. And yet I one who holds to the good, old- oned bellef that a woman should, need be, follow her husband to the termost ends of the earth. To me OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO 0000000000000 000000000000C0000000COCCO000000000000000000000000C000000000000000000 world’s “Jumping-off place,” the most cheerless and unsuitable spot that a woman could select for even a tem- orary abidin lace. 5 Bult'y Mukag fs not Irreclaimable, though its climate may be, and the time may come, and that soon, when capital and civilization will have made it a habitable land for women. I would have the way paved for them. It does not seem to me either safe or wise for women to emigrate beyond the ordinary comforts of life. When the capitalists have made improvements there; when the civil engineers have brought their skill to bear upon the rugged and dangerous surface of that far-off country; when physicians are at hand in case of lllness, and houses are built that are suitable for women to live in; when there is nothing left to contend with but the climate—and that will always be quite enough—then Alaska will be a reasonably habitable place for women. For the women who have the cour- age requisite to take such chances as now present themselves In Alaska, I have much respect. Fortitude and bravery are always admirable. But one may be pardoned for questioning the judgment of even the brave. Min- ing is an alluring industry, but I have a theory that for every dollar taken out of the earth some one had to put one hundred cents in. ‘Women ploneers should bear in mind that vastly different conditions prevail between the gold fever of '49 and this of '98. Women were not only in better physical condition than now, owing to the greater simplicity of their lives, ut in coming to California they en- ered what was a veritable paradise. They could live in a cloth tent nine months of the year and at the door could be grown almost anything they desired to plant, be it tree, flower or vegetable. California’s welcome to woman was a smiling and propitious one. Alaska’s is, to say the least, de- cidedly repelling. e — Mme. Diaz, wife of the Mexican Presi- dent, has founded a home where girls can always find employment, a nursery where children of working Wwomen are for, and a en home for re- HOW TO OUTFIT FOR ALASKA. BY A MINER WHO HAS BEEN THERE. MADE a prospecting trip through Alaska last year and had the usual rough experiences of a prospector in the far north. All you people who are figuring on going there this year have had all sorts of advice thrust upon you by all sorts of people, chiefly by those who have galned all their information from books and papers. I am going to tell you what a- year's rough experience taught me were the absolute necessaries ‘there, the cheapest cost and how best to prepare for the trip. It's a hard trip at the best, and you will ind that practical advice will be of inestimable service to you. The usual estimates are made upon the basis of the expenditure of sums of money ranging from $300 to $1000. These of course are all very well for those who have the money to lay out in such a man- ner. But the greater share of the men who will set out for Alaska this spring wiil doubtless be of limited means, who are compelled to make every dollar go as far as possible. The first and most requisite 1s, of course, food. For a year's supply the fol- lowing will fill the bill. It should be stated that the prices and goods are the actual ones charged and supplied by a dewntown retail store and can be dupli- cated at any time: : PROVISIONS FOR ONE MAN FOR A YEAR. 7 2L 2 0 1% 25| 78| 160 100 1bs flour. 230 200 Tbs flour, whois wheat . 45s 400 115 1% 215! 6 :5 §75. Total ............50 30 of course that consid- to the bill of fare will be everywhere. huckleberries, salmon berries, raspber- ries, blackberries, berrles, cranberries and service berries. As for clothing, there is an equally wide range in the published estimates. In one respect, however, they are nearly all alike—they all provide for more or less expensive furs. These articles are of course all very well in their way, and when money is no object they may be obtained. But they are not essential. There are many men who have been in Alaska for years who corroborate this. None are included in this estimate, which is as follows and is on the basis of one year's supply, though many of the arti- cles will be just as serviceable at the end as at the beginning of the year: CLOTHING FOR ONE MAN. bl 10 150 wear £ 2 Mackinaw over- shirts 1 heavy sweater. . € pr heavy wool socks e s M o @ For camp outfit and tools the 1s made on the supposition that two men estimate g0 together. That is the only correct way to do. Very little more is required for two than for one, and there are s0 many things that require two sets of the traveler should in the first place select a partner of congenial ub.?tea and og; with whom bg‘ -ll;nmur- ably certain agree and ong with- out disputing. utm’fiushoumu borne in mind. No matter how many may elect at the outset m.{l) in a single party, the outits should always be pre- pared in sets of two. Provisions, tools, ete., should be arranged in that way, currants and_goose-* For two men the following tools and camp outfit will suffice: 1 sheet fron |1 jack plane...... 85 stove $ 06 1 10-lnch draw- 1 bake pan - 70 1 8-qt. camp ket- 4“5 tle ........ . © brace, 4-inch 1 6-qt. camp ket- and 1-inch bits. 125 tle . fil 30 25 16 100 40 50 80 20 1680 % 22 % 170 . 1% 85 0 12 00 180 ® e 125 In this list there is room for am- lification, and there are many other ar- icles which would be found very conven- fent and pleasant to have. But those ar- ticles l{g not absolute essentials, and it 1s with the essentials and not superfiuities that we are dea.llnf In this article. ‘Anof and here, too, is Wi though not so wide as in the other feat- ures. The following, however, are the ar- ticles that were found useful, if not es- sential, during a season’s sojourn in Cholera mixture. ‘Winchester or other u:htwnlfht rifle, carrying long cartridges, with 100 M ammunition at least. Pistols are not Sheath knives are handy to have. fishing tackle is also essen- 00000000000000C000000000000000000000000000 The various items of the complete out- fit foot up as follows: » Provisions . $ 70 30| Medicines Clothing . 71 65| Weapons Tools and camp outfit ... 64 80| Total .. The total weight of the entire outfit will be about 1500 pounds. Then comes the expense oS the journey to Dyea. The present fares from San Francisco to Dyea are $20 second class and $43 first class. The economical man ‘will elect to undergo a little hardship as & sort of breaking in for the journey across the mountains and will take the second class fare, thereby saving $19. It will cost him about $15 for freight and drayage on his goods, which will land them at either Dyea or Skaguay, on the ‘wharf or beach. Then he must take care of them himself. ‘With his partner he will at once com- mence moving his goods to higher land and getting ready to start across the mountains. If packers are hired it will cost from 18 to 50 cents a pound to get the outfit to the lakes. If they are not hired the partners will load their sleds and start out, going to a suitable camp- ing place, leaving their loads, and going back for the remainder of their goods. This will not involve the expenditure of any mone{. The only cash outlay re- quired will be when the Canadian cus- toms officials are met, which will be at Lake Taguish, where duty of about 25 ser cent of the value of the goods will be lemanded and collected. Once past that point no money will be needed. WEEKS. No:t\t:l.tt t}:eu p:inlllll not_be n.b\:?danl oppo! y for s ng money if one desires, but there will be no necessity for such expenditure, and beyond a doubt thousands will make the trip to the Klon- dike without using any money except as stated herein. THE ONLY WOMAN IN CAMP. / 7 % Y ST ST S R MILLIONS FOR MERCHANTS In THE KLONDIKE RUSH. By Louis Sloss. 8 the season advances, the in- terest in Alaska becomes al- most daily more intensified. I apprehend a tremendous in- crease of trade throughout this city and the entire West dur- ing the coming months. The traffic will undoubtedly be so great that trans- portation hither by land and sea will tax both ships and railroads to their utmost carrying capacity. It is, of course, impossible to say how long the excitement will remain at fever heat. The eyes of the world are turned upon Alaska, and although many of the gold hunters may fail, their mis- fortune will not deter others from making the same attempt. Should 75,- 000 out of every 100,000 gold seekers be disappointed in their dreams, those who follow In their footsteps willcherishthe belief that they will be numbered among the lucky 25,000, Hope springs eternal in the miner' breast. I am told by those who claim to know whereof they speak that the emigra- tion from England alone will reach the 100,000 mark. Our firm has received hundreds cof letters of urgent inquiry from France, Japan and many other foreign countries, showing that the in- terest is so widespread it has practi- cally encircled the globe. The benefit to California will be inestimable. Alaska produces gold, but its soil is barren. The thousands upon thou- sands of persons going there must be provided with the food necessaries of life, which this State will be called upon to furnish. Thus Alaska gold will come to us in payment for the numberless tons of supplies which this country will furnish to the prospectors. We are now preparing to run all our river boats up the Yukon and will add four fast express boats, besides launch- ing a fine steel steamer of 2500 tons burden, accommodating 260 first-class passengers. There is every indication that the rush to Alaska from Australia and New Zealand will be extremely great, but the class of gold seekers from these &r\nnerl will be of a less mixed