The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 4, 1898, Page 19

HE SAN FRA NCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1898. LUCKY WAY A SAN FRANCISCO WOMAN e A FOR TUNE oN-THE KLONDIKE Was . : 3 on a Pleasure Trip to Dawson Last Summer; Heard of a Strike While Going Up the Yukon; Joined the Stampede and Was Among the First to Arrive at the New Diggings; Was Lucky Enough to Win First Choice in the Drawing He £on. She acquired hers by virt earne t ste Was Lost in a Blizzard; Saved by an Indian Girl and Guided Back to Circle City—Proud, Happy and Very Successful. MisS DORA HARRIS y _,.1‘,‘1_;\. WA (VS tionship. ! The “Father of the Yukon" proved She st his right to the title by pleading a pre- From St tle, too. 1 - Michael to vious engagement when the miners at Dawson City she is ¢ the Rampart City invited him to a necktie “Daughter of the Yukon.” party. The captain politely but firmly Alaska to the Other, refused their invitation. His freight Is known as the “Father was intended for the starving miners at Dawson. The men in Rampart City had no pressing need for the provisions. Captain Dixon finally succeeded in con- vincing them of that fact, and the noose of rope.especially prepared for his title by guiding at that ever plied the Yu- of rela- the “Father of the Yukon” twisted. At Circle City the miners demanded a was un- share of his freight. They did not couch their request in ordinary lan- guage. It swung from the end of a rope. The captain was agaln given his choice between parting with some of the pro- visions or occupying the place of honor on the rope. Since they were really in need of provisions he met their , de- mands. ‘When the “Father of the Yukon” landed in Dawson City he unloaded all WARNING | ‘FRom THE INDIAN the remaining freight. Any one in Dawson who did not have a year's provisions was given free pass- age on the boat back to St. Michael Half way down the machinery got out of order and the captain stopped for repairs. The men on board feared that through this delay they would not get down before the river froze over. They ordered the “Father of the Yukon” to proceed without repairing the damages. Captain Dixon knew this was fool- hardy and refused. For the third time on this eventful trip a stout pieve of rope was used as an argument. The captain again refused to dangle on it. The miners persisted. The captain re- mained obdurate. Finally the miners yielded to him, turned to, helped repair the broken machinery, and St. Michael was reached in safety. It was thus that Captain Dixon earn- ed and proved his right to the title of “Father of the Yukon.” Miss Dixon first acquired hers— “Daughter of the Yukon"—simply be- cause she was Captain Dixon's daugh- ter. Now she has fully demonstrated by her pluck and courage that she is worthy of the title. By right of her own deeds she is the “Daughter of the Yukon.” “From the day I landed in St. Mich- ael,” says Miss Dixon, “on the St. Paul, J was'in one constant state of excite- ment. Adventures, for,which I had longed all my life, came so thick and fast that I am now just beginning to realize how much peril and enjoyment was crowded into my short stay in Alaska. “Do I really enjoy peril? Yes, really I do—after it’s all over. The first thing I did when I landed in St. Michael was to spread the Red Cross fever. They knew of the war, but we brought the first details of what was going on. The fever spread like wildfire. The miners immediately gave an entertainment and enrolled several hundred members. 1t made quite a little nest egg for the Red Cross. “We stayed in St. Michael only long enough for papa to come down from Dawson with the steamboat Bella. As soon as he landed he was exchanged to the Louise, the first modern steamboat to ply the Yukon. “We left St. Michael on the 13th of July and started up the Yukon for Dawson. We stopped at the various missions on the way up, and while T found the Mission Indian an improve- ment on the Indian in his native state, I was thoroughly disgusted with them all. Afterward 1 learned to be grateful to two Alaskan Indians. For one told us of the new gold discoveries and the other saved our lives. “When we were about 130 miles from Circle City an Indian boarded our boat. From his jargon my father made out that some rich discoveries had been made on a creek five miles further up. 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000009 000600000000_00000 00 0000000000000 0000 00000000000 NO000 « C. P. HUNTINGTON Talks About the Possibilities « of Trade on the Pacific Coast, “We have on this continent railroads which are far beyond the 1 will guarantee to haul on one railroad Special to the Sunday Call. ASKED if Mr. Huntington saw a prospect of a great increase in ship building in the near future. “The increase will be enormous,” to build up an American marine. me, but I should s not 1 per cent of the export business of this country is now carr in American bottoms.” «]s this improvement to be brought about with the aid of Con- ress?” “What has Congress to do with the merchant marine? Only a few of the smaller nations of the world now subsidize ocean steam- ships. England does very little for her merchant marine. We build ships to-day as cheaply as England excepting the cost of labor. When we can build ships in competition with foreign builders there is no reason why Congress should be asked to help our ship builders.” “Do we build ships good as those built on the Clyde?” “A great deal bette There are American-built ships in service to-day between New York and New Orleans which are thirty-four years old. The ocean tramps built in Great Britain are not in- tended to last more than five or six years. We have a better class, of labor in this country and we are selling ship building material to English builders to-day. I think I was one of the first men to predict that American steel would sell in England.” 1 asked Mr. Huntington if he believed with a great many men who are interested in the Paci meant the development of ship building on the Pacific said he thought the increase in business would be on the Atlantic and that the ships would go around the Horn to enter the Pacific trade. “Mr. Scott,” but over there Atlantic. The The greatest c in this countr; In a ship which c 25,000—is represen sald he. “We are going I have not the figures with said, “has a very fine ship yard on the Pacific, ack certain advantages which we have on the to get their metal from us and their coal. in the labor. As I said, if we had cheaper labor e could build ships to-day cheaper than England. sts one-half million dollars not $100,000—no, not by materials “in the crude state—the iron in the American mine, the timber in_the American forest. The re- mainder is good American labor. We have the best labor in this country that is known in the world; but it is expensive.” 1 asked Mr. Huntipgton if he had been correctly quoted as saying that the Nicaragua.canal was not practical commercially. “1 have said so,”, sald Mr. Huntington. “When any one asks my opinion I tell him what I think. I do not know that I care to say anything publicly against the Nicaragua canal project though. It will give employment to half a million men for eight years and that is a good thing. Besides the men who have the matter in hand are good fellows. Warner Miller Is one of the best fellows we have in this State. There is a great deal of enthusiasm about the matter and if the Government has the money to spend it may do some good and very little harm to spend it.” “But you don’t think the project is feasible, A “h'}‘fiecause there is not tonnage enough. They compare it with the Suez Canal. They say the Suez Canal has ten million tons of freight every year; that the Nicaragua Canal will have as much. Now the two canals are entirely different. +The Suez Canal is prac tically the only route from Eastern Asia to Europe, a monopoly of the business. financially speaking. needs of present traffic. from the Atlantic to the Pacific ten now handled by all the railroads. sary implements of war. “Understand, I don’t care whether or not. “How ?" “By handling the shipment of coal, to the railroads. For handling other 1 will agree to transport by rail in forty days to the Pacific Coast a million men and all the neces- It cannot hurt the railroads—in fact it may help them.” times as much freight as is the Nicaragua Canal is built wh’lch is very troublesome freight you cannot find any- which gives it thing cheaper than a railroad. When I owned the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad we could take three thousand tons of freight at the summit of the Alleghanies and run it down to Newport News at the rate of twenty-five miles an hour and four men could handle the whole thing. There is no way so cheap for handling freight as the railroad after the road is built. Of course I am not taking into account interest on the cost of construction, but the actual cost of running the train.” “But will not the Nicaragua Canal have a strategic value?”’ “How? All an enemy would need to block the canal would be a single ship of war of, say twenty-two knots, which could get away from our war vessels and keep ships from entering the canal, and then there are plenty of locks in a canal and it is not hard to find some one to blow up a lock and make your canal useless. You would have to keep a navy on hand to guard the mouth of the canal at each end, and an army to guard the whole line, 170 miles long.” “Then you think the canal will never be built?” “I am sure it never will be.” “How about the Panama Canal?” “That is a different proposition. That at least is a clean job, physically speaking. You are working in rock and clay there, while in Nicaragua you work in mud, and the diseases which come up from that mud will kill off many of the thousands who go down to Nicaragua to work.” “What is your estimate of the cost of the canal?” “Not less than $200,000,000. I have done a good deal of that sort of work and I ought to know something about it. I have been down there and I don’t care what the engineers may report, I be- lieve the work will cost $200,000,000, and not $130,000,000, as is esti- mated.” Mr. Huntington sald he believed there was a period of great development opening on the Pacific. But as to the settling up of the country along the Pacific railroads or a possible increase of trafic which would make them more remunerative or reduce the rates of transportation he would not undertake to make a predic- tion. He is an expansionist and believes there is an opportunity which may never come again for the United States to extend her trade with all Asia by holding the Philippine Islands. He thinks our foothold there will give us an influence in China which will assist in the development of our interests in that country and at the same time prevent the undoing of that great nation. As to interfering to oppose the partitioning of China, as Colonel Denby has urged on our Government, he thinks we would better not, as we may antagonize other nations, especially as their presence in China {s certain to open up and not to close the country. Mr. Huntington sees great opportunities for_young men in the period of development In the opening of the Far East. But no matter what the opportunities, he &v!, success will come only by observing certain simple rules of Iife. - v 0000000000000000000000000000002000000000000000000000 Father had once befriended the Indian, and he had watched for the steamer to tell him of the ‘find.” Mr. Ivy, the Col- lector of Customs for Alaska, and his wife, who were with us, four of the men and myself determined to stampede for the diggings. “At Nation River, 125 miles from Cir- cle City, we left .the Louise, provided with supplies and the Louise's lifeboat. “We had been on the Louise almost a month, and it was like leaving home a second time to watch the steamboat ply steadily away from us, making straight for Dawson. We cached our belongings at Nation River and at o’clock started off for the creek. Mrs. Ivy and myself were so elated at the idea of staking a claim that we did not mind the rough tramp to the creek. “Fourteen claims had already been taken up. The discoverer of the creek had named it Fourth of July Creek, from the day of the discovery, and had constituted himself recorder of the claims. We were in a quandary as to whom in our party should stake the first claim. Finally we decided to settle it by chance. Fortune favored me and 1 staked the first claim, 1300 by 620 feet. It was the fifteenth claim on the creek and the first staked by a woman. “We peeled off the bark of a tree and first cutting the date of the month—the 10th of August—then in turn scratched on our respective claims, The recorder took them down officially and we started back for cur camp at Nation River. “Some of the men, instead of going back with us, started further up the creek to seek for more gold. “Mr. and Mrs. Ivy and myself made for our camp at Nation River. ' It was dark and in some manner we lost our bearings. All that night we wandered around, and at noon mnext day, half dead with hunger and fatigue, we ar- rived at camp. The others in the party were already there. Their search for gold farther up had been unsuccessful. ‘“We talked over the future of Fourth of July Creek with the half dozen min- ers who previous to us had staked claims and were waiting there until the proper time to work them. We decided that a town at least as big as Circle City was bound to s-ring up at the most desirable point as soon as the news of the discovery spread. “The town would have to be at the nearest point on the creek to the Yukon River, whence the supplies would be obtained. At that point we staked out town lots and put up half a tent, the nearest approach to a house possible with our limited means. I, as the daughter of the Yukon, was given the honor of christening the town. I named it ‘Nation City,’ after Nation River. “There are now a couple of dozen log huts in Nation City. For the news of the richness of Fourth of.July Creek has spread. Some day I hope to see the city of my naming as large as Circle City, which is the largest city in the world—that is, the largest log cabin city. It boasts of 375 log cabins. ‘“After naming the city we boarded the lifeboat with our possessions, in- tending to float down to Circle City and there await the return of the Louise from Dawson. “We left Nation City at about 6 o’clock in the evening. At about 8 a furious storm broke, that threatened to upset our boat. Mrs. Ivy and myself held on in terror, and the men were al- most as frightened. If we made for the shore it would be almost as bad, for we would be without covering. But we landed and found an Indian girl watch- ing our efforts to remove our bedrag- * gled possessions. ‘Lea show you,’ said INDIAN Glfi{ GUIDES THEM 70 APLACE 9F sh-£ry the Indian girl. Lea is the favorite name of the Indian girls who have been at the missions. We followed her won- deringly through the pouring rain until she finally stopped at a deserted In- dian cabin. ‘“There was nothing in the cabin but an old stove. All the gold of the Klon- dike would not have looked as precious to us. We made a fire, hastily prepared some of our wet food, and then lying down on the ground floor of the cabin slept until far into the next day. “The Indians are so filthy that I had sworn I would never enter one of their huts.. But the most welcome rest that {le\'er had was in this deserted Indian ut. “We rewarded Lea, and again board- ing our lifeboat, without adventure floated safely into Circle City. We waited until the Louise arrived, and boarding her went back to St. Michael. “Of course I felt the effects of the tramping, excitement and wetting. I had a slight attack of pneumonia be- fore we left St. Michael for California. “I had been gone from St. Michael from the 13th of July until the 1st of September. In that short time I had staked a rich claim, named a city, taken for Claims; Also Won a First Choice of Lots in the New Town Which the Gold-Hunters all Started In to Build; Selected a Good Saloon Site; Was Offered $8000 for It; Filed Her Claims; Started Back for the Yukon; 3 BAGK To CIRCLE CITY. up a vown lot and braved a storm om the Yukon in a lifeboat. “Altogether I have been away from San Francisco just five months. Most people have to stay in that country several years to accomplish anything. I succeeded so well because, as my father's daughter, every one tried to help me. Had it not been for the In- dians whom my father had befriended I might have an entirely different tale to_tell.” Miss Dixon is very proud of her title— “daughter of the Yukon.” She dis- claims that she has earned it. She says it is hers through her father's title—the “Father of the Yukon.” FAMOUS CASES OF SENSATIONAL SLEEPERS LEEPLESSNESS is one of the curses of our civilization, and as the doctors aver, it is one of the penalties which we pay for the rush and tumult in which we live, In spite of this, however, every now and then cases are brought to light of people who defy the prevailing sleep- lessness, and {1.dulge in naps which are not to be reckoned by hours or days, but even by weeks and months, and in rarer cases by years. Unquestionably the most remarkable case of modern times is one which ex- actly reproduces, and even outdoes, the legend of Rip Van Winkle, who slept for twenty years, for this indi- vidual has been asleep for close on three-and-twenty years. He is a Ger- man by birth, named Herman Harms, who has been ‘ving for thirty odd ears near the city of St. Charles, In e State of Minnesota. On his arrival in the west of America he took a farm and began working on it. One day when he came home from the flelds, feeling perfectlr well, he fell asleep after having had his suover. Next morning he evinced no disposition to get up and since then he has scarce- ly ever awakened of his own accord, and has practically never once got out of his bed. He used to be roused about once a day to be fed, but as soon as a little milk was poured down his throat he would fall off to sleep again and sleen the round of the clock. ‘When he went to the New World he took with him his wife and five little children, who were dependent on his exertions for their livelihood, and they were naturally compelled to live in straitened circumstances, for he could give no attention to the working of the provertv. Gradually, however, it de- volved on others, and as his sons grew up they took hold of the management of the little estate and have reclaimed those portions of it which were allowed to_be negleéted. 2 Harms is now 56 years of age, and Jooks almost like a_skeleton, for his weight has decreased enormously dur- ing his sleep. When he began his re- markable period of rest he turned the scale at 182 pounds, and now he weighs only 84, g0 that he must be literally a bag of bones. During the whole twenty-three years he has been asleep he has only had one period of wakefulness, which occurred some few months ago, but the hopes which were inspired that his sleep was over were rudely destroyed, for within a week he had relapsed and was slum- bering as soundly as ever. All sorts of means have been taken to get him awaké, and powerful electric shocks have been administered to him, but without avail. The pecullar thing is that nobody knows why he should sleep as he does. Many doctors have been called in to see him, and have stated that he is suf- fering from a cemplication of bodily disorders. One says heart disease, an- other says kidney disease, a third says softening of the brain, a fourth the use of too much quinine, and so the list goes on; but other people have these complaints, ejther alone or all together, yet they are no more prone to sleep than the rest of the world; so these ex- planations can hardly be the reason of his extraordinary condition, and f{t must be sought elsewhere. Another case of a similar nature which approached, but can hardly be said to have rivaled, this inordinate sleep was that of a young woman who slumbered away fourteen years of her life. When she was twelve years old she had an attack of fever and fell asleep, and asleep she practically re- mained for the next fourteen years, when she fell into that longer sleep . which knows no waking. For some months after she had what Bottom in the “Midsummer Night's Dream” calls “an exposition of sleep” upon her, she would awake for a few minutes once or twice a day, and advantage was always taken of that opportunity to feed her, but her spells of wakefulness only lasted a very few months. Gradually her sleep got more and more heavy, until at last it became a condition al- most bordering on coma. Sleepfulness at the other extreme of life is found authenticated in the case of an old woman named Elizabeth Per- kins. She lived in Norfolk, and the greater part of her life toward its end was spent in sleep, although she woke up with remarkable regularity on one day In every week. Smolensk, in Russia, has a pecullar lottery four times a year. A young girl is raffled for in 5000 1-ruble shares. The winner marries the girl and receives the money from the lottery as her dowry. The girl, however, may refuse to marry the winner, In which case the money from the lottery s divided between 1