invested in them. They are really more of a pest than the much-advertised mosquito. Food is so high that a dog is expected to forage for his living and they become very expert rustlers. When a meal is in preparation the dogs form a circle around the cook and as a man cannot look in all directions at once they take every opportunity to glide in and make off with a frying pan, a stick of stove wood or anything that has the least flavor or suggestion of cooking. A miner who was stopping near an Indian camp placed his last loaf of bread under his head before going to sleep in order to make sure of it, but long before morning a Siwash dog had made away with it. The dogs are a great nuisance, because ordinary precautions against them are of no avail; clubbing is useless, and shooting a dog would precipitate a call for a miners' meeting.

FORT SELKIRK.

The most extensive efforts at gardening of all places in the interior have been carried on at Fort Selkirk for several years. They have this year an acre or more of potatoes, besides cabbage, turnips and other vegetables. They have to irrigate the gardens to some extent by pumping water from the river, and it is necessary to blanket the plants early and also late in the season. For probably six weeks of midsummer the latter protection is not necessary. The soil is very fertile, and produces better after two or three years' cultivation. Although much care is entailed in raising a garden crop on the Yukon, it pays very well, as potatoes are easily worth $10 a bushel at any season of the year.

The upper ramparts of the Yukon begin at the mouth of Pelly river. This remarkable formation is a perpendicular wall continuing along the north bank of the river for fifteen miles. It maintains an almost straight course, and is without a crevice or approachable opening for the entire distance, rising straight up from the water. At the top of the wall a grassy plain extends back for a distance, when it is again broken by terraces rising one above another, which in turn

terminate abruptly in precipitous mountains. The wall itself, at the lower end, is merged into lofty mountains, broken and irregular.

A QUICK TRIP.

A trip from Chicago by one of the fastest boats will cost thirty days-four from Chicago to Seattle, sixteen from Seattle to St. Michael's Island, and ten up the Yukon to Dawson City. The distance in general figures is 2,250 miles from Chicago to Seattle, 2,500 miles to St. Michael's Island and 1,890 miles up the Yukon to Dawson, a total of about 6,000 miles.

As prospecting miners usually travel, the cost of a trip from Chicago to Dawson City is $251.50. From Chicago to Seattle (second class), $51.50; from Seattle to Dawson City, $200. By the fast boats, however, the voyager should be prepared to expend a little extra with a view to saving five days' time.

TO THOSE GOING.

If you contemplate a trip it is advisable to engage your passage early, if not at once, as the probable rush will be very considerable. The recent gold fever that had its birth in the Klondyke district has caused an immense amount of excitement and there is no doubt that the reported discoveries are founded on fact. The tide that has set in toward the Klondyke gold fields rises higher every day. Talk of approaching cold weather, snow, ice and a thousand and one hardships that can be figured out meet with a deaf "I have decided to go," is the almost universal answer, "and I am going. If I can't do anything this winter I will be on the ground ready to start for the Klondyke next spring when the ice goes out of the Yukon." Dress is only one item. Every miner must take his own food with him. Here is a list of provisions made out by an expert as sufficient to last a man for one month:

ear.

Twenty pounds of flour, with baking powder.
Twelve pounds of bacon.

Six pounds of beans.

Five pounds of desiccated vegetables.
Four pounds of butter.

Five pounds of sugar.

Four cans of milk.

One pound of tea.

Three pounds of coffee.

Two pounds of salt.

Five pounds of corn meal.

Pepper, mustard.

The following utensils would not be too many:

One frying pan.

One water kettle.

One Yukon stove.

One bean pot.

Two plates.

One drinking cup.

One teapot.

One knife and fork.

One large and one small cooking pan.

The following tools are necessary for boat building: One jack plane.

One whipsaw.

One hand saw.

One rip saw.

One draw knife.

One axe.

One hatchet.

One pocket knife.

Six pounds of assorted nails.

Three pounds oakum.

Three pounds of pitch.

Fifty feet of five-eighths rope.

"Other necessities would be a tent, a rubber blanket, mosquito netting and matches. It is also desirable to take along a small, well filled medicine chest, a rifle, a trout line and a pair of snow glasses, to provide against snow blindness.

"The entire outfit can be obtained in Juneau, where one can be sure of getting just what is needed, without any extra weight, which is a matter of great importance, as many hard portages are to be encountered on

the trip. Hitherto prices in Juneau have been reasonable. Of course one cannot say what may be the result of the present rush in the way of raising prices.

"You advise people to wait until spring. But don't you think the cream of the claims will be skimmed next year?"

CHAPTER VIII.

OVERLAND TO THE KLONDYKE.

Gateway to the Northwest-The Indian QuarterThe Juneau Route-Portages on the Route-Dyea -The Indians-Over the Mountain Trail-Chil- . koot Pass-Chilkat Pass-White Pass-Wagon Road Over White Pass-For a Quicker ServiceRailroad Is Surveyed-Lake Teslin Trail-Queer Outfits-Building One's Own Boat-A Profitable Delay To Five-Finger Rapids-At Miles Canyon —Indian Packers-Succession of Stations Overland and by River Outfit for the Overland Trip-A New York Statement-The Temperature.

The metropolis and gateway of our big northwest territory is Juneau, a town hardly 10 years old. In spite of the immensity of the country it is hard to find room enough on the coast to build a town on and consequently Juneau is much crowded for space. The streets are hardly half the usual width and the houses reach up the foot of the mountain as high as it is safe to build them on account of the risk from snowslides.

As there is plenty of timber everywhere all the houses, including the federal building, are of wood. Even the Indians live in fairly good frame houses. The law, as far as it extends, is administered by the United States authorities. A federal commissioner hears all cases that come up, disposing of the smaller ones and holding the more serious offenders to the United States court. Most of the cases are for the violation of the liquor regulations. For the most part the liquor laws are a dead letter. Dozens of saloons are run openly without paying any kind of license. An occasional arrest is made, but it does not serve as a check on the business. Public opinion is against