One hand saw. One rip saw. One draw knife. One axe. One hatchet. One pocket rule. Six pounds of assorted nails. Fifty feet of five-eighths rope. One pair crag-proof hip boots. A NEW YORK STATEMENT. Fare from New York to Seattle, $81.50 Fee for tourist sleeper, run only west of St. Paul, $5. Meals served in dining car for entire trip, $16. Meals are served at stations along the route a la carte. Distance from New York to Seattle, 3,290 miles. Days required to make the journey, about six. Fare for steamer from Seattle to Juneau, including cabin and meals, $35. Days, Seattle to Juneau, about five. Number of miles from Seattle to Juneau, 725. Distance up Lynn Canal to Healey's Store, steamboat, 75 miles. Number of days New York to Healey's Store, 12. Cost of complete outfit for overland journey, about $150. Cost provisions for one year, about $200. Cost of dogs, sled and outfit, about $150. Total cost of trip New York to Klondyke, about Number of days required for journey, New York to Klondyke, 36 to 40. Total distance, Juneau to the mines at Klondyke, 4,550 miles. Another one is: Fare to Seattle, $67.75. Pullman sleeper, $18. Meals, in dining car, $18. Tourist meals at stations, $9. New York to Seattle, in miles, 3,160. Number of days en route, 7. Steamer fare, Seattle to Juneau, with cabin and meals, $75. Fare, with berth, $67.50. Miles, Seattle to Juneau, 1,000. Number of days, Seattle to Juneau, 3. Cost of living in Juneau, per day, $2. Steamboat, up Lynn Canal to Healey's Store, miles, 100. Number of days to Healey's Store, I. Cost of complete outfit, with provisions for one year, $600. Price of dog and sled outfit, 500. Last steamer from San Francisco-berths already filled, Aug. 30. Days of sailing from Seattle-Mondays and Thursdays. Total distance in miles, 5,000. Total days required for journey, 90. Best time to start, April 15. The following, too, is figured as the cost of necessary articles, when once the searcher for the golden fleece has reached the Klondyke: Cost of shirts, $5. Boots, per pair, $10. Rubber boots, per pair, $25. Caribou hams, each, $40. Flour, per 50 pounds, $20. Beef, per pound (fresh), 50 cents. Bacon, per pound, 75 cents. Coffee, per pound, $1. Sugar, per pound, 50 cents. Eggs, per dozen, $2. Condensed milk, per can, $1. Live dogs, per pound, $2. Shovels, each, $15. Wages, per day, $15. Lumber, per 1,000 feet, $750. Months that mining is possible during the year, May, June and July. THE TEMPERATURE. Owing to the popular association of the idea of extreme frigidity with the word Alaska many people will doubtless be surprised to learn that the average temperature in the Klondyke region during the four coldest months of the year is not ordinarily much lower than 20 degrees below zero. The average winter's snowfall in that part of Alaska is only about two feet, whereas on the coast it is ten times that much. "The reports of our agent at Fort Cudahy show that the average temperature at that point during the months of November, December, January and February last year was very close to 20 degrees below zero," said Mr. Weare. "The average for November was 17 1-2 degrees below; for December and January, 22 below, and for February, about 20 below. The lowest temperature recorded was 70 degrees below zero. The temperature for the month of September was, I think, about zero. "The snow fall in the vicinity of Fort Cudahy is only about two feet during the winter, although it is as much as twenty feet along the coast, where the influence of the Japan current is felt." CHAPTER IX. TRANSPORTATION-PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. When Travel Meant Hardships-Enterprise in Alaska -Building a Steamer-A Successful Launching— In the Shallows of the Yukon-A Perilous TripLife on the Way-An Arctic Costume-A Remarkable Shirt-Christmas on the Tananah River-Deserted by the Guide-Provisions Exhausted-Past the Rubicon-The Rush of the Present-Good Advice-When Winter Sets In-Fortune HuntersSailings from Seattle-Future Developments-The Greatest of all Questions-Customs and Police Post-Surveys for Railroads-Cassiar Central Railway-Railroad to the Klondyke-British Companies to Compete-New Routes-To Facilitate Travel-To Construct Telegraph Lines-Explains the Method-Horses and Dogs in Demand-For Transportation of Gold. Many people who are filled with a yearning desire to become rich in the now notorious regions of the Klondyke have a dread of the journey and climate and consequently they stay away. If these people fear the hardships of the present means of transportation what must have been the prospect before the pioneer miners who penetrated the frozen northwest Picture long and arduous tramps over frozen rivers and snowclad mountains through the wilds of Alaska in the middle of winter. Many perished in the attempt, but many more succeeded. The man who had set his mind upon reaching Alaska in those days had to be possessed of a very superior sort of resolution and courage. ENTERPRISE IN ALASKA. As many people know, the Alaska Commercial Company has long enjoyed a monopoly of the trade with the Indians of the interior, in the neighborhood of the Yukon river, and with the white men who have been attracted to that country by the reports of rich placer gold mines. Having faith in the mineral resources of Alaska and believing that what was profitable for one might prove a paying investment for two, a few Chicago capitalists, consisting of John Cudahy, Porteus B. Weare, J. L. Fyffe, C. A. Weare and J. J. Healy, of Chilcat, Alaska, in the summer of 1892, organized the North American Transportation and Trading Company for the purpose of carrying on a general merchandise business with the miners along the Yukon and of buying furs from the Indians. In order to participate personally in the establishment of their new enterprise, John Cudahy, the wellknown packer, and P. B. Weare, of the Weare Commission Company, the latter accompanied by his son William, left Chicago for Seattle in June, at which point it was planned to purchase the lumber and machinery necessary to build a steamboat to be used in the carrying trade on the Yukon river. The party met with many vexatious delays in the furtherance of their project, so that it was July 6 before the steamer Alice Blanchard, specially chartered for the trip, left Seattle bearing P. B. Weare and son, John Cudahy, Capt. Healy, wife and maid, young C. H. Hamilton, who had been in advance of his Chicago employers, and a party of workmen engaged to build the river steamboat which was taken up on the Blanchard in sections. In addition the vessel carried a full and carefully selected stock of merchandise and miners' outfits, amounting in all to about 350 tons, which the new steamer was expected to convey to the company's trading posts on the Yukon. BUILDING A STEAMER. The Blanchard arrived at St. Michael's Island Aug. 2 after calling at Coal Harbor for water and at Ounalaska for coal. St. Michael's lies about eighty miles north of the mouth of the Yukon and is close to the mainland. Owing to the shallow water the Blanchard |