Part 5

"Well, the matter of clothing must be left to individual taste, needs and means. But the miners usually adopt the native costume. The boots, usually made by the Coast Indians, are of several varieties. The water boot is of seal and walrus skin, while the dry weather or winter boot is of all varieties of styles and material. The more expensive have fur trimmed legs, elaborately designed. They cost from $2 to $5 a pair. Trousers are often made of Siberian fawn skin and the skin of the marmot, or ground squirrel. The parka, or upper garment, is usually of marmot skins, trimmed with wolverine around the hood and lower edge, the long hair from the sides of the wolverine being used for the hood. This hair is sometimes five or six inches in length, and is useful in protecting the face of the wearer. Good, warm flannels can be worn under the parka, and the whole outfit will weigh less than the ordinary clothes worn in a country where the weather gets down to zero. The parka is almost cold proof. But it is expensive, ranging in price from $25 to $100. Blankets and fur robes are used for bedding. Lynx skins make the best robes. Good ones cost $100. But cheaper robes can be made of the skins of bear, mink, red fox and the Arctic hare. The skins of the latter animal make warm socks to be worn with the skin boots.

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:--

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 assorted nails, three pounds oakum, three pounds of pitch, fifty feet of five-eighths rope.

Other necessaries 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."

A WOMAN'S OUTFIT.

A woman who has "been there," says that in the matter of dress a woman going to the mines should take two pairs of extra heavy all-wool blankets, one small pillow, one fur robe, one warm shawl, one fur coat, easy fitting; three warm woollen dresses, with comfortable bodices and skirts knee length flannel-lined preferable; three pairs of knickers or bloomers to match the dresses, three suits of heavy all-wool underwear, three warm flannel night dresses, four pairs of knitted woollen stockings, one pair of rubber boots, three gingham aprons that reach from neck to knees, small roll of flannel for insoles, wrapping the feet and bandages; a sewing kit, such toilet articles as are absolutely necessary, including some skin unguent to protect the face from the icy cold, two light blouses or shirt waists for Summer wear, one oilskin blanket to wrap her effects in, to be secured at Juneau or St. Michaels; one fur cape, two pairs of fur gloves, two pairs of surseal moccasins, two pairs of muclucs--wet weather moccasins.

She wears what she pleases en route to Juneau or St. Michaels, and when she makes her start for the diggings she lays aside every civilized travelling garb, including shoes and stays, until she comes out. Instead of carrying the fur robe, fur coat and rubber boots along, she can get them on entering Alaska, but the experienced ones say take them along.

The natives make a fur coat, with hood attached, called a "parka," but it is clumsy for a white woman to wear who has been accustomed to fitted garments. Leggings and shoes are not so safe nor desirable as the moccasins. A trunk is not the thing to transport baggage in. It is much better in a pack, with the oilskin cover well tied on. The things to add that are useful, but not absolutely necessary, are chocolate, coffee and the smaller light luxuries.

VALUABLE EXPERT ADVICE.

A MINING ENGINEER'S WARNINGS AND SUGGESTIONS.

The New York Herald is authority for the statement that few persons in the mining world are more intimately acquainted with all its features than Mr. William Van Stooten, mining engineer and metallurgist. Besides being President of the South American Developing Company, which works the gold mines of Ecuador, he has relations with all the great gold mines of the world. To Mr. Van Stooten it appears that the gold discoveries in the Klondyke regions are the most important that have ever been made.

"Of course," he says, "there is a tendency to exaggeration in these matters which must always be discounted. It is well to bear in mind that the author of Munchausen was what was known in his day as a mining adventurer. Herr Rapp was a German who went over to England to develop the copper mines there. The nature of his business may have stimulated his imagination to the marvellous flights of that bit of fiction. But after making all possible allowances for exaggeration there is an obvious residuum of truth in the reports that come from the Yukon basin. And that residuum indicates something more extraordinary than anything recalled by a backward glance at the facts of 'forty-nine.'

"No such specifically large amounts of gold were taken out by individuals during any similar period of California gold hunting. Two months of work in the water has realized more than any six months heretofore known in the history of gold mining. We know that Ladue, the Alaska trader, has actually taken in fabulous wealth in the natural course of his business.

"We had long been aware that there was gold in the Yukon basin, but the total output for the last ten years before the Klondyke developments amounted to not more than a million dollars' worth at the utmost. Now, within two months, five millions have been taken out of the Klondyke regions. It took the first eight months of work in California to pan out that amount under infinitely more favorable conditions of climate and weather. That is a straw worth noting.

"There are just two ways at present, each of which has its advantages and its disadvantages. You may go by way of the Pacific Ocean and the Yukon River. From Seattle to St. Michael's takes two weeks. In the right season it takes two weeks more to sail up the Yukon from St. Michael's to Circle City. As the waters along the way are very shallow only flat-bottom side-wheelers can accomplish the voyage. Above Circle City the waters become too shallow even for this sort of craft. It is three hundred miles from Circle City to the scene of the latest discoveries. These hundred miles can only be covered by walking. Dog sleds draw all the necessary munitions. Reindeer, as well as dogs, have been tried successfully, and probably the deer will eventually supersede the canines.

"The other route, by way of Juneau, involves a tramp of seven hundred miles to the Klondyke. But in the warm season it is possible to traverse a large part of the distance in canoes through the congeries of lakes, all connected by more or less navigable streams."

"When would you advise prospective gold diggers to start by either St. Michael's or Juneau?"

"Under all circumstances they should wait until the approach of next spring. It is too late in the season to think of going now. It is true that the distance from Juneau to the Klondyke can be made in sleds and snowshoes. But if the voyagers arrive on the spot after the middle of September they will find it entirely impossible to do any prospecting. The creeks are frozen and covered with snow. No clew to the presence of gold can be found. Now, even if the diggers arrive in June it may take them weeks or months to locate a desirable claim. But, once located, they can continue their work even in the depth of winter. Great fires are built around the claim, which are kept continually burning. Thus the ground is thawed out for digging during the winter months and is made ready for the reappearance of the sun and the inflowing of the waters. Then the dirt can be treated in pans or long toms. Owing to these peculiar difficulties it is likely that the place will continue one for poor man's mining and will be not be monopolized by capital."

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

"Not at all. One hundred thousand people might disperse themselves in the Yukon gold-bearing grounds and hardly know of the presence of neighbors. There may be other diggings over this vast area quite as good as the Klondyke diggings. As in all the gold mining regions, diggings everywhere vary considerably in value. It is not improbable even that the late comers will take up the abandoned washings of the earlier men and do well with them. This frequently happened in California. As settlements grow up and the facilities for comfortable living and effective work increase, it is possible that gold may be found in places where it was never dreamed of. There is no doubt that eventually a number of valuable ledges will be found, but the bulk of the gold will come from placers. This is nature's process for concentrating gold from the quartz ledges. You know, however, what is the natural course of development in newly discovered gold fields?"

"Well, here it is. First come the men with pans to gather in the riches that lie on the surface. It is possible for an active man to wash out a cubic yard, or 100 pounds of pay dirt in a day.

"Next follow associations of miners using 'Long Toms' and cradles.

"The third stage takes the form of hydraulic mining, by means of water brought from long distances.

"Fourth, and last, comes quartz mining under ground.

"This is the sequence that has always occurred. But it may take years before the final stage is reached in the Yukon, owing to the difficulties already pointed out."

THE NEW YORK JOURNAL EXPEDITION TO KLONDYKE.

The New York Journal, in keeping with its usual liberality and enterprise, has sent out a large expedition at its own expense. The Journal says:

"To investigate the riches of the Yukon gold fields and to tell the tale of Nature and human nature in the new ophir of the far North for the Journal, a company of five distinguished writers have been sent to the gold fields. Edward H. Hamilton, chief of the Journal bureau, is admirably equipped for his task. His writings have given him a high repute and his letters will discover to the world the life at Klondyke, as well as tell the sordid tale of the gains of the diggers. Charles Gregory Yale is one of the prominent mining experts of the West. For several years he has been statistician of the Mint at San Francisco and assistant in the California State Mining Bureau. He is a facile writer, having had a long experience as editor of the "Mining and Scientific Press," of San Francisco. Edward J. Livernash is a lawyer and journalist, a careful investigator and an able descriptive writer. Joaquin Miller, the gray poet of the Sierras, will sing for the Journal a new song of the St. Elias Alps. Mrs. Norman Brough, known to readers by her pen name, "Helen Dare," will have the opportunity to write of a woman's experience digging gold in the placers and housekeeping in a sunless land, with the thermometer at 60 below zero."

SAILORS GET GOLD CRAZE.

DESERT THEIR SHIPS IN ALASKAN PORTS TO DIG FOR FORTUNES.

The gold fever has struck the hardy mariner at last, and desertions are numerous from ships up north.

Shippers expect soon to hear of craft being tied up in Alaskan ports just as they were in San Francisco harbor in '49, when crews deserted wholesale to dig gold in the rich placers.

When the steamship Pueblo arrived, Capt. Debney reported that the mates of the Al-ki and the Topeka had both left their ships in Juneau. Other steamer captains before they left recently said they would be lucky if they managed to keep enough men to work ship after they reached the northern ports.

Capt. Debney says that when the Portland reached St. Michael's on her last trip up one of the firemen, who had made friends with some of the miners aboard, handed in his resignation and asked for a ticket up the Yukon.

It was refused him on the ground that he was a deserter. He twice offered money without avail. The miners held the ship for twelve hours.

At the expiration of that time the company put up a notice that the Portland would start on her return trip at a certain hour. The miners held a meeting and appointed a committee of twelve to wait on the company's agent. The committee filed into the agent's office, where each man drew a revolver and laid it on the agent's table. They demanded that a ticket be given the fireman at once, and the agent complied. The fireman went with the party up the Yukon.

Capt. Debney reports that the Queen, which sailed from Puget Sound several days ago, passed the American port officials all right, but when the vessel reached Victoria the customs officials decided that she was overloaded and took fifteen of the miners ashore. They are now stopping at the Victoria Hotel at the expense of the Pacific Steamship Company, and will be sent north on a later vessel.

Capt. Debney has received a letter from his son, who is agent for the Alaska Commercial Company at Dawson. He reports that there are now at Dawson thirty-five saloons, one theatre, eight dance houses, three general stores, five bakeries, five restaurants, two barber shops, one candy maker and three laundries.

ONLY THREE DEATHS IN A YEAR.

THE HEALTHIEST REGION IN THE WORLD IS THE KLONDYKE.

F. G. Bowker, of Dawson, says there was nobody there to die until less than a year ago, and that since then there have been but three deaths in that whole district as far as is known.

Of the three deaths one occurred just before the steamer Excelsior left Dawson. A man who had just sold his claim for $12,000 passed away in his bunk with his head resting on the sack of coin which represented the success of his search for wealth.

In the graveyard at Forty Mile, which has served for all that section for some years past, there are only thirty or forty graves. Few die within reach of settlements without medical aid and spiritual advice.

There are missions of several Protestant denominations, as well as Russian and Roman Catholic missions, at frequent intervals throughout the country. Funerals are not as ostentatious as in the civilized world, but everything that is necessary is reverentially done by rough but kindly miners.

The tale about confiscation of dead men's effects by friends and neighbors is branded as a malicious lie.

It is one of the unwritten laws of the Yukon that these shall be turned over to the Government and disposed of according to statute laws.

CANADIAN MINING LAWS.

REGULATIONS IMPOSED BY THE DOMINION UPON PLACER MINING.

As the Klondyke diggings, as thus far developed and staked, are upon Canadian territory it is important to bear in mind the regulations imposed by the Dominion Government on placer mining. They are as follows:

"Bar diggings" shall mean any part of a river over which the water extends when the water is in its flooded state and which is not covered at low water. "Mines on benches" shall be known as bench diggings, and shall for the purpose of defining the size of such claims be excepted from dry diggings. "Dry diggings" shall mean any mine over which a river never extends. "Miner" shall mean a male or female over the age of eighteen, but not under that age. "Claims" shall mean the personal right of property in a placer mine or diggings during the time for which the grant of such mine or diggings is made. "Legal post" shall mean a stake standing not less than four feet above the ground and squared on four sides for at least one foot from the top. "Close season" shall mean the period of the year during which placer mining is generally suspended. The period to be fixed by the gold commissioner in whose district the claim is situated. "Locality" shall mean the territory along a river (tributary of the Yukon) and its affluents. "Mineral" shall include all minerals whatsoever other than coal.

1. Bar diggings. A strip of land 100 feet wide at highwater mark and thence extending along the river to its lowest water level.

2. The sides of a claim for bar diggings shall be two parallel lines run as nearly as possible at right angles to the stream, and shall be marked by four legal posts, one at each end of the claim at or about high water mark; also one at each end of the claim at or about the edge of the water. One of the posts shall be legibly marked with the name of the miner and the date upon which the claim is staked.

3. Dry diggings shall be 100 feet square and shall have placed at each of its four corners a legal post, upon one of which shall be legibly marked the name of the miner and the date upon which the claim was staked.

4. Creek and river claims shall be 500 feet long, measured in the direction of the mineral course of the stream, and shall extend in width from base to base of the hill or bench on each side, but when the hills or benches are less than 100 feet apart the claim may be 100 feet in depth. The sides of a claim shall be two parallel lines run as nearly as possible at right angles to the stream. The sides shall be marked with legal posts at or about the edge of the water and at the rear boundary of the claim. One of the legal posts at the stream shall be legibly marked with the name of the miner and the date upon which the claim was staked.

5. Bench claims shall be 100 feet square.

6. In defining the size of claims they shall be measured horizontally, irrespective of inequalities on the surface of the ground.

7. If any person or persons shall discover a new mine and such discovery shall be established to the satisfaction of the gold commissioner, a claim for the bar diggings 750 feet in length may be granted. A new stratum of auriferous earth or gravel situated in a locality where the claims are abandoned shall for this purpose be deemed a new mine, although the same locality shall have previously been worked at a different level.

8. The forms of application for a grant for placer mining and the grant of the same shall be according to those made, provided or supplied by the gold commissioner.

9. A claim shall be recorded with the gold commissioner in whose district it is situated within three days after the location thereof if it is located within ten miles of the commissioner's office. One day extra shall be allowed for making such record for every additional ten miles and fraction thereof.

10. In the event of the absence of the gold commissioner from his office for entry a claim may be granted by any person whom he may appoint to perform his duties in his absence.

11. Entry shall not be granted for a claim which has not been staked by the applicant in person in the manner specified in these resolutions. An affidavit that the claim was staked out by the applicant shall be embodied in the application.

12. An entry free of $15 shall be charged the first year and an annual fee of $100 for each of the following years:

13. After recording a claim the removal of any post by the holder thereof or any person acting in his behalf for the purpose of changing the boundaries of his claim shall act as a forfeiture of the claim.

14. The entry of every holder for a grant for placer mining must be renewed and his receipt relinquished and replaced every year, the entry fee being paid each year.

15. No miner shall receive a grant for more than one mining claim in the same locality, but the same miner may hold any number of claims by purchase and any number of miners may unite to work their claims in common on such terms as they may arrange, provided such agreement be registered with the gold commissioner and a fee of $5 paid for each registration.

16. Any miner or miners may sell, mortgage or dispose of his or their claims provided such disposal be registered with and a fee of $5 paid to the gold commissioner, who shall thereupon give the assignee a certificate of his title.

17. Every miner shall during the continuance of his grant have the exclusive right of entry upon his own claim for the miner-like working thereof and the construction of a residence thereon, and shall be entitled exclusively to all the proceeds realized therefrom, but he shall have no surface rights therein, and the gold commissioner may grant to the holders of adjacent claims such rights of entry thereon as may be absolutely necessary for the working of their claims upon such terms as may to him seem reasonable. He may also grant permits to miners to cut timber thereon for their own use upon payment of the dues prescribed by the regulations in that behalf.

18. Every miner shall be entitled to the use of so much of the water naturally flowing through or past his claim and not already lawfully appropriated, as shall in the opinion of the gold commissioner be necessary for the working thereof, and shall be entitled to drain his own claim free of charge.

19. A claim shall be deemed to be abandoned and open to occupation and entry by any person when the same shall have remained unworked on working days by the grantee thereof or by some person in his behalf for the space of seventy-two hours unless sickness or other reasonable cause may be shown to the satisfaction of the gold commissioner, or unless the grantee is absent on leave given by the commissioner, and the gold commissioner, upon obtaining evidence satisfactory to himself that this provision is not being complied with, may cancel the entry given for a claim.

20. If the land upon which a claim has been located is not the property of the Crown it will be necessary for the person who applies for entry to furnish proof that he has acquired from the owner of the land the surface right before entry can be granted.

21. If the occupier of the lands has not received a patent thereof the purchase money of the surface rights must be paid to the Crown and a patent of the surface rights will issue to the party who acquired the mining rights. The money so collected will either be refunded to the occupier of the land when he is entitled to a patent there or will be credited to him on account of payment of land.

22. When the party obtaining the mining rights cannot make an arrangement with the owner thereof for the acquisition of the surface rights it shall be lawful for him to give notice to the owner or his agents or the occupier to appoint an arbitrator to act with another arbitrator named by him in order to award the amount of compensation to which the owner or occupier shall be entitled.

SOME THINGS WORTH KNOWING.

Some of the miners who have recently returned from the mines say that those who wait until the Spring before going to Alaska will make a mistake, as there is room on the Yukon and around Dawson City for 5,000 miners. During the Winter months they can occupy themselves taking out the frozen earth, and thus have it ready for washing in the Summer.

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