The Klondike Stampede 1897-1899

[SwampDonkey]

On the 15th of June the first mile of a narrow gauge railroad over the White Pass was laid in Skagway. The general name of "White Pass and Yukon Route" included 3 distinct charters. The Pacific and Arctic Railway and Navigation Company operate to the summit; the British Columbia Yukon Railway Company is to operate from there across British Columbia; while the British-Yukon Mining, Trading, and Transportation Company will build to Dawson. By November 15, 1899, the 20 miles to the summit was opened for traffic; the fare for a passenger was $5, or 25 cents a mile, making it probably the most expensive railroad travel in the world.

[SwampDonkey]

At Bennett a fleet of small steamers, the largest ninety feet in length, was built or put together for navigating the river and lakes to Dawson.

A few months had turned Skagway into a city with broad, graded streets and sidewalks, lighted by 1200 sixteen-candle-power incandescent lights and 50 street arc lights, and with one of the finest water supplies in the world, brought in pipes from a high mountain lake. It had a daily newspaper, and claimed to be the largest city in Alaska. It was governed by a civil council without tax-levying power, and preserved order with one United States marshal.

Probably  no fewer than 60,000 persons reached Seattle and neighboring cities prepared to bear down on Dawson. The war with Spain intervened, and in 3 weeks the Klondike boon was flat. It was estimated that not fewer than 100,000 persons had started from different parts of the world for Klondike. But 40,000 reached the headwaters of the Yukon.  After remaining a few days or weeks in Dawson, thousands left for camps in American territory or for home. A police census of the population encamped on the Dawson flat in midsummer made the number 18,000. Four to Five thousand people were in the mines, or in a radius of 50 miles, prospecting.

There were probably 2000 who started in for Dawson by way of Edmonton. The way was marked with many abandoned outfits, dead horses, and dead and dying men. No more than one could count on one hand made it to Dawson. It is no exaggeration to say that this pitiable endeavor to reach Klondike by an all Canadian route will cost the lives of 500 persons. With a full knowledge of the Canadian government of the situation, obtained through its own surveyors, it should have sounded a note of warning, instead of giving it public approval, as it did by official maps and reports.

[SwampDonkey]

The arrival of the first steamer in the spring at the starved out camp has been always hailed with the same delight as would a column coming to the relief of a beleaguered garrison. It was an event in which not only every miner was expected to turn out and take part by waving his hat and cheering, but as the deep whistle of the incoming boat was blown every Malamut dog lifted its voice in a doleful wail. 

When the first steamer drew into the wharf she proved to be the May West, a stranded boat that wintered near the Tanana River. She reported the Weare and the Bella high and dry on the banks at Circle City, where the ice had shoved them. Another stranded boat, the Seattle No. 1, came in soon after, followed by the Alaska Commercial Company's boat Victoria, and on the 30th the Merwin, with the ill-fated Eliza Anderson party, arrived at their destination after just one year of misfortune and hardships. Finally the Bella and Weare arrived, but not a word from St Michael until the arrival of the Healy on the 8th of July. The two old companies were clearly unmatched as to equipment, but there were at least 6 or 7 new ones firmly established on the river, with warehouses at Dawson and other points, and a large fleet of excellent steamboats. One of the strongest of the new companies, the Empire Line, was crippled by the withdrawal of their ocean vessels as government transports to the Philippines; while a number of river steamers, established by one authority at 20, belonging to this and other companies, were lost or delayed on the ocean voyage from Seattle and from Dutch Harbor, so that their passengers, who had paid for transportation to Dawson, were put to much delay and trouble at St. Michael.

Notwithstanding these delays, by September 1st 56 steamboats delivered cargoes of freight and passengers. The amount of provisions landed was 7540 tons, of which about half was brought up by the 2 old companies, the tonnage of the Alaska Commercial Company being the largest on the river. The North American Transportation and Trading Company, in addition to their own boats, chartered a number of steamers, or bought them outright, including their cargoes. By the date above mentioned nearly 20 steamers were on their way from St. Michael, most of which reached Dawson.

[SwampDonkey]

On the 14th of June a tiny whistle was heard in the river above town, and a diminutive steamer came puffing down to the wharf. She was 35 feet long and 8 feet wide, the Bellingham by name, and came under her own steam all the way from Bennett, successfully running both the Canyon and White Horse rapids. She attracted much attention as being the first steamer to arrive from up river. It was generally supposed that she was the first steamer that ever made the trip. But in the spring of 1895 a small propeller named the Witch Hazel, 27 feet long, was hoisted over Chilkoot by Frank Atkins and E. L. Bushnell, of Portland, Oregon, shot the rapids, and reached Fort Cudahy, where the hull now lies.

Within the next few days eight more steamers reached Dawson from the lakes. Two others, the Kalamazoo and the Joseph Clossett, were wrecked, one on Thirty-Mile River, the other in the Canyon. The Upper Yukon had never been previously ascended by a steamer above Fort Selkirk, and the experiment of transportation out that was was watched with interest.  By connecting with small steamers above the Canyon, an easier and quicker route was established. The Flora and the Nora, each 80 x 16 feet,  made connection at White Horse Rapids with their steamer Ora. The fare from Dawson to Bennett was $175, and from Bennett to Dawson $75, with board, but passengers were required to furnish their own bedding. The time was 5 to 6 days up the White Horse; to Bennett, seven.

The journey out to Seattle was made in 13 days, while, by a series of fortuitous connections, the trip from New York to Dawson was made by one Bartlett, a packer, in 13 and a half days, the schedule being as follows: New York to Seattle, 5 days; Seattle to Skagway, three and a half days; Skagway to Bennett, one day; Bennett to Dawson, 4 days. About 1500 persons went out this way. To meet the expected rush for passage on the first steamers out, the North American Transportation and Trading Company made a rate of $300 to Seattle, and passengers were required to send with them, by express, at least $1000 in gold-dust. Their steamer Hamilton left on the 23d of June with 178 passengers, and the Weare, on the 24th about 40 passengers and $1,500,000 in gold dust. The Bella left on the 28th with 150 passengers and $1,000,000 in gold.

[SwampDonkey]

About Christmas in 1897 reports of half-ounce nuggets being found on Dominion Creek resulted in a stampede, and everything on the main creek, which was larger than Bonanza, was staked, and staking continued on the numerous tributaries until, in July 1898, there were 275, 500-foot claims on the main creek, which, added to 30 or 40 tributaries, reached the extraordinary length of 140 to 150 miles of staked claims. Between Discoveries the ground proved very rich, and single claims were purchased by Eldorado owners for as high as $40,000.

In June, 1897, 4 men, 2 of whom were named Whitmore and Hunter, made an important discovery about 5 or 6 miles from the head of another large creek lying between Dominion and Quartz Creek and heading directly opposite one fork of Gold Bottom. The creek, which was called Sulphur Creek, was staked by successive waves of stampeders. During the winter about a dozen holes were pt down at intervals over nine miles of creek, but nearly every shaft disclosed rich pay and demonstrated the creek to be comparable in richness to Bonanza Creek. In July, 1898, over 30 miles of creek and tributaries were staked in 500-foot claims, and those in the best locations were selling for from $30,000 to $40,000.

Quartz Creek, although its situation and history should have drawn the attention of stampeders to it earlier, was overlooked until September and October, 1897, when a thousand men went over the head of Eldorado staking in succession everything in sight. In July, 1898, about 35 miles of creeks and tributaries were staked in 500-foot claims. "Eureka" Creek, with about 13 miles of claims and good prospects; "Nine-Mile," "Ophir," "Big," "Wolf," and "Gold Run" were located in the Indian River district, the last-named creek, with 12 or 15 miles of claims, "proving up" rich. On Bonanza everything in sight was staked, even to the tops of the gulches, until there were one 111 claims below and 119 above Discovery, and over 40 "pups," or tributaries (including Eldorado), with a total length of about 85 miles of claims.

Hunker Creek was located for 81 claims below and 50 above Discovery, with 18 or 20 "pups," including Gold Bottom, footing up about 60 miles of claims. Bear Creek, a very rich creek, but only 5 or 6 miles long, was all located. "All Gold," with about 85, 500-foot claims, and more on tributaries, was located, and developments gave claims a market value of $5000 for half-interests. "Too Much Gold," with 8 miles of 500-foot claims, and "Leotta," with 5 miles of 200-foot claims, were also located. These are all tributaries of Klondike. By the 1st of July, 1898, between 9,000 and 10,000 placer-mining claims had been recorded. During the winter large numbers of these claims were offered for sale outside, in the belief that the popular mind was so inflamed that anything to which the name "Klondike" was attached would sell. From the old-timers' point of view the camp was spoiled. One of them expressed the prevailing feeling when he said, "Prospecting's done away with. All prospecting tools a man needs now is an axe and a lead-pencil."

[SwampDonkey]

The "clean-up" had been under way several weeks before I could again visit the mines. Unfortunately much of the work of sluicing the winter's dumps was over, and considerable of the gold, with its happy owners, had come down the gulch. But there was a scarcity of water after the freshet, owing to small rainfall. This was holding back the work on Edorado, where the largest dumps were; and, besides, all the summer work of "ground-sluicing" was yet to be done.

The thermometer had been indicating 70 degrees in the shade at mid-day, and there were no clouds to intercept and modify the rays of the sun. Stampeders, in squads of 3 and 5, with coats off, and mining pans and shovels on their backs, picked their way from tussock to tussock, following the winding trail in and out among the trees in the valley of the lower Bonanza, or they lay on the ground, resting in the shade of the birches by rivulets of cold, clear water that trickled out of the side gulches. Summer had changed beyond recognition the winter's trail. Dams of crib-work filled with stones, flumes, and sluice-boxes lay across our path; heaps of "tailings" glistened in the sunlight beside yawning holes with windlasses tumbled in; cabins were deserted - the whole creek, wherever work had been done, was ripped and gutted. Nothing but flood and fire is so ruthless as a miner.

George Wilson, partner of Swiftwater Bill, said, "If you want to see a clean-up you'd better go over there." A tin tub, a whisk-broom, and 2 or 3 small copper scoops lay on the ground beside the boxes, the riffles of which were clogged with dirt. The first the men did was to lift out the riffles, and then they shovelled the dirt from the bottom of the boxes into the tub. In the appearance of this dirt there was nothing strikingly handsome; at a little distance it looked like dirt one could dig out of the ground anywhere. Mr. Leggett climbed up on the flume, raised a little gate at the head of the string of boxes, sufficient to allow half a sluice-head of water to run through. Then he took a position beside the boxes, which stood about 2 feet off the ground, with the whisk-broom in one hand. One of the men then shovelled the dirt out of the tub into the sluice-box, and Mr. Leggett began sweeping it upward against the current. The lighter stones and gravel were immediately carried off, with a lot of dirty water, into the dump-box. The sweeping was kept up until there remained in the bottom of the box a mass of black magnetic sand. The man with the broom continued sweeping; little by little the black sand worked downward, and at the upper edge blotches of yellow began to appear. In probably 5 minutes there lay on the bottom a mass of yellow, from which nearly all the black sand was gone. The yellow was not bright and glittering, but dull - almost the color of the new-sawn wood of the boxes. The water was turned off and the gold carefully scooped up into the pan, where it looked like fat wheat, with here and there a grain as large as a hazel-nut. There was only $800 in the pan, Mr. Leggett said - a small clean-up for Eldorado.

[SwampDonkey]

The total output of the Klondike amounted to between $10 and $11 million. The output was divided among the creeks about as follows:

Eldorado, $4M to $5M; Bonanza $3M to $4M; Hunker and Bear, $1M; Dominion, Sulphur, and other creeks, $1M. The amount received by refiners and the United States Mint, chiefly at Seattle and San Francisco, amounted, between July 1 and November 1, 1898, to $10,055,270.

Upon reaching Dawson the gold was taken either to the warehouses of the commercial companies or to the "vaults" of two newly arrived banks - the Canadian Bank of Commerce and the Bank of British North America - where it was packed in strong, square, iron-bound boxes for shipment by steamer to Seattle and San Francisco.

A complete assaying office was established, where miners could have their gold assayed at about the same cost as "outside," plus freight and insurance, and received drafts or bank-notes for the full value. No lot of less the 50 ounces was received for assay. The gold came from the smelter in ingots weighing 40 to 100 ounces, of the shape and size of a chocolate cakes. The gold from the different creeks varies greatly in fineness.

Lower Bonanza          $15.75 - $16.35 to the ounce
Upper Bonanza          $16.75 - $18.50
Eldoroda                   $16.50
Dominion                  $17
Forty-Mile and Birch   $17.50
Minook                     $18

The Bank of Commerce "vaults" were two wooden tin-lined boxes, 4 feet long, 3 feet wide, and 3 feet deep, with a lid. Upon one occasion I saw these half full of gold sacks, also 5 boxes of gold packed for shipment, each holding from 500 to 800 pounds of gold-dust - close to a million dollars in all. Each shipment of gold was accompanied by a mounted policeman armed with a Winchester rifle.

There have been curious checks presented to cashiers of banks. There never was one more unique than a check presented at the Bank of Commerce in Dawson. It was written on a piece of spruce lumber about 6 inches square with a wire nail "toe-nailed" into it's upper edge. It read:

"Canadian Bank of Commerce.

"Gentlemen, Please pay W.F. Foster $3.00 for services rendered.

J.C. Horne & Co.

"By B.

"Dawson City, August 4, 1898."

The check was duly endorsed "W.F. Foster, " and stamped "Paid." The cashier was in doubt what the nail had been driven in for, until Mr. Foster suggested that it might be for "filing" the check.  :D :D

[SwampDonkey]

The valley of the Yukon and tributaries, with its more than 330,000 square miles of area - is dry; the rainfall is small and the temperature hot in summer; in winter the air is dry and excessively cold, and the snowfall is light. Vegetation is confined mainly to a moss which covers the ground to a varying thickness, and to three varieties of trees - spruce, white birch, and cottonwood. These are found abundantly from the lowest valleys to the tops of all but the highest mountains. In the flat valleys of the streams, exposed to the rays of the sun and with plenty of water, the spruce grow as quickly as anywhere in the world, some attaining a diameter of two feet, while trees a foot in diameter are common. On the sides of hills, however, the trees become suddenly stunted, the spruce rarely exceeding a few inches in thickness, but the rings of growth being as thin and close as the leaves of a book. The white birch, not less beautiful here than southward, rarely exceeds eight inches in thickness; cottonwood attains to a foot in diameter. Towards the mouth of the Yukon the temperature becomes milder, and grasses grow luxuriantly; but the trees grow smaller, until the characteristic tree-clad landscape of the Yukon merges into a bare, rolling tundra, or frozen morass, skirting the shores of Behring Sea. In consequence of the long hours of sunshine, garden vegetables, when planted on hill-sides exposed to the sun, spring with great rapidity out of the fertile soil. Potatoes are grown to a weight of 7 or 8 pounds, turnips 16 pounds, while cabbages, radishes, etc., are readily raised. The agricultural possibilities of the Yukon are greater than has been generally supposed, but the short summer probably will not allow the raising of cereals or fruits that require a long season to ripen, and it will hardly support an independent agricultural population.

[SwampDonkey]

Animal life in the Yukon valley is not so varied as farther south, but its species are important, and in places exceedingly abundant. Easily first is the moose. This the grandest of the deer family, is found in the whole region of the trees, and is very abundant on the Klondike - undoubtedly much more plentiful than in any part of its more familiar range to the extreme south and eastward. Of the stature of the tallest horse, it wanders at will from valley to mountain-top, in winter browsing upon tender twigs of the willow and white birch, the light snow not impeding it's movements and causing it to "yard," as farther south. In summer it is hunted by lying in wait for it at paths leading to certain lakes. During the winter of 1897-98 probably 150 were killed around Dawson by Indians and white men. A few years ago moose-hams could be purchased for $3 each; now they bring $1 to $1.50 per pound, the hides being worth $25 to $30 each for moccasins and the larger gold-sacks. The moose of the extreme west of Alaska has lately been found to be of a new species, distinguished chiefly for its great size, and has been given the name of Alces gigas. The moose of the Klondike, when specimens have been examined by naturalists, will probably be found different both from the latter and from the common moose, Alces american.

The woodland caribou roams as far north as Big Salmon River. North of there, and ranging to the shores of the Arctic Ocean and Behring Sea, is the barren-ground caribou, or wild reindeer, found often in immense bands, which migrate each year in search of a peculiar grey moss which constitutes their food. The headwaters of Forty-Mile and of the Klondike are two centres of great abundance.

[SwampDonkey]

In June or July, 1899, gold was discovered in the sand of the beach in Snake River and "Anvil City" was laid out. When the news reached Dawson 8,000 men left that place in a week. On October 1st Anvil City, or "Nome City," at the mouth of Snake River, was a town of 8,000 souls, with warehouses, saloons, theatres, tents, and cabins extending for four miles along the beach. The output of the region for the summer is estimated at $2M. In the spring it is expected that not less than thirty or forty thousand persons will reach the new diggings, which are comparatively easy of access.

As this goes to press, the output for the third clean-up at Klondike is reported as $20M, taken almost wholly from the creeks previously described. Dawson has a population of 10,000, with brick houses, an electric tramway under way up Bonanza Creek, and a telegraph line to Skagway. The railroad is being extended towards White Horse Rapids, where a lode of copper had been reported.  A few days after the Cape Nome stampede, cabins that had previously been valued at $500 or more were to be had for the taking. The town has been much improved in appearance, and there are many desirable features of social life - such as clubs - that did not exist before.

Jack Carr, the United States mail carrier, referring to the wonderful change that has taken place in these years, is reported to have said: "If any one had told me a person could make the trip in winter from Dawson to Skagway without lighting a match I couldn't have believed it."