ALASKA AND THE KLONDIKE. 165 



up goat food. One canvas bore the tempting inscription " Hot and 

 Cold Kiver Baths," several carried legends of variously designated 

 laundries, and a few even invited to " Board and Lodging, Cheap." 

 Of course, the word cheap had here a special etymologic significance, 

 and bore little relation to the same form of word which is current 

 in lexicons. 



The first favorable impression of dry land in Dawson was tem- 

 pered by a knowledge that even here were many moist spots. The 

 mud lay in great pools along the main street — First Avenue or Front 

 Street — but hardly in sufficient depth to make walking dangerous. 

 Dogs and goats could alone drown in it. It is true that an occasional 

 wading burro or even a mule would find a dangerously low level, but 

 I am not aware that any in this condition had added to a list of 

 serious casualties. No mention is made in this connection of cats, 

 for, in truth, only two specimens of the feline family had up to this 

 time reached Dawson — one, a blue-ribboned kitten, which was en- 

 dearingly received as the mascot of the Yukon Mining Exchange. 



The Dawsonites are not entirely oblivious to the discomforts of 

 mud, for an effort is being made to block it out with sawdust, of 

 which the three or four sawmills in the town furnish a goodly supply. 

 In some parts a rough corduroy has been attempted, but the price of 

 lumber, two hundred dollars per thousand linear feet, renders this 

 form of construction too expensive for general use, especially in a 

 community all of whose m.embers, female as well as male, are pre- 

 pared to stem the tide with high-top boots. About one half the 

 street leng-th shows the pretense of wooden sidewalks, but no one 

 lias yet recognized a special responsibility for repairs, or seemingly 

 considered that a continuous walk requires a continuous support. 

 Walking is a succession of ups and downs; boards are missing here, 

 other are smashed elsewhere, and the whole walk gives the impression 

 of having been in existence for centuries rather than for the period 

 of a short twelvemonth. 



It was not difficult to determine what, perhaps, the majority of the 

 sixteen thousand .inhabitants of Dawson were doing at the time of 

 our arrival. They were simply loitering, and the streets were packed 

 with humanity. This was not strange, either, for it must have been 

 difficult to resist the enjoyment of that open sunshine, that soft, 

 warm atmosphere which is the delight of the summer climate of the 

 far North. Never had I experienced anything comparable, and 

 others who had traveled much agreed with my experience. On my 

 way to the hotel, the '^ Fair View," which had been strongly recom- 

 mended for its cuisine and the circumstance that it was " brand " 

 new in its appoiiitments — having only come into existence a few days 

 before — I caught a good general glimpse of the town, the dominant 



