ALASKA AND THE KLONDIKE. 169 



some compensation of eight hundred dollars. They were befitting 

 the place which they graced. 



A more intimate acquaintance with these saloons made it plain 

 that they were patronized both for the drinks which were sold over 

 the bar for fifty cents or more and for the gaming tables which 

 in open evidence betrayed a surpassingly strong interest in faro, 

 rouge et noir, and roulette. Crowds were watching the fortunes of 

 the play at every turn. From the front entrance quite to the rear 

 some of the more favored halls were packed, but with an element 

 that seemed little disposed to disturbance of any kind. While the 

 drinking of spirituous liquors is very largely indulged in, I believe 

 that during all my stay in Dawson only three cases of obtrusive 

 drunkenness were brought to my attention ; and of riotism my experi- 

 ence was wholly negative. Life and property are considered safe 

 even in the most doubtful establishments, and it is not uncommon for 

 a man to pass hours in a crowded dance hall with virtually all his 

 possessions, possibly a few hundred dollai^s, or it may be thousands, 

 carried in the form of gold dust in his trousers pockets. Two main 

 factors are involved in this condition of security or in the feeling that 

 it exists. The first of these is, perhaps, a wholesome dread of the 

 Canadian Mounted Police, whose efficiency in the direction of con- 

 trolling order is conceded by every one; and the second, the circum- 

 stance that the inhabitants of Dawson and of the adjoining Klondike 

 region are not, as is so largely supposed, a mere assortment of rough 

 prospectors, intent upon doing anything for the sake of acquiring 

 gold, but a fair representation of good and indifferent elements bor- 

 rowed from all professions and stations of life, and not from one coun- 

 try alone, but from nearly all parts of the civilized globe. During 

 my brief stay I stumbled upon " counts," " sirs," military and naval 

 officers, scientists, lawyers, newspaper men, promoters, and others of 

 broad and liberal standing; and if some of these were undistinguish- 

 able in external garb from their brethren in mustard-colored mack- 

 inaws whose sole resource was digging for gold, their polished and 

 intellectual method was evidence enough that civilization was pres- 

 ent in good quantity along the upper Yukon. The fact that there are 

 three weekly newspapers published in Dawson — the Nugget, Mid- 

 night Sun, and Dawson Miner, the first two selling for fifty cents a 

 copy and the last for twenty-five cents — can hardly be considered to 

 prove this condition, although favoring it; for, though the substance 

 and especially the typography of the journals are quite good, the de- 

 mand for reading matter is such that almost anything could realize 

 a subscription list. The long-belated ]^ew York journals seem to 

 command a steady sale on the news stands, where one also sees dis- 

 played the small and (in our country) gratuitously distributed scenic 



