YUKON DISTRICT, THE CANADIAN. 





dary, measured in straight lengths of 50 miles, is 

 estimated by Dr. Dawson at 1,000 miles, and, fol- 

 lowing the sinuosities of the various streams, would 

 be very much greater. This does not include the 

 Porcupine river ; and, with the exception of a single 

 break Miles canon, on the Lewis it forms a con- 

 nected system, all parts of which lie east of the 

 above-named meridian. 



Resources and Development. In 1898 mining 

 conditions gradually settled down in the famous 

 Klondyke region. Early in 1897 Major Walsh had 

 been sent up as Canadian administrator, and in 

 the succeeding year the district was formally de- 

 tached from the Northwest Territories to which it- 

 had nominally belonged, and was governed direct 

 from Ottawa. Mr. Sifton, Dominion Minister of 

 the Interior, paid a visit of inspection to the region ; 

 and mining regulations were made in accordance 

 with his experience and the advice of Major Walsh. 

 Meanwhile the discontent natural to a large and 

 fluctuating population chiefly alien culminated 

 in all sorts of vague charges against the local ad- 

 ministration of affairs, and these charges were taken 

 up by the Opposition press through the country and 

 supported in a very general way by Miss Shaw, the 

 special correspondent of the London " Times," who 

 visited the district in the summer of 1898. She 

 asserted that there were irregularities in the post 

 office, very poor sanitation in Dawson City, lack 

 of proper surveys, too high charges for recording 

 claims, etc., and unfair arrangement of royalties. 

 The latter was the most important matter, and re- 

 garding it Major Walsh said in his official report 

 of Nov. 5, 1898 : " On my arrival in Dawson I 

 found a great many questions awaiting solution 

 which could only be disposed of by the authority 

 of the commissioner. For instance, the question 

 of royalty, over which there had been considerable 

 discussion, appeared to be somewhat mixed. I im- 

 mediately announced that the royalty would be col- 

 lected on all claims, leases of which were renewed 

 subsequent to the date when the law came into 

 force. Nearly all the leaseholders of largely pro- 

 spected claims showed a disposition to respect the 

 collection of royalty ; others, however, were not so 

 tractable, their principal objection being that the 

 leases were granted for one year ; and that, once be- 

 ing granted, subsequent restrictions could not be 

 placed upon them. I pointed out to leaseholders 

 that the collection of royalty was necessary for the 

 maintenance of the courts of justice, for police pro- 

 tection, mail communication, and for public serv- 

 ices. While acknowledging the force of these 

 reasons, they submitted that more thorough exam- 

 ination of the real cost of outputting gold would 

 convince the Government that the royalty is a 

 severe tax, and expressed the hope that next year 

 would see it removed. The royalty was not col- 

 lected from any claims which had not got into 

 good working order, or which could not show a 

 profit after paying the royalty, and this would 

 represent a large sum. Again, more than half the 

 leases were exempted from the royalty on account 



of having been renewed previous to the date of tin- 

 law requiring the, payment of royalty coming int., 

 force. The collection of royalty will amount to 

 about $500,000." 



Meantime Major Walsh had resigned hiscommis- 

 sionership and been succeeded by William Ogilrie, 

 the explorer, who was given general in-t ruction* to 

 investigate under oath the alleged wrongdoings in 

 the territory. Mr. Fawcett was succeeded as gold 

 commissioner by Gordon Hunter, of Victoria. It. ( . 

 But the latter gave up the office, and K. < . >. nkler, 

 of Nelson, B. C., was then appointed. 



The estimated output of gold for 1H98 was $10,- 

 000,000, by Major Walsh. A correspondent of the 

 Vancouver " World " gave the following from pri- 

 vate estimates of the respective mine owner- : lion- 

 anza. $7,000,000 ; El Dorado, $10,000,0000 ; Hunker, 

 $2,500,000; Dominion, $850,000; Sulphur. $150,- 

 000 ; total, $20,000,000. 



Mr. F. C. Wade, Crown prosecutor in the Yukon, 

 on Sept. 21, 1898, spoke at Toronto in the following 

 terms of the royalty and the gold production : 

 "That subject [the gold output] never came within 

 my province ; but up to the time Major Walsh left 

 I understood that about $500,000 had been collected 

 in royalty. That would make the gold output 

 $5,000,000. Not all the royalty had been collected 

 at that time, by any means, and outside of that you 

 have to remember that direct taxes, like an income 

 tax, or a royalty, are no sure index of the wealth 

 from which they are derived. I think that ('apt. 

 Ilealey, of the North American Transportation 

 Company, whose estimates are generally pretty safe 

 to proceed upon, is not out of the way in placing 

 the gold output this year between eight and ten 

 million dollars. This, however, is no indication of 

 the gold-producing power of the country." 



In an interview after his return. Major Walsh 

 spoke of the population of Dawson City as 30,000, 

 of whom 80 per cent, were foreigners. Capt..< 

 stantine, of the mounted police, early in August 

 gave the following account of the place : " The 

 trad ing companies i. e., the North American Trans- 

 portation and the Alaska Commercial Company 

 have erected large and expensive stores ana ware- 

 houses, costing $250,000 each. There are four saw- 

 mills, any number of dance houses and saloons, a 

 hospital in charge of Father Judge, the Jesuit mis- 

 sionary, a general hospital in course of erection by 

 subscription, a Church of England mission, a Pres- 

 byterian mission, as well as a Roman Catholic one. 

 All supplies are very costly. Lumber that would 

 sell in Ontario for $10 a thousand is worth $200 

 at the mill. The cost of transportation to the 

 mines, where it is used for sluice boxes and other 

 necessary things, is 40 cents a foot. Wages are 

 high, the ordinary rate being $15 a day or $1.50 an 

 hour. The wages went to that figure by the action 

 of a few of the owners of exceedingly rich claims, 

 who were anxious to work out their claims and get 

 out of the country as quickly as i-ible." 



In December a fire occurred at Dawson. in which 

 much valuable property was destroy oil. 



