TNTRODITTIOX oK DoMF^TK' KKINI)7':t:K IXT(» ALASKA. 4*.> 



The United States ciistoni-liouse and the army jiost. Fort P^frhert, 

 make Eagle an important point. It is an ineor{)orated town and 

 manages its own school affairs. The spiritual and educational needs 

 of the natives in the neighboring village are cared for by the mission- 

 aries of the Episcopal Church. Aid to this school also will in all 

 probability be extended b}- the Bureau of Education. From this 

 point it is hoped to reach with school privileges the Ketchumstocks, 

 a tribe inhabiting the interior country near the sources of Copper 

 River. At Eagle, about midnight September 6, I met and consulted 

 with Mr. F. E. Willard, who was on his way to take charge of a public 

 school at Fort Yukon. The steamer LavelJe Young, on which he 

 was a passenger, was densel}' crowded with men and women eager 

 to reach Fairbanks before the closing of the river by ice. In every 

 available place temporar}' bunks had been constructed and even 

 these were not nearly sufficient to accommodate the crowd. The 

 floor of the dining saloon was covered with sleepmg forms, each 

 wrapped in its blanket, and it was almost impossi])le to take a step 

 without stirring up some human chrysalis. 



Early on the morning of September 7 we crossetl the international 

 boundary line and entered British Columbia. A long, straight path 

 6 feet wide cut through the timber on the mountain side renders the 

 course of the hundred and forty-first meridian very distinct. 



Dawson, 1,600 miles from St. Michael by river, is the terminus of 

 the American river steamers. It is the metropolis of the famous 

 Klondike district. The motley aggregation of tents and log cabins 

 of the days of the Klondike rush has become a great commercial 

 center with all the conveniences of a modern city — good hotels, 

 schools, churches, hospitals, waterworks, telephone service, fire 

 department, newspapers which daily publish telegraphic dispatches 

 from all over the world, stores and warehouses filled with groceries, 

 dry goods, hardware, machinery, and household goods of every 

 description. Since 1S98 the annual output of gold from the creeks 

 that empty into the Klondike River, a tributary that enters the 

 Yukon through the suburbs of Dawson, has averaged more than 

 SI 5,000,000. The tide of travel which ebbs and flows through 

 Dawson is considerable. The records show that during the ten 

 months commencing December, 1903, 4,177 persons arrived at 

 Dawson and 6,581 left. At an average of SI 00 per ticket, the fares 

 from this travel w^ould aggregate more than 81.000,000. 



The schools of Dawson are remarkably fine. The government 

 provides generously for their support; liberal salaries are paid to 

 the teachers, and thus the service of thoroughly efficient people 

 are secured; the schoolrooms are attractive and furnished with 



