ALASKA. 



79 



melting away the frost by fire and taking out only the pay dirt, 

 leaving the glacial drift and surface intact. The pay dirt thus 

 removed is easily washed in the spring when water is plenty. 



ROUTES TO THE KLONDIKE. 



The Klondike region can be reached by St. Michaels and a 

 voyage up the Yukon, which is perhaps the most comfortable but 

 longest route. The current of the river is so swift that the trip up 

 is necessarily slow. Boats from San Francisco, touching at 

 Seattle, Victoria, and Unalaska, connect at St. Michaels Island with 

 the river steamers. In the Guide to the Yukon Gold Fields, 

 Mr. Wilson gives the following rates for the river boats, which he 

 says accommodate about loo passengers. 



From Forty Mile Post to St. Michaels, first class, $50; second 

 class, $30. The through trip to San Francisco costs, he says, 

 from $150 to $175. After leaving the steamer, says the same 

 authority, packs are carried by Indians and dogs in summer, and 

 in winter are conveyed by sleds. The cost of freighting in sum- 

 mer is $30 per 100 pounds for a distance of 60 miles; in winter, 

 $10 to $13 per 100 pounds. The dogs haul large loads and can 

 cover long distances. 



A more direct but more fatiguing route is from Lynn Channel 

 to the Lewis River by way of several lakes. There is the Chil- 

 kat Pass (long and less used than formerly), the White, and the 

 Chilkoot. The terminus of the White Pass is some 85 miles 

 north of Juneau, and ocean steamers can run up to the landing at 

 all times. The pass lies through a box canyon, and is compara- 

 tively easy. Mr. Wilson considers this the best pass, and says the 

 trail would not exceed 32 miles in length, and would strike W^indv 

 arm of Tagish Lake, or Taku arm, coming in farther up the lake. 

 This part of the lake is accessible to Lake Bennett, and the pass 

 could be used as a mail route any month of the year. The 



