256 THE UPPER YUKON 



of their class, have been the men to gather in 

 the rich deposits of gold. The poor man only 

 occasionally made a hit. The rich companies 

 took few risks; they knew what they were 

 about; they had the money, the machinery and 

 the men to get the most of the mineral wealth 

 out with the least possible cost. 



In a little less than two years the city of 

 Dawson became one of the most talked-of cit- 

 ies of the world. In this young city there 

 were "revels by day and revels by night." 

 There was gambling that in its fury of excite- 

 ment eclipsed Monte Carlo itself. The dance 

 halls were dens of vice that in point of ex- 

 travagance, brutality, and indecency, the 

 Bowery in New York in the palmiest days 

 could never equal. The city was overrun by 

 the painted women who usually follow the vi- 

 cissitudes of gold-mining rushes. 



Thus it was that Dawson became famous. 

 Thus it was that the people of the outside 

 world came to know that there is a wonderful 

 Yukon River two thousand miles long that 

 flows north, then northwest, and finally south, 

 and empties into Behring Sea. They learned 

 that it drains a great country rich in minerals 

 of nearly every kind a territory studded with 

 high snow-capped mountains and icy glaciers, 



