GOLD HUNTING IN KLONDYKE. 



J. S. PEABODY. 



With horses and one year's provisions we 

 left Seattle and sailed for Skaguay, Alaska. 

 There we found only discord and wrangling. 

 No one was going over the trail, so we went 

 on to Dyea, sold our horses, and poled up 

 the river as far as Finnegan's point; then 

 packed from there to Canyon. Then over 

 the sheep camp, then to Scales, then over 

 Summit to Crater lake, then to Long lake, 

 then to Deep lake, and on to Lake Linde- 

 man. The charge for packing had gone up 

 from 16 to 45 cents a pound, and it was next 

 to impossible to have packing done, even at 

 that price. We went 6 miles up river, cut 

 logs, and floated them down stream. With 

 whip sawed lumber we built boats 24 feet 

 long and 9 feet beam. We were 2 weeks 

 in doing it, and sailed from Lake Linde- 

 man September 9th, with 6,000 pounds of 

 goods and 6 men on board. We crossed 

 the lake during a storm, and got our first 

 experience of the terrible seas on these 

 mountain lakes. Next day we packed to 

 Lake Bennett, and the day after made the 

 passage. On September nth we started 

 down the lake, and reached the entrance of 

 Tagish lake that night. The water was 

 rough, and many times it seemed as though 

 we must capsize, but we had good canoes 

 and good men at the oars, and got through 

 successfully. The next day we started out 

 early into Tagish. We were getting along 

 all right, when suddenly we noticed a little 

 swell, and in 5 minutes were driven on shore, 

 in spite of all we could do. We were op- 

 posite Windy Arm. This is an arm of the 

 lake 20 miles long, and the wind sweeps out 

 of it in great gusts all the time. We unload- 

 ed our goods, fixed our boats, and went 

 hunting. We saw moose tracks ; but only 

 killed 2 grouse and 3 red squirrels. That 

 night at 12 o'clock it was dead calm, so we 

 loaded our boats and started off, but in a few 

 minutes the wind rose, and we were obliged 

 to land again and camp for the night. We 

 lay there all next day, while the wind 

 howled, and we saw 5 boats smashed during 

 the storm. We arrived at Tagish house at 

 1 o'clock, and paid our duty. That evening 

 we got nearly to the end of Marsh lake. 

 Next morning we got out of the lake about 

 9 o'clock, and started down Fifty Mile river 

 We had our trolling line out, and at tha 

 head we caught a lake trout, salmo namay' 

 cush, weighing 15 pounds, and at the foot 

 caught one weighing 19^2 pounds. That 

 afternoon, near Miles canyon, we ran into 

 a rock in the middle of the stream and stove 

 3 holes in our boat. The next 2 days we lay 

 there, making repairs, and then went into 

 the canyon. On the 20th of September, 



after taking out about 3,000 pounds of the 

 6,000 in our boat, I ran the canyon with 2 

 men to row for me. It is not so difficult, 

 but is exciting. 



The only thing to be avoided is the whirl- 

 pool in the middle, and all that is necessary 

 is to hold the boat well on the crest. I put 

 5 other boats through for friends who were 

 afraid to make the run. A worse piece of 

 water is the rapids lying between the canyon 

 and White Horse rapid. Keep on the left 

 hand side of the island. The rapids are 

 swift, and fall about 4 feet in one place, but 

 I found no trouble in shooting them. The 

 river below, and V2 the passage of Lake 

 Lebarge, was made in one day, and then we 

 were delayed another day by a bad snow 

 storm and a heavy sea. We went hunting, 

 and got 4 grouse, 2 squirrels, and 6 ducks. 



Next day we got about 10 miles down 

 Thirty Mile river. Of all the places we had 

 been over, this was one of the worst — a 10- 

 or 12-mile current, over a shallow bed full of 

 rocks. We got through all right, and down 

 as far as McCormick's that night. The next 

 day we continued down the Hootalinqua 

 river, into the Lewis, and through Five 

 Finger rapids. Keep to the right in both 

 places, and there is no danger. All one has 

 to be afraid of is the bars and the rocks 

 along the end of abrupt bluffs. 



We went on down the Lewis, running 

 about 50 to 60 miles a day. About 50 miles 

 above Pelly, one morning, the occupants of 

 a boat near us got a number of shots at a 

 moose, but could not stop him. While go- 

 ing down the Yukon we met an immense 

 flock of swans. We had a shotgun in our 

 boat, and killed all the ducks we could use. 

 There is little to worry any one coming 

 down the Yukon ; all you have to avoid is 

 the bars and the rocks that lie at the end of 

 the bluffs, which follow one another in quick 

 succession. When we were about 40 miles 

 from Dawson, we stopped to cut logs for a 

 house. We were going to bring down a 

 raft. We worked steadily 4 days, and got 

 out about 100 logs, 32 feet long, and had 

 them pinned together. In the meantime, 

 the White river and the Stewart began to 

 throw out slush and ice, and the Yukon on 

 the second day was full, so we got nervous. 

 It looked as if we were going to be stranded 

 there for the winter, so on the fourth day we 

 ? K andoned the raft, loaded our goods in one 

 ,oat and started. We could do nothing but 

 Jrift with the ice. 



The next day we sighted Dawson about 

 3 miles away. We began to work our boat 

 through the ice, and hugged the shore. 

 When opposite Klondyke City, which is 



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