CHAPTER V.

THE MINING CAMPS OF THE UPPER YUKON THEIR LIFE

AND LAWS.

Phases of Human Existence in the Ice-Bound Towns-Circle City as a Base of Supplies and the Metropolis of the Yukon Country-Fort Cudahy and the Famous Forty-Mile Post-Dogs by the HundredHomes Without the Vanities of Civilized Regions-Gambling with Big Stakes-Liquor Traffic and Its Evils-The Boom at Dawson City-Some Strange Things About the Mail Service-A Small Fortune Spent in Delivering Each Mail Bag-Bottles of Gold the Legal Tender-The Canadian Mounted Police.

Now

́OWHERE else on earth will the student of human nature find more to interest him than in the mining camps of the frontier. In no other spot will he find the conditions which surround the existence of man

so strangely varied. The sudden gathering of all classes, races and ages, widely separated in birth and breeding, character and customs and tongue, confronted by the greatest hardships, surrounded by the extremes of human joy and human sorrow, brings about a situation that forms a basis for many startling chapters in the book of life.

The ice-bound camps of the great Yukon have not been very different in history from those which have existed elsewhere in other times, but some of the phases of life familiar in the outposts of civilization, where the greed for gold has been the great factor of the day, have been accentuated by the isolation and the peculiar hardships which the men who lived there encountered. There has been a notably small amount of the more important

forms of vice. The people seem less indifferent to the rights of their neighbors, less careless about the sanctity of human life than in other mining camps. This may be because the inhabitants of the ice bound camps feel that the great distance of the places from outside help, makes it necessary that they should, by simple laws of their own, keep in check the dangerous tendencies of such communities, or it may be because the red record of other mining towns has taught humanity a lesson that is not to be soon forgotten. Lawlessness there is, and probably always will be where men are gathered under such circumstances, but the verdict of the best authorities seems to be that Dawson City is morally a better place in 1897 than Leadville was in 1879, or Cripple Creek was in 1895 and 1896. In the scramble for treasure, the sordid selfishness of humanity has not covered up the tenderness and sympathy and generosity that is in the hearts of nearly all men, and there are many cases in the annals of the Yukon country which go to show that the sunny side of life shines quite as brightly sometimes in the arctic regions of the United States as it does in the metropolis of the nation.

Circle City was up to the time of the Klondike discovery the most important town of the Yukon country. It was a base of supplies for hundreds of prospectors, and in its palmiest days was a lively town. Until last winter the miners spent most of their time in the town, as they had not learned the trick of working the frozen ground. This made different forms of amusement popular, and the town boasted in addition to its gaming and

small dance halls, two variety theatres. Circle City stands on a level plain near the most northern bend of the Yukon River. It obtains its name from its proximity to the Arctic Circle. In the back-ground is the low range of hills, across which runs the now well-known portage of six miles to Birch Creek.

Circle City is a log town. Four hundred buildings constructed of roughly hewed logs line the streets. The style of architecture is unvaried. Whether the building is large or small it is low and square with wide projecting eaves and a roof covered with dirt. The cracks between the logs are chinked with mud, moss, paper and old clothes. The smaller cabins can be built by a couple of men in a few days, and when completed, they rent for $15 or $20 a month. The lots on which they are built can be bought for $2.50 from the town clerk, and the house and ground together bring from $300 to $500 according to location. The building logs are rafted down the river from some wooded islands twenty miles above. Some simple methods of sawing have now been adopted, and by paying a good price, crude boards can be obtained.

It was once said that there were more dogs in Circle City to each inhabitant than in any other town in the world. There were so many that no attempt was made to feed them all, and as a result, in their foraging for food, they became a nuisance. So ravenous were many of them that even miners' boots, brushes and other valuable articles were torn in pieces and devoured by them. Every available dog has been hurried off to the Klondike

as a beast of burden, and no doubt, more than one of them will have fallen a prey to the appetite of man before they see Circle City again

Robert Krook, the Swedish Klondike miner, says that Eskimo dogs will draw 200 pounds each on a sled, so that six dogs will draw a year's supplies for one man. He, however, puts in the proviso that the sleds should not have iron runners, because the snow sticks to the iron and increases the friction so much that the dogs cannot haul more than 100 pounds apiece. With brass runners this drawback is obviated. Last winter Eskimo dogs cost from $75 to $200 apiece, and he does not think the price will increase materially, because when the demand is known the supply from other parts of Alaska will be plentiful at Dyea and other points along the Yukon. Sometimes the feet of the dogs get sore and then the Indians fit mocassins on them; as soon, however, as the tenderness is gone from their feet, the dogs will bite and tear the mocassins off. In speaking of the dogs, he said that they need no lines to guide them and are very intelligent, learning readily to obey a command to turn in any direction or to stop. They have to be watched closely, as they will attack and devour stores left in their way, especially bacon, which must be hung up out of their reach. At night, when camp is pitched, the moment a blanket is thrown upon the ground they will run into it and curl up, and neither cuffs nor kicks suffice to budge them. They lie as close up to the men who own them as possible, and the miner cannot wrap himself up so close that they won't get under his

blanket with him. They are human, too, in their disinclination to get out in the morning.

Where sleds cannot be used, the dogs will carry fifty pounds apiece in saddlebags, slung across their backs in pannier fashion. Nature has fitted these dogs for their work, and mastiffs and St. Bernards are not as serviceable. The two latter breeds cannot stand the intense cold so well, and though at first they will draw the sleds cheerfully, their feet cannot resist the strain, and begin to bleed so freely that the dogs are useless. The pads under the feet of the Eskimo dogs are of tougher skin.

Circle City came into existence when some halfbreed Indians discovered gold in considerable quantities on Birch Creek, several years ago. Supplies from down the Yukon River began early to pass through the town and over the portage to Birch Creek. The cost of transportation is $45 for 100 pounds and upwards, which high rate is felt severely by the miners. Once on Birch Creek the supplies are sent up the stream by boats, which are propelled by the slow poling process. One of the queer teams, until recently, engaged in the supply traffic to the creek, was composed of a moose, which had been caught when a calf and trained, and a mule. The moose, which was the pride of its owner, a Circle City merchant, was shot one day by a tenderfoot, who had heard many stories of Alaska game, and believed the animal had wandered into the town in search of food.

The theatres in Circle City are not supplied with the