THE LAND OF ICE AND GOLD.

Waikato Argus, Volume III, Issue 211, 18 November 1897, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE LAND OF ICE AND GOLD.

"What news from the Klondyke ?" is still the cry. The passion for the yellow metal will not cool down easily. The terrors of an Arctic winter, the stories of want and suffering, the warning cries of the wise will not stay the fever. Dawson City will soon be locked within an embrace of ice and snow for many a month, and, if accounts be trae, there is not nearly sufficient food to keep the wolf from the door, oven thouph all the gold the world has 3ver known he offered in exchange. Gold may be hard to get, but food will be harder. Already the Yukon is filling up with ice, transportation by land is next to impossible, whilst along the weary miles hundreds are toiling on. Many have turned back in despair, selling their expensive outfits for a mere song, and wearying only for the flesh pots of civilisation. Letters bearing date of the last days in August have found their way from Dawson City to San Francisco, and even then gloomy forecasts -were made as to the insufficiency of supplies and the slim chances of obtaining more. But all claim the richness of the placer mines of the Klondyke has not been exaggerated. Gold is as plentiful as wasps in a sugar cask. Men whom a year or two back were without a dollar are millionaires, or the holders of claims for which the agents of syndicates are offering vast sums. Millions of dollars, the correspondents say, will bo taken from the land of iee and snow during the next summer. But in the meantime the late arrival, the poor fortune-seeker, has much to worry him. Livinjr is at famine prices. I hav« selected a few from the letters I have read, and give them as illustrative of the condition of affairs in the far north : Beef, 4s per lb Tobacco, (is per lb Ticks, 32s each Cup of coffee, Is Blankets, 100 s each One egg, 4s Cotlee pots, 12s each A bed (':), 0s a night Stoves, 140 s each A steel pen point, Is Overalls, 6s each! Half soling shoe, '2os Hobnail shoes, 32b, Extracting tooth, 20s a p a ; r Porous plaster, 30s Te'nnaut's ale, 40s a Physicau's visit, 800 s quart Bottle champagne, Beer, 2s a wineglass 200 s. Cigars, 2s each The above prices, which 1 have reduced to English shillings, need no comment. For the man who has a claim worth thousands thoy have no terror ; for the many who have not, they mean death or something as bad. But Dawson City seems to be having a riotous time. There arc about 5000 people in and around it. Children, fortunately, are scarce : gamblers, unfortunately, are many ; and dogs and mosquitoes are having a busy time. The city is made up of tents and lo? huts. Saloons and gambling dens and dance balls abound. There are 14 bar-rooms on one streol, and their doors never close. Land on Front street fetches high prices, and the voice of the " boomer" is heard in the land. Enticing notices aro plastered on the walls, and you can for a dollar dance with any of the fair ladies who live in these resorts. But the revelry and fun aro neither indecent nor so glaring as that oue can witness any night in 'Frisco. Lifo is safe s.nd so is property—as yet. What the dark days of winter will bring forth wo shall not know for many months, but many a heart wo may be suro will echo some such thoughts as a Southern poet has put in these lines. Way up on do Klondyke libber, Hungry, I sigh : Dar's what ma t'oughts am turmu eber, Back to the home-made pic. All aroun, dc ice am clingin', Ebery whar I see. Wish I could lieah the locus' singin' Home in de tallow tree. One poor little golden nuggetOne lump I found ; One piece oh de precious metal, Biggin' in de cold, cold ground. All up an' down de great big ribber. Lonesome I roam. Waitin' to heah a steamboat whistle, Hopiu' to git back home. All aroun' de ice am clingin', Ebcry whar I see. Wish 1 could heah tie jaybird singin' Home iu de red plum tree. —S.F. Correspondence.