is fully occupied. But lazy men
are not apt to reach Forty Mile, for the journey from Juneau, in
southern Alaska, which is the largest city in the Territory, as well as
the nearest outfitting point for the diggings, is so filled with peril
and the roughest kind of hard work as to deter any but men of the most
determined energy.

At Juneau, Yukon travellers provide themselves with an outfit of
snow-shoes, sledges, tents, fur clothing, provisions, and whatever else
seems to them necessary. Starting in the early spring they proceed by
boat to the Chilkat country, seventy miles distant, and to the head of
Chilkoot Inlet. From there they set forth on a terrible mountain climb
over snow many feet in depth, where they are in constant danger from
avalanches, and cross the coast range by a pass that rises 3000 feet
above timber line. On the opposite side they strike the head-waters of
the Yukon, which they follow through a series of six lakes, sledging
over their still ice-bound waters, and rafting down their connecting
links, in which are seething rapids, dark gorges, and roaring canyons,
around which all goods must be carried on men's backs. After some 200
miles of these difficulties have been passed, trees must be felled,
lumber sawed, cut, and boats constructed for the remaining 500 miles of
the weary journey.

As it would not pay to transport freight by this route, all provisions
and other supplies for the diggings are shipped from San Francisco by
sea to St. Michaels, where they are transferred to small river steamers
like the _Chimo_, and so after being many months on the way, finally
reach their destination. By this time their value has become so enhanced
or "enchanted," as the miners say, that Phil Ryder found flour selling
for $30 per barrel, bacon at 35 cents per pound, beans at 25 cents per
pound, canned fruit at 60 cents per pound, coarse flannel shirts at $8
each, rubber boots at $18 per pair, and all other goods at proportionate
rates. Even sledge dogs such as he had purchased at Anvik for $5 or $6
each were here valued at $25 apiece.

In view of these facts it is no wonder that the news of another steamer
on the river bringing a saw-mill to supply them with lumber, machinery
with which to work the frozen but gold-laden earth of their claims, and
a large stock of goods to be sold at about one-half the prevailing
prices, created a very pleasant excitement among the miners of that
wide-awake camp.

On the day