shallows. With comparatively little
expenditure the company or the Government can improve the facilities
along the line so that any amount of freight or any number of passengers
can be taken into the gold region at less than half the time and cost
that it takes Americans to reach it from Port St. Michael, at the mouth
of the Yukon to the Klondyke, exclusive of the steamer trip of 2500
miles from Seattle to Port St. Michael.

"Canadians can leave here on a Monday at 11.15 A.M., and reach Edmonton
on Friday at 7 P.M. From that point, a party of three men with a canoe,
should reach Fort Macpherson easily in from 50 to 60 days, provided they
are able-bodied young fellows with experience in that sort of travel.
They will need to take canoes from here, unless they propose to hire
Indians with large birch bark canoes to carry them. Birch bark canoes
can be secured of any size up to the big ones manned by ten Indians that
carry three tons. But birch barks are not reliable unless Indians are
taken along to doctor them, and keep them from getting water-logged. The
Hudson Bay Company will also contract to take freight northward on their
steamers until the close of navigation. Travellers to the gold mines
leaving now would probably reach Fort Macpherson before navigation
closed.

"The letter from Rev. Mr. Stringer, the missionary, published in the
Spectator on July 2, shows that the ice had only commenced to run in the
Peel River, which is the water route south-east from Fort Macpherson
into the gold region, on September 30 last year.

"Any Canadians who are anxious to get into the Klondyke ahead of the
Americans can leave between now and August 1, reach Fort Macpherson,
and if winter comes on they can exchange their canoes for dog trains,
and reach the Klondyke without half the difficulty that would be
experienced on the Alaska route. The great advantage of the inland route
is that it is an organized line of communication. Travellers need not
carry any more food than will take them from one Hudson Bay post to the
next, and then there is abundance of fish and wild fowl en route. They
can also be in touch with such civilization as prevails up there, can
always get assistance at the posts, and will have some place to stay
should they fall sick or meet with an accident. If they are lucky enough
to make their pile in the Klondyke, they can come back by the dog sled
route during the winter. (There is one winter mail to Fort Macpherso