to effect an
entrance there, but without success. Assuredly it was a late season. It
was still impossible for vessels to reach St. Michaels or Teller, the
latter being the starting-point for the new Bluestone and Kougarok
districts; and the Nome dailies were issuing sensational extras with
large head-lines telling that "Fifteen Hundred People" were "Starving at
the Mouth of the Yukon"--at St. Michaels, one hundred and fifty miles
away. Many of the neighboring creeks were yet filled with ice and snow,
so as to allow only preliminary operations for mining, or none at all.
The prospect was made more dismal by the stormy and cold rainy weather
which then prevailed. The gale wrecked several small craft and caused
the remaining steamers to put out to sea, and the thermometer ranged at
about 40 deg. Fortunate indeed it was that these conditions did not exist
the year before, when so many thousands of helpless, unprepared people
were deposited upon those alluring shores. Now, however, the numerous
prophets of evil preached the doctrine that last summer had been an
exception, and that this sort of thing would continue throughout the
open months, which, fortunately, it did not do.

At the new and well-appointed post-office I was much impressed and
pleased to find a type-written letter from my partner, dated at Council
City the middle of June, which told of his good health and settlement in
our new quarters. This letter had been brought overland before the
melting snow and ice made it unsafe or impossible to cross the
intervening streams. Previous to this, my last letter from him, received
at San Francisco just before sailing, bore date of February 13.

Nome seemed very orderly, much improved, and more substantial in general
appearance. It had been duly incorporated as a city. About a mile of the
principal streets had been boarded over (a great improvement), though at
that time, in front of our hotel, the horses sank belly-deep in muck
and mud as of yore. The banner sign, "City Morgue," had now assumed more
modest proportions; people who had wintered at Nome looked strong and
well; and the doctors somewhat plaintively said that the camp had been
"disgustingly healthy." The majority of the deaths were those of too
venturesome, or poorly equipped, travelers or prospectors who had
perished from cold. But the average individual who had spent the winter
there had lived very comfortably, with plenty of good things to eat and
drink, and