The Guide Book to the Gold-Fields of the Yukon: Where and What to Buy for an Outfit.

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“Where and What to Buy for an Outfit” in Guide to the Yukon Gold Fields Where They Are and How to Reach Them by V. Wilson, 1897.

The Guide Book to the Gold-Fields of the Yukon

Where and What to Buy for an Outfit.

In deciding to make the trip, the greatest considerations are how long it is necessary to stay, how much money is needed and the results to be attained. The answer to the last question, here as in all other countries, depends entirely on the man.

The country is of such extent and richness that the possibilities are unlimited, and a good rustler cannot fail to make a good round sum if he will stay at least three years. Little can be accomplished in less time than that, unless one is indeed lucky.

A good part of the first season will be consumed in reaching the mines; then, if a claim is located, only the preliminary work can be done. The second year it can be well opened up and in all probability some money made. The third year usually gives the promised results. I would advise no man to start with less than four hundred dollars, as the expense of reaching the mines is considerable and the companies doing business there refuse absolutely to give credit, as they can sell all their goods for ready cash. Some men who wanted to remain obliged to leave the country last year on that account.

The companies doing business there have in the past helped such men out of the country, but in the future, owing to this fact becoming generally known, they will refuse to give any assistance whatever. This decision, I understand, they will advertise extensively this coming spring.

Having decided to make the trip the outfit needed for the long journey down the river to the mines is of the greatest consideration. The actual necessities for the trip are given in a list below.

The supply of clothes should be governed by one's needs, taste and purse. It is also desirable to take along a small, well-filled medicine chest.

The outfit proper can be bought to better advantage in Seattle than elsewhere, for the large outfitting establishments there have learned from long experience what is most needed and their prices will compare favorably with prices on the Pacific Coast. One may be sure of getting just what is needed without any extra weight, which is of the greatest importance, as many hard portages are to be encountered on the trip.

List of Provisions for One Man One Month:

Twenty pounds of flour with baking powder

12 pounds of bacon

6 pounds of beans

5 pounds of dried fruit

3 pounds of dessicated vegetables

4 pounds of butter

5 pounds of sugar

4 cans of milk

1 pound of tea

3 pounds of coffee

2 pounds of salt

5 pounds of cornmeal

Pepper

Matches

Mustard

Cooking utensils and dishes

1 frying pan

1 water kettle

Tent

Yukon stove

2 pair good blankets

1 rubber blanket

1 bean pot

2 plates

1 drinking cup

1 tea pot

1 knife and fork

1 large and 1 small cooking pan

Tools for Boat Building.

1 jack plane

1 whip saw

1 hand saw

1 rip saw

1 draw knife

1 ax

1 hatchet

1 pocket rule

6 pounds of assorted nails

3 pounds of oakum

5 pounds of pitch

50 feet of 5/8 rope

Mosquito netting

1 pair crag-proof hip boots

Snow-glasses

Medicines

The above is the list of provisions generally taken by miners, and is sufficient for one man for one month. The length of the trip, will be regulated by the season of starting and the amount necessary for the entire trip easily ascertained.

That is, if parties desire to do their own transporting over the divide they should start not later than the first of April—better by the middle of March—then they can sleigh their outfit over the summit and down the lakes to where suitable boat timber can be found. If the start is made by the middle of March, the whole distance of the lakes can be accomplished by sleigh, a boat built and the start made down the river as soon as it breaks up, which is much earlier than on the lakes. By doing this the mines may be reached four weeks earlier than by building the boat at the head of the lakes and waiting for the ice to leave.

The trip down the lakes by sleigh is usually exciting; a large sail is fixed to the sleigh and long distances are made in a single day over the hard snow and ice. If the start is made later than the last of April it is customary to hire the packing done by the Indians, who pack to Lake Lindenian, a distance of twenty-four miles, for fourteen dollars per hundred. There is no timber on the lake suitable for boat building, and a raft will have to be made to take the outfit to where better timber can be found.

A good rifle of large calibre should be taken along, as large game is plenty. Also a trout line for grayling, which can be caught with a small black Ry at the mouth of small streams and at the foot of rapids all along below the lakes. A good pair of snow glasses should not be overlooked, as attacks of snow blindness are only thus prevented in crossing the summit, and nothing proves more painful. In several cases it has actually driven miners insane, and often delays those not thus provided for days and even weeks. E. Valentine, of Juneau, keeps a special glass, at a small cost, adapted to the trip. It is customary to take mining tools from Juneau for prospecting along the trip or for any stop that might be made on the way down the river.

One man should not attempt to make the trip alone, and where four or five go in one party one tent, stove and set of tools will do for all, thus making the outfit of each lighter and also lessening the cost. One of each party should have some knowledge of boat building; the boats mostly in use are the long, double-end bateau, but for a party of five or six a scow of good depth will be found convenient and roomy, will run bad water and is easily built.

Wilson, V. Guide to the Yukon Gold Fields Where They Are and How to Reach Them. The Calvert Company, 1897.

V. Wilson

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