Klondyke Nuggets | Page 4

distressing. They are especially fond of cattle, but without any
reciprocity of affection. 'According to the general terms of the survival
of the fittest and the growth of muscles most used to the detriment of
others,' says the lieutenant in an unusual burst of humor, 'a band of
cattle inhabiting this district, in the far future, would be all tail and no
body, unless the mosquitoes should experience a change of numbers.'"
I am indebted to Wm. Ogilvie, Esq., for the following valuable
information relative to The Yukon District.
"The Yukon District comprises, speaking generally, that part of the
Northwest Territories lying west of the water shed of the Mackenzie
River; most of it is drained by the Yukon River and its tributaries. It
covers a distance of about 650 miles along the river from the coast
range of mountains.
"In 1848 Campbell established Fort Selkirk at the confluence of the
Pelly and Lewes Rivers; it was plundered and destroyed in 1852 by the
Coast Indians, and only the ruins now exist of what was at one time the
most important post of the Hudson's Bay Company to the west of the
Rocky Mountains in the far north. In 1869 the Hudson's Bay
Company's officer was expelled from Fort Yukon by the United States
Government, they haying ascertained by astronomical observations that
the post was not located in British territory. The officer thereupon
ascended the Porcupine to a point which was supposed to be within
British jurisdiction, where he established Rampart House; but in 1890
Mr. J.H. Turner of the United States Coast Survey found it to be 20
miles within the lines of the United States. Consequently in 1891 the
post was moved 20 miles further up the river to be within British
territory.

"The next people to enter the country for trading purposes were Messrs.
Harper and McQuestion. They have been trading in the country since
1873 and have occupied numerous posts all along the river, the greater
number of which have been abandoned. Mr. Harper is now located as a
trader at Fort Selkirk, with Mr. Joseph Ladue under the firm name of
Harper & Ladue, and Mr. McQuestion is in the employ of the Alaska
Commercial Company at Circle City, which is the distributing point for
the vast regions surrounding Birch Creek, Alaska. In 1882 a number of
miners entered the Yukon country by the Taiya Pass; it is still the only
route used to any extent by the miners, and is shorter than the other
passes though not the lowest. In 1883 Lieutenant Schwatka crossed this
same pass and descended the Lewes and Yukon Rivers to the ocean.
"The explorers found that in proximity to the boundary line there
existed extensive and valuable placer gold mines, in which even then as
many as three hundred miners were at work. Mr. Ogilvie determined,
by a series of lunar observations, the point at which the Yukon River is
intersected by the 141st meridian, and marked the same on the ground.
He also determined and marked the point at which the western affluent
of the Yukon, known as Forty Mile Creek, is crossed by the same
meridian line, that point being situated at a distance of about
twenty-three miles from the mouth of the creek. This survey proved
that the place which had been selected as the most convenient, owing to
the physical conformation of the region, from which to distribute the
supplies imported for the various mining camps, and from which to
conduct the other business incident to the mining operations--a place
situate at the confluence of the Forty Mile Creek and the Yukon, and to
which the name of Fort Cudahy has been given--is well within
Canadian territory. The greater proportion of the mines then being
worked Mr. Ogilvie found to be on the Canadian side of the
international boundary line, but he reported the existence of some
mining fields to the south, the exact position of which with respect to
the boundary he did not have the opportunity to fix.
"The number of persons engaged in mining in the locality mentioned
has steadily increased year by year since the date of Mr. Ogilvie's
survey, and it is estimated that at the commencement of the past season

not less than one thousand men were so employed. Incident to this
mineral development there must follow a corresponding growth in the
volume of business of all descriptions, particularly the importation of
dutiable goods, and the occupation of tracts of the public lands for
mining purposes which according to the mining regulations are subject
to the payment of certain prescribed dues and charges. The Alaska
Commercial Company, for many years subsequent to the retirement of
the Hudson's Bay Company, had a practical monopoly of the trade of
the Yukon, carrying into