I think it deplorable that so many are starting at this time for the gold-fields. I do not recommend starting before March 15. I will return at that time to my claims on the Klondyke, if it were wise to go sooner, I should certainly go.
The reason March 15 is best is that the season is better then. If a man has only, say, $500 and wants to do his own packing over the Taiya Pass, it gives him time to do it by starting March 15, as he will then be in Juneau April 1st. I fear a great deal of hardship for those who started out so as to reach Juneau for winter travel.
Of course while I say $500 is sufficient to go to Dawson City, a man should take $1,000 or even more if possible as he will have many opportunities to invest the surplus.
While prices will undoubtedly advance at Dawson City owing to the large influx of people, I do not think the advance will be excessive. It has never been the policy of the two trading companies to take advantage of the miners.
The traveller having arrived in Juneau from Seattle, a journey of 725 miles by water, immediately purchases his complete outfit as described in another chapter. He then loses no time in leaving Juneau for Dyea, taking a small steamboat which runs regularly to this port via the Lynn Canal. Dyea has recently been made a customs port of entry and the head of navigation this side of the Taiya Pass. The distance between Juneau and Dyea is about one hundred miles.
From Dyea, which is the timber-line, he packs his outfit to the foot of the Taiya Pass--the length of which to the summit is about 15 miles. He must now carry his outfit up the Pass, which he generally does in two or more trips according to the weight of his outfit, unless he is able to hire Indians or mules; but so far there are very few Indians to be hired and still fewer mules.
He now starts for Lake Lindeman from the head of the Pass, a distance of eight miles--the distance from Dyea to Lake Lindeman being 31 miles.
At Lake Lindeman he commences to make his boat, for which he has brought the proper supplies in his outfit, with the exception of the timber, which he finds at Lake Lindeman. He spends one week at Lake Lindeman making his boat and getting ready for the long trip down the waterways to Dawson City, the heart of the Klondyke region. The trip through Lake Lindeman is short, the lake being only five miles long. At the foot of the lake he must portage to Lake Bennet, the portage however being very short, less than a mile.