constantly increasing number of steady and thrifty men coming into the country and replacing the more gambling element of the early camp.
The ultimate prosperity of the country depends largely, I think, upon the extent to which auriferous quartz may be discovered, and other resources developed.
But it is certain that Dawson has come with the intention of staying, and that the country is very far from played out. Not only is there a considerable quantity of ground yet to be worked in the Klondike creeks, but it must be remembered that much of the vast Yukon territory is auriferous, and that attention has only been distracted from other localities by the extraordinary wealth of the Klondike area.
Now that the district possesses a large town, inhabited throughout the year, now that communication is being facilitated, that freight rates are being lowered, and that the population is increasing, it ought to be possible to open up districts that could never have been attempted under the more adverse conditions of two or three years ago.
Coal is being mined at Cliff Creek, 55 miles below Dawson, and at Five Fingers, about 200 miles above Dawson; placer copper exists in large quantities on the White River; copper ores have been found near White Horse; the Atlin district promises well; horses, cattle, and sheep will shortly be supported in the country itself, and vegetables and other produce will be raised.
It only remains to be seen whether the cost of production can be so far diminished that this far northwestern Territory will be able to compete with other regions which are more favorably situated.
That the inhabitants have the necessary enterprise and energy I know from what I have seen of them. It is, in fact, most interesting to note how in this isolated country native grit and intelligence have brought the best men to the front. One naturally associates the element of luck with placer mining, and no doubt many fortunes were made and lost by sudden strokes of chance. But in no mining district have previous experience and knowledge been of less avail. The conditions were so strange, that the old and experienced miners sometimes made the worst mistakes, and the men who succeeded were those who were sufficiently alert and intelligent to adapt themselves to the new conditions. One finds among the leading miners—men who have come from all places and from all classes of society—men who two or three years ago were workmen, hotel clerks, store assistants, or farmers.
I cannot conclude without a word of tribute to the magnificent work which has been done by the Canadian Northwest Mounted Police, and the excellent way in which the inhabitants have settled
