CORRESPONDENCE.
KLONDTR'1.
go THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] Sin,—M. Maeterlinck may be right in prophesying a new period of spiritual activity for mankind ; but meanwhile the fresh discovery in the North-Western Province of Canada, following upon the recent history of the Trans. vaal, is certainly bringing out the material side of things in a very significant way. Gold turns up in a new and difficult region, and forthwith the current of, men sets towards it; capital follows, with steamers, tram- roads, and all the mechanical appliances of transport ; pro- visions are sent up, houses and towns are built, and an inhospitable region, traversed by wandering Indians, becomes a hive of modern industry. The finding of gold has usually meant the starting of a new country. Victoria sprang by its aid, as by magic, into vigorous life. The Transvaal has opened a fresh career under our eyes in a very few years, and has developed at a stroke a city of one hundred thousand inhabitants. In the first case, the original impulse has proved permanent, and other industries have followed the precious metal. In the second, the same result seems likely to happen ; and if Mr. Blake prophesies that within five years Rhodesia will be deserted, it is because he thinks there is practically no gold there. But no amount of gold will make of the Yukon district a smiling and progressive country. No other industry can find a lasting home there. Only pure gold is strong enough to tempt civilised men to the climate. The first workings are alluvial; and that means much individual industry, quick profits, risky but small enterprise,—all that is spasmodic, exciting, gambling, in business. Whatever population and money can do to fetch out the gold will be done quickly; to get the gold and get away again is the one object. The industries of transport, commissariat, clothing, &c., must be rough, rapid, lucrative, temporary. Suppose we allow ten years to exploit the river-beds. Behind the allnvials there must be the reefs. That means large capitals, agency, machinery, wages, settled population, and homes and industries organised to last. There will be money enough to pay for all comforts which can defend man against an extreme climate, and we shall see new devices spring up.
Imagine a large city—shops, banks, offices, mansions—close to the Arctic Circle, with a nine months' winter and a tempera- ture ranging to 80° below zero. Buildings, I presume, must be of wood, stone houses are not warm enough, even if stone be accessible. The Dawson City Stock Exchange may give us a new style in architecture. It is a forest country, and its present inhabitants resist the winter by squatting in little wooden cabins. Wooden houses with double walls, stuffed between with non-conducting packing, are very warm. Fortunately there is plenty of fuel,—though a large town, at this rate, would soon clear away the near forests. For horses and cattle the climate is thought too severe. Horses, it is said, are now working over the Chilkoot and White Passes ; but it is still summer, and these places are at the lowest latitude. Whether cattle could be got up in summer and stalled during the long winter is another question. But for transport there are only dogs,—and Indians—at present. It is not known whether reindeer can be used; they are said to have been tried without success in Western Alaska.
The question whether locomotives of any kind can be used has not yet arisen. Steamers are being built to navigate the lakes ; but they, of course, are only for summer traffic. The Lynn Canal, headed by Stagway Bay, is fortunately open all the year. There is talk of a' branch from the Canadian Pacific Railway,—probably to run south-east from the Klondike district. The country that way has never been explored, though the surveyors are said to be at work. It is not stated whether the branch would run east or west of the Rocky Moun- tains. It would, judging from the map, be at least seven hundred miles in length. Canadian police have been sent over from the North-West Province ; but they went by way of the Behring Sea, Fort St. Michael, and the Yukon,—a route which is open for only three months in the year. There is a railway in Sweden which pene- trates within the Arctic Circle ; but is it worked in
the winter? The resources of invention are almost infinite but can we have steam-engines working at 20° below zero in the open ? The latitude of the gold districts is about 64'.. St. Petersburg is 600; but St. Petersburg is the highest point. of the Siberian Railway, which runs at a much lower latitude. It is fair to remember, however, that the South Alaskan climate is more wretched than cold, considering its latitude.
Giving ten years for alluvial gold, fifty more may be wanted to work the reefs. If men can keep warm in a wooden house, so, no doubt, can batteries and crushing machinery. During- that period we shall see a deeply interesting experiment in material civilisation ; after that the primeval silence. Canada may get some money and some population out of it, but the- new province must be but a temporary acquisition ; no new Australia can arise there. Gold, gold, nothing but gold: the life of miners and mushroom mining towns. It is not a good basis for civilisation; the spiritual side of life will not have much chance, though the gold may do it more harm than the cold. Even in Alaska the devoted Moravian, missionaries live and teach, and the rugged natives learn, to go to church and practise the Christian faith like any humble villagers at home. But Johannesburg is not very likely to become a centre of culture, nor will Dawson City. Civilisation runs round the two temperate rings of the- planet ; and gold, with its results, will in this case, like a. fever, run its course, and the Arctic regions revert to the
bears and foxes.—I am, Sir, &c., X.
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