From The Klondike

A Washtenaw Boy Writes to His Friends of That Country. Wm. Schatz, of Chelsea, has sent us the following letter from his brother Herman Schatz, who is now in the Klondike. It will be read with interest by friends of himself and family in this vicinity. The letter was written to his brother Henry Schatz, of Seattle, Wash. : Dawson City, Nov. 27, 1897. Dear Brother, - As there is a man who is a friend of mine going to leave the Klondike today for Seattle and I have a chance to send a letter to you by him I will write a few lines to you. I reahed Dawson City all right and that is saying a good deal, for I hardly expected to get here this fall. I have not much time to write, bat when I write again I can tell more about the country and the work, but at present I do not know very much about it myself as I have not been here long enough yet. It was very cold when we left Lake Bennet as the lakes were freezing and we got there just in time. Lake Bennet is the most dangerous place along the whole trail. When we were about 60 miles from Dawson City there was so much ice in the river that we had to break it as it came up against our boat in order to get through. It was a most dangerous way to travel but we were bound to get through. When we got ready to land we could not get to the shore but we managed to throw out a rope and there were men there who caught it and pulled our boat ashore for us. A few days later the river froze up and it is now 25 degrees below zero. We have not made up our minds yet what we will do, but I think we will go up the creek and try our luck and stake out a claim, One of our party had a lay (a piece of land) given to him if he would give the owner half of the profits. The rest of us could have had the same chance but we were afraid to risk it as there might not be anything in it and we did not want to work all winter for nothing. I met a friend of mine the other day and he did not know me because my whiskers are so long, but they are a good face protector here, for this country is a fright to see. Provisions are very scarce, flour having sold for $100 a sack and even at that price there is no more to be had, for the stores have sold all their supplies and closed their doors. So all the provisions are on the steamers 400 miles from here and they are not able to get here with their supplies. There are a good many men who will have to leave or starve before spr ng and that is the reason the man who brings this letter is leaving, because he had no food. I read in the Seattle papers of a strike on the Stewart river hut we stopped there and there was no strike, the Seattle papers are a fake. The last letter I wrote to you when I was on the trail cost me $1.50 to send it. When yon answer this write two or three letters and perhaps I will get one of them. Your brother, HERMAN.