up from Seattle returned
with $115,000, and that a man from Fresno, who had failed as a farmer,
had secured $135,000.

The gold fever set in with fury and attacked all classes. Men in good
positions, with plenty of money to spend on an outfit, and men with
little beyond the amount of their fare, country men and city men, clerks
and professional men without the faintest notion of the meaning of
"roughing it," flocked in impossible numbers to secure a passage. There
were no means of taking them. Even in distant New York, the offices of
railroad companies and local agencies were besieged by anxious
inquirers eager to join the throng. On Puget Sound, mills, factories,
and smelting works were deserted by their employees, and all the miners
on the upper Skeena left their work in a body. On July 21 the North
American Transportation Company (one of two companies which monopolized
the trade of the Yukon) was reincorporated in Chicago with a quadrupled
capital, to cope with the demands of traffic. At the different Pacific
ports every available vessel was pressed into the service, and still the
wild rush could not be met. Before the end of July the _Portland_ left
Seattle again for St. Michael's, and the _Mexico_ and _Topeka_ for Dyea;
the _Islander_ and _Tees_ sailed for Dyea from Victoria, and the _G. W.
Elder_ from Portland; while from San Francisco the _Excelsior_, of the
Alaska Company, which had brought the first gold down, left again for
St. Michael's on July 28, being the last of the company's fleet
scheduled to connect with the Yukon river boats for the season. Three
times the original price was offered for the passage, and one passenger
accepted an offer of $1,500 for the ticket for which he had paid only
$150.

This, however, was only the beginning of the rush. Three more steamers
were announced to sail in August for the mouth of the Yukon, and at
least a dozen more for the Lynn Canal, among which were old tubs, which,
after being tied up for years, were now overhauled and refitted for the
voyage north. One of these was the _Williamette_, an old collier with
only sleeping quarters for the officers and crew, which, however, was
fitted up with bunks and left Seattle for Dyea and Skagway with 850
passengers, 1,200 tons of freight, and 300 horses, men, live stock, and
freight being wedged between decks till the atmosphere was like that of
a dungeon; and even with such a prospect in view, it was only by a
lavish amount of