Many who live in Dawson in winter spend their summers in little cabins in the country or on the islands in the river. Some of them grow flowers and vegetables for the Dawson market in gardens along the river.
Though not many degrees south of the Arctic Circle, the official residence of the Commissioner of Yukon Territory has in summer green lawns, shade trees, and beds of flowers that thrive in the long hours of sunlight.
Dawson is so far north on the globe that some days in midsummer have only one hour of darkness. This photograph of Mr. Carpenter and a miner’s pet bear was taken after ten o’clock at night.
I heard last night of Jack McQuestion, who had a log cabin store at Forty Mile, a camp on the Yukon. One day a miner came in and asked for a needle. He was handed one and told that the price was seventy-five cents. The man took the needle between his thumb and finger, looked hard at it, and then said to McQuestion:
“Say, pard, ain’t you mistaken? Can’t you make it a bit cheaper? That’s an awful price for a needle.”
“No,” said the storekeeper, “I’d like to if I could, but great snakes, man, just think of the freight!”
Another story is told of a miner who wanted to buy some sulphur. The price asked was five dollars a pound.
“Why man,” said he, “I only paid five cents a pound for it in Seattle last month.”