A letter has been received from George McLeod, one of the members of the Winnipeg party of gold hunters that left here recently for the Yukon.  He wrote from Lake Lindeman under date of July 4, and states that the party expected to leave on the journey from the river a week later.  They had a fine boat, with a freight capacity of two tons about completed.  The real work of the expedition started when the small steamer which conveyed the party from Juneau arrived at Dyea.  The men had to transfer their goods to a lighter one mile from shore, each man looking after his own packages.  After getting everything ashore the party was organized for ascent of the mountain pass, which at the hardest point is 3,000 feet above sea level.  McLeod and his chum, to save time and money too, engaged 35 Indians to pack their supplies over the mountains, but they had to carry their own bedding and grub to keep them on the road.  It is fifteen miles to the summit of the pass and the party made twelve miles the first day, going into camp at night tired from climbing over rocks, stumps, logs and hills, working through rivers and creeks and pushing their way through brush.  At the end of twelve miles they thought they had gone fifty.  On the second day out they began to scale the summit of the mountain.  Hill after hill confronted them, each one being steeper than the last.  There was snow on the top of the mountain, and rain was falling, and this added greatly to the difficulties of the ascent.  In many places the men had to crawl on their hands and knees, so precipitous was the mountain side.  Time after time the men would slip back several inches, but they recovered themselves and went at it again.

Finally, the summit was gained, McLeod being the first of the party to reach the top.  After resting and changing their clothes the descent was commenced.  McLeod and his chums purchased sleighs, on which they loaded their goods and hauled for five miles.  This was extremely laborious work, and the men were so used up working in the scorching sun that they were compelled to work at nights and sleep during the day.  Two days after the descent began the sleighs were abandoned, and the men packed the goods for three miles and a half.  They were fortunate in securing the services of a man who had two horses to convey the goods to Lake Lindeman.

McLeod says the worry in getting over the pass is terrible, and he has no desire to repeat the experience.  He advises all who go in to have their goods packed all the way from Dyea to Lake Lindeman.  It costs 17 or 18 cents per pound for packing.

McLeod expected that Klondyke would not be reached before July 25.

I think it specially valuable for the reader to give him the approximate distances to Fort Cudahy, which is below Dawson City via the various routes.

This table of distances has been prepared by Mr. James Ogilvie, and I also give a number of his notes which will be of great value to the traveller when making the trip from Juneau to Dawson City.