Document 81: Prices from Alfred McMichael's Letters, March-June 1898
Diary and Letters of Alfred McMichael, Juliette Reinicker Papers, MSS 100, Acc. 79/68, Box 10,
Yukon Archives, Whitehorse,
Yukon Territory, Canada.
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Prices. Spring 1898.
First class passage, Seattle to Dyea: $35
Freight: 10 cents per pound; $10 per ton
Seattle rooming house: $3 per week
Meals in Seattle restaurants: 25 cents
Dogs: $5-$7
At Dyea:
Freight carried to Sheep's Camp, 1 3/4 cents per pound.
Freight to the summit: about 5 cents per pound.
Bunk: 50 cents.
Good meal: 25 cents.
Hay: $50 per ton.
Flour: $2.75 for 50 pounds.
Eggs: 35 cents a dozen.
Whiskey: 25 cents a drink.
At the Chilkoot Pass:
One man's Costs: Packing $20;
Tax on border, $7.73.
Lake Bennett: Boats, $175 to $200
Bennett City Hotel: 50 cents (sleep on floor)
Meals: $4.00 each
Shave: 50 cents
Tools: plane, 50 cents; square, $3; file, 50 cents
Miner's License: $10
Sugar: 27 cents a pound.
Beans: 18 cents a pound.
Butter: 50 cents a pound.
Dawson City
Oranges: $6 a dozen
Eggs: $3 a dozen
Flour: $6-$8 per sack.
Drinks: $1.
Bananas: $1 each.
—Alfred (Mac) McMichael left Detroit in March 1898 for Seattle, and then went north by the Dyea Trail, ending up at Fourth of July Creek in Alaska. He wrote regular letters home to close friends and their children.