Yakima Horses Marching to the Klondike — 150 Bought for the Ice
A Seattle-led expedition buys up 275 horses and 100 oxen, 150 of them through Coffin Bros. in North Yakima, to freight supplies overland to the ice-bound Yukon this winter.
The South African Development Company is back of a movement now well under way to operate a line of pack animals into the Yukon basin through the winter. Coming from the remotest port of the other side of the world, this company proposes to make a fortune in a colossal venture which, if successful, will solve the question of supplies this winter for the miners of the interior of ice-bound Alaska.
O. H. Holcomb, a dealer with headquarters at Seattle, and who is known to horsemen all over the Northwest, is securing for this company 275 horses and 100 head of oxen. Mr. Holcomb left Monday evening for North Yakima, where 150 head have been bought through Coffin Bros., and will be at once shipped over. Fifty of the oxen have also been secured. The bark Colorado has been chartered by the company and will start the 15th with the horses and cattle.
Each animal will draw a sled and convey about 250 pounds of freight. They will be provided with canvas covering and fitted with snowshoes. Grain will be taken along for their feed. The primary object of the expedition is to furnish supplies to the mining settlements of the Yukon. Secondarily, the company proposes to establish headquarters at Fort Selkirk, Alaska, and outfit miners complete with provisions and pack animals. They anticipate making big money out of the proposition.
“Each animal will draw a sled and convey about 250 pounds of freight.”
When gold was struck in the Klondike, Yakima's livery barns and stock dealers became a link in a continental supply chain overnight. A single out-of-town buyer could clear out 150 head of horses in a week — a windfall that also drove up local prices and emptied the valley of working stock. The same pattern repeats today whenever a distant boom pulls trucks, timber or labour out of Central Washington.
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