Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

138 HISTORY OF THE BANKfor receiving the royalties on gold mined in that district.Having already acquired some slight knowledge of the conditionswhich would confront it, the bank consented, and as soonas it was assured of being appointed to represent the DominionGovernment for these purposes, preparations for the expeditionwere begun.Naturally these preparations occupied several months.There were many details to be considered, and the novelty ofthe situation added to the difficulty of dealingwith it. Protectionfrom violence was considered as being of the firstimportance, and for this reason it was arranged that the bank'sbuilding should be situated within the government compound.As it afterwards turned out, this precaution proved unnecessary,for thanks to that splendid force, the Royal North-West Mounted Police, law and order ruled not only in Dawsonbut over the whole of the Canadian trail from theCity itself,Chilkoot and White Passes, and this despite the difficult natureof the country and the bad elements invariably found in suchan immense and sudden influx of people.The selection of the staff for the bank's expedition wasone of the matters to which much attention was devoted. Itwas decided that the men to be sent must possess, in addition toa sound and athletic physique, certain qualifications of ageand experience; as a matter of fact, the youngest member ofthe expedition was twenty-seven. At this time "Klondike"was a word to conjure with, and volunteers were not lacking.It was decided that the first party should enter the Yukonearly in the spring of 1898 by way of either the Chilkoot or theWhite1Pass, and should be followed in the early summer bya second and smaller expedition, which would take the mainsupplies for the branch, and travel, by way of Seattle, toSt. Michael on the Bering Sea and thence by steamer up theriver Yukon for 1,600 miles to Dawson City.It was necessary that some members of the staff of thebranch should acquire certain technical qualifications to enableM3ee plate 21, facing page 142.