Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

156 HISTORY OF THE BANKwent ahead in the canoe. Several outsiders from Ottawa andToronto and one man from South Africa, known to the membersof the staff, were also on the scow, but none save the officersof the bank knew where the currency was stored, although thepackages were purposely kept in sight at all times. The manfrom South Africa bore bankers' credentials to the officers of thebank, but subsequently spent a long term in Dawson prisonfor the thoroughgoing rogue that he was. The packages containingthe money were alluded to as stationery, and the rulewas that two members of the staff should always remain onguard over them.It was estimated by the bank's officers that on Lake Bennettthe day they started there were about a thousand boats andscows, each carrying from two to a dozen passengers. As faras the eye could reach were craft of every kind and description,propelled by sails, blankets, carpets, or anything handy thatcould be used for the purpose. The winds were favourable,everyone was in a happy mood, and most of the travellerswere singing. As already intimated, many of these boats hadbeen built by men who had never even examined a boatclosely before, and in too many cases they proved nothing butcoffins for their owners. The number of lives lost in that epicrush for the gold-fields will never be known. The waters tobe travelled over were, of course, those already described.The bank's scow ran the Whitehorse Rapids in charge of anexperienced pilot, thanks to the ubiquitous Mounted Police,who insisted on the taking of proper precautions at this point.The pilot's fee was $100. The police also insisted on having5,400 Ibs. of freight unloaded here, to be transported to the footof the rapids at a cost of three cents a pound by a tramway justcompleted. The currency was carried by the same tramwayunder guard of the bank's own officers. At times considerabletrouble was occasioned by the grounding of the scow, andafter one or two such occurrences the rule was for all handsto jump into the water and keep the scow moving by pushingit with their shoulders. In this way they had only once on