Alaska and the Klondike gold fields ... Practical instructions for fortune seekers ...

Front matter

Class Book.

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CTOPSRIGHT DEPOSIR

Preface

KLONDIKE is the magic word that is thrilling the whole country. It stands for millions of gold and great fortunes for hundreds of miners, who have risen from poverty to affluence in the brief period of a few months. Thousands are reading of fortunes made in the Klondike Gold Fields, and thousands of others are turning their longing eyes toward the new El Dorado.

The old Spanish dreams of a wonderful realm somewhere in the Western Continent, made of gold and precious stones, seem almost on the point of being realized. Not since 1849, when the marvellous discoveries of gold were made in California, has there been such excitement among all classes of people.

Everybody wants to know the real facts concerning the new discoveries. On every hand there is an eagerness for the most reliable information, which is furnished by this new and comprehensive work, containing a full description of Alaska and the Gold Regions. The author writes from personal experience and observation, as he has been an eye-witness of the scenes, incidents and facts which he describes and narrates.

The work gives a complete account of the rise of the gold fever, the excitement produced by the news of unlimited deposits of the precious metal ; the rush of miners seeking fortunes at Klondike ; hasty preparations for the long and perilous journey ; and the formation of companies eager to take possession of the region abounding in untold wealth. The thousands of prospectors hurrying to the Gold Fields give us a picture of the rush to California when the discoveries of gold were made in that State in 1849.

iv PREFACE.

How to get there is a question fully answered in this volume. The different routes are described, together with the best modes of transportation. This work tells you what is required for the trip ; the clothing, food and implements that are needed ; the hardships and dangers to be encountered ; the difficulties arising from extreme cold in winter, and all the trying experiences awaiting the gold-seekers.

Alaska is a land of wonders. It is a vast region and one of the least known, yet one of the most remarkable countries in the whole world. Its history is fully related ; its purchase by our Government from Russia; its slow development and its peculiar characteristics. It has vast tracts of primeval forests ; mountains of awful sublimity ; rivers that rival the largest in other parts of the world ; Arctic snows and summer foliage and flowers ; deep canons and grand water-falls ; solitudes peopled only by polar bears and other fur-bearing animals ; and weird scenes that startle the beholder and fill him with awe.

These are all vividly described, together with the towns and settlements ; the appearance, habits and customs of the native inhabitants ; the climate in different parts of the country, and the progress of civilization up to the present time The mineral resources and wealth of Alaska are fully treated, showing it to be a country rich in natural products. Its important fisheries and possibilities for agriculture are all set forth, together with its industries, including its famous traffic in seals.

How to mine for gold is a subject on which the information is most complete and valuable. The reader follows the miners to their camps ; learns the process by which they extract the precious metal from the recesses where it is stored ; how it is separated from the ore ; what machinery is employed, and what are the most successful methods for obtaining the coveted prize.

Chapter I. Land Of The Argonauts

A Country Frozen by the Lapse of Time — Discovery of Gold Not New — News is Flashed Over the World and Creates a Furore — Old Diggings are Soon Abandoned — Effect of the Find on the People of the United States and on the Money Centres of the World — Region which may Properly be called the Land of Geld once Thought so Worthless the Russians Offered to Give it Away for Nothing — Testimony as to the Richness of the Deposits — The Popular Demand for Information as to the Country, its Inhabitants, Scenery, Resources and the Like — Camp Life and Experiences . . 17

Chapter II. Spread Of The Klondike Fever

Arrival of the Portland with more than a Ton of Gold on Board — Miners Tell of their Marvelous Strikes — Gold and the Aborigines — First Great Gold Craze — Prospecting in Early Days — Rich Gold Discovery on Bonanza Creek — Argonauts Flock to the Steamers — Scenes at the Wharves — Companies Formed in Response to the Rush — Millions of Money and Thousands of Men — Craze in Wall Street — Royalty Affected — Money in Grub-stakes— Joaquin Miller Under Way — " Lucky " Baldwin After Mother Lode — Bright and Dark Sides of Story 33

Chapter III. "strike It Rich" On Klondike

Gold-seekers who " Made their Pile " in the Placers — Tales Brought Back by Returning Argonauts — Fabulous Stakes made by Novices — The "Tenderfoot " Has His Day — Clarence J. Berry, the " Barney Barnato " of the Diggings — His Wonderful Streak of Luck — Gives the Credit to His Wife — Captain McGregor's Wonderful Panning Results — Fortune Favors an Indiana Boy — Some of the Dark Sides, by People who Saw Them — Miners Go Insane— Death on the Glacier — Hard Work and Lack of Supplies — Advice of a California Pioneer 75 vi CONTENTS.

Chapter IV. How To Get There

Main Routes to the Klondike — By Water and Land — Voyage via St. Michael's — Trip Up the Yukon — Choice of Trails via Juneau and Dyea— In by Chilkoot Pass— Over the Chilkat— The White Pass Route — Lieutenant Schwatka's Trail via Taku — By Way of Fort Wrangel and Lake Teslin — Railroads Suggested — The ' ' Back Door ' ' Route — Up the Copper River — By Moose Factory and Chesterfield Inlet — Other Trails — Telegraph and Telephone — Postal Service — Outfits for Miners — List of Necessaries , , 129

Chapter V. A Land Of Wonders

Land of the Midnight Sun — Great Distances — Primitive Conveyances — Terrors of the Arctic Regions — World of Wonders — Dangers of Travel — A Great Glacier — A Frozen Cataract — Beautiful Scenery — Rush of Torrents — Marvelous Sunsets — Great Yukon River — Canon of Lewis River — Dominion of the Frost King — Towering Volcanoes — The Winter Moon — A Country of Romance — Totem Poles — Salmon Fisheries — Vast Solitudes — The Alaskan Natives. . 182

Chapter VI. Women At The Mines

Schemes for Obtaining Wealth — Mrs. Gage and Mrs. Schwatka in the Frozen North — The Mosquito Pest — Juneau and the Lynn Canal — Climbing the Mountains — Difficulties of Mining — Scarcity of Game — The Scurvy Terror — Morals of Klondike Mining Camps — Female Enterprise — Scarcity of Amusements — Sisterhood of St. Anne — The Four-leaf Clover — Bridal Trip to Klondike — Romance of Joseph Ladue — Women's Klondike Syndicate — A Lucky Seamstress 210

Chapter VII. Poet Of The Sierras' Vision

Rushes off to the Diggings at the First Report — Mining in '49 — Goes in to Rough It — Carries His Own Pack,. Pick and Pan — Will Hunt

CONTENTS. vii

for a Good Job — Coming Back With Bed-rock Facts — Contradicts Some Horse Stories — Schemes of the Pioneers — Not a Pistol in the Crowd — One Way to Get Bear Meat— Recalls Other Big Strikes — On Mary Island — With Father Duncan's Flock — No Jail Nor Police at Metlakahtia — Hay on the Klondike — None Coming From Yukon — Frolic with Indian Children 245

Chapter VIII. History And Purchase Of Alaska

One of the Happiest Deals Ever Made by American Statesmen — Seward's Glory — His Prophecy on Retiring to Private Life Verified — Comparatively Few People in the Territory — Story of the Early Days of Russian Occupation — The First Massacre — Country Once Offered to the United States for Nothing — Appropriation for Money to Pay for the Tract Opposed by Congress Bitterly — Efforts to Provide Country with a Government — Interior containing Gold Fields once thought Worthless was Parceled Out in Thirds between as many Nations — Recent History 256

Chapter IX. Topography

Country of Vast Extent and Remarkable Features — Like an Ox's Head Inverted — Yukon District Described as a Great Moorland — Its Archipelago a Wonderland of Immense Mountain Peaks — Legends of the Indians are Many — Tributes of Visitors to the Wilderness Magnificent Auroral Displays — The Reports Brought Back as to the Differences of Temperature — Mr. Weare Gives Some Interesting Information — Bitter Cold in the Region in Which the Mines are Located 281

Chapter X. Flora, Fauna And Climate

Agricultural Industries in Alaska — Vegetables and Small Fruits in the Southeastern Portion — Grasses and Fodder — Panorama of Blossoms in the Short Summer — Seasons in the Yukon Basin — Sea Otters and Fur Seals — Food Animals and Carnivorae — Moose and Caribou — Value of Pelts — Fish of the Territory — Salmon Canning and viii CONTENTS.

Salting — A Dog Fish Story — Birds of Alaska — Among the Cetaceans — Mosquitos and Gnats — Weather Bureau Report — Temperature at Klondike — Animals and Vegetation in British Columbia . . 295

Chapter XI. Industries And Industrial Development

Chief Occupations of the Natives and the Settlers — The Four Remarkable Seal Islands — How the Animals Have Been Ruthlessly Slaughtered — When the Fur is at Its Best— The Great Fishing Plants of the Country — Alaska the Home of the Salmon — Cod and Other Fish Abound — Trapping and Hunting on the Decline — Current Belief that the Outlook for Lumbering is Not Good — Probability that this Opinion may be Reversed by Later Discovery — Trees on the Islands — Agricultural Development one of the Great Needs at the Present Time — Land Simply Needs Tilling — Vegetables and Berries Grown in Quantities — Reports of Travelers 324

Chapter XII. Resources And Wealth

Record as a Fur Country — State of Development Twenty Years Ago — How the Golden Treasures were Discovered and Developed — Report of Geological Survey Expert Spurr — Professor Elliott's Review — Alaska Richer than Klondike — West of the Coast Range — Mint Director Preston's Views — United States Leads the World in Gold Production — From the Alaska Mining Record — Value of Yukon Gold — Cook's Inlet Diggings — Some Scattered Streaks — Experts in the Field — John W. Mackey Quoted — Other Mineral Resources — Canadian Report 349

Chapter XIII. Gold Mining In Alaska

Antiquity of Placer Mining — How Nature has Filled the Gravel with Gold — Selecting a Locality — Building a House — Out Prospecting — Thawing the Ground — How to Distinguish Gold from other Minerals

Pyrites, Mica, Black Sand — Mechanical Assay — Locating the

Claim— Local Customs— Commissioner Herrman's Digest— Getting Out the Gold— Mining in Winter— Work Along the Yukon — Sluic-

CONTENTS. ix

ing for Gold — Dry Placer Miners — Dredging for Gold — Old Miner's Advice — Gold-bearing Quartz — How Gold Came to Klondike — Banks and Banking 375

Chapter XIV. Resume Of Mining Laws

Law and Order — Fees for Mining — Rights of Miners — Quartz Mining — Surveys and Reservations — Voice of the Press — Penalties Imposed —Call for United States Troops — Size of Claims — Canadian Laws . 402

Chapter XV. Gold Crazes Of Other Days

Mining Excitements in Other Countries — Australia and South Africa lay the Old World under Tribute — Outbreaks of the Fever in America — Early Case in North Carolina — Stampede of '49 — "Pike's Peak or Bust " — Recollections of the Argonauts — The Rocky Belle Camp Craze — Rush to Stevens' Claim — Excitement About Tombstone — Placers in Baja, California — Harqua Hala Diggings — Randsburg and Its Boom — Comparisons with Klondike — What the Early Stampedes Cost in Cash and Life 422

Chapter XVI. Side-lights

Oddities and Freaks of the Klondike Craze — To the Gold Fields via Baloon — Bicycles for Argonauts — Swim or Slide — Fancy Stock in Dogs — Chopping Wood to Pay Passage — Grub-stakers and "Angels" — Schemes of Worn-out Prospectors — Clairvoyants as Gold-finders — Mining Stocks and Sharpers — Magic in the Name — Barber's Syndicate — Sleuths to the Yukon — Samples of Argonauts — Freaks of " Tenderfeet " — Bogus Bureaus — Hard Work to Keep Gold — Gamblers and Miners — Type of a Miner's Paper 440

Chapter XVII. Camp Life And Morals

Mining Towns in the Alaskan Wilderness Similar to Other Rude Communities, with such Peculiarities as are Born of Climatic and Topo-

CONTENTS.

graphical Features — All Have Their Social Amenities — The Bible and Shakespeare Appeal to the Literary Tastes of the Fortune Seekers — Watching of Property Early a Necessity — Sharpers Lose no Time in Getting in Their Work — Gamblers also Flock Toward the Yukon to Intercept the Returning Miners and Fleece Them — Whiskey Trade Flourishes in the Wilds 45S

Chapter XVIII. Domestic Life In The Wilds

Miners' Experiences not those of a mere Romantic Sojourn in the Wilderness — Absence of Conveniences and Comforts — The Older Towns Antiquated and. during the Gold Craze, Overcrowded — Graphic Pictures of Skaguay, Dawson City, Circle City, and Camp Lake Linderman — Hotel Project for the Territory that Promises to be the Means of Furnishing a Larger Quota of Comforts — Women's Influence on the Domestic Life — Some of Those Who Grace the Camps with their Presence, and the Particular Line of Work to which they Devote Themselves — Sisters of Mercy for the Sick and Dying, and Sisters of Cookery for the Well 465>

Chapter XIX. Ethnography

Census of Alaska — Russian Estimates of Population—Classification of the Indians — History of the Thlinkets — Characteristics Suggestive of Asiatic Origin — Savage Customs Largely Abandoned — Chilkats and their Traits — Hootzanoos and " Hoochinoo " — The Sitkans and Stickines — Among the Aleuts 478

Chapter XX. Native Religion And Traits

The Alaskan Indians a People of Curious Customs and Habits — Are Intelligent, Inventive, and Imitative — Are Adepts in the Vices of the White Men Who Visit Them — Are Natural-born Drunkards and Gamblers— Totem Poles Their Pride in the Olden Times — The Significance of these Barbaric Symbols of the People — Are Rich in Oral Traditions — The Theological and Cosmological Belief of the emg

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OFFICIAL MAP OF THE KLONDIKE AND YUKON REGION.

(United States Survey.)

CHAPTER I. Land of the Argonauts

A Country Frozen by the Lapse of Time — Discovery of Gold Not New — News is Flashed Over the World and Creates a Furore — Old Diggings are Soon Abandoned — Effect of the Find on the People of the United States and on the Money Centres of the World — Region which may Properly be called the Land of Gold once Thought so Worthless the Russians Offered to Give it Away for Nothing — Testimony as to the Richness of the Deposits — The Popular Demand for Information as to the Country, its Inhabitants, Scenery, Resources and the Like — Camp Life and Experiences.

ALASKA is the land of the Nineteenth Century Argonauts ; and the Golden Fleece hidden away among its snow-capped and glacier-clad mountains is not the pretty creation of mythological fame, but yellow nuggets which may be transformed into the coin of the realm. The vast territory into which these hardy soldiers of fortune penetrate is no less replete with wonders than the fabled land into which Jason is said to have led his band of adventurers.

There is this difference, however, between the frozen land of of the North and the fabled land of mythology. There is nothing conjectural about Alaska or its golden treasure. Jason led his band into an unknown country without the certain knowledge that the treasure he was seeking was there. The men and women who brave the perils of the wilderness to seek their fortunes in Alaska, go with a certainty that the treasure is there. It is a mere matter of finding it when once they have reached the fields.

What is more the Land of Gold, as we may properly term Alaska, has proved and will prove to tourist and prospector as rich in delights and marvels as the land which has come 2 17 down to us in legend. It seems to be a spot chosen by nature as a field of adventure. The person, therefore, who goes from the South to the Yukon Valley will be sure to find, even though disappointed in the quest for which primarily he went, enough of the beautiful and martelous to pay him for his trip.

Frozen by Lapse of Time.

And first a word about this land of bleakness and grandeur. Captain Butler, an English officer who crossed the great country some little time ago, writes in the most enthusiastic terms of its scenery, and one cannot do better than quote his picturesque words. Says he :

" Nature has here graven her image in such colossal characters that man seems to move slowly amid an ocean frozen rigid by the lapse of time — frozen into those things we call mountains, rivers and forests.

" Rivers whose single length roll twice 2,000 miles of shore line! Prairies over which a traveler can steer for weeks without resting his gaze on aught save the dim verge of the ever-shifting horizon ! Mountains rent by rivers, ice-topped, glacier seared, impassable ! Forests whose sombre pines darken a region half as large as Europe !

" In summer a land of sound ; a land echoed with the voices of birds ; the ripple of running water ; the mournful music of the waving pine branch ! In winter a land of silence ; its great rivers glimmering in the moonlight, wrapped in their shrouds of ice ; its still forests rising weird and spectral against the auroral lighted horizon ; its nights so still that the moving streamers across the northern skies seem to carry to the ear a sense of sound."

The land thus strikingly described has been deemed since early in 1887 the Eldorado where nature has apparently strewn her golden gifts most lavishly. It is to this land that thousands have wended their way in the hopes of wresting from their hidden beds enough of these treasures to lift them to opulence.

Not a New Discovery.

The knowledge of these gold fields in the North is not new. From early in the days of the Russian occupation it has been known that there were vast deposits of the precious metal in Alaska, practically under the Arctic Circle.

Year by year the gold fields have attracted adventurous fortune seekers, who have gone thither in ever-increasing numbers. Following the discovery of the rich deposits in the Klondike region, however, there has been an influx of people into these frozen wilds, such as has never been known before.

The first chance discovery was for a long time virtually held in secret, not intentionally, but because the lack of transit facilities made it difficult to get the news to civilized communities. When at length, however, the story of the find was brought south, and with the story was brought specimens of nuggets and gold dust which had been found, the news was put upon the wires and flashed through the length and breadth of the land, and the excitement caused gave every promise of a repetition of the memorable scenes which made Cariboo and Cassair famous a generation ago.

In New York, in Chicago, in London, in Paris, throughout the world, the attention alike of rich and poor, was directed to the marvelously rich, but almost wholly unknown wilds of Alaska. People talked of the days of '49 and devised a new slogan, "The days of '97." The rich immediately began to organize new companies and map out new enterprises, such as made fortunes for thousands in days of other gold excitements ; and multitudes of the poor, dissatisfied with their opportunities

!0

LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS.

in districts longer settled and better improved, made haste to provide their outfits and take passage to the Yukon.

In former days it was " Pike's Peak or Bust." Now the watch-word became "On to the Klondike."

In the gold mining regions of Alaska there were, in 1893, not more than about 300 miners all told. This number was doubled practically the following year. Owing to the glowing reports of successful operators, the number of miners attracted by 1S95 was 3000. Probably twice that number of miners and prospectors invaded the country in 1 896.

In 1897 came this furor that caused the Klondike district to rank with the great historical gold fields of the world. This year witnessed the greatest influx of people into the territory on record, and there was every prospect that the year following would see the number quadrupled, possible many times over.

Old Diggings Abandoned.

And in the excess of enthusiasm and the wild hurrah raised when the new fields on the Klondike were discovered the old diggings were virtually abandoned. For ten years, at least, men worked placers in the Yukon district. Leaving Juneau early in the spring, they went out over the Chilkoot Pass and down the little chain of lakes on the other side, making long portages, it is true, and enduring some hardships, to the Yukon River. They returned to Juneau in the fall, year after year, bringing with them from $2000 to $3500 each in gold dust, the product of the summer's work.

But they were improvident, these men who won gold from the beds of rivers, and when the spring came they were stranded financially, many of them without a grub-stake, but they " won out " some way and got back again to return — unless they had crossed the divide forever — and repeated the same old story of excess and extravagance.

They never grew money wise, these grizzled veterans of the rocker, the gold pan, the pick and the shovel, but after all they are of God's people.

Quartz lodes were worked in ten or more districts, some of which are large and contain many district claims. The ten districts referred to are as follows : Sheep Creek region, which yields ore containing silver, gold and other metals ; Salmon Creek, near Juneau, silver and gold ; Silver Bow Basin, mainly gold ; Douglas Island, mainly gold ; Fuhter Bay, on Admiralty Island, mainly gold ; the Silver Bay mining district, near Sitka, gold and silver ; Besner's Bay, in Lynn Canal, mainly gold ;

Fish River mining district, on Norton Sound ; Unga district and Lemon Creek.

But the furor over Klondike brought revolution. A change came over the spirit of the miners' dreams.

This country has been seized with the gold fever many times in the last half century, but never since yellow deposits were discovered in the Sacramento Valley was there such universal interest as was displayed over the discovery of gold on the Yukon and the Klondike. In many districts men and women talked of nothing else than of the new find. They were enthusiastic beyond bounds.

Experienced miners who had spent years in Alaska came to the front with words of caution and advice to let these enthusiasts know that the road to wealth in the Alaskan gold fields was even more beset with hardships in the way of cold, hunger and toil than the fields to which they were accustomed, and with which they had become dissatisfied. The friendly counsel, however, was disregarded. The one cry was " On to the Klondike," and one and all were apparently seized with the mad fever to leave civilization and seek wealth in the wilds.

Made His Blood Boil.

" What makes my blood run faster in my veins is to think that I have walked all over that gold and that now others are digging it. It prevents me from sleeping at night.

The speaker was Francois Mercier, a resident of Montreal, who can claim the honor of having been one of the first band of hardy pioneers who raised the American flag over the now celebrated gold fields of Alaska, and who spent seventeen winters in that desolate country.

Thousands besides Mercier found it difficult to sleep, and Alaska suddenly arose from an obscure district, which had often been called the " back dooryard of the United States," into the most talked of region of America. People then began to learn something of the history, the resources, the climate and the future of the country.

They were surprised to find that this vast territory, which was purchased in 1867 by Secretary Seward for half a cent an acre, had already paid $103,000,000. This was the returns of thirty years on an investment of $7,200,000. This enormous sum they then learned had been derived from furs, herring, salmon, cod, ivory, whalebone and gold. Gold, of course, was the most interesting item.

They found at the time of the last census the United States had taken out $76,000,000 in the precious metal. They found that since then the mines of the country had enriched the world's gold supply by about $27,000,000.

Came Like a Whirlwind.

It is no wonder, therefore, that the discovery of gold in the Yukon region should have come like a whirlwind among the people and that there should have been such an exodus from the southern States to the frozen regions of the North. The figures that came to light then about the Alaskan territory were giant figures, but they were the exact truth.

From the days when the Czar of Russia, in his zeal for discovery, sent his minions to find the fabled land of Vasco da Gama to the time of the discovery, the regions lying under the Arctic Circle had wooed but few, and those few were those who had drifted thither from adjacent territory. The real settlement of Alaska may, in a sense, be called the influx of people that resulted from the excitement incident to the discovery of gold on the Klondike.

It was an easy matter to compute what had come to the

United States from Alaska up to that time, but it was then said throughout the land, and in thousands of organs, that the sum which would be added to the world's wealth within a few years by this territory passed all surmise. Thus hope fanned conjecture and desire. The wealth to be expected was thought to be a pile of money as mountainous and as sublime as the country itself.

It is of interest to note in this connection that this territory of Alaska which was then declared to be the world's storehouse of gold, was once offered to the United States by the Emperor Nicholas, of Russia, for nothing, if our government would merely pay for the transfer papers and agree by thus accepting the gift from Russia to bar England from coast territory on the Pacific. It is also of interest to note that almost similar propositions were repeatedly made, for the simple reason that no one suspected that enormous wealth lay hidden under the snows of this Arctic region.

Precaution of the Russians.

More properly speaking, some did suspect the existence of the boundless treasure. But those who did, discretely kept it to themselves, so that the news did not reach the people who might have profited by it.

It is a singular fact that the existence of gold in quantities along the tributaries of the Yukon was known to a few men a century and a half ago. The truth has been held back by the fur trading companies. They were not after minerals, and they feared the ruin of their industry, which was in itself a gold mine. Trappers, explorers, and men who lived with the Indians were forbidden to tell what they knew on pain of death.

The Russia Fur Company did summarily shoot one man who grew excited with drink and blabbed. That death is still remembered in Alaska, having been passed from mouth to mouth, as is the manner of unlettered peoples. Other fur companies have done nothing to develop the country and have kept their lips sealed. They foresaw the effect of a torrent of immigration. Such things cannot be hidden, however. The secret is out at last.

No, such things cannot be kept hidden. They came out, and the world had the secret as soon as the first ship from the North reached Seattle with the men who had "struck it rich," and brought back with them evidence of their good luck in the shape of gold dust and nuggets.

Then a state of affairs resulted comparable with the days of '49. It was said that the world's richest deposit of gold had been discovered. To the average man in the coast States, who had been nurtured virtually on stories of vast fortunes easily made in California, this news was not more acceptable than exciting.

It was true that the Yukon region was 2000 miles away, across a trackless desert, over snow-bound mountains, and through passes beset with dangers. But the fabulous tales of wealth that were brought south made the distance and the danger practically sink into insignificance and stimulated all with a desire to brave the unknown and investigate for themselves the great mineral belt in the Klondike region.

Evidence of Authorities.

This popular excitement was backed up by the testimony of men competent to speak of the country and its resources. They declared unqualifiedly that the gold districts on the Yukon and Klondike were but a speck in the gold territory of Alaska. They said that the placer mining which had resulted in such wealth thus far, was but an indication of the larger wealth to be acquired by a different process of mining.