In richest Alaska and the gold fields of the Klondike; how they were found ... together with a history of this wonderful land from its discovery to the present day ... and practical information for gold seekers

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Introduction

When one of Baronov's Slavonian hunters stood before him in the privacy of a special meeting at Sitka, in 1804, and took out from his pocket a handful of golden nuggets and scales, saying as he did so that he knew where there was "plenty more," the old Russian Governor chilled him with a fierce gesture of disgust, then said to him : "Ivan, I forbid you to go farther in this undertaking; not a word about this, or we are all undone; let the Americans and the Englishmen, know that we have gold in these mountains, then we are ruined; they will rush in on us by thousands, and crowd us to the wall — to the death."

Baronov was right as a Russian fur-trader; he knew that word of Ivan's discovery, if given voice, would bring that scourge of fur-bearing districts, the miner, into the very depths of Russian America instantly, and so he suppressed the news ; he and his successor also, suppressed it well.

But the successors of Baronov were not his equal in moneymaking as fur-traders and managers; they ran into debt, and these debts of the Russian American Company induced the Imperial Government to part with Alaska to the United States of America in 1867. The Russian authorities turned Alaska over to us with a good word for its furs and fisheries, and nothing else.

iii

IV

INTRODUCTION.

Thousands of our people went up to investigate the natural resources of Alaska in 1867-70; they found the fisheries and the fur seals very quickly, but they were disappointed in the profitable search then for precious metals and coal ; the timber and growing of useful crops were disappointments too.

Matters quieted down to a common understanding that there was no particular mineral wealth in Alaska until the great Treadwell mine was opened late in the "seventies," and the mining camp and town of Juneau became firmly established early in the "eighties;" since then the opening of one mining camp after another has steadily progressed until to-day hardy men are busy digging for gold throughout the length and breadth of Alaska.

The man who "prospects" for gold in Alaska has an infinitely more difficult task than he has in California or any of the mining districts of the Rocky Mountain States. In the Alaskan country moss, or "sphagnum," and lichens rankly grow all over the earth and rocks of the great interior, so as to completely conceal the character of it, while the strange, luxuriant growths of shrubs and ferns, grasses and vines completely cover, up to the mountain snows, the entire surface outcrop of rocks and soil of the Alaskan coast line between our foot of the "30-mile strip" at Fort Simpson, up to the confines of Cook's Inlet.

Searching, therefore, for indications of valuable "mineral" in Alaska is tedious, and success is purely accidental — necessarily so, for every foot of new territory must be uncovered before the least indication of what it really is can be secured.

No ranches Or farms up there where the tired and hungry prospector can refit with food at any season of the year, as he can in the States; he encounters there a climate that chains him to

INTRODUCTION. v

one place, wherever he may be, when inland, from November till the next June following.

But man possesses an elastic physical organization, and there is nothing in the country of Alaska, or in its weather, that will successfully bar him out from thoroughly developing its mineral wealth wherever it is found within the broad area of that region. Life in its borders, and especially in the great interior, is disagreeable when contrasted with existence on the gold fields of California; but that will count for nothing in the minds of men, who, seeking for gold, find it in Alaska: because, rough and unpleasant as country and climate on the Yukon and its tributaries make the life of a miner, yet it is a healthy air he breathes, and he is not troubled with sickness of any unusual form. Mosquitoes in the summer, of venomous energy, and intense dry cold of the winter within the Yukon interior do not destroy him, though they do annoy and retard his progress.

Broadly speaking, yet entirely correct, Alaska possesses three distinct zones, the Sitkan and Cook's Inlet district, the Aleutian Island and Peninsular district, and the Great Interior or Yukon region. Gold has been found in all of them, but chiefly in the first and last named districts; it is the climate peculiar to these districts that separates and defines them sharply, not the land as viewed with regard to itself, but rather the lay of the land with reference to the ocean. The Sitkan and Aleutian regions get the warmer influence of ocean currents setting north in the great Pacific, so as to greatly modify those degrees of cold in winter and heat in summer that prevail in the Yukon region. But this modification in climate does not give those regions any agricultural or pastoral possibilities even — not an acre of the cereals ever

V J INTRODUCTION.

ripened in Alaska or ever will, as climatic conditions prevail.

So, it is a country in its length and breadth which I described in detail, twenty years ago, using the following summary :

"In view of the foregoing what shall we say of the resources of Alaska viewed as regards its agricultural or horticultural capabilities?

"It would seem undeniable that owing to the unfavorable climatic conditions which prevail on the coast and interior, the gloomy fogs and dampness of the former, and the intense protracted severity of the winters, characteristic of the latter, unfit the Territory for the proper support of any considerable civilization.

"Men may, and undoubtedly will, soon live here in comparative comfort, as they labor in mining camps, lumber and ship timber mills and salmon factories, but they will bring with them everything they want, except fish and game, and when they leave the country it will be as desolate as they found it.

"Can a country be permanently and prosperously settled that will not in its whole extent allow the successful growth and ripening of a single crop of corn, wheat, or potatoes, and where the most needful of any domestic animals cannot be kept by poor people?

"We may with pride refer to the rugged work of settlement so successfully made by our ancestors in New England, but it is idle to talk of the subjugation of Alaska as a task simply requiring a similar expedition of persistence, energy, and ability. In Massachusetts our forefathers had a land in which all the necessaries of life, and many of the luxuries, could be produced from the soil

INTRODUCTION. Vli

with certainty from year to year; in Alaska their lot would have been quite the reverse, and they could have maintained themselves there with no better success than the present inhabitants. Attention should be directed to the development of its mineral wealth, which I have reason to think will yet prove to be considerable, and efforts should be made to stimulate and protect the present available industries of the fur trade, the canning of salmon, etc."*

Twenty years of intelligent and active investigation by thousands of our people since the publication of this analysis has confirmed its truth beyond cavil or doubt. But the development of Alaskan mines and mining, and its salmon canneries, has practically ruined ihe fur trade — these industries cannot thrive side by side.

Alaskan mining for the precious metals is in its infancy: not one thousandth part of the mineral-bearing surface rock and soil of that region has yet been examined; that work is slow and tedious in so rugged a country, even for the hardiest and bestconditioned prospectors, and the success and the failure of these men will from this time forward be constantly in our sight.

Henry W. Elliot!*.

* A Report on the Condition of Affairs in the Territory of Alaska, by Henry W. Elliott, Washington, 1875 5 P a g es *8 and 19.

Contents

CHAPTER I. i

THE DISCOVERY OF THE KLONDIKE DIGGINGS.

PAGE The first news from the Klondike — Excitement in San Francisco on the arrival of the "Excelsior" — The glad news carried around the world — "On to the Klondike!" — Scenes along the wharves of Seattle — The golden treasures of the returned Argonauts — Some of the first citizens of Dawson City — The women of Bonanza and El Dorado Creeks — Some good claims and those who own them — " Pay dirt," and where it is to be found, ... 15

Chapter II. The Yukon River, Its Placer Fields And Their Discovery

Crater Lake — The Yukon, Alaska's gigantic inland highway — The great rivers of the world — River craft — The rival trading companies — Hudson Bay officials the first explorers — Gold bars on the Big Salmon — The first big strikes — The tented banks of the El Dorado and Bonanza — McCormick the original Klondiker — A buckskin bag and its story — The arms of the Yukon — Thawing and freezing at the diggings 30

Chapter III. Routes To The Alaskan Interior

Dyea the base of supply for overland travel — The Chilkoot Pass and Lake Lindeman trail — The Stick Indian packers — Boat-building on the lakes — Shooting Miles Canon, White Horse and Five-Finger or Rink Rapids — Stacking supplies by the way — The White and Chilkat Passes — Taku Inlet and Fort Macpherson routes — All the way to the Klondike by water ^Proposed railways to pierce the gold fields, 44

ix x CONTENTS.

Chapter IV. The Outfit Of An Argonaut

PAGE

The qualifications of a successful miner — One temptation of the gold-digger — Provisions for the journey to Dawson City — Camping outfit and cooking utensils — The tool chest of a Lake Lindeman boat-builder — What to wear in low temperatures — Supplies for a year's stay — Turnips by the pound — The Dawson City storekeeper's scale of prices — Reasons for lower prices — The custom houses at Dyea and Lake Bennett — A few pointers for prospective Alaskans, 79

Chapter V. The Mining Camps Of The Upper Yukon : Their Life And Laws

Phases of human existence in the ice-bound towns — Circle City as a base of supplies and the metropolis of the Yukon country — Fort Cudahy and the famous Forty-Mile Post — Dogs by the hundred — Homes without the vanities of civilized regions — Gambling with big stakes — Liquor traffic and its evils — The boom at Dawson City — Some strange things about the mail service — A small fortune spent in delivering each mail bag — Bottles of gold the legal tender — The Canadian mounted police, 95

Chapter VI. Placer Mining

Ancient and modern methods as applied to the Klondike fields — How the I riches are carried from mountain to gulch and plain — Pans, rockers, sluice-boxes, and other implements of the miner's craft — Watching for the yellow metal in the streams of muddy water — The wonders of hydraulic operations — Methods in vogue on the frozen gravels of Alaska — Opinions of experts on the present and future, 121

Chapter VII. Alaskan Quartz Mines And Mining

The location of gold deposits on the coast of the southeast — The Great Treadwell Mine on Douglass Island — The largest quartz mill in the world — Thousands of dollars a day from low-grade ores — Other mines of the section — The quartz veins of the Klonkike country — Large amounts of capital being gathered to work them — The rich promise of the future — The rules which the prospector must follow in his search for hidden treasure — Methods employed in working the golden veins — Processes of the rock-breaker, stamp-mill, and concentrator, 145

CONTENTS.

Chapter VIII. XI

THE MARKETING, SMELTING, ASSAYING, AND COINING OF GOLD.

PAGE What the miner does with the unrefined product of his stamp-mill and concentrator — Processes which the yellow metal must pass through before the world sees it as coin — The chlorination and cyanide operations — Acid baths to separate the baser metals from the treasure — The great smelting furnaces and their daily flood of riches — Among the ingots of pure gold at the mint — The assayer's difficult task — The world's output of gold in four hundred years 167

Chapter IX. Mining Laws Of The United States And Northwest Territories

Early laws on the Yukon — Gold and silver mines the property of kings — The establishment of a gold commissioner at Fort Cudahy — The newly promulgated Canadian mining regulations — Alternate claims reserved for the Crown — The levying of royalties — Chartering of companies in the Northwest Territories — Fees for incorporation — Application of the United States land laws to Alaska — The Mining Acts of 1866 and 1872 — The miners' meetings — Size and location of claims — The camp recorder and his fees, . 191

Chapter X. The Native Population

Dark-skinned people found by the miner in the frozen North — Eskimo, Athabascan, and Thlinget — Uncertainty about the origin of the Innuits — The language and customs of a curious race — Strange modes of life near the Arctic Circle — The mysteries of the Totem Pole — Dead houses of the Stick Indians — Miners of gold who knew the Klondike field long before the white man entered the land, 223

CHAPTER XL

RESOURCES OF ALASKA.

President Johnson's "ice-box" — Thirty-five years of Alaskan exports — Dense forests of spruce, cedar, and pine — United States Department of Agriculture's Experimental Station — Alaskan flora — Cranberries and other berries — Grain and grass growing — Bituminous coal — Marble — Big game of the interior — Bears the one-time terror of the Klondike — Foxes and other fur-coated animals — The deer and their threatened extinction — Salmon six feet deep — The cod banks — Whaling, 239

X JJ CONTENTS.

Chapter XII. Climatic Conditions

PAGE The wide difference between the climate of the coast and the interior — What

gold-seekers will find in the way of weather — Mean temperature at various points compared — Influence of the Pacific currents — The highest and lowest points of the mercury — The topography of the country — Grandeur of scenery on mountain and plain — Remarkable tides of the ocean, . . . 268

Chapter XIII. Civilized Alaska

The government, trade, and cities of the oldest parts of the Northern Territory — Settlements of the coast and how they are supported — The great salmon canneries — The strong hand of Uncle Sam — The Greek Church and its work among the natives — The capital and metropolis of the territory — What the intrepid missionaries have done for Alaska, ..... 283

Chapter XIV. Notes From Alaskan History

Vitus Bering, an emissary of Peter the Great — Discovery of Mount St. Elias — Fourteen lost sailors — Alexander Baranof and the inception of the Russian American Company — Spanish attempts to possess Alaska— Russian oppression and cruelty — An idyll of Baranof Castle — Purchase by the United States— A blood-stained flag— The naming of the territory— Military occupation and civil government — Governors past and present — Proposed legislation, * 3°3

Chapter XV. The Boundary Dispute

Two ends of the international dispute— Mt. St. Elias a settled point — The passage of 141st meridian through the gold fields — The Olney-Pauncefote treaty — The evidence of old time treaties — Behm or Portland canal ? — Canadian claims to territory administered by the United States

Changes in Canadian map — The removal of the Metlakatla Indians

from Canadian to United States territory— The possession of Juneau and Dyea 3 2 Q

CONTENTS. x {{[

Chapter XVI. The Pribylov, Or Fur Seal Islands Of Alaska

PAGE Chase of the sea otter — Pribylov's discovery — The Seal Island — Educating

the young — System of reproduction — Movements of seal herds — Male seals fighting — Killing bachelor seals — Shooting and spearing — Killing young males only — Blaine's plan — Blunders — Vain efforts at pension — The boundary question, 335

Chapter XVII. Reindeer In Alaska

Alaskan dogs must go — Introduction of reindeer by Rev. Dr. Sheldon Jackson — Both food and raiment — Purchasing station in Siberia — Distribution in Alaska — Fleet of foot and easily supported — Reindeer train service to the Klondike — Reindeer milk for Yukon babies — A Siberian moneymaker — Reindeer to harness — Character of the fur — Some figures on the reindeer industry in Finland, 352

Chapter XVIII. The Gold Finds Of History

Gold in the days of Abraham — Solomon's expeditions to Ophir — Edomites as Argonauts — Cortez in Mexico and Pizarro in Peru — Early attempts by the English to find gold in America — North Carolina an " El Dorado " — The Georgian " Intrusion " — The days of the Forty-niners — John Marshall and his end — Australian and Klondike nuggets compared — The Frazer River craze — The " Kaffer circus " — South African mines capitalized at $1,500,000,000 — Four hundred years of gold digging — The gold kings of

the world, 367

I

Chapter XIX. Bonanza Kings

Some of the famous princes of the gold-mining world — From poverty to sudden riches — The miners' cabins changed for great palaces and luxurious living — Great fortunes easily acquired and rapidly thrown away — Nuggets of pure gold picked up by chance — The best-known cases of finding lumps of the pure yellow treasure, ............. 405

X J V CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XX. Alaska's silent city

PAGE Auroral display during August— Awe-inspiring mirages — " Dick " Willoughby's

negative — A splendid business venture — Prince Luigi's vision — The most

famous mirage anywhere to be found — L. B. French's story of the Silent

City — How Willoughby made his find — A stone pile for a record vault —

President Jordan investigates — The scientific explanation of mirages —

When and where they occur, 450

Chapter XXI. The Glaciers

Wonders of the northern territory — The great ice fields — The formation and action of glaciers — What is known of the remarkable Malaspina glacier — Some freaks of nature which man studies with intense interest — Some mysteries in the frozen land which he cannot solve — The Muir, Guyot, Seward and other glaciers, , . 459

Chapter XXII. Hunting And Fishing

Wild country for the huntsman — Big game in the chasms and on the mountains

— Opportunities of the fishermen — Mallards and canvasback duck — Price „

of game in the Sitka market — Native Alaskans not sportsmen — Mosquitoes and the Bruians — Suicide rather than die by the attacks of insects — Nicholas Huley the hero of a fine bear story — Native huntsmen, .... 479

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

Sitka, Chief City of Alaska, 17

Steamer "Queen" and Muir Glacier, 36

' Street Scene in Dawson City, 53

Interior of Miner's Cabin, Dawson City, 53

1 Group of Indian Women and Pappoose, 72 /

. Miners En route to Klondike, 89 '

■ Chilkoot-Mountain Route to Mines, 108

Mount St. Elias and Muir Glacier, 108 \

Old Russian Block House, 125

Hydraulic Mining in Silver Bow Basin, Near Juneau, . . 144

Group of Miners and Indians, 161

Group of Klondike Gold Miners, 161

Miner's House and Native's Totem Pole, 180

Ten Thousand Seals, 197

Klondike Indian Curios, 216

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

Oldest House in Juneau, 233

Old Russian Stockade on the Yukon, 252

Indian Burying Ground, 269

Chilkoot Coat, 288

Shooting the Rapids En route to Klondike, '. 305

Entering the Rapids, Overland Route to the Mines, . 324

Passing the Miners Over the Chilkoot Pass, 341

Climbing the Mountain Over Chilkoot Pass, 360

Forty-Mile Creek, 365

Camping Out on the Chilkoot Mountain, 376

Bonanza Creek Valley, 381

Unloading Supplies for the Miners at Dawson City, . 388

Third House Built in Dawson City, 397

Steamer "Portus B. Weare" Ice Bound at Circle City, 404

Miner's Cabin on the Klondike, 409

Klondike Gold Mining, Showing Sluice, ......... 420

Saw Mill Owned by Jos. Ladue, 4 2 5

Juneau— Nearest City to Chilkoot Pass, 43 2

Placer Mining — Hydraulic System, 44 1

kodakers on the yukon, 44 8 s

JJ

Chapter I. The Discovery Of The Klondike Diggings

The first news from the Klondike — Excitement in San Francisco on the arrival of the " Excelsior" — The glad news carried around the world — "On to the Klondike!" — Scenes along the wharves of Seattle — The golden treasures of thereturned Argonauts — Some of the first citizens of Dawson City— The women of Bonanza and El Dorado Creeks— Some good claims and those who own them — " Pay dirt," and where it is to be found.

THROUGH the Golden Gate and into the beautiful waters of San Francisco Bay steamed the modest little craft "Excelsior" on the morning of July 14, 1897. No salvos of artillery marked her arrival, not a whistle in the harbor blew a "Welcome Home!" no dipping pennants indicated that a few hours later her name would be carried around the world and be on the lips of millions of people. As had happened many times before, the good ship made slowly to her wharf and ten minutes after she had made her hawsers fast the glad news of the gold-finds on the Yukon and the Klondike had been spread broadcast over the land, from ocean to ocean, from Texas to Maine, and before long had crossed the seas to other lands.

Such was the arrival in San Francisco of the forty hardy spirits who months, and some even years before, had gone out to the frozen lands of Alaska in the attempt to wrest fortune from the hands of fate, and who now returned triumphant, bearing with them their pots of precious gold. The stories they told, many * of them well j 5 THE GOLD CRAZE OF 1897.

authenticated, of fortunes made in a night, of nuggets of pure gold worth twenty double eagles, of single " pans " worth from $500 to $1000, of cities but a few months old, of rivers and lakes unknown to geography, of hardships and terrible sufferings and of the princely claims on the Bonanza and El Dorado — these and other stories like them flew over the land like fire over a parched prairie. The gold craze of the year of our Lord 1897 was begun !

HALF A MILLION IN GOLD.

This vanguard of fortune finders brought with them over a half million of dollars worth of gold. Not one of them carried less than $5000 and from this figure the amounts secured ran up to almost $90,000. Some of this wealth was in the shape of nuggets the size of hazel nuts and from this went down through various sizes to the proverbial dust. It was carried loose in pockets, in tin cans, in canvas bags, in wooden boxes and some of it wrapped up in paper.

Three days after the arrival of the "Excelsior," the country was again stirred up by the announcement that the " Portland," another ship engaged in the Alaskan trade, had put into Seattle fourteen days out from St. Michaels with another band of successful miners from the Klondike country. There were sixty in this party and they carried with them in native gold about $700,000. If the hamlets and cities of the United States were looking for confirmation of the stories flashed over the world earlier in the week, the arrival of the " Portland " afforded it. Immediately men, and some few women, of all sorts

RUSH TO THE GOLD FIELDS. jg

and conditions, representing - every trade and profession, from every State in the Union, those who had thriving businesses of their own and those who had none, high and low, rich and poor, weak and strong, venturesome and timid, those who had seen service in other mining countries and those absolutely without experience, began the rush toward Alaska and the rivers of promise. The scenes during the past weeks along the wharves of Seattle, San Francisco and other Pacific ports baffle description. So great at times has been the struggle for positions on boats going to the northern ports, that the passengers on the down trip have left the boats with difficulty on account of the press due to those seeking to take their places. The rush shows no sign of abatement and is likely to assume even greater proportions along toward the end of the next spring, when the passage to the gold fields by way of the Yukon River opens up.

FIRST WHITE WOMAN THERE.

Among the most fortunate of them who have thus far returned to this country bearing gold with them is Prof. J. S. Lippey, who was formerly connected with the Y. M. C. A. of Seattle, as its secretary. He brought down with him about $85,000 in bullion. His wife accompanied him all the while he was in Alaska, having been the first white woman to cross the great divide, and at the time she left she had the further distinction of being the only woman in camp. The Lippeys went to the Klondike from Forty Mile Creek, where there were quite a number of women. Mrs. Lippey is a small, brown.

25 Life itf the Klondike.

haired, brown-eyed woman, tanned until her face is as brown as her hair and her eyes. She has this to say about her experiences in Alaska :

"The country is beautiful, and quite warm in summer. It is different, you know, in winter. Still, even in the coldest weather, I went out every day, though not very far. I was the first white woman to reach Klondike Creek, and was the only one in our camp. Mrs. Berry was the only white woman I had to speak to while I was there. She was with her husband in the next camp, a mile away.

" How did we live? " repeated Mrs. Lippey, in answer to a question. "Well, at first we lived in a tent. It was twelve feet by eighteen, eight logs high, with mud and moss roof, and moss between the chinks, and had a door and window. Mr. Lippey made the furniture — a rough bed, table, and some stools. We had a stove — there are plenty of stoves in that country — and that was all we needed. The cabin was cosy and warm, I looked after the housekeeping and Mr. Lippey after the mining."

"As to eating," continued Mrs. Lippey, "well, we had no fresh meat, no fresh milk, no fresh fruit, no eggs ; it was all canned food, but still we kept in good health."

RETURN OF THE FORTUNATE.

William Stanley, formerly a blacksmith in Seattle, went to Alaska two years ago, and was among those who returned on the "Portland." He had with him $115,- 000 worth of gold, found on Bonanza Creek, about five miles above Dawson City.

SOME OF THE LUCKY ONES. 2 I

Henry Anderson, a Swede, who is well known in Seattle, came back with a good supply of gold dust and $45,000 he had received for half his claim on the Klondike.

Frank Keller, of Los Angeles, Cal., went to Alaska last year, and returned with $35,000 received for his claim.

William Sloat, a former dry goods merchant of Nainamo, B. C, has $52,000 received for his claim.

A fellow resident of Nainamo, named Wilkinson, sold his claim for $40,000.

Jack Home, a professional pugilist of Tacoma, was among the few who might be called unlucky. He brought back only $6000 worth of dust.

Frank Phiscator, of Baroda, Mich., has $96,000 worth of dust and nuggets. He was one of the first to go to the Klondike.

MILLIONS IN NUGGETS.

Joseph Ladue, who originally came from the rural districts in the vicinity of Binghamton, N. Y., and spent most of his life working about the farms of the neighborhood, was fortunate enough to have staked off the claim upon which most of the present city of Dawson is located. He had been in Alaska for five years, having spent most of his time, until the gold fever struck him, running a sawmill, out of which he claims to have made money, notwithstanding that labor was scarce at $15.

The luck of Clarence J. Berry, formerly a fruit raiser in Southern California, is the greatest thus far on record. He made a trip to the country around Forty Mile Creek

22 A THOUSAND OUNCES OF DUST.

a couple of years ago, but through lack of funds was unsuccessful. He returned to California and after marrying decided to return to the gold fields with his newlywedded wife, and it was a fortunate move for him. In five months he succeeded in removing $130,000 from one of his claims, of which sum he paid out about $20,000 in wages to his men. In the meantime, his wife worked a little claim of her own at odd moments and made about $10,000 out of it. The couple have returned to San Francisco, where Berry has received an offer of $2,000,- 000 for his Alaskan holding.

Robert Kooks brought back $14,000 in gold dust and $12,000 he received for his half interest in a claim. He has an interest in another claim, and intends to return after he has had rest and enjoyment.

J. B. Hollingshed, after two years spent in the diggings, can show $25,000 worth of dust, and still possesses a claim, to which he intends to return.

M. S. Norcross was one of those who were looked upon as unfortunate. He selected a claim but became ill and could not work it, so he was compelled to sell out for $10,000.

Thomas Flack has only $6000 worth of dust, but he has a claim at Klondike for which he has been offered $50,000. He intends to return to work it himself.

Con Stamatin returned with a third share of $33,000 worth of dust taken out in forty-five days' work.

PLENTY OF GOLD IN ALASKA.

"I brought down just 1000 ounces of dust and sold it to the smelting works," said William Kulju. " I sold my

PROSPECTING ON THE KLONDIKE. 23

claim for $25,000. When I went to Klondike last summer I had only a few dollars and a pack. Now I am going home to Finland, but I am coming back next year." ' John Marks, another of those who came down on the " Portland," had with him $1 1,500 in dust. In a conversation recently, he said: — "There is plenty of gold in Alaska, more, I believe, than the most sanguine imagine, but it cannot be obtained without great effort and endurance. The first thing for a poor man to do when he reaches the country is to begin prospecting. As snow is from two to five feet deep, prospecting is not easy. Snow must first be shoveled away, and then a fire built on the ground to melt the ice. As the ground thaws the shaft must be sunk until bed rock is reached. The average prospector has to sink a great many shafts before he reaches anything worth his while. If gold is found in sufficient quantities to pay for working, he may begin drifting from the shaft, and continue to do so as long as he finds enough gold to pay."