thermometer to fall to 68 degrees below zero. The first winter we were there the thermometer rapidly fell to the last notch and stood there. It was frozen. We brought it inside the house, where it often indicated zero. However, with proper clothing, I prefer the winter to the summer weather. In the warm season the flies are a pest from which it is very hard for one to protect himself. But in winter the air is dry and still, and with the fur costume worn by the Eskimaux one need not suffer. In fact, I do not recall many accidents due to the cold. "As to the food, there is plenty of fish and game, and when the population was sparse it could be bought very cheap from the Indians. The king salmon, weighing from sixty toeighty pounds, could be bought in Map of Alaska, Showing Known Area of Gold-Producing Rock in 1896. Prepared by J. Edward Spurr of the United States Geological Survey. my time from the Indians for a couple of leaves of tobacco. The company's stores were always well stocked with provisions." Telegraph Line Coming.-San Francisco, Cal.-The Klondike is promised close communication with the rest of the world in a short time. A telegraph company has been incorporated which will get to work immediately, its promoter says, stringing the wires. The proposition is to construct telegraph lines which will connect Dyea with the town of Dawson, and branch lines connecting Dyca with Juneau and Dawson with Circle City. The estimated length of the proposed line is 10,000 miles. The plan of construction will be after the style of military systems used in war times. A wire a quarter of an inch thick covered with kerite insulation will be used. The wire will be laid along the ground instead of being stretched on poles. The company does not intend to have any telegraph communication south from Juneau unless some of the larger companies construct a line north from Puget sound. The Gold Streak is anywhere from 8 to 30 feet from surface and is reached by sinking a shaft from 2 to 3 feet wide and 6 feet long down to the pay streak and then drifting under ground along the pay streak. Sinking this shaft and working the pay streak is made difficult from the fact that from the surface to the deepest depth that has yet been reached the ground is perpetually frozen and a process of firing in order to thaw out the ground is employed. A brush and wood fire is built in the bottom of the shaft, which, 135 burning all night, thaws out the ground from 8 to 14 inches. The gravel is shoveled out during the day and the operation repeated until the required depth is reached. The average progress in the shaft is from 8 to 14 inches per day. When the pay streak is reached they drift under the ground, which does not have to be supported by timbers on account of its being perpetually frozen. The fire in thawing out the pay streak generates a very obnoxious gas which, after the fire has burned out, must be expelled before work can be done. This is accomplished by the use of bellows, fans and other devices. A machine, however, is being manufactured in Seattle that it is expected will expel these gases speedily. The value of the pay streak varies from a few cents per pan to as high as $545, as one miner took out a little over $1,000 in gold from two pans, and a miner's pan contains two shovelfuls of dirt, so you can realize the richness of some of this ground. The gold is coarse, very little flour gold exists, and it runs largely to nuggets. The value of the gold is about $17 per ounce, $200 per pound. The summers are short and winters long and weather severe, thermometer registering as low as 70 degrees below zero. There is very little wind, however, and such low temperature is somewhat unusual. The great plagues in that section during the summer are the mosquitoes and gnats which swarm in great numbers and are exceedingly vicious, compelling people who are at all susceptible to insect poisoning, and in fact nearly every one, to wear nets to protect their faces and gloves to protect their hands. The above picture was taken on Claim No. 3 on Miller Creek, owned by Joseph Beaudreau, and from which there was taken out over $100,000. This picture gives a good idea of placer mining in Alaska. In a Letter to a Friend at San Diego. Cal., Capt. J. F. Higgins, of the steamer Excelsior, thus writes of Klondike: "The word Klondyke means Deer river. The stream is called Reindeer river on the charts. It empties into the Yukon. The geographical position of the junction is 760 10' north latitude, 1380 50' west longitude. Bonanza creek dumps into Klondike about two miles above the Yukon. Eldorado is a tributary of the Bonanza. There are numerous other creeks and tributaries, the main river being 300 miles long. The gold so far has been taken from Bonanza and Eldorado, both well named, for the richness of the placers is truly marvelous. Eldorado, thirty miles long, is staked the whole length, and as far as worked has paid. "Bear creek is one of the streams that enters Klondyke, and it has been prospected and located on. Compared with Bonanza, it is small, and will not afford more than twenty or thirty claims, it is said. About twelve miles above the mouth Gold Bottom creek joins Klondike, and on it and a branch named Hunker creek, after the discoverer, very rich ground has been found. One man showed me $2,275 he took out in a few hours on Hunker creek with a gold pan, prospecting his claim on the surface, taking a handful here and there as fancy suggested. On Gold Bottom creek and branches there will probably be 200 or 300 claims. The Indians have reported another creek much farther up, which they call Too-Much-Gold creek,' on which the gold is so plentiful that, as the miners say in joke, 'you have to mix gravel with it to sluice it.' Up to date nothing definite has been heard from this creek. "From all this we may, I think, infer that we have here a district which will give 1,000 claims of 500 feet in length each. Now, 1,000 such claims will require at least 3,000 men to work them properly, and as wages for working in the mines are from $8 to $10 per day without board, we have every reason to assume that this part of our territory will in a year or two contain 10,000 souls at least; for the news has gone out to the coast, and an unprecedented influx is expected next spring. And this is not all, for a large creek called Indian creek joins the Yukon about midway between Klondike and Stewart rivers, and all along this creek good pay has been found. All that has stood in the way of working it heretofore has been the scarcity of provisions and the difficulty of getting them up there even when here. "About the only tools considered absolutely necessary in the placers are a pick, shovel and gold pan. It is nearly always desirable, but not always possible, to have a sluice. This sometimes is very primitive. It may be only a gully bottomed with cobblestones, or plank troughing, with riffles or cleats at intervals across the bottom. In either case, the gold bearing dirt or gravel is thrown in while water is running through the sluice. The current is supposed to carry away the worthless rocks and dirt, allowing the gold to drop to the bottom. If the gold is in finely divided particles, the sluice is made tight and quicksilver is placed above the riffles, which envelops and holds the gold dust. No two mines are exactly alike, and the manner of working them has to be varied to suit the circumstances. PICK "In testing a claim, the prospector sinks a hole, say fifteen feet, and then tries a pan of dirt. If the pay streak has been reached, he sets to work in earnest to gather in more of the precious metal. This process consists of building a fire around the entire circle, allowing it to burn through the night. The next morning there is enough loose dirt lying about to keep a squad of men busy throughout the day. I have known men to hoist in a day as many as 250 buckets of soil, each weighing 250 pounds. This dirt is not disturbed until spring, when it is washed out, and when a man buys a claim he buys the dump also, but he takes his own chances on the latter." El Dorado Creek, here spoken of, is supposed to be the third creek from the lett at the top. Miners here tell of their luck in this vicinity. The distance from Dawson City to this point is seen in the map on page 231k. Aug. 22, '97.-Many of the returned miners from the Klondike tell in a local paper of the amounts they have cleaned up and what their claims are worth. It is a sort of experience or testimony meeting on paper. Here is what some of them have to say: Frank Keller, Los Angeles.-My claim was only partially worked when I came away, but I was satisfied to sell it for $35,000. Thomas Moran, Montreal.-My gold amounted to $20.000, the proceeds of five years' work. I still have interests in several claims, and a partner is looking after the interests until next spring, when I will go back. M. N. Murciera, Skelton, Wash.-I came out with about $16.000, and purchased several interests before leaving. I have been in the country three years, and my earnings at claim No. 9 on El Dorado creek are about $25,000. I worked fifteen men at $15 per day all winter on a claim. I worked three months last winter on a claim that paid $100 per foot, and on some days would get through a square foot of the claim. Frank Phiscator.-I went to the Klondike last autumn, and have returned with $96,000, having worked two claims with nine men three months. I was one of the original discoverers of the El Dorado district. William Sloane, Nanaimo, B. C.-My claim in the Klondike turned out to be a pretty good one, and I sold out for $52,000. Albert Fox.-It is the biggest thing ever found in the world outside of Australia and California in placer mining. I went there in 1895; went over the mountain in April of that year and spent two summers. We drifted the gravel out in winter and washed the gold from the gulches in summer on Bonanza creek, near Dawson. My partner, Arthur Cook, stayed by the claim and will remain till I return. I brought down 300 ounces. That will be over $50,000, as it will give more than $17 an ounce. We sold one claim for $45,000, and kept another, which we will work when I get back. Thomas Flack.-I have an interest in claims Nos. 14 and 15 on the El Dorado. One partner sold out for $50,000 and another for 55,000. I was offered $50,000, but refused it just before coming out. Sentiment of the Canadians. In reply to inquiries as to whether Americans were welcome in the Klondike, and whether the gold deposits should be held for the subjects of the queen, Canadian statesmen and editors have answered as follows: Toronto, Ont., Aug. 19, '97.-I am clearly of the opinion that the lands in the Klondike should and will be open to Americans on the same terms as (anadians, and no restrictions as to bounties or taxes should be imposed which are not applicable to British sub jects as well as to foreigners. Customs duties on goods purchased in and imported from foreign countries must be paid by British subjects as well as by foreigners. GEORGE A. KIRKPATRICK, Lieutenant Governor, Ontario. Kingston, Ont., Aug. 20, 97.-In reply to your telegram of this date in reference to the Klondike, I am directed by the Hon. Sir Richard Cartright, acting prime minister of the Dominion of Canada, to say that British and American subjects are treated exactly alike, and pay the same fees and taxes. F. C. T. O'HARA, Private Secretary. Montreal, Que., Aug. 20, 97.-The feeling in this section of the Dominion about the immigration of American gold seekers into the Klondike is divided. Some are in favor of discriminating against the Americans by way of retaliation for unfriendly legislation toward Canada by Congress. We think the majority, however, are in favor of encouraging the development of the Klondike mines by foreigners as well as Canadians. The regulations of our government, which apply to Canadians and foreigners alike, are generally condemned by all directly interested in the gold mining industry. EDITOR STAR. Gold on Peace River.-Tacoma, Wash., Aug. 22, 97.-The next mining excitement will be on Peace river, in Northwest Territory. Mining has been carried on there in a slow way for years, but discoveries made this summer leave no room to doubt that an immense amount of gold will be taken out of that river and its tributaries during the next two years. Men who are now taking out gold in large quantities there are not trying to create a boom, but are quietly sending for their friends to come into the country and secure claims. The Peace river country is reached most easily from Edmonton, which is 833 miles from Vancouver, being 191 miles north of Calgary on the Canadian Pacific railroad. Fort Chippewyan, on Athabasca Jake, at the mouth of Peace river, is reached by taking a stage from Edmonton to Athabasca landing, forty miles, and thence down Athabasca river and lake by boat. Chippewyan is 465 miles from Edmonton. Steamboats go up the Peace river for a considerable distance. A number of its tributaries, including the Loon and Deer rivers, are as rich as the main stream. Rises in the Rocky Mountains.-The Peace river rises in the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains, a little north of the center of British Columbia. In the northern continuation of the same mountains rise the Klondike, Pelly, Stewart and other gold bearing tributaries of the Yukon. There is this difference, that Peace river rises on the eastern slope of the mountains, while the Yukon's tributaries rise on the west side. Along Peace river on the north are the Reindeer or Caribou mountains, which have been found this summer to be rich in gold-bearing quartz. 2310 Alaska Gold Fields and Shortest Routes There from the Pacific Ocean. While other regions of Alaska will claim at tention, that portion of the country extending northward from Seattle to the Copper River region, showing the Pacific Coast, the passes and the water routes to the Klondike gold fields, will have an especial interest, and hence the fine map on this page, showing the mountain passes, the lakes and rivers at the headwaters of the Yukon. LOCATIONS ON MAP. See figures on the map. Corresponding fig. ures and names of places to which they refer are here given. 8 Pr. of Wales Isle. 9 Kupreazoff Island. 10 Baranoff Island. 11 Sitka. 12 Chichagof Island. 13 Admiralty Island. 14 Juneau. 15 No. Pacific Ocean. 16 Taku River. 17 Lynn Canal. 18 White Mountains. 19 Mt. Fairweather. 23 Chilkat River. 27 Chilkoot Pass. 30 Skagwa. 31 White Pass. 32 Tagish Lake. 33 Atlin Lake. 34 Bald Mountains. 85 British Possessions. 36 Teslin Lake. 37 Hootalinqua River. 38 White Horse Rapids 39 Big Salmon River. 40 Liard River. 41 Pelly River. 42 Lake Labarge. 43 G. Bounds Trail. 44 Dalton Trail. 45 Muslapina Glacier. 46 Mt. St. Elias. 47 Mt. Logan. 48 Boundary line. 55 McMillan River. 60 Stewart River. 68 Too Much Gold Cr. 72 Belle Island. 73 Arctic Circle. Pullman sleeper.. 15.50 Meals in dining car. 10.00 Tourist meals at stations. 6.00 Chicago to Seattle, in miles. 2,336 Number of days en route.. 4 Steamer fare, Seattle to Juneau, with cabin and meals 32.00 17.00 Miles, Seattle to Juneau 899 Number of days, Seattle to Juneau 5 Cost of living in Juneau, per day. 2.00 Steamboat, up Lynn Canal to Healey's Store, miles.. 100 Number of days to Healey's Store.. 1 Cost of complete outfit, with provisions for one year 600.00 Price of dog and sled outfit 500.00 Total distance in miles by St. Michael's route.... 8,536 Total distance in miles by Chilkoot Pass. 3,885 .40 to 60 30 Map Showing Location of Sitka, Juneau and Headwaters of the Yukon River. Total days required for journey by Chilkoot Pass. Best time to start, April 15th. Convenient Medicines in the Alaska Medicine Chest. Quinine pills.... 50 Laudanum Borax. .50 Compound cathartic pills Acetanilid tablets.... 3 doz. Chlorate potash.1 box Mustard plasters....6 Belladonna plasters..6 Carbolic salve...4 oz. Chloroform liniment. .8 oz. Witch bazel.....1 pt. Essence ginger. .4 oz. Paregoric.......4 oz. 1oz. .4 oz. 1 bot .2 dr. Tincture iodine. 1 oz. 2 yds. |