IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 1.25 nil 1.4 l^|28 |2.5 kUU 1= 1.6 ^r . '^liv <^ <> C"ttHl' V ^^ y hox}' vr \\C] y/il ?*>/ 'ft\' , ■^*s;; „^^^"iii,\^- ^^ ^^Kr^K^Smw^Wt^Alii^ .>"^'..«aMa:W:-An««c<»;-«t*i. .-««-•«. a^. SPPSIHWKWWB 1 h t ALASKA AND THE KLONDIKE GOLD FIELDS CONTAINING A FULL ACCOUNT OF THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD; ENORMOUS DEPOSITS OF THE PRECIOUS METAL-, ROUTES TRAVERSED BY MINERS; HOW TO FIND GOLD; CAMP LIFE AT KLONDIKE Practical Instructions for Fortune Seekers, Etr., Etc. INCLUDING A GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF THE GOLD REGIONS; LAND OP WONDERS; IMMENSE MOUNTAINS, RIVERS AND PLAINS; NATIVE INHABITANTS, ETC. BY A. GHARRIS Thb Well-known Author and Traveler INCLUDING Mrs. Eli Gage's Experiences of a Year among the Yukon Mining Camps ; Mrs* Schwatka's Recollections of her husband as the Alaskan Pathfinder; Prosaic Side of Gold Hunting, as seen by Joaquin Miller, jthe Poet of the Sie«f^^^^^ •-^^ • liMki'rai.*,^ EMBELLISHED WITH MANY ENGRAVINGS REPRESENTING MINING AND OTHER SCENES IN ALASKA Monroe Book Company, CHICAGO, ILL. ' ^ '^ <^ 6 pROVmClAJ^ LIBRARY. llirT'~ti*"*'*TT~~^ — I "f I ^^1^^^ *^"* Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1897 by J. R. JONES, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C All Rights Reserved. ^- WBom 1897 by rton, D. C. PREFACE. KLONDIKE is the magic word that is thrilling the whole country. It stands for millions of gold and great for- tunes for hundreds of miners, who have risen from poverty to affluence in the brief period of a few months. Thou- sands 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 rea^ized. Not since 1849, when the maivclluus discoveries of gold were made in Cali- fornia, 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 infornT-.tion, which is furnished by this new and comprehensive work, containing a full description of Alaska and the Gold Regions. The author writes from personal ex- perience and observation, as he has been an eye-witness of the scenes, incidents and facts which he describes and narrates. The work gives v. 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 i^icturc of the rush to California when the discoveries of gold were made in that State in 1849. • :iii) IV PREFACE. How to get there is a question fully answered in this vol- ume. 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 expe- riences 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 cafions 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 min- eral 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, to- gether with its industries, including its famous traffic in seals. How to mine for gold is a subject on which the irfjrma- tion 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. i in this vol- with the best at is required It are needed; :he difficulties trying expe- gion and one :able countries ; its purchase )pment and its meval forests; the largest in ammer foliage ills ; solitudes r animals ; and him with awe. the towns and 5 of the native z country, and Ime The min- eated, showing Its important 1 set forth, to- iffic in seals. \ the irfjrma- der follows the ich they extract is stored ; how y is employed, ir obtaining the CONTENTS. 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 Dig- gings 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 Informatio'i as to the Country, its Inhabitants, Scenery, Resources and the Like — Camp Life and Experiences . . CHAPTER n. 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 CHAPTER in. "STRIKE IT RICH" ON KLONDIKE. •Gold-seeksrs 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, -i(l 1 Service— 129 iveyances — Dangers of ful Scenery on River— — Towering ace — Totem 1 Natives. . 182 vatka ill the ynu Canal — :ity of Game ig Camps — hood of St. e — Romance vucky beani- 210 in '49— Goes -■Wt'l Hunt 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 Noi 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 Hea I 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 A>ID 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 Carnivorte — 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 Ceta- ceans — Mosqnitos and Gnats — Weather Bureau Report — Tempera- ture 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 Remark- able 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 -4 CHAPTER XH. RESOURCES AND WEALTH. • . Mecord as a Fur Country — State of Development Twenty Years Ago — How the Golden Treasures were Discovered and Developed — Re- port of Geological Survey Expert Spurr — Professor Elliott s Review — Alaska Richer than Klondike — West of the Coast Rang>^ — Mint Director Preston's Views — United States Leads the World in Gold Production — From the Alaska Mining Record — Value of Yuknn Gold — Cook's Inlet Diggings — Some Scattered Streaks — Experts in the Field—John W. Mackey Quoted — Other Mineral Resources — Canadian Report 349 CHAPTER Xni. 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 Hcrrman's Digest — Getting Out the Gold— Mining in Winter— Work Along the Yukon— Sluic- ■ Lhe Ceta- feuipera- imbia . . 295 CONTKNl'S. ing for Gold— Dry Placer Miners — Dredging for Gold- Advice — Gold-bearing Quartz — How Gold Came to Banks and Hanking -Old Miner's Klondike — ix .'JTS SNT. r Remark- luthlessly ing Plants and Other ; — Current Probability —Trees on ,t Needs at tables and 324 'ears Ago — ;loped— Re- )tt s Review angv?— Mint )rld in Gold e of Yuknn ks— Experts Resources — 349 Gravel with Prospecting — ther Minerals Locating the gest— Getting ukon— Sluic- CHAPTER XIV. RESUME OF MINING LAWS. Law and Order — Fees for Mining — Rights of Miners— Quartz Mining — vSurveys 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 Estcitements 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. . V '. 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 LI»FE AND MORALS. Mining Towns in the Alaskan Wilderness Similar to Other Rude Com- munities, with such Peculiarities as are Boru of Climatic and Topo- CONTENTS. graphical Features — All Have Their Social Amenities— The Bible and Shakespeare \ppeal 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 453 CHAPTER XVIII. DOMESTIC LIFE IN THiC 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 Liuderman — Hotel Project for the Territory that Promises to be the Means of Fumishitig 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^Charactcristics Suggestive of Asi'ic Origin — Savage Customs Largely Abandoned — Chilkats and their Traits — Hootzanoos and " Hoochinoo " — The Sitkansand Stickines—^Among the Aleuts - 478 CHAPTER XX. N.\TIVE 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 — .\re 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 contp:nts. XI -The Bible le Fortune irpers Lose ck Toward ce Them — 453 mm in the -The Older ;rcro%vded — , and Camp Promises to s — Women's o Grace the of Work to the Sick and 465 issification of ;s Suggestive ed— Chilkats e Sitkans and 473 Habits — Are I the Vices of irunkards and I Times— The —Are Rich in Belief of the Indians — Odd Notions of the Aboriginal Thinkers — Samples of the Rites Practiced— Cannibalism and Shamanism — Law and Home Li'e— Description of the Innuits of the North 491 CHAPTER XXI. SPREAD OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH. Empress Catherine Takes the Initiative in Bringing a Purer Religion to the Savages — Work of the Early Russian Missionaries and the Pro- gress of Their Work — Schools Early Established — Introduction of llie Luthern Church Due to the Efforts of Commercial Bodies to Provide for Their Employes — Sad Result of the Transfer of the Territory to the United States — Deed Interest shown By the Natives — .Sotne Striking Literature from the Wilds — Methodists Follow the Presbyterians in Their Missions — Great Hope for the Future. . . . 503 CHAPTER XXII. BRITISH COLUMBIA AND NORTHWEST TERRITORY. Region is One of Vast Extent and Diversified Features — Has a Magnifi- cent Ocean Frontage — A Land of Great Riverswhich Afford Internal Highways — Greatest of All is the Columbia — Has a Large Ocean Trade Even Now — Experiments in Fruit Growing Successful — Con- struction of Railways Has Given an Impetus to Development — Many Districts Famous for Their Grain and Others for Their Mineral Deposits — Gold Mines in Abundance — Klondike Within the Cana- dian Territory — Some of the Mines Now Worked — Silver Not Wanting 516 CHAPTER \XIII. ADVENT OF WINTER. Confirmation of Stories About the Wealth of Klondike and Alaska — Perils of the Passes — Dark and Bright Sides of the Picture, as Seen by Argonauts — New Diggings Opened — Copper River and Cook's Inlet — New Strikes in the Yukon Basin — Two Experiences in Cross- ing Chilkoot Pass — Over the White Pass — Belated Gold Seekers Camping on the Trail — Woes of the Horses — New Routes — Tram- way at Dyea — Via the Snow Train — At St. Michael's — In Dawson and Skagway — Glacier Slide and Flood — Mt, St. Elias Scaled . . o'iy 51 « li I! X o X o. a Q O < W 03 X a. o I Z o w > o H W d4 Q o o W o d 3 OFFICIAL MAI OFFICIAL MAP OF THE KLONDIKE AND YUKON REGION. (United States vSurvev.^ rtf H! XaMbi '•'1 CHAPTER I. Land of the Argonauts. A Country Frozen by the Lap-^e 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 tlie People of the United States and on the Money Centres of the Woild — Region which may Properly be called the Land of Gold once Thought so Worthless the Russians Olfercd 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 I/.fe and Experi- ences. ALASKA is the land of the Nineteenth Century Argon;iuts ; 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 trans- formed 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 knowl- edge that the treasure he was seeking was the e. 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 flelds. What is more the Land of Gold, as wc niay properly term Alaska, has proved and will prove to Lourist and prospector as rich in delights and m uvcls as the land which hxi come 2 17 m i I 18 LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. down to us in legend. It seems to be a spot chosen l;y nature as a field of adventure. The person, therefore, who goes from the South to the Yukon Valley wil' oe .sure to find, even though disappointed in the quest for which priaiarily he went, enough of the beautiful and martelous to jay him for his trip. Frozen by L. •■,;! Time. And first a word about this land of bleakness and grandeur. Captain Butler, an English officer who cr-ossed the great countiy some little time ago, writes in the most ei;thusiastic 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 charac- ters 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,'. ■? miles of shore line! Prairies over which a traveler can stc i icr veeks without resting his gaze on aught save the dim vc ^v >." ire ever-shifting horizon ! Mountains rent by rivers, ice-top;. c ' gbcier seared, impassable ! Forests whose sombre pines dark u . region half as large as I"!!urope ! " In summer a land of sound ; a land echoed with the voices of birds ; the ripple of running water ; the mournfid music of the waving' pine br?.nch ! In winter a land of silence ; its great rivers glimi^ering in the moonlight, wrapped in their shrouds of ice; its still forests rising weird and spec i 1 ngainst the auroral lighted horizon ; its nights .'■ lill tluiL . 'noving streamers across the northern skies Sv v.n to carry lo the ear a sense of sound." The land thus stiikiiii;iy described has been deemed since early in 1887 th. i'/idora(' ; .here nature has apparently strewn LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 19 y nature ics from though enough raiideur. counliy ns of its turesque chanic- zen rigid Duntains, of shore without -shifting r seared, ion half ic voices iiusic of its great rouds of : auroral trcamers sense of ed since y 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 i. 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 for- tune 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 facil- ities 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 Cassiar 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 marvclously rich, but almost wholly unknown wilds of Alaska. People talked of the days ot '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 8-1 ir 20 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 1895 was 3000. Probably twice that number of miners and prospectors invaded the country in 1896. In 1897 came this furor that caused the Klondike district to rank with the great historical gold fields of the world. This LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 21 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. I,caving 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 t'.n dis- triv^ls referred to arc as follows S'^eep Creek region, which yields ore containing silver, gAd and other metals ; Salmon Creek, near Juneau, silver and gold ; Silver Bow Basin, mainly gold ; Douglas Island, mainly g' Id ; Fuhtcr Bay, on Admiralty Island, mainly gold ; the Silver Bc.y mining district, near Sitka, gold vnd silver ; Besner's Bay, in Lynn Canal, mainly gold ; 22 LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 8 t i ■ i:: I i' i ll- 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 enthusi- astic beyond bounds. Experienced miners who had spent years in Alaska came to the front with words of caution and advice to let these enthu- siasts 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 Klon- dike," 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 ofte" LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 23 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 ,'limate 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, s imon, 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 dis- covery, sent hi." 'prnions to find the fabled land of Vasco da Gama to the tir.j', of the discovery, the regions lying under the Arctic Circle h?.J 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 ca<'/ /natter to compute what had come to the 24 LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 1 :■ 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 conjec- ture and desire. The wealth to be expected was thought to be a pile of money a? mountainous and as sublime as the country itself. It is of interest to note in this connection that this territory of Alaska which was not 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 propo- sitions 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 remem- 3 LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 25 bcred 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. 1[F 26 LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. ! '! ' 'j ' I il t, jiii W'Scn the miners find it no longer profitable to wash out the gravel they can attack the conglomerate, where they will be able to accomplish something by hand labor. Finally, there is the original source of gold, the veins in the hills. These must be of enormous value. They must lie untouched until the proper machinery for obtaining the gold is erected. A clear, scientific, and authoritative explanatioii of the geological condi- tions of the Klondike and neighboring gold-bearing rocks is furnished by Professor S. F. Emmons, of the United States Geolological Survey. Professor Emmons said : " The real mass of golden wealth in Alaska remains as yet untouched. It lies in the virgin rocks, from which the particles found in the river gravels, now being washed by the Klondike miners have been torn by the erosion of streams. These parti- cles, being heavy, have been deposited by the streams, which carried the lighter mater onward to the ocean, thus forming, b}' gradual accumulation, a sort of auriferous concentrate. Richness of the Soil. " Many of the bits, especially in certain localities, are big enough to be called nuggets. In spots the gravels are so rich that, as we have all heard, many ounces of the yellow metal are obtained from the washing of a single panful. That is what is making the people so v/ild — the prospect of picking money out of the dirt by the handful literally." Hardly had the news of the great find been flashed over the world when Director of the Mint Preston was asked for his views as to the Alaskan gold fields and their influence. His words but added fuel to the flames that were then consuming the masses. Said he : " That gold exists in large quantities in the newly discovered Klondike district is sufficiently proven by the large amount 'M m LAND OF THE ARGONAU IS. 27 out the will be there is ;sc must intil the A clear, al condi- rocks is d States IS as yet particles vlondike se parti- is, which ning, b}- are big 2 so rich netal are what is 311 cy out :>vcr the bis views is words ling the scovered amount 4 recently brought out by the steamship companies and miners returning to the States who went up into the district within the last eight months. " So far $1,500,000 in gold from the Klondike district has been deposited at the mints and assriy offices of the United States, and from information now at hand there are substantial reasons for believing from $3,000,000 tc $4,000,000 additional will be brought out by the steamers and returning miners sailing from St. Michael's the last of September or early October next. " One of the steamship companies states that it expects to bring out about $2,000,000 on its steamer sailing from St. Mich- ael's on September 30th, and has asked the government to have a revenue cutter to act as a convoy through the Rehring Sea. In view of the facts above stated I am justified in estimating that the Klondike district will augment the world's gold supply in 1897 nearly $6,000,000." Demand for Information. As might be expected, the prominence given to Alaska by the discovery of the gold fields, resulted in a demand for a detailed statement of information as to the country in all its relations. So little was the country kiiovn, however, and so meager were the reports that had been L^uught to civilized communities con- cerning it, that the multitude found it difficult to obtain the information desired. How were they to get there ? What was there of interest or of importance connected with the history and purchase of the country ? What could be learned of the various industries of the territory? What of the fauna and flora? What of the mineral wealth. Under what conditions and amenable to what laws would the prospectors have to work ? WHiat outfits were required for safety, comfort and convenience ? What conditions 28 LAND or THE ARGONAUTS. of domestic life would those who left their homes in the south have to face in the unknown regions to which they contemplated going ? What of the topograpliy of the country they would have to traverse ? These and a thousand of other things became matters of prime importance, and it is to place such information in the hands of the p'. blic that this volume is issued. A Land of ^Venders. Literally the land of Alaska i: ind of Wonders, a land dif- fering markedly in its natural feat^.cs from the districts of the south and bound to excite the admiration and awe of visitors by its natural features. These are so unlike the natural phenomena to be beheld in other parts of United States territory that the person who ventures into the region of the gold fields will find himself practically in a new world. As will be seen in the following chapters, it is a country ot almost boundless extent where the rivers, the mountains, the plains, the glaciers, everything, is in keeping with the distances that have to be traversed by the tourist or the prospector. It is a land of strange sights and stranger experiences, where much that is never dreamed of in the south will be found to be the commonplaces of an unknown people. As will be seen in the following pages, it is the land of sunless days and moonless nights ; where Nature ^.pparcntly has transposed the natural order of things, as is ob.'^erved in southern latitudes, and inaugu- rated a new regime for visitors to wonder and marvel at. Everything is mapped out on a gigantic scale and is clothed in such a way with its covering of ice and snow, and its strange forestation, and is overarched with such peculiar skies, that the voyager will not marvel less at what he sees than, to revert again to the- opening passage from mythology, Jason and his LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 3ft he south :mplated y would ittcrs of 1 in the and dif- s of the sitors by cnomena tliat the will find )untry ot ains, the distances )r. It is re much ) be the n in the noonless natural inaugu- clothed strange that the ;o revert and his band of adventurers marveled at what they are supposed to have seen in the fabled land of the Golden Fleece. The Lesson of History. The sto y of the history and purchase is not without its touch of romance and its lesson of wisdom. There is certainly food for thought in the narrative of a region so boundless in extent that was once thought so valueless as to be offered as a gift, owing to the ignorance of the people owning it as to its actual wealth. Secretary Seward always maintained that it was his crowning glory to have purchased the Alaskan territory. He and his staunch supporter, Senator Charles Sumner, always declared that the country had a future wJiich would make it a profitable investment for the United States to purchase it at a far higher figure than had to be given. The wisdom of their decision in the matter was shown within a few years after the transfer was made from Russia to the United States, and, as will be set forth in a chapter to follow, long before ever gold was discovered in the Klondike region the purchase money of the United States was returned over and over again, and the wisdom of Seward and his friends was established beyond a doubt. Incident to the purchase and transfer of the territory, grave international questions arose which are well worthy of the atten- tion of any one interested in the history of the country and the development of its latest possession. These are all carefully set forth in the following pages and will be deemed an acceptable contribution of information by those who, influenced by the ex- citement incident to the recent discovery of gold, may wish to invade the northern regions. The fauna and flora of the territory, too, are of deep interest, especially from the fact that for many years one of the chief tuwjmtMAmmtamumuibitmbm* uuM -imt!• Kloiidiki' news aiul outfitting .it the start of the craze. Over five hundred men had tilhei left the Windy City, or were practically read)' to Lave, for llie Klondike, at the end inion is that as soon as the countr}- has been t>pened up and shipping facilities furnished the outpirt of gold will be sir v;;' enormous. As 'he production of gold increases silver w'"i hi enhanced in value. This I regard as certain." English Royalty Affected. English royalty fell before tlie golden idol of the Klondike. Ni) less a personage than the Duke of Infe, son-in-law of the Prince of Wales, subscribed to an incotponttion formed in Lon- don for the purpose of exi)loriMg the Klondike region and pur- chasing such mines as its accredited representatives may decide are worth the investment. The enterprise will be known as the Klondike Exploration Company, limited. It is stated that the company in which the Duke of I'ife is interested will opereitc alop.g lines similar to the l^ritish South Africa Company. Hut grtat as was the number, considering the time available for catching a good hard case of the Klondike fever, who had succeeded in getting away for the diggings in person before the marvelous news from the Northwest was yet a month old ; they were but a fraction of the total, who had fallen ready victims to the " placer malady." Many hundreds of men and many more hundreds of women, who were cra/y to own some kind of an interest in the woiulerful gold fi'lds, but who were prevented by other business, by family cares, S1'RI:AD Ui< IIIL KLONDIKI': m:\kr. 66 by sickiKss ot share in the hardships and the hazards of gold seeking. It is estimated that at least five times as many peopit- put uj) their money on "grub-stakes" as attempted to become advent- urers in person, and it would require a mucii larger figure t<> express the probable r.itio of the money applied to outfitting represcnt.'ttive prospectors and the cash spent in personal eipiip- nient 1)}- intending argonauts. liesiiles this, in estimating the prevalence of tiie gokl craze in terms of dollars and cents, account must be taken of the mu.sh- room-like appearance of "Mining Co-operations" and "Placer Syndicates" and "Poor Men's Chances," to say nothing of the lio.st of legitimate incorporated mining or prospecting or develop- ment concerns, which by presenting sliares at low figures, draw tens of thausands of dollars from thousands of pockets inio their coffers and which quite as emphatically representetl the virulence of the KloncL.^c fever as did the steamer lists, or the names of tlio.se who meant to brave the Chilkoot Pass with the slogan )f " Klondike or lki.st." Table of New Companies. Xt) better iilu.stration of the extei;t and vigor of the Klondike cra/c can be given than is exhibited in the following table of (- < iir.panies organized or in process of formation for tlu- develop- ment of the gold fields in the upper "S'ukon region. The total capitalization of the different .syndicates foots up $164,512,500. After allowing for the reguhir syndicate grain of salt, the » n ll MiM l lJ»j |»-WCH 11 56 Sl'KKAl) OF THK KLONDIKK 1-KVER. remaining tot.il is still vast (.'nougli to indicate that no small portion of tlic /Vnicrican temperate zone lias gone daft over the reported strikes in the yXrctic mountains. The stream of humanity, setting toward tlie north i)ole, is a veritable exodus toward a new Land of Promise. Up to Au<;ust Sth, over 8000 men are officially reported to have started for the Klondike, or made arrangements to do so. Statistics of Millions. Hero are the naked figures : CoinpntiifS. Town. Bohemian Klondike Syjulicatc Baltimore . . Thri'c SyndicaU's Boston . . , Cudahy-IIcaly-Vukon Klondike Mining Company Cliicaj(o . . . Alaska T'ausportalion and Dovdopmcnt Compai.y Chicaj^o . . . Transjxjrtation and mining comptiny in I)rocessof organization, not y»?t named . Chicago. . . Wilkins Syndicate Cleveland. . Unnamed syndicate Clevelantl . . Two companies Cripple Creek Alaska-Klondike Cold Mining and De- velopment Company Col. vSprings. Conncil BlnflTs Mining and Ivxploration Company Conncil BlnlVs Six companies Denver . . . Indiana Mining Company Indianapolis General ]Miningand Developing Co. . . Kansas City . Herald J'mployee.s Lexington Lincoln Gold and Improvement Co. . Lincoln . . . Acme Dcvciopnuiit Company Xew York . Ynkon-Caribou Britisli Colnmhia (rold Mining Development Company . . New York . North\vt;'i r.riningand Traoo 5,000, (M 10 100,000,000 •i,ooo 400 .•;oo.(M»o :!0 lOW.fMK) 8 -',N'J5,0<»0 ;i-» •JO0,{»K» . . Nd* .inncd. 10 ',(Hi»# yj :^,iH\» n l-'io.oNUr w 5,((0(),i«H(» . 5,(HM»,»»>'«0 , . iuo,2 1,000,000 . . . 25,000 . . . r)0(),ooo nac 1,200 . . . •'>o,ooo . . . 1,000,000 . . . «oo . . 5,000,000 S(M),000 1 ,000,000 1,I(H» 1,000,000 :5,r>oo 1,00<),000 . . . 1(HI,0(HI . . . 2.')0,000 l.tiOO 75.-), 000 . . . Old Miners Catch the Fever. Old miners on the Pci.-rii: .slope .supplied .some of the c.irliest victim.s of the fever and some of the first recruits in the rapid ly- .swelling lUiny of the ^o\d seekers. Tlie ru.-'i to the Klondike seriously affected the mine owners on the i lother lode in tlie vicinit}.' of Senon. Jackson and Sutter Creek, California, and threatened no cau.se the closin mmmmmmmmmmmm SPREAD OF I'HK kl.ONDlKl': FP:VER. But some attention is worth paying to these projects of vision- aries if for no other reason than to show how far-reacliing and insidious is the Klondike mania — for dreamers have Httle merit unless there are enough of people who believe in dreams. " If I were to give you the details of some of the schemes that have been submitted to me recently for making money in the Klondike," said one Chicago capitalist, " you would think some insane asylum had been thrown open, and the inmates turned loose. Some of the ideas are not bad in themselves, but are impracticable owing to the conditions of the country. Others are simply the rankest form of lunacy, while others j^et are downright swindles. People who would not even think of sug- gesting a fraud in connection with ordinary business have no hesitation in boosting up a fraud in a mining boom. As a rule, however, the irresponsible schemers are merely wild-eyed crank.s, who have an honest confidence in their own plans." Traps for Ready Money. Inventors, speculators, promoters, and prospectors are going about like modern genii with propositions for making everybody immensely rich. Acquiring great wealth depends solely upon immediiite use of a little ready money. Shares in the Consoli- d.ited Trans-Alaskan Gopher Company, offered at one dollar each, will return dividends of ten dollars a minute as soon as the com- pany gets to work. The idea is to take contracts for tunneling ehiims with trained gophers. Nothing is impossible, nothing chimerical. Men with seedy garments and faces bearing all too plainly the marks of hunger and want, rub elbows v.ah portly, well-fed individuals and talk glibly about millions to be had in various ways. Newspapers are full of advertisements calling for finan- cial eiid in developing Alaskan projects, offices of transportation SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 63 lines are besieged by hundreds of impecunious beings w ho seek to make their wits pay the price of passage to the Eldorado, and oa every street corner people are encountered with Klondike schemes in varying forms of development. Women have the craze as badly as men ; and some of their hobbies are, if any- thing, even more outlandish. But while the schemes and yarns of visionaries, charlatans and cranks are worth laughing at for their absurdity or avoiding for their concealed rascality, there is another side to the story which appeals to earnest men with almost irresistible force. That is che record of the men who have " struck it rich " in the placers of this verv Klondike — of the men who have gone in poor and come out in a few short months, or even weeks, rich for life ; of the men who took stock in the tales of the fabulous wealth wait- ing in that frozen Yukon valley gravel to be " washed " out, and who, with wise forethought, prepared themselves for a fierce battle with the Arctic elements and then braved the hardships and privations of the wilderness to emerge in time laden with their golden fruits of victory. From Alaska Mining Record. Elsewhere in this volume will be found a more detailed account of those who " struck it rich " on the Klondike ; to show that there is a bright side to the picture, the following from the Alaska Mining Record, of Juneau, of June 30th, is sufficient. It relates to the arrival of Jack Hayes, the mail carrier from the Yukon. : " Much excitement prevails all through the Yukon district over the Klondike discoveries, and all kinds of stories of the richer there are told, many of which Mr. Hayes says are true. It is true that two tenderfeet, railroad men from Los Angeles, Cal. — Frank Sunmiers and Charles Clemen.s — have struck it rich. •^il!!i m\ Wt 1^-1 m I 64 SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. They went in a year ago and located on the Klondike hist fall. Clemens sold his interest for $35,000 cash, and his partner, Summers, held on two weeks later and got $50,000. ' The money to pay the men was taken out of the dump which had been lifted from the shaft on the claim during tne winter. These two men had each panned out $2500 on their claim while pros- pecting it. The man that bought Clemens' interest bound the bargain with a $232 nugget which had been taken from the Klondike. Neither man had had any experience in mining. " Alec McDonald took one pan from his claim which tipped the scales to the tune of $800, and offered a wager of $1000 that he could pick his dirt and in twenty minutes get a pan that would go over 100 ounces ($1600). No one cared to cover the wager. ' ■ ■ " Dick Lowe is panning for a living, and is taking out the modest sum of $100 a day. " Two ' tenderfeet ' from Chicago, named Wier and I^cecher, leased a piece of ground for sixty days, paid a royalty of $10,000, and divided $20,000. The miners have only advanced up the Klondike nine miles, and pt that distance there arc several claims that will produce $1,000,000 apiece. Assays Enormously Rich. The latest reports from this cold gold clime consist of speci mens which were sent to California for assay tests, and the) show enormous returns of gold. The gold find, however, in this Alaskan Territory is not new, although the facts are just beginning to be appreciat-ed by the public. The unanimous verdict of investigators in this northern country has always been that gold abounded in great quantities, but the difficulty has been to get it out and away with any degree of profit. Mining on a small scale has been practically SPREAD OF THE KEONDIKE FEVER 65 impossible. The iidveiiturer without money would li,i\e no chance to strike it ricli, even if he couLl mana<^e to raise the sum necessary to take him to the country. The rigors of the winter preclude any work in th.it se.ison, and the absence of any commercial facilities in the new mining districts prevents any digging that is not connected with some large organized plan. But for the company or individuals with capital and enterprise the prospect seems to be of the best. The introduction of improved machinery — which has already begun — and the en- largement of the transportation facilities on the long Yukon River will soon bring these golden riches within easy reach of the States. Natural Exaggerations. The .stories of finds, however, must be taken with usual reservations. There will be natural exaggerations not only of the richness of the gold but of the character of the hardships that must be endured. Alaska is no balmy California. There is no comforting warmth most of the year to sustain the spirits of the wearied seeker after wealth. The battle for gold there includes a battle with a hostile nature which has guarded her treasure house with icy blasts for all these centuries. It is no place for the lag- gard if all reports be true, but for the man of courage and deter- mination it seems to be a land of great promise. One of the evidences of the Klondike craze is freighted with ill omen to the owners of salmon canneries and of whaling vessels. Startling rumors have come from the north that parties of fishermen and sailors are coming across country from the mouth of the Mackenzie River into the Klondike, and, should this prove true, many vessels now staunch and trim will be rotting on die Arctic coast when the snows of next winter have cleared away. At Herschel Island, which is situated in the Arctic Ocean 5 ■11 QG SPREAD OK THE KLONDIKIO EEVllR. near the mouth of the Mackenzie River, a large number of salmon fishers have made their headquarters. During the summer months, v/hen the Mackenzie River is open, these fisher- men, in their myriad of small craft, go up the river in quest of salmon. There are a number of canneries on the Mackenzie. Over lOO deep-sea vessels are annually needed to bring the sea- sons pack down from the Arctic. It is believed the fishermen and crews which went north to bring back tlie pack have heard of the wonderful gold strikes and, taking the provisions with which their vessels were stored have deserted and struck out for the gold fields. Owners of whaling vessels which winter at Ilerschel Island are as much alarmed as are the canning companies. There arc at least 300 men belonging to the whaling fleet, and it is proba- ble that they and the fishermen are now delving into the Klondike soil for gold. Days of '49 and '97. In many ways the " days of '49 " in California and the " days of '97 " in the Klondike are alike. To the average man the treasures of the coast State were seemingly as inaccessible as those of the Yukon and its tributaries. The one lay beyond 2000 miles of trackless desert and snow-clad mountains beset ivith savage hordes whose bloody welcome to the gold seeker narked the trail from the Missouri to the coast with the whitening bones of "pale-face" prospectors ; the other lies 7000 miles by ivater, or 4000 miles by land and w.iter, from civilization, beyond mountain passes as hazardous to scale as those of the Swiss Alps and guarded from the greed of man by the icy rigors of the Arctic climate hardly less effectually than were the riches of California by the sanguinary red man. The tales of fabled wealth which set the world crazy to go to the California mines were not less wonderful than those which VM m SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 67 ;.^'5f! returning argonauts bring from the upper Yukon country, and both are confirmed by the yellow nuggets whose mute testimony to the modern Cathay is unimpeachable. And the excitement in America is greater than in the wildest days of the South African or the Australian strikes. Both in California and in the Klondike, the first mining, was in placers, " poor man's mining," because no expensive machinery is required — only a pick, spade and pan, with nature's sluiceway of a nearby stream for water. And, again, the " tenderfoot " often struck it rich where the old miner had trouble to find enough "dust" to buy his daily food. It was every man's gold mine. Nature had no favorites. No wonder people went gold crazy. Fever Reaches a Climax. The symptoms of the climax of the first attack of the Klon- dike fever came relatively soon after the yellow malady became epidemic. The fever began on July 27th, 1897 ; by August 1 5th the worst was over, and the tens of thousands of poor men who wanted to be rich in a hurry, and of rich men who wanted to be richer, of adventurers ^\'ho were always ready for anything excit- ing, and of level-headed business men who had been crazy for only a few brief days over the marvelous tales o( wealth to be had for the washing, had begun to convalesce and reason that if the Klondike was really as fabulously rich as it was reported to be, there would likely be some gold left at the diggings when spring came, and the perils to health and even life on the long journey "in" were somewhat diminished by mild weather. Would-be argonauts who could not get passage to Dyea or Juneau on the overcrowded steamers began to content themselves perforce to stay at home ; ;ind weary and disgusted prospectors, ^l-'!- i! Mmi h 'i ', t ! 68 SPREAD Ol" Till': KLONDIKE FEVKR. who had been stranded by tlie stampede at the mouths of tlie mountain passes, began to pour back to winter amid creature comforts in the homes of civilization, and pack up at leisure for another venture in the spring. People found time to get cool, and they took it. But , what a craze it was while it lasted ! Even the days of '49 were fairly eclipsed by the universality of the gold insanity of '97. Every city in the Union contributed to the horde of gold hunters pressing and pushing and scrambling on to the new Eldorado. Even the little hamlets of the land sent their quota, and men swarmed by thousands around the wharves of San Francisco, Portland, Tacoma, and Seattle, and "put up" their last cent for a fighting chance in the mad rush for the Yukon placers. Canada sent its thousands through the States and along its own routes, and across the Atlantic the fever sjoread 'till even the great house of Rothschild was infected and sent a confiden- tial agent to inspect the wonderful gold fields in its behalf. London Gets the Craze. A London correspondent of a New York newspaper wrote in these words on August ist: " Were it not so late both in the London and the Yukon sea- son, the fashionable thing for society young men to-day would be to make up a party to dare the dangers of the Chilkoot Pass and explore the Yukon RiVer, even at the risk of gold-laden aristocrats meeting mythical i)irates on their homeward journey. The gold fever has spread here far wider than the narrow limits of so-called London society, and there would have been a mad rush to the diggings from P^ngland of all the men and boys who could beg, borrow, or steal J>20O had not one or two explorers sounded a shriek of alarm, and the Immigration Information Office issued a plain warning to the effect that it would be quite useless * < J) <: < T' < H ■Ji c/) o r u a: 'J. w w Of Q T w X h •J 2 •—I u Sl'RlOAI) (JF Till': KLONDIKE l-'KVKR. 0!) to start hcnoc before next April. Meanwhile such terrible pict- ures are being painted, in colors laid on so thickly, and the deadly perils of White Horse Rapids and Chilkoot are so strongly emphasized that thoughtful men are not without the keen sus- picion that the worthy Canadians are doing their best to scare away intruders and keep their own treasure at home." New York and Chicago. New York and Ciiicago had the fever hard. Men who had mined and made money, men who had mined and lo.st money, men who had always thought they would like to speculate in mining, and men who had abhorred the very word, were stricken. Hankers, brokers, business men and nonentities, from James R. Keene to plain John Smith, went wild. Ik-fore July was out, companies representing an aggregate capitalization of $ 1 8,000,000 had been organized in New York City alone to traffic, or dig, or grub-stake in the Yukon Basin. Men who were blind on every other subject saw the wonderful Alaskan rainbow of promise and rushed off to find the pot of gold at its Klondike end with the infantile assurance of the tot in the nursery tale. Perhaps the date of the placer discover)- — '. oming at the close of a period of general business depression, l\id something to do with the virulence of the fever. Anyway, a fortnight after the news of the strike steamed into port the country was stark, staring, raving mad. "Klondike" was the topic at the lunch counters, men talked " outfits " on the street cars and " L " trains, women found themselves abandoning the fashions to read up on routes and fares to Dawson City, farmers drove to town in the middle of a " hay day" to hear the latest from "the diggings," and technical mining phrases became the cant of the day. Nothing could head off the enthusiasm of the horde of would-be iiii I H SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. miners. They sailed out of the Pacific coast ports, crowded like animals in and upon vessels known to every sailor as long unsea- worthy, and periled their lives over the " lioneyard of the Pacific" or through the devious, rock-studded, fog-enshrouded channels of the Sitka route ; they trusted to captains who had never been out of sight of land and to pilots who had never sailed the courses ; they heard, unmoved, warnings of deadly hardships enroute and of probable starvation at tl:e mines ; the)' gave up good positions and spent small fortunes ihr transportation, and with scuppers awash sailed away in death ti-aps to the frozen North. So reckless did the mad j tampeders to the Klondike become at last that the highest public officials were forced to take notice of the epidemic folly and try to head it off. Secretary Bliss' Warning. Secretary of the Interior Bliss, on August loth found it neces- sary to issue the following warning, a state japer almost without a precedent on this continent : " To IVhovi It May Concern : In view of information received at this department that 3000 persons with 2000 tons of baggage and freight are now waiting at the entrance to White Pass, in Alaska, for an opportunity to cross the mountains to the Yukon River, and that many more are preparing to join them, I deem it proper to call the attention of all who contemplate making that trip to the exposure, privation, suffering, and even danger inci- dent thereto at this advanced period of the season, even if they should succeed in crossing the mountains. To reach Dawson City, when over the pass, 700 miles of difficult navigation on the Yukon River without adequate means of transportation will still lie before them, and it is doubtful if the journey can be com- pleted before the river is closed by ice. " I am moved to draw public attention to these conditions b}' I SPRKAD UV I'lll'. KI.UNDIKI-; I'l'VKR. 71 the gravity (if the possible consequences to people detained in the mountainous wilderness durin{.f five or six months of an arctic winter, where no relief can reach them, however ^vciit the need. "C. N. Buss, " Sirrctciry of the Interior.'" • The Hon. Clifford Sifron, Canadian Minister of the Interior, had already issued - notice to the public of the Dominion that the government ui-uld not be responsible for getting provisions into the Yukon during tlv coming winter tantamount to warning the gold seekers to slay out till spring. Mad Rush Goes On. Yet, in the face of all these official w.unings, chronicled and .spread broadcast by the same press and in the same colunnis in which the other Klondike news was daily printed, twenty-one steamers, three sailing vessels and two scows, each laden to the / utmost carrying capacity, had put out from Pacific coast ports for Alaska before the warnings were a fortnight old. The North American Transportation and Trading Company repeatedly issued public warnings of the hazards attending an attempt to get into the mines during the remainder of the season of 1897, and finally raised the fare for the last trip of the steamer Portland to $1000, only guaranteeing to get passengers to Dawson City by way of St. Michael's by June 15, 1898, Yet the passenger list was full of names of men who were willing to spend a winter in the Yukon ice or on the cheerless shores of Norton Sound, even at that price. And ll.ose who could not muster patii-nce to go by that route, with Secretary Bliss' warning ringing in their e^irs, swarmed at the wharves where other steamers were preparing to start with their herded loads of self-deluded gold-seekers, and paifl $500 bonus, where they coulc' fiuvl a taker, for the privilege of INpiJj' 72 SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. the voyage to overcrowded Dyea or Juneau. They knew the Canadian mounted police were on guard at the passes over the mountains, turning back all who had not a year's provisions in th. ir outfits, but they bid high for the chance to go, just the same. They knew they stood a chance of having to winter at Juneau or Dyea, and eat up their supplies, but they spent their last cent to get there, just the same. It ceases to be a " play " rush for gold and became the wild exodus of a rabble in which men totally unfitted for the rough work and hardships of the miner's life, and unmindful that failure would be the lot of hundreds, and that many would find graves among the frozen placers or along the desert trails, joined with the enthusiasm of devotees. Said by P. B. Weare. " There is barely a change of any of the gold-seekers getting across the divide so as to reach the Klondike region this year, to say nothing about the perils of the long trip beyond, but still the rush goes on," says V. B. Weare, of the North American Com- pany, early in August. " We advise the people now not to attempt to get to Dawson City this year, but it doesn't seem to be any use talking. We hear from our representatives in Alaska and they say it is no use trying to stop tl •• march — in some cases to certain death." " They go on the theory that the' first there will be first served,' said John Cuhahy in speaking of the race for wealth ; " but I believe some of the first to go now will be the first dead." Still the rush to the harvest of hardship and death went on. Then the shoffk of disillusion came, and it brought some peo- ple to their senses. Word canie back from the North that gold- seekers were making famine on the bleak Alaska mountains as fast as they knew how. Winter storms had begun to obliterate SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 73 the trails and bury the passes. Old timers said again the reck- less argonauts could not get through to the Klondike, and that Arctic tempests would cut off their return and force them to ^ght for life all winter in famine-stricken camps — and this time the warning was heeded. The object lesson from Dyea which was shown to the world on the morning of August loth was too fearful not to be heeded. Misery at Dyea. Hal Hoffman, writing from Juneau undei date of August 3d, said of Dyea and Skagway, the ports at the head of lynn Canal, these graphic and awful words : " These arc the last salt water ports and the points of debark- ation for the mountain trails and jmsses. The number of Indians • and whites and pacl• < 5 ■ STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. u visions and camping outfit over the snow and ice to the new location. I was compelled to make two trips, and it was the hardest work I ever did in my life. " I reached Dawson City finally just two days before Christ- mas. Neal had prospected the clairn and found it rich beyond our fondest anticipations. Before we could begin work there SCENE NEAR DAWSON CITY, was an offer to buy it and we sold out for $50,000. It was a lucky turn of the wheel of fortune for us. Without practically a stroke we cleaned up ;$2 5,000 apiece. " Now we are going home to see our people. My own folks have not heard from me in a long time, and maybe they think 1 am dead. It will be a joyful home-coming for all." ■+I--4 86 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. W'h 111 1' ^ !• ■ ^ ;i \i& Among the first people to come back to civilization were Mr. and Mrs. Lipton, who, though they had been at the diggings only since April, 1896, returned with $60,000. Most of the party were " tenderfeet," and had spent but one season at the mines, yet some of them had taken out from $10,000 to $25,000 in a few weeks. In the nine miles advance up the Klondike, it is said, there are several mines that will yield over $1,000,000, one piece of ground on the Eldorado, forty-five feet wide, having yielded $90,000. The Berry claim has produced $145,000 in a few months, and there is a pile of gravel on the dump ready to be washed as soon as sufficient water can be obtained, which contains as much more. Sample " Piles " on the Portland. Among the passengers on the Portland, July 17th, Clarence Berr>', Frank Phiscator, and PVank A. Kellar, of Los Angeles, each had from $35,000 to $ 100,000. Henry Anderson and Jack Morden, of Chicago ; William Stanley, of Seattle ; and R. Mc- Nulty and N. ¥.. Pickett, each had at least $20,000. M. Mercer, J. J. Hillerman, and J. Moran, had each from $12,000 to $15,000. The average pile of dust on board the Portland was probably $12,000, and these people, the captain .said, are only a handful. Michael Hickey, of Great Barrington, Mass., brought down $60,000, which he had taken from Klondike placers in the last eighteen months. Hickey is a widower. He left Great Barring- ton for Alaska in the spring of 1 896. In his letters home he has not complained about the hardships he lias met. He spent the winter of 18^)6-97 in the gold regions. William Stanley, of Seattle, "struck it" rich. He came down with $90,000. His two sons are in the Klondike, looking after their claims, out of which they hope to make at least $300,000. Henry Anderson, a native of Sweden, had no money when I STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 87 he left Seattle two years ago. Now he has 1^45,000 and states that he received it for a half interest in his claim. Pack Hornc, a puj^ilist who use to work for variety theatres on Pugct Sound for ten dollars per week, displayed $6000, the result of a year's work. T. J. Kelly and son, of Tacoma, went north in the fall of 1896. The father brought back 510,000 and the son is holding the claim. Gold Breaks the Gripsack. John Wilkinson, a passenger on the Portland, had his gold in a leather gripsack, and in carrying it out of the social hall of the steamer, in spite of the fact that he had three straps around the bag, the main handle piece broke, and he had to secure a broader strap before he could carry his treasure ashore. Henry Anderson, another passenger, refused to talk, hurrying aft to get away, but it was said by his companions that he brought down $65,000, and that he had a claim like a river of gold. He sold out a half interest for ;^45,ooo cash. In six hours' shoveling he secured 1025 ounces from his claim. Thomas Moran, of Montreal, brought out as the proceeds of five years' work $20,000, and still has interests in several claims. Moran will go back. Victor Lord, an old Olympia logging man, brought out jS 10,000 after four years on various parts of the Yukon. He owns a half interest in two claims, and will return in the spring. M. N. Murcier, of Shelton, Mason & Co., came out with about 5160,000. Among the pas.scngers via the Portland were Fred. Price, August Galbraith, L. B. Rhoads, Thomas Cook and Alexander Orr. Plach one had from 55000 to $12,000. Joseph Ladue, the owner of the townsite of Dawson City, was also aboard. Land is selling there, he reported, at $5000 a lot. Fred. Price, who brought out a snug fortune, said : '• I was "' W „^^sssSSSiSslIj 88 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. U ] ! ■I'M if located on the Bonanza with Harry McCullough, my partner. I brought down ^5000 in gold dust and made $20,000, which is invested in more ground. There were good stakes on the boat coming down — from $5000 to $40,000 among the boys, I refused $25,000 for my interest before I left. My partner remains, and I shall return in the spring after seeing my family in Seattle. I was in the mines for two years. One can't realize the wealth of that creek. There are four miles of claims on the Eldorado, and the poorest is worth $50,000. The Bonanza claims run for ten miles, and range from $5000 to $90,000." August Galbraith said : " The development of Alaska has only just begun. If I were not an old man, I would have remained where I was. There is no doubt in my mind that all of the country for hundreds of miles around Dawson is rich in gold. It is the best place that I know of for a poor man to go. If a man has $500 when he starts, well and good, for it may be useful if he should not be fortunate the first season." Rock Lined With Gold. L. B. Rhoads said : "lam located on Claim 21, above the discovery on Bonanza Creek. I did exceedingly well up there. I was among the fortunate ones, as I cleared about $40,000, but brought only $5000 with me. I was the first man to get to bedrock gravel and to discover that it was lined with gold dust and nuggets. The rock was seamed and cut in V-shaped streaks, caused, it is supposed, by glacial action. " In those seams I found a clay which was exceedingly rich. There was a stratum of pay gravel four feet thick upon the rock, which was lined with gold, particularly in these channels or streaks. The rock was about sixteen feet from the surface." Alexander Orr, who brought out $12,000 in dust, said: " In winter the weather is extremely cold at Dawson, and it is neces- I STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 89 sary that one be warmly clad. The thermometer often goes sixty or seventy degrees below 7,ero. Ordinary woolen clothes would afford little protection. Furs are used exclusively for clothing. Dawson is not like most of the large mining camps. It is not a " tough " town. Murders are almost unknown. A great deal of gambling is done in the town, but serious quarrels are an exception. Stud poker is the usual game. They play ;^i ante and oftentimes $200 or $500 on the third card." Thomas Cook expressed himself as follows : " It's a good country, but if there is a rush, there is going to be a great deal of suffering. Over 2000 men are there at present, and 2000 more will be in before the snow falls. I advise people to take provisions enough for eight months at least. If they have that, it is all right. Thi; country is not exaggerated at all. The mines at Dawson are more extensive and beyond anything I ever saw." William Sloan, of Nanaimo, B. C, sold his claim for ;$ 5 2,000 and came home to stay. A man named Wilkenson, of the same place, had $40,000. The smallest sack of gold among the Yukoners aboard the Portland on July 17th was ^53000. It belonged to C. A. Branan, of Seattle, a youth of eigliteen years. Over $100,000 for a Boy. The richest strike was made by a twenty-one-year-old boy named George Hornblower, of Indianapolis. In the heart of a barren waste known as Boulder Field he found a nugget for which the transportation company gave him $5700. He located his claim at the find and in four months had taken out over $100,000. Henry Lamprecht wrote from the Klondike to say that there are miles of rich pay dirt all through the region. Men have 90 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. k i li taken a tub of water into their cabin and with a pan " panned out" ^2000 in less than a day. This is said to be equal to about ;^40,ooo a day in the summer with skiice boxes. They get from ;$io to $100 a pan average and a choice or picked pan as high as ;^25o, and it takes about thirty minutes to wash a pan of dirt. Three hundred thousand dollars' worth of gold from the Klondike found its way to Minnesota in the possession of Peter Olafson and Charles Erickson, two Scandinavians, who returned to Two Harbors after putting in five years in Alaska. A little over five years ago the two men, aged twenty-seven and thirty years, respectively, were employed in the blacksmith shops of the Duluth and Iron Range Railroad at Two Harbors. They heard of the gold fields in Alaska and decided to go there and seek a fortune. For three years they labored in vain, but two years ago they discovered a rich placer bed on the Stewart River, and later located claims on the Klondike. In the two years they say they cleaned up $150,000 each. A new mint record for one day's receipts at the San Francisco Mint was made August 3d, when $3,775,000 in gold was deposited at the branch mint for coinage. This represented the accumulation of six weeks. Three-quarters of a million of this was owned by the Alaska Commercial Company and was mainly from the Klondike. A large portion of the balance was also from the rich northern placers, and was deposited by various miners and smelting companies to whom it had been sold. This is said to be the largest sum deposited at a mint in a single day. Allan McLeod's Big Stake. Allan McLeod, of Perth, Scotland, came back with 1^92,500. His hands and feet were tied up in bandages, and his clothing was ragged and dirty as a result of a long sojourn in Alaska. 1 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. n He looked anything but prosperous, yet in his pocket reposed a draft for ^92,500, and an attendant took care of a deer hide sack heavy with gold nuggets. Mr. McLeod is a baker by trade, a restaurant cook and pro- prietor by circumstance, a gold miner by accident and a rich man by luck. Inflammatory rheumatism, contracted in the gold fields, made a temporary cripple of him and rendered his journey painful, yet he had a light heart as he pictured the surprise he would give his old friends in Scotland when he landed with his treasure. Sold Out For $5,000. " I went to Alaska early last summer," said Mr. McLeod, " with a crowd of miners who came up the Sound from San Francisco. I was out of money and work, or I doubt whether I would have accepted the offer they made me to go along as cook. We reached Cook's Inlet June 20th, and things looked so discouraging we went back to Juneau. There we bought sup- plies and started for Dawson City, 750 miles away. We camped there, and I did the cooking for the boys. They did very well, but the gold fever took them farther cast, and I remained to cook for another gang of miners. I made good wages, and finally had enough to start a restaurant. In two weeks I sold the place for ;^5000, and went placer mining with a half-breed for a partner. "We had good luck from the start, and I would have remained but for a severe attack of inflammatory rheumatism. It would have killed me but for the nursing of my partner. He carried me most of the way to Juneau, where I got passage on a fishing schooner to 'Frisco. I am satisfied with what I've got in money, and hope to get rid of my rheumatism before long. Great for- tunes are being found by many men, and no one knows the ex- tent of the gold fields that are constantly developing." 1 m\ T 92 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. ! A San Francisco paper, under date of July 23d, prints the fol- lowing : " Five French Canadians who were successful on the Klon- dike, and are now bound for Montreal, are at the Commercial Hotel in this city. They came from Seattle, having reached that city by the steamer Portland. They could not get the prices for their nuggets that they wanted there, nor will they accept the bid made by the Selby smelting works in this city. As the San Francisco mint is closed pending the change of administration, these five miners will carry their bullion to Philadelphia and ex- change it there for coin of the United States." J. O. Hestwood Sees Millions. J. O. Hestwood, of Seattle, is a typical returned Argonaut. He is a small man, weighing not over 140 pounds, and has light blue eyes, clear skin and a firm square jaw. He has been a preacher, teacher and lecturer, having delivered lectures all over the coast of Alaska to pay his way up there. He spent three years in the territory before his great opportunity came. He was at Glacier Creek when the news was brought down of the immense strike in lionanza Creek. Here is his story in his own words, which give an admirable idea of the wiiy the mines are worked : • "With hundreds I rushed to the new fields. After a few days I became disgusted and started to leave the country. I had gone only a short distance down the river when my boat got stuck in the ice and I was forced to foot it back to Dawson City. "Well, it was Providence, that did that. I purchased claim No. 60, below Discovery claim, and it proved one of the richest I pieces of ground in the district. My claim will average 16 or 17 I dollars to the pan, and in addition to what I have already taken cr, < < < ooo. Thomas Flack brought along $6000 in dust - for expenses, and said he had refused $50,000 for his share of a claim, out of which his partners realized, respecti^'ely, $50,000 and $55,000. J. B. Hollingshead had $25,000 in dust to sliow for two years' work. M. S. Norcross said : " I was sick and couldn't work, so I cooked for Mr. McNamee. Still I had a claim on the Bonanza, ■7^'\ -^'^i {iS