Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1874-05-09
THE STIOKEEN MINES

THE ST1OKEEN MINES
The Bellingham Bay Nail publishes -.
letter in its last issue from Mr.. Harvey
citizen of Whatcom county. undsr
date of " Dease Greek, March, 16, 1874 "
He is said to be an experienced m;ner
and most reliable man:
arrived here after O trim of tb;..,.
flve days on snow and ice-the rouobest
l have ever made. We Travelled from
twelve to fifteen miles per day, accord.
ing to how we found the snow and ;ca
1t was sometimes blowing so hard tbot
we could not keep our feet on the loo
and every night we would have to shovel
from two to five feet of snow to make
fire. We brought hand-sleds viii
about $50 pounds to the man. ri ero
was no throwing olive had to work or
freeze. Quite a number of the bows
got nipped, but not badly. One man
died at Bucks Bar, think from ex.
posture. His name was George Clav-
ton, from Cottonwood, Utah. We bur-
led another man yesterday. whose
name was Allen Grant. He had b.en
over to Thibet's Greek on an excitement
He came back and was found dead in
his bed next morning. Most of the In
dams who have been packing provisions
from Bucks Bar to this place were fro
zen. 1t appears to me that the whites
stand the cold better than the Indians.
The distance from Fort Wrangle to
Dease Creek is about $50 miles. The
lake is from one to three miles wide.
and about forty long. The hills are
low oil around, except snow peak here
and there.
Now I don't know anything about
this creek; to be sure they took out
very good pay last fall. But in nv
opinion it is one of the hardest creeks
to handle that have ever seen. It is
canyon moro than creek. There is
no place to turn the water, and only
two or three little bars on the whole
creek. 1t is about ten miles long and
will average about sixty feet wide, and
good supply of very large powders
on it. Babbitt is prospecting at pres
ent and is getting good prospects.
AT present there are three feet of
snow, three feet of ice, and the ground
frozen to the bedrock: 1t will be two
months before the ice goes out of the
creek; then comes high water for q
month, and you can see how much of q
mining season there is left.
The day after arriving located
claim and commenced sinking hole.
have been cutting wood and trying to
thaw it out ever since, but it will prob
ably take three or four days more. My
claim is about three-fourths of mile
above the best paying claim that has
been found on the creek.
My advice to those who intend COM
ing here is not to get here before the
LIST of June; and either to have pocket
full of money or plenty of provisions.
There are now about 200 men here, and
about two thirds Of them will have to
leave for want of grub. It is not in tho
country. We have enough I think; we
bought on our arrival two sacks of -four
for S75, and small sack of beans for
S45 SO.
Mr.. Wills of this place writes to his
wife, under date Of April 18th:
have chance to send letter by
Mr.. Mcintosh, who is going from
here to Portland by way OF Olympia.
am cook and Charley Potter is wood
getter. Our fare is bacon, bread,
beans and coffee. Flour is worth 81
per pound; beans the same; bacon, 81.
Is; and tea, $3.50. There is no sugar
in the market. There is lots of snow
on the ground, and the creek is frozen
over and we can't do anything. We
sunk two holes on our claims but we
never got to bedrock. think we can
make little money out of them this
summer. banned but one pan last
evening and got so cts. We have 4
claims, and think we will make a
raise, but would not advise any ono
to come up here now. There is moth
ing more struck. There will be hard
times. So if there is any one wanting
to come up that we are acquainted
with, tell them say to stay at home
and don't como yet, for there is no
show on Dease Greek nor Thibets. We
will 60 to rocking out tomorrow, and
we think we can make wages.
Mr.. Potter, also of this place, in let
ter to his wife of the same date says:
"This is a hard country, and vastly
overrated as to its richness. Tell father
that my advice to him and all would
be not to come to these mines. We
can't tell how they will turn out yet.
There are o number leaving here al
ready. I think this country is going
to peter out, although there are some
good claims. There are plenty here
now to prospect the country, and |
don't think It will bear the test. 1
think we have good claims, but not as
good asI expected to get, although they
may turn out better than we expect.
The top dirt pays we'll. I panned out
one pan last night and got Is cts"