Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1883-09-20

A BAD COUNTRY.
An Interesting Letter From a Mon.
saasHn New In Alaska.
As there has been 30 much interest ex-
pressed OF late % to the mines OF Alaska,
and as many are inquiriDg in relation to
the same, we publish the following letter
from Jacob Knause, now in Alaska, to
Mike Burns Of Helena.
JUSEAU, Alaska, July 23, 1883.
You wished to know something about
this country. l will try and describe it as
we'll AZ l can. The placers are nothing
extra. With the exception OF about six
claims, they do not pay good wages. They
are all situated on the hillside, where no
one would look for gold. The seasons are
very short. They did not get to work this
year until June, and they will probably
have to shut down in September, or Octo-
Der at the latest. 1t is the most disagreea-
BILE place to work in the ground sluice I
ever raw. 1t has rained almost every
day since W. got here, but il it did not
rain they would have to stop work for
the wan Of water. The diggings are all
in what il called the Basin. 1t is high
up in the hills, and . few frosty nights
dtiCo ny Ill tu0 WhtcIs A2bt yCoh buo OOyh
did not get to clean up their last run, as
it froze early and did not thsw out again
until this Spring. The gold is all very fine,
aud goes but Sic to the ounce, and
has to be clean to do that. There ia an
island across the bay from juneau, which
is called Douglas Island, where they
fouDdp pretty good pay. From one claim.
situated on the beach. and called the Ready
Bullion, they took out $40 per day TO the
mar for q while, but that is worked out.
Others were struck q little higher up hat
payed well, but are not doing much now.
A for the quartz, it is pretty good what
there is to be seen. They have done moth
ing with it yet. There are about so loca-
tioDs in the basin that no work has been
done on yet except enough to hold them.
The float ID rich. One boulder that weighed
almost l 900 pounds was crushed last Sep
TENDER. and they got about 81 200 out OF
it besides q large amount Of specimens.
The quartz is almost all galena ore, and
the gold can be seen sprinkled in the ga
lena. There are two five-stamp mills here,
one about half way between here and
the Basin, where it was put for
custom work, but is not running this
Summer. The other is on Douglas
Island, on the Paris quartz location,
brought there for prospecting the claim. I
have been working in the tunnel there for
about seven weeks. The quartz is low
grade. but the largest deposit that was ever
known. It is about 600 feet wide, and how
long they do not know. There are six
locations on it, or where they think it is.
II dips under the slate in places, and then
comes out sgain in a large bunch. There
is very little country rock in it. Some of
it works much higher than others, but the
whole hill W II pay, l think. That is, the
way it will be worked. There will be a
l0O-stamp mill upon it in the Spring. so
they say. We ran out OF powder and had
to lay off until the steamer gets here. The
country here is very rough and covered
with moss. You cannot prospect except
on the mountain tops or where the water |
cuts through the hill. The timber is very |
dense hemlock, spruce and alder being
the only kinds found here.
tn underbrush is SO thick you can hardly
get through. 1t is mostly berry bushes
and Devils Chips"-well named, too.
1t ia a long curved stem with leaves about !
a foot wide on top. The stem is covered
with thorns which stick into the flesh
wherever it touches; SO you see it is a fine
place to prospect in. A party OF five have
just got back from a trip about 400 miles
northwest of here. but did not strike any |
thing but a deposit Of black sand. 1t is
pretty, but / dc not see how they can
work it. II is very heavy and mostly mag |
nesie@3gen. 1t is on the beach,. The place |
is called Yucatat. 1t was where tbs Gwa ]
men were killed three years ago by the I'M [
dams. There are three parties out from
here this year on the head-waters Of the
Yukon. They go from here in boats to q
place called Chittcat, where they leave
their boats and cross the range, about 80
miles. They have to pay SO a 100 for
packing across this range Then they
whip-saw lumber and build boats. There
is a chain of lakes from there down to the
Yukon River, and some terribly rough
canyons to go through when they strike
the river. II is all up stream work. They
will not be back until September or Octo-
Der.
I think I will stay until they return. At
the Indian tow Of Chittcat they are
putting up two salmon canDeries aud
building two wharves. There will be
nothing doing here this Winter. An
Indian killed q white man here the other
night, and there have been several acct
dents in the rhinestone man killed and
another not expected to live. Nothing to
excite any one here-the quietest camp in
the world. There are five saloons here.
but every store in the place sells beer.
Whisky is not allowed to be landed in the
Territory, but you can find what they call
whisky behind all the bars.
think from what l have said, you can
try l have come to.
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