Arizona weekly citizen., 1883-08-25
THE SCHIEFFELIN PARTY.
A Letter Eight Months Old From the
 Nuknn-

| Yukon.
 An expedition of great importance tC
 many thousands is hard at work thi.
 summer in the valley of the YnkoD
 Alaska It is of greater importance
 than the enterprise of Baron Nordens
 ioId, because 1t seeks a practical result
 but should it,like the latter hopes to,acci
 dentslly espy the north axle of the
 earth, and it contains any carbonates oi
 free milling ore. it will be immediately
 located, under act oi Congress of 1872
 The party consists of ten altogether
 namely, Ed Schiefelin. three Tomb.
 stone miners, a New York Herald repor
 ter and a scientist and their four ladies
 In April and May, 1882. Ed Schieffelin
 had a small steamer built at San Fran
 cisco at cost of S36,OOO, especially
 adapted for Arctic navigation. The steamer was put together, and in June
 following trial trip was made around the Bay of San Francisco, his brothers and aged parents, who reside at Los Angeles, accompanying him. The test was satisfactory. The steamer was then taken to pieces and shipped with the party in a chartered schooner to the mouth of the Yukon, where it was again put together. Provisions were taken along for three years. In August, 1882, the "New Racket" as the steamer Is named, started up the Yukon, the first
 steamboat that ever sailed its frigid
 waters.
 It was the intention of the New York Herald reporter to return in the spriI g across the country ln sleds.
 The San Francisco Bulletin is the first paper to receive any news, as appears from the following letter The contin- ued absence of the Herald man shows that he h as not completed his journey yet:
 THE LErTEE.
 NUKhUKAHEYT, Alaska, Nov. l, lSS2 Editor Bulletln:-We are here, all well, not a cough, cold nor pain in the party, 800 miles up the Yukon river. l Thinking the report might be circulated that we had struck It rich, and that some would take 1t into their heads to come without knowing whether the re port Is true, or anything about the kind of a country they are coming to, ] give you the facts. The summers are good enough here, or in any other country. Of the winters l know very little about yet, furthermore than at the present time It would pass for winter most any other place, as everything Is froze up, the country covered with snow, and the thermometer down to twenty -eIght de- grees below zero.
 Gold We have found about fifty miles above here, ID a gulch twelve miles up a small river from Yukon, but in what quantities remains to be proven, as it was getting late in the season, the 7th of October, when We found the gulch freeZ- ing very hard night and day, and having to wade up the river twelve miles tO get to 1t, the brush and moss being so thick, 1t was still slower and harder travelng on its banks. We could do very little prospecting in the length Of time We had, only washing a few pans Oi dirt during the part of two days that We were there, finding gold in every pan It was very pretty, smooth washed gold, which IS known as lead gold. We found 1t ln a very loose gravel, more like tailings than anything else. We hadu' the time to see whether there was any solid gravel in the gulch or not no- to examine, on account of water, what bed rock we found, winch was slate and full of seams and ought to carry coarse gold.
 The prospect We found We don't value so much as a prospect as we value 1t for 6 starting point for next year. This being an entirely new country, extend 1 ing hundreds of miles in any direction, ! and not a mining camp in 1t, to go to get l a start, having to rely exclusively upon 1 ourselves for that, which We expected l would take all next summer to accom- plish, and, then to find ID the first year l after getting here, when the season for l was nearly gone. IS very en- couraging. Ihls IS a very hard country l for parties coming 10 prospect. There l are no means of transportation except by | canoes in summer or dogs in winter. l Dogs are the only domestic animals of | any kInd.
 There are DO supplies or tools neces- sary for prospecting. There are a few | trading posts along the river, and in places it is a hundred miles between | them, and they keep a very limited sup | ply of goods for trading with the h. dIans; and even if their stocks were large, they have nothing prospectors would need. In fact I do not think that there IS a pick, shovel, or gold pan on the river, excepting whar We have. Ger tainly not one that a man could buy. l So It can be seen at a glance the incOn- and disadvantages Of prospec- ing on the Yukon.