Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1888-03-13

are vet to be found in that region
: Tile part of it we travelled over did
not embrace more than 300 miles in
all, including the feeders, the Salmon
and Stewart rivers. The richest Dig
gings will undoubtedly be found
along the head waters of the Yukon;
at the head of Stewart river $3.50
diggings were found by Messrs.l Boz
well & Frazier. Very little prospect
ing for quartz has been done so far;
miners confining their attention prin-
cipaHy to placers. have heard of
but one ledge on the Yukon discoy-
Tered accidentally specimens of which
assayed $4,000 per ton. We found
gold in every stream we prospected.
and from other miners who have tray-
eled over q greater extent of territory
than i have, am informed that gold IS
found over wider range in. northern
Alaska than in any State or Territory
Iou the Pacific Coast. There is no
doubt thatwe have in Alaska the larg-
est quartz ledge that was eyer found,
and recent information proves that we
have also the most extensive placer
diggings in the world. havn't done
well myself-have very little to show
for my seasons work-only 81 .2S4 af-
ter paying my expenses, but there are
iothers who have made rs high as S6,-
coo in less time. 1 am going back
next spring, and with new machinery
and the experience L have already
gained, expect to clear from So 900
to $4,000. The country is noun
famous in the truest sense of the
word, broken, jagged and rugged
with very little softness.' There are
stretches of fat land along the river.
the result of ice and water evasions.
These fats are well timhered, and rs
far as could perceive, just as good
US is found anywhere in southeastern
Alaska. With one additional feature
that lent glory and a beauty to the
landscape in Autumn, not seen any
where except in the east. and that
was the superabundance of small ana
nuals, whose foliage became a blaze
of color when the frost began his ar
tistic work. In spring and early
summer the number, variety and
beauty of the Wild flowers was bewih
dering: many of the flowers are dei-
icateiy perfumed. The Auroral
Lights were something grahder than
had ever before seen. They always
seemed far away, but now they came
down in streams of gorgeous light
right over me. i felt as If they were
atmospheric glaciers, only that. they
rushed through space with lightning
velocity and cleared the calmer,
warmer air about me, making siz-
zing noise as of something burning.
There is only one very dangerous
tpIaee in crossing the divide, aud that
is a rapid mountain stream not very
! deep, butvery seroEg, ,wliie!i mist be
forded several times. We adopted
the plan of holding each others hands
while we waded waist deep in the cold,
icy stream, and gained the other side
in safety. Before we dismiss the
Yukon country, the last possible home
of the mastodon. It is believed by
many Indian tribes (and there arc
some living who declare upon their
honor that they have seen living ones0
: that his haunts are way off in the
Northeast country. Once he roamed
at pleasure over the face of the earth,
but no where more complacently than
all along the western coast of the Pa
, cific, from Arctic to Torrid Zones"
Mr.. w. NJ. Lee, in the Tacoma
Ledger says: I" In company with Mr..
Copeland of Latah, Spokane county,
went to the spring where the relics
were dug out. 1t is located on a
. strip of springy prairies. The excava-
J tion around the spring Is IL of 10 #.
deep and 80 or 40 across. The bones
; were covered by several distinct
layers. The first was ancient peat,
then gravel, then volcanic ashes, then
layer of coarse peat. From this
spring were taken no less than nine
mammoths or elephants of different
sizes, the remains of n cave bear,
hyenas. extinct birds and a sea-turtIe.
Mr.. COPELAND kindly presented me
with some specimens of these relics.
The dimensions of some of the bones
of the larger animals were wonderful
to look at. The horns were a sort of
tusk, and protruded from the head
just below the jaws, then upward
over the head. BY dropping the head
in the act of feeding, the circle of the
horns that extended below the Jaws
pdELldtIy EeSteu On the RTOuuuS giving
support to the head which is estima-
ted to have weighed a ton. The
horns were worn away at the bonnet
of the turn or haIf-ciTcle, indicating
constant rubbing on the ground or
rocks. One of these horns was 101
#. long and "a inches in circumfer-
ence; it weighed 145 lbs. One of
the tusks measured IL #. in. in
length and 27 in. circumference. It
weighed 295 lbs. The jaw weighed
63 his. The moIar teeth weighed 1s
lbs. each. Some of the ribs were g
it. long. The pelvic arch was 6 IT.
across, and an ordinary man could
walk erect through the opening
This huge and antique monster was
184 # high. and was estimated TO
have weighed 20 tons. Just imagine
far back in the misty bygones of an
tiquity, probably before the appear-
ance of man upon the earth. that
Washington Ter. was the home of
these mastodons, that roamed over
the great prairies, trayersed the CO.
lumbia river and made the genial
cIimes of Puget's Sound their hauuts
in winter. It matters not what the
theories may be in regard to these
a.