Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1888-02-03
Alaska Nuggets.

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regular standing within year.
Alaska Nuggets.
The Free Press, published at
Juneau, in Alaska territory. is live
" sheet that manages to make up o
lot of local news. The mail service
in that direction is rather slow, and
the issue of Oct 8, 1887. has just
found its way to the Com Gdzette's
exchange table. although the paper
states that Jimmy Stitt since his
arrival has made q big improvement
in the postotiice department 1t is
reported that civilization is booming
at juneau, and in attestation of this
interesting fact, the program OF the
performance at the Juneau Opera
house is printed The entertainment
includes ii walking match, and one
Snow does his famous song aud dance
acc entltled Rats Then there is
the Franklin Music Hall, where 1.-The
finest orchestra this side of the North
Pole renders the dulcet strains to the
terpsichorean feast"
There is u good deal of ne VS. from
the miniDg camps, and it is stated
that about $50 prospectors will win.
ter on the Yukon river The
story OF une big find is related as fol.
lows:
"On Friday last Jack Mclaughlin,
who had just arrived from Berner
Bay, strolled into our sanctum and
We Immediately began pumping him
on the past seasons development in
the above named district. 1t will be
remembered that some time ago we
made mention of Lucky Tom Smith
and his find. Jack veriies our former
assertions, aud says Tom Smith has
indeed struck it. 1t happened thusly:
Lucky Tom as be is now more
commonly termed. had bent forward
to quench his thirst from small
stream of water, which at that point
flowed over bench or fall about
waist high The water was as clear
as crystal, and but a few inches
d ep over the bedrock, and upon
STOPPING close over it. Tom was not
little surprised to see streak of
quartz running through the rock that
was fairly yellow with gold. In fact
it was 80 rich with the yellow metal
that it held the quartz together when
cracked open. He immediately locat.
ed his find, and has since stripped off
considerable surface earth aud expos
ed good sized vein Assay returns
from the paw streak have yielded as
high as $4,000 to the ton"
The arrival in turn is chronicled of
DR.. Geo M. Dawson. of the Canadian
Geological Survey The editor says:
"The Doctor informed US that on
every stream he panned he found gold
in more or less quantities, and also
float quartz was quite abundant. and
some of it he presumed was rich in
both gold aud silver In his opinion
the Yukon river was the greatest
mining country in the world For miles
along the Peia and Yukon rivers he
noticed indications of minerals, aud
wherever he psnned gold was also
visible. throughout were exyensive
forests and vast meadows from which
hay could be cut. rhe climate was
warm and dry in the summer, but he
supposed it was cold in the winter.
Game was quite plentiful, especially
moose and caribou. and the streams
teemed with fish of several varieties,
of which he named mountain trout,
pike, white fish and suckers, and 10
season the salmon were very thick
He had found the country much easier
of access and much richer in minerals
than he had at first supposed, but in
his opinion the Elain bodies OF min
eral lay in Alaska, although a great
portion of British America was quite
rich, especially in auriferous gravel
deposits.
THE DEVILS BACKBONE.
One of the display heads of the pa
per set in startling big black type is
the following: 1.-The Devil Unearth.
ed"-Dick Willoughby Finds His
Skeleton, aud Brings to Town Por-
ton Of His Backbone" The bit of
news thus heralded is as follows:
Last week Dick Willoughby and
Phil Corcoran returned from a pros
pecting trip a short distance up the
coast. They brought back with them
what to all appearance seems to be q
portion of the backbone of some man.
moth land animal In conversation
with Dick we learned the following
particulars of the find: AS be was
coming down over an immense snow
slide about three miles inland, when
near the bottom he espied partly pro-
jecting from the debris of the side. q
portion of the skeleton of mammoth
animal. Upon making the discovery
he then returned to camp, and then
in company with Mr.. Corcoran. re-
turned to exhume their prize. When
dug out, they found they had only e
portion Of skeleton, but what por-
tion they were unable from it's mass
i've and strange appearance to deter
mine. Altogether they thought it
would weigh about three tons. and as
they wanted TO bring specimen
home with them, they found they
would have to chop off piece, rs any
portion of it was too heavy to be
transported. A projection from the
main trunk, supposed to be portion
of the backbone running from the hip.
was chopped of. When free from
the trunk it separated into several
parts, as though a number of three
cornered troughs had been placed one
within the other. The smallest por-
tion was selected and brought to
town. 1t is about seven feet in
length. DR. Geo. NJ Dawson, AS
sistant Director of the Dominion Geo.
logical Survey, examined the bone,
and pronounced it as that belonging
to some extinct land animal of nam.
moth proportions. Willoughby will
return and endeavor to bring down
the remainder of the skeleton.
Mrs. Grundy and the Church.
Many a despairing and over-criti-
cized clergyman will heartily echo
thaSa words itv GanrJa William Cu~.