The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1889-05-21

September and came out of the |
country by the route | went into it. !
Generally two steamers a year come
up the Yukon to supply the forts and
gather the furs, but our camp was
/. 800 miles from the mouth and it
would have required the greater part
of the mining season to make the
trip that way.
About 100 miners were On 4O-Mile
River last year and | think the num-
Der this year will be about 100,
but one or two thousand
could fud good claims within
a distance of so miles. In company
with three others / explored the river
about 100 miles and found gold on
every bar. New bars are formed
every year and many of the old ones
wash away. | am satisfied that the
bed of the river is rich gold mine
and one day when the water is d.
verted, as it can be easily done, II
will yield an enormous sum,
Last spring ten Swedes who camped
near me, removed the ice from a space
10 by 20 feet on the bed of the river.
They carried wood from the canyon,
two miles distant, built fires IN the
hole and as the earth thawed they
scraped Al up and washed it Ou'.
They worked at the job two weeks
and realized nearly $1,000 worth Of
gold when the ice broke Up and
they we're forced to stop.
The Indians that inhabited that
country are not very numerous. They
live in tribes along the Yukon and
while they would make the best min
ers in the world they prefer hunting
aud fishing to working in the mines.
They are densely ignorant and have
peculiar ideas of morality. The
Church of England has several mis-
sions among them. Ali belong to it
aud will starve before they will WORK
on Sunday. However, they swear
like a mule driver, an accomplishment
they learned from the miners. They
like the miners and get along with
them nicely, but they have holy
dread of the white mans law having
ran up against it in few instances.
Last summer one Of the young
Indian men made a criminal as
sauit upon one of the miners H.
dian wives. He was captured
and brought before the committee.
A large number of his tribe followed
him and threatened vengeance If he
was harmed. The miners all assem-
bled and the fellow was tried accord
ing to law" and sentenced to be
hanged. The sentence was carried
l. 10 effect Immediately in the presence
O. t..e terror stricken tribe. They
could not understand why violating
the person of woman should be re-
garded as crime. The hanging,
however, had a good effect upon them,
and Woman's rights, especially of those
who had married white men, advanced
wonderfully. Our men never allowed
their Indian wives to work in the
mines with them. This greatly as
tonished the natives who make slaves
of the women under their control.
The great drawback to mining in
that county is the shortness of the
season. 1t is not possible to work be-
fore the 1st of June or
after the 1st of September
of each year, leaving only ninety
days for work. Sometimes that even,
is cut short by foods, as it was last
year.
am satisfied that the banks of the
hundreds of small streams in the
Yukon Valley are rich with gold, but
SIS vet only a few miners have found
their way into the country, and only
misunderstanding rivers have b en- pros
pected. Eighty-Nlile is quite rich,
but is not as easily worked as 40-Miie.
The Salmon river is the British Pos.
sessions, is also rich, but has not been
prospected. except that done by our
party near the mouth. The HOOde-
linquah river, although as large as
the Usage in this state, has never
been explored, but from what can
learn of it from the Indians, | am
satisfied it is also rich, besides its
banks contain the only coal deposits
in the Yukon Valley, a territory
larger than the states of Ohio, In
diana, Kentucky and Illinois.