The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1889-05-21
A MiSsOurian Gives a Glowing Ac-
count of Alaska Gold
Mines.
The Placer Mines of the Yukon
Valley the Richest i'm the
World and Practically
IneXhauStable

I
SedaIia last Tuesday, gave BAzoo
reporter some interesting facts about
that country and particularly the won
derful placer mines on 40-Mile
River, northern tributary to the
great Yukon, 1860 miles above
lis mouth and forty miles belo W
Fort Reliance. The river is so named
on account of the distance from the
fort.
Mr.. Durham washed out a comf.'rt-
able fortune. but still owns his mine
and will return with his son and SON.
In law next year. He had no map
when he went into the country and
made voyages down. to him unknown,
rivers and across lakes depending on
his compass to keep him in the direc-
ton of the mines.
Said be, flour years ago last April
landed in Juneau, a small mining
town about so miles from Sitka, in.
tending to get employment in the
quartz mines on Douglas island or find
and work a placer in the great horse
shoe valley north of Juneau. | decid-
ed to do the latter"
Il found placer that gave good
promise, but it was so close TO the gla-
cier that | could hardly work it on ac-
count of the cold. On going to it enc
morning | found that the glacier had
slipped down a few inches upon my
claim and packed up and returned
to Juneau.
Reports of the wonderful! rich
ness of the placer mines on
the Salmon river, an eastern
tributaries to Lewis river, had
just been received. l joined a party
of nine bound for the reported Edo
RADIO. We packed a years supplies
in canoes and padded our way
through the straits TO point on the
cosst opposite the 81. Elias mountains
seventy miles north of Jeneau.
Here we found a small tribe of In
dams numbering eight or ten families.
They had the appearance of being
half breeds between North America
Indians and the Esquimaux. They are
exceedingly proud of the fact that
that belong to- the United States and
when they learned that we, too, were
Americans they were exceedingly
hospitable. We readily contracted
with them TO carry our stores and pi-
lot us across the mountains to Lake
Bennett, the head of the chain of
lakes and rivers which flow north
ward into the Yukon. We crossed
Lake Bennett on the ice and went in
to camp on the 18th of May. Hav-
ing abandoned our canoes on the
coast, we constructed other boats
and when the ice broke up or The
first day of June We began our voyage
at the head of S0-Mile river. The ice
nearly swampmed our boats several
times. Halt way down the river We
reached the Canyon" a pass nearly
a mile long and less than forty feet
wide through solid rock. The walls
are perpendicular and in two places
fully IS feet high. The rock, or
ridge of rock, extends across the val
ley like a great wall as far as the eye
can reach with no other break except
the Canyon. The basin above shows
traces of having been at one time
huge lake as large perhaps as Lake
Ontario and the Canyon or pass the
work of the flowing water for ages.
The entire volume of the river pours
through it with a roar that can be
heard many miles and with inconciev-
able swiftness. Our boats were
caught in the current and
hurled through in an instant fairly
taking our breath apay. 1t was a
miracle that our boats were not
ground to pieces between the huge
cakes of ice which tumbled over each
other in the food.
We reached Simon river without
further trouble and found placers
and took out enough dust to purchase
our supplies for another year, about
thousand dollars, when high water
forced us to suspend operations. We
had not seen single person or heard
a word from the outside world since
We left the coast, and becoming ex-
ceedingly lonesome, We decided to
abandon our claim and 60 down to
Fort Reliance, 200 miles down the
Yukon river. We reached the fort
on the Sd of September and a few
days later the river froze from bank ov-
e. and the arctic winter began. The
addition of our party had not been
calculated upon az the fort and we
could not purchase a pound of pro-
visions at any price. About 100 min
/ Orc bod ornthnrnd OF tho Fort To cr,ond