Omaha daily bee., 1890-05-04

or more, with mountain walls for its
steep sides, it was found that centuries
of erosion had created in that contracted
area one of the richest placer mines
ever worked. Though of limited area it
equalled in richness many of the old Cal
ifornia placers.
Ono civil government was formed in
Alaska until more than three years
afterward, but in the spring of 1881 the
25o hardy old miners who had explored
nearly every region whore gold had
hitherto been found, met and adopted a
code of mining laws which became obli-
gatOry upon every miner in the district.
Half dozen beautiful glacial streams
poured from the sides of the mountains,
hemming in Silver Bow basin and feed
ing the rapid torrent of Gold creek, fur
nished abundance of water for gold wash
ing, and before that summer ended fully
$1,000 in gold dust had been taken out,
and still only meagre impression
made, Quite $1,000,000 in dust have
been washed out of the sand and
dirt of that one basin in the intervening
years, and the surface is now practically
worked out. Pay gravel exists, how
ever, to u considerable depth on the floor
of the basin, and "a new company has run
a tunnel through one of the environing
ridges, for the purpose of mining by the
hydraulic process. Two stamp mills are
also in operation upon quartz on the
same ground, and roadway, two and a
half miles long, and costing $l3, 600,
has been completed, so as to connect the
mines with the channel beach. A flourish
ing town of 800 white inhabitants has
grown up about this mining location,
with schools, churches and many of the
comforts of civilization.
The development of quartz mining on
that portion of the mainland of south
eastern Alaska has just fairly com
menced. Every indication points to the
ineXhaustible character of the gold
quartz deposits, and though there is
nothing of high grade, or of fabulous
richness, yet it is manifest that mining
carried on here with adequate capital,
ample plants and conservative methods
insures that this section of Alaska will
have an indefinite period of prosperity
as II mining district. Farther on / shall
speak of what is requisite in order to
make the handling of these low grade
ores of Alaska remuneratiye.
About three miles to the eastward of
the town, and up the gulch of Sleeps
Creek, recent discoveries of quartz have
also been made, equalling those in Silver
Bow Basin. No mills have been yet
tIctlcu W WOIh lllcSt utpOSllS Ol BOlu-
bearing rock, but considerable quanti-
ties have been shipped to Seattle and
Portland, and refined with fair profits to
the owners of the mines. Though ex-
plprations have been frequently made to
discover silver in the territory, none was
found until the winter of 1883, when
fine rich voin of galena was discovered
in the Sleeps Greek gulch already
alluded to. 1t lis reported by credi-
BILE persons as having yielded $3.50 per
ton in the smeltep at Portland.
Soon after the gold discoveries on the
mainland at Juneau, prospectors crossed
over to Douglas Island, only two miles
distant. Here was found abundance of
placer gold, on the face Of the mountain
which rises directly out OF the water at
nearly all points along the shore, but at
this particular place recedes from the
beach, leaving a stretch of low land more
than mile long and few hundred feet
wide. While some We're engaged in
washing the dirt, others began TO
search for quartz lodes in the same vi
cinity, and on the face of the same
mountain. The indications were fair,
but putting in the necessary tunnels for
exploration was expensive, and those
engaged soon became discouraged. John
Treadwell, who had been a successful
contractor and builder in San Francisco,
was attracted to Alaska by exaggerated
tales OF fabulous bonanzas, and touching