Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1892-10-21
RETURNEDFROMY YHEYUKON
J. W. Black and Henry Wirth Back
From the WildS of Alaska
MIR. BLACKS STORY OF THE TRIP
Down the Mighty Yukon River in a
Small Boat-Gold Mining on
Forty Mile Greek

"
Wirth from trip of seven months du-
ration in the wilds of Northern Alaska,
in search of gold and adventure, was
the principal topic of conversation in
town yesterday, the numerous friends
OF the gentlemen extending them
most cordial welcome and besieging
them with all sorts of questions about
the remote and little known region
which they traversed. Their trip was
in many respects one of the most re-
markable ones ever made in Alaska,
not even excepting that of Lieutenant
Schwatka and the exploring expedi-
ton sent out last year by the publishers
of the Frank Leslie periodicals. The
story Of it in detail would fill volume
of considerable size, and would be re-
plete with interest from beginning to
end. By dint of some persuasion
Mr.. Black, whose reputation for mod
esty is well established among his
friends, was induced to submit to an
interview last evening, and gave a
HERALD reporter the following account
of the trip:
"Our party, including, as you know,
Henry Worth, n. V. Hendricks and
myself, left here on the 18th of March,
well equipped with provisions, cloth
ing and supplies of all kinds for six
months trip. AT Port Townsend we took
passage on the steamer Mexico for
| ChilcoOt village, ninety miles north of
Juneau, near the head of an arm Of the
| ocean north of Cross sound and east of
Mt. Fairweather, about 200 miles from
| here. From there we went by Indian
canoes twenty-five miles further north
TO the mouth of the Dyee river, at the
head of salt water navigation, crossing
the st. Elias range of mountains from
there by way of the Dyee pass to the
headwaters of one of the several streams
or chains of lakes which unite and
form the Yukon, or, as the Russians
call IL, the Kwichpak. Here we stopped
and whipsawed lumber and built a
boat. 1t wasn't remarkable for beauty
or symmetry, but it was large enough
and staunch enough to carry us with
all our supplies, and in it we travelled
safely upwards of $500 miles to Norton
sound, encountering no serious danger
! except in shooting the White Horse
rapids, between Lake Marsh and Lake
| La Barge. 1t is fearful place.
We got into it by accident, and very
luckily got out without accident. Five.
boats have been lost there with all
their occupants. Reaching the main
river at point designated on the maps
as Fort Selkirk, though there is no fort
or anything else habitable there, we
drifted and rowed down 200 miles to
| the mouth of Forty-Mile creek, and
pulled up that stream ninety-five miles
to the gold diggings IN Franklin gulch,
perhaps the richest, and certainly
the most discouFaging placer min
| Ing camp on the continent.
1t is wild, weird region. The creek
is about 200 miles long, and has fall
of 800 feet in ninety-tive miles. A strip
300 feet in width across the gulch con-
stitutes a claim. The difficulties at
tending mining there are very great.
The ground is covered all over with a
deposit of frozen muck twenty-five feet
deep, all of which must be removed by
picking and shoveling before the gravel
| frozen deep, but no great diff
Guilty is experienced in thawing
and sluicing that when the
water is plentiful, which was not
the case this year, the scarcity of water
making the season there practically a
failure. Even when there is an abund-
ance Of water sluicing is seldom possi-
ble more than forty days in the year,
so. you see the ground must be very
rich indeed to make mining there at
all profitable. 1t costs 5000 for
an outfit for year, including
provisions, clothing and tools. At
the station on the Yukon, at
the mouth of Forty Mile creek,
flour sells for $50 barrel, while at the
diggings, ntnety-five miles above, it is
valued at $50. Bacon there is counted
worth go centsa pound; sugar, 40 cents
beans, 35 cents; coffee, IS cents; tea,
S1.25 and butter $1.50. Wages for
miners are $40 per day. The papers
have greatly overstated the number of
miners working there. There were
not more than 125 there at any time
during the summer and large portion
of them are discouraged and would be
glad to get out. Some, however, who
own claims, seem content TO stay from
year to year, taking the chances Of
making big clean-ups when there is |
plenty of water. We arrived there on
the 18th of June and left on the 18th Of |
Juyl, going down the Yukon and pros
pecting as we went. At the mouth of
the Kiukuk, 1000 miles down the river |
from Forty-Mile creek, Hendricks left |
us, going up the Kiukuk 900 miles TO |
the forks, within the Arctic circle, in |
latitude about 69'. He went with
man by the name of Frank Hawley, |
the latter's companion, AL Carston, |
coming out with Wirth and myself |
They were both hearty and I'm good |
spirits when we left them, and were
well supplied with provisions for the
long winter. We went on down the
great river to Norton sound, arriving
there on the 25th of August, and going
up the coast eighty miles TO st. Mich |
aeps. the northermost station of the
Alaska Commercial Company. We