The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-08-16
THE ALASKAN GOLD FIELDS
A Prospector Gives a Very
Gloomy Account of
-. Them.
He Says Gold Is There, but in Too
Small Quantities to
Pay.

A prospector who recently went to
Alaska gold seeking tells the Alaska
Searchlight the following discouraging
story: ~.
Gold is here, but the finest color found
on the Snake River. Idaho, would be
nugget in comparison. All this section
appears to be of glacial formation and will
not pay to work, except by hydraulic
process on large scale, and even then 1
think the gold would go in at the head
race and come out at the tail race, the par
ticles are SO fine I tried to gain all the in
formation possible about these dlgglngs
before leaving Juneau and came here with
the i'm preston that they were new, dis
covery of last year. This is not the case,
as some of the men now here have been on
the ground the past six years and no one
has made stake vet. There are two or
three claims on Bear Creek which show
coarse gold, but they. are only prospects.
I, There are nearly 200 men here, and the
majority of them will leaveas soon as they
can do so. The water is yet too high to
work at an advantage, but there is no
hope of making wages after it goes down.
The best encouragement we can get Is that
we may be able to make from so cents to
dollar day. Resurrection Creek is the
largest stream flowing into the head OF
Turnagain arm, being some forty miles
long. The first fifteen miles have been
thoroughly prospected. A man by the
name of Miller is said to own the best
claim, on which four white men and an
Indian are working. The first cleanup of
the season resulted in S31 in gold, and
represents twelve weeks work for one
man, two-thirds of which, however, was
dead work.
Those who expect to winter here are
buying provisions cheap, getting the out
fits of those who are leaving at almost any
price. Bede, the discoverer of gold on
Bear Greek, has an hydraulic plant at work,
but it is said his first cleanup was only
four ounces. He has nine men at work for
him. Remains of old sluice- boxes have
been found on this creek, which show con-
clusively that some work was done here
years ago. Across the arm twelve men
from Fresno, Cal, have been prospecting.
They report finding the ruins of an old
cabin and other signs that miners had pre-
coded them, but they found no pay dirt
and have gone to the Six mile Greek, about
twelve miles from here.
The miners held meeting here few
days ago and organized a mining district
and Robert Michaelson, formerly of Jul
neau, was chosen recorder. Hope is the
new name for the camp. The highest
price ever paid for a claim here is $500.
The largest amount ever taken out was
$125 in four days. Several men have gone
up the Kinik River to prospect, and it is
possible that before winter sets in you may
receive some very good news from this sec
ton, but unless something new is struck
every one of the twenty-five boats riding at
anchor or lying on the beach in front of the
settlement will spread their white wings
and sail away. Possibly my disappoint-
ment has colored this communication a
little, but have tried to give you the facts
just as they exist, and believe you Will
be doing any one kindness to dissuade
him from coming here at present.