The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1895-04-18

western shores of Teslin or Aklene
lake. AS we progressed, prospecting,
we found gold in small quantities.
AT almost every lift of the shovel we
found the ''pay-dirt color" For seven
weeks we prospected, pressing stead
fast1y northwest in the direction Of
Juneau. Our belts were becoming
heavy. The several strikes we had
made buoyed up our spirits and gave
us hopes of striking something great
before long. We suffered from hum
ger at times, but found plenty OF
water. Our gold altogether must have
Amounted to quite $4,000.
| THE BAR OF PURE GOLD.
The eighth week of our tramp found
us in the ST. Elias range, on the east
ern slope, in well-watered valleys,
where game was in abundance, and
lgold was everywhere, on the bars and
shores of the streams in small guam
Titles Bad Indians We're about also,
north of Teslin or Aklene lake, they
lrange all through British Columbia
iThey have strongholds in the Simpson
land CaSsian mountains, and they are
treacherous devils. We kept out Of
their sight, as we thought, and on
saturday of the eighth week that we
had been out, we discovered the Lake
of the Golden Bar" "Ole" Stanford
good old prospector that he Was-saW
lit first. 1t was about 8 o'clock in the
morning.
The sun was shining away to the
southeast. But a few days later In
that region it would not have been
there to point out the resplendent
treasure for us. But now its rays
struck with a slanting flood upon the
bar and scintillated in thousand
. golden slivers directly across the
water into our daZzled eyes.
"Ole'' shouted like a drunken Nlk-
ling carousing ON shore after long
!. voyage. Ulrich simply blinked his
eyes and gazed stupefied at the sight
. He was drunk, as usual, or rather
, lust getting over the night before.
uttered not word, but, for once
my heart beat quickly. 1 am rather
phlegmatic and not easily moved. But
my natural aplomb failed me here.
don't know what made me do 1t, but
, reverently said, 'Thank God!' 1t
has beer. many years since 1 had ex-
perienced any religious feeling, but
that ''Thank Godv' was indeed a
Iprayerful expression of gratitude
straight from a full heart.
AS have said, bad Indians were all
, about us. Any minute we might have
|been discovered, captured and tor
tured. to be finally slaughtered, or we
, might have been shot from ambush.
, But the fact of the Indians presence
did not recur to us now. What cared
; 1--we for Indians before the sight OF
this priceless deposit of wealth:
There was the gold, the ''yelloW
: stuff glittering, flashing stars, splint
ering the sun-lit atmosphere with in
, numerable golden lances of light. Ii
, was all ours! 'Hurrahv'
THE FIRST BIG NUGGET.
simultaneously we all yelled. Ever
, iquor- -befogged Ulrich came in, will
a deep baritone, in good time. Their
we dropped our rifles and, all together
, plunged into the water, making fol
the "golden bar About thirty fee
!, separated it from the bank. The
water was over our heads and quite
cold But little we cared for the colo
drenching We were all swimmers
and it was a race TO see who WOulC
first plant foot on the golden strand
1 was the lightest man in the party
and the least clothed. Then, too, my
shoes were moccasins, kind of foot
wear 1 always adopt when rambling
in the wilderness. l struck the shal
low water at least ten feet before
l l"Ole," who was ahead of Ulrich sew
eral feet, or almost his body's length
With a shout, l scrambled through
, the shadows and raced for a nugge
some three feet away from the wa
ters edge. 1 picked it up. 1t was
heavy. weighing perhaps six pounds
AS l felt of the heft and noted the
color 1 could see that it was almos
pure gold. I estimated it to be wOrtl
at least $15 an ounce.
While 1 was examining this fine
under MY glass "Ole' had got ashore
He began to gather up nuggets ant
scoop up dust as fast as he coul(
: transfer the stuff from the ground tt
his pockets. But it remained for VI
! rich to make the big strike of all oul
discoveries. He had landed about {
rod below where "Ole" and had left
: the water. In walking through the
shadows towards shore he struck his
foot against sharp rock, as he
thought. But as he lifted it out OF
the water there was disclosed mug
: get of almost pure gold! I estimated
: it's weight at fifty pounds, or not
: much less than that figure. "Ole'
concurred with me in this estimate.
Well, there is not much more to tell
The rest is now public property. The
sequel of our discovery has been told
and is known from Maine to Califor
mia doubtless by this time.
A GOLDEN HARVEST.
For forty days we worked like mad
men, and cached about $4,000 in
gold, besides the two large nuggets
Ulrich and I had found. Great diff
. ficulty was experienced in ferrying ii
| across the water between the bar and
the shore, and this occupied much OF
the time, otherwise we should have
| gathered more gold. Besides we need
ed food, and hunting claimed a goodly
part of our time. We took turns at
providing grub for the tramp. We
might have bridged the channel be-
tween the bar and the shore, but gave
this up after a consultation, during
which we took in consideration the
fact that we were without axes or
hatchets, and that no small timber
was nearer than ten or twelve miles.