River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1895-08-01
RIVER FALLS, WISCONSIJ, THURSDAY. AUGUST l. 1885,

The muck is next removed. This is
done by ground shdciag. Running
water, aided by the sun and the sharp
pick of the miner, breaks up this
spongy mass, dissolves it and carries
il away down the gulch leaving only
the gravel and boulder behind. The
miner is now ready for his sluice boxes.
The exposed gravel under the action
of the sun and water slowly thaws
and is shoveled into the boxes. All
this has taken time and the short
summer season of fifty or sixty days is
soon over and if our miner has taken
out enough dust the first season to
pay for the grub stake" he is well
satisfied, knowing that his returns
the following season will be much
more. Very few claims at present,
are considered worth working unless
the returns are at least ten dollars
per man per day, some of the best
claims on Miller Creek the past season
yielded sixty dollars per day per man.
Altogether there are about six
hundred white men on the Yukon
river. The only other camp of i'm
portance beside Forty Mile is Circle
City, two hundred and fifty miles
farther down the river and about
fourteen hundred miles from its
mouth. 1t in Alaska Territory and
just on the edge OF the Arctic Circle,
hence its name. This is where the
writer is located at the present time.
The diggings on Birch Creek, fifty
miles inland, were only discovered the
present season, but it is thought they
will equal or exceed those around
Forty Mile
The supplies for this region are all
brought up the river by boat. Two
companies are engaged in this
business. The Alaska Commercial
Co. of San Francisco and the North
American Trading & Transportation
Co. Of Chicago. The Co.'S steamers
bring the goods up through Behring
Sea to st. Michaels, at the mouth of
the Yukon, where they are received
by the river boats, one the "P. B.
Weave" of 300 tons, and the other The
Arctic" of 100 tons. 1t requires a
full month for these boats to make
the round trip to the mouth of the
river and return, and at the best but
three trips are possible in a season.
Should anything happen to either of
the boats the situation of the miners
would be precarious in the extreme
Even under ne most favorable
circumstances the supplies are not
equal to the demand, and should they
be materially shortened, as happened
in 1887 when the Arctic struck
rock and sunk, d forced emigration of
a part of the population would be
necessary.
The first thing done by the miners
after the closing of the season work,
is the purchasing of a grub stake"
for the ensuing year. 1t is locally re-
ported that in no other country in the
world can man by working one
year. Here wages are tel or twelve
dollars per day and many consider
three hundred dollars sufficient to buy
supplies for year.
As unfortunately, all the miners
are situated quite a distance inland,
the supplies must all be freighted
there on the snow This is done by
dog teams,-rate of transportation
ten cents per pound.
The price of supplies at the post is
reasonable. For instance, flour $500
per cwt., beans $1,000, bacon $500
to $4,000, and other things in proper
tion.
Transportation, except on the riy-
ers, in the summer time is almost out
of the question. 1t is a country of
vast mountains and impenetrable
morasses, which can only be crossed
when frozen. The miners therefore,
have to get all their supplies inland
before warm weather. The new men
who arrive down the river in June are
badly handicapped the first season,
owing to the difficulty of getting an
outfit into the mines.
The native inhabitants of this coun-
try are not numerous. There are
small tribes of Indians al along the
river and on few of its principal
tributaries They are totally unlike
our Indians of the plains. Their
features and structure point strongly
to an Asiatic origin. They also are
the best of workers. The men cut
logs and wood to sell, act as sailors and
pilots on the steamboats,, hunt and
fish or act as freighters for the min
ers. The women are experts in dress
ing skins and furs and in using the
needle. The height Of their am bition
is to dress and talk like the white
man, and TO eat the white mans
''muck-a-muck." They are freely
supplied with unlimited fire-water
and rifles by the white traders, al
though it is illegal in both Alaska and
the Northwest Territory.
The timber resources of the interior
are extremely limited, though per-
haps ample for all demands that will
be made upon them. In the river
bottoms cottonwood and spruce
abound, but of small size. The slopes
of the hills are covered with poplar
and white birch,-the latter In this
section, in great abundance. A few
hundred feet altitude brings us to the
limit of timber, and all the vast roll
ing table lands of the back country
are covered with the white reindeer
moss, where feed numerous herds of
reindeer.
The climate of course is variable.
In the long summer days of almost
perpetual sunshine, there are two
months without frostsan the growth
made by vegetation is equal TO that
made in lower ATTITUDES in a much
longer time. Potatoes and turnips,
peas, cabbage, lettuce and radishes
do well.
Beautiful flowers. though mostly
odorless. are abundant. Wild fruits