Omaha daily bee., 1896-08-15
COLLAPSE OF THE BUBBLE
Alaska's Exaggerated Mineral Wealth Lures
Thousands to Ruin.
DECEPTION FOLLOWED BY D%EsrlTUTloN
A snd story of Golden Hopes and
the subsequent Distrcss-Outft-
tiers Did the Booming and
Enriched Themselves.

darkest pages OF history, Inc sympathetic
student is moved to tears as he reads Of the
hardships, suffering and death Of the soldiers
of the grand army under Napoleon. The
retreat from Alaska, says the New York
Herald, though devoid of the horrors of war,
is marked by sufterings as keen, hardships
as real and deaths as affecting as those
that signalized the black march OF the SOL
diers of the legion.
The men of 1904 sought the bubble reputa-
ton at the lannon's mouth; the men Of 1896
sought gold, lured on to ruin by the treacher-
Gus boomers In Seattle, Tacoma, Sitka and
juneau.
Alaska is Ell Dorado gone again, and the
pricking of the bubble means ruined health
and poverty for many of the 5000 pilgrims
from the east and west who left good homes
and lucrative employment to fight their way
through ice-locked waters, valleys buried
in snow and bewildering mountain passes
to reach the promised land on the shores OF
the little creeks that run in from Vurnagain
Arm of Cooks inlet or on the inhospitable
and barren land that borders Birch creek, IN
the Yukon district.
The coranach of McGregor after Culloden
was not more despairing that the dirgelike
tales of the few who were fortunate enough
to escape from the ''diggings' with enough
money to pay their way back to civilization
1t is the same story from the camps i'll the
Cooks Inlet country and from the Yukon.
All started with hope in their hearts ana
ample outfits to last through the mining sea
son, from May to the end of July. Most Of
those who entered the gold fields left hope
and their outfits behind.
HERE is THE BAIT.
Three thousand men, principally from the
Pacific coast states, left for the Yukon
I.-.t. RI IL, A-n - Inrnh tho
last party left Seattle and Tacoma in May.
They had heard that Edwin Hofstad, who
visited Portland, Ore, last winter. had found
the famous gold lake. that the precious
metal could be washed with little trouble
from the sands on the shore. and that 1t
assayed all the way from SIPS to SIS a cubic
yard. This is exceedingly rich, when one
remembers that the best California mines
pay only a few cents a cubic yard. Then,
too, Hofstad was pictured az a philanthropy
list. He had not only discovered the gold
lake, but he was willing to let every miner
in on the ground flood until the claims
were all taken up. This was indeed the
best mining proposition since the days
of 40.
If you came too late to stake a claim
on the lake, there were other striking In
ducements left. Every gold hunter wore
a blanket suit. In the inside left breast
gocket over the heart were stored away
little slips from the newspapers that told
of wealth by the ton for all, to be had for
the washing. Here are some of the gold
bricks doled out by the boomers In
Juneau during the spring of the year:
The crying need is capital. With money
to develop the strikes made last summer
the territory would become wonderfully
productive of gold. 1t is not too much to
say it would greatly surpass the best days
of California. The mountains TEEN with
tho yellow stuff. Wherever the prospectors,
go they strike it in rich veins. But they
haven't the capital to develop their strikes.
They want partners to help them with &
little money. The richest deposits that have
been discovered are in the most inacces>
sible places. The very best sort Of in
are waiting here for the men OF
the states who have the courage to put in
their money. They can take it out a hundred
fold and more, an4 they won't have to wait
long to do it."
This is very enticlng, but it is somewhat
indefinite. Into the blanket pocket again.
Here is another slip:
This has been the most successful year
in the history of the development Of Alaska's
mineral resources. Strikes of gold have
been unusually numerous, many of them of
very great value. Besides these gold strikes
many silver veins have been discovered, new
and vast coal deposits have been located and
a wonderfully rich copper lode has been
found. All these strikes and more have been
made without regard to Yukon possibilities.
The placer diggings along the big river and
it's uncounted streams have yielded more
richly than ever before. New bars and
streaks of pay dirt have been discovered
almost without number. 1t seems as II gold
in pay quantities lies in every sand bar from
Lake Teslin to the Yukon's mouth. 1t is to
be had for the taking
When, in addition, the tenderfOot in the
states, home of capital, was told that $780,
900 was washed out In the Birch Creek dis
trict last summer, that a nugget weigh
ing thirty-two ounces, was taken out on
| Forty Mile creek; that Bob Insley cleared
5000 on Glacier creek during a month;
that 1.-The only lawyer and preacher In the
| Yukon abandoned their callings and struck
1t rich on Glacier creek and that "the
stamp mills are crushing quartz that assays
$3.50 to the ton Is 1t cause for wonder that
thousands pulled up stakes and sold their
all to realize enough to buy an outfit and
pay their way to this wonderful Yukon?
f FOR THE RIVER OF GOLD.
OF they went, pouring by hundreds into
the Valley of the River of Gold, many of
them to sink forever in its rushing waters,
others to fall victims to the rigors of the
climate and a few to stick 1t OUT until the
tide changes and washes the gold from the
bed to the shining sands, for the yellow
metal is in the river-they will tell you so
in Juneau. and those that have claims to
sell will emphasize that statement when you
reach the fields. Nevertheless, some have
already returned, and many are on their
way home. With bitterness in their hearts
and poverty as their companion, they curse
the men who spread the lies that lured them
into the valley of the Yukon. the River of
Death.
The bald truth is that there is gold in the
Yukon district. but these claims are all
owned by the moneyed men of Juneau and
Sitha, who bought them from the pioneers
in the district.
When the venturesome spirits before re-
ferred to were starting for the Yukon a
dozen expeditions were fitting out for the
gold sands OF the creeks running in from
Turnagain Arm OF Cooks Inlet. This arm
receives its name from the fact that Cook
entered 1t while seeking the Northwest Pas
sage, and when he had explored ii to its end
he was compelled to turn again for the in
let. Its discoverer was bitterly disappointed;
| SO, too, are the men who followed in his
path this year.
The men of these expeditions had heard OF
the Yukon and its riches, but they had been
told also of countless nuggets Of gold found
on the sands OF the creeks near Sunrise City.
the capital of the inlet country. One had
only 10 go there, remain two months and re-
turn, to be able to say, like Monte Cristo
The world Is mlne!"
More than 1000 men left Seattle and Ia
coma for the camps in this section OF Alaska.
They went on the steamers Utopia, Albion
and City OF Topekaf on the schooners
ALASKA. Ella Johnson, Bryant, Prescott.
Helen and Loyal. The most pretentious
outfit was backed by a syndicate OF Bos-
ton capitalists. called the Excelsior Min
t-- A-I NJ