The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1896-05-23
MINING ON THE YUKON.
1t Is All Work and No Play

(AlaSkAu L6bbbf III Now Ofh gun.
Mining on the Yukon is business pro-
position. A man hasn't much time for
play who undertakes it. The man who
goes into farming-only two or three
have tried it so far-up there has got one
great advantage over the miner; there
is long period in the summer when the
sun shines all the time. and the farmer
crop, like the interest on his mortgaged
thrsshing machine, grows while he sleeps.
But with mining claim it's different
A good many of the claims about Forty
Mile aIe practically in the first stages Of
Development. Very fow people OF the
throngs who are now crowding the
Alaska bound steamers understand any
thing about the amount of money aua
labor necessary to get Yukon olaitn
in such shape rs to make it highly pron-
table. New -comers gazo in open-mousheo
wonder when told of claims that have
paid 800 a day to the man. Ihef9 are
such claims in the diggings around fofty
Mile. if the average is taken on the num-
her of DAYS whom pay dirt was worked:
Int the newcomers do not usually stop
to think of the dead work that has heen
done in order to get these rich claims IN
condition to wash out the gold.
If the bed of a creek is to be worked,
tbs first thing necessary Is to construct
dam and turn the water into another
channel. Drain bitches have to be dug
on every claim, tho length of tina ditch
depending on the slope of the land.
This drain-ditch digging is work
which would dishearten anybody but
Yukoner. The frozen ground cannot be
loosened with pick, and the miner has
to wait for the sun to take the frost out
of it. Only about two inches q day
thaws out enough So that it can be NOV
ed, the day in this case meaning "A hours
In one of the claims in the Forty Mile
district, for instance, which Is one of the
richest on the creek, drain 500 feet long
had to be dug. at the upper end of which
it was eight feet down to bedrock. Dur
ing its construction the workmen went
over the entire length of the ditch every
day until the required depth was attalued
and at no time was more than two inches
of gravel moved IN one Gay
IL o man is fortunate enough to locate
a claim the first season after he goes into
the interior, he probably will have to
devote the entire working season to strip
ping and draining it and getting ready to
wash dirt, and at the close of the season
he may not have realized a dollar as the
result of his work, although the claim
may be extremely rich. Glacier creek, a
tributary of Big Gold creek, in the Sixty
Mile country, contains moro than 30
claims, each 500 feet long, on which such
work has had TO be done. Last summer
Robert Inslsy, an old Juneau man, OPP
Grated seven claims Oh Glacier creek. On
two of the claims but two weeks wash
ing was done, because they were so stu
atsd that tho sun rarely shone upon the
ground, and they had hardly thawed out
befora the gravel mad frozen again. On
the Forty Mile claim, to which reference
has been made, between six and seven
weeks good work has been done, and in
that time, with an average Of eight men
shaveling, almost SIS, COO was cleaned up.
Mr. Insley bought this claim year
ago from the original locator for $34C0
and it CT ST him $4,000 to strip, drain and
get it in shape to work. Last seasons
work, in addition to paying the entirs
expenses, including all the dead work of
thu spring and summer, and the pur-
chase price, left several thousand dollars
clean profit. Ever since it's discovery
the claim has be5n o noted one, and
gravel near the bedrock has run as high
as S45 to the pan.
1t requires from $500 to 5000 to outfit
man for the diggings about Circle City
for one year. Circle City is the headquar-
tiers for the operations around Birch
creek. The largest output from any one
claim in one season SO far has been $50,
oo0. Several other claims have yielded
$50, 900 each. The country has not yet
been thoroughly prospeoted, and there
still remain chances OF striking new gull
ctes, Eas the gold belt covers good width
Of country. Como of the men who have
Como in from Juneau this spring are look
ing to strike 1t rich on these gnlehes. A
lot of men wintered at Circle City with
the intention of getting an early start
and doing their prospecting at time
when they could take advantage of the
extreme low waters before the summer
freshets. A letter from Circle City, dated
in tho last part of January, treats Of the
prospects Of the diggings for this season
and winds up with this apparently IRE.
leVant advice:
81 would mt advise any person to
bring beef cattle into this country. In the
first place the task would be hard one;
then mosquitoes would be great pest to
them, and as caribou meat is quite plenti-
full in SEASON and retails at from 10 to %
cents per pound, the profits on beef
would not be very great. Beer sells here
at So per gallon and 60 cents glass"
There has been good deal of disparity
in the figures given by those who have
come out this winter concerning the
winter population OF Circle Ciby. Esti
mates have run as high as 1900, none be-
ing lower than 7Oo. 1t now appears that
both Of these are too high. Capt. J. j.
Healy nf the Alaska Commercial COM