The herald., 1897-07-22

least $1,000 to equip us with transports
and outfit. which sum, think. I can ex-
: pend more in the interest of the country
| by remaining here and making survey
lof Clondyke, mispronunciation for the
Indian word or words 'Throndyk' or
Quick which means plenty of fish,
from the fact that it is famous salmon
stream
1T is marked Clondyke on our maps.
1t joins the Yukon from the east a few
miles above the site of Fort Reliance,
about so miles above here. The discov-
cry of gold in the branches of this stream
was, l believe, due to the reports of In
dams. A white man named J. A. Car
mich, who worked with me III 1887, was
the first to take advantage of the ru-
NOR and located a claim in the first
branch, which was named by the miners
Bonanza Creek.
'Carmich reached his claim in August.
He had to cut some logs and get pro-
visions to enable him to begin work on
his claim. He returned with a few
weeks provisions for himself, wife and
brother-in-law Qndians) in the last of
August, and Immediately set about
working his claim.
1.-The gravel itself he had to carry in
box on his back from 30 to 100 feet.
Notwithst landing this, three men, work
ing very irregularly, washed out $4,000
in eight days, and Carmich asserts that
had he had proper facilities, he could
have done it in two days.
IA branch of the Bonanza named Ell
dorado has prospered magnificently, and
another branch named Tilly Creek has
prospered we'll. There are about 10
| -+o1- in, he tn, M
the branches are good for as many more,
aggregating some $50 claims, some of
which will require over 1000 men to work
properly.
"A few miles further up Bear Creek en-
| tiers Clondyke, and it has been prospect
ed and located on. About 10 miles above
the mouth of Bear Creek, Gold Bottom
Creek joins Clondyke, and on it, at
branch named Bunker Creek, very rich
ground has been found. On Gold Bottom
Creek and branches there will be prob
ably 200 or 800 claims. The Indians have
reached another creek very much fur
Their up, which they call Too Much Gold
Creek, on which the gold is so plentiful,
as the miners say in joke, you have to
| mix gravel with it to sluice it,
up to date nothing has been heard
from this creek. From all this, we think
| we have here district which will give
| 1000 claims of 400 feet in length each.
| Now, 1000 such claims will require at
| least 5000 men to work them properly,
and as wages for working in the mines
are from IS to $40 per day, we have every
treason to assume that this particular
territory will in a year or two contain
| 10000 souls al least, for the news has
gone out to the East and an unprece-
dented influx is anticipated next spring
And this is not all, for large creek
called Indian Creek, joins the Yukon
about midway between Clondyke. and
| Stewart rivers, and all along this creek
good pay dirt may be found. All that
stood in the way of working heretofore
| has been the scarcity of provisions and
| the difficulty of getting them up here
Indian Creek is quite large stream, and
| it is probable it will yield 500 or 600
claims.
Further south yet lie the leads of sew
| eral branches of the Stewart river, on
which some prospecting has been done
| this summer and good indications were
| found, but the want of provisions pre-
vented development. Now gold has been
| found in several of the streams joining
Pelly river and also along the Hootaliqu.
In the line of these finds, further south,
are the Casair gold fields in British Co.
umbia, so the presumption is that we
have in our territory along the easterly
branches of the Yukon a gold-bearing
belt of indefinite width and upward of
800 miles long, exclusive of the British
| Columbia part of it.
quartz of a good quality is reported
| in the hills around Bonanza Creek but
of this 1 will be able to speak more fully
after my proposed survey. 1t is pretty
certain, from information 1 have got
| from prospeetors, that all or nearly all
of the northely branch of White river
is on our side of the line, and copper is
found on it. l have also seen specimen
of silver ore said to have been picked
| up in a creek flowing into Bennett Lake
about IA miles down on it, on the eastern
| side
When it was fairly established that
Bonanza Creek was rich in gold there
was rush from Forty Mile, the town be-
| ing almost deserted. Men who had been
| in a chronic state of drunkenness for
weeks were pressed into boats as ballast
and taken up to stake themselves
claim and claims were staked by men
| for friends who were not in the country
| at the time.
| SOLVES THE PROBLEM
| WILMINGTON Del, July 21-'The Yu-
kon Mining, Trading and Transportation
| Company, formed here last year, and
which is just completing final arrange
ments for explorations in the Yukon
district, will shortly put into effect
plan which will solve the vexatious
problem of shortage of supplies in the
Yukon territory. In 1896 P. I. Packard of
Portland, Or, who is interested in the
| company, went to the Yukon district to
locate a route from the coast to Teslin
Lake, the head of the navigable waters
of the Yukon upon which railway could
be built.
With the aid of Indians he located the
pass leading direct from the Tagu Inlet
on the Alaska coast to Teslin Lake This
pass he learned was then known to only
five white men. In October of last year
he returned and made his report to the
company and Immediately applied for
charters in Alaska British Columbia and
Canada, all of which were granted last
spring. AS an encouragement to the
enterprise British Columbia made the
company grant of 5,120 acres of land
to the mile of railway to be built, in all
|