The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-09-19
GOLD THERE BY THE ACRE.
As E1PERIENCED MINERS ACCOUNT
OF TIE hLONDIkE.
winters wnrL-Hnrdships and Dinlcuitica
People Who ttnVe Won sudden Wealth
Fnbuious Possibilities Of tho Mother Lode.

HNNNhhFNN VI -
winters wnrh-HnrdshipS snd DInlcult'ca
People who save Won sudden Wealth
Eabaious Possibilities OF tho Mother Lode.
Los ANGELES, Cal, Sept. 1.-THE old miners
and experienced gold seekers in California
who are making ready to go to tho klondike
next March say they have received the best
fOrmati concerning the wonderful new
gold fields in Alaska trom.Perry w. MRston.
lic cano from Alaska on the last trip OF the
Portland ten days ago and has been confined
10 tho house Of his sister in Pasadena with n
broken leg since he anne down tho coast.
lie is middle aacd aud had fifteen years eN-
periencc in gold minos in California and Col
orado before he went TO seek riches on the Nu.
kon River In 1894. He sailed then from IN
Francisco with about 800 as his total capital
after a series of disasters IN tie gold mines OF
Amador county. lie brought back with him from
the north many thousands Of dollars worth
OF gold. lie will return to the klondiko next
March. when he will bU prepared with mining
machinery to develop his placer claim, upon
which he has done comparatively little work
thus far, Maston is u native of poughkeepsic,
n. Y. lie is the son of Il church j~anitor there.
JIG went 70 New York in 1876 and was q truck.
man for 4. I. Stewart d Co.'S dry goods house.
Ie came West in 1850 and drifted into the
Minos. lie Lad his share of the ups and downs
OF gold miners, and now at the age Of AZ years
ho Is rich beyond his widest dreams.
''Thero can: be no doubt" he said as no lay
on q stretcher ut his sisters ranch near Ven.
tura, that tho klondikc mining region IL the
very richest yet found on this continent.
Whether there will ever be the quantity OF gold
taken out that has been found in California is
another question. The awful climate, the bat
tie with snow and leo for eight months in the
year. and the fearful insect pests III the summer
will make gold mining there very expensive
after a few years, when tho cream OF the
diggings has been skinned. You remember
that one reason why gold mining was prose.
cuted so long and ceaselessly IN California after
Ii had ceased TO pay the individual miner roy.
ally was the delightful climate he worked in
and the comparative enjoyment there vas for
one who liked tho freedom of an out-of.door life
all tho year round. ] have been all over the
Klondike region. in fact, 1 spent so much time
following UP the creeks in that region last
April. May, and june that 1 did not take out
nearly 30 much gold rs my friends Berry, Glenn
ents, and Suits. They attended strictly to
business from the hour they made their claims,
while my investigating disposition got the bet
tor of me. made sure l had q good legal claim
aud that 1t would last. Then / went out to sec
what prospects there were in that region.
''1n six weeks 1 believe l travelled.ovcr some
ESQ miles. l went for miles up Mile,
Bopanza, FL Dol do. Discovery, Oregon. and
Wilson's creeks, and tramped miles overland.
1t was a most fascinating journey. notwith-
standing the constant hardshlps and the mos
Quitoes. l made trial pans for gold some
twenty times q day, and l found gold about
one-third OF the time. No one can have any
is up there. l would not have believed it il |
bud not seen for myself. There are literally
Bonanza. Forty.Miie. Ii Dorado, and HGnEer
creeks where the ground tor a depth of two
feet; seyerhl yards below the surface, is heavily
less than 81 a pan are .veSed at their luck.
Hundreds and hundreds of pans OF ground
have yielded more than 80 "a pan. Along Dis
ccyery Creek there lisa stratum seven feet
thick Of gold bearing ground: Ono man told
me that he got VI u pan right through a seven
foot layer OF gravel there. l have no doubt
there, are many, acres about as rich. The sec
ton in which the kiUndike miners have been
ct work in the past year is only about thirty.
five ,miles:sQuare.. There had been little pros:
came away. There is no reason why the Kion.
dixie plaeers may not be excelleo, or at least
River in that region. ] am convinced that on
the American side there are hundreds Of To-
c~alities that will make fortunes for some men
some day. But the miner in that region can
do but four months satisfactory work 81 in "a year,
although some OF the more robus, and energetic
their claims from last August to July.
~ have been asked many, times how it i;
search for gold earing Lodges. A0 You know SS'o oul
lodges Of quartz.bearins Virgin shls gold Ti'n In ne oth ey
words, virgin, gold in the rocks has been tori
and eroded during centuries of time, and thu
scream. and lodged and sunk in the alluvia
gravel. This constant wearing away OF rock.
carrying gold with them TO the beds of stream,
below has continued for ages. So there mus
be, some rocks In that region heavy with virgin
gold. II they can be found they will be 80 ricl
that, the Kartir mines In South Africa and tn,
old bonanza mines of the Comstock will sinl
can be found the wealth contained there vii
pc SO enormous that the present gold washinI
mere skimininE Of fths golden stew. D
so far the miners in the klondike region hav
been poor men. and most, OF them tenderfeet
Very few, had had experience in gold quart
mines. They stumbled on tho placers last fall
when they were all merely keeping soul am
every possible hour in taking out the nugget
and gola dust. When some of the big mining
and employ expert prospectors. the world ma,
hear Of veins Of gold that will be far ahead o
another problem In mining engineering. hoy
to successfully and economically get the meta
Ssation ' Is very efS' fertile teS' where the there se is Fo isrf to = !
sS sd; l, and y R RS5 n II all rs., Wild n to say fIyrn that 18th I'll
OOO.OOO yearly a few years hence.
There wlli surely be more scientific minin
the eNigencies o. the situation. Last year WI
had only the crudest, methods Of gathering tn
mines must contain many, thousands OF dollar
In gold dumped aside. The ground is AWAY
frozen. In the summer the gravel is thawe
9hly a foot or 30 below the surface, and II |
nye TO fifteen feet below that the gold IL found
where u has percolated or dritted through T.
bed rock during untold aEes: 1t is therefor
necessary 10 build bontires of wood or moss 1
holes and thaw out the gravel. when we dig
up and wash IL out. Most miners store ia
gravel until summer before 1t Is run throug
eluices for the gold in it. A dozen good scheme
have been already proposed by the Californi
miners for thswing this earth rapidly an
thoroughly. and at the same time with niue
less labor and expense. l know one man VIII
has contrived. II gasoline apparatus that wi
do more thawing of the gravel in an hour tina
our c:ude bonfire scheme would do in a da,
II q score of such contrivances mad been i
work last winter, all the men who came dow
From the klondikc this past sumemr woul
haye had much larger fortunes in gold. The
the cold. weather en- sendered carelessness /
banning 'and slulcing the gold, for one is nc
90 particular about saving II few dollars "a d.
IN gold mining when the mercury Is away N
low zero, OF clouds Of hungry mosquitoes ar
hummiiK about his head and hands. Neg
season there will DO many devices to owe
come these difficulties. Why. to show tn
waste Of gold in the tailings from the Klundik
mines i need only mention the farf thar Mr.