Little Falls weekly transcript., 1897-08-06
THE GOLD REGION.
The Northern Pacific Issues
a Circular About
klondyke.

B.. a OITCUIAT NROOs
Klondyke.
The Northern Pacific railroad
has gathered some information
about the Klondyke country, TAX
| ing the most reliable news to be
obtained, and has issued a circular.
First advice as to the bestroute and
necessary supplies is given. The
circular figures out that each man
should take clothing, food, etc., to
the value Of abont $40. In the
description of the country the
circular says:
The gold streak is anywhere
from 8 to 30 feet from the surface
and is reached by sinking a shaft
anywhere from 2 to 3 feet wide
and 6 feet long down to the pay
streak and then drifting under
ground along the pay streak.
Sinking this shaft and working the
pay streak is made difficult from
the fact that from the surface to
the deepest depth that has yet been
reached the ground is perpetually
frozen and process Of firing Is
employed. A brush and wood fire
is built in the bottom of the shaft
which, burning all night, thaws
out the ground from 8 to 14inches.
The gravel is shoveled out during
the day and the operation repeated
until the herequired depth is reached.
The average progress in the shaft
is from S to IA inches per day.
When the pay streak is reached
they drift under the ground. which
does not have to be supported by
timbers on account of it's being
perpetually frozen. The hire IN
thawing out the pay streak gener'
ates very noxious gas, which,
after the fire is burned out, must
be driven out before work can be
done. This is accomplished by the
use of bellows, fans and other de.
vices. A machine, however, is be-
ing manufactured in Seattle that
it is expected will expel these gases
speedily.
The value of the pay streak
varies from a few cents per pan to
as high as $545, as one miner took
out a little over$1, 900 in gold from
two pans, aud a miners pan con.
tains two shovelfuls of dirt, so you
can realize the richness of some Of
this ground. The gold is coarse;
very little flour gold exists, and it
runs largely to nuggets. The value
of the gold is about SIT per ounce,
or 5000 per pound.
The summers are short and
winters long and weather severe,
the thermometer registering as
low as 10 degrees below zero.
There is very little wind, however,
and such low temperature is some
what unusual. The great plague
IN that section during the summer
is the mosquitoes andgnats, which
swarm in great numbers and are
exceedingly vicious, compelling
people who are at all susceptible
to insect poisoning, and, in fact,
nearly every one, to wear nets to
protect their faces, and gloves to
protect their hands.
In a general way it can be said
that property rights are perfectly
secure in that territory, those on
the American side being regulated
by miners meetings; On the Cana.
dian side by the gold commissioner.
It would appear that the basin of
the Klondyke and Indian rivers,
as we'll as Stewart river, are show
ing fine properties, while all around
Circle City and Forty Mile a great
deal of gold was taken out last
year. Those dlggings have been
temporarily abandoned for the
great rush to the Klondyke. One
miner who had been in the country
for eight or ten years told me that
the experienced miners about
Circle City had sunk their shafts
aud followed what was supposed to
be an infallible rule in placer min.