The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1897-09-22
KLONDIKE'S GOLD MINES.
AN INTELLIGENT MINERS ACCOUNT
OF THE NEW ELDORADO.

Great Quantities of Gold Found in a
swamp-More Than S13O,OOO in Gold
Dust Taken From Space 10xi5
Feet-BootfuIs of the Yellow Metal
Everything is Klondike now, de-
clares the Washington Pathfinder, and
whether man is 'going' or not he is
interested in all the real facts sur
rounding this remarkable region
facts that are so unique that we have
in the Klondike affair new chapter in
the history of gold discovery. dead
loads" of literature, to use the appro.
pirate term, are being published about
the Klondike. Much of it is superAu-
Gus, but out of it all we may be sure
vast amount of knowledge concerning
our ice-bound polar territory vii be
spread abroad. Even now we can see
that the prevailing notions as to the
climate and other conditions of Alaska
have been in the main wrong. From
this on, however, the Yukon country
will no longer be terra incognita.
One of the most interesting stories
that has come from the Klondike is in
the shape of diary kept by Samuel
Clark, who left for the Yukon in the
spring and who writes intelligently of
the country. He says that the OBJ:
server would never suspect the exist
ence of gold-bearing rocks in such a
country, where there is only ''black
lava, white and gray sand, limestone
and slate, and nothing at all to indi-
cate the immediate vicinity of the
countless millions which lie unearthed
beneath the gulches."
Mr.. Clark's diary goes on: "Many
claims pay thousands Of dollars to the
day, and some clean up from two to
five thousand twice a day and think
nothing of it. Every can, pot, bucket
and sack on the claim is used; they
cannot get vessels Of the proper kind
quick enough. Two men left on the
last steamer the other day with seven
ty-fve pounds of dust each. Men
come down from the claims with apack
of gold on their backs and throw it in
to corner, and there it is. Nothing
is locked up or hidden away; gold is
seen everywhere and everybody has
some.
"People are. paid big for filling
sacks with moss to chink log cabins
with. One woman asked man to fill
q sack with chips from a tree near by
and gave him $1.25 for his five min
utes' trouble. Gold is more plentiful
than water, for that is scarce. The
river is muddy and the springs are
colored from moss. The saw mill is
rushing day and night. Men stand
and watch each log sawed and grab
the lumber as soon as it is ripped up
A man can sell anything on earth and
at nearly his own price. III
"Have been to the diggings. All
the best ground is in swamp, and
the rock slides, but gold is all in
places where no sane man would ever
dream of looking. The mines were
discovered by a squaw man who was
salmon fishing, in bedrock which
came to the surface in the only little
spot in the creek. There they dug
twenty feet in swamp and morass and
thicket, frozen, in this strangest place
on earth for gold. In Berry's claim
he took out S131, 500 i'll space 75x75
and 90 feet deep, by burning and
drifting under the pay streak. Other
claim owners about him did still bet.
ter. Claims were 500 feet up and
down from rim to rim. In places they
are q quarter of mile wide and all
pay, and in others not so wide. Down
a narrow creek men are filling rubber
boots, tin cans, canvas bags, in fact
anything that will hold dust. 1t is es.
timated that $6,OOO,OOO has been
taken out so far June 15) and not one
half of the Bonanza and Eldorado
claims even open to bedrock. There
is room for 100000 men yet on the
Klondike and side streams if they are
all good. The country is not hall
prospected nor any idea of the extent
of it's wealth known as yet; been dis
covered only ten months.