The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-09-02
First Letter to Arrive Direct
From the Gold Fields,
Written by Trained NeWspa-
per Man, Reaches Frisco.
REPORTS VERIFIED
Previously Published Regard
ing the Wealth of Region.
Also Those Regarding the Diff
flculties and Dangers.

San Francisco, Sept. 2.-The Bulletin
has received a letter from Charles
Haines, dated Dawson City, July &C.
Mr.. HaineS is a well known newspaper
writer and his letter is the first written
by trained newspaper man to come
out of the Klondike gold regions. He
says:
The rich diggings have been compar-
atively idle during the summer. al
though the output from FL Dorado and
Bonanza creeks was enormous and
there is plenty of gold in sight. There
is every prospect of an immense output
of gold from this district next spring.
The total output this season is, as near
as I can judge, about 81, OOO, 900, but very
little ground has been worked and the
dumps will. like some of the tailings
of old California placers, pan out thou
sands of dollars when worked with the
improved machinery. The pIacers are
the most puzzling and deceiving have
ever seen Imagine a man working on
good color and finding the ground
worth only a few dollars per day, and
then turning to a waste of mud and
moss with no surface indications and
unearthing bonanza That is the SIT
uation here and all over Alaska.
The man who comes here to mine does
it at the expense of health and happi-
ness, and it is with him a question of
making fortune quickly or taxing
chances with death. About me are
scores of men who can weigh their gold
by the bucketful and who value their
claims at millions. Four hundred val
liable diggings are stretched along the
creeks and every digging is a fabulous
mine of gold, yet there are weary men
who have gone and returned to Daw-
son after searching the great country
hereaboutS and never a nugget do they
show for their toll, their long tramp
over broken ground and into a country
whose natural disadvantages are ex-
ceeded by no other place on earth.
This Alaska northwest territory is an
odd prize drawing proposition that
can liken to nothing that admits of a
better comparison than a lottery. A
number of spots are selected on the
miner 1aborS. The year closes, the
water runs and the seasons output
barely pays expenses. Not two miles
away from the unfortunate one, works
a man who has taken from an uninvit-
ing bit of earth sack full of gold.T
lucky one did not strike the pocket be-
cause of his ability as a miner; chance
favored him, that was all. In short, the
miner guesses at it, and locates any and
everywhere. In 10 cases out of 20 he
misses, and has to wait another year
for a new trial. Dawson is merely a col
lection of log huts, saloons and a mass
of tents, about 600 in number. When
the long nights come and the glass goes
down to IS degrees below zero, there
Shudder to think of the results.
Provisions are going to be very scarce
and there is little doubt that the little
town will have to go on short rations
during the winter and that scurvy will
be rampant. The gold that will go
down the river for San Francisco and
Seattle will amount to about $2,000,000.
There is a lot of gold that will remain
in camp, for it is used as an equivalent
of money and is legal tender at SIT per
ounce.
OF the three thousand or four thou
sand inhabitants, only a couple of hAn-
dred at the most have made big strikes.
There is plenty OF work at from SIS to
$40 per day, and many men have paid
two and a half per day or less for liv-
ing, and saved the balance.
Reports of other strikes are constant
ly received here, and many are anthem
tic so far as Stewart and Pelly rivers
are concerned, but nothing so rich as
the K1ondike has been reported.
Quite a number of people are prepar-
ing to leave here for Juneau in case the
steamers do not get through with pro-
visions and the outlook for good grub
supply is not encouraging. In conclus-
ion, the Alaska and Northwest terrific
ry gold fields will be developed slowly.
Ten thousand men may come here,
but they will be lost in the vast coun-
try when they spread out to prospect.
Not more than 500 of them will strike
a mine. When they do strike pay grav-
ell, their fortunes will be made. In years
to come when at the sacrifice of human
life and energy the treasures of this
great land are located, the wealth of
the north will be something beyond
sion