The times., 1897-07-21
WILD RUSH TO KLONDIKE
Millionaire and Pauper. Young and
Old, Alike Affected.
Pay Dirt in Every HoIe-R Returning
Miners Tell Stories That Turn
the Heads of Listeners.

Seattle. Wash, July 20.-The North
American Trading and Transportation
steamer Portland will leave Seattle Thurs
day morning at dawn for the far north
| st Michael's, at the mouth of the River
Yukon, is her destination. An her accom-
have been ia ken, and she Will turn away
hundreds
Fortwo days past men in inallcrcumstances
and conditions OF life have hung around
the wharves here waiting a chance 10 get
passage on one OF the steamers sailing
north
So great is the desire to get into the
gold fields with the rush that all sorts
of tricks have been resorted to, such as
drugging man and stealing his tickets
on the steamer Alki, whose berths Were
all sold forty-eight hours before she
sailed
The Portland's trip north VIII be the
last this scason-that is, IL will be the
last in which her owners will guarantee
to put the passengers into the Klondyke.
The river freezes in September. From
ST. Michacl's passengers and their bag
gage are transferred to the river steamers
of the company. Barges are placed in
tow OF the steamers, which are all of
light draught, owing 10 the rapids of the
Yukon. They are loaded with tons of
provisions
fIaA Dfarti iart arr
allowed TO teke any provisions, the com
pany is engaged iii selling supplies Co mi
neTs. Passeng gers are allowed only $50
pounds Of baggage.
The miners who returned on the Portland
have been averse to talking, and many of
the puTported interviews from this place
are the work of fenterprising ngcorespondents.
Tile heaviest winners on the Klondy&e have
pcTsistently refused TO be interviewed,
but they all intend to go back in the spring.
! They are selfish enough TO want to corral
the whole diggings
That the richness of the discoveries
has not been exaggerated, the following
interview with William Stanley, Of this
city, who brought back SI15, 1000 in mug
gets, and W hose claim is worth at least
million, VIII prove:
Il went to the Yukon a year ago last
March, having never been there before
said Mr. Stanley ION the steamer Alki,
en- route to Juneau and Dyea, met Charles
and George Worden, brothers, and we en-
tered into a partnership. The Wordens
were formerly from Sacketts Harbor,
V. Y, where their mother now lives.
I'VE had been wandering through the
Yukon district for several months, with
little OF no success, when in the latter
part of Septem ber We heard OF the
hondyke discoveries. AT this time we
Were tramping along the Stewart River,
bound for Forty Mile. We were at Sixty
. Mile when the news of the strike first
reached US.
I'VE haStened to the Klondyke, stop
ping first at the mouth Of the stream.
The day following our arrival the little
steamer Ellis, with 100 wildly excited
miners, who had also heard the news,
arrived. There was crush and mad
run for the new discoveries along Bonanza
and Eldorado Creeks.
I'VE brought up first on Eldorado Creek,
locating Nos. %, &c, SO and 3D. That was
about October /.
I'VE prospected 25 and &c until we
satisfied ourselves that we had good
pan dirt In each. Then we set about
making permanent Improvements for the
winter, such as building cabins. This
done we set To work sin king prospect holes
in different parts of the gulch. We had no
no blankets.
Good pay dirt was taken from every
hole, and at the end of three months
work we cleaned up 81 IL 900. In getting
this much gold we did not drift over 200
feet altogether up and down the stream,
q St,z
I'VE calculate that these two claims.
and also 53 and Sd. viii run upward of
81 900 TO the linear foot, and 1 figure
that we have fully So, 600 900 Ia sight in
the four claims
There is little or no difference in the
90 and 54 claims on EIdorado Creek. In
fact there are no spotted claims on the
reek tits case of all gold yards wide
and yards deep. Anywhere you run a hole
down you will find the pay streak.
Our pans viii average $33 throughout
all OF the Eldorado claims Many go as
high as $3.50, and some still better.
took out $3.50 in five pans, and did not
pick the pans either. Itook thepan against
my breast and simply scooped it in off the
the bed rock"
Bear Gulch is almost another Eldorado
There is double bedrock in Bear Gulch
though but very few know it, The bed
rocks are three feet apart The gold in the
lower bedrock is as black as your shoe
aud In the top bedrock it Is as bright as
that found in the Eldorado. We own No
% claim, below Discovery on Bear Gulch,
ana also Nos. 90 and 21 on Last Chance
Gulch, above Discovery. The man making
a discovery OF a creek is entitled by law
TO stake claim and take also an a adjoining
one
1--WE paid $4,000 spot cash for half
interestin claim No. 32 Eldorado Wehave
also loaned $4,000 each to four parties on
Eldorado Greek, taking mortgages on their
claims
I'VE had great deal of trouble in Sc
curing labor in prospecting our proper
ties. Minors would not work for any
price We could occasionally rope in a
creenhotn and get him to work for n
few days at SIS day. Six or eight
miners worked Oh shares for us for about
six weeks, and when we settled they had
earned in thatlength Of time So, 300 each.
I'VE paid one old miner $12 for three