The evening times., 1897-07-20
HARDSHIP AT THE MINES.
Seventy Degrees Below Zero Con-
sidered Mild Weather.

StueFe0 hliQ NNedthcTs
San Francisco, July 2O.-A party of six
miners direct from the Klondyke reached
here today, having Come down by raii
from artle. They are G E Myers, b. +.
Purcell, !. o. Clements, Charles Leonard,
G. Brannan and j j Halterman. They
are the advance guard or twenty five oI
thirty of their Comrades who are expected
here today.
Myers says he left Prescott, Ariz., IN the
spring OF &c, and has been working
ciai i'm No. 80, on Eldorado Greek, owned by
Mcdonald * Chappie, for one-half the
profits.
They started in late in the spring after
nearly everyone else had quit work and
were laughed at by the miners. The day
after beginning work they struck bed
rock, and in the next thirty days took out
Sal goo. MIR. Myers says he believes he
took from his claim the biggest pan ever
washed in the district. From shovel
bali full OF dirt he gut $500. II e says that
his paItner and himself In six hours shovel
ing cleaned up" three times, and In each
"clean up got $4,000.
Another member of the party, j. o.
Clements is said to have disposed or a
claim for $50 900, and has in the safe uf
the Golden West Hotel nugget valued at
S231.
Charles Leonard has been three years
in Alaska, one OF which has been spent
in the Klondyke country In three lid
half nIOH;hs actual work he says he
took out Sl4. 900. he is going back in the
spring.
l. pr,rr h. Sa N,1st -
old, left his home near st Louis in April,
1896. He cid not reach the KioBdyke.
however, until January L, 1897. He de-
clines to state the amount OF gold he
has brought with him, hut says that he
sold a haR interest in ciaim No. 2s, above
Discovery. on BONANZA Creek, for S21.-
900, ,no.incl7diug the dirt already on dumps.
He says there is room for 200. 900 men
in the mining districts of Alaska without
my crowding, but that the suffering this
winter will be terrible lie characte rizes
any attempt TO reach there this fall as
foolhardy. Myers says the pay dirt on the
claim he has been working is a strip IN ore
than $50 feet wide and at least a foot in
depth. He says he has never ia ken out a
pan which gave less than 81 On claim
No. 2G in the same district, he says there
WAS "A streas eight feet wide and five feet
deep which went from ST to $50 a pan.
The claim sold for SO. 900, and $780,
600 would not buy it today
He tells of a man named Andrew Mel
son who made $40, 900 for a partner who
had given him grub sta Ike and Ia d never
<een the claim.
The men tell narrowing tales OF their
4
which must be endured in order to ex-
ist cannot bc exaggerated. Several of
tie party have Just recovered from scurvy.
and all appear to be physically demoraL
lied.
Last winter, they say, was a mild one,
the thermometer only reaching about 20
degrees below zero. During a severe sea
son it frequently goes down into the SOS.
man should not, say these gold
seekers. remain in the Klondyke country
more than Que season without coming
back To civilization. By coming out he
acquires new lease of life, as It were.
ana goes back better qualified to cone
with the hardships to which he must
submit
Millionaires are loining in the rush to
the Noudyke. Henry Bratnober, chief
expert for the Exploration COMPANY, Of
London, and associate OF Hamilton Smith
and Thomas Vein, fastened to juneau
when he first heard of the rich finds. and
or his report vast capital viii be invested.
Many men OF means in Sa Francisco
are preparing to leave on two steams hfps
which start within the next two weeks
AS these will not accommodate a tenth M
the crowd OF treasures eekeTs IL Is BteIv
that other vessels will be chartered and
sent northward
A letter receiv here by the head of
one of the biggest mining corporatfons
in California today says
Most of the men here are not miners
at all Over half are 'greenhorns.' who
never saw mine. There is backbone
that runs for a hundred miles through
the country and every guIch that heads
into it has gold in it. Nobody has run a
tunnel into the backbone yet
"The district laws require the ground to
be represented by having a man workingon
1t In July each year. The seasons are
short for sluicing, only about 100 days
The sun shines day and night during supo.
mer. The rest of the time-the ground ia
frozen
If man cannot shovel dirt eight or
ten feet high into the string of sI,,iees ON
top of the bank and make $50 a day, he
goes off and leaves tie claim"