San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-08-13
FOUND THE FIRST Gold.
The Man Who Discovered
KlOndike'S Riches.
HENRY HENDERSON FIRST AS
t.CERTAINED THE RICHNESS OF
/ ALASKA'S MINET.
His Brother Is There Now Digging
Himself Rich And He Will Re-
turn In A Few Da.S To
Make Himself A :
Millionaire.

New York, Aug. 13.-Tne Herald
says confirmation of the stories of
the Klondike district in Alaska comes
from a prospector now in this city,
who has made two trips to the new
Ell Dorado. He is Henry Henderson,
SO years old,a native of Pictou county,
Nova Scotia, who took out his natur-
alization papers in this country ten
years ago. To him the credit of the
discovery of the wonderful deposits
of gold in the Klondike is to a certain
extent due.
He told his brother Robert, who was
a miner in Colorado, of the wealth Of
the district and gave him 500, to pay
for his outfit to the Alaskan fields.
Robert established a claim on Gold
bottom creek which yielded $4,000 in
coarse gold in two weeks.
When the first of October shall have
rolled around little steamer will
leave for Dyea inlet with a hundred
prospectors, mining engineers and ex-
perts and assayers with Henry Hen
derson in charge. With him will be
also his niece, Miss Maude Hender-
son Of Nova Scotia. She is a pretty
girl of IL years old,a good housekeeper
and rugged enough to stand the
weather and the hardships of the trip.
She will preside over her uncle's
household in the gold region.
Mr.. Henderson is six feet four inch
es high, with frame as sturdy as
that of an OK. He has been a miner
for Is years. The climate of Alas
ka has no terrors for him, for he made
what he called the dead winter" out
ward trip from the Klondike and eros
sed the Chilkoot pass with the Their
mometer 65 degrees below zero. He
has established a claim of 500 feet
near that of his brother on Gold Bot
tom creek, but has not worked it yet,
as he was obliged to return to Nova
Scotia.
Mr.. Henderson's advice to inexperi-
enced men who are thinking of start
ing now for the gold fields is don't"
Although he believes the stories of
hardships have been exaggerated he
says the land is in no condition to be
worked until the frost has leftoit and
the journey over the Chilkoot pass is
fraught with danger in the snow
drifts. In the late spring and sum-
mer, he says, the trip over the pass
has no more perils than a walk on
Broadway. .t,.4
Mr.. Henderson made his first jour-
ney to the Yukon river in the spring
of 1913, covering 200 miles in fifty-four
days. He says he could now make
the journey in thirty days. He left
the district the day after Christmas
of the same year, with two compan-
ions and an Indian to break the rail
and attend to the dogs which drew
the two sleighs. After fifty-three
days of cold of degree almost be-
yond human endurance, snow storms,
exhaustion and hunger, the little band
reached Dyea inlet. In time they be-
came so benumbed that they had to
abandon $500 in gold dust on the
sides of Chilkoot pass, pushing on with
a few pounds of bacon and flour.
They found refuge at trading post
and one of the party put back for the
dust. For two days and three nights |
the men were obliged to huddle be-
tween the sleighs with a canvass COW
ering them.
Mr.. Henderson returned to the gold |
district in March, 1895, mining in the |