The record-union., 1897-08-11

forces into eternal oblivion.
ENCOURAGING THE EXODUS.
Stockton Record: We believe that the
exodus to Alaska should be encouraged.
1t means a great deal to California and
the Pacific Coast. 1t means a great
deal to those who have the grit to under
take it. When the stampede TO Okla
homa occurred few years ago the same
cry was raised that it was worthless
country and most of the settlers would
suffer But Oklahoma is now more
prosperous than either Kansas or Cali
folnia- Our advice is to go to Klondike
if one has sufficient means to provide for
it and no stern duties that bind him
here. 1t is probable that it is wiser TO
wait until next season, but even that
may be an error. Those that go this
fall may be the most fortunate.
RIVER BOTTOM MINING.
San Jose Herald: The proposition of
capitalists to put a Bowers dredger at
work on the bed of the Yukon River is
somewhat startling in its present and
prospective application. 1t is a fair
presumption that the Yukon as the
drainage canal of a great gold bearing
section of country should hold some OF
the precious metal in it's sands. ma
chine with the capacity of the Bowers
dredger for handling earth could prob
ably work proftably on low grade wash
dirt. The Yukon with its great dimen-
sions of length and width would offer
an enormous field for the operations of
the machine If there be really any
small proportion of gold in sands of the
river the aggregate yield should be very
large
But the Yukon is only one river. If
the dredging experience proves success
full the company expect to put it at work
on the Fraser, Columbia and other
streams Strangely enough they say
nothing of what might be the most pro-
ductive of all streams for such an opera
ton, the Sacramento and its tributaries.
Those streams in the course of years
OF hydraulic and placer mining have
been filed up with debris to the depth of
twenty fifty or hundred feet in places.
Presumably the methods of mining used
have left a great deal of gold in that
debris. The Bowers dredger could plow
its way up the Sacramento, the Ameri-
can, the Yuba and their branches and
scoop up whatever golden riches are
held in their sands.
But there are countries all over the
world where there is good reason to be-
lieve that the rivers wander Ger sands
Of gold.' If this experiment proves sue
cessful there will soon be Bowers dred-
gers at work in North and South Amer
lea, Asia and Africa. Really the pros
pect of what may be done through such
an agency is somewhat stimulating to
the imagination and it may run away
with sober judgment
Success in this direction would go far
! to settle the silver question for genera
tions to come. There is no danger Of a
gold production that will tend to the
characterization of gold as has been sug-
gested by some hasty observers. But
| it might well be that operations of this
kind carried on in various parts of the
world would soon add so materially to
the present great stock of gold and give
such promise of a regular supply, that
silver, except for subsidiary coinage
purposes, would be relegated to the po-
sition that it occupied in the days of
Solomon when 'it was not anything ac-
counted Of" AS removing a most en-
barrassing political question, that would
be consummation devoutly to be
wished.