The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-08-23
THE RUSH TO DAWSON.
Ladue's Story of Profits In Saving sluice
Boxes.


Ladues Story of Profits In Saving sluice
Boxes.
/ made another trip out the next
winter left there Jan. &c, with the
thermometer 60 degrees below zero.
got out with dogs and sled and had
mighty hard time. had to sled about
$50 miles and connected with the
Frisco along about March /, the trip
having taken some two months did
not come east
My trip to San Francisco was to
purchase machinery for new saw mill.
/ had it shipped north by the A. @. T.
company to st. Michael's, Oh the Ber-
ing sea, 60 miles north of the Yukon
river and then from st. Michael's up
the Yukon to Dawson City by the
steamer Alice. This was i'll the spring
of 1896,
was out again in 1896 and went
to San Francisco for practically the
same purpose and under the same con-
ditions. left San Francisco about
March 10 and went back home after
purchasing this mill
Nothing Grows There.
| had no commission to buy supplies
for any one but myself but had to take
everything wanted Nothing grows
there-no provisions. | took in some
blankets, tea and trading stuff, freight
ing over 1000 pounds of supplies
| reached my mill on Sixty Mile
creek on June "a, think. Nothing had
occurred nor were any new big discov-
cries made until Aug. "a.
Upon the discovery of Bonanza
creek, which is the Klondike, people
came from all directions, travelling
night and day, some with dogs towing
their boats and others coming across
the country afoot with packs on their
backs, until about 400 claims were To-
Gated. Many of the people should not
have come.
Following the discovery Of Bonanza
creek, Mccormack panned out with the
| help of his two Indians something like
| $24 or $50 to the pan. He took this
gold and went down to Forty Mile and
reported. Then the people began to
come there like wildfire. There was no
stopping them. The mouth Of the Bo-
nanZa is - miles from Dawson City.
l got down from Sixty Mile creek
the day Mccormack came down to For
| ty Mile to report and get supplies. l To-
! Gated the town site of Dawson and went
back and got raft of lumber to put Up
cabin. u. A. Robinson, S. s. Ayres,
! John Whitney and put up house in
four days, 1t was the first house in
Dawson City, log cabin, ~ by ii,
with one room. only one floor, door
and two windows. The house faced the
river, which was on the west
We left after we got that done and
went up to the sawmill. That consisted
of q l25 horsepower engine and one AZ
inch circular saw and one so inch, car
riage, planer and hatcher, which IS
sawmill complete. Six days from The
dav we GOT down with the sawmill W.
had her running.
The first job turned out there by
me was saving lumber for sluice boxe
for Bonanza creek. Robert Lowrie 60
the first one. l charged him $3.50 pc
1000 feet. This was for ~ by i
, box. AZ feet of lumber to the box w
GOT out several sets of sluice boxes o
the same size, for which | charged tn
same-Sl3O per 1000 feet. The sam
boxes in Arizona or New Mexico woul
probably cost $3.50. The lumber cam
from legs off the Thron duck river.
1t is really not the Klondike district
! but the Bonanza and the Gold Bottor
mining districts where the gold is.
Not Called KIondiLe There.
The popular name here, however
seems to be Klondike, which is not ger
orally known up there. At Dawson Cit
we knew the places as Gold Bottom an
Bonanza districts. When we turned on
this lumber, there were hardly an
people in the town, because the peopl
( rushed up there at first with only for
s or five days supplies, and after runnin
0 around getting their outfits and gettin
them placed they were obliged to G
4 back for more supplies and tools. Son
o of them were in bad shape. You can
S get anything up there except what ye
/. take.
@ The first dwelling house in Dawso
. was erected for myself by me. The Sc
n ond was that of Dan Robinson. III
) third belonged to Robert Lowrie, Il
3 fourth to Theodore Anderson, the fit
n TO John Moffitt, the sixth to Charl
O Kimball. the seventh to A. D. Ferguson
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