The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-08-02
RICH CLAIMS ALL TAKEN UP.
Mineral Wealth of the Distant VAL
ley Discovered by Indian Pro@pec-

ieS OlscoNcfSu ny snUI0n PrnSpec-
tors.
From the Pittsburg Dispatch.
In December bed rock was reached on
No IA Ell Dorado and fabuously rich pay
dirt was found. Then more holes went
down in a hurry. Everywhere were dis
covered prospects on bed rock ranging
from IS to $3.50 to the pan The gold was
nearly all coarse. stu the greatness Of
the strike was not realized. Some of the
best claims were sold by their owners for
few hundreds or a few thousands.
Drifting was carried on by the usual win
ter process of burning" and the pay Dirt
taken cut as rapidly as possible under
the difficulties of intense cold. Pans as
rich as $500 were discovered, and nuggets
containing gold worth as high as S235 were
Brought to light. Claims jumped up
cnorn cusly in price, but still many men
sold for small part Of the value of their
holdings. They seemed wholly unable to
realize their good fortune. Doubts were
still expressed about the dumps holding
out 10 the prospects.
Then the est-sluicing-came in the
spring when the ice melted and the water
ran down from the hills. Then the wild
est hopes of the toiling miners were real
lied. Despite the lateness of commence
ing work, and the scarcity of men, about
$l,500,000 was taken out of FL Dorado
alone. On some of the richer claims men
who secured ground to work on shares
so per cent.-cleared $1,000 to $4,000 apiece
in from thirty days to two months drift
ing. As high as $4,000 was drfted out
of one claim, the other sums being less.
From seventy-five feet of ground on Nos
% and 26,- FL Dorado $4,000 was taken.
or $500 per running foot, and the pay not
cross-cut, for it frequently runs from vein
to vein, being in places $50 feet wide.
Ground has sold here this spring for
over 81, 900 running foot or at the rate
of 100000 for a. claim of 500 feet Men
on whose judgment reliance can be placed
and who base their opinion on what their
own ground and that OF others has'yielded
tell me that there are claims here from
which over 81 10000 will come Last win
ter men on lays" (percentages) left 50
cent dirt because they had better in sight
and only limited time before spring to
get out ore. Owing to the large mum Der of
men on "lays" the production of almost
every claim is known, and no overstate-
ment is possible, since so many are inter-
ested in the amount Of gold produced. As
soon as sluicing was fairly under way the
price of claims jumped again, and but few
would sell. 1t might almost be said that
no one would part with a claim on Ell
Dorado. On Bonanza, where the pay, ex-
cent on a few claims, owners who had
looked in vain for the s.. $40 and $50 pans,
which were plentiful on the rival creek,
were disguised with their moderate gains
and were willing to sell Thus many claims
having 20 20 5O-cent dirt, and three to
seven feet of it, were sold.
On the boat which takes this letter down
the Yukon will be many men, some of
them having been in sthis country only
a few months when the strike was made.
3. sa1r. s.rtf hon, he.
$4,000 to $5OO.OOJ, the result either OF
working the ground or selling out. The
men who sold were paid almost entirely
out OF their own ground, the men who
bought taking the dumps and these, when
sluiced. paying for the claims and leav-
ing a handsome margin for the .purchas-
ers. In some instances enough gold was
rocked out to make a first payment on the
claims before sluicing was possible. Many
OF these men, 10 my personal knowledge.
had neither money nor credit TO get grub
last fall.
The Klondike is stream emptylng
into the Yukon, eighty miles above the
boundary line Of Alaska. In the British
Northwest Territory II is supposed to
be about 1876 miles long, heading in the
Rockies, and Is n rapid river. running IN
a northerly direction. Bonanza creek
coming in one and one-half miles up from
the mouth, Is twenty-five miles long. and
nGdua AT the ifoulNf a hlA bVlN illlt az 90
a number OF lesser creeks. IL runs south
westerly
El Dorado comes la twelve miles up, and
Is seven miles long, running In the same
general direction as does the Bonanza.
The pay on Bonanza Is good from the co.'s
below the point OF discovery, where one
claim has % and 2J-cent dirt with the
pay l25 feet wide, up 10 a. above. claim No.
Al being very rich. Gold on Bonanza Is
finer than that on III Dorado. There Il
not a blank up 10 No 2s and there are
some good claims above that number The
richest claims are la the middle OF the
gulch, the gold there being coarse. with
lots OF nuggets. This, with the fractions
Of claims, makes nearly twenty miles Of
paying ground.
In addition there are a number OF side
gulches on which good prospects have
been discovered. Bonanza district, it Il
estimated Is likely 10 produce not less
than 100000 IN gold, and this Is believed
TO be an underestimate than otherwise
Hunker creek empties into the KlOndika
twelve miles up, aud Is twenty miles long
In places e. and 81 10 the pan on bedrock
have been found, and the indications are
that II Will prove "A rich paying creek
Gold Bottom, fork, and Last Chance,
side gulch. show np equally well for a
considerable distance. These comprise,
with Bear creek, which comes into the
klondikc between bonanza aud Hunitor,
the tftcnt ~ territory OF which anything
certain iH known. Quaftz creek aud In
dian creek ar reached from the N0uNH ~