Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1897-09-04
A CLEAR DESCRIPTION.
OF the Situation at Dawson City in Mid.
Summer.

| The first clear description of the condi-
| ton of Dawson city this summer. with
the outlook for famine this winter. is
| furnished by Charles Haines. a newspa-
per man who happened to be at Circle
City. and was employed by the San Fran
cisco Bulletin TO go to the i<londike and
write the actual truth about the mines.
His first letter. dated July a6, has just ar
rived. II contains the following good pic
ture of the place and the mines:
."fhc gravel deposits are in tho beds Of
creeks and along the shores. but there do
not appear to be any indications which
may be accepted aus a definite sign of q
proper lead to the quartz districts Some
of the gold taken out has had particles
Of quartz clinGing to it, which particles
do not seem to be part of any geological
formations for miles around.
1.-The placerS are the most pllZzling and
deceiving | have ever seen Imagine a
man working on good color and finding
the ground worth only few dollars per
day and then turning to a waste of mud
and moss, without any surface ipdica-
tons. and unearihing bonanza That is
The situation here and all over Alaska.
"A man who comes here 10 mine does
ii at the expense of his health and hap
piness. and it is a question OF making d
fortune quickly or taking chances with
death. He locates SO a day claim, but
what is Il patry few hundred dollars a
month to him who must wreck his phys
zeal self for a thousand or two in mug
gets?
Now as to the difficulty in locating
claims. | say difficulty. though about M.
are score Of men who can weigh their
gold by the basketful and who value their
claims at millions. -Four hundred valu-
able digginSs arc stretched along the
creeks, and every digging Is 4 fabulous
mine of gold. Yet there are men who
have gone out and returned 10 Dawson
after searching the great country here
abouts. and never nugget do they show
tt,..f,. toll f.,..s..
the broken ground and into country
whose natural disadvantages are exceed
ed by those of no other place on earth
Dawson is merely a collection of log
nuts. several log StorehouSeS. several ga
looms, and IA mass of tents. about 600 IN
number Lumber is high and though the
rigorous Arctic winter has already shown
signs of closing down. there does not
seem to be any great effort made among
the toni owners to get themselves under
better cover. When the long nights come
and the glass goes down to - degrees be-
low zero. there will be intense suffering
here and shudder To think of the result
Provisions are going to be very scarce.
and there is little room to doubt that the
entire town viii have to 20 on short r.l-
tionS during the winter and that scurvy
win be rampant. If we do not have early
rains before the freeze-up there will not
be enough grub here to last through the
winter as the steamers cannot get
through, To make matters worse, Il
in here from differnt parts of the country
lately with only half the grub they start
ed with. The packers foolishiy sold or
threw away their food to make their
packs lighter, and ] think they will suf-
fer punishment for their folly before the
ice opens next spring.
There are few persons here who can
be called poor. OF 3o0a or 1000 inhabitants
only 300 ut most have made big strikes.
The less fortunate ones have found work
in various capacities. and during last
winter many made SIS and $50 per day
paid $2.50 or less for living per day and
saved the balance. But the town cannot
stand great many more newcomers
unless new strikes are made. which are
probable. The man who comes in here
this winter, should the floating popuia-
ton grow 10 any extent. must have
money and food or he will run the risk Of
starving
Reports of other strikes are constantly
received here and many are authentic as
far as Stewart and Peliy river miners are
concerned, but nothing so rich as the
klondike has yet been reported.
"A man named Wilson took out several
thousands of dollars on tho Stewart riv-
er, but several expeditions have returned
from there and reported that only fairly
rich bar diggngs exist on that stream.
This is another example of the uncer-
tainty of striking it rich in that section.
Quite n number of men are preparing to
leave here for juneau in case the steam
ers do not get through with provisions.
In conclusion. Alaska and the North
West Territory gold fields will be devel-
oped slowly. Ten thousand men may
come here. but they will be lost in the
vast country when they spread out TO
prospect. Not more than 5000 of them
viii strike a mine. When they do strike
pay gravel their fortunes will be made
Assayer +. +. James. who was in Daw
son all the spring and half Of the summer
working for the Alaska Commercial COM
pany has arrived here to resume his
CT ias in fh,a sfu IpiXrnTSitN- IL. -
Dawson on July il. and came down the
river to st. Michael. His statements,
which can be relied on, knock the wind
out of the boomy talk of +. y. Weare of
Chicago. We;rc a few days ago said in
an interview that. to be conservative. he
would place the amount of nuggets and
dust then being conveyed to salt water
Ivy his boat. the +. b. Wearc. at $500 600.
James smiled when told of this. The
fact is said he, there is perhaps S2oo.
900 and certainly not over $50e00o worth
of dust on the Weare That il q liberal
estimate for the balance of gold to arrive
this year. The idea that every few days
thousands are being taken out of the
Dawson district rs n mistake. due to the
way of telling the story of find. A man
viii spend q year locating, burning. and
digging. and then when water comes
Sluice mis- dirt in Il few days. In that Pc
Rod the gold is said to have been mined.
whereas his years time should properly
be charged against II.
Nearly all the gold not needed for the
local business has been brought out. and
there will be no more shipments of con-
sequence until next June. ] know Of Y
case where n mine was purchased. and
he purchasers tried to raise $4,000 for
the first payment on the best security.
Only $4,000 could be raised. and it was
due 10 the scarcity of currency after the
big shipments went out.
1.-THE Yukon river is three feet lower
this season than il was last year at the
same time. There has been an unusual
scarcity of rain. though in July there was
some. The steamer on which | came
down the river, though light. grounded
several times
Mainn Firms