The San Francisco call., 1897-07-20
A CONFIDENTIAL TALE.
An Ole California Miner Writes an
interesting Story to Local
Millionaire

A widely known mining operator and
millionaire of California has recently re-
ceived lengthy confidential letter from
Californian of long practical experience
in the mines here who has been on the
Yukon for a year or SO, and who writes
from Circle City. The writer gives much
practical information. OF the sort that has
been lacking in current accounts. Though
at the time of writing, last February, he
had not been to the Klondyke himself he
fully confirms from amid the excitem ent
then going on there, the stories OF wealth
that are just now blazing on the world.
1t will be noticed that the writer gives
valuable descriptive information a about the
Birch Greek and other diggings about
Circle CT y in the front part of his letter.
These diggings, which are in American
territory. 200 miles down the Yukon from
the Klondyke, have been wholly aban-
doned amid the latest craze, but they are
rich placer fields which will soon be
worked again by those who find no room
in Klondyke, and above which are some
of the rich quartz veins which are certain
to be developed in time. Everything but
klondyke is being overlooked for the
hour, but with the inpourng of prospect
ors the old field will be taken up again
and new ones prospected for just as in
early California days there was rapid
spreading out from the region of first dis
covery. The slightly prospected gold
region of the Yukon. now known, is about
400 miles long. The letter, from which
the names are omitted, is as follows:
CIRCLE CITY, ALASKA, Feb. 8, 1871
you want to make fortune and cannot come
up here yourself, pick out some honest, prac-
tical miner and stake him to come here aud
give you an interest in what he gets-a gravel
mner-and if he knows how to drift SO much
the better. You can advise all your mining
friends to do the same. Don't be afraid there
is not room. There is room for you ALL
This is the richest mining country the
world ever saw. California, in its best days
Gould not begin TO compare with 1t. At pres
ent the gravel mines are occupying all the
attention, but there will be quartz ines
found before long that will aston
ish the world. Most OF the men
here are not miners at all. Over
one-half are greenhorns who never saw q
mine; the rest are men who have rooted
around the gulches of Montana and Idaho
working with rocker and long tom"
There are no California miners here at all
They dom accomplish anything. Iknow one
claim where they shoveled gravel eight feet
high and worked twenty mon and cleaned up
500 ounces in TWO weeks run, and the
ground they worked out this year is not room
enough TO build q cabin on.
The mines i'll this section are sixtv miles
from here. There is backbone" that runs
for q hundred miles through the country.
and every gulch that heads into it has gold
in il. Nobody has run a tunnel into the
backbone" yet. Without doubt, 1t is a large
ledge The country is much broken up. and
the bedrock and ledges do not crop out on the
surface.
There is water in most every gulch, but as a
general thing not much grade. Five hundred
feet and the width of the gulch is a claim.
The district laws require the ground 10 be
represented By having working on 1t
during the month OF July of each year. The
seasons are short for slucing, only about 100
days. The sun shines day and night during
the summer, the rest of the time the ground
is frozen when the dirt is drifted out of the
deep claims and washed in the summer
Drifting is done in the winter. Wages are S15
a day and grub" high. If man cannot
shovel dirt eight or tenfeet high into string
of sluices on top of the bank ana make SIS
day he goes off and leaves the claim.
There are many gulches with plenty OF
water where dump could be obtained by
running the sluices 1000 feet and bedrock
6ume be put in with eight TO fifteen feet of