The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-10-09

| home and used up what remaining re-
| sources they had in paying their travelling
! expenses. Now they are desperately wait
ing the advent of the relentless winter,
when even their present limited foraging
| will be impossible.
1t must be confessed with reluctance
! that there have been no exaggerations as
| to the prospect of death from starvation
| and the rigors of the climate here. So
! many of the gold-seekers are physically
! incapacitated from enduring the hardships
of the winter that outdoor work will be
| impossible for them, and yet they are
without any other means of support. They
must now put their reliance in charity
| rather than in their own power to earn
| subsistence, and, sad to say, this does not
seem to be charitys abiding place.
Every man must struggle for himself
here in battle that saps the vigor and
courage of even the hardest. Let there
be no mistake on this point. To attempt
to enter this region without at least a
years supplies or the equivalent in cash
is to attempt the most lingering form of
suicide
While on this gloomy strain it might be
well to emphasize one other kindred point,
and that is the difficulty that attends the
effort TO obtain gold. Men of ordinary in
| telligence will understand, of course, that
the percious metal does not lie about in
heaps to be gathered by the first conner s
shovel but, unfortunately, this degree of
| intelligence is the exception among the
summers arrivals.
AS an Illustration of the extent of the
credulity that prevails, will mention an
incident that occurred here yesterday. An
Iowa man is one of the recent Corners by
the overland route, and how man of his
picturesque innocence ever got through
is a marvel. He was passing the tent
which call my home, and his face wore
an expression of settled melancholy. l
greeted him cheerfully, and attempted a
mild pleasantly at his expense, when he
astonished me with an outburst of violent
| invectiYes. ...a
''Where is all the gold they have been
| talking about" he shouted. Here, l sold
my farm and spent nearly all my cash in
getting into this country just because
was fool enough to believe the reports
| that there was plenty of gold here, but 1
have hunted high and low and there isn't
a spoonful of it."
It is unnecessary to reproduce the more
| spectacular bits of this speech; suffice it
to say that it included many of the words
| which are usually published in dashes
1t proved to be a fact that the man had
| spent his first two days in Dawson proWl-
ing around the town and the outskirts in
a sanguine search for piles of the precious
| dust. He thought it would be lying around
| loose, and now he is trying to get back to
civilization again, where he can bury his
disappointment and escape the ridicule to
which he has been subjected to here.
This case is fair type of many others,
Men have come into the Klondike country,
and seeing nothing but snow and ice and
occasional bits of vegetation, they have
jumped to the conclusion that there is no
gold here But a comprehensive inVeSti-
cation shows that there Is gold in album
dance ready to yield rich harvest to the
I 4. l1Aa. H. 49,. -,
fair share of luck.
The old adage that sit is first necessary
to catch your rabbit" applies with ac-
curacy to the gold fields. 1t is first neces-
sary to make your strike, and then it re-
quires patient and continual toll to make
your pile" The dreamers in the United
States who are ensconced In easy chairs
reading with envy of the fortunes that are
being rolled up in the Klondike should
take cognizance of the fact that only the
successes are reported. The failures are
generally hidden in obscurity.
There are practical miners here and
scores of them, men who have been in the
territory several years. who have not
been able to take dollar from the earth
above the cost of living. They have not
been lacking in energy or perseverance,
| but only in luck.
Two men left al week ago for their
homes in Wisconsin who used up several
thousand dollars in paying their ex-
penses while they were digging in vain
These prospectors followed the scent as
soon as it was known. When the cry of
gold" went up in any new region along
the El Dorado or the Bonanza or any of
the other creeks that feed the Klondike
river, they were in the first rush to the
scene, but were not Of the few who got
the prizes
If it is appreciated that the gold in this
country is like the gold anywhere else
difficult to obtain, then will people come
here with proper idea of the chances for
and against them.
So much has been said of the mines and
the amount of their yields that nothing
new can be added on that score. There
have been no new developments in actual
results. The horde of newcomers has
spread itself over every available acre of
creek land and has located claims with
startling rapidity, irrespective of the
probable existence of gold.
And so Dawson goes on, a city of joy
and despair, of hope and disappointment.
-S-e-o
WON HIS COFFIN ON A WAGER.