The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1897-08-02
A vER|TADlE LAND Of COLO
Belt of Precious Metal Three
Hundred Miles Long.
DAILY PROSPECTING TOURS
Dawson City Grown Like Mush-
routn and Matches Tombstone In
Soule OF Its Characteristic New
couiers Must Advance Further
Into the Region for Claims.


from Dav son City and the Klondike gold
fields r. putlished by the Journal this
morning:
This is the land CT gold. Unless aiisiGns
mislead as signs have rarely missed, not
California ia the days Of AZ, not Aus
tralia. lot the prolific Rand in South
Africa should rank with it.
Il venture TO estimate the output Of gold
for the seasen from the placers in the inine-
da,e neighborhood Of Daw son at $4,000
Ooo. some of the enthusiastic miners here
say that the product for the season viii
he nearer S10,00O,o00 than S5 .0O0,-
600, but | have noticed a local inclination
TO brag, ana 1 want TO be entirely within
the Tacts in any Information send out from
tnIs camp OF niaryeis.
Before this message can reach the coast
the story of the richness OF these gold laden
placers WIN be the property OF the world.
for 10y that time tie uiners who left here
with tl.er bags OF gold viii have reached
the American cities with their burdens or
dust ana nuggets to convince the skepticaL
..Da yyson has grown like musnronru since
the news Of tie richness of ire mines IN
this NEG ils1ThOOd Has reached the oiner
eiigriagS siong the Yukon and its tIit'u-
taries. The present population OF tins
town is about A,CUo. Men are stream ming
in astaniflly their legs or the river Stea ma
ers or horses viii transport them. We in
pa vyson have a notion that 10y the close of
Epn
10 o00 people ia the town.
..And such a town. II has some OF the
cliatac,eristics of mining camps that Bret
HaIte has ma lie into story, hut II has quail
ties that California camps never had and
never could have. The game OF life Is
plavetl fast. and the boisterons side of mining
camps is developing as the population
increases Now Dawson would match
Tombstone when Tombstone was young.
There ave gamblers by the score. and there
are dance halls by tie score.
The principal source of fighting in from
tier mining camps. disputes over the poses
son of claims. has been missing up to this
time from tile Klondike region. The
Canadian mining laws seem fair and they
are regarded and are enforced as well as
possible by the small Official force repre-
sentinr the Dominion government sec
tion IN the law prohibit is a miner from tax
ing va" more than one claim in neighbor-
hood. This provision offaw leads to caution
in the selection of claims, and stops land
grabbers from controlling all the claims IN
sight.
Il do not mean that all the residents OF
Dawson are willing to obey he law merely
because it is law, for am certain that many
OF the men are worrying their br aims to
devise schemes to get hold OF a number
of claims, and would be glad To evade
the rules. Miners generally work in
groups. or companies, and each member Of
a group has an interest in all the claims
worked for the Joint account of himself
and companions. But the caution 1 have
mentioned shows itself in the bi x population
OF the town. There is no good reason
that ~ many should be here. except this
provision OF law restricting a man to one
location When a miner has only one
rattle out Of the box, he takes time before
making his throw. Therefore. Dawson
is a base of operations for men who go out
from tits center on prospecting trips.
There are no openings here for new
cou1ers TO locate claims along any of the
creeks where gold placers are known TO
exist. An the claims on the good ground"
in tins Immediate vicinity have been taken
up a stranger has 10 getout and prospect
IN placescf which nothing definiteis known.
yet, OF course, places just as likely TO con-
tam gold as any OF the places that have
Welded the big fortunes to the miners.
Parties leave here every day on pres
peCtinC tours. When a discovery Of gold
is reported crowds rush out In frenzy to the
place.
The thronging in OF men is making an
important change in the prices paid for
labor. While provisions are dear, the price
Of labor is going down | have known
laborer to get $50 q day for his toll, but
that price wasnot paid to every man. The
indication now is that many men who must
have food and clothing will crowd the
town, and that the rate OF wages will fall
TO the cost OF subsistence. Flour is Sc a
sack.
The weather is intensely disagrneahie
The mercury has stood at 81 degrees for
Nv O hours in ths shade, and this is mo rning
And there are mosquitoes millions and
millions Of mosquitoes -voracious as
wharf rats. fiercely singing They con-
tribute 10 the discomforts TO living on the
Klondike
"Gold IN one form or another has been
found along a belt nearly 500 miles long
by the close OF the season much more viii
lie known Of the character of this belt for
the prospecting going on is thorough, the
circumstances and population considered,
and more definite Information should result
when lean send atrustworthy reporter
the guidance Of persons contemplating a
trip TO the Yukon next spring, shall
hurry it down. Just now not much that Is
definite can bc said to persons not on the
ground, because Of the absence OF available
openings for stakes in any district known
TO lie worth working.
"Thoee who have claims on the Bonanza,
the vi Dorado and the Bear seem certain
Of immense fortunes.
81 cannot truthfully sa more"
M