The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1897-12-02

ii0liy ul0ptISeu ana palu IOr by work
or by cash, by those to whom it ia
given. The Yukon river practically
closed about September 30 and again
about October 25, but the ice ran out
again and left the river free, so that
the parties who had taken chances of
being left out in the wilderness. most
OF them short of provisions, probably
got to Dawson, or near it. This OPEN
ing of tho river twice was phenome-
non never known to occur before.
There was no new mining excitement.
With persistence heretofore unex-
planned, many parties from Dawson as
well as newcomers, went up the Ste
wart river. Nothing whatever except
good claims, have yet been discovertl
there, The belief, however, is that
rich discoveries will be made there.
Jack Dalton and Mr.. Maloney, a
lawyer of Juneau, have purchased of
Hugh Ferguson and Alexander Nc
Donald, ShOOkum claims numbers I
and for SS2, 800. 1t is reported that
large advance has been offered to
the buyers. Shookum claims are
looking up because some of them have
yielded initial work as large returns as
any found elsewhere. Thomas Magee.
ir., has purchased interests on some
of the best creeks, EldoradO, Bonanza
and ShOOkum. He will return to
develop those claims very early in the
spring. Business in connection with
them is what brought him out. An
agent of the ROthchilds who invested
sixty thousand dollars last fall, has
made arrangements to return in the
spring. Because of the failure of the
September steamers to take passen-
gers down the Yukon early enough
to give reinsurance that ocean CON
nectiOns would be made at st. Mi
chaels, hundreds who were intensely
anxious to get out of the country for
the winter will later try to get out
over the ice and lakes with dogs and
sleighs this winter. Many of them
will suffer greatly because cOmDetent
dogs and guides are both scarce. The
people there are being largely pre-
vented from developing the enor-
mously rich country by nearly utter
isolation and scarcity of food.
hard and trying at best and its great
difficulties should not be increased.
A railroad is the real want. Ifsteam-
boats were run from Lake Bennett to
Dawson they could not travel contin-
uOusly. a railroad would be for all
of the year. The Dalton trail goes
over very easy country of remarka-
bly, light grades. A. Callberger, of
San Francisco, is i'll the field survey
ing a route. We passed him fourteen
miles from Chilkat. He is reported
to have capital behind him. He said
his company will begin work by the
first Of January. Somewhere quartz
and placer mines of great extent and
riches are to be found in that cOun-
try, through which we passed every
where, and it is my deliberate opinion
that California and Australia are
likely to have their past and present
vast mines Outdistanced by the devel-
Opment of the next ten years in that
wide region. In saying this | am not
dreaming of adding stimulus to the
wild and blind helter skelter rush of
aimless people who have been, and
will be tumbling in all sorts of unpre-
pared shapes into that wild country.
1T was generally prophesied at
Dawson that there would next sum
mer and fall be nearly as great a
number of Outgoers as incOmers.
Some very rich strikes, none of which
were made last fall and summer, may
change this. Transportation both
ways on the river can hardly be over
done"
In the opinion of Mr.. Magee no such
amount as $1,000.000 was brought
down on the steamer. a very small
amount of gold dust can be brought
overland and he did not think that
the drafts carried by Ferguson and
Leak, who had the larges amount,
would be over fifty thousand dollars.