The herald., 1897-09-02
KLONDIKE
DIGGINGS
Not Much Worked DUR
ing the Sumner
IMMENSE OUTPUT EXPECTED
WHEN ARCTIC FLOWERS BLOOM
AGAIN
IMMENSE OUTPUT EXPECTED
Miners Slowly Crossing the Divide.
Famine and Scurvy Expected
at Dawson This Winter
Press Special Wire.


Associated Press Special Wire.
SAN FRANCISCO. Sept 1.-THE Bull
| letin has received a letter from Charles
Haines, dated Dawson City, July 26th
Mr. Haines is a we'll known newspaper
writer and his letter is the first written
by trained newspaperman to come out
of the Klondike gold regions. He says:
1.-The rich diggings have been COM
paratively idle during the summer. al
though the output from Ell Dorado and
Bonanza creeks was enormous and there
was plenty of gold in sight. There Is
every prospect of an immense output
Of gold from the district next spring.
The total output this season is, as near
as can judge. about s7,0O0,0O0 but very
little ground has been worked, and the
dumps will, like some of the tailings of
old California placers, pan out thousands
of dollars when worked with improved
machinery.
THE placers are the most puzzling
and deceiving I have ever seen. Imagine
man working on good color and find
ing the ground worth only few dollars
per day and then turning to waste of
mud and moss with no surface indica-
tions and unearthing a bonanza. This is
the situation here and all over Alaska.
"The man who comes here to mine
does so at the expense of health and
happiness and it is with him question
of making a fortune quickly or taking
chances with death. About me are
scores Of men who can weigh their gold
by the bucketful and who value their
claims at millions. Four hundred valu-
able diggings are stretched along the
creeks and every digging is fabulous
mine of gold, yet there are weary men
who have gone and returned to Dawson
after searching the great country here
about and never nugget do they show
broken ground and into a country whose
natural Disadvantages are exceeded by
no other place on earth
This Alaska Northwest Territory
gold field has an odd prize drawing
proposition that I can liken to nothing
that admits of a better comparison than
a lottery A number of spots are Sc
lected on the creeks and rivers and for
one year the miner labors. The year
closes, the water runs and the season 8
output barely pays expenses Not two
miles away from the unfortunate one
works a man who has taken from an
uninviting bit of earth sackful Of gold.
The lucky one did not strike the pocket
because of his ability as miner; chance
favored him and that was all. In short,
the miner guesses at it and locates any
and everywhere. In nineteen cases out
of twenty he misses it and has to wait
another year for a new trial.
Dawson is merely collection of log
huts, saloons and mass of tents, about
600 in number. When the long nights
come and the glass goes down to 65 de-
grees below zero there will be intense
suffering lleXe and ! shudder to think of
the results.
Provisions are going to be very scarce
and there is little reason to doubt that
the entire town will have to go on short
rations during the winter, and that sour
Wy will be rampant.
The gold that will go down the river
for San Francisco and Seattle will
amount to about $2,oOO0OO. There is a
lot of golG that will remain in camp,
for it is used as an equivalent of money
and is legal tender at SIT per ounce.
OF the 5000, or 1000 inhabitants only
couple of hundred a the most have made
big strikes. There is plenty of work at
from SIS to $40 per day, and many men
have paid $3.50 per day or less for living,
and saved the balance. Reports of other
strikes are constantly received here and
many are authentic, so far as Stewart
and, Kelly rivers are concerned, but moth
ing so rich as the Klondike has been re-
porteGA Quite a number of people are
preparing to leave here for Juneau in
case the steamers do not get through
with provisions, and the outlook for a
good grub supply is not encouraging
In conclusion. the Alaska and North
west territory gold fields will be devel-
oped slowly. Ten thousand people may
come here, but they will be lost in the
vast country when they spread out to
prospect. Not more than 500 of them will
strike mines When they do strike pay
gravel their fortunes will be made In
years to come, when at the sacrifice of
human life ard energy the treasures of
this great land are located, the wealth
OF the north will be something beyond,
comprehension.
SIX DAYS FROM DYEA
PORT TOWNSEND, Wash, Sept. l.
The steamer Farralon arrived tonight,
six Gays from Dyea and Skaguay. The
officers of the steamer tell interesting
stories of the condition of affairs at both
landings. They say that at Dyea the
people are slowly but surely crossing the
divide, and the road for ten miles up the
canyon is strewn with tents, provisions,
discarded baggage and dead horses Less
than 1000 are on the beach at Dyea. as all
make efforts to get across the divide as
soon as land,sd. At Sllaguay things pre-
sent different appearance, there being
between 5000 and 5000 people at that place
Less than fifty men have succeeded in
getting across White pass and hundreds
have given UP trying to cross until
spring. The steamers officers say rain
has fallen continuously there for eight
days. anddt is utterly impossible to cross.
All kinds of business is flourishing. Many
men are selling outfits for little or moth