Virginia gazette. [volume] (Williamsburg, Va.) 1893-192?, 1897-10-23
BULLETS OF PURE GOLD.
AN OLD whAIER's EXTRAORDINARY
STORY OF ALASKAN RICHES.
Cap>Ain John Reynolds. OF Omaha. Givss
an Account of Native who C.~d
Gold Bullets for His Eif--A Very
High Ledge FuIl of the Pr.eieu. Metal.

Gold Bullets for Ht> Eif--A Very
High Ledge Fan of the Pr.cisu. Metal.
Captain John Reynolds, Of Florence,
a suburb of Omaha. Neb. has CON
tributed story of Alaska riches that
is more extraordinary than are the
startling reports from the klondike
The captGn, writes a correspondent OF
the Chicago Record. Is a Nebraska
character OF much fame. He - an old
whaler who has sailed all over tho
globe and IN his wandering made two
expeditions through Bering Straits in
TO the Arctic Ocean. On the first %
these he met with al adventure which
il replete with romance and which
reads like tale from Mexico or Peru
in their balmy barbarian days q gold
and silver
In August. 1879" h said. I'VE
sailed from New Bedford on n long
voyage Our vessel was the first
to pass through Boring Straits into the
Arctic Ocean. We went first TO the
Azores. then TO Tenerifie. The Cape
Verde Islands. Falkland Islands.
through She Straits OF Magellan 20 Ju-
IA Fernando and the Sandwich Isl
ands. aud thence mp into Bering Sea
During the whaling season a.
many as thirty men deserted the ships
for the gold fields OF Alaska at the
I Yukon. Our ship was beset with ice
az Cape Prince Of Wales and while we
/ were there an old native came aboard.
Z We were breaking mp some boxes that
day and he asked ~ for the leaden
labels which were on them. We asked
why he wanted them. and be showed
rs an old-fashioned Russian gun which
he treasured very highly AMI said no
wanted the lead 20 make bullets for
Il. In our idle curiosity. having little
10 DO while lying there. We questioned
him as 20 where he usually got his
bullets for it. and he told MS there
was place one sleep Zone day 5
Journey away where he found the
material for bullets We were anx-
ious 20 make little trip ont into the
interior and one day started OF with
him as our guide.
I'VE travelled about sorty miles MP
the country through a valley easv 70
traverse, and az length reached a ledge
At which the native stopped and began
picking up pieces OF gold. The ledge
was full Of 1t and crumbling away
Here was the old fellows bullet field
He was shooting gold bullets from
his old Russian gun. The party Of Us
carried away thirty-nine pounds OF
the ore and when we had il assayed
in San Francisco. it turned oat $500 a
ton.
Captain !. y. Knowles, a wealthy
resident of San Francisco, fitted out
ship and sent il back in charge of
one of my crew, Swede, 70 investi-
gate. As near as We could learn he
loaded his schooner with sixty q
seventy tons of the ore and started
back. That was the last heard of him
and II Is supposed that his ship wenl
down IN heavy gale. Since then IA
one has visited that place and yet II i
a. rich rs any mine discovered IL
Alaska. aud far easier 10 reach than
Is the klondike. The ledge was soc
feet high aud was crumbling away
when We were there. II Is only fort,
miles from the coast and there are nc
difficulties whatever IN reaching tn,
place.