The Roanoke times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1897-1977, 1897-07-20
COLD fever
is RACING.
Hundreds Of People will Sail at
Once for Alaska,
ALL THE KLoNDYKE FIELDS ARE
TAKEN-sTEAMER PORTLAND,
WHICH BRoUGHN DOWN THE
GREAT TREASURE, WILL BE
CROWDED ON THE RETURN
TRlP-ENoRMoUs WAGES BEING
PAID TO MINERS AND MILL
MEN.

~ ~ II
MEN.
Seattle, Wash, July 10.-The excite.
ment over the Klondyke mines is on the
increase, and hundreds of people are pre-
pairing TO sail for Alaska. The steamer
Portland. which brought down over
$1,000, 600 in gold, is on her return trip
and will be crowded to her utmost ca
pacity. Conservative men who have been
in the country claim there is room for
hundreds more in Alaska. They admit
that all of the fields in the vicinity of
k!ondyke have heen taken, but every river
in Alaska is, in their judgment. flied
with gold, which can be secured if the
men are willing to risk hardships.
Inspector Strickland, of the Canadian
mounted police, who came down ON the
Portland, says: "When left Dawson
City, month ago, there were about $40
claims staked out, and there were he.
tween two and three thousand in there.
We can safely say that there was about
$780, 900 in gold mined last winter.
The wages in the mines were S15 a day,
ard the Saw mill paid laborers $40 a day
The claims now staked out will afford
employment to about 5, 600 men,I believe.
If man. is strong, healthy and wants
work, he can find employ ment at good
wages. Several men worked on an inter.
est, or what is termed lay and during
the winter realized from 1000 to SIC, 900
each. The mines are 80 to 100 miles from
Alaskan boundary"
A detachment of mounted police of the
Northwest Territory which pasesd
through Seattle two years ago struck it
rich. Five of the twenty guards returned
on the Portland with gold amounting to
S200,00O. The other fifteen remained in
Alaska to engage. in mining.
Mrs. +. A. Gage wife OF the son of the
Secretary of the Treasury. Lyman Gage,
came down en- the Portland. She went
North on it and was ut ST. Michael's. She
said in an interview:
1.-The country is enormously rich. The
present gold diggings are only a very
small part of it and there is little doubt
that there are millions only waiting for
the miners to come and dig it out The
men from the Klondyke are not the men
to eXaggerate, for have talked with peo-
pie whom know to be TRUTHFUL
1t is declared that there is no anger of
food giving out; all reports to the con-
trary are not honest The North Amer
lean Transportation and Trading Com
pany will not allow "a man to take any
food North on the Portland, but it will
guarantee to furnish him food for year
at less than $500. He can secure such IA
guarantee before leaving this city, so that
starvation will not be one of the difficult
ties to stare men in the face.
A letter received from Dawson CITY.
under date of June Is, contains many
interesting facts. The writer, Arthur
Perry, II well-known citizen of Seattle,
says:
The first discovery of gold on the
Klondyke was in the.middle of August,
1876 by George Cormnck ,on creek emp
tying into the Klondyke on the south,
called by the Indians Bonanza. He found
$50 to the pan on high rim, and after
making the find known ut "Forty Miles,
went back with two Indians and took
out 81, 400 in three weeks with three
siulce boxes. The creek was soon staked
form one end to the other, and all the
small gulches were also .staked and re-
corded. SiAbout September 10 a man by
the name of Whirple prospected creek
emptying into the Bonanza, and named it
Wf1pple creek. He. shortly sold out and
the miners renamed it Ell Dorado.
when first reached the new camp I
was invited by two butcher boys, Muir
phy Ihorpe, of Junea, and George Stew
art, from Stuck Valley, Washington, to
go down i'll their shaft and pick n pan
CT dirt, as they had just struck a rich
streak. 10 my surprise it was $3.50. So
IN fourteen pans of dirt they took out
81 800 right in the bottom of the shaft
which was four by eight feet.
March ~ Clarence Berry took out $500
10 the pan, Jimmy McLain took out over
S2OO to the pan, and four boys from Ma
naimo took as high as 1925 to the nan.
They were the first men to get hole down
to the bed rock and get any pay. They
hao NOS. IA and 10. In fact, big pans
were being taken out on nearly every
cia'm on the creek, and one and two hun
dred pans were common.
April Ii Clarence Berry took in zone
pan thirty nine ounces, S495, and in two
days paned out over $1,000. April IA we
neard that some boys on No. 80 Ell Dorado
had struck 1t rich and. taken out $500 in
one pan. This was the banner pan of the
creek, and Charles Meyers, who had the
ground. told me that If he had waited 70
pick the dirt he could rave taken 100
ounces Just as easy Jimmy McLain took
out $1,000 during the winter lust in
prospecting the dirt. Clarence Berry and
his partner, Anton Stander, pannel out
about the same in the same manner.
Mrs Berry used to go down to the dumps
every day to get dirt and carry it to the
shanty and pan 1t herself She has over
SO, O0O taken out in that manner. Mr.,
Lippin, from Seattle, has rich claim,
and his wife has sack of nuggets worth
$4,000 that she has picked up on the
dumps.
When the dumps were washed In the
spring the dirt paid better than was ex-
pected. -Four boys OH 'lay' in FL Dorado
took out $49, 900 in four months. Frank
fhiscater. who owned the Grand, had
some men hired and cleaned nm So4 600