Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1897-09-03
THE KLOND|KE GOLD field.
It May Be the Cause of Inter National
Complications.
Commissioner Smith Fears the
United States Officials on the
Way to the Yukon May Claim
Too Much Territory - Warning
Letters from the Diggings.

Too Much Territory - Warning
Letters from the Diggings.
Port Townsend, Wash, September 2.
| A letter from John U. Smith, United
States Commissioner at Dyea and Ska
| quay, intimates that Government Off
Gals now on the way to the Upper
| Yukon may, by their official acts, bring
on serious international complications
with the Dominion Government. He
says:
1T is announced here by deputy
United States Marshal that the United
States is to make claim to a large
portion Of the Yukon gold fields which
have heretofore been supposed to be
in British territory, and that the ter
ritory which is claimed as being with
in Alaska, includes Dawson City, The
basis of the clam to be made by the
United StaLes officials to the disputed
territory is in the fact that the boun-
| Diary line has never been determined,
and the United States authorities are
} Tclaming to possess information as to
the survey made by the Canadian
Government that fixes Dawson City
and large proportion of the gold
J district within Alaska"
San Francisco, September 1.-THE
Bulletin has received a letter from
Charles Haines, dated Dawson City,
July 6. He says: 1.-THE rich diggings
? have been comparatively idle during
.. the summer, but there is plenty OF
+ gold in sight. There is every pros
: pect of an immense output of gold
l from this district next spring The
total output this season is, as near as
p I can Judge, $1,000, 000 but very little
/ ground has been worked and the
dumps will, like some of the
tailings of old California placers, pan
A out thousands of dollars when worked
e with improved machinery. The plac-
ers are the most puzzling and decelv-
> ing I have ever seen. Imagine man
q working on good color and finding
t. the ground worth only few dollars
: per day, and then turning to a waste
= OF mud and morass with no surface
indications and unearthing bonanza
) rhat is the situation all over Alaska.
=. 'The man who comes here to mine
a does so at the expense of health and
b. happiness. and it is with him a queS-
!, ton of making a fortune quickly or
| nI vii
4 scores of men who can weigh their
S gold by the bucketful and who value
e their claims as millions. Four hun
dred valuable diggings are stretched
along creeks, and every digging is a
|, fabulous mine of gold, yet there are
, weary men who have gone and re-
turned to Dawson, after searching the
great country hereabouts and never a
e nugget do they show for their toll,
2 their long tramp over broken ground
and into country whose disadvan-
: tages are exceeded by no other place
on earth.
This Alaska Northwest is an odd
prize drawing proposition that | can
l'liken to nothing that admits of
, better comparison than lottery A
number of spots are selected on the
creeks and rivers, and for one year
the miner labors. The year closes;
the water runs, and the seasons out
put barely pays expenses. Not two
miles away from the unfortunate one
works a man who has taken from
an upviting bit of earth a sackful
Of gold. The lucky one did not strike
the pocket because of his ability as a
miner; chance favored him, and that
was all. In spirit the miner guesses at
it and located any and and every
/ where. In nineteen cases out of TWEEN
other year for new trail.
Dawson is merely a collection of
log huts, saloons and mass Of tents,
about 200 in number. When the long
nights come and the glass goes down
to So degrees below zero there will
| be intense suffering here, and | shud-
der to think of the results Provisions
arc going to be very scarce and there
is little reason to doubt that the en-
tire town will have to go on short
rations during the winter and that
scurvy will be rampant.
The gold that will go down the river
| for San Francisco and Seattle will
amount to about 100000. There Is
/ lot of gold that will remain in camp,
| for it is used as an equivalent for
money and is legal tender at SIT per
| ounce. OF the 5000 or 1900 inhabit-
| ants only couple of hundred at the
most have made big strikes There is