The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-07-04
THEY FOUND AN ELDORAD0.
PIONEER GOLD HUNTERS ON THE
LAKE OF THE WOODS.

LAM VT A"H HUODh. f 1
The Fields at Rat Portage werc worked Twen-
~ Wears Ago-sornething About the Mea
OF That Time and the Place % which Free
pectoru Are FlociinE-A Summer Parndise.
DULUTH, MINI. June 1e.-word was received bore
to-day from Rat Portage, ontario, Of recent gold dis.
coveries at that place. The md was made in q new
shaft . . = at a depth OF ten feet. The quarts 10
rich almost beyond description. Nuggets, leaf. and
wiro gold have been found IN the shaft.
Pieces OF quartz broken by the BLAST are said 70
have been found hanging together by strings of gold.
. = The news has created great excitement in tho
gold nelds, and prospcotors are leaving the other dis
tricts and hooking to Rat Portage.
A party OF gold hunters who, fully n score Of
years ago. dug and dclved amid the then un.
known mineral wealth Of the Lake of the Woods
district, paved tho way for the discovery made
public through the foregoing despatch to THE
Sun. In those days the irons of the Canadian
Pacific Railway system had not been laid along
tho rugged north shore OF Lake Superior, nor
across the prairie stretch from Winnipeg TO the
foothills of the Rockies. Tho prospcctors who
now nre, according to THE SUNS despatch,
hocking to Rat Portage, will find none Of the
difficulties In their path that confronted the
seekers after gold and silver in 1877 and for
several years aftcrward.
Now tho Canadian Pacific Railway runs YES
tibulcd trains from Port Arthur on Thunder
Bay, tho lnko terminus Of the big transconti-
mental limo to Rat Portage, 800 miles away, Mt
tho northern extremity of the Lake of tho
Woods. TIE Sun correspondent at Duluth
across Lake Supcrior-can roach Port Arthur
at this season Of tho year by any one Of several
established limos Of steamers. Then, seated in
q drawing room car, no can rldo through what,
to the prospcctor of twenty years ago, was a
grim, forbiddinS wilderness Of steep cliffs, virgin
forests, and snowshoo trails of Indians and
Hudson Bay Company fur hunters.
Once arrived at the Laks Of the Woods the
explorer in these dayo will find q busy, thirty
ing community at RAJ Portare. 1t Is al i'm.
portant railway station. not n mushroom min
ing camp, but u town of possibly 5000 popula-
tion. with hotels. newspapers. a theatre, and saw
mills with a tremendous output. Steamers,
run to Fort Francis on Rainy River, $50 miles
away, and other steamers ply between Rat
| Portage and the mining and lumber camps on
the mainland, or among the myriad islands
| which dot the Lake of the Woods. Supply
| stores are at hand with everything the pros
pector and miner needs, and there are no longer
the tedious waits for mining machinery to be
packed over %portages, drawn by dog slcds, or
carried piece by piece over a canoe route.
There arc also for the protection OF miner and
investor the mining laws OF the Dominion Of
Canada and the province of Ontario. The min
ing region Of tho Lake Of tho Woods, once
vaguely known as the disputed territory OF
Keewatin-o: Kcewaydin-has been divided
between the provinces Of Manitoba and On
tario. OF guides to the allurirg gold fields
there are a plenty to be found In and about Rat
Portage, and on one Of the many islands the
visitor will doubtless be invited to see tho first
stamp mill ever put up in this part of the coun-
try, sir, long before Rat Portage had a hundred
white men, and before 1t was on the maps
Remote, however. is the possibility that in
t aSnt esw or hl .oSriss at ct this thI f iate Gss VIII Vii f ind
among those active in the pursuit Of the pro.
forgotten mining boom at Rat Portage in
1sS2-s3. Brave and sturdy men they were;
s standard ai of Of a t f%pontie a0 minins ss camp Gei generous o"s
even when 1t came to sharing the last drink In
a flask in in the hon teeth e, OF 2 9b mq fase 81 so,iIsrI SGa:
nearly all Of those pioneers Of the gold helds, and
likely to be rea ched in the diggipgs now un,
der the changed condition OF things; They
mine" and about ".clouded titles in their deal
iRf Is NOT T1tf lis ssisI that more than a handful Of the
boomers Of 1ss2.s3 have remained above
ssiionsa Those who are still on deck, when the,
: hear the news Of a dazzling find or nngEets
Leaf n and , wire gold old. on their lEa 9 asS stamp,ns F arc q,
reap the harvest that has come at last, as theJ
When the writer irst visited the Lake of tn,
. emit bustling town Of Rat Portage could no
3 muster more than 800 persons, including rail
{ road hands. There was a Hudson Bay store a
D tho post, and there most OF the trading wa
camps on the lake and the. miners ~scattcre'
through the Kcewatin territory. 4 grocer.
patronized by nearly every. man in the cam
Y when he got tipsy; n so-called eating house,
real estate Office, IA sawmfl, an apology FOR
nou,apapar naicn and n hotel. were tho fOreruD
i Winter at Rat Portage Is colder and the win.
n moro searching than can be found anywher
!. else, except out on tho frozen lake in Its wides
IS part. The Ridcout House was built in Q hur,r
= I lat and plaster were not fashionable in tina
region, so the searching, wind had no difficult
n the red.hot stove in tho lounging room. Tn
- spllIIsSd a railway station. Registered about 81
Is below zero when the writer's train pulled !
p from W,innipeg; He ,a had 2 natural So' ss %ns {
Is go he made no remarks about the weather. II
2, was expected at the hotel ian and rS was 81, e staHa a.
= proprietor, a cheory, hospitable chap, said:
,e ""Jnck brown is ont looking for his Indian an
=" shs H TO- tho me mining HhRst camp No tom toem9 Sgo Su' The h be-
W room in tho house is yours, sir,the room Il
y indians. dogs, and the Marquis q Lorne a!
* ured somewhat In the dream Dreams OF the oSeq pa
9. gentleman who married Princess Louise, sr
o. sieep in a room fitted for a cold -storego hous
'f Later he learned that tho Marquis visited X
Ridoout had no license. That CAUSED hi
~ some annoyance and at times compelled him
lis close the little bar. He always stopped Il
.. sale Of liquor after the Government ofiicia
cy had raided his place and seized tho stock
an sight But the great hulking lumbermen, in
he In from the woods with an all-season thirst al
h- a pocketful of money. managed TO got drum
he "a aid the navyies working on tho G.. y. Ra
way, and the halfbreeds. who preferred moo
shine whiskey made by an entcrprising d
and, as business required.
Jack Brown was probably tho best equipp
IN practical miner on the ground. lie knew I
character Of tho 6 rock and the kind kind Of nv work tl.,
form IL into shape for tho smelter. Bro'
AZ was well educated due { sha fH 9os, S Sis the ni,s good 10 6 si,in n
ho and as an organizer was looked up to by OLE
ho explorers. jack, as everybody, even INC {,
'he was at tho time tho superintendent Of tho La
afs OF The Woods Mining Company. That GO
ho naI tKynu InxnInVl nn kyn prnnRrt