The Roanoke times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1897-1977, 1897-09-02
AIR CASTLES
he Popular Craze For Mining
and Trading Syndicates.
TRICKS OF THE Willy PROMOTER.
He Is Full of Schemes Plausible and
Schemes Preposterous-Love Woman
In tho Rush For Gold-.Apparently Ma
Limit to the Public Gullibility.


In tho Rusl, For Gold-Apparently M
Limit to the Public Gullibility.
Many and queer arc the schemes TINT
have grown out of tho Klondike craze
They rocall the fablod days when ma
gicians had the power to conjurc up won
dcrful gonii and set them to doing strange
and uncanny things. The very air is full
OF schemes, somo alluring, some prcpostor
Gus, some audaciously novel. 1t is the
heyday of tho dreamer and enthusiast.
IF 1 wero to give you the details OF
some of the schemes that have been sub
united to me recently for making money
in tho klondiko," said ono Chicago onpi
talist to Tribune reporter, you would
think some insane asylum had boon thrown
ope" and the inmates turned loose. Some
of tho ideas arc not bad in themselves, but
arc impracticablo owing to the condition
of the country. Others arc simply the
rankest form of lunncy, while Others yet
arc downright swindlcs. People who
would not even think of suggesting IA
fraud in connection with ordinary bust.
ness have no hesitation in boosting upn
fraud in u mining boom. AS rule, how.
ever, the irresponsible schemcrs are mere
~ wild eyed franks who have an honest
confidence in their own plans"
Inventors, spectators, promoters and
prospcctors are going about like modern
gcnii with propositions for making every.
body immensely rich. Acquiring great
wealth depends solely upon immediate use
of littlo ready money Shares in tho
Consolidated Transnlasknn Gopher com
pnny, offered at 81 each, will return divi-
dcnds'of $40 minute as soon as the com
pany gets to work. The idea is to take
contracts for tunneling claims with trained
gophcrs. Nothing is impossible, nothing
chimcricnl.
Men with suedy garments and faces bear
ing all too plainly tho marks OF hunger
and want rub elbows with portly, well fed
individuals and talk glibly about millions
TO be had in various ways. Newspapers
arc full of advertisements calling for
financial aid in developing Alaskan prof.
Gets, offices of transportation lines AFRO be.
sicgcd by hundreds of impccunous beings
who seek to make their wits pay the price
of passage to the ICl Dorado, and on every
street corner people are encountered with
Hlondikc schemes in varying forms of dc.
vclopment. Women have got tho craze as
badly us men, and some of their hobbies
are, if anything, even more outlandsh
Importation of young women into north
ern Alaska as wives for the miners is tho
project one elderly dame laid before tho
III UID 1NOTIH american Ir1nSDur-
tation and Trading company. She figured
that at least 1000 of tho 10, 900 hardy
prospoctors in the Klondko would like to
get married right away and would DO
willing to pny IA good price for the proper
kind of hclpmeets.
Charlotte Smith, tho sociologist, wants
to transplant 200 or more working wom-
en- from swcatshops and factories to Klon-
dixie camps. Hers is not IL money making
scheme. She is laboring solely in what
ehe thinks the best interests of humanity
To carry out her plans funds are needed,
but no big subscriptions thus far have
been reported.
Another woman wanted to get 81, 900 to
use In organizing company to locate
gold placer Claims. She WINS endowed with
powers of olairvoynuco and could uner-
rin9ly point out hidden deposits of pre-
cious metals. Suggestion that clnirvoy-
ance should enable her to pick out IA back
er WINS taken as u personal insult, and she
departed in high dudgeon.
a midwife advertiscs for u partner to
furnish money to open hospital in Daw-
sen City. "On an investment of So, 0O0"
she says, 81 will guarantee yearly in
come of 500, 900 sure, with the chance OF
making double this"
Women appear also as promoters of
'iiiiiiB hiiNi OoNtiOpillcul DTOJCCtS. sSOlne
of them can talk intelligently about the
country and its prospects, and have u con
vincihg way of setting out their PROPOSE
tions. One II littlo krener than her COM
pctitors in the hunt for the dollars of the
public, has sprung plan by which stock
may be paid for OH the installmcnt basis at
the ratio of % cents week n share. In
the spring-inost of these good things are
going to come off in the spring-expc-
ricnced prospcctors will be grub staled and
sent into the Klondiko to look for IA pay
Ing claim. Tho company has nothing as
yet in the way of assets save expectations,
PUT these arc very big and strong.
'Alnskn Carrier Pigeon Mail Service
the title given in all seriousness to IL
commercial project by Thomas Arnold.
gray boarded. wiso looking old man who
haunts the offices of Chicago board of trade
operators in an effort to enlist capital for
the enterprise. "It will DO years" no
urges stoutly, "beforo even IA satisfactory
telegraph service oun he csta hlished, and
IN the meantime wo can make II lot of
money with carrier pigeons There nre
l3,OOO or 20, 600 people up there now shut
OF from communication with the civilized
world, and they will pay big rates for
service of this kind. So would tho nows-
papers all over tho world that want to got
fresh news from the mining camps. 1t
will only take couple Of thousand dollars
to start the thing, just enough to pay my
fare up there and get the pigeons acclimat-
I'd and relay posts fixed" Tho old man
pleads well, but that paltry $4,000 is not
forthcoming.
The establishment G. permanent dog
sledgo transportation lines over the Chill
katand similar trails is pet hobby with
n mum Der of men who are soliciting money
for this purpose In sums of from $4,000
to 100000. 1t matters not who finds or
digs the gold, they assert, so long as they
Cnn have the business of hauling III pms