The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-10-22


creek emptying into the Klondyke from
anza He found SLIGO to the pan on a
high rim, and after making the find
known at Forty Mile. went back with
two Indians and took out $1.400 In
three weeks with three slaice boxes.
The creek was seon taked from one
end to the other and all the small
gulches were also staked and recorded.
About September 10. q nan by the
name Of Whipple prospected a creek,
emptying into Bonanza on No. z, above
discovery, and named it Whipple
Creek. He shortly afterwards sold out
and the miners renamed It Eldorado.
Prospects as high as 81 to the pan were
found early In the fall. Many Of the
old miners from Forty-Mile went there
and would not stake. saying the viii
lows did not lean the right way and the
water did not taste right, and that 1t
was a o Dasture-it being wide
and fiat. Both creeks were staked
principally by 'tchee chacoes" (new men
in the country, and early as they
could get provisions, about $50 men
went there and commenced prospecting
by sinking holes to the depth OF from
burning down, as the ground was
frozen solid to bedrock. November %,
a man by the name of Louis Rhodes 10
Gated on No. q, above on Bonanza, got
as high as $3.50 to the pan. This was
the first big pan Of any Importance,
and the news spread up and down the
creek like wild fire. This news reached
Circle City, 300 miles farther down the
Yukon river, but nobody would believe
It. Soon after, large pans were found
on both Bonanza and Eldorado. and
each creek was trying to outrival the
other, until a man by the name of
Clarence Berry got 500 to the pan.
From that time on Eldorado held q
high position. Many claims from the
mouth up for a distance of three miles
got large pans-until they reached as
high as $3.50. About March S, 1897, I
reached the diggings from Circle City,
having hauled my sled the whole dis
Of the new strike had become so sig
nificent to be overlooked, and about 300
men from Circle City undertook the
journey in mid-winter. Such an exo-
dus was never known before in h
history Of the Yukon, but not q man
lost his life, although several had their
faces and toes nipped at times. Eve
some of the most resolute and disolute
women made the journey in salty.
Fancy prices were paid for dogs by
those who were able to purchase, and
as high as $175, and even 5000 were paid
for good dogs. Almost any kind Of a
dog was worth $50 and SIS each.
When I first reached the new camp
I was invited by the butcher boys
Murph Thorp, of Juneau, and George
Stewart, from Stuck Valley, Wash.-to
go down to their shaft and pick a pan
of dirt. as they had just struck the rich
streak. To my surprise it was 1882. so.
In fourteen pans Of dirt they too out
$1,565 right in the bottom Of the shaft,
which was 4x8 feet.
March 20, Clarence Berry took out
over $500 to h pan; Jimmy Mac
LAME took out over 5000 to the pan;
Frank Phicater took out $135 to the
took as high as $125 to the pan. They
were the first men to get a hole down
to bedrock on Eldorado and find good
pay They had Nos. IA and Is.
I'm fact, big pans were being taken
on nearly every claim on the creek, un-
til 500 and 5000 pans were common.
April is Clarence Berry took, in n
two days panned out over 81, 200.
April IA we heard some boys on No. 80,
Eldorado, had struck it rich, and taken
out $500 in one pan. This was the ban
ner pan of the creek, and Charles
Myers, who had the ground on a lay,
toll me that if he had wanted to pick
the dirt he could have taken one
hundred unces just as easy.
Jimmie MacLanie tOOk out 81, 900
during the winter just in prospecting
the dirt. Clarence Berry and his part
ner, Anton Strander, PANIED out about
the same in the same name Mrs.
Berry used to go down to the dumps
every day to get dirt and carry it to
the shanty and pan it herself. She has
over Sc, 900 taken out in that manner
M Lippy, from Seattle, has a rich
claim and his wife has a sack of mug
gets alone Of 5000 hat she a picked
up on the dumps. When the dumps
were washed in the spring the dirt
| yielded better han was expected. -Four
boys on a lay, No. 2, Eldorado, took
out $49,0 900 in two months. Frank
Phicater, who owned the ground and
| a some men hired, cleaned up $94, DOC
for the winter. Mr.. Lippy, SO I am
told, has cleaned up for the winter,
$54, 900. Louis Rhodes, No. 81, Bonanza.
has cleaned up $500
Clarence Berry and Anton Strande1
have cleaned up $780, 600 for the winter
This is probably the richest place ever
known in the world.
"They took it out so fast and sc
much OF it that they did not have time
to weigh it with gold scales. They
took stee1yards, and all the syruI
Tho