The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1897-12-19
w. ~ TIT POO
AND T1E CAPITALIST
nv GOVERNOR JOHN G. BRADY,
BY EX-GOVERNOR JAMES SHEAKLEY
THE XII ONDIKE; A CHANGE FOK NoVELlSlS,
By Walter Besant.
~ GOVERNOR JOHN G. BRADY.

spring you must pass over on snow
shoes and take the risk of being
caught in the billiards which dur
ing that season visit the SUBMITS.
To me it is a matter of regret that so
many people are determined to try TO
get into this inhOspitable country
during the coming spring and summer
Thousands of them are going Withou.
proper preparation and sufficient
amount of means. There is no ques-
ton but that many of them will meet
disappointment, suffering and death.
1t will take years to properly de-
yelop the broad Alaskan gold fields.A
7 earnestly advise those who HAye
MANNED to go and who have not ade-
ouate means for a years camp there
to patiently wait until better and
cheaper facilities for reaching the
Yukon basin are supplied. Companies
have been formed to build railrOadS
into the interior from different points
on the coast. Several of these COM
panies will no doubt have railway
constructed within the coming year.
There is no danger of the crop Of
mines becoming exhausted within the
next twenty-five years. I came to the
California mines in 1852. I left in 1854
thinking the mines were worked out.
1 returned here forty-two years after
ward and found that gold-mining in
California was only in it's infancy;
more gold was produced this year than
will be produced in all Alaska and
British Columbia within the next two
years.
Once in the gold fields, what are the
chances for the poor man and the rich
man?
Briefly, then, without a proper outfit
and supplies, it is absolutely hopeless
for any one to tempt fortune by pros
pecting. The seasons are so short, liv-
ing so dear and travelling so difficult
that to work for wages practically cuts
a man off from aiming at anything
higher. With from $500 to $1,000 in his
| pocket, however, a man may reason
ably try his chances with the best of
the prospectors. Consider some of the
difficulties of mining there and you will
see why this is so. AS far as any one
has dug down the ground is solidly
frozen. One miner told me he had sunk
d shaft forty-five feet and the ground
was icebound ahead of him. Wood
cannot be got for less than $40 a cord.
The ground must be thawed with fire
| before it can be picked out. Where
wages are SO day it costs about Ao0
| foot to sink a hole. The poor -
can calculate how long he can hold peso
to sink a shaft on his prospect at such
! figures. But capital is going into the
| country No doubt it will give en-
/ ployment to a large number of poor
men, both in working the older mines
and in prospecting for new ones.
The gold field is very extensive L be-
Heve that good mires will be discov-
cred north of the Yukon, and that ba1p
fore many years ships will be trans
porting miners and supplies through
Bering Strait into the Arctic Ocean
and landing them at the mouth of the
Coquille River for the purpose of work.
ing the mines on that and other
streams which flow into the northern
ocean.
Outside of finding employment in the
mines the poor man has practically no
chance of earning a living. There is
no country on earth where he can
starve to death quicker. The cold
temperature of almost eight months Of
the year makes it imperative that he
shall have a proper amount of food
and good clothing. True, the rush of
Adventures will develop lines of bust
ness that must furnish supplies to the
mines, but a limited number of men
| will fill all such billets. The fish and
! fur trades already have all the men
| they can handle. The lumber business
cuts but a small figure on account OF
| the scarcity of good timber. Agricul-
/ ture and grazing will always be very
limited. Supplies will always have to
come from abroad, and only wealthy.
companies will be able to handle they
in the present rough and expensive
conditions of transportation.
One point these gold-rushers should
bear in mind: In prospecting the prac-
teal miner has very little or no advan-
| tage over the novice. In that country
| no person can figure on surface indi-
| cations while prospecting. Many of
the big finds of this last year were in
| what you might call marshes. No
practical miner would have dreamed
of looking in such places for gold indi-
cations. There is an old saying: Silver
lies in veins and gold is where you firg
it." Six thousand years of experience
has proved the truth of this saying.
The chief advantage the practical
miner will have over the novice will be
in working and developing claims.
No man should set foot in the Yukon
gold fields without at least $500 in his
pocket That will keep him till he gets
work, and in case of a mishap or i'll
fortune he will have enough to carry
him out of the country, for he might as
well be shipwrecked on an iceberg in
the northern ocean as stranded in the
interior of Alaska without supplies.
JAMES SHEAKLEY. +