The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1897-08-07
new Corners MUST
SEEK new CLAIMS
All the Claims Withinr.the Dawson
Territory Have Been Taken
by the Early Ones.
HAS GROWN RAPIDLY
Game of Life Is Played Fast
and the B~oisterous Side of
Mining Life Is Develop
ing Rapidly.

Dawson City, Klondvke River, Can
hda, June 26, via Dyea, Juneau and Sc
attic Aug. 4.-This is the land of gold.
Unless all signs mislead as signs
rarely have niisled, not California in
the days of 40, nor Australia, not the
prolific Rand in South Africa should
rank with it.
venture to estimate the output of
gold for the season from the placers
in the immediate ~neighborhood of
Dawson at $1,000, 900. Some of the en-
thusiastic miners here say the product
tor the season will be nearer $40, OOo.-
300 than 81, ZOO, 900, but | have noticed
4 local inclination to bray, and l want
to be entirely within the facts in any
information l send out from this camp
Of marvels.
Before this message can reach the
coast, the story of the richness of
these gold laden placers will be the
property of the world, for by tina
time the miners who left here with
their bags of gold will have reached
the American cities with their bur-
dens of dust and nuggets to convince
the skeptical.
Dawson has grown like a mushroom
since the news of the richness of the
mines in this neighborhood has
reached the Gutter diggings along the
4ukon and its tributaries. The pres
ent population of this town is about
1000. Men are streaming in as rap
idly as their legs or the river steam
crs or horses will transport them. We
In Dawson have Il notion hat by the
close of the short summer season there
will be 10000 people in the town.
And such "A town! 1t has some of
the characteristics of mining camps
that Bret Iiarte has made in story,
but it has qualities that California
camps never had and never could have.
The game of life is played fast and
the boisterous side of mining camps is
developing as the population increas-
es. Now Dawson would match Tomb
stone when Tombstone was young.
There are gamblers by the score, and
there are dance halls by the score.
Up to this time we ave had no men
for breakfast. The police surveillance
by the Canadian mounted force is fair,
and the sentiment of the camp sets
against v%iolence. But in the new pop
ulation are many tough looking fell
lows, not much disposed to work, and
none of us would be surprised to hear
the '%petulant pop of the pistol" before
Dawson is many days older.
The principal source of fighting In
frontier mining amp disputes over
the possession of claims, has been miss
Ing up to this time from the Klondyke
region. The Canadian mining laws
Seem fair, and they are regarded and en-
forced as well as possible by the small
81 t-t - gNr1- ..- 4l- 49, t.,
government. A section in the law pro-
hibits a miner from taking up" more
than one claim in a neighborhood. This
provision of law leads to caution in the
selection of claims and stops land grab
bers from controlling all the claims in
sight.
1 do not mean that all the residents
of Dawson are willing to obey the law
merely because it is law, for 1 am GER
tain that many of the men are worry
ing their brains to devise schemes to get
hold of a number of claims and would
be glad to evade the rules. Miners gen
orally work in groups or companies, and
each member of a group has an interest
in all the claims worked for the joint
count of himself and companions. But
the caution l have mentioned shows it.
self in the big population of the town.
There is no good reason that so many
should be here, except this provision of
law restricting a man to n location"
When a miner has only one rattle out
of the box" he takes time before max
ing his throw. Therefore, Dawson is a
base of operations for .1en who go out
from this center on prospecting trips.
There are no openings here for new-
| corners to locate claims along any Of
the creeks where gold placers are
known to exist All the claims on the
good ground in this immediate vicin-
ity have been taken up. A stranger has
to get out and prospect in places of
which nothing definite is known. yet
placcrs just as likely to contain gold as
any of the claims that have yielded the
big fortunes to the miners may be
found. Parties leave here every day on
prospecting tours. When a discovery
of gold is reported crowds ruch out in
frenzy to the place.
The t%hronging in of men is making an
important change in the prices paid for
labor. While provisions are dear, the
! price of labor is going down. I have
known a laborer to get $40 a day for his
toll, but that price was not paid to ev.
cry man The indication now is that
many men who must have food and
clothing will crowd the town and that
the rate of wages will keep pace with
cost of subsistence. Flour Is Sc a sack.
The weather is intensely d~isagreeable.
The mercury has stood at 81 degrees
for two hours in the shade, and this is
morning. n there are mosquitoes
millions and millions of mosquitoes,
voracious as wharf rats. fiercely sting
-
forts of living on the Klondyke.