The times., 1897-07-21

claim No. 80, on Eldorado Greek, owned by
Mcdonald 4 Chapple, for onehalf the
profits.
They started in late in the spring after
neatly everyone else nad quit work and
We're laughed at by the miners. The day
after beginning work they struck bed
lock, and in the next thirty days took out
S41 900 MIR. Myers says he believes he
took from his claim the biggest pan ever
washed in the district From a shovel
half full OF dirt he got $500. H says that
his partner and himserin six hours shovel
ing cleaned up" three times, and in each
-"clean up got $4,000.
Another member of the party, j o.
Clements Is said to have disposed OF a
claim for S50, 900, and has in the safe Of
the Golden West Hotel nugget valued at
S231
Charles Leonard has been three years
in Alaska, one of which has been spent
in the KloDdyke country. In three aud
one-half months actual work he says he
took out Sl4, 200. He : going back in the
spring.
F. Purcell, who Is about sixty years
old, left his home near st. Louis in April,
1896. He did not reach the Klondyke,
however. until January / 1897. He de-
clnes TO state the amount of gold he
has brought with him, but says that he
sold half interest in claim No. IS, above
Discovery. on Bonanza Greek, for S2l,-
600, mott including the dirt alreadyon dumps
BE says there is room for 200, 600 men
in the mining districts of Alaska without
any crowdtng. but that the suffering this
winter will be terrible He characte rizes
any attempt to reach there this fall as
foolhardy. Myers says she pay dirt on the
claim he mas been working is a strip more
th1n 80 feet wide and at least a foot in
depth. He sBys he has never taken out
pan which gave less than 81 On claim
No. 81 in the same district, he says there
was streak eight feet wide and five feet
deep which went from SIT to $50 pan
The claim sold for $4,000, and $780,
900 would not buy it today.
He tells of a man named Andrew Mel
son who made $40, 900 for partner who
had given him a grub stake and ha never
seen the claim.
The men tell narrowing tales OF their
sufferings, and say that their ha rdsl,ips
which must be endured in order to ex-
ict cannot bc exaggerated. Several OF
tie party have just recovere from scurvy
and all appear to be physically demoraL
ized.
Last winter, they say, was mid one,
the thermometer only reaching about 20
degrees below zero. During severe sea-
son it frequently goes down into the SOS.
A man should not, say these gold
seekers, remain in the Klondyke country
more than one season without coming
back to civilization. By coming out he
acquires new lease of life, as it were.
and goes back better qualified to cope
with the hardships to which he must
submit
Millionaires are joining in the rush to
the Klondyke. Henry Bratnober, chief
expert for the Exploration Company, OF
London, and associate of Hamilton Smith
and Thomas Vein, FASTENED to Juneau
when he first heard of the rich finds. and
on his report vast capital Will be invested.
Many men of means in San Francisco
| ire preparing to leave ON two steams hips
which start within the next two weeks
As these will not accommodate tenth of
the crowd OF treasures eekers, it is likely
| that othcr vessels will be chartered and
Sent northward.
ietter received mere by the head or
one of the biggest mining corporations
| in California today says:
Most of the men here are not miners
at all. Over half are 'greenhorns who
never saw mine. There is backbone
| that runs for a hundred miles through
the country. and every gulch that heads
into it has gold in it. Nobody has run a
tunnel into the backbone yet
The district laws require the ground to
berepresented by having a man working on
! it in July each year. The seasons are
| short for sluiciEg, only about 100 days
The sun shines day and night during sum
mer. The rest of the time the ground Is
| frozen.
| IT man cannot shovel dirt eight or
| ten feet high into the string of sluices OH
top of the bank and make $50 day, he
| goes off and leaves the claim.''