The herald., 1897-08-08
DEATH AND WEALTH
CO HAND N HADD
TRUTH ABOUT THE LAND Oh
RICHES TOLD BY A REsIDENT
OF DAWSON CITY

on MS claim rev DAYS IL got dLOun0
that he had struck SO dirt. That means
that every pan of dirt he washed out had
SO worth of gold in it.
There is a lot of mean sons Of rune
up here that when they think man that
will be run off has got good thing they
just try to run him off. So one night two
or three of these fellows went to the old
mans tent, showed their guns in thx
faces of him and his boy and told them
If they didn't get off tat claim within
tweny-four hours they would get shot.
The old man wouldn't say anything to
them at all. so one of them owned up
afterward. but just lay there, and the
boy he kept quiet too. Sf
''The old man. whose name was Henry
Williams. talked 1t over with h1p boy,
and between them they agreed that hey
would stick it out. So-they took turns
lying awake and watching for the claim
jumpers Three or four nights after
wards the jumps came. The boy was
asleep and the old man on watch. Be-
fore the old man knew what had hap-
pened they had him shot in the shoul<
der. The boy heard the shot and he
jumped, with a gun in each hand, drop
ped two of the fellows that were. after
tAciH QulChtT llldu d. WIKI anu WOQuQctk
another The fourth man was so scared
he ran away without firing shot, Then
the boy fixed the old man up little and
came down into town and told what had
happened.
THE boys got together right away
and went out to the old mans camp and
brought him back to town, fixed him UP
the best the camp could afford and found
he wasn't badly hurt. After they had
found this out and told the boy that his
father was all right, the kid dropped to
the floor like he was shot. They picked
him up and laid him in bunk and then
they found out that he wasn't a, boy at
all, but girl, and as pretty girl az
you want to look at.
LAS I get the story, the old man was
in fearful hard luck back ast and some
body told him about this place. His wife
was dead and he only had one child, this
girl. He wanted to come out here and
he did not know what to do with her.
But she just said she would come with
him as boy and made the old man agree
to it. Maybe you don't think that the
boys were stuck on her and her father.
There amt anything in Dawson too
good for them. That girl could marry
any unmarried man in town she wants
to, and hear some talk that she Is like
ly to take one of them.
Lots Of people have got money up
here, or, as they call it, have struck 1t
rich. One kid from Frisco, that every
body calls Billy jeans got here, nobody
knows how, but managed to get some old
tools and pan and went to work. He il
just 16 years old and is as tough a kid
sAv eDAG-Hhat af1i1I abt,ctr re. Say, UuYry..
I'm goin to wear nothin' but glimmerp
on me mitts when gifts back to town.,
II remember, old man. that back In
New. York. we used to think that fellows
were in hard luck that had to eat beef
and beans but you are in great luck to
get them out here, particularly the beef.
Everybody has beans. Beans, coffee
and soda biscuit. That's the bill of fare
seven days a week. OF course there's
lots Of canned stuff, but you get awful
tired of that. There is man here go
ing to raise some garden truck, and IL
he does it all he raises will be worth
its weight in dust-gold dust.
IT tell you, partner, this Is tough
country. It's all very nice to think
about the gold that's in the ground and
what you can do with it If you can only
get it out, but I wouldn't take all this
country If anybody would give 1t to me,
if it wasn't for the gold. 1t gives you
the blues just to look outdoors. When
it is cold here you think you are going
to freeze sure, solid. When it is hot, you
know there never was any place on earth
any hotter, and there isn't any between.
1 would not give it all for an acre OF
ground in York state. ~.
I'VE hear that people are going to
come up here by the thousands, but
tell you if they don't get plenty Of pro-
visions in here there will be hundreds
of new graves before next spring. I'm
going to stay in over another winter. but
you can bet your bottom dollar that I'll
have provisions enough so that will not
starve. I haven't made a fortune up
here, but have made good money and
I'm going to keep hold Of it, too.- If
more people would come up here ready
to work and go into business instead Of
hunting gold, they would make a lot
more money than they will prospecting.
"You see, the stories that go out of
here are only those about the fellows
that have good luck. But there's lots
that don't. There's an awful lot of peo-
pie come up here and die. You want to
be able to stand cold weather and hard
ships. You want to be able to rough 1t
and stand that sort of life. I tell you ii
you can't you want to keep away. This
is no country for man without money
or without health. What he wants to be
able to do is to work hard and save his
cash If he can do that he will make
good stake that will keep him in comfort
in the states the rest of his days.
"You get so up here you don't think
much of the gold. If you could see the
amount of dust that changes hands on
the faro tables here every night, 1t would
make you hold your breath You re-
member that old song we used to sing
back east about Every day will be Sum
day by and by?' 1 guess that's the way
it is here, for all days are just alike.
We haven't got a preacher in the camp.
Nobody says anything about religion
at ALL I have read about the rush for
gold making people forget everything
else, and 1 reckon that is about SO.
don't see any people get to be friends up
here If they are that way tits becaueA
they knew each other back in the states.
Now, this is long letter, but when
even anybody that can't write, like me,
gets to telling about the queer things IN
Dawson, he don't know when to quit.
Maybe you will come out here. but don't
think of doing 1t before next spring. That