The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-09-02

San Francisco, Sept 1.-The Bulletin
has received q letter from Charles
Haines, dated Dawson City, July g.
Mr.. Haines IS a well known newspaper
writer, and his letter is the first writ
ten by trained newspaper man to
come out of the Klcndike gold regions
He says:
'.The rich diggings have been COM
paratiyely idle during the summer, al
though the output from Eldorado and
Bonanza creeks was enormous, and
there is plenty Of gold in sight There
is every prospect of an immense output
of gold from the district next spring
The total output this season is, as near
as / can judge about S7,0o0,00G but
very little ground has been worked and
the dumps viii, like some of the tall
ings of old California Diacers. pan out
thousands of dollars when worked with
improved machinery.
PUzzLING AND DECEIYING.
1.-The placers are the most-puzzling
and deceiving 1 have ever seen I'm
agine a man working on good color
and finding the ground worth only d
few dollars per day, and then turning
to q waste of mud and moss With no
surface indications and une2rthing q
bonanza That is the situation here
and all over Alaska. The man who
comes here to mine does so at the eX-
penge OF health and happiness, and 1t
is With him a question of making a
fortdne quickly or taking chances t5ith
death.
About me are scores of men who
can weigh their gold by the bucketfut
and who value their claims at millions,
-Four hundred valuable diggtngs are
stretched along the creeks and every
digging is a fabulous mine of gold, yet
there are weary men who have gone
and returned to Dawson after search
ing the great country hereabouts and
never nugget do they show for their
toll, their long tramp over broken
ground and into q, country whose nat
ural disadvantages are exceeded by no
other place on earth.
AN ODD PROPOSITION.
'TThis Alaska northwest territory gold
field is an odd priZe-draWing PROPOSE
sion that I can liken 10 nothing that
admits Of a better comparison than a
lottery. A number of spots. are selected
on the creeks and rivers and for one
year the miner labors. The year closes,
the water runs. and the seasons output
barely pays expenses. Not two miles
away from the unfortunate one works
man who has taken from an uninVit-
ing bit of earth a sackful of gold. The
lucky one did not strike the pocket
because OF his ability as miner.
Chance favored him. and that WAS all.
In short, the miner gueSSes at it and
locates any and everywhere. In l9
cases out of 20 he misses it and has to
wait another year for a new trial.
Dawson is merely a collection of log
huts, saloons and q mass OF tents,
about 600 in number. When long nights
come and the glass goes down to IS
degrees below zero there will be in
tense suffering here and 1 shudder TO
think Of the results.
FOOD WILL BE SCARCE.
Provisions are going to be very
scarce and there is little reason 10
doubt that the entire town will have
10 go on short rations during the winter
and that ScurYy VIII be rampant. The
gold that will go down the river for
san Francisco and Seattle VIII amount
to about $1,000. eco There is a lot of
gold that win remain in camp, for If
IS used as an equivalent of money and
is legal tender al 81 per ounce. OF
these 1900 or 1000 inha bitants only a
couple Of hundred have made big
Strikes. There is plenty of work al
from SIS 10 $50 per day, and many men
nave PAID $3.50 per day or less for liY-
ing ard saved the balance REPORTS of
other strikes are constantly received
here, and many are authentic so far as
Stewart and Pelly rivers are concerned.
but nothing Ike so rich as the RIond;loe
has been reported Quite a number of
people are preparing TO leave here for
Juneau in case the steamers do not ger
through with provisions. and the out
look for good grub supply is not en-
couraging- In conclusion, the Alaska
and northwest territory gold fields win
be developed slowly.
BEYOND COMPREHENSION.
Ten Thousand men may come here.
buf they NH be lost in the vast coun-
Try W'hen they spread QUE TO prospect.
Not more than zoe of them win strike a
mine In years TO come. when All the
sacrifice Of human life and energy. the
treasures of this great land are located,
the Wealth OF the northwest viii be
something beyond comprehension"