The record-union., 1897-08-26
THE KLONDIKE
GOLD FIELDS,
Continued from First Page.)

MI. GdrthSlde states that IT Will De
impossible for more than one-quarter
of the people now on the trail to reach
the Klondike this year. Work on the
railroad will be commenced in the
| spring, and the road to Taku will
probably be completed in six months
| from then. Skaguay is destined to be
a large town, and should the railroad
become an assured fact, will distance
Juneau as an Quitting and general
commercial point. Many of the Juneau
merchants have opened branch stores
| here already.
| The great majority of people arriving
here cannot possibly get down the
river this year, and those of them who
already realize this fact are locating
their tents in Skaguay and starting to
/ build. In a year the town Will un-
doubtedly contain $500 to 5000 inhabi-
tants. Various paths and trails lead
| ing through the forest have been chris
! tened, and the infant town has a
Broadway and several avenues.
The White Pass in it's present crude
condition is practicable for the entire
distance to Lake Bennett, and man
without a pack can go over 1t in
| twenty-four hours. Pack animals can
traverse it with load of $50 pounds,
and it is a better trail for those who
have brought horses. To miners who
| have no horse the Chilkat Pass seems
preferable, as it is impossible to hire
men here to pack. The trail has been
cut through to Lake Bennett only
about a week, and so far very few have
passed out of the lower end, although
hundreds of miners are camped along
it, Frank Slavin, the pugilist, is re-
ported to have been the first man to
emerge at the lake. His outfit, how
ever, was badly broken up by the pack
ers, and he refused to pay for it's trans
portation.
CALIFORNIANS BACK FROM THE
KLONDIKE.
! PORT TOWNSEND CWash), Aug
26.-The schooner J. M. Colman, which
left ST. Michaels, at the mouth of the
Yukon River, July 2Sth, was spoken
last night at $50, off Race Rocks, by
the Associated Press tug Vigilant,
which was in the straits watching for
the arrival of the steamer Portland.
The Colman brings four passengers
who have been on the Klondike, and
who left Dawson City July 18th. The
| pdSSGiSEIS are 1IIdIlcS II. AltlCGdlG VI
Detroit Mich, B. E. Jones of Berke-
ley, Cal, an assayer for the Alaska
! Commercial Company at Dawson, and
c. 3. and q. B. Patrick, brothers from
Humboldt, Cal. They left Dawson ten
days after the Thorp party, who ar
rived at Seattle last week on the
steamer George E. Starr from Dyea.
They all tell stories of the richness
of the Klondike, Bonanza and Ell Do
RADIO Creeks, but all say that very few
clean-ups have been made since the
early summer. Mr.. Metcalf has been
engaged in the merchandise business at
Dawson City, Circle City and other
points for three years past, and has
been out every year. He goes in each
year over the Dyea trail, and last spring
took in twenty tons of freight. 1t took
him from March 9th to May LIST to get
his freight over the pass with one man,
two horses and eight dogs. From Lake
Linderman to Dawson City he was four
teen DAYS.
When the Colman left st. Michaels
there were about twelve men waiting
to come out on the steamer Portland,
and another steamer with passengers
was expected down the river before the
! time set for the sailing of the Port
land from ST. Michaels. The men wait
ing at st. Michaels all had from $1,000
to $1,000, but no phenomenal strikes
were reported by them.
With regard to ascending the Yukon,
Mr.. Metcalfe said it takes from twenty
to twenty-five days to go from ST.
Michaels to Dawson City, and passen-
gers leaving Seattle later than August
Goth will have about as much chance
of reaching Dawson this fall as they
have of flying to the moon.
The Lippy claim on Bonanza Greek,
from which gold amounting to $112,-
! coo was taken, he said was one of the
best developed claims in the group.
Others will doubtless prove just as rich
when fully developed. The first claim
located on Bonanza Creek was named
Discovery, and is recognized by miners
as the center of the field, other claims
| being numbered each way from it.
Sixty claims are now located above
and ninety below Discovery, in all fif-
teen miles being taken. On Ell Dorado
Creek, which empties into Bonanza,
sixty claims are located, the twenty
nearest the conjunction of the creeks
being fabulously rich.
From one claim located on Skookum
Gulch, tributary Of Bonanza Creek,
! n. w. Pointers of Denver and Jos. Gold
smith of Juneau, took $4,000 in mug
gets, ignoring the fine gold. They af-
/ forwards sold the claim for $50, 1000 in
cash. They worked only four weeks
on Bear Creek, a small tributary to
| Klondike, also remarkably rich in gold
B. E. Jones of Berkeley, Cal, said:
81 should say there are about 1900 peo-
pie in Dawson City and on the creeks
around about there. This summer
| only about twenty claims have been
worked and thus far not a large sum
of money has been taken out. Most
everybody is getting ready for the win
ter's work, which will be pushed as Wig
orously this year as last. AS far as
can estimate, the great wealth of the
Klondike is holding out. Still the
amount of gold that will come down
this fall will not be as large as esti-
mated in some quarters.
Il should say there will be in the
neighborhood of 175 men down by the
Portland and Excelsior, and very
| fair average to each man would not
exceed $4,000. Many will bring down
practically nothing. I would not care
to say what the Alaska Commercial
Company has in gold on hand.
"At one time gold was so plentiful at
Dawson that people did not know what
to do with it. The trading companies
safes were filed, and the stuff was
packed away in saloons and in any
place miners could find. But most Of
the gold was taken out when the clean
I ,arc yxara rov11r1ofpd last vaar Cinoa