Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1897-07-31
The Klondyke Diggings,

The return of a party of miners from
the Yukon has set the country
wild. There is now no doubt but they
have found rich diggings in that section
OF the frozen north, as they come we'll
laden with the precious stuff. But the
story of how and where they obtained
the treasure, ia cold and cherries tale
Of hardship, where only the few survive.
The picture they draw of that land of
the midnight sun presents not one tint
of the rose, but all is covered with gloom
and darkness. They say that out of the
few who have yentured into that famed
eldorado, already the soil has been
opened to receive 1000 hardy men and
closed above them with all their high
expectations and gilded hopes. Again,
they say that the gold which the return
ing miners bring back does not in all
erses represent their own earnings, but
that much Of it was dug by those who
succumbed to starvation and the rigors
OF the climate. Dead men tell no
tales" and those who have come back
are mostly those who have been in that
country from two to nine years before
they struck anything to repay them for
their privation and toll. All this, ad-
ded to the fact that it is 5000 miles from
San Francisco to Dawson City, and the
working season is only three months.
That the ground where paying diggings
have been discovered is confined to
small and circumscribed district. and
that already claimed. That provisions
are high and scarce, with a great prob.
ability of famine during the coming
winter. All these things should make
those who contemplate a trip to that
inhospitable region take a second
thought before they bid adieu to home
and friends and the comforts they now
enjoy. Yet, nevertheless, the fever still
RACES, and from all reports every avail.
able means of transportation is being
brought into requisition, and it is
estimated that 10000 people will winter
in the Klondyke region this winter.
This is probably five times as many as
the country is ready to receive and fur
nish with employment, and unless they
go well provided for (Which half of them
will not) there is sure to be suffering in
the klondyke country before the spring
opens in June, 1898.
1t is not as it was in the days of 40 in
California, and in the days of $50 in
Pixies Peak, and in the days '62 in Mon
tana, and in the days of '76 in the Black
Hills. The pioneer in all these regions
found country though wild and un-
subdued, yet still blest by nature with
sunny skies and fruitful soil. The
logs from the surrounding forest fur
nished him with a comfortable habita-
tion, and the abundant game supplied
him with his daily food. In all these
things the circumstances are vastly
different, yet the love Of gold still bears
sway, and IN this age it seems to be the
strongest passion that actuates the
human heart. In view of our past
career it does not become us to find
fault with our fellow men who yield to
the seductive influence of the yellow
metal, but we have been on stampedes
enough to have learned the wisdom of
self protection, and to mix little rea-
son and common sense with every i'm
portant move. If we were called upon
10 give our advice in the matter we
would say, wait till next spring. If the
country is good one to go to, it will
not be spoiled in one winter, and by
that time we will get further report of
the situation. Like ship on fire, the
passengers make such a rush for the
first boat that it Is generally swamped
while those who keep their head and
wait little are more successful. Still
if you have made up your mind to 90,
don't wait too long, but be busy shaping
your affairs and getting "a good ready"
and then as soon as the river is open in
the spring, get there.