Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-08-14

to believe anything,
3NN and to invest in any,
~ thing which bears
the title of Alaskan gold. This is the case
with some apparently cool-headed business
men. Already a number of one-dollar-a-
share companies with a face stock value
of millions of dollars have been formed in
New York, and the Indications are that
there will be similar enterprises started in
the other cities of the United States before
nTrins. 1 had chat the other day with
Lr. W. ]. Arkell, giving some of his ex
periences, which illustrate the craze for
gold.
Mr. Arkell has laid claim, you know, by
right of discovery, to a large part of the
Klondike gold fields for the estate of f.. j.
Glave and others. Mr.. Glave headed the
expedition which Mr.. Arkell sent to Alaska
seven years ago for Frank Leslie's Weekly.
During this time he made the first report,
1t is said. to the existence of these Won
derfuIiy rich gold deposits, ard filed a map
and certain claims with the State De-
partment at Washington. This was
about 1891. Clave intended to go back
to Alaska and engage in mining, but in the
meantime, failing to raise the money, he
undertook exploring expedition to cross
Africa. and died III the attempt. Now that
his discoveries are known to have been of
great value. the capitalists who refused to
for rejecting the fortune he offered them.
ArkeIrs Expedition to Alaska.
I called at the Judge building, on the
corner of 9TH avenue and 10th street.
ard had chat with Mr.. Arkell about
his Alaskan expedition. Said Mr. Ar
kell: THE expedition was planned by
E. J. Glave. the African explorer Glave
had been in Africa as one of SANKEY'S
neutenants, and having gone through the
unknown hot regions of the globe he was
then anxious to explore some OF the
unknown colder lands He made me
believe that l could get a large amount
o: reputation and circulation and news for
Frank Leslie's by sending expedition of
ten men to explore the unknown regions of
Alaska. There were from 5000 to 1900
miles of the interior of Alaska which had
neVer been touched by the foot of a white
man. and It was his idea to go over the
mountains and push his way north to the
Arctic sea.
when / asked Glave what the trip
would cost" Mr.. Arkell continued, The
sail he would not need more than S. 600"
Said he: L will get ten white men to go
with me. We will have a number of scien-
fists. photographers and writer's When
We get TO Alaska We will hire ten Indians
ana number of dogs. and there is no
doubt that we can make 1t for that sum-
All right said l, provided the cost is not
over S5.ON.'"
But did you get out for that?' I asked
as the editor stopped for a moment and
a cloud came over his usually placid brow
No, indeed. i did not he said 1T
cost me over three times 5000. In the
first place, We advertised for men to go
with Mr. Glave on the expedition. The
result was 5000 applicants. From these
We selected A b. Schantz and E. H. Wells
and these two with Glave became the lead
ers OF the party. and signed the contract
with me to do the work for 5000. Well.
they started. They Travelled altogether
about 5000 miles. They sent lot of pic
lures of Indians. of new rivers and noun
tains, Of new glaciers and new lakes one
OF which they named after me. 1t is, am
told, ten miles wide and forty miles long,
and during most of the year II contains
400 square miles of ice, but the only good
got out of it was publishing a picture
OF Ii III the Weekly
These pictures kept coming in for about
seven months" Mr.. Arkell went on land
then they stopped, and / did not hear of
my expedition for over year. They had
gotten showed in on the other side of the
mountains, not very far from the gold
region. They had to send back for other
Indians and new dogs and sleds, and the
result was that when they returned to
New York they brought bill with them
from the Alaska Commercial Company for
$Shnn- l had already paid the $1,000 |
had to pay this additional, which made
s13,Wn- and then / got another bill for
$3tHp for three Indians who had died while
acting as carriers during the journey A
thousand dollars seemed a good deal for
utdi il4'tidil, nut pau IT, was tNOF-
oughly disguised with Alaska, however,
ana for a long time l trembled every time
/ opened a letter. for fear it might contain
another bill for my Alaska expeditions
expenses"
How GIave Discovered Gold.
but how about the gold fields, Mr.
Arkell?"
II coming to that now" was the re-
ply. "Glave and Wells and Schantz brought
back lot of gold with them. They had
several bags OF specimens and nuggets
ard they reported that there We're gold
fields along the Yukon and It's branches of
wonderful richness. Glave said that he had
found one hundred and fifty miners wash
Ing out gold in one camp, and that there
was lots of it Glave wanted me to back
him up and organize an expedition to go to
Alaska and mine this gold, and he never
gave up the idea of returning to Alaska.
He expected to 20 back there as soon as
he had finished his African trip, but, you
know. he died there"
Why did you not go In and organize a
comnany?' said /.
Il had no faith in the stories," replied
Mr.. Arkell II was so Disguised at having
had 10 pay that $4,000 that ! did not be-
lieve a word of what they said. l thought
they were trying to bunco M. and that
they had done so. Their stories of new
mountains and rivers. and especially those
of the gold, / considered lies, and / sus-
pected they had bought their gold nuggets
In San Francisco and Were palming them
off upon me as Alaskan gold. 1t is now
evident that they told the truth, and that
what | considered one of the chief follies
of my life might have been turned to my
advantage had 1 used it in the right way.
You see, the Glave party went right
through these Klondike gold regions, and
Schantz made a map of them, which was
filed in the State Department. They sent
to me weekly sketches and photographs of
these fields, and We have today the only
true map and sketches which have been
made there. We will, of course, republish
them now"
"MilliOns in It,"
How about your claims to the gold
felds?''
II had no idea Of making any claim until
Mr.. Schantz telegraphed me to look out for
his interests, and that we ought to have a
claim In the fields by the right of discovery
Now, you know. and the public know, as
well do, whether any such a claim
would hold / can only say that / have
put the claim in the hands of the attor-
Eeys, Brown Wells of Wall street. and
that they have written the governor of
Alaska to look after our interests"
Suppose you could establish such a
claim said 1, what would 1t amount tor
1T would be worth several hundred mil
lions of dollars. Its value would in fact
be incalculable. for 1t covers the best of the
Klondike territory"
"As for me- Mr. Arkell" said L ssI wo,Ild