The morning news., 1897-07-26
NO FAITH IN THE FABLES.
ALDERMAN KROUsE6OFF HAS HAD
ENOUGH OF GOLD MINING.

HOrk=AdViseS Young Meu ana Olu
to Stay at Home and Not he Tempt
ed by the Stories of the KIOndike
Regions.
The gold craze preciptated by the mar
velous discoveries in the Yukon district
may have turned the heads Of some in this
region of the south. but it is very clear
that there is one man in Savannah who is
not going to Alaska to dig gold, even if
the entire town should pull up stakes and
depart. ,lSTlI
That man is Alderman S. Krouskoff,
and the reason he is of so little faith is
because he has had gold fever once before
in his life.
"Oh. yes" he said yesterday to a Morn
ing News reporter, II grant you that this
disease they call gold fever is contagious,
but, thank goodness it is like whooping
cough when a fellow has had it once he
never has it any more. and I am of those
who have had it."
Mr.. Krouskoff, who is one of the we'll
to-do men of Savannah, now with a splen-
did home in the southern section, leaned
back and laughed as he spoke, but before
the smile had died away look of SOL
emnity usurped the province of his coun-
tenance, and he grew serious.
This thing of gold mining is an rides
cent dream with a sad awakening" he
went on to say, land the Morning News
hit the nail squarely on the head the other
day in its editorial advising men not to
be running off after the beautiful rainbow
that seems to have one end buried along
the Klondike" .
You speak from experience, eh?" he
was asked.
Yes, bitter experience. 1 spent eight
years as a victim of the gold fever away
back yonder in the sixties, and 1 came
away from the mining districts with less
/ than l had when l went there, having
spent the most of my time carrying
freight on my shoulder and helping pas
sengers get over the snow-capped noun
tains of Northern Idaho l did this in
preference to digging for gold after 1 had
| gone there, for 1 found when 1 reached
the mining camp that there were about
| 500 fever victims ahead of me and Is
per cent. of them were out Of employ
ment.
Il was in San Francisco at the lime
| the lurid stories were told about the gold
| discoveries up in Idaho 1t was in the
down from that isolated, woe-begone coun-
! try. There were hundreds-yes, thousands
| who were bent on going up there, and l
| was one of them. l went early that
| spring, among the first, as l thought but
! 10, and behold when l reached there the
| woods were full of victims to the craze,
| and there were hard times stamped on
\ every mans face.
| MY experiences were thrilling getting
| there. The narrative might easily NIL
| book. We had to go by boats up the Sal
/ mon river, and 1t was with sefious dff1-
| Guilty that we made the trip. There are
/ so many dangers to this sort of trip In
| the first place they crowd the little boats
so that men are packed in like sardines.
| The boats are open and have to be rowed
| up the rivers usually to these mining dis
! tricts. 1 finally landed at a place cared
| Lewiston, where a colony was settled
J about that time. due to the gold mining
! craze in upper Idaho, and which stands
| to-day. From Lewiston to the foot of the
mountain it was 125 miles, and this trip
I was attended with serious dangers. We
/ had 20 go through an Indian reservation,
/ and follow Indian paths with our pack
| train of mules and ponies, The Indians
| We're only in measure friendly at that
/ time, and we were completely at their
mercy. There was no law in that region
! of country, no protection at all, and the
/ gold seekers were in danger of being
| ruthlessly shot down at any moment
/ and the world would have been little the
! wiser.
Another serious difficulty was in the
way-the trouble in getting freight over
/ the mountains to the camp. 1t cost 80
cents per pound to get freight to the foot
! of the mountain by the ponies, and here
! they had TO stop and men had to carry
freight over the mountain through a path
/ or trail. No horses could be driven over
/ that trail of sixteen miles for the reason
that the snow was still on the top of the
mountains. and the way was completely
blocked. Thus, such freight as could be
/ taken over the mountain had to be car
] ried by men on their shoulders, and for
| this they charged 50 cents a pound pay
/ able in gold dust Adding this so cents
per pound to the 50 cents per pound for
! getting the freight 10 the foot of the
! mountain and you can see how costly it
| was to live in that mining camp of Flor
| ence, where l went in search OF an easy
| fortune.
I'VE met people coming away all the
| while on the way up TO the camp. They
| told us the horrible story of the dream
| that had led them there but, of course
| having gone that far we continued our
/ journey to the place.
"As ] have just said there we're about
/ 500 men In the camps when we arrived
/ and nearly all of them were out of en-
/ ployment There were a few men who
were working IN the mines of the claims
/ which some fcwer had been so fortunate
| as TO stake off. These diggers were paid
4 Sc per day In gold dust and they Jared
| pretty well. But the great majority were
| out of employment More than this when
the few months of summer were over, and
/ winter fell upon us IN September the
| ground was frozen deep. the water all
| turned 60 ice and the work in the mines
! had TO be discontinued and even those
/ who were fortunate enough to have work
were thrown out Of 1t. and the entire
winter was spent In loafing, gambling
/ drinking. eating such scant meals as
could be raked together ana wasting life
! generally II was awful The men who
| got rich there could have been counted
on the fingers Of one hand. The men who
were never heard Of afterwards could not
/ be counted save by the hundreds" j"
what did you do for a living?"
"TTlrcd myself to help others get over
/ the mountains and to Mt their frelghts
| for them. Afterwards I went with pros
peetlng parties. I did not remain at Flor
/ ence long. I spent eight years altogether
| In that wooful country. and came back to
san Francisco with just enough money to