New-York tribune., 1897-07-17
HOW GOLD IS OBTAINED.
NOT SURPRISING THAT PAY DIRT WAS DISCO
Erred NEAR THE YUKON

Erred NEAR THE YUKON.
Although the stories which have recently .come
from the upper Yuhon country doubtless exaggeT-
ate The value of The gold deposits recently found
there they momentarily excite interest In region
which * not any too well known 10 residents on
the Atlantic scaboard.
Gold ia usually obtained In this and other coun-
tries either In thin veins or In placers In the one
case the precious metal st!ll remains locked In the
creViccs of the rock into which. while III moitch
state il has been forced upward from below IN
ages past. III the other the action of the weather
has crumbled the inclosinG walls and liberated Inc
treasure. which becomes mixed with other detritns
In the beds of streams. There it Is found In more
or less rounded particles varying In size from the
Ineres dust TO nuggets weighing half an ounce OF
an ounce. The latter limit Is sometimes exceeded.
When pay dirt" has been discovered the sepaFa-
tion OF the gold from the sand and gravel Is easily
effected by washing II there Is good supply OF
x,;o- Costly hydraulic works have been con-
struccd In California and elsewhere for the double
purpose of supplying powerful water jets 10 e''
away the gravel banks and to extract the precious
metal when once II mas been loosencd from l's en-
vronraent. on the other hand. the dirt Is oi'eh
cleaned up with the aid of pan that can be ma
inundated by the miner himself. As gold Is heavier
than gravel II settles toward the bottom OF any
bar or hank in which it has accumulated Inc
richest part of any deposit Of this character there
fore is likely TO be found down near the bed rock
WHERE PLACERs EXIST.
pl,cers exist along the slope OF the great noun
tain ranges of Western North America all the way
from Central Mexico to laska. Some OF them
have yielded millions Of dollars in others there Is
hardly enough sold to pay for working thein
Those which have attracted attention In the ex-
treme northwestern part of the continent may De
briefly described. Every schoolboy remembers 'hs'
the territory which Mr. Seward bought from NUS
ala and annexed TO the United States curing 'he
,f iio Qrp
living between the sxteth -seYfnfietn paIalisis
of north latitude with a peninsula and cnain OF
island. reaching away to the southwest. and SIM
narrower strip of land reaching down southeast-
ward past British Columbia to the hfty-hi'h P"ia'-
lei Of latitude. Almost without exception 'le i''-
nortant deposits of gold In Alaska so lar as
known. are TO be found in this ast-named strip or
IN the adjacent islands. Juneau. on the malh's"o'
and Douglas Island close by. are the most FAMOUS
centres of production. The gold is found mere
however in veins not in placers on hhn,an Am iS on
fhe soutb shore of Alaska fan, indications Of sod
in veins were found about thirty y,esais ne', ~
Tb Nrst nlacers 10 be worked in Alaska prob
ably were situated near the head u SVon tsinnd
big bay gSboits 9o1 ms"s were along Six Mile and
Resurrection Creek. and yielded from 20 10 sT ha
ss day surtber nSm south with few of less consequence
have raised tbs annua output Ito U SVs "po 900 at the
present time o,o to,rd IN British
Both veins and placers were lou, iouna' !" "s.inttne
which reaches the Pacific BY crossing the en'reme s
tip Of AasKs aong the IN Fraser and
ba rivers productive placers have been worked @ LOT
sbeu, resn .GTy Secured rhe IN s he
in the extreme southeastern corner hoo 90 s pdstrct
lying the par parallel of a'Gsd producer nas
flows eastward and DISCHARGES INTO AthaDssca yssrs
3 old
been worked out, however, There was per,oo;; per- %;
along in the siSS SSonsdsrably exceeded s and
in 1854 il rose 1875 $50 i3y 1870 II nag hwen
asserted TO the exhaustion OF the known deposits'
THE YUKON REGION.
Tho y,lson River. which crosses Alaska from cast
,o wes. and empties into the Pacific a little south
Of Behring Strait is said to be mightier stream
than the Columbia River steamers navigate IL
hundreds of miles from It's mouth passengers lfoih
soa,tle are usually transferred from ocean steam
shns 10 these vessels at ST. Michaels Island, near
the mouth of the Yukon. The source OF the RIVER
III ~ Niles south Of the point where the stream
crooks away westward into Alaska. In fact. IL may
ons pe ssG as the Fraser Columbia. Peace and s,ckne
IL natural therefore to expect that s9lu Wour n
some of it's tributaries. Explorers were sent out
from 0Ps the Ts he TeHa of p Yc
east and another pushed up ron me s91.n. iTn &
North american transportation and Trading Com
many established trading stations near the source
of the river five six years ago Most OF the pros
pecng has been done either between TINS .Gcanty N
and the po4 rs Wnere oe in9 bnr"d niles the Inc
! Fine gold dust. In small Quantities. was found al
m9uh out 0 the aot oe hnnGred miles west Of
the boundary and also near the month St porty Ky
Which crosses into British territory before enpying
into he big river oTe bot a@ny there were rs ohP mns
| camps is about fifty miles further west. These
! ,c,Ii.e II,
| and in the winter are completely cut OF from the
The C:ondyke River is not to be found. or. at
least ls not easily identified on any, existing maps;
eqs Ise K Is and dscharees into the Yukon not many
! miles from the eastern boundary OF Alaska SUI,
! tvie region. TO Fort cudahy and Circle City by
ocean steamers, that transfer to river boats at ST.
Ths district IS or near the syty.nfth parallel
SababIe Sa aofb cnV wv" Tor few weeks
three months every year The gravel Is frozen sod
way bcfore the gold can be para,ed The streams
which supply the water for washng The h dirt also
there under great disadvantages.
TO ESTABLISH STATIONS AT CLoNDyKE.
! The following advertisement appeared in The
Tribune and other papers yesterday:
ALASKA GOLD MINES"
Do YOU desire 20 join an expeoilon u A'asga? Wo;-
1 q n ere be,9s mad
I Address. ". r. H.. Hoffman fouse Nev-Y'rk
The initials at the end those Of Walter Fran
| c,s Burns who has always been more or less inter
! ested In Alaskan mining properties. I'VE have "
he said yesterday. formed The United States Min
ing and Developing Company. The company was
organized under the laws o: West Virginia about
/ ,bree weeks ago. and is capitalized a: N.o00,OO
| our plan is to establish supply stores in Alaska
and enter into a ge leral trading and mining busi-
ness About si25 900 of the stock has been paid up
| Those Interested In the company are George H.
| irons who In attorney for the Western Crion