The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1897-04-29
i RAIN Fon MINERS. |
Rev. II. Beer Writes Interestingly
49, on a Gloomy Day. ~. "

s--A on a Gloomy Day. NJ ~
1.-THE day is dark and dreary,
I Itrains and the wind is never weary,
The vine still ciings to the Wondering wall
And at every gust, the dead leaves fall,
And the day is dark and dreary."
The above quotation expresses with
considerable truth the state of affairs
here at Juneau.s lItshas been rain
ing for three days, and it is at present
coming down with no more appear
ance of ceasing than al. the time of
Noah's food. Yes, indeed, the day is
dark and dreary and il gives me a
dreadful feeling of the doleful dumps.
But I am going to try to lift the mel
ancholy feeling off my heart by send
ing letter to the papers, that my
numerous friends may know how it
fares with me in this far off land Of
rain and snow, and mountains whose
bowels bear the yellow metal that
makes the world run mad.
We had very favorable winter,
with less storms and cold than usually
falls to tho lot of Southeastern Alaska.
AS 1 read of your billiards. and deep
snow and perishing cold of the past
winter, I felt how good it would be if
I could have brought you all to this
milder and more moderate climate of
Alaska. Once or twice the thermome-
ter has been .dailying around the zero
mark, but am not sure that it has
gone below that.
The rain that is making this day so
dull is exactly what is needed by the
miners. The mines. cannot be run
without an abundance of water. dare
say, therefore, that the weather that I
feel so depressing is raising the hopes
of those who have hundreds of tons
of quartz to crush and get the gold
from.
With regard to the mining pros
poets of Alaska I must say that they
are most promising. On the Yukon,
the Klondyke and other creeks are
yielding placer washings that are fab
ulously rich. I have heard of two or
three hundred dollars worth of gold
being washed out of single pan of
sand, containing about as much as an
ordinary milk pan. Of course these
are special cases, but when mems
wages are twenty dollars a day at the
mines, there must be some gold, or
the owners would not pay the hired
help such wages. These men have to
board themselves and it's costs per-
haps five dollars a day to live.
4 Hundreds Of men have gone and
are going into the interior. and every
boat comes loaded beyond her capac-
ity with Yukoners, their outfits and
their dogs. The fever RACES high and
hundreds of men are waiting at Sheep
Camp to get chance to cross the
Chilkoot pass. It cost five cents a
pound to get stuff packed over the
pass, a distance of about three miles.
There is hosting machine of some
kind [ understand to facilitate the
crossing of the pass. You leave Seat
tie and for $l5 get to Juneau in about
four days. Then $40 and about a
days journey takes you to Dyea,
then you have to tramp twenty-eight
miles to Sheep Camp, over very bad
road, and then commences the ascent
of the Chilkoot. After getting over
the Pass you strike string of lakes,
and these lead into the Yukon.
The men are doing their own pack
ing as much as possible, and this ne.
cessitates "back tracking" for many
are taking in from ten to twenty hum
dreds to the man. Provisions are ex-
ceedingly dear in the interior and I
have heard of a dollar a pound for
-four, and hundred dollars worth of
dog feed is not unusual.
While the men we're back tracking,
a thief begansto get in his work by
stealing outfits He was soon discov-
cred and told that he would be hung
| # he was found there after a certain
time, and SO he discovered that he had
pressing need to visit his wife and
family These Yukoners. have taken
great risks and have invested their
last dollar in many cases, to reach the
gold fields, and they are in no humor
to trifs with thief who by his steal
ing is trying to prevent them reaching
their "Eldorado." 9
When word came that the steamer
Willapa, had been lost with all on