The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-10-16
FROM HUNGER
TO POSSIBLE
STARVATION
What the Teslin City
Stampede Means.
HAZARDOUS CHANCES TAKEN
MANY START OUT WITHOUT
WINTER OUTFITS.
Horses Sold at One Dollar Each Will
Be Ridden to Death and Then
Eaten by the Gold
Hunters.
HAZARDOUS CHANCES TAKEN
MANY START OUT WITHOUT
WINTER OUTFITS.
BY HAL HOFFMAN.
Special Correspondence of The Call,

WiId-eyed stories are begat in the new
diggings around Lake Atlin. Their
fathers name is Boom and their
mothers Exaggeration. The latest is
that the mother lode has been struck
in there, radiant with gold. Another
story is that a creek has been found
beyond Surprise Lake, where the sur
face gravel runs from 81 rs to 80 to the
pan with the pay streak not yet 10
Gated. Only the richest claims on hi
Dorado and Bonanza are in 1t with TINS
kind of gravel, but it is TACT Wen
known to conservative miners who nave
been on the ground and returned here
for the winter, and with whom L nave
had many conversations, that nothlng
yet has been found at Atlin which COM
pares with the best in the klondlKe'
This, however, should not be taken as
a limit to the discoveries that may be
made. Nobody can yet write or speak
with accuracy on the possibilities IN the
Atlin region 1t is the rule in placer
camps that pay streaks are found
which are very rich in gold, and all the
signs so far indicate that Atlln Will
| prove no exception to the rule. one
of the best-known placer miners in
| Alaska sunk a hole to bedrock on his
claim. He said to another miner,
| am satisfied" l heard about this in
! a roundabout way. That expression
| among miners means good zeal LOT
! a prospect In an interview l had pre-
viously with this same man he did not
| express himself SO confidently to me-
! The area of what seems to be a gold
! bearing country, proSpected ana uneA-
! plored, from the best information l can
| obtain at this time looks to be the equal
| If not larger than the klondlke. com
| hole
| down to bedrock, and for this reason 1t
! is not yet known how valuable the
! ground is on a vast majority OF the 10
cations. That there is gold in the BEDS
! of Pine and Spruce creeks and several
| of the smaller creeks empty1ng into
! Surprise Lake there is not the slightest
| doubt, but the facts in regard to the
maximum value of most of the located
ground may not be known till next Au-
| gust, by which time considerable de-
| yelopment work will have been done;
and by which time, also, many new 10
| cations will have been staked. 1t is
| idle to overlook the fact that there Will
! be rush to Atlin next spring from
| Alaska towns, saying nothing of people
who may come from farther away.
A hungry stampede has already
started from TesHn City on Teslin Lake.
! William Reisch, who has made nine
| trips from Juneau to Teslin since last
| spring over the Taku trail, left the
| town at the head of that lake less than
| two weeks ago. He says about SIX
| hundred horses carrying men and non
| descript outfits are on the trail between
| Teslin and Atlin, and perhaps nave
reached Atlin by this time In large part
The men preferred taking chances in
! reaching a camp where gold has been
| found than remaining where practl-
cally no gold has been discovered,
where food is scarcer than starvation
| prices and where there is nothing 10
| look forward to under existing circum-
stances. Their chances in reaching At
lin are hazardous, for many have
| headed across the country depending on
| their guns for food, instead of follow
ing the trail. More than So per cent
of this caravan started out with less
| than enough grub for the trip, and less
than 5 per cent have winters outfit.
! The situation of these men is very
| serious. They are running away from
| hunger probably to meet starvation
face to face on the way. Winter with
binding snowstorms and intense cold
has already come in the interior. The
! tops of the coast range of mountains
are already hooded in white. The
critical condition of the men of Teslfn
is the result of the attempt and failure
| of trying to get in with their outfits
over the Stickeen trail from Wrangel.
Hundreds got through with light packs,
| Glenora or cached on the trail near
there. The Hudson Bay Company has
| a store at Teslin City, and there are
two other stores there, but prices are
! too high to be reached by the average
| go1d-seeker, who left home with little
money. Reisch says he saw a man
walking around Teslin City recently
Offering $500 which he held in his hand
| for 500 pounds of grub, and didn't get
! it. Horses are selling for 81 each at
Teslin. There is no feed for them.
| The stampeders to Atlin paid that sum
for their horses, expecting to ride them
as far as the starved and weakened
| beasts could go on what forage they
| might find on the way under the snow.
| and then when they could go no far
Their to eat them If they must. Whole
armies in the field have eaten horse
flesh and considerable of it is now
| canned and sold under the name OF
roast beef Canned horse meat is sup
piled to the Pacific Coast by an abat-
| toir at Portland, but that is another
story. Before Teslin City is an island
! and on each side of it mud flats Two
large scows, built for carryalls to Daw-
son, have not been able to get over the
flats since the lake has fallen and are
! still at Teslin The water in Teslin
Lake recedes from eight to twelve feet
| at the end of the summer when the
mountain SHOWS cease to melt The
4 steamboat DullL lHeIe SdilCQ
| high water for Dawson, but has not
made q round trip.
Gold was found beyond Teslin Lake
last summer, a considerable distance up
in the country drained by the Nasutlin
and Big Salmon rivers. Both are large
streams. Nasutlin empties into Teslin
Lake between fifty and sixty miles up
from Teslin City on the northeast side.
| Hundreds of Elen stampeded for the
| NasutIin. but only nine succeeded in
getting eighty miles up the river and
over a portage to Quiet Lake, near
which the discovery was made. These
nine men, of which Reisch is one, and a
California miner Of Los Angeles named
Funk another, formed company, and
they will stay there this winter and go
to bedrock. Quiet Lake is about forty
miles long. It is one of two lakes much
smaller than Tesiin, of which the Big
/ Salmon River is the outlet. and they it's
| source A Canadian surveying party
was at work in that country last sum-
mer, and was met by many of the
stampeders from Teslin. Reiseh has a
claim In the new diggings at Atlin. He