The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-02-27

made between miners. No. was originally
bought for 81 coo and quarter interest sub
sequently sold for the amount. A half in
terest in No. brought $4,000 early in the season.
The biggest sale III the creek that of No. g.
which was bought by the present owners, COM
pany Of miners, for $4,000.
The official report in this mining region closes
with somewhat laconic references to the minor
creeks as follows:
Montana creek.-No prospects worth mention
ing.
French guIch.-Nothing good.
Lost Chance creek.-PaEs running IS each re-
ported. Nothing developed.
Sulphur creek.-One Of the lately discovered
creeks. Coarse gold found in gravel. but no
serious work done.
Moose Hide creek.-Nothing done.
Dominion creek-SmalI prospects. Scene of a
stampede, but not worth It,
Bear creekAOne small claim worked there that
did well. running $4,000 to the box length.
Hunters creek.-Rich in spots Likely to be
good property.
Victoria creek-Good properties, but nothing
done yet.
Skookum creek.-The claim at the mouth
(where it comes into the Ell Dorado) yielded
nearly $1,000 to the box length. About 1000 was
taken out from under the moss on the side of the
hill in forty-eight hours.
Bryant creek.-A new creek ana very little
prospected.
Eureka creek-A small tributary to Bonanza
with small prospects.
Deadwood gulch.-Nothing DONE
Henderson creek.-Prospects SIS to the pan
DIFFICULTIES FOR NEWCOMERS.
The next year or two will determine
whether there are any extensive deposits
of gold quartz in the interior of Alaska.
The wonderful placer diggings have
brought thousands of people into the. coun-
try and these have already staked out all
the available ground along nearby or
known creeks. Many of the people here
arrived too late to get in on the ground
floor in the known gold-producing districts.
Some of these have tried their luck in the
interior, but as their means were limited
and the expense of transporting supplies
is very heavy they were obliged to go back
to standardization without getting
chance to test the ground in the new
regions. The many thousands who will pour
in here next spring VIII confront the same
difficulty. They will be compelled to strike
out in the interior in order to obtain any
mining claims unless they are prepared to
pay big prices for those already located.
But the newcomers will surely be better
| equipped for this interior work. All the sto-
dixie territory showing the absolute neces-
| sity of plenty of supplies must have made
some impression on prospective gold seek
| ers. 1t is hardly conceivable that any large
proportion will venture into the country
| in the lamentable poverty which prevails
| among many who are here now. Thousands
will therefore be equipped with food to
carry them through a full season, and they
are the men who will make the quartz min
| ing history of alaska and the Klondike
| Little quartz work has been done yet, ex-
! cept in the vicinity of the Yukon and other
navigable streams but there is every in
| dication that rich and valuable lodges
| abound in the interior. 1t is fair to sup
| pose that when upon nearly every stream
and creek gold is found in greater or less
| quantities, somewhere in the mountains
there must exist rich gold quartz. What
| ever may be the climatic or other condi-
! tions that dissolve the lodges and turn the
| gold loose upon the broad level of the low
| lands, the fact remains that those lodges
are only waiting man to stand revealed
marvel of richness. The best metallurgical
| experts here make the unqualified state
ment that the richness of the placer fields
indicate that the interior of Alaska is des-
| tined to become the greatest quartz CEN
ter Of the earth.
| HIGH-PRICED DOGS
The more you see of this country the more
you appreciate the dogs. What would be
regarded ordinarily as ours readily COM
mand price of $125 to 5000 here, but most
| of the time it is difficult to obtain even
| these animals at any price. Travel with
out the dogs for any considerable distance
is impossible. They seem to enjoy this
work and buckle down to it, dig their toes
in the ice and work like good fellows They
are worked in teams of from two to ten 1t
| is generally estimated that one dog can pull
| l5O pounds, and in arranging for trips you
| figure on taking one and half pounds of
| food day for each dog. Dried fish is gem
orally fed to them when it can be obtained
but this winter the dried fish has been
scarce and the dogs have lived mostly on
rice mixed with lard and bacon. This is
rather an expensive dish, with rice so cents
a pound and bacon 60 cents pound but
they have to feed them well in order to get
! the work out of them.
| saltwater Bill has become one of the
institutions of the country. A year ago he
wasn't worth the grub he ate. He drifted
| UP the Klondike in last winters rush and
tumbled on a claim OF fabulous wealth
| Money became a drug on his hands, and
| like many others who never had any large
amount at one time, he places no value on
it. Stories that put the traditional Cham
payne Charlie in the shade are told about
| him, but here is one that / know to be
! true: He had a sweetheart in Dawson to
whom he was giving 800 week for pin
money" She struck for more, and he
agreed to give her $3.50 a month to stick
| by" him. This arrangement ran along
smoothly for time, when she struck
again, and finally gave him the "Klondike"
mitten for another miner. saltwater
| grieved over her desertion and tried III
many ways to get even with his more IA
vored rival. One morning while at break
| fast in a restaurants the girl and her new
attendant came in and seated themselves at,
| the table Aext to Bils. He heard them or
der ham and eggs. He knew that this par
| ticular restaurant had corner on all the
| eggs in the town and he called the proprie-
| tor to one side and asked how many eggs
there were in the establishment. The man
counted up an even ten dozen and Bill took
the lot at 81 per egg just to keep his rival
from getting what he wanted for breakfast
Edward Mcconnell is credited with MAX
ing another rich strike up on his Ell Dorado
properties He is not saying much about it
himself, but those who know what is going
on this winter claim this man Mcconnell
1