The herald., 1898-04-04
STILL AT vALDfS PASS
NO GOLD SEEKERS HAVE YET
REACHED COPPER RIVER
Fully One Thousand Five Hundred
People Are in Camp-Many
Returning Home

vALDES, Alaska, March 1S.--(Special
Correspondence to The Herald.) Tho
California Bears and a hundred or moro
other prospectors are in camp at the foot
of the glacier. working hard every day,
hauling supplies up the last stage Of me
glacier pass. There are fully 1000 men
and a dozen women In camp at Valdes
bay, and 900 passengers have just arrived
on the steamer Valencia. Most Of these
people will get over the pass better than
those who arrive q few weeks hence. Some
few are discouraged or too Weakened to
tackle the slow and laborious work Of haul
ing their outfits over the snow and ice Of
the glacier pass. Not few in camp at
valdes bay have sold their outfits at a loss
and returned home. to spread stories Of
the impossible Copper river.
All the 'bsars" are as confident az ever
that we shall soon reach the district. We
are among the first who will be able to
cross the summit and reach timber on the
other side. There is no wood or water in
this camp. Wood must be hauled about
three miles while melted ice or snow sup
plies US with water. The weather. al
though changeable, Is remarkably mild
Twenty-Five or thirty men have picked
and scratched over the gravel on the gla-
cier, where It Is claimed that q party
had picked up three small nuggets. with
out any result except that the gravel and
dirt showed color. Dogs haye proved
themselves to be Of little service here.
Some parties who brought dogs with them
gave them away. Some few worked good.
Twenty dollars will buy the best dog In
camp. One of our party offered fifty doll
lars for the only burro here yesterday. The
owner will not sell at any price. 1t is the
animal to have here, as it can easily haul
900 pounds up steep grades.
We have broken up all Of our heavy
boxes and packed our supplies in bags
Weighing fifty pounds each. The broken
boxes will be very valuable as f1rewood
when necessary on our journey across the
glacier. In ten days our combined freight.
nearly 1000 pounds, will be at the summit
of the pass. When this Is accomplished
we will pack up our tents and store bed
ding, and. starting as early as a. m, will
make a forced march of IS miles to the
timber line on the Copper river side of the
pass, arriving there early the same night.
After we reach the summit Of the glacier.
which is fifteen miles from here, we an
ticipate but little difficulty In making q
RAPID descent to timber on the other side.
The reports concerning the Copper river
finds and strikes which some of Us find in
newspapers We receive from friends in the
states are perfectly ridiculous. It is still
an unknown region. Not a soul OF the
1900 men on this coast has any reliable or
authentic information, but for all that
most Of us are confident that there are rich
placer diggings to Be located. We see very
few Indians from up the Copper river.
Only few have ever crossed this pass.
Reibstein. a sQuaw man. who Is working
here. only crossed this pass once IN eight
years. If there are any men on the Cop
per river forty miles from Its mouth, no
one here has any information Of the fact.
Good order prevails throughout the
camp. There is very little gambling, and
no laws are more scrupulously obeyed than
the recently enacted miners law"