The Dickinson press., 1898-02-19

v AS
kimo dog will command $3.50, and a
buyer is easily found for him. So great
10 the demand for these dogs for freight
ing purposes and for the trip out that
few Of their owners care to use them
for hauling wood even at the seemingly
high prices ruling.
To the man who will say after read
ing this, II could make good money
there at cutting and hauling wood at
that price, will say you do not know,
nor can you understand without having
experienced it, the many reasons why
you could not make money at this work.
They are many, however, and the mon.
ey 30 earned is, like that earned al
working in the mines here, small re.
ward for the labor and suffering neoes.
sary to procure it.
Difficulties Of Working Claims
Many Of those who arrived here this
season have been given ''lays'' on good
properties in the richest districts. A
"lay" consists Of the privilege of work
ing 9 portion Of a olaim-usually SO
feet in length and extending from bank
to bank of the creek. This is more
ground than four men can work out in
a season with the system Of mining in
vogue here at present, and the men who
work the lay receive from so to rs per
cent of the output of the ground for the
season, the mine owner taking the bal
ance.
This would seem to one not familiar
with the system Of mining and its many
difficulties to be an excellent chance to
make money. And yet every day lays
ire being thrown up by those who were
to have worked them. The gold il
Soand 0 n the bedrock and in the gravel
Which lies on the bedrock. On top Of
this gravel is 16 to 40 feet of muck,
through which the miner must labori-
ously dig to the rich gravel below.
This muck is frozen solidly the year
around, and q pick makes no impression
ut all on it. It is necessary, therefore,
TO burn. it out.
Immense fires are started first on the
ground and then in the hole as it is dug
slowly into the ground. These fires
thaw out the muck, which is raised in
buckets to the top. When the gravel is
reached, drifting is commenced, and
the gravel is thawed and dug out for q
space averaging about 30 feet on all
hides Of the shaft.
The richest deposits Of gold are found
In the crevasses Of the bedrock, which
here is Of a kind of soft slate, and so in
most of the mines the rock itself is
worked out to a depth of from one to
four feet. The bed of the creeks-Bo-
nanza and Ell Dorado-is wide, and as
the deposits are on the bed of a former
creek, or glacier, which wound about
In totally different directions from the
present creek, it is impossible to locate
the ''pay streak" except by sinking
shafts in the slow and laborious manner
above indicated. It SO happens that ten
or more holes may have been dug on a
lay without the pay streak-if any
there be there-being located. Several
weeks work has been done, and there
is nothing to show for it. True, the
next shaft may strike a very rich streak,
but in many cases the men become dis
Outraged and throw up the lay.
Newcomer Discouraged.
What inducement is there, therefore,
for men to come to this country with
the intention Of doing this same work
In localities that are totally unknown?
And yet this is what they must ex-
poet. It may seem incredible, but it is
true, nevertheless, that over half the
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