Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1898-02-05
CHAPTER XIII.

continued from yesterdays issue)
CHAPTER XIII.
On TIE EDGE OF THE GOLD
FIELDS.
l- little party Of gold seekers had
r.ry cause t. congratulate them
ires for after journey Of nearly
40.o miles from Seattle through wild
qassos, dangerous rapids and canons.
Wer PERCEPTIONS mountains, amid
STORM and tempests, with their lives
mauy time in peril, half frozen ana
Dhausted by the most wearisome tot!
rsT had arrived at Dawson City. in
midst of the wonderful gold dis
tacl of the northwest, all without ms
la1 and in better condition than when
t1y Tat home
The boys in roughing it had breath
e the inyisorating ozone and gained
r rusged health and strength. Youth
and buoyant spirits were on their side.
aa their muscles which would have
ME labby in the unwholesome at
mospheTe OF store, We're hardened.
sll their endurance and capacity Tor
-eng work UNNECESSARILY increased.
Th-re are thousands of men to-day.
enjoying life without an ache or pain,
WEo owe their splendid condition to
taa campaigning they underwent in
lp war for the union. If that terrific
rUggIe swept multitudes into their
graves, il brought the balm of strength
anj health to many more who other
wise would not have lived out halt
their days.
The trying experience of Jeff Ora
ham in his youth and early manhood
did this service for him. 1t was not
anea, therefore, that his iron mus
Drs bore the strain better than any
OF Ats companions. He seemed to be
trtiess, and his sturdy strength often
Drt others to shame. He had never
s9pped his constitution by dissipation,
and il may be said that the severe
na.dships of that journey from Dyea
through ChilkOot Pass and the wild
regions about the upper Yukon con-
armed that which already existed
within his splendid makeup. AS for
Roswell Palmer and Frank Mansley,
their excellent home training, not de-
pying credit to the grim old miner for
his wise counsel, had held them free
from the bad habits which too often
make boys effeminate and weak and
O'J before their time. Gifted by ma
with the best of constitutions,
they had strengthened rather than I'M
lelmined them. Neither had known
an hours illness throughout the long,
labori0us journey and were in the best
condition possible for the great task
that now confronted them.
AS for Tim McCabe and Ike Hardman
their weakness lay in yielding to the
temptation to drink None such APP
peared on She road. and their enforced
temperance had the best effect. Tim
was less disposed to drink than the
other, but, sad to say, he INDUCED at
times. Hardmans ideal was to obtain
the means for doing nothing and min
istcr 10 his base appetite.
1t was in 1887. that DIR. George NJ.
Dawson. the leader Of an exploring ex-
petition sent by The Canadian govern
mont into The Yukon district, made a
report confirming the presence of gold
I'M vast quantities throughout that sec
lion. The principal mining camp es-
ta0lshed there was named in his hon
Nt II faces on one Of the banks of
the Yukon river along which it eX-
tends for about a mile. 1t has saw
1I' stores and churches of the Bap-
UsC Presbyterian, Methodist and RO-
ran Catholic denominations Being
He headquarters Of the Canadian
northwest mounted police, it is one
a. the best governed towns on the
mericau continent. At the time of
rur friends arrival its population
Vas about 1000. but but the rush will
swell il in an incredibly short while
to ten, twenty and possibly fifty times
that number, for beyond question it is
the centre Of the most marvellous gold
district that the world has ever known.
Copper. silver and coal are found in
'arae quantities. but no one gives
taem thought when so much of the
vastly more attractive yellow metal is
within reach. tt is singular that while
the existence of gold was incontestably
known for many years little or no ex-
lement was produced until 1896 and
fg7. when the whole civilized world
turned almost topsy turvy by the
bc1ildering reports. During the first
tlrae months Of the latter year more
man $4000000 were taken from a
space Of forty square miles where
taw placer claims We're worked. What
II viii be during the next few years
ro man dare attempt to guess. How
suggestive the fact that on one stream
much of the metal has been found
the- ID was given the name Too Much
Gold Creek"
iuasmuch as our friends are now on
tle ground d few more facts are prop
cr in order to understand the task that
confronted them. Dawson City, it will
he remembered, is in British territory,
and all the great discoveries of gold
latc been made to the east Of that
town. Doubtless gold viii be gathered
i' Nlasha itself, but the probabilities
'a that The richest deposits are upon
NHadiaD soil
Ihe mining claims begin within