The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1898-09-24
BACK FROM ALASKA.
Frank Weaver in Ketchum ard
AL Griffith Close Behind.
Klondlke Gold Stories Are All
Noo1shtnA.

T0uA w O0v0A oo0 &OO O0OA AAVAA
an extended trip through Alaska
and brought with him whole lot
of experience, but no gold, for the
simple reason that there was none
to be found in all the country which
he prospected.
Mr.. Weaver left Ketchum the lat
ter part of last October in company
With Charlie Eng for a prospecting
trip through Alaska, at that time the
famous Mecca for fortune hunters.
He called at the KEYSTONE Office
yesterday in response to q request
for an interview in which valuable
information was obtained about
that much over-boomed country.
ALASKA is the best country in
the world''-said Mr.. Weaver, "to
stay away from. 1t is all moon.
shine about it being . great gold
country. The stories of recent great
discoveries and men coming back
loaded down with nuggets are pure
fakes manufactured by the trans
portation companies and supply
houses of Tacoma and Seattle.
'The Seattle and Tacoma papers
are paid to publish only the roseate
accounts, the sad experiences of
the thousands who have searched
in vain for the coveted treasure
never appears in the columns of
those papers. Such information
doesn't pay to publish. Then all
the other papers in the country copy
these sensational stories. "But the
rush is over" said Mr.. Weaver, "the
bubble has bursted, and it has
caused the financial wreck of many
of those transportation and supply
companies in Seattle and Tacoma
who started the boom for their own
good.
II reached Dyea," said Mr.. Wea-
yer, "during its great boom and
wintered at Sheep Camp. Dyea is
now practically deserted. | never
went any further on the Klondike
road than the summit of Chilkoot
Pass. There l met men whom l
knew, returning without an ounce
of gold and cursing Alaska and the
papers. They said there had been
no locations made that were of any
value during the past two years,
and only about half dozen paying
claims in the Klondike, and they
were taken up in the early days.
AS there was nothing for new-com-
ers, l concluded to go back to Dyea.
In April I left there and went to
Cooks Inlet, stopping at Sunrise
City.
"As a quartz country that around
Cooks Inlet is failure, nothing
there but small stringers. The
general formation is shale, slate
and sandstone.
"There is not particle Of gold to
be found in the Cooks Inlet coun-
try. There is mica to be found
there, but no gold. A tenderfoot
finds mica and thinks it is gold, he
doesn't know the difference between
the two.
"At Lake Linderman, too, hun
dreds of claims have been located
on the strength of tenderfeet finding
mica. The papers would get hold
of the accounts of the finds and
report that big strikes had been
made and that the gold went from
Is to 300 dollars to the pan.
"Just to show you how stampedes
are started and how the fabulous
stories of the big strikes get out.
one morning while at Sunrise
City went for hunt near the lit
tie camp and next day some tender
feet found my tracks on the snow,
they thought that had stole away
to do some prospecting. So they
followed up my tracks and finding
some mica, which they mistook for
gold, came back to the camp and
reported a big find. There was a
regular stampede and in less than
48 hours over 200 locations had
been made :.
1.-The Copper River country"
continued Mr.. Weaver, lis the worst
fraud of all.
"There is no gold to be found
there either. The United States
soldiers who are looking for an
American route to the Yukon have
gotten as far as the divide between
the Matamuska and the head OF
Copper river. They say that there
are mountains of coal there, but No
gold. A member OF the Alaska
company at Sunrise
city, who has had a store for years
at the mouth of the Matahuska
river, aud trades with the Indians
from the Copper River Country
and speaks their language, says the
Indians tell him that there has
never been but one white man in
the Upper Copper River country.
He saws that all the reports about
those Indians bringing out gold and
silver are false, that they have only
brought out a little native copper.
1.-THE glaciers on tAe mountains
are full Of crevices which are COW
cred over with snow&until the not