The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-11-07
GEORGE BURKE IS LUCKY
Brings Back 800. 900 From
the Rlondike.
HE WAS GONE TWO YEARS
The Klondiks Excitement Had Not Be-
gun When He Reached Alaska.
Was One OF the First in
the Field.

oIlt " W A-.ARA NlN
lest. of all those who have left Butte
To go To the Klondike is George IL.
Burke. who came back Saturday night
to get a whit of sulphur smoke. He
came back over 100000 strong. Mr..
Burke. when he lived in Butte. was a
driver for Hines a Chevrier's bottling
works. He left here the LIST Of June.
1897. Less han two years later he is
back a capitalist. The fortunate young
man has a host of friends here. who re-
joiced with him yesterday over his good
fortune.
As stated, Mr.. Burke left here in
June. 1897. Quite a party wen; at the
same time. u Mr.. Burke was not as
ISOLATED with them in business and
went on his own hook. The Klondike
excitement had not begun at that time
and his plans were not very definite.
but he had heard of Circle City and
thought he would head for that point.
He did so. going In by way OF st.
Michaels. ON the way up the Yukon.
I'm fact IL was at Circle City. the steamer
which brought out the first big lot of
gold from Klondike which started the
excitement was met. The passengers
on the up-bound steamer heard such
stories OF gold from those on the other
boat that. finding Circle City was al
ready deserted. they concluded to go
on. MI. buTkt TtdtHtu the dfn tpu-
clusion and In due time he landed at
Dawson City.
Eldorado and Bonanza were then all
staked and Mr.. Burke set 10 work to
see what he could do for himself. He
had the good fortune to get i'm on Dis
covery claim on what is known as
French bench. He staked the north
west corner of the claim and. getting
an outfit. went to prospecting II. He
did not have money enough to hire help
so ne worked alone sinking his shaft.
After he got down so IL was necessary
to hoist. he rugged himself a whim and
would go down the ladder, MI the
bucket and then go back up and hoist
&C.. IL was hard. slow work. but he kept
at IL and when he had got down 20 feet
was rewarded by striking bedrock.
Then life changed for George Burke.
the foI mel teamster. He panned out a
pan fun % dirt and got $50 and some
cents. Tina: was too much luck for
Burke TO work any longer that day.
He laid OF and celebrated. one car
imagine how. The he returned to work.
He commenced to drift and found he
had three feet of a pay streak. He
could now AFFORD to hire someone tt
help him and he worked the claim az
TO the eth OF last July. when he sold
IL to an English syndicate. In the
meantime he had taken out $50. 900. A:
soon as he concluded to sell. he lefI
the Klondike. came out by way OF thu
lakes and went to London. where HI
closed the deal and go; his money. Mr.
Burke declined to state how much HI
got for his corner of Discovery claim
but from admissions he made to hi
friends he got home to Butte "A littl'
more than $500. 900 richer than when h
left.
Mr.. Burke exhibits the finest nugge
yet shown In these parts as comini
from the Klondike. IL IN a fiat Stat o
pure gold th~ree-eighths to one-half al
inch thick. about three inches long ant
two wide and II weighs s20I worth o
the pure yellow stuff. MIR. Burke sat
ne was working his claim i'm the sum
mer and IL became necessary every >
often to bail out the water. One da,
while the men were doing this he wen
down to look for nuggets. While prod
ding around in the pay streak with hi
candlestlck he struck the nugget. Har
~ McCrimmon OF Butte was workin
for him and was on top. Hughey O'Dor
nell and Red" Mcconnell. we othe
well-known Butte men, happened ais
TO be on top, and Burke called To ther
to look out when they dumped III
water. as he had a small nugget In I'll
bottom. when they saw IL they wer
greatly excited and the excitement ra
all over the ramp. for Mr.. Burke state
the finding of a big nugget there sti
creates almost as much excitement a
IL would here.
Mr.. Burke also brought back a sac
of smaller nuggets, Weighing seve
pounds. and among them are SON
handsome specimens.
Mr.. Burke says he met a great man
Butte and Montana people while in u