Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1898-02-11
One Of the Most Comprehensive State.
ments of Conditions Yet Given
Out by Anyone.
Several Cases Of Diphtheria Reported
and the Schools Closed in
Precaution.


of about $50 1000, and left with his wife
and child for Seattle, whence they will
return tothe gold fields. Delorge has had
been in Alaska for ten years, and has
experience with every feature of the
country. and he gave a two. hours talk
to the Pembina Pioneer Express which
contains more Of interest and value than
the average Klondiker tells in a month.
First, Mr.. Delorge confirms the &C.
counts, of the rich finds of gold. He
with a partner dug $4,000 worth of gold
from a mine or shares. Many others
did much better, others not SO we'll.
On the same claim, two other shafts
were worked on shares in the same way,
the total cleanup netting the Tner of
the mine for his half, 100000. This
mine is o valued at 100000 and a
year ago the owners wife was taking in
washing for a living at Seattle.
The Klondike field was first told to a
white man by IN Indian. They went
there and found nothing on the surface,
but there was a place where the bank
had slid in towards the river exposing
the lower strata of pay gravel, and thus
it was discovered that the gold was Il
to 20 feet below the surface. These
mines are now valued at from 100000
to 1000, 600 a claim. Each man is al
lowed to take 500 feet up and down the
the stream, but only one claim in a dis
trict. The ground remains frozen
throughout the year. No one has yet
dug through the frozen earth; it is at
least GO feet deep. The miner digs a
hole about three by seven feet. The
ground is so hard that picks make but
little impression. The usual custom
is to thaw the earth with fire. Wood is
plenty and convenient and a permit is
given by the Canadian government for
a small sum, to cut wood for the miners
use. AS the work progresses the shaft
is divided into two parts by a partition
so that there will be a draft for the fires.
The air coming down one side and the
smoke and heat up the other side.
When 'pay dirt" is reached the miner
runs drifts" out literally under the
'sblack muck which covers the pay
gravel by the same process of firing,
carefully observing in his operations to
keep the two kinds of dirt separate as it
is sent to the surface in buckets. The
fact OF the ground being so solidly froz-
en- is not altogether a drawback, as it
obviatcs the necessity of timbering the
shafts AND drifts to prevent caving.
The average amount Of dirt two men
can dig out is FROM IS to 300 buckets a
day. AS to the richness of the sdirt''
Mr.. Delorge says m bucket he dug had
about $500 worth Of gold in it, but of
course all were not like that.
The pay dirt is piled away in a heap
and in the spring when the snow melts
water is run through sluice boxes and
the dirt shoveled in and washed away
leaving the gold in the sluice box, The
gold is found in nuggets from twice the
size of a walnut down to kernels
smaller than wheat. It does not come
in the stake DUST like the placer dig
gings in other parts. The gold is quite
pure and runs about s16.5 sol to the ounce
though it passes in Alaska as Sour
rency," at SIT per ounce.
Dawson City has about 1.5OO residents.
The houses are nearly all of logs, under
the floors they are filled in for a foot or
more with sawdust, on account of cold
and dampness of the ground. The roofs
are moss and dirt. There are two
churches Catholic and Episcopal. There
are six or more large gambling houses
and many saloons. The gambling ia
bles are crowded at all times, and i'm
mense sums Of money staked by the
miners and mostly lost. There are
about sixty or seventy married men who
have their wives with them, and the
different trades and merchants are we'll
represented. Three sawmills are run.
ming and cannot supply the demand for
lumber. There is a good supply of
spruce, birch and other timber which
grows to a fair size. The trip from
Juneau to Dawson in summer is large
ly by water. The head waters of the
Yukon river are but twenty-four miles
in a direct line from the ocean near
Juneau. The first part of the trip is
by boat from juneau to Skaguay or
Dyea, seventy miles on the ocean, then
up an incline to the summit" Here is
assteep ridge of 1000 feet, rough and i'm
passable for horses in summer but COW
cred with snow in the winter, over which
horses car be taken by making steps in
the snow. After crossing these and get
ting to Lake Bennett, thirty miles in a
straight line from the ocean, boats or
RATS float to Fort Yukon with but little.
difficulty to the experienced voyager.
Prices in Dawson are practically from
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