The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-10-02
MAP OF ATLIN GOLD FIELD.

discharge their freight. Boats of all
sorts are constantly building on the
beach. Steamboats, OF the size of mud
turtles foot to and fro, and prospectors
of all ages and conditions hustle about;
even while the steamboats, are in mo-
ton, carDenters on board go on clean
ing and hammering uninterruptedly.
Soon it viii be easy and cheap to ride
10 any part of the new diggings.
HOW THE RUSH BEGAN.
The spring rush to Bennett has fallen
Oft to a quiet and sleepy trade, when.
enc August morning, the news of Il
strike nearby filled the town again with
floods of gold-SeekerS from Juneau,
SkagWay and Dyea. The cause was
simple. Placer gold had been discoV-
cred on the shore of Atlin lake, less
than 80 miles away.
As early as 1892 a man by the name
of Miller had discovered good colors on
an unknown stream running into Atlin
lake from the southeast. He returned
to Juneau after making a visit TO the
lower Yukon, but did nothing further
with the ktfin prospect except to talk
about il to his friends In a number
of instances he drew rough diagrams
of the country as he remembered it.
and allowed them to remain in the
hands Of his friends.
Early in the present year q party of
young men came into possession of one
of these maps, and set forth in the de-
termination TO find the creek and the
placer. They crossed Atlin lake and
began TO prospect the stream which
is now called Pine creek. AS they made
their way up the valley they came upon
Miller at work After some years of
other ventures he had returned to his
early discovery, and was busily sluic-
ing. He believed himself to be in the
Northwest Territory, and to avoid roy
atty and Cor other reasons had kept
his mining quiet.
The newcomers readily agreed to be
silent also. and they, too, set to work.
After some weeks. however. it was
considered safer to record and a man
was sent to Tagish house for that pur-
pose.
MOTLEY CROWD OF PROSPECT
ORS
Major Strickland the commissioner
Of the upper Yukon, also believed the
mines to be in Northwest Territory, and
made record of the claims He after
wards visited Pine creek, and the
claimants staked in accordance with
Northwest Territory laws, reserving
ten claims for the queen, and claiming
$50 feet each. When this visit of Major
Strickland became known, rymOrs Of
Miller'S rich mine began to sift about
Soon the Facts of his location became
known, and the rush began from Ben
nett, Skagway and other towns down
the coast. The news moved out serially
like circles on the water. The crowds
of men which this wave touched melt
ed away from the street corners like
heaps Of sand on the beach. In parties
of tlIreeS ana fourS they hit the trail,''
and in couple of days these nearby
towns We're we'll nigh empty of men.
BARRIERS, merchants. mechanics, pro-
fesSional men-eVerY man who could
get away. pulled out for the gold fields
or sent someone to represent him. The
hands on the steamboats, Eeaped ashore.
The railway graders deserted in hun
dredS, and along every trail these two
legged beasts of burden poured as if
some vast plague of strange beetles
had set IN from the coast
Some went in with ten days provis-
ions, some with more: but the larger
part of these "tenderfoot miners went
with cigarette and a sandwich" They
covered the hiilSideS of Bennett lake
with tents; they set rude maSts in frail
boats, and at the risk of life crowded
into clumsy barges. while others sought
short cuts across the glaciers and over
unexplored swam0s. Every conceiv-
able folly was manifested Scarcely
one man in ten of all this host could
properly pan a shovelful of dirt, and
not 2 Few Of them were the ne'er-do-
wells of the country
The ex0erienced man was in less
haste. He took three months grub,
together with proper tools and cloth
ing, and went in for careful study of
the country Bennett lake was the
shipping point for most of these men
who had precaution and means enough
to properly provide for themselves
Many of the hasty-Dudding prospect
ors, however, tried other ways and met
with disaster. More than two hundred
who tried the overland trail failed to
cross the stern barriers of ice and gran
lite which lie between the coast and the
head OF Atlin water. and were forced
to return, ragged, w-blind, lank and
detected.
LOCATION OF THE NEW FIELDS.
The strike was in a region little
known 20 the boatmen of the lakes.
Pine creek lies far east of the Yukon
travel. No one knew how extensive
Tagish water was, and Atlin lay in
still more completely UNEMPLOYED region
to the east. Toward this land the mob
cheerily voyaged, mainly by small
boats from Bennett. After packing
over the Al miles of travel, four or five
of these weary and foot-sore adventur-
erS would spread sail in boat and go
swooping down the long, sparkling pea