The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-09-29

the stream they would find 1t in coarser
quantities. Caching all their supplies
except the small portion needed for a
short trip into the interior they started
up the creek. Two days travel over
powders and. through underbrush
brought them to the crest of a divide.
Below a short distance in a basin Law
beautiful little lake. A small stream
was seen emptying into it from the
west and another stream flowing out
OF 1t to the north was its outlet. The
prospectors descended and camped that
night on the margin of the lake. Again
they found gold. 1t was in the gravel
of the feeder running in from the west.
Here was their fortune AS they pros
pected this stream they found that
every painful of gravel yielded half a
spoonful of coarse gold, and some mug
gets were found weighing as much as
an ounce. The little stream was fed by
glaciers and snow banks above. No
time was lost in making a rocker and
the two gold hunters were soon rock
ing out a golden stream as grain flows
out of a hopper. They worked indus
triously for two weeks and must have
had several hundred thousand dollars
worth of dust and nuggets. Occasional
trips were made to the cache at the
beach near the mouth of the creek for
supplies without a single thought Of
danger.
At noon one day, as they were leav-
ing work to prepare dinner, they were
fired upon by Indians. These Indians
have always been thought to be either
Sticks or Chilkats, the two fiercest
tribes in Southeastern Alaska The
Sticks or Thinklets inhabit the. interior
from the Lake Teslin basin to the coast
range of mountains. Apparently the
Indians were after the provisions and
other supplies, and not the gold:
One of the miners was killed instant
ly. The other, uninjured, Sprang into
the woods and was out of sight before
a second volley could be fired. Cut
off from the camp by the lake, he made
haste to the canoe and remainder of
the cache near the beach. He hastily
re-embarked with a quantity of pro-
visions, intending to go back to Sitka
and return to the diggings with a large
party. But he lost his bearings, as
the sky in Alaska is often obscure by
fogs for days at time. Instead of
pulling for Sitka he took a southerly
course toward Victoria. He was picked
UP by a passing ship and finally land
ed at Port Townsend. He had about
$500 in nuggets in his pockets.
The next spring he returned to Sitka
and made up party to return with
him to the bonanza by the lake. AT
confused, for it is known to be q fact
that a party did leave Victoria in the
spring of 1875, in search of a lost Alaska
mine. When the party arrived at a
point below Taku Inlet, about where
the settlement Of Shuck is now located,
the miner pointed it out as the place
where he and his partner had landed
and cached their stuff year before.
Finding no big pay on the first creek,
as the guide thought there was, the
party became enraged and threatened
to hang him to the main boom of the
schooner, for quite an expedition had
been fitted out. 1t seems that the
miner and guide had not yet mentioned
the bonanza by the lake for reasons of
his own. Not fearing the gibbet after
the threat he kept the secret to him
SELF and the party sailed to Sitka
empty handed.
Scarcely a season has since come that
some prospector has not started out in
hopes of finding the Lost Rocker
mine Rewards have been offered the
natives UP and down the coast to re-
veal the place, but probably through
fear of being implicated and punished
for the murder they profess to know
nothing about it.
jerks is said to have made q map of
his trail to the place. so he may be GER
tain of finding his way back. He is
the only man who has introduced a
cabin into the story If he has found
the place he has doubtless staked all
the ground the law allows. He mys-
teriously describes the location as be-
tween Lake TeSliu and Lake Atlin