The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-03-23
LETTER FROM DAWSON
j. B. Hudson Writes to q Friend
in Great Falls.
GREATEST GOLD COUNTRY
Millions Of Dollars or the Dumps and
the Miners Have Not Yet Fairly Be-
gun to Work-He Has Lo-
Gated Twelve Claims.

Great Falls, March 22.-Possibly there
is nothing at the present time which has
more of a certain kind of interest at
tached to it than a letter written in the
cold and gloom Of the Arctic circle. and
in that particular spot of it known as
Dawson City. Such a letter is tempo
rarily in the hands of the Standard man
and is written by j. b. Hudson, one OF
the two Hudson boys who. a little over
a year ago, disposed of their property
east of the Highwood mountains. or
rather placed it in other hands for safe
keeping. until they hould return. and
started by way of Seattle for the gold
fields. The letter is merely a friendly
one written to an acquaintance in this
city. from whom it was obtained later
for publication. 1t is dated at Dawson
on Jan. 8 of this year and bears a Seat
tie stamp of the 18th of March. II reads
as follows:
II have written two letters IL you, but
] don think they have gone out yet,
and so l will write you again. Our mail
system here is N. G.. Well, this is the
greatest gold country in the world, j
guess. There Is no grub, or at least
none to spare. but my brother and 1
have plenty, although We were short
when we came in. i went to work hunt
ing and after two months of hard work
j found a band of cariboo IS miles up
the Klondike and killed As of them, and
the meat sold like wildfire for $1.25 per
pound. We traded part of it for Hour.
bacon and other grub, pound for pound.
Flour is worth $3.50 a hundred pounds,
but we have all that we shall need un-
til the boats come up the river in the
spring.
We'll, this is like all other mining
countries. Although there is gold here.
and lots of II, not all of the men who
come in here will make a fortune. and
no doubt some will lose a fortune. l
thing Ted and / will be back in Mon
tana in a year from now, or is months
at most. Wages here are $1.50 an hour
and money is scarce. Interest here is
10 per cent a month, and there is great
opportunity for a man with plenty OF
money If he is here now, but in the
spring there will be more money here
than they will know what to do with.
There are millions of dollars on the
dumps now. and the miners have not
fairly begun rs yet. There are some of
the mines here where they can pan out
$500 to the pan; that is, picked pans. of
course; but some of it looks as if there
was more gold than gravel. There have
been some new strikes during the fall
and winter.
IF you come i'm the spring. for Gods
sake don't come by the Skaguay or the
New York Worlds trail: come by St.
Michaels unless you start early in the
spring. and don't take the Dyea trail.
We ran the Canyon and the White
Horse rapids with our boat and every
thing in il. You want to stop on the
right-hand side of the Canyon and &c
Gown the river on foot and look it over
and the river below it before making
the run. Land on the left bank before
you get to the White Horse rapids and
do the same thing. When you &c
through keep in the center of the river
and In the toughest water and you Will
be all right. II you are used to handling
a boat. If you are not, you had best
get some one to run your boat through
for you.
I'VE have II claims and are getting
more as fast as we can. Some of them
may turn out well and some of them
won't, but If we get hold of one good
one out of the whole lot we shall be all
right. BY the way. / am wearing those
buckskin pants you gave me on leaving
and they are o. X.
well, as It is doubtful whether YOU
will ever get this letter, l will close
hoping to heal from you next summer
when the mail comes in"