Mesa free press., 1898-11-18

There is no doubt that the rush to the
Klondike is over. The weary argonaut
is returning to his home The river
beds of Alaska are as rich as ever, but
the stream Of discouraged and partly
successful miners coming back is
greater than the commencement of
stragglers who still believe that for
tunes can be washed from the frozen
sands in one season. The unprece-
dented craze for Alaskan adventure
was brought about, of course, by the
natural fascination exerted upon all
men by prospects Of sudden wealth.
This motive. had full rein at a time
when industrial depression had placed
thousands Of strong and generally prac-
tical men In that frame Of mind which.
is described as waiting for something
to turn up" The rich strikes of a, few
born prospectors who had already spent
years in the frozen gold fields infamed
the imaginations Of the unemployed,
and the vague recital Of hardships was
belittled, If indeed it did not add to
the allurement for men proud Of their
strength and ashamed Of their idleness.
There Is no doubt that few Of these
eager adventures expected to spend
more than one season In Alaska, be-
lieving, as many still believe, that once
found, paying claim can be worked
continually until wealth is assured. The
climate was supposed to be excessively
cold In winter and pleasant In summer,
its only menace being the rigors Of the
closed season. Transportation and trad
ing companies flooded the United
States with roseate prospectuses and
thousands borrowed money, mortgaged
their homes or started badly equipped
for the alluring chance to make for
tunes which had at last turned up."
A successful miner recently returned
from the headwaters Of the Yukon
partly accounts for his own success by
asserting that he was there before the
boom began, and is going back "be-
cause he likes It," He belongs to that
rare cult which is still represented in
the mining regions Of the Rocky and
Sierra Nevada Mountains by prospect
tinue their lonely combats with the
hostile elements because they like It,"
The Klondike is the supreme test even
for such adopts, and they are unit in
the belief that success in the Alaska
placer mines must be the result of
years of patient drudgery, and may
never be achieved. It has been the ex-
perience of all that pay dirt extracted
in an Alaska winter by incessant and
tedious processes cannot be washed or
panned until the succeeding summer
Nor is the open season much more ia
vorable for the work of hauling and
building than the winter. The mud Is
as impossible as the snow drift; mid
day in summer is often too hot for
either work or sleep and travel Is more
hazardous. than ever. In the depth of
winter the thermometer fingers about
30 degrees below zero. In the inter-
mediate season, just before the thaw,
the mercury has shown 10 degrees be
low zero early in the morning, and
jumped up to 80 above by midday, a
change of temperature which in time
will destroy the most powerful consti-
tuition. Scarcity Of food, extremes of
heat and cold, utter isolation and, above
all, the endless tedium of the process
which may or may not bring wealth at
last, are the sharp realities which con-
front the ardent pilgrim who has
dreamed of sudden wealth in the Klon-
dixie and send him back with faith in
1.-THE States" renewed and frightened
by contrast. The gold is in the Klon-
dixie still and 1t will be mined by the
hermits who found it. while the BOOM
ers who followed them will return to
the widening avenues Of industry in
their own country, where the chances
Of success are fully as good.