The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1898-09-24
KING OF KLONDYKE.
CONTINUED y2ox FIRST lAol.)

nothin' But get him out on a dump
and you find out how ignorant you are
yourself The only thing he can talk
about is placer mines, and when he talks
about placer mines, damned II he amt
eloquent"
The success of his cleanup this year
has made him literally fetish. The
first recommendation of claim put for
ward by it's owner is that the king has
looked it over with a view to buying it.
Probably the king has.
The king does not drink or smoke. He
never. plays faro or hangs about the sa-
looms and his legs are long. A part Of
his superiority IL his physical fitness, for
no man in the Klondike can travel so
many miles between the different creeks
and between the creeks and Dawson in
day as Alec Macdonald. That he has
AOOKeu at a claim is nothing in its favor,
but the owner Of the claim uses it as an
argument to show that Macdonald wants
to buy 1t.
Whenever discovery Is made the
kings long legs soon make footsteps to-
ward that spot, and he examines it in
his own way. He has long since ceased to
buy claims in his own name. If he
speaks Of buying certain claim the
owner thinks that he has underestimate
the value Of his property-else why
should the king want it-and proceeds to
increase the price. The kings puppets,
varying from rough miners to the anus
ing Yukon handles, who loiter in the sa
looms, do his buying. AS he has examined
all claims, it is never known which one
he fayocs until he has consunmated
purchase, and he rarely employs the same
puppet twice. The puppet is we'll paid
for his work, and If he is clever he may
make fortune. For the king owns few
claims outright and, indeed, this seems
against his policy. The king has an army
of partners. A partner, who will always
be on the claim in serving his own in
terest by getting the most gold possible
at the least expense out of the ground
must also serve the king; and the kings
long legs carry him, about from property
to property often enough and at such
times as to protect the interest Of partner
against partner.
1--WE been working lay up on No. 21,"
said a young man who had waited his
turn at the Kings cabin door, land I
know pretty we'll what's in it. The owner
doesn't. He's no miner and he wants to
get out of the country. I could get the
claim, myself, for $4,000, this years
dumps included, and there's $500, 600 in
it if there's a cent, and thought I'd put
you on to it and maybe, If you bought
it, you'd give me something for the in
'Ive had my eye on No. n all along"
said the King, "but I've been looking for
the proper man to work it.. You've
handled your lay better than any one else
on No. 21.'
Didn't know you had ever seen iii"
oh, I've noticed it when passed by
said the King, land took little closer
hill rustling firewood. I'll put up the
money, you work the claim, and your
share Of the cost will come out of the
hrst cleanup next spring.
This was great thing for the young
man, and also a great thing for the King,
for good placer miners and capital are
still pretty rare in Dawson-and this is
the combination and the only combination
that can make money in the Klondike at
the present moment. =
Most of the newly rich in the Klondike
are inclined to buy the best clothes in the
market, and they wear large nuggets on
their watch chains and for scarf pins.
The king dresses no better than any other
workman, and this helps him to CLEAN
from the workmen the information that
ne needs. They were the first men to
accept his word without a contract, when
he said he would pay so much money for
such a. thing at a given time For tho
curbstone brokers and spectators in pat
ent leather shoes, who always sneeze
whenever the king takes snuff. the king
has the profoundest contempt. q. 49,
The king IL not fond of books or maya
zines or of the theater-not yet. He says
he has never thought about getting mar
1ed. He Is as busy as a quartermaster
in the army. Wherever he goes there are
always men waiting to see him
Tho king has not been out of; the cour-
try In five years-since his arrival, IN
fact. AS he is only thirty-five years old,
he has time enough yet in which to cul-
tivate, civilization after the manner Of
John Mackay, If he becomes as rich as
Mackay-and his friends say that he WILL