Fort Wrangel news., 1898-10-19
LAKE ArllN AND TORT wRANdlL

IAkti Aliis ANn bk | W kANNi. a.
 rhr indications at present are that The rush uf 1. ld seekers Ia Alaska dur ing the =fason lH-t ended, Nill be re# pcated during thr ary mouth. us uekt year But the objective pput will prob ably not b, Dawson CitF. or Inc more remote points au the Yukon river, but tht country in the vicinity ot Atln lake. Ihr reports coming from this section Immediately following the news of tbe strike were dauhlIa1 and con. fnsius Many gong nth ihr first stam prde heIug tau impatient to wait till the pra..r data could he obtained thrauthppgb and dcgelupmvat. and too rroue ta listen to The fuulty feusoniue- et others. returned and characterized tie excitement d. fnke Some gave out th, ol iuieu that thc find Was gtuu inc. but in the main tho reports have been su conflicting that se far compara- lively few have been attracted to the place. During the last few weeks. how ever. the public mind has materially changed about the Atln gold fields "rhe proof ot the pudding k in the cat ing" and th, sight of gold taken out is the best evidence of T. existence Men are returning every few dayo Withsmall sacks of nuggets and dust. Mir R. (. plchl. ot this place, interviewed fully drlcu claim owners who brought out small sums Wth them. One ut them. who. ea,l ly in the season. u,ed to push hand cart past our doors and serve the good people of Niangel as express man. had about three hundred dollars i'll nuggets he had disposed of his dust Another feature oi the strike k that the gold k purer than any yet found in Alaska. When compared with gold from the Nlondike, Forty Mile or Birch creek, the superiority is at ouce noticeable.
 Still another feature of this section is that the aurifcroue lands are said to be more extended than those of the klondike
 Granted that all the good that has been spoken of the Atliu strike is true, which is the best way to get there? The only route thus far has been by Skaguay. or it. aeighbor. pyea, and through thr Likes by boat This will shortly bc closed on account If ;ee in the lakes. but later on sled trail over the frozen lakes will not be difficult way of getting there. An overland trail from Skaeuay i- taidel of. IL is also one from Juastu. following l. the Ia kou river to it's source. and crossing d low divide Such trail from SSaguay To the diggingS would probably be about 7O to so miles long.
 The distance from Juneau by the proposed trail mp the Fakou river would be fully three times aa great, but it would cnabie one to pass through sec tion which has been prospected very little In this connection 1t would be interesting to note the in tluence this
 
 Atlin excitement may have on the con structiUn of the proposed GlenoraTes lin railroad. Atlin lake lies about six ty miles to the westward of Teslin with mountainous country between, but from all accounts quite accessible from this point. The country immediately west of Lake Teslin has scarcely been visited by the prospector at all. For years d few have gone to the Yukon by the Takou river and Lake Teslin route; but that simply meant crossing d divide-a distance by trail of sixty five miles from the source of the riv- CT to the head of the lake. and travelling the balance of the way by boat In A word the country on both sides of Lake Teslin has scarcely been visited by the prospector at all. and will not be thor oughly examined until large numbers of people are on the ground. Less than year ago when the difficulties of other routes to the klondike were being dis cussed the Glenora- Tesln R. E. was be- lieved to be d certainty. If the neces- sity for such road existed at that time what shall be said of it now with the gold of Lake Atlin in sight and appar- ently about to eclipse the vast wealth of the far off Yukon.
 Such road would place Wrangel within two days journey of this new finll