The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1898-09-10
LETTER FROM COPPER RIVER.
VALDEs, Alaska, Aug. 80, 1898.


EDITOR KEYSTONE: As l am back to
Valdes safe and sound, after having made
a tour Of part of the Copper River
country, will tell you what think of it.
First, think it hard proposition, q
tough game, and one will have to be long
winded to win out. l would judge the
distance from here to Copper Center, on
Copper river, to be seventy miles. The
first five mics is all right; the next
twenty is glacier, which at this time of
the year is all full of crevices from two
inches to twenty feet wide. and the bot
tom can be seen in but few of them. The
highest point on the glacier to Klutena
river Is $500 feet, an elevation to he
reached in about twenty miles travel.
From the foot of the glacier, ON the
KIutena side, a person can load goods in
boats drawing but little water and go
down q swift stream about ten miles to
the head of Klutcna lake, which is q very
pretty sheet of water, being from six to
ten miles wide and about twenty miles
long. From the mouth of the lake the
main Klutena starts and flows gradually
for about three miles, then 1t is very
swift and full of boulders the remainder
Of its course-a distance of from twelve
to fifteen miles. Along this part do not
believe more than one boat in FIVE that
undertook to shoot the rapids went
through, and large per cent Of the boats
which were let down by ropes came to
grief.
The boys I was with-Sam Reed and
Fred Pierce-were among those heroes
who made the shoot. They ran their
boat down without losing anything, but
got swamped once. Sam swan ashore.
leaving Fred and the boat on an island
over night until he could GO to camp for
help and tools to repair the boat, which
had hole knocked through it.
As to the mineral resources, think
they are very poor. prospected along
the Klutena, Liebtgstags and Tonsina
rivers. On the Klutena few colors can
be found all the way down to the Copper
river, getting larger and better colors
near the latter river. The Copper river
prospects about four small colors to the
pan most any where. and but little better
on the islands or bars. We were up
the Liebtgs:ags about thirty miles and
found but one color along that stream.
The right-hand fork headed at glacier,
the left running back into the mountains
through narrow gorge, but We did not
go to the head of it on account of the
mountains being covered with sncw.
The Tonsina we prospected to the head,
about thirty five miles. About ten miles
from its mouth we got from one to sew
enteen colors to the pan, which seemed to
grow less Is We went further up the river.
In the streams flowing into the Tonsina
from the north we didn't get any pros
poets at ell, but in the streams to the
south we got prospects all the way to the
head, away back in the mountains. Tom
sina, like Klutena, heads In lake and
above the lake is glacier. On bedrock
above the lake we could not find color
of any size, 90 we came back satlsfied.
Since we left have been told that IA
locations were made ON the Tonsina, and
the report ID that claims are being held
at from one to afsy dollars.
Some Of my associates we're up the
Copper river a. far - Christochina aud
Mt. Sanford, but had no better success
than the others. On the Christochina,
they say, there were sluice boxes running
and after dve-days' run but few ceats
in dust was cleaned up. They also say
that the surrounding country IS about the
same ~ that down tho river, which 10 high
banks ranging from 20 to 800 feet IN