The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-08-21


rily crude. but. having the stout assertion OF
Rogers that he prospected along the Tanana
River, we have this for o basis calculation.
Rogers has since died. but his story survives
him and In brief is this:
In 1880 q party OF four miners living In the
Black Hills, all Of whom were more or less exc
perienced In placer mining. formed a ompany
to prospect for placer locations in Alaska. the
belief among them being strong that some
where in that country rich gold discoveries
would be found. The men engaged in the en-
terprise were William Roeers:Lou i Cavanaugh.
Harry Stokes and John Campbell. Their first
Juneau. but when they reached Seattle they
were unable to agree upon this p9int, ana the
fnk spri3g, Wien the four men departed from
light wagon and team Of mules. tools. gums
They tralversed The country in q l~eisurely
manner for several months. prospecting wher-
1 Aver ! the ii sss tSTee ' @o Ss e eoId In small iY 2aasS:
titles was found quite frequently. and this LED
1hem m mules ie 'd dfed. and and they tUs WERE WERE Obliged to
abandon their wagon and tools. except speh, as
they could carry. and in this way they plodded
over mountains, through rayines. and across
zane more than year: From iii point koSsfs
kFa6 bur iood p ran Short short. We had no ! food Except
that which we obtained through hunting and
t fhslsiPdEi; st O Sad " feI s0 ilttle oi iaconve sSSssso@ on this Is
We prospected up and down q big river 1.-THE
great Quantities. We camped at one. plaoe
three weeks, after we had been unusually sue
ing that time we PANIED out gold nuggets
enough to fill a ~full-siZe. whiskey, barrel. We
gould % lidd not 2 &c carry : Ey,i Ehs gold 80 we dug a pit and
Our food requirements kept US moving con-
stantly. for game is not abundant in the north.
and 10 tNYnn a aNanNnR with ma N nnE
one occasion did we see white men. and this
p psS gill line e. We }eiI IN With some 7 Hudson Bay
Company men, from whom we bought ampu-
nlti9n FOR gold + was not long att err this that
Bile quarry OF the yellow metal. Gold was there
in Jumps that we could not lift; Il was at the
uncovered. by the elements.
misfortune. With gold enough 70 make us
millionqires many times over within our grasp.
Il was the BEGINNING Of q series 81 fatalities that
the possession OF such great wealth Oav9naugh
was taken sick and died here. He was Ill with
buried him. and over his grave will be found
gold nuggets larger than any that have yet
statement Of our situation and the name OF
Cavanaugh win be found IL a tin can just be-
low the surface Of the earth SsTt Goyering his grave;
carry away all Of the gold that was exposed In
this vicinity: The gold Jumps were Of al shapReeSs
gold that could be- hammered out with a ham
SYou say, VIII, didn't you bring back some
gould garry; and It Hame near costing me any my
were easier to carry. 0 must remember
that I and my companions were In a country Q
we We' reached the deposits Of precious meta we
70 EsT prS SS51SeS st a. EsaiS n0T We m II fsAf Eavs o. s sSSs
f 6GGf r S SgS w ss%. OF =, the he 0&RIl asSa fhSf, we W WSS@
this deiusion that was largely responsible for
our pjsfortunes after We had obtained that for
""Wo drited on in this manner until Caya-
naugh was taken Ill, and the BALANCE Of the
time on. to make tho story, brief. We. found
gold In great quantities for o distance OF about
p tGPlftya p 81 sSe death 6ss RE q os Gap adn Sho S Ts5sa led
OF malarlal fever. Only Stokes and myself re-
NAMED. so we. held a council, and decided 90
sty 70 q &C. G 70 S I'll Sas HSSf ahc EalrS ~ n Y i sh q
great, deal different startfne, out on 9, long
ginning fresh and well fed. and we. soon real
lied that we had started on our homeward
I'VE crossed rivers and mountains. snow and
mud; and cold and hungry, with only such food
as we could pick up from an occasional shot or
from fishing along the streams, we kept on our
steady march In q sOutheasterly direction for
nearly two months. During this tramp we
found copper and silver deposits. and other
valuable minerals. These discoveries were OF
no interest to us. however. for by this time we
had become imbued with the, fear that we
would never reach civilization. / consider now
that IL was a miracle that l was enabled 10
reach home.
mo. all the gold In Alaska would not tempt
me to 20 there again II knew l would have to
undergo hardships similar TO those that / en-
dured for nearly two years.
Within two hundred miles of the first settle
three days, he also died. Iburied him as best
could and resumed my tramp alone. with the
knowledge that l. to9p, was growing weaker
trudged along night and day. taking only .
little sleep, ,wading ip the ice-cold water and
travelling through sluBh and mud, stopping
pow and then ntodriye on wolves. and su6sist-
Ing upon raw hsh and berries. for l had no way
Of cooking them. When about exhausted 1
reached a settlement OF Indians. where i re-
the Indians knew OF great deposits OF gold. such
as l had seen, but at 3 point much nearer than
chad found Il Gold had no partloalar value
TO thenS but i found thorn very fond or copper,
OF which they possessed considerable.
ns. Iron tsis excitement vac sSSo@Rsnisa
fsii " yHtt4 some E7eltshRsn. Hho were hunt