The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-10-13

Special Correspondence to The Tribune.
Dawson City, N. w. T., Sept Al
arrived here about the middle of Au-
gust after a hard, rough time OF 1t,
and am feeling very well. | have been
on the trail ever since March 13 and
am pretty near worn out and have not
struck what 1 came for yet. This
country has been very much misrepre-
sented. The newspapers spoke Of
great strikes" being made on nearly
every river and creek. when, in fact,
strikes" have been made on very few.
l can speak from personal knowledge
of the following named rivers, because
| have been up every one of them, and
while we found gold, we did not find it
in paying quantities: Hootalinqua,
river Niscitlin, Hudson. Pilly, McMil-
Ian, Stewart Sixty-Mile, Miller, Ten
Mile, and tributaries.
After leaving SiXty-Mie I drifted
down to Indian river and discovered
that the river and tributaries were
"staked" from one end to the other, so
/ came on down to Dawson City. The
rivers here are different from the other
rivers in that they are very rich. sin
gle claims yielding hundreds of thou
sands of dollars worth Of gold. l am
speaking from personal observation. 1
have seen man and his son "roCk"
out 1875 ounces in one day at SIG an
ounce; that would amount to 50, 900.
have seen seven men in nineteen hours
wash out $50. 200 worth of gold on El
Dorado creek.
GOOD CLAIMS ALL STAKED.
! could enumerate for hours but what
is the use; those claims are all staked
and recorded and their owners are
wealthy beyond fondest dreams. There
are other claims here that yield from
S25 to 800 q day. The owners are very
poor and want to sell half interests,
but they want the man who buys to
do his share of the work, and that is
the reason they find it SO hard to d.s-
pose of an interest. The man who is
willing to do his share of the work
hasn't the money to buy. The man
with little spare cash can make u
fortune here. l would therefore ad-
wise all my townsmen not to come to
the klOndike without bringing a few
thousand with them. They will wear
their life away hunting for a new
strike" that viii never materialiZe.
There are 10000 people here at the
present time and in consequence there
o. destitutlOn will be very grCat. There
is not work enough here for one tenth
the number. and if a new strike" is
not made very soon people will suffer
terribly during the winter. As it is
a great many cases of destitutiCn are
being brought to the attention OF Con-
sui General MCCOok. The consul ex-
presses regret at the condition so many
AmC, tCan citizens are in, but states
that he is without power TO extend to
them financial aid. The provincial Of
tiC 'als say they will take all persons
wh2 are too poor to pay their own eX-
perscs as far as St. Michaers If the
United states government will take
them TO Seattle.
Everything is booming here, real es-
tare in particular. Tent room is worth
worth s. per foot per month. II ia
needless to say did not pitch my tent
righ, in the city. Ordinary lots are
selling for 10000. Have you ever been
in gold stampede? No; we'll | have
be II in two, and a craZiC. lot of fell
lows you never saw in your life, but
always good natured. A week ago at
midnight the stampede passed my tent
JOINED THE CROWD.
| jumped out Of my blankets, hurried
~ dressed myself, snatched up a loaf
of bread and a half side Of bacon. stuck
them in a bag and away I started af-
ter the mob of at least COO or 700 men.
We walked thirty miles before we
reached the creek and we "staked" her
frorn end to end. We then sat down
and ate our lunch satisfied with our
selves and the world In general. Twen-
ty of us sunk a shaft to bed rock,
which we reached in a few days, and