The Portland daily press., 1898-08-06
(Boston Transcript. }

(Boston Transcript
Washington, August 4.-"Ihe 80
dixie bubble has about burst, " salo W. W.
Altman of Colorado, who was here lew
weeks ago, and his opinion is only Vypi'"i
of most that is heard from thab aoafOer'
Mr.. E. Lewis of New York, VINO mas
lust returned to San Francisco from
fen vears' acquaintance with the Yukon,
saws that every statement made about the
Klondike nav be divided by four, and that
outsida of three miles on Bonanza Creek
there is no certainty of paying claims any
WHARF Charles g. Yale, the statistician
of the San Francisco mint, made report
TO the treasury VIII ich will appear shortly
in a publication relating to the produc-
tion of metals, and while he does not
say SO bluntly as the private citizens here
quoted that the K1ondike is 'tfatteni ng
out" it is at the same time evident that
from his statements that the original es-
innate of the resources of that region Will
have to be much modified.
Aside from the individual profits and
prosperity involved, there is a political
dixie to which considerable emphasis Is
given in Washington. The best possible
antidote for the bimetallic agitation, the
world over, is large yield OF gold. Sen
ator Bacon of Georgia, very Intelligent
representative of the free silver idea, told
your correspondent recently that the silver
question, in his opinion, would be settled
by the output of gold. If that should
prove large enough to leave good sup
ply for money uses in addition to the
quantity absorbed in the arts, he looked
for the continuance of the gold standard
But if this yield should fall short in
future years he believed the bimetallic
standard would come, or what people not
in sympathy with his view would more
properly call the silver standard
Many public men look at the question
much as Senator Bacon does, and hence
the South African and the Alaskan gold
discoveries were here hailed with joy as
helping to secure the permanence OF the
money standard which has been adopted
by the civilized nations of the world. Nor
does the lesser estimate of the Klondike
output seriously change this expectation.
One swallow does not make summer.
and one summers observations are only
a small part of the history Of mining
operations. Moreover, Alaska has not
given out, and will continue for many
Years an excellent gold-bearing region,
but perhaps not SO phenomenal as the first
reports led the country to believe.
According to Mr.. Yale, returns re-
ceived at San Francisco show that the
bullion yield of Alaska for 1897 was 3d.
4S g, 572 in gold and $40, 2o7 in silver. This
on the American side of the line. Except
from the regularly organized railroads
and mining companies, Mr.. Yale finds
it very difficult to obtain exact returns
from the Alaska mines. The placer gold
is obtained by individuals and small com.
panies who keep no books. The men are
to an extent nomadic, going from camp
TO camp and from creek to creek as new
and better strikes ars made. They some
times sell their dust at the stores Of the
trading company, and quite as frequently
bring it back to this country in their
own possession. Conditions in placer
mining are reapidly changing. In 1897
most of the camps on the American side
of the boundary line were practically de-
serted, the men having been attracted to
the Klondike by the extraordinary reports
which came from that quarter In the
fall of 1896. But now they are going
back. and the American diggings are fill
ing up again.
MIR. Altman relates that friends Of his
have returned from the Alaskan gold
fields SO ruined in health as to be hardly
Ieeoguzed by those who knew them be-
fore they started. The experience of the
prospeotors this season in the Copper
river country. of which SO much was ex-
pected, he says has been a record of hard
ship, failure and disaster. Lives. health
and money have been heavily lost In the
enterprise. Mr.. Lewis explains that
man may work all winter and get out
gravel that pans fairly, and yet when no
takes account of stock in the spring. find
that he has made hardly more than wages
And when we say wages, 1T shouid De re-
mem bered that transportation to the gold
region is so difficult that food comes very
high, and man should ordinarily earn
five dollars n day to supply the needs that
one dollar would easily meet in settled
country. The stories that are still told OF
the average range of pri ces prevailing IN
the Yukon make it hardly hagen OF
rest for the poor man. Eggs are reported
as selling in places at three dollars dozen
one dollar a pound, and so on. At Daw-
son City newspapers bring from fifty
cents to ono dollar each, and on account
of the Spanish war ara in great demand.
Nor are the readers specially fastidious
as the date which the publication bears.
a GERMAN VINO went from MltWaokeo
to Skaguay to open restaurant has
written to his friends 1n3Milwaukee let
ter in which he sets forth the enormous
profits in the food business. 81 bought
-four in Seattle for six dollars barrel, >"
he says, Sand sold 1t for $42. 80 before it
left the dock here. We have the bon ton
hotel in this place. We have six tables
that will accommodate six people each,
and there is not vacant seat from six
O'clock in the morning to twelve O'Clock
at night. That's because we have put
the prices down. We used to get two
dollars meal, but now we sell for neo
dollar. We keep lunch counter in the
rear running all night besides. But the
town is full of people who cannot afford
even orr moderate prices. Many of them
are dead broke and so hungry that they
would cut mans throat for dollar %
When the season opened it was predicted
that the Klondike gold yield would be
from $40, coo, COO to $50, 600, 900, while it ID
now believed 1t may fall as low as &c.,
COO, 900.
A San Francisco Chronicle correspon-
dent, however, places the yield at $780,.
DOC, 900, basing his conclusions upon the
fact that thu ten percent royalty demand
ed bv the Canadian Government has led