Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1898-04-22
FIRST KLONDIKER.
THE TRUTH AT LAST ABOUT THE
DISCOVERY OF GOLD.

A Narrative That Has Lake Bennett In
dian for Its Hero-Ife DranI, ana Found
the Precious Deposits-He Has an I'm
mense Treasure But Can't Enjoy IT,
SO many stories have been told re-
garding the discovery of gold on the
Klondike that it is interesting to re-
cord the story which the Indians tell
of the finding of gold there. This is
the account given by the son of Chill
kat Jack, Yeecet, or in Boston"
Johnny Benson. who was employed last
summer in packing over the Chilkoot
Pass:
Il will tell you how that gold pile
was discovered. That is, will tell
you the true story, and it includes the
tale of a man who has house full of
gold; so much, in fact that he cannot
move it, and does not dare to leave it.
His name is Kashes, and he is a Lake
Bennett Indian. The story was told me
by his little brother, who came all the
way up the great Yukon to get Kashes's
relatives to go down to KlOndike after
his gold. The little brother came up
early last year, and had not the rush
begun we would have gone down to
Dawson after it. But it was long
way down to Dawson. and the Indians
made lots of money on the trail last
year.
THE discovery of the Klondike hap
pened so: Kashes, with his wife and
their children, were down at Circle
City. Kashes got tired of working
hard there with little to eat, and when
spring came he said to his wife: We
will go back to Lake Bennett They
started up the river and went for sew
eral days. Then their provisions be-
came scarce, and Kashes and his wife
went hunting. They went up the
stream now called Klondke and about
noon Kashes got thirsty. They were
away up in the hills and a little
stream was near. Kashes went over to
the stream, got down on his knees
and plunged his face into the ice-cold
water. 1t tasted good.
ION opening his eyes he was so star
tied that he almost lost his balance
and fell in. The creek was about two
feet deep. being only a branch of the
big creek. He could see the bottom
plainly. and it was covered all over
with something red. Kashes had seen
placer gold on the Stewart and Birch
Creek bars. 1t looked the same. but
never had lie seen so much of the pre-
cious stuff. He pulled back the sleeve
OF his flannel shirt and dipped his
hand in. He scooped along the bottom
and brought up handful Of big mug
gets. He was much excited and called
his wife. They did not know whether
1t was true gold or not. His wife did
not know. All that night they thought
about it and wondered if it was true
gold. The next morning they both
quit thinking They had made up
their minds it was true gold.
"kashes staked out the creek and
soon filed his buckskin sack fun. He
wanted 70 make sure the gold was
good, so he went down to Circle CITY.
where his wiies sister, who married a
white man, was living. They were
cutting wood. He asked his white
brother-in-law if the gold was good.
The white man said it was, and want
ed to know whore KasAes got 1t. He
would not tell Then one night Kash-
es sLeaked away to his wife and chill
dren, and went back to his gold pile.
He mined for some time Then his
white broJher-in-law found him and
located next his claim. Then more
white men came and the Klondike was
known all over the country. Then
came this fool rush this year. This is
the real story of the first discovery Of
the Klondike.
This year l guess his friends at
Lake Bennett will go down and help
him bring out his gold He has got
more than two millions in his little
cabin back in the hills from the other
miners. In fact, he has got so much
that he has no idea how much he has"
Cleanliness Il Fault.