The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1898-11-11

There Is no doubt chat the rush to the
Klondiko is over. The weary argonaut
Is returning to his home. The river
beds Of Alaska are as rich as ever, but
the stream of discouraged and partly
successful miners coming back is
greater than the counter-current Of
stragglers who still believe that for
tunes can be washed from the frozen
sands In one season. The unprece-
dented craze for Alaskan adventure
was brought about, Of course, by the
natural fascination exerted upon all
men by prospects of sudden wealth.
This motive had full rein at time
when Industrial depression had placed
thousands Of strong and generally p~ac-
teal men In that frame OF mind which
Is described as waiting for something
to turn up" The rich strikes Of few
born prospectors who had already spent
years In the frozen gold fields lnhamed
the lmaglnatons of the unemployed,
and the vague recital Of hardships was
belittled, II indeed It did not add to
the allurement for men proud of their
strength and ashamed of their ldlencss.
There Is no doubt that few of these
eager Adventures expected to spend
more than one season in Alaska, be
lieving as many still believe, that once
found, a paying claim can be worked
continually until wealth Is assured. The
climate was supposed to be excessively
cold In winter and pleasant in summer,
its only menace being the rigors of the
closed season. Transportation and trad
ing companies flooded the United
States with roseate prospectuses and
thousands borrowed money, mortgaged
their homes or started badly equipped
for the allurlng chance to make for
tunes which had at last turned up"
A successful miner recently returned
from the headwaters of the Yukon
partly accounts for his own success by
asserting that he was there before the
boom began, and is going back "be-
cause he likes It," lie belongs to that
rare cult which Is stlll represented in
the mining regions of the Rocky and
| Sierra Nevada Mountains by prospect
ors who are natural recluses and con-
tinue their lonely combats with the
! hostile elements because they 'like IT,"
The Klondlke is the supreme test even
for such adopts, and they are a unit in
! the belief that success In the Alaska
placer mines must be the result Of
years of patient drudgery and may
never be achieved. 1t has been the ex-
perience Of all that pay dirt extracted
| In an Alaska winter 10y incessant and
tedious processes cannot be washed or
PANIED until the succeeding summer.
| Nor Is the open season much more ia.
vorable for the work Of hauling and
building than the winter. The mud Is
as impossible as the snow drift; mid
day in summer Is often too hot for
either work or sleep and travel-is more
hazardous than ever. In the depth Of
Winter the thermometer fingers about
90 degrees below zero. In the inter-
mediate season, just before the thaw,
the mercury has shown Is degrees be
low zero early In the morning and
jumped up to SO above by midday, n
change of temperature which IN time
will destroy the most powerful cOnstl-
tuition. Scarcity of food. extremes of
heat and cold, utter isolation and, above
all, the endless tedium Of the process
which may or may not bring wealth at
last are the sharp realities which con
front the ardent pilgrim who has
dreamed Of sudden wealth In the Blon-
dixie, and send him back with faith IN
"the States" renewed and frightened
by contrast. The gold Is in the Nlon
dixie stil and It will be mined by the
hermits who found It, while the boom
ers who followed them viii return &c
the widening avenues Of industry In
their own country. where the chances
Of success are fully as good