The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-09-01

If they do so. Dawson will be a deat
town, sure. and hope it will, for tn,
/ officials there are the meanest set q
cusses | ever. read about I for on,
have been unable to get any mail what
ever from there, and they say the onl,
! way you can get your mail is to HAND
in nugget when you ask for it.
have sent the nugget by a friend anC
hope 10 get some mail by the time W.
are frozen IN again. / have not heard
from you since l have been in The
country, although I have written 70,
repeatedly and can't help but believe
| you have written me in reply The let
tiers We sent out of here last fall anC
| winter cost us a
DOLLAR APIECE,
and 1 received seven in April which
cost me so many dollars, and the latest
date Of any of them was Oct. g 1897
but this is considered the least of the
drawbacks in this country My adj
dress III the future will be this place
Qtampart City,. Send all mail matter
| in letters, as papers never reach here,
although there is a better outlook for
the future.
But the meanness of the Dawson Off
Gals viii eventually be of great bene-
pectofs are coming to Alaskan terri
tory to prospect, and where there are
SO many something is sure to be found.
Just over the line we already have
Eagle City, which is the supply station
of American creek and it's tributaries.
also Seventy Mile and other creeks and
rivers close there. The outlook for this
place is considered very bright. but
from what l can learn it is nothing but
boom town as yet.
The diggingS at Forty Mile and vi
entity are reported about worked out.
l do not know what the truth of the
matter is.
ABOUT CIRCLE CITY.
Circle City is supported by the Birch
Creek diggings, the principal creeks be-
ing Mastodon, Eagle, Miller and Dead
wood or Hogum creeks. There was
plenty of work there this summer and
is yet. for possibly 600 men, but the
great difficulty is in getting provisions
out there. Some of the claim owners
have provisions and either sell to or
board the men working for them, but
the great majority have to carry their
grub out and most of them find they
have eaten up what they started with
by the time they get there, the dis
tance being about 20 miles and taking
from three to five days to make the
trip, it depending entirely on the man.
PLEASURES OF TRAVELLING.
My partner and 1 made the trip out
with 50-pound packs. l had thought
that l had tackled tough propositions,
but L have changed my mind. I can
not find words to express how hard
trip it is. The greater part of the dis
tance is through a swamp knee deep
With rough tufts of moss, or niger
heads as they are called here. to walk
on. and a man has to be as stout as a
horse to stand the trip in good shape.
Then there was mosquitoes. l thought
there were mosquitoes up in Rich coun-
ty, Utah, but | realize my mistake now.
There are three sizes here. and one
has to get out in the flats away from
the river to appreciate them. l wore
gauntlet gloves and a netting over my
face made out of bobo, netting holes
or meshes no larger than a pin head
and yet they almost drove me wild.
They would crawl down my gloves and
up my sleeves, get through my netting
and bite my face and even bite through
my heavy wool shirt where my under
clothes didn't happen to extend They
work "a hour shifts and are as fresh
as daisies at the end of that time and
ready to commence another shift. L
now agree with the old timers that
though the winters are long and cold
yet they are better than the summers"
have experienced both and
WILL TAKE MINE IN WINTER
in the future. But. returning to the
Birch Creek digginSs. The whole
was staked last fall and win
ter, and the claims that are jumpable
are not worth jumping, and the claims
that are good are not, nor never have
been. abandoIfed, and never will be ex-
cept for a good stiff sum, so that l con-
slider the outlook of Circle City for
the future as not very bright, as men
cannot afford to stay there and hand |
heir grub out in the winter for 10 /
lays work in the summer Although I
wages are from SIS to SO per day, /
living is correspondingly dear, and be- /
sides, claim owners there are talking /
IF laying their claims over for two /
lears or until wages are lower.
RAMPANT CITY.
Now L will drop down to Rampant /
City, which is the name of the town on /
he Yukon where the latest discovery
las been made, / mean the Minook /
district. SO far the only paying prop /
rites are all on Little Minook creek, /
which is about seven miles from the /
own. There are only five rich claims
10 ldE OH lGlS CIttA, although are
'ther claims that are fair pay Then
here is Idaho bar, which was started
asst spring, and is the mountain top
Little Minook and Hunter
reeks and is supposed to be an old
liver bed. The indications are that it
will be rich, but it cannot be pros
ected till winter comes again, al
hough one party claims TO have taken L
ut $50 with a rocker in five hours
york and found one nugget that
weighed $714.
Then there is another creek, Quail !,
reek. which was Staked last spring,
nd is summer diggings, being the only
ummer diggings so far discovered in
his district. They are now shoveling
4 on this creek and claim it pays, the
My proof of that being the fact that
hey continue to shovel in.
BRIGHT PROSPECTS.
On the whole l think the outlook for
his camp is the brightest Of any in
.laska. My reasons are:
First-The highest grade of gold ever !
)und in Alaska, it assaying $1S7S.
Second-The whole country is not
taxed. as it is in the upper country.
Third-There is a large area of coun- {
" that has never been prospected. I
Fourth-We are getting miners here $
lat are used to prospecting and are
OF afraid of few hardships.
A PROSPECTIVE COUNTRY. g.