The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-09-18
THE ATLIN STAMPEDE
RUSH TO FHE NEWEST KLoNo1x
GOLD FIELD.

tias Left SkagWay Deserted-ShoD-
keepers Have Closed Their noo
to Join the OutpOur-HOyy H..
strike. Was Made and What Hns
Come of 1t Thus Far.
Skagway, Aug. 3O-After long travel and
some tribulation a genuine STAMPEDE" bas
been found. The latest rush" has invo,ved
the correspondent along with almost every
body else in this district Skagway is "a
quiet as a prairie town in winter. Tbera
Is no shooting, no grating" no rolling
OF newly arrived Dawson miners. and
very little gambling.
Every man who can get awav has eorn
or is going to the new strike at pins
creek, and those who can't get away ara
sendlng some one. They believe in this
strike They were not carried away nv tbs
stampede to Walsh Creek last winter but
they are excited now. Out of fifteen hun
dred men working on the railway nearly
a thousand have quit work. Many of tho
small shop keepers have locked their doors
or turned their business over to their
wives. On every side one may see men
with packs on their backs Flooding along
the trails to join a long procession Of
DINERS heavily laden two-Gegged beetles
with noses set to the north.
The excitement began a week ago ves
terday. The story goes that a man by thu
name of Roberts has been quietly work.
ing on a small creek which runs into Atlin
Lake from the easterly side He thought
he was in Northwest Territory and sub.
Ject to royalty, therefore he said httla
about his output. Some ten days ago ne
came into Bennett City to buy some pro,
visions and in a moment of indiscretion
his secret escaped him. Bennett was boil.
ing with the news when a steamer came
up the Yukon with some Dawson adyen.
turers aboard and some of them turned
back and made a determined rush to get
next"
Two of these men have returned to
Skagway and their report has put the
final push to an evacuation. One man
(Mr. Tenant, reputable citizen) says
ne dug small hole in his claim and at
four feet panned couple of shovels Of
dirt out of which he claims to have taken
out about 80 cents. have seen the gold,
but as it is in a bottle and looks very
much like other bottles of gold from Daw-
son l am not prepared to announce
great strike on Atlin Lake.
The other man who has been to this
promising land and returned is Mr. JEFF
Evans of Portland Ore. He also was on
the way back from Dawson and caught
the inspiring news at Bennett. He re-
turned last night and has told his story
try as it appears to his eye. He has
some coarse gold in an envelope which
he claims to have taken from the ground
on a second creek near the discovery.
He reports people streaming in by boat
and trail and that locations are being
made with great rapidity. He considers
il a cheerful country to mine in-open,
easily traversable, with plenty of water
for sluicing or rocking. The lake is beau
tiful and the soil a black alluvium. The
gold he showed was of mixed character.
1t consisted of fine dust, fiat scales and
one or two larger fiat nuggets. He
claimed to have secured this by digging
a few feet in the soil of his claim. He
did not go to bed rock
1t will thus be seen that no decisive
thing can be reported at the present mo-
ment The air is full of gold, but the
gold is mainly in the blue distance yet.
am to go in in day or two to see for
myself what the new mines contain.
Skagway has acquired unquestioned SUI
premacy among the coast cities. Her i'm
proVemeptS are more permanent and dur
ing my stay in the town / have hardly
realized that I was In a far Northern part
the cold winds from the mountains alone
remind me of it, The land is cold and ma
jestic without color or grace. Bronze
green, dull gray sea and vast rivers Of ice
descending from the clouds in splendid
sweeping curves, WINE lar ABOVE, tAo
peaks, half hid in angry mist, are stern
and menacing.
Men are beginning to roll into the town
from the South in response to the Cot
tage City's report Returned Dawson
miners may be seen on the street sur
rounded by clusters of eager listeners but
the man from Atlin Lake is treated with
almost as great respect. Rates for freight
to Lake Bennett range from to 10 cents
per pound Fare by boat to the head II
Taken Arm is $40 one way, $50 for the
round trip. One hundred pounds of gruD
free Boats are from SIS to 500 each. IL
is about 125 miles by way of boat ana
about fifty by dubious trail. Short cuts
are being tried and no doubt the resolute
prospectors will yet find way to get 10
the diggings in three days.
One attempt by way of glacier mas
ended in disaster. The glacier is said TO
be enormous and filed with deep crevases:
Some of the party became snow blind anu
all were badly worn out by the trip. IL
has disposed of that trail as a short cut
for the present and also settled that there
is no truth in the story that some man
had made a rich strike just over the ga
cer.
The weather is fair in the middle OF the
day, but clouds hover on the mountains
continually and the sunlight is faint anu
cold. Winter is not far away; his grim
presence is on the passes already.
HamUn Garland