The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-10-02

he remembered 1t. and allowed them to re-
main In the hands of his friends.
Early in the present year party OF
young men came into possession of one
of these maps and set forth in the deter
mination to find the creek and the placer.
They crossed Autn lake and began to
prospect the stream which is now called
Pine creek AS they made their way up
the valley they came upon Miller at work.
After some years OF other ventures he
had returned to his early discovery ana
was busily sluicing. lie believed himself
to be in the Northwest territory, and to
avoid royalty and for other reasons had
kept his mining quiet
The new comers readily agreed to be
silent also and they, too. set 10 work.
After some week, however, it was consid-
cred safer TO record and a man was sent
to Tagish House for that purpose.
The Motley Crowd of PrOspectOrs.
Maj Strickland, the commissioner of the
Upper Yukon, also believed the mines to
be in Northwest territory, and made record
of the claims. He afterwards visited Pine
creek and the claimants staked in ac-
cordance with Northwest territory laws,
reserving ten claims for the Queen and
claiming $50 feet each. When this visit
of Mai Strickland became known, rumors
of Miller rich mine began to sift about.
Soon the facts of his location became
known and the rush began from Bennett,
Skagway and other towns down the coast.
The news moved out serially Ike circles
on the water The crowds of men which
this wave touched melted away from the
street corners like heaps of sand on the
beach. In parties of threes and fours they
"hit the trail and in couple of days
these nearby towns were well nigh empty
of men. BARRIERS, merchants, mechanics,
ma uyb
get away-puled out for the gold fields
or sent some one 10 represent him. The
hands on the steamboats, leaped ashore.
The railway graders deserted in hundreds
and along every trail these two-leggeo
beasts Of burden poured as II some vast
plague of strange beetles had set in from
the coast.
Some went in with ten days provisions;
some with more, but the larger part of
these "tenderfoot miners" went with
cigarette and a sandwich" They covered
the hillsides Of Bennett lake with tents;
they set rude masts in fratl boats and al
the risk of life crowded into clumsy barges,
while others sought short cuts across the
glaciers and over unexplored swamps.
Every conceivable folly was manifested
Scarcely one man in ten of ali this host
could properly pan a shoVelful of dirt and
not a few of them were the ne r-dO-wells
of the country.
The experienced man was in less haste.
He took three months grub; together
with proper tools and clothing and went
in for a careful study OF che country.
Bennett lake was the shipping point for
most of these men who had precaudOn and
means enough to properly provide for
themselves. Many Of the sty-puddins
prospectors, however, tried other ways
and met with disaster. More than 200 who
tried the overland trail failed TO cross the
ls.r. r. 700 nj wi n
lie between the coast and the head of At
Lin water and were forced to return, rag
ged snow-blind, Tank and detected.
Locntion of the New Fields.
The strike was in a region little known
to the boatmen of the lakes Pine creek
lies far east Of the Yukon travel. No
one know how extensive Tagsh water
was and Atlin bay lay in a still more com
pIetely unexplored region 10 the east. To-
ward this land the mob cheerily voyaged,
mainly by small boats from Bennett. AT
ter packing over the forty-four miles of
trail, four or five Of these weary and
foot-sore Adventures would spread sail in
a boat and 60 sweeping down the long,
sparkling pea-green drift of the lake, their
caps exultantly in the air.
But when Tagish water was reached the
songs lost something of their resonant
major. The wind forever rOars down
ldSiSu idht am IT, ffhihy arm db IL
does through the granite grove in which
lies Bennett lake. There was no more
sailing: then work began. It was an inch
by-inch struggle with the strong lusty
waves against head wind. 1t was the
work of days to drive the boat up the
seventy or eighty miles of water between
Caribou Crossing and the TolSu arm of
Tagish. From there the way was easier
with a little sailing. maybe, to the land
ing of Taku City. From Taku CITY. a
short and easy portage of two miles leads
10 Atlin lake
All this sailing and rowing was on one
Of the most superb and splendid inland
waters in America Far to the south the
lofty glaciers Of the savage coast range
shone like glass and the bases of the
peaks were purple with distance.