The San Francisco call., 1898-04-19

less than frightful results of the rush or unprovisioned and unprepared peo- pie into that frost bitten land. I have told about that. I have seen gold thaWed out of the ice in such quantity as to amaze the miner, and 1t Is none the less my business to tell about that. I did not see Alex Mcdonald take Sl1. 900 rom four buckets of dirt gathered from the bedrock of No. 27, Fl Dorado. but l have it on so much authority that 1 may say that I know he did SO aid see single pans of dirt yield as much as $50 so frequently that 1t ceased 10 be matter worth noting I saw a | nttle glrl stand on a dump in Fl De- rado and by permission pick up all the nuggets she could find before the next bucket came up from the shaft. A few minutes later the results of her brief industry were weighed in a neighboring cabin and developed a value of s35 They keep a watchman on the dump at 39 Bonanza in order that no thief may steal the dirt at night.
 But the most important thing that I nave to say here is that this very rich ground Is not wholly confined to these two creeks-Bonanza and Fl Dorado. mat Is the question constantly being asked, and I am able to answer it. On June of last year the first stake was driven on Dominion Creek. That was little more than ten months ago. On the 12th there was the usual stam- pede that follows the first reports of a new discovery, and number If claims were staked. Then came the custom ary reaction. Many of those who joined in the trying summer journey over the divides from Dawson, about twenty-five miles refused to record their claims, believing them to be of no value. The stampede became a joke. Along the trail as l came over about March 1 last found remembrances of the spirit of fun that it had developed Posted upon trees and upon boards that then scarcely protruded above the snow were such notices as: T claim ten miles of this creek to be used as a frog pond"; T claim this tree for | climbing purposes; T claim tn. sky above for the purpose of raising an- gels. Very many of those who took the trouble to make the trip thought so little of what they secured by it that they refused to pay the s15 that 1t cost to record 1t and so make it their own. The techarcos, or newcomers, knew so little about mining in Alaska, or the Northwest Territory, and what constituted reasonably good-looking ground that some of them built cab ins and began prospecting It was only 1 during the latter part of the winter that there was a trail from Dawson to either Dominion or Sulphur Creek that | could be followed with any kind of cer- tainty. Now both these creeks are staked from the hilltop to the mouth, and claims are valued as high as s1OO,- O0O, and the most remote and unpros- l pected claims are quoted above a thou sand. And the change Is not a matter of mere booming, but is the legitimate | result of what the men who dug in the ground found there. Out of the pros pect holes dirt has been taken that showed two ounces of coarse gold to the pan.
 | Dominion and Sulphur creeks are branches of the same stream, empty l ing into Indian River nd the story of | one Is the story of both The owners of the claims are jubilant, and expect to see their properties placed in the | class with those of the Bonanza and | El Dorado. This expectation has such | reasonable basis that Joe Barrett, who owns some of the best properties on | both Bonanza and Fl Dorado, told me 1 that If S50 900 was taken out of Dominion Creek in the cleanup this summer in view of the slight development work | that has been done there this winter
 
 takes out of his aforementioned prop critics into the purchase of claims in the newer field This Is what many of the so-called bonanza kings will do and are doing. Alex Mcdonald, who is the | king of these kings, in that he owns more rich claims than any other, is do- | ing so. He Is buying up claims not on- l ly on Dominion and Sulphur but on many other creeks about which even l less is known. He owns a dozen claims on both the creeks named. He is build | ing large storehouse on Dominion Creek about midway between the two | Discoveries" to cache supplies for | their development. This summer a per- manent trail will be built, leading over | the divide from Bonanza Creek at Cor macks down into Sulphur and Domin- | ion. Pack trains will be dispatched and make regular weekly trips from Grand | Forks, the town at the mouth of Fl 1 Dorado. Next winter will therefore | witness such scenes of extensive de- velopment on Hunker, Dominion, Sul- phur and perhaps Quartz Creek as we now find only on Bonanza and El | Dorado in this upper country. A com | pany has been formed and steps taken 1 for the building of a telephone line con- meeting all these creeks, and it is prob- able that the work will be competed | before the return of winter.
 So it is not strange that the habit | of laughing at the stampeder and his | claim because the creek located upon | has not been heard of before has gone | out of fashion in the far north The rac,,lf 0f fhis Winter'S proSpactinp h a e