Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1898-10-28
FROM THE Land Of GOLD.
An Expert Sent to Klondike
Tells of His Ex-
plorations.
MUCH CAPITAL INVESTED
HardShipS Have Been Greatly Ex-
aggerated, Though Dangers
Are Many.
MUCH CAPITAL INVESTED

my Healthy, Pushing Man who Is Prop
oriy Equipped Can Thrive Thero-ChiI-
koot Pass Not as Dangerous as Reported
Tho Greatest Hardship OF All Is tho
Mosquitoes.
Waldemar Bry has just returned
from a ten-weeks' Journey through the
hlondike. He went there In the inter
est OF syndicate OF European capital
lists searching for a fair field for in
vestment SO favorable was Mr. Brys
report that $1,000. 900 of foreign money
Is already practically spent in the new
gold fields. Many millions more will
follow.
His business was to investigate every
foot of the gold-yielding area, to re-
] port on all natural conditions and to
set forth plainly the future prospects
or the country. With these ends in
view he travelled rapidly, tried the
various mountain passes, trou many of
the valleys, sailed over lakes and
rivers, talked with miners, investi-
gated the results of human toll and
privation and examined the earth at
different places to a depth Of twenty
feet.
The hardships OF life in the Klon-
dixie have been greatly exaggerated.
Any healthy, pushing, intelligent man
who is properly equipped can thrive
there. No man should go to the Klon-
dixie who has any disease Of the lungs.
liver or kidneys, or who is subject to
rheumatism. No man should go unless
he can carry with him a years pro-
visions and 900 in cash. He who
has merely the provisions will find
that they are exhausted before he can
realize anything from his labor. Then
he will need the cash
I'VE left San Francisco on May 16.
and ten days later we entered the Chill
kCot Pass. 1t took us two days and
Two nights to reach Lake Linderman
where we bought a scow 20 feet 'ong
and feet wide. We rested a day and
then with ten tons of provisions we
set sail for Lake Bennett. One Mile
River connects these two lanes. 1t is
a tortuous, fretful, dangerous stream.
Its shores are strewn with the wrecks
of the boats. Many explorers have
paid with their lives the penalty of in
experience OF Drawing the passage of
this stream. We reached Bennett on
May 80.
There was considerable travelling in
the neighborhood, and at Tagish Lake
and Fort Selkirk, where there are GUS
tom houses, we met many adventurous.
In six days we reached Dawson City.
/ Let me say a word about the ascent of
the Chilkoot. 1t is not half as difficult
or as dangerous as many printed
stories paint it.
The pass starts from Canyon City
and the trail is rough as far as Sheen
Camp, but any average man can make
the trip From Sheep Camp to Scales
1t is more difficult because the ascent
is sleeper and because Of the tons of
rotten snow that cover it, At places
this snow is sixty feet deep. BY actual
measurement the Chilkoot is $500 feet
high. The last thousand feet is almost
/ perpendicular, but the Canadian Gov
eminent has fixed a rope along this
distance which is q great aid to the
/ climbers.
Pay streaks range from nine feet to
thirty feet below the surface First
you have to remove four feet of moss
and then go through from five to fif-
teen feet OF mug, which is decayed
matter. Below this is blush clay in
which the gold hides. The bedrock Is
always frozen. To work 1t in winter
fires have to be kept blazing. Mr..
Steppe and / figured the output for the
past year at from $15.0OO,OOO to 500
100000. This estimate was approved
by Major Walsh, the Governor OF the
Northwest territory.
Ia
Ing. In summer the thermometer
ranges from 40 to 100 degrees. In
winter it varies from 30 to so degrees
below zero. Always there is much rain
and dampness. The greatest hardship
of all is the mosquitoes For eleven
weeks each summer they are almost I'M
endurable. I have seen strong men lie
down and cry like babies from the suf-
fering caused by them. / have worn
a mask over my face and In a short
time 1t would be so thickly covered
with the pest as to obscure the light.
Almost any time l could run my hand
down my arm and kill so many that
the blood would flow in a stream.
There are no mosquitoes at Dawson.
but it is impossible to live In the
swampy sections because of them. In
the winter they-bury themselves in
the moss and come out in great clouds
In the summer.
There is sufficient gold in sight 0
warrant the statement that between
$500 100000 and $780, 200 900 will be
taken out in the next six or seven
years.
THE dogs used is the district for
transporting goods are the Malamuth
breed. They are a cross between the
coils and the ordinary wolf For in
telligence, strength, endurance and
fidelity to their masters they have no
equals in the world.
please warn all persons who intend
visiting the Klondike against entering
1t by the way of ST. Michaels. Tell
them to go by way Of Chilkoot Pass,
and thus avoid many --ards..ips aud