The San Francisco call., 1898-07-24
LOST THEIR ALL IN THE
 COPPER RIVER DISTRICT

TACOMA, July 23-G. A. Kinsley and w. L. Mcdonald of Stockton, Cal, are two miners just returned from Cop per River. Their little pile has melted away until they have barely enough to reach home.
 We left San Francisco last Novem- Der in a party of seven, said G. A. Kfnsley to-day. "A company was formed, and each of us took stock, When we left we were asured by man who said he had been in that country that he would put us on good paying ground. We landed at Orca on Decem- Der II. From then on until we left we had not been anywhere near paying ground, and there Is not the slightest probability of any one ever getting on
 ground in the Copper River country
 that pays, or even ground that gives color Provisions are cheaper at NaldeS than here. Many times during the last two months flour has beer sold for 65 cents a sack. For over forty miles the
 alleged trail is lined vita provisions, left there by disappointed miners who will never go back. If the mass or
 people in there do not get out soon the steamer lines or the Government will
 have to bring them out.
 l taken out of that internal country to fill a small cavity in a tooth. We have
 spent many years in mines in Colorado and know what we are talking about when we say that the Copper River district is not mining country. We travelled around and prospected wher-
 ever there was the slightest probability
 of success, but always with the same ] result-no color Six more dtsap-
 pointed men here from Copper River 1 were members of the Worcester ] (Mass.) party of forty three that 1 started north three months ago with 1 big outfits and flattering prospects. i Several of the party are strapped,
 and must go to work to get funds to | carry them home.
 1 E. A. Pope of Illinois, now at Juneau, probably had the most thrilling ex- | perience of anybody who has ever ven
 tured into the Copper River country.
 Last April he lost big outfit in Taza- i line River while making his way from i Valdes to Copper River He then 1 joined five members of Government
 expedition in an attempt to locate
 summer route to Copper River, along an alleged Russian trail across the 1 Alaskan Range. Crossing the divide to l Tasmonia River, they veere Il eastward l to the head waters of Low River, which i they followed down to Great Box Can ! yOH, lIIOuSA W1llCll LllC NSINAo C- ~ l large basin are drained into Prince
 William Sound. This canyon is six
 miles long with crooked turns and
 granite walls 300 to 1500 feet high.
 The Government party built raft and started through the canyon on
 May 22. Near it's center thev suddenly turned a bend and dashed over 16- i foot waterfall. The raft struck rock ! below and broke into pieces. Pope 1 struggled to the right bank, where, wet
 to the skin, he spent four cold rainy
 days, without food, gazing up at the perpendicular cliffs and hoping that his l companions, if saved, would come back
 and let ropes down to rescue him. | Finally, in sheer desperation, he
 made a ladder by tying alder bushes 1 together with strips of his clothing By
 fastening this to snags and rocks he
 climbed upward 15o0 feet, knowing that
 a single rnisstep would dash him to death. The day after reaching the
 top he wandered into Valdes nearly
 dead. His companions, who were car
 ried downstream on a piece of the raft, l believed he had been drowned.