The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-06-12
TIN CANS FULL OF GOLD.
rBR ELoNDIKE ms RBBEARKABLE
RECORD FOR HONESTY.
Tents snd Oabias WITH Preoious lHohFds IN
Thou BeTt UnEunrdsd Withvut Lsse-Tsoal
Estate Speculation Wt Dawson City -
AncEy Mes rrorn Rpooklyn ana dorsey.

AHNANN w w SNNS
LueEy sfen rron Rrooklyn ana Jersey.
PASADENA. Gal, Juno 9.-Lyman A, Gregory,
u native OF Poughkeepsie, N. Y, and for ten
years q resident Of Trenton. N. j., returned
from Dawson City this wook and has much to
say Of tho richness OF the Klondiko gold folds.
What do 1 base my opinion uponi" no said
in reply to n question on tho subject. Whom,
in travelling from cabin 70 cabin. ono sees ftve-
gallon coal oil cans filed with gold dust and
nuggets under the miners hunks and secs londs
Of 500 and 600 pounds OF the precious yellow
stun brought In by parties of miners from no.
mote camps and deposited with one Of the two
rich commercial and transportation companies
that have headquarters at Dawson. one very
naturally comes TO believe that there is some
thing in the stories of the richness OF the Klon-
dixie digginRs.
out on El Dorado Creek-twonty miles south.
east from Dawson-thcro is a settlement Of
miners who camo from Seattle and Spokane.
They have among them about fourteen claims
and I have seen out there literally a galvanized
washtub two-thlrds full Of gold dust and flakes.
A number Of the log cabins OF miners out there
IN that natural storehouso Of gold have In them
dozens of tomato and fruit cans hidden under
tho hunks and buried In the dirt floors of tho
cabins and filled with gold. One Norwegian
miner, who can't read or write and has a claim
on bunker Creek. sho wed me last fall a pair of
heavy canvas overalls that were his treasury.
He had sewed and overlapped the legs OF the
garment 30 as to mako two great heavy bags.
1 think he must have had 100 pounds avoirdu-
pois of the yellow metal on hand when / was at
his cabin. That was worth about $27, 900.
Miners on the Klondike creeks have utilized
rubber boots. kerosene oil cans, coffee cans,
fruit jars, salt sacks and buckskin and wnlrus
hide bags for tho keeping of their golden
,-noINk TA,yorl NEn,a, Aan. D.-t..z-
of Mines for the Canadian Government in the
Klondike region. told me recently that no had
seen a ton of gold 10 his travels among the
claims along the richest creeks in one week. I
have seen several times In one day in the cabins
along such creeks as Bonanza, FL Dorado and
Gold Bottom, 100000 worth of gold. and l was
not out trying to sec the stuff, either. Mr..
Mason told me that In one day last summer he
saw George Miller lone OF the first half dozen
white men in the Klondike diggings) and five
helpers sluico nearly 200 ounces of gold from
Miller's claim mo. 81 on Ell Dorado Creek. That
makes the yield worth about $4,000. Bill
Emory. who came down the coast from Dawson
on the Portland last August and sold his gold at
the San Francisco mint for SS7, 900 and was a
hero about California for q few weeks, had
about SAC, 600 more in gold saved up when l
last saw him and he expected to run the amount
up to $4,000 by his annual cleanup or sluicing
You probably wonder why such n land Of
gold would not make a thieves paradise. Three
for attempted robbery among the mining cabins
during the last seven months. Two were shot
another was hanged. One man had got ten
miles away from the scene of his theft when
the, fearful cold caused him to stop for the
there was something wrong about the man.
who did not look IKE q genuine Klondiker, and
was not able to talk intelligently about the spot
where he had dug, the metal. So the miner
secretly spread information concerning tho
suspected man. The thief WINS tried by fifteen
men al, a cabin. The trial lasted two hours,
after which the man was stood up aud shot bc-
cause the weather was unfavorable for an exc
cution by hanging. and there was no available
OF snow and ice.
Il never knew such honesty, as there is
among the Klondike miners in their abins-
mark you, ! am not speaking now OF affairs in
Dawson. It is common for u miner to go on a
and leave his cabin unbarred and mnbo. ed TO
any one who comes that way. You hear true
sling among m S% tho gold ,i id dieFers, U en mSn cabins wbG; ,r and
tents left open while the owners have gono
miles away on business or q visit, and see jars
with pounds of pure god in them. A friend of
mine was out prospecting on Bear Greek last
quaintance. The owner had gone fifteen miles
to TO- Ds avs nj 70 ,gsf Fu6 up; after # etrhth the weeks of s i C.
wooden mackerei kits in one corner Of the cabin
Cd bl a1lse T Sad b ssId cS 6gfe; \ tSS Ti%y; d 5Htte tSd
$4,000. Up in the Klondlke a thief cannot
and 1t is impossible for him to stay there and
not be apprehended for PTS crime"
"At the rate OF 1000 a week, now that the
thousands of people who braved a journey
the most desolato and sullen country man ever
locked upon have begun to reach 1t; Dawson
will have fully $1,000 population before the
population of five white men and eleven half.
breed Innuiis. Tho whole site of dawson
day tho same area is worth about 81, 600. 900.
Ono cannot find a spot in all Dawson where
the moss and earth may not be cleared away Ia
a depth of twelve or fifteen inches and a cake
tate market at Dawson is as fruitful Of specu,
lAtion as gold mining is. No town in tho
United States ever know such marvellous leaps
in values as these in Dawson during the last
than about, gold mining even, and that 10 saying
for 81 1000; last fall for 81. O0O. last December
for $4,000. and a month ago sold for $4,000.
SOLO for $4,000 last August. They were no.
Gently sold for $4,000. Last year logs sold
r Snd si,4o M np,eG ef , fmd bn nHT they arc S9 nnn atIMc, u y
Of logs hewn on three sides and chinkcd with
heavy moss. The roofs are made OF poles or
which a layer OF moss fully ten Inches thick 8 Is
laid. and then n layer of dirt about twelve
incnes deep serves TO keep out the cold. II
green logs are used they crack and make 70
ports not unlike a pistol shot when the heavy
frosts come, and for the remainder of the win
ter frost will ac Emulate on the inside of The
cabin and ii is impossible TO get enough heul
out of the stoves to thnw rho ice. About l3C
log cabins and some 500 or 800 tents constitut,
the improvements of Dawson City. Tho build
inys are on the-streets, and a wide avenue sepa
rates the city from the river bank.
Mechanics get an ounce OF gold for nine
hours work, and many OF them are earning from
$40 TO $25 a dav. Aside from the two stores
three or four barber shops, half a dozen laun
dries, five or six restaurants. a secondhand
store or two, two sawrnills, three butcher shops
two jewelry, stores, q dozen physicians ant
the principal business engaged in is whiske!
and gambling. Compared with prices In thu
States. the prices at first glance seem ex
wages Of from $40 TO $40 Il day is taken int
consideration, tho charges appear more rea
sonable. Moat brings 20 cents u pound; cod
fish. 40 cents; a shave costs 30 cents, and
hair cut 81; five gallons OF kerosene sell 70
$50: meals at the Chinese restaurant cost H.
each, and on Sundays ~; cigars that sell for
cents in the United States bring 80 cents II
Dawson. and once last winter they were at u
bread is worth 81 n loaf. md rubber boots tai
solutely necessary In working n placer Rot