The record-union., 1899-07-15
Opinions Differ as TO the Richness
Of the New Discovery.
Some Prospectors Confident That It Will
Prove Very Rich,


Purpose of Taking People Up
There and Getting Money Out
of Them.
+ SEATTLE, July 14.-The steamer
Alliance arrived this morning from
ST. Michael and Alaska. She is the
first vessel to arrive from the mouth
of the Yukon this season, and brings
advices from the newly discovered
gold field of Cape Nome.
When the Alliance left St. Michael
the season was not far enough ad-
vanced to determine the future of the
diggings. PrOspectors were very con-
fident that the country would prove
very rich. Colors were found almost
everywhere throughout the zone, which
is thirty-five miles square, and nearly
all available ground has been staked.
In some instnces there are four or five
claimants to one property. AS soon as
warm weather sets in and material for
sluicing is at hand the true value OF
the ground will be known.
Pans from 50 to 81 are common
Only one cleanup has been made thus
far. 1t was that of Gabe Price and
Louis Lane on claim No. g. above Dis
covery, on Anvil Creek. With four
men shoveiing eight days they took
out $4,000. Not shovelful was taken
from the bed of the creek. The gold
is different from that of the Yukon, in
that it is quite black, due to iron. 1t
runs about SIS to the ounce. On a
loi, o;,,;- D,;4o n1 n
Kittelson took $4 to the pan.
There was great rush of men from
ST. Michael into the district. Town
lots are selling as high as $1,000
David S. Lane, a former real estate
dealer of San Francisco, who was a
passenger on the Alliance, brings the
latest news from Ophir and Melsing
Creeks. A stampede from Cape Nome
to these creeks took place last No
vember. Lane says pay dirt was found
running from 25 cents to SO to the pan.
Nobody had struck bedrock yet. He
declared that the country is no place
for a poor man to rush off to. Wages
paid the last winter were So per day.
and the only chance a poor man has
is to work for wages or take a lay.
ANA|
partner from Council City on June
25th last. the latter said Yesterday
four men on Snow .Gulch cleaned up
1900. DR.. Kittleson took out S42
from one pan of dirt Many pans run
ming from $40 to S25 have been washed
out"
AS good story as any is the finding
of rich claim on Dexter Creek by
Leo Lounenburg. He struck good
ground on Dutch Creek, in the Ell Do
rado District. He then made a trip to
Nome and back, and with an old rick-
ETY. rocker washed out S23 in two
hours time on his claim on Dexter
Creek. With a good rocker he can
take out $3.50 a day, and with sluices
$1,000 a day, and everything seems
! to pay from the grass roots.
Very few claims up to the time Lane
left for the outside had been prospect
ed. Unprospected claims, or claims
showing pay dirt from the surface
down, were already commanding fabu-
lous sums. On Glacier Creek, a tribu-
tary of either Ophir or Melsing. offers
have been made as high as S25.000 for
a claim. On Ophir Creek itself good
claims were reckoned- at as high as
S150.00O. All the good ground has been
pretty we'll staked out
Some of the passengers who came
down on the Alliance do not bring en-
couraging reports from the Cape Nome
country. One of these passengers was
George Case of Ithaca, New York. who
does no hesitate to brand Cape Nome
as a fake pure and simple.
There is no gold at Cape Nome" he
said. 1.-The entire Cape Nome excite
ment has been worked up by trans
portation and trading companies for
the purpose of taking people up there
and getting money out of them. I
have been in several parts of Alaska,
including Dawson City and Birch
Creek, and there is plenty of gold
there, but there is none at Cape Nome"
Jacob Made of Canton, O., who was
passenger on the Alliance, thinks that
the predictions of the richness of the
Cape Nome diggings are not to be real
lied. He said: "On several of the
claims I saw gold taken out, but in
very small quantities In no instance
that I know of had bedrock been
reached It never will be reached until
wood in the district is the drift wood.
which is almost as precious as gold.
For six days I investigated the camp
and then came away thoroughly con-
vinced that the diggings were by no
means as rich as reported. Hundreds,
at the time l. was there, were flocking
in from Dawson. Many will come out
this summer thoroughly disgusted."
Among the passengers of the Alli-
ance was party of ten from Lowell,
Mass, who went into Koyukuk district
last year. L. R. harrington, member
of the party, said my candid advice
is for people to stay away from Koyu-
kuk The outlook is not encouraging.
We took up party of sixteen and left
six of them there to see what this sum-
mer's work would pan out We do not
come back disgusted and sore with the
the country, but believe that there is
not sufficiency of gold there to war
rant rush into the country
Captain Walker in command of the
troops at st. Michael. has sent a detail
of ten men under Lieutenant Spaulding
to Cape Nome to preserve order.
The Alliance had 135 passengers,
most of them from Dawson City.
Purser Shaw states he only had about