The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1899-06-30
KOTzEBUE GOLD
NEVER EXISTED
Tale Started by Trans
% ortation Companies.
HUNDREDS WERE DECEIVED
NOT SIS WORTH OF GOLD FOUND
IN THE DISTRICT.
Prospectors Who Flocked Thither
Weary of Pursuing Chimeras
and Anxious Only to Get
Back Home.
HUNDREDS WERE DECEIVED
NOT SIS WORTH OF GOLD FOUNI
IN THE DISTRICT.
Special Dispatch to The Call.

SEATTLE, June 29.-The latest adj
vices from Kotzebue, Alaska, are given
in letter from Albert c. Thees, form
erly of this place, who writes under
the date of January 8 that not bit of
gold has been found where he win
tered on the Ku- Buck River and the
question with the miners there is how
to get away There were in camp
twenty-three whites and twenty eight
natives opposite the mouth of the Hunt
River Not a cent of gold, says Thees,
has been taken out of the whole coun-
try, and they consider they are entirely
out of the mineral belt. One man was
drowned, having broken through the
ice while hauling mail into the country
from the coast. good deal of salt
ing" had been done which has caused
more or less excitement.
Thees says the miners expect to get
out on the revenue cutter Bear. There
are, he thinks, 700 people in the Kotze-
bue, fifty on Wick River and l25 on the
NotOark.
The health of the whites has been
good, but numbers of the natives have
died.
DR.. j. S. Stone, a well-known physi-
clan, when went to Kotzebue Sound
with a party of prospectors in 1898, has
written the following letter to the AS
ISOLATED Press:
, Maune Luck River Jan. !. 1S99.-A letter
was published on March 81. 1898. written
by one John Ross to w. c. Ralston in
! reference to the fabulously rich mines
this river. he having taken out $4,000 in
fifteen or twenty days. Captain Cogan
also reported that in his trips to the, Arc
/ tic after bone and blubber he had an
chored in kotzebue Sound and had found
gold on his anchor and propeller blades
! This letter was seized by some of the
transportation companies, printed in cir
/ cular form and sent broadcast over the
United States. Vessels were put in readi
ness and billed to leave on certain date
for The richest gold fields in AIaskan
| Climbing '-"One Days Boating Two
Days Towing From Kotzebue Sound"
AS result some 1900 men paid their 5000
! passage fee. bought two years supply of
I clothing. provisions. etc, and came to
/ Alaska. only to find on their arrival that
/ every word contained in the circular was
fase-a lie made out of whole cloth.
/ Even after leaving San Francisco the
/ passengers on most vessels had to help
out the crews in making sail and the food
! We had to eat was eXecrable.
There has been no gold found on kOtZe-
/ bue Sound, on either the Kowak, Notoark
or Selawik rivers. which flow into Hotham
/ Inlet part of the sound, or any of their
| tributaries in anything like paying guam
I titles to date. Some infinitesmal colors
/ have been found which require a power
found had been carefully saved all to-
! gether would not have weighed one single
/ dollar.
The first river prospected was the Suuir-
. rel eighty miles above the mouth of the
/ kowak-prospeCted from head to mouth.
Then the Reed. Salmon Labret and Hunt
but very fine colors found. Next came the
/ Amber, nearly as large as the kowak.
This was thoroughly prospected and par
ties crossed over to the headwaters of
the Notoark Nothing was found there
but the same fine colors. Other parties
went up the ShungNa Cosmos, Kogo-
; luktuk, Pickkne-Che-ArH, Man-ne-luck
and Par rivers with like results. This
winter all the tributaries of these streams
are being prospected and more than one
thousand holes are being sunk to bedrock
! which in many places is very deep and
difficult to reach. Frequently the prospect
hole is thirty-five feet deep with no bed
rock and no colors.
After removing the surface moss and
six or seven feet of muck or gravel you
often strike warm spring of water that
Immediately fills up the hole and runs
over. After this feezes you chop out the
ice. fire again to thaw the underlying
ground, and after digging few feet an
other spring breaks forth with like results
and treatment. Finally bedrock is
reached and in the majority of instances
not single color is found.
About 1 the ~, lst Of Noy ,e , a report
the Koyoukuk, saying that gold in large
quantities had been found there. Imme-
diatey all was excitement and more than
one hundred of our party loaded up their
seds and started for the new Eel Dora
DO" After sixteen days of hard work,
cutting trails and pulling sleds with a
load of 80 pounds, with the thermometer
from As to SO degrees below zero, these
men arrived at Beaver City. city OF
seven cabins: on the Alla AS to find
started by two men. one merchant who
had supplies to sell. and the other the
recorder of claims, who hoped to cause 4
rush to record claims and to sell supplies
All these men have returned and state
that the prospects there are even worse
than here. Reports from the Koachatnu
another tributary of the Koyoukuk, have
taken over ZaneS Pass several men who
are expected back next week. OF the 150(
men who, came here probably one-halt
returned by the vessels that brought
them. The remainder are here and al
work, all discouraged and only waiting
for the ice to leave so that they can &c
back to Kotzebue. Sound and await the
coming of some ship to take them back
to civi, cation. viii that ship come?
Do not let these transportation compa-
MES hoodwink the people again on mere
conjecture. If there is anything found
here the world will know it. This is &
cold inhosptabe =, county, ryr that produce
nothing raised in the soil. Fish are album
dant but without good, warm clothine
+ and plenty of provisions no one could live
ter or since July last single bear, deer
!, moose elk or even a rabbit. During tbs
summer few wild geese were killed. and
this winter few grouse. There is practi-
caly nothing here in the shape of animal
!. life but the ''Arctic mouse" the most dc
structive animal of its size with which
am acquainted. and as | write this / hear
him cutting into our sacks of provisions
There are very few birds. l can only re-
call two that ] have seen this winter
, They may migrate to a warmer climate
Although the thermometer registers from
as to Sc below zero, | do not feel the cold
? very much. If one is out for any length
of time one must rub ones nose, cheeks
: and ears or they will freeze. Many haze
been slightly frostbitten
r.zao4;a, 80 Cro,;4o