The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1899-03-06
FINDER Or THE IREADUELL
PETER r. D~vIILE FIRST DgSCOv-
EaED THE FAMOUS NINE.
work II Esd His Claim Was
Jsap<A-fsseressin Life Of scion

sKAGwAT. Fec. ., isse.-one 81 the
no~t noted characters connected WITH ire
history 81 Alaska and snss Northwestern
country reached here from Ds's-soH to-day
and h awaiting the arrivsl Of a boat en-
route TO Ottawa VIA saneeuysr. 10 arrange
tne desain~ of some rsis-rg matters o. lac
Yukon, nanny. Peter r. 5a Vile. a lte-
rser wno has endured untold bar1ssEr and
expended unfoid physical energies in hss
ssssrcs for gold, covering PERIOD OF swSn-
.y-s-ven years. notwithstanding All tlitsst,
ne remains today a mar 81 fefkksrA2b.e
presence and pfsyssqEss enjoying the most
perfect heath Mr.. dc Vile VAS tae orig
inas iisccsereF of the xorIs-fansosks Tread
xelt mine. which fact i earrosozated ~
jack Dalton akso now In Sxagsas. and
warm personal friend OF he Ft'ie- Infor-
tunat@ly Tor LIZ VILE. ahsn h. discovered
and stakea the T'readxea Ei.ae. h~ did not
know iss great posslosliiies and although
be made great efforts 10 secure capital 20
work 4. he failed, ard some ore @hss Sc
cured poses ss.en By jumping his Gain, ana
The results are nov common history
Mr.. DE- Vile comes from an HfssTiois
French family that was bassls4sed D. Ma
po.eof III. TIE fsfa.r male EnEsand Ms
hcme, where young De Vile sas born and
reared, but educated IN Paris. So. while
Engt.sa BY birth. he h FrfgEcn by ednca-
ton and now American 10 the core ~
adoption and sxperissace. he came 10 me
United States when 8 young man. Beng
rent here. by he father To gan a know edge
of the weird bs practical experience lie
came TO the Northwest in search of adven-
lures and through taeui became 50 en-
amored CT the wild life or a pFss-sctor
that ne never CEASED from prosecuting IL.
ending now In being the passs OF many
valuable msne~. and counted Ole OF the
-. =. r.
iy educated and accomplished. he - q NEST
interesting talker Hs narrative, briefly
stated by himself 10 your correspondent, Is
as follows:
Early Prospecting In Alaska.
II frs; came 10 British Columbia In 1877.
and for the next seven years Drospsctso
different sections of the Csriboo ard Ross
land countries getting hold OF some OF the
best properties ever located in those TWO
districts. After that came Ia Alaska.
and after spending some time prospect ng
around WrangeI | came on up 10 S4tka.
but sooa dTifts.I naek 20 Juneau. arriving
there dersng The early parg OF 1872 I first
came through this country tSkagway. 81
early as 1913. getting into The interior a.
far a. what - noS known as Daw~'n-
/ failed then 10 ind anything worth nav
ing The next year l weat INTO the Atm
district gong in via the White pass. thence
ever the Too-ehi route as far az Atm.
| was az,eied ON that trip by some insii-
ars. ard | suffered the most terrible hard
shlTs and prsvafions OF my hfe fnoSs
wha thought the trip over the White pass
in 1891 vas a hard one. should nave been
with me and they would have ecnFiiered
their experience a picnic.
I'm fs1. I discovered the now famous
Treadwen mine also the Mexico mine.
and Staked them. but unfortunately. not
having the ready means AT the time Ia
develop and hold them I lost them while
endcavoring tn secure outside capital /
knew II was a rich proposition. though
never dreamed of it's possibilities. and the
loss of IL rather discouraged me for
while. !. however, renewed my efforts In
other directions. and next made a trip
into the Forty Mile district going In
over Jack Daiton's trail l established
several trading posts In that section and
came out over the same tratl. On my
way back 10 Juneau stopped In the vi
cinity of the Porcuplne river and estahS
iished a trading post. while incidentally
doing considerable prospecting.
Relieves In the Porcupine.
ST beEeve that the porcupinc country
will yet exceed the hopes Of the most
sang,lina and that IL will ha a flourish
Ing camp next summer. Furthermore. l
verify believe that that section of the
country between the Porcupine and the
Tanana as far as the headwaters OF the
White river, will yet offer the hest In
tucesnents TO the hardy prospector ~ any
in the entire Northwest. I was all through
that country In the early SOS, and found
not only good prospects Of gold bu, also
brought Oh; some very fine prospects OF
copper
lin JsSs I prospected the kinndike
gion very extensively on THE Indian river
hut II proved so terrihiy expensive 20 get
supplies sn there that | concluded | could
not make the figsingS pay. AZ the time
tho klanaike was struck I was in Circle
city prospecting but IL dif net take
long To gather up my traps and fall In
line Nth the others. and being in the
vanguard I succeeded In locating some
good properties Hunter bonanza and
Dominion. all ~ which I SIN hold, ans.
which am having worked this winter.
when l first came 10 this country
txents~seven years ago. I had no inten-
| ttou Of remaining any length ~ time.
bat here. as nowhere else | could se.
the world stretching eat in one vast pan
osama % possibilities and seCa found
myself reluctant tc iraye II untIf mad
succeeded iu awaiting self ~ the WON
sserssil opportunities sssw offered al All
sides l arr pleased tn sav that have
at last succeeded rot. howager. without
and pFivagioas ta&s would have asscour-
aged many men"
Mr. de Vile reported IL raining when
he left Dawson February . and pro-
| naunees 4 the warmsss winter eve, ex-
pertenced in there Stree gSs&
r.. q. wISFIAAR.