Brookings weekly register. (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1898-1903, 1899-05-04
LETTER FROM KLONDIKE.
Roscoe Young Writes an Interesting Des-
cription of the Gold Region.

most year, find time to write you a
brief description Of the Klondike as it
looks to me, and after perusing these
pages, If you think it would be inter
esting to the readers Of the REGISTER,
you are at liberty to use 1t. In regard
TO myself only wish to say that am
still in good health and hopeful and il
everything goes according to my lik-
ing | will probably remain In the
country another year. And now l will
try TO tell you, in my poor way, all l
can about the country:
THE COAST.
| L presume more has been written
about the gold fields along the coasts
OF Alaska than is necessary for the in
terests Of the territory, already, and
in fact / know but little about it my
self, except from hearsay and what l
have read. There is good deal Of
quartz near Juneau, but 50 far as /
can learn it is all low grade ore, aver
aging about $3.50 per ton and can only
be operated by large capital The
"Treadmill'' is the only mine of i'm
portance in operation. There is also
a or 10 stamp mill running near Sit
ka, hut it has been in operation over
twenty years and doesn't seem to be
making much Of an advance.
The Copper river seems to have
proven complete failure. | have
seen parties who came into this coun-
try by following up the river and COM
ing over the divide and none have
ever reported as having found even
good indications of gold. The greater
number of the people who went there
last spring either returned to
their homes or went back TO Dyea and
lSkaguay aud came down the river to
this field. There has been some gold
found around Cook inlet, but nothing
in comparison to the amount Of money,
time, labor and suffering which has
been expended and endured in find
ing it.
| Unga island can boast of 40-stamp
mill working upon its quartz and il
seems to be doing pretty well. Dur
ing the year of 1897 its output was
about $500, 900.
The nerth coast of Alaska has never
yet been explored, much less prospect
ed. We are continually getting infor-
nation from all up and down the Yu-
kon river, and while we don't get as
much as you do down in the States
it is much more reliable. Even some
of the statements made by people who
came in last spring and returned TO
the States last fall without dollar,
would make a Yukon dog laugh aloud,
and they can't even bark.
| ALASKA ON THE YUKON.
There was a party passed through
here about month ago enroute for
the States, who claimed to be located
on chs Klondike river and were going
out to bring in new supply of provi-
sions for next year, but as near as l
could find out they were only working
on bars, not yet having been able to
discover anything on bedrock. How
ever, it is good indication and may
yet develop into something.
There were quite number OF pros
| pectors on the Torona river last win
ters, but no encouraging results have
ever yet come to light.
Minook and Beaver creeks were
pretty well prospected last winter, but
nothing was discovered that would pay
to work.
A number o. the tributaries of
Birch Creek are paying pretty well,
from $5 to $40 per day tc the men and
some are even better.
The Porcupine has not yet yielded
ianything more than few light colors
and they can be found almost any
place you are mind to look, but that
has proven to be but poor indi-
cation OF pay dirt in this country.
Forty-mile Creek is an old standby
and some Of its tributaries, which were
prospected this summer are claimed
to be giving satisfactory results, but
great portion Of it has already been
worked out.
And now in conclusion Of what little
| know about the gold fields OF Alaska.
/ wish TO state in my opinion the
thousands upon thousands Of people
who have been madly running about
from place to place over these fields
during the last summer have as yet
added but very little toward the
real prospecting Of the country,
because prospecting in this country is
so very difficult that there are only
few who will have the patience to
stop and sink shaft to bedrock, but
will move on with the hope OF finding
| 1t In some other place, lying on top of