Stikeen River journal., 1899-01-14
INTERESTING TALK, On the Country Tributary to
 Wrange|,
By the Rev. John Pringlc.

Rev. John Pringle, at the request of a number of our citizens, gave an hours talk on Monda, evening, at the opera house. on the. country tributary to Wrangcl.
 Mir. Pringle said: have spent nine months in this country and have gone over the ground more than the average miner would have in nine years, left Wrangel on the 22nd of March, and reached Glenora on the 4th of April, laying off three days on the trip. was then Il tenderfOOt minister and knew nothing about travelling on the ice have learned few lessons. This I have learned: I never mingled with such class of men. and take them man for man. l never found their superors anywhere. There has never gone into mining country such intelligent and law-abding men. Now. am not given to exaggerating, but. it is hard to stick right to the exact facts after assOcia- ting with prospectors for a long timc If overstep the line you can lay it to the clear and bracing atmosphere that we breathe at Glenora. If 1 was out prospecting with serious intention of going into the KlOndikc. 1 would want no better hardening or preparation for the work than a journey up the Stikcen
 hnl 1r,l ff, believe that I would find 4,0OO people. 1 was more than disappointed when l rounded the curve and behcld the n Cassar shacks that were erected more than century ago. There were about l5 cabins there at the time. A few have been built since. I pitched my tent on the snow and lived in it from the 4th of April to the lst of September. Never had better health: never saw better country. l am not d geologist, but. l give it as my opinion. that gold is as likely to be found there as any where. You can find color anywhere. They say there is no bedrock. can show ii in a dozen places near Glenora The trouble is that men start out from various places with the intention of reaching the klondike "or bust and they want to get through and they do not care if the whole road is paved with gold, they do no prospecting until they reach the klondike or Deasc Lake. Now. have u great respect for old- timers. but. they talk through their hats as well as other people. They say this country has been all prospected. So with the Atlin Lake country. when, behold. some sheep going along the trail. knocked off the gravel and dis closed gold. and now the klondike is not in it. Now Geologists say the Sti- keen river channel is an old glacial bed. It is just as likely that the old glacier that filled the Stikeen river bed spread over that Dease Lake country. l can not understand that there has not been hard prospecting done in this country. There are numbers of men who went out to the Glenora country who never got off their seats: never did anything harder than eat pork and beans, and they went back home and were inter- viewed. and told wonderful yarns about something they never saw or heard of.
 l started out with my pack in the rainy time that we had in the summer. The trail. of course. was not d wagon road. nor Il railroad. Someone connect ed with the Canadian Government will have mighty burden of responsibility some time. if Heaven deals witt wicked governments as it does with wicked people. After travelling to Telegraph Creek, learned my first lesson, that is. that one should take in their pack only that which they cannot possibly get along without. Now, found that my impressions of that whole country were wholly erroneous. l expected to find Wrangel 60 degrees below zero. but, must confess, that although am accustomed to go tightly clad and brought light clothing with me. l was not prepared for the warm temperature you had at Wrangel, last March. On the 4th of April the sun was shining at Glenora, and it did not cease shining