The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-10-20
Is or 80 two-story frame buildings up and

| Although the military is the ranking
authority there. Nome City was incor-
porated during the past summer and has
| a city government with j. F. Cashell as
/ the first mayor and a full set of city Off
| GERS.
/ How the gold became deposited on the
/ beach Is as yet an unsolved problem. The
land back a short distance from the beach
| is called tundra, and by some it is thought
that the gold dust in the sand on the
| beach has been washed out from the tun-
| dra by the waves at high tide and de-
| posted for hundreds of years in the sand.
| On the other hand. there are those who
claim that the gold is washed in from
| the sea, and that the mother lode is hid
| den beneath the waves. The first theory,
however, seems the more tenable, and Is
| the one generally accepted. There are no
| claims located on the beach. but every one
| goes to work rocking out the gravel
| wherever they please, and more peacea-
| Bile or Differentiated crowd of miners Mr..
| Becker said he never saw.
| Notwithstanding the fact that Cape
| Nome is one of the most accessible min
ing camps in the world, ships from any
| part of the globe being able to sail right
up to its very doors. yet prices Tor all
| commodities are high. Meals are from
| so to 50. 50 each; a bed in a tent $3.50;
mutton chop $1.25 and other things in
| proportion. Lumber sells from $50 to sos
| per 1000 according to quality. To offset
these prices wages are high. miners get
! ting IS to $40 per day and board. while
| carpenters and other mechanics get 81. 90
| an hour and board themselves. and as the
! days in summer are from 16 to IS hours
| long carpenter can make good wages II
he chooses to work full time.
Mr. Becker said he could form no esti-
mate as to the amount of gold that had
| been taken out OF Nome this season. but
| bn-
| fore he left to be turning out about $4,000
a day. The claims on Anvil creek $50 call
| ed from the anvil shape of a mountain
which rises on the creek short distance
from Anvil City. are reported to be very
| rich, one, that of Lindeburg & Co., turn
| ing out more than $1,000 an hour. Mr..
| Becker saw two nuggets from this claim,
| one of which was worth S312 and the other
more than $400. Another claim, owned by
a DR.. Kettleson, yielded $1,000 in one day.
| Mr. Becker says one can hear almost any
| kind of fairy tale in that country, but
the fact remains that at the present time
| every man in Cape Nome has a pocket
/! full of dust. and there are no dead brokes
| in the country.
| Mr.. Becker states that before he left
reports had reached Nome of rich strikes
along the coast and up the creeks as far
as Cape Prince of Wales, a distance Of
235 miles. but to the truth or falsity of
| these reports he knew nothing. He does
| know. however, that the Cape Nome
country Is good enough for him. and that
he Is going back as soon as navigation
opens in the spring.
More than 1000 claims have been located
on the creeks in the Cape Nome district.
| the majority being placer. In fact. only a
| few quartz claims have as yet been To-
Gated. but Mr.. Becker giles it his opin-
ion that the future of Alaska depends
upon the quartz claims. of which. he has
1n1Ih rV,op hot vx-in IN lar
and rich will in time be found
Winter in the Nome district usually con-
| tinues from the 1st of October to the LIST
Of June, and is not interrupted by Chi
nook winds or thaWs, the thermometer
going as low as so to go degrees and
when 1t rises to 40 the weather is consid-
cred comfortable. On Dec. p the sun is
scarcely seen above the horizon. and on
| the 2lst of June it does not entirely dis
appear from sight during the "a hours.
| There are a few respectable women,
both married and single in Anvil City,
but the majority of the female residents
of the town came down from Dawson
/ City and ST. Michaels and belong to the
| demi-monde.
As in all new placer mining camps,
gold dust is the principal circulating me-
dunn and gold scales are a necessity. On
| account Of the scarcity Of scales gold
dust is not as handy coin green
c
per cent. for the latter kinds of money
| Cape Nome dust is darker. or of a more
i copper-colored hue than that from Daw-
son. owing. Mr.. Becker thinks to the
presence of iron. He states that shovel
of sand taken from the tundra a short
distance back from the beach will turn
the water in a pan bloodred The Nome
| dust assays $40 an ounce, but in trading it
only goes for SIG.
Asked his opinion in regard to the mat
| ter, he said he thought it would prove
to be one of the greatest dredging propo-
| sitions ever heard of, and while no dredg-
| ing had been done there as yet. he did not
think capital would overlook this golden
| opportunity, and next season he expected
to see dredging machines at work there
and the output of the Nome district dou-
bled, if not trebed.
One great drawback to the district the
past season was the scarcity of copper
plate for use in making rockers. 1t COM
manded very high price-was worth its
weight in gold-and could not be had at
that One miner. who couldn't get cop
per, used silver dollars to plate his rock
er, 60 or 10 being required for the pur-
pose. A rocker costs $40 to build ordi-
narily.
There is no printing office al Nome, but
Mr.. Becker learned there was a press and
outfit on the way there
Mr.. Becker left Nome Sept. II in a
sIiaii sallpoat ana made the trip to Dutch
Harbor in seven days. Here he and his
party remained three days while a violent
storm ragged outside. After the storm had
spent It's fury they set sail again for Sc
attic and made the run in u days, which
was remarkably good time for a sailboat,
a. steamer having arrived at Dutch Har-
Dor from Seattle while they were there IA
days out from the latter place The dis
lance from Seattle and Tacoma to Nome
is 900 miles, and from San Francisco
2,5Oo miles. The fare from all three
places last summer was the same on ac-
count of competition. and ranged from
$50 to SO. according to accommodations
to St. Michaels and $40 from there to
Nome, 13o miles. by the small steamers
crossing Nortons. sound. The trip from
Seattle is nothing more than an ordinary
sea voyage. and when one gets to Nome
he is right in the heart of the mining
country as soon as he goes ashore no long
inland voyages having to be made
| Mr. Becker says that Hart Humber