Omaha daily bee., 1899-08-20
HISTORY OF THE ELONDIKE
Omaha Man Narrates the Story of the Dis.
oovery Of Gold.
P%RosPECToRS HAD LONG SEARCHED FOR IT
Yukon District Opened I'm 1855 and
Miners Led Precarious Existence
Original KIondike Location
Made by Skookum Jim.

Made by skookum Jim.
Through a residence in Alaska prior to
and during the stirring days which followed
in the wake Of the discovery of gold in the
famous Klondike region, George Voss OF
this city has acquired a great deal of &C
curate information regarding the history
and conditions OF that remarkable region.
MIR. Voss went to Alaska in 1893 as a repre-
sentative of the government. He was an
inspector OF the coal which was purchased
from England for the American vessels dur
ing the time that they were in Alaskan
waters while the controversy over the
Boring sea boundary was in progress.
Later Mr.. Voss went into the heart of
Alaska, into the very region which after
wards became famous because Of the gold
discovery, and remained there during the
intense gold excitement. Mr.. Noss' under
standing of the Alaskan mining situation
has thus been gained after many years of
personal acquaintance and his opinion be-
comes, for this reason, that of an expert.
Gold was discovered said Mr.. Voss to
a Bee representative, "in the Yukon dis
trict in paying quantities about 1885, when
some bar gold was picked up about the
mouth of hte Hootalinqua river by some
French Canadians, who worked it in a
primitive way. These French Canadians
would come in in the spring Of the year
and work the bars during the summer sea-
son and then go out in the fall. The most
successful OF these men were Joe
King and Jack Tromblay, typical French
Canadian voyageurs, who, during the win
ter season, worked at the Alaska Tread
we'll mine near Juneau.
1.-THE Alaskan Treadwell mine, in fact,
has had a great deal to do, in an indirect
way, with the first discovery and the ulti-
mate working Of the gold in these bars, for
a man who was unsuccessful at prospecting
could go back to work in the mine at good
wages and save up another grub-stake,
and then start out once more to seek his
fortune on his own hook. This mine has an
interesting history. 1t was discovered by
French Pete, a squaw man of doubtful
morality and a magnificent physique, six
feet and two inches in height. He sold the
mine to Joseph Juneau for $500, and con-
sidered that he had struck a splendid bar
gain. juneau, in turn, sold it to Treadwell
fors30, 900. Treadwell organized the Alas
ka Treadwell Mining company and after
many years of successful and profitable OPP
Grafton recently sold 1t to the Rothchild
syndicate at a figure approXimating
50, o0O, 900. The town of Juneau was named
after Joe Juneau. 1t Is related that the
day Joe received the 100000 in cash from
Treadwell for his nine he cried like a child
for fear that he would not be able to spend
all Of the money before he died. 1t is a
significant fact that inside of two years
from that time Joe didn't have a cent, but
he had the satisfaction Of a meteoric career
that was a daisy. He died last year, a
physical wreck, and absolutely penniless.
McQuesten, Friend of Prospectors.
But to return to the working Of the gold
in the Yukon. After the French Canadians
had worked the bars for a time an old
trader named L. N. McQuesten, but famili-
arly known as Jack, opened up a trading
post in connection with A. Hopper at the
Junction Of Forty Mile creek with the Yu-
kon, about 1880 miles from the mouth of
the latter. McQuesten had spent the
greater part of his life in Alaska. He was
d rare type Of frontiersman. In the early
"70s he started from st. Paul on his pill
grimage to Alaska. He first went to Winni-
peg, thence to Great Slave lake. From there
he went down to Mackenzie and reached the
Yukon via the Porcupine river. After he
established his trading post at Forty Mile
creek he offered inducements to prospectors
to come to that region, and in the summer
of 1887 a few located there. They were
practically, and indeed actually, dependent
upon McQuesten for supplies. AS most of
them went along for years without making
a cent McQuesten's provisions often fell far
short cf even the bare necessities, and many
times the existence of all of them was de-
cidedly precarious. However, in the fall of
1888 good bar d~iggings were found on Forty
Mile.
"McQuesten had promised a friend in Cali
fornia that in case he ever struck a place
pyh arn on1I yuac JiganunraI he WOULD Cnp1
word to him, and in order to fulfill this
promise a man named Williams was sent
out over the snow and ice in December,
1888, bound for California to carry the news
of the discovery of gold OH Forty Mile creek
to McQuesten's friend. He reached the sum-
NIT Of the Dyea pass in safety. but there
encountered a severe storm which resulted
fatally. He died at the little Indian trading
station of Haley & Wilson in Dyea, two days
after crossing the summit.
However, the news reached the outside
world, and the spring of 1889 brought a few
more prospectors to that region. These men
worked the bars to their best ability, but,
unfortunately, the returns were very meager.
That fall, however, gold was struck in
Franklin gulch, from which a creek flowed
into Forty Mile, and these diggings kept the
camp alive for two years. After this Ma
poleon gulch, Nugget gulch and Canyon
creek were opened UP, but they yielded little
better than grub-stake diggings, with few
exceptions, and no fortunes were made.
"In 1891 Miller creek was opened up and
men from all over the country Joined in a
stampede thither. This creek is a tributary
to Sixty Mile creek, which flows into the
Yukon fifty miles above the present site OF
Dawson City. Miller creek proved the rich
est gold field discovered up to that time, al
though on the start no fortunes We're
realized. During the second year the two
men took out about $4,000 each. The first
fortune to be taken from the placers Of the
Yukon was made in 1894 by John Miller,
who took out in that season In the neigh
borhood of $50, 900 from claim No. IS, below
Discovery. The adjoining creek-Glacier
creek-was worked with indefinite results,
THE spring of 1895 opened with a very
unfavorable outlook for the miners in the
Yukon region, No new creeks were in sight,
no new strikes OF particular value were
chronicled, and the outlook for the laboring
men was very poor. To add to their cup Of
bitterness McQuesten had gone down TO a
new camp called Circle City, and the miners
were confronted with the fact that from that