Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-01-04
A MINERS TALE OF WEALTH.

II " oiiiIIS
that more than fifty wagon loads of pure
gold are lying somewhere in Alaska
awaiting r~ediscOVery. 1t is gold that
was gathered by four miners who went
into the unknown and UNEMPLOYED North
west in search of gold in 1890, only one
of whom vas permitted to return. He
brought back with him considerable
proofs of the existence of gold in a sack
full of small nuggets, and his name is
William Rogers.
According to his story, the four miners
lived in the Black Hills of South Dakota
and We're more or less experienced in pla-
Ger mining. In 1889 they formed a COM
rany to prospect for placer locations in
Alaska. the belief among them being
strong that somewhere in that country
rich gold discoveries would be found.
The men engaged in the enterprise were
Rogers, Louis C~aVanaugh, Harry Stokes
and John Campbell. Their first inten-
ton was to go north by steamer to Jul
neaus but when they reached Seattle
they We're unable to agree upon this point
and the expedition postponed it's trip I'M
til the Following spring, when the -four
men departed from Spokane, Wash.
They traversed the country in a leis-
urely manner for several months, pros
pecting wherever there seemed to be a
promising locality. After the first three
li|. sun III Slhtl tiS
found quite frequently, and this led them
on in their quest for better prospects.
Their mules died, and they were obliged
to abandon their wagon and tools, except
such as they could carry; and in this
way they plodded over mountains,
through ravincs, and across marshes I'M
til they had been gone from Spokane
more than a year. From this point Rog-
ers graphically, but briefly, describes his
journey:
w prospectcd up and down Tanan
river and its tributaries, and found gold
in great quantities. We campcd at one
place three weeks, after we had been I'M
usually successful in killing moose, carl
bou. and Turing that time panned out gold
nuggets enough to fill a full-sized whis-
ky barrel. We could not carry the gold,
SO we dug a pit and buried it on a hill
side.
Il estimated tina fifty wagon could
not carry away all the gold that was ex-
posed in that vicinity. The gold Jumps
were of all shapes and sizes, the largest
probably weighing 200 pounds. 1t was not
quartz, but pure, virgin gold, that could
be hammered out with a hammer.
You say, Why didn't you bring in
some of thisg old?' Well, l did. l brought
all I could carry, and it came near cost
ing me my life. I brought small nuggets,
ptNdtst lItS NtIt tdSltI ~ garry. 1ou
must remember that I and my COM
panions were in a country a thousand
miles from civilization, and. while it was
our original intention to dig for gold,
when we reached the deposits of pre-
| cious metal we were obliged to keep
moving in search of food to prevent star
walton. We might have one back, but
we were of the opinion that we would
fall in with some of the Alaska Indians,
NH ~, w. ,n,,ll ,,,r1I,- f, 1, -, ,,,t ,,,
gold. 1t was this delusion that was large
Iy responsible for our misfortunes after
we had obtained that for which we went
in search.
1--WE drifted on in this manner until
C%aVanaugh was taken i'll and the bal
ance Of the party were pretty well cx-
hausted. From this time on. to make the
story brief, we found gold in great guam
titles for a distance of about thirty miles;
but again our number were depleted by
the death of Campbell, who died of ma
larial fever. Only Stokes and myself re-
NAMED: so we held a council. and de-
cided to try to get out of the country
while we had the strength to undertake
the journey. 1t is a great deal different.
starting out on a long march in an ex-
hausted condition, than it is when begin
ming fresh and well fed, and we soon re-
allied that we had started on our home
ward march almost too late.
Eve crossed the rivers and mountains,
snow and mud; cold and hungry, we had
only such food as we could pick up from
an occasional shot or from fishing along
| the streams. We kept on our steady
/ march in a southeastly direction for
nearly two months. During this tramp
we found copper and silver deposits, and
other valuable minerals. These discov-
cries were of no interest to us, however,
for by this time we had become imbued
with the fear hat W. would never reach
civilization. | consider now that it was
a miracle that I was enabled to reach
home. All the gold in Alaska would not
tempt me to go there again if I knew I