The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-07-15
MINERS ARE bUNCOED
Lured to Cape Nome By Transpor-
tatiOn Companies.
FAILED TO FIND GOLD
DISCOURAGING REPORTS COME
DOWN FROM NORTH.
Some Prospectors Believe the Coun-
try Is Rich, But Others Are En-
phatic In Their Declarations That
1t Is a Fraud-Death of Many
Gold Seekers.


Alliance arrived this morning from
ST. Michaels and Alaska. She is the
first vessel to arrive from the mouth OF
the Yukon this season and brings adj
vices from the newly discovered gold
field of Cape Nome.
When the Alliance left St. Michaeis.
the season was not far enough adj
vanced to determine the future of the
diggings. Prospectors were very con-
/ fident that the country would prove
very rich. Colors. were found almost
J everywhere throughout the zone which
/ is thirty-five miles square and nearly
all available ground has been staked-
! In some instances there are four or nVe
/ claimants to enc property As soon as
warm weather sets in and material for
slucing is at hand. the true value of the
ground will he known.
I Pans from 81 to 81 are common. Only
/ one cleanup has been made thus far.
I 1t was that of Gabe Price and Louis
Lane on Claim No. s above Discovery
I on Anvil creek. With four men shovel
ing eight days. they took out $4,000:
Not a shovelful was taken from the bed
of the creek.
The gold is different from that of the
Yukon in that it is quite black due to
iron 1t runs SIS to the ounce. ON
claim adjoining Price and Lane. DR..
Kittelson took 81 10 the pan. There was
a great rush of men from st. Michael
into the district. Town lots are selling
as high as $1,000.
Very Little Gold.
Jacob Made of Canton. O., who was
passenger on the Alliance thinks that
the predictions of the richness of the
Cane Nome diggings are not to be
realized He said:
ION several of the claims i saw gold
I taken out but in very small quantity.
In no instance that / know of had bed
rock been reached 1t never will be
reached until they can get wood in
there The only wood in the district is
the driftwood which is almost as preci-
Gus as gold. For six days l investigat-
ed the camp and then came away
Thoroughly convinced that the digSinSs
were BY no means as rich as reported
Hundreds. at the time was there We're
nocking in from Dawson. Many VIII
come out this summer thoroughly dis
gusted."
- Among the.passepgers of the Alliance
was a party OF ten from Lowell. Mass,
who went into Koyukuk district last
year L. r. Harrington, member OF
the party, saiG:
MY candid advice is for people to
STAY away from Koyukuk. The out
7
a party of sixteen and left SIX or
them there to see what this summers
work would pan out We do not come
back disguised and sore with the coun-
try but believe there is not SUI
ficiency of gold there to warrant a rush
into the country
David f. Lane. a former real estate
dealer of San Francisco, who was n
passenger on the Alliance brings the
latest news from Ophir and Meising
creeks. tributaries of the Neu- Uk-Luk
river. which is reached by going from
Cape Nome to GOloVin bay and thence
I'D Fish river. A stampede from cape
Nome to these creeks took place last
November Lane says pay dirt was
found running from % cents to 50 to
the pan Nobody. had struck bedrock
vet. He declares that the country Is
no place for a poor man to rush OF 10.
Wages paid the past winter was %
per day and found. The only chance
poor man has is to work for wages or
take lay Lays were eagerly takeI
on basis of so per cent Lane says
miner cannot afford to take lay Tor
less than 30 per cent.
Lane secured a number of claims on
Ophir and Messing creek On one claim
in which he is interested fifty men hdd
taken laws On one other claim the
Dusty Diamond company of Chicago
working the members of this company
took out $50 In a letter written 10
Lane by his partner from Council CITY
on June % last, the latter ijaid:
yesterday four men on Snow gulch
cleaned up $4,000.
The Lucky Prospector.
Dr Kittleson took out $40 from one
pan of dirt. Many pans running from
SO to SIS have been washed out
AS good story as any is the nndlnS
of a rich claim on Dexter creek. by Leo
Lounenberg. He. struck good ground
on Dutch creek. in the Eldorado as
trict. He then made trip 10 Nome
and back. and, with an old rickety
rocker washed out S23 in two hours
time on his claim on Dexter creek
With a good rocker he can take out
$3.50 a day. and with sluices $lcc0
day. and everything seems TO pay from
the Grass roots.
Very few claims up TO the time Lane
left for the outside had been prospect
ed Jrnprospected. claims, or claims
showing nav dirt from the surface
down. were already commanding faDu-
Ions sums. On Glacier creek, trlDu-
tary of either Ophir or Melsing, offers
have been made as high as S2o,0Vo TOT
a claim On Ophir creek Itself Sood
claims were reckoned at as high as
Sl5O. All tne SOou SiVunu he'u DSN.i
pretty well staked out.
Some of the passengers who came
down on the Alliance do not bring en-
couraging reports from the Cape Nome
country. One of these passengers was
George Case of Ithaca, n. Y, who does
not hesitate to brand Cape Nome as a
fake. pure and simple.
There is no gold at Cape Nome, ne
said. THE entire. Cape Nome excite
ment has been worked UP by transpor-
tation and trading companies for the
purpose of taking people up there and
getting money out of them have
been in several parts of Alaska, includ-
ing Dawson City and Birch creek, and
there is plenty of gold there, but there
is none at Cape Nome.
]. W. Barrie, another of the Alliance
passengers, claims to have come from
Cape Nome, and brings discouraging
reports of the wealth of that district.
He claims to have been in that country
about year, and says he saw no pay
ing claims
Captain Walker. in command of the
troops at st. Michael. has sent de-
tail of ten men under Lieutenant
Sparlding to Cape Nome to preserve
order
The Alliance had 1875 passengers. most
of whom we're from Dawson City.
Deaths of Gold Seekers.