The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1899-02-03
MAY GREATLY
AID ALASKA
The British Columbia
Exclusion Act.
AMERICAN TERRITORY RICH
so 1T WILL BE THE FIRST TO BE
DEVELOPED.
Already the Gold-seekers Are Chang
ing Their Proposed Destination
From Atlin to Por-
cupine.
AMERICAN TERRITORY RICH
so 1T WILL BE THE FIRST TO BE
DEVELOPED.
BY HAL HOFFMAN.
Special Dispatch to The Call.


JUNEAU, Alaska, Jan. 81 (via Seat
tie, Feb 2).-Since the passage of the
British Columbia exclusion act the talk
in Alaska port towns is divided be-
tween retaliation and making a decla-
ration of loyalty to the Queen, at least
for the time being. Many men have
already declared that if they can find a
piece of ground with lot Of gold in it
they would not mind becoming a citi-
zen of British Columbia and subject
of her Majesty for the remainder of
their natural lives. The exclusion act
has at least temporarily paralyzed the
crowd at Skaguay waiting for the trail
to freeze so that it is possible to
travel to Atlin City. Many are going
in anyhow to engage in business-to do
anything and everything to make
money that the law allows, and some
that the law doesn't, except mine. The
outlook now is that there will be as
motley a crowd of grafters at the Atlin
camps as ever grated in Skagtown
during the paImiest days of the late
Mr.. "Soapy' Smith, though they will
not be so bold. Notwithstanding
the unfavorable condition of the trail
impatient people are starting out any
how. They are determined to take a
look at Atlin # they can do no more.
1t was 20 degrees below zero on the
summit of White Pass night before
last and blowing gale. The road
houses were literally packed with men
and dogs trying to find place in which
they would not freeze to death
On the other hand, the weather on
Ia u &c
able to travel. A party of thirteen
men came up from Wrangel on the
steamer Alert and took that trail for
Atlin this week, and two other large
parties also left Juneau this week to
go in that way. A toWnSite of eighty
acres has been located by soldiers scrip
by ]. T. Jones of Juneau, formerly of
Tacoma, at the mouth of the Taku
River, and a warehouse, wharf, saw
mill and store will be built.
The exclusion act has already had
the effect of turning extraordinary and
sudden attention to the Porcupine dig
gings. Three ships stop at Haines Mis-
sion now to one thirty days ago.
Lighter crews there are kept busy
handling freight between ships and the
shore. Steps are being taken to con-
Struct wharf. Under present condi-
lions there will be a very big rush into
that section just before the snow gets
off Many men are eager to get into
that region and so hopeful of finding
something that they are bucking six
feet of snow at this time of year and
will cut timber and thaw out the
ground to bedrock.
1t is not all lamentation in Alaska
over the exclusion act. Strange as ii
may seem at first, there are those who
hail its passage as t1dlngs OF great JOY.
These are the thoughtful ones. They
say that it will have the effect of turn
ing the attention of miners to Alaska
proper-that is, American territory
and the result will be greater develop
ment of Alaska, where everybody up
here firmly believes there is just as
much gold waiting to be found as in
the alien territory.
With this happening there Will be no
body left to find gold in British North
west Territory or in British Columbia,
for it is we'll known contention
among miners of the great Northwest
that a Canadian never found gold any
where; that he did not find the Carl
boo. the Cassiar, the Klondike or At
lin: that he waits till the hardy and
euterprising American prospector dis
covers it and then comes Hooking along
afterward; and in the case of the Atlin
after the American has found it the
Canadian seeks to take 1t away from
him.
Ihere Is another phase VI liC eASlu-
sion act which has already resulted in
strained relations up on Porcupine,
which district is in American territory
No serious trouble is expected. When
the Canadian police the other day
rushed down from Pleasant Camp.
their post close to the boundary line on
the Dalton trail, and made locations in
the Porcupine district, to which they
are clearly entitled, under an American
law which is said to obtain not ex-
Guiding aliens from mining in Amer
lean territory, there was considerable
feeling over the action, but all acts
and expressions were kept within
proper bounds. Just for moral effect
there is some talk of cutting the police
claims from twenty acres down to
$50 feet, the size of claims citizens of
the United States are allowed in Brit
ish Northwest Territory. If the
police had been British Columbians in
stead of B. N. w. T. officers some very
forclple moral suasion would have been
used to induce them to make no loca-
lions at all. When a miners meeting
makes UP its mind to any line of con-
duct it generally goes and goes quickly
and goes without ceremony.
No mail has reached Dawson from
the coast since about the middle of Oc-
tober last. Tons of mail matter has
been taken in out of the wet at Tagish
Lake by the police. A late report from
Thistle Creek states that a prospect of
so cents a pan there is becoming quite
common, and that nuggets which run
from fifty cents to a dollar are fire.
ouently manned ont