The San Francisco call., 1899-01-02
GOLD SEEKERS
BRAVE ALASKA'S
WINTER GALES
Race Through Snow
for Claims.
DARING TRIP OF PR0SPECTORS
CALIFoRNIANs STAKE LoCA-
TIoNs ON PoRCUPINE.
Believe the Camp There VIII Eclipse
Atlin When the Spring Stam-
pede to the "Diggings"
Begins.
CALIFoRNIANs STAKE LoCA-
TIoNS ON PoRCUPINE.
BY HAL HOFFMAN.
Special Dispatch to The Cali.

JUNEAU, Alaska, Dec. "a (by steam
er Al-Ki to Seattle Jan. Odd winter
himself has no terror the gold hunter
will not dare. A party which has just
returned from Porcupine Creek, up the
Chilkat trail, faced bowling storms and
four feet of snow in order to reach and
stake some small creeks which head up
from Porcupine. These creeks had
been prospected a little at their mouths
and were known to contain fine gold on
the surface. 1t was a race and fight
against the elements, for the way was
hard and provisions for a quick trip
necessarily short. The party chartered
a small steamer. Among them were:
Edward Fenley, who, with S. w. Mix,
is the discoverer Of Porcupine Creek
and is a California miner hailing from
Los Angeles and Randsburg; 0. M
Dutton of Dawson, Andrew Scheff Of
Gunnison, Colo; Jack BigeloW of DaW-
son, Mckenzie of Juneau and Sam Lu-
cas- of Norwalk, Cal. Fenley was in
duced to become the leader of the par
ty, being familiar with the country and
having reliable knowledge possessed
by no one else.
The following new creeks were named
and staked-that is, what is believed
to be the best ground was staked: Clear
Creek, Summit, Little Salmon, Glacier,
Marble, Bear and Deer. Twenty loca-
tions were made on Clear and Summit
creeks and fifteen on Little Salmon.
The return of this party has increased
the confidence of the people here in the
Porcupine Creek district. The gold is
clear and clean, being of finer quality
than any that has come out of Dawson
that 1 have seen. Fenley said this aft
ernoon:
'I think there will be a better camp at
Porcupine than at AtIin, though as yet
1t has not been possible to learn just
how good the ground is nor how wide
spread the placer deposits may be. The
discovery was made too late in the
fall to go to bedrock on more than a
few claims I weighed my dust the
other day that 1 took out of Discovery
on Porcupine and found nuggets
Pete Nation and man named Scott
are Wintering in there, but about every
body else has come out. There is six
feet Of snow on the ground, the rivers
and creeks are still open and it is i'm
possible to travel, as you cannot follow
the creeks or get along. the mountain
Sides The claims are of twenty acres,
and that is another reason whv it ought
to be a better camp than Atlin."
Clear, Summit and Little Salmon
creeks are in what has been named the
Salmon River district. A miners meet
ing was held there and laws passed
that not more than one location could
be made by one man; that claims
should be of not more than 1000 feet in
stead of 1900, so as to give more men a
chance to strike something, and that all
claims taken before August 15 next
must have 800 worth of work done on
them before the January following. S.
w. Mix Of Shasta, Cal, was made Re
corder of this district These latest
claims were staked in the snow Over
100 claims in all have been staked in the
Porcupine Creek district.