The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1900-08-14
CAFE NOME TO A MINER
Brooklyn Mans Estimate of the
New FL Dorado.
FEW CHANCES ON THE GOLD LEACH

| Gustave Rudolph Says 1t Does Not
Pay to Work the Sand the Second
| Tfme-Dny Wages Best Tint Can
BE Made on Outlying Tundra or
Swamp.
Gustave Rudolph, whose home is in
[ Brooklyn, N. Y, arrived in Chicago re-
Gently from Cape Nome, the much eX
plotted poor mans goldtield of the far
north. Mr.. Rudolph is restaurateur
by profession. but his Cape Nome bid
for fortune is not his first attempt to
make money quickly. for he has made
several trips to the Black Hills and
has investigated the claims of the
Klondike to be the fortune hunters
paradise, says the Chicago Inter Ocean.
Therefore he did not so to the last
talked of Ell Dorado a green hand"
His story of his last experience in the
way of gold hunting follows:
II left Cape Nome June 20 and ar
rived at Seattle July l. l have staid
over here to see a little of your city
On my trip north left Seattle May 2S
on the steamer San Bias, and arrived
at Cape Nome June -, and remained
at the latter place eight days alto
gether The cause of my brief stay
there was the spraining of my leg so
severely as to render my further stay
there useless and expensive. The stu
alton at Cape Nome, so far as l was
able to observe it, is this: There We're
there when l left between $4,000 and
10000 people-that is, at Cape Nome
and up and down the beach from that
point and my partner sank several
holes. Judging from this personal eX
perience and from seeing others work
ing along the beach for miles, both up
and down the shore from Cape Nome,
l found that the best the miners We're
doing was the making of from $1.50 to
50 day, and that only in places which
had not previously been worked. But
it appeared to me that most of the
beach had already been thoroughly
worked over.
"Now, we have been led to believe by
reports that after each gale the beach
would be found to have fresh deposit
of gold dust mingled with the sand,
but this has been found to be not the
case. and it has been demonstrated by
actual work that where the beach has
been once worked out it has been
worked out for good-that is. for Ion
ger time than any miner can afford to
wait for its becoming again auriferous.
My partner. after the spraining of my
, leg, went on to Anvil creek, going the
full length of the creek. He found the
creek. when he reached it, to be still
frozen solid, although when he got
there it was June 16, and all that he
. found doing there was that some 50
men were engaged, not in taking out
gold, but only in the preliminary work
of stripping off the moss from the
surface of the earth, layer of moss
from three inches to two feet in thick
ness covering the whole country there
He could not get a lay to work-a lay
!, is portion of a claim-nor could he
get any work to do.
"As far as the Cape Nome district is
: concerned, the only thing that seems
left for any one to do is to go up OF
;. down the beach from the Cape sc
miles. at which distance there may be
a possible chance of finding unworket
;. beach ground. There is some tall
there of the tundra as miners call it
:, swamp land made up of moss covered
:, hummOcks with water between them
containing gold. but so far miners have
worked only between the beach an(
this tundra land. Some 80 miners who
are at work there now are simply max
ing fair days wages for that coun
: try-that is. from 81 to $40 day.
LAS showing that $40 is only fai
- days wages near Cape Nome, l will
say that each meal costs from 81 t,
4 S1.50: that for coffee and piece of pit
n or coffee and three doughnuts quartz
= is charged. and that the cost of small
e loaf of bread is % cents. The cost O
=. wet lumber is $125 a thousand and 70
% dry $3.50 thousand, and this lumbe
70 must be had not only for buildin
"a houses. but for building boats, TO
n nothing can be done there without
8 boat. 1t is useless for man to go u
p to that country to get work. The onl
i. work that can be got there is that O
20 unloading vessels, and for that ma
n steady work by which he can earn
k living. If any one has any intentio
al of going there. l would advise him t
" buy Touchdown boat-that is, boa
s that can be taken to pieces for trans
in porting cheaply and be screwed tt
,e gether when it arrives at the miner
a. destination. would also advise hi1
al to check off every article of bill 9
III goods that he orders before he pay
IN for it, and to do this from San Fra1
he cisco north. If he does not do this, h
IN will pay good deal for what he doe
I'd not get. The only place where foun
OF the miners to be making much none
was at the point of the beach wher
to the Topokok river enters the sea.
IL heard from good authority that thre
in Or four men took from this point $25
al 0O0 but the place was all worked OF
he in two weeks. There is smallpox no,