The Republican journal., 1900-02-08
The Cape Nome Gold Fields.

The Cape Nome Gold Fields.
SEATTLE, WASH, Feb. ), 1900 An in
telligent gentleman, recently from the
new god fields of Cape Nome, gives
much interesting information in the fol-
lowing interview in the Post Intelligencer
concerning that country, and the nearby
shores of Siberia where the golden sands
are said to be equal to those of Nome and
York. There is much inquiry for such
information, and no doubt your readers
will be greatly interested in the story:
81 shall go over to Siberia to prospect
next summer" he said, ''as the mines
are but an extension of the Cape Nome
gold fields, which are twenty miles wide,
extending over into Siberia. You can see
!, the hills from Nome that contain these
mines. The Eskimos go over on the ice
in the winter to trade. 1t is thirty miles
from land to land. The Siberian mines
extend ten miles inshore. The Eskimos
on this side trade fox skins foc reindeer
skins with their Siberian brothers.
"The freighting is done in the Alaskan
gold fields with dogs and reindeer. There
is herd of 500 of the latter at Golovin
bay belonging to the United States gov
, ernment and the Eskimo fleighters. At
, Port Clarence above Nome, there are 300
more. One Eskimo owns $50 or 200 head.
They are worth S3o rnbroken and $50
broken. A reindeer team will follow the
sledge ahead at the rate of sixty miles a
! day. He will keep this up three days,
' when he wants to rest for a full day and
, night. He lives when the snow is two or
, three feet deep. The dog teams will out
travel the reindeer for long trips. there
are 90 or 1900 Eskimos on the PENN
sua, and about 800 who trade at Golovin
bay.
5 ''It is eighty miles by land from Colo
win bay to Nome. There is deep water
landing at Rockyport; thence to Golovin
g or Dexter's store, is fifteen miles. which
has to be covered by lighters, the Eski-
! mos taking freight in skin boats to Dex-
t ters store and the mission, the only hab-
tations there. Fish river is navigable for
A four-foot draft boats to Dixon's creek,
| which is about twenty miles. There is
good timber to my cabin, but not stick
, west from there to Nome Fish river is
g navigable for sixty miles from it's mouth.
I The mines are reached by boat in summer
and by dog teams in the winter.
"The Golovin bay country was explor
ed first by telegraph party, Messrs.
e Vandeleven and Libby, twenty years ago.
A man by the name of Dexter has been in
there ten years and does the principal
l. trading with the natives. There are two
!, tribes of Eskimos, one known as the Salt
, Water, and the other as Timber The
latter trade squirrel, dried salmon, black,
1 buckle and salmon berries for seal skin,
A walrus teeth and sea crabs, the latter the
q finest in the world There is no night
| there, the sun merely goes out of sight
s and rises again. 1t is never dark in win
ter. An hour and twenty minutes is the
/ shortest twilight. You never see the
j stars from February to November.
II went in the 10th of July, 1898, and
4 left the 10th of September, 1899. did
e no mining, only prospecting, and just
4 panned out a little gold here and there.
a This gold we had assayed in San Francis
n CO and it ran $40. 40 to the ounce. At
Council City, the Alaska Exploration
Company, twelve men, cleared up about
S110, 600 in about six weeks. The next
| largest was that of the Mermaid, clearing
up $50, 900 on Sweet Cake. On Elkhorn
a company of five men told me their
cleanup was satisfactory Pete, a Ger
man, cleaned up Sc, 600 or 81, 900 in about
ten days on Goose creek, three miles from
d Dixon creek. He got into a pocket, but
It having no water he had to wait fer rain.
n His gold weighed S195O to the ounce. He
h has come out for machinery, pumps, etc.
= The Big Four and Ophir claims had gold
y that asSayed $40. 60 to the ounce at the
u assay Office in San Francisco. When the
,. Nome excitement broke out we couldn't
s hire men, who were getting SO day, and
they all quit. There have been 81, 600,
g 700 of gold taken out of Snake river alone
a as much money as Secretary Seward
:. paid for all Alaska. LindrOm took out
~ $40, 600 of this vast sum. From the for
nation of the country there is no telling
how long the gold will pan out. The
J, gold belt is from $50 to 200 miles square,
l. starting in at Pago, or wide mouth
\. ''Ail the creeks | explored for eighty
:. miles back of Golovin and Nome are in
,, my judgment rich in placer gold. The
same kind of soil, mica shale, is to be
found everywhere on the streams. The
:, Neakuk is navigable for fifteen miles
q and this stream and tributaries are rich in
' gold. Pay dirt yielding 81 to the pan has
j. been discovered along this ri yer.
''HOrses are great money making ma
chine up here. A man had seven horses
that averaged him $50 day, though he
.. may have had to kill them this winter for
want of feed. A man to go in there wants
years grub, costing S75; tent and
stove, 80; he can get native boots there
for s., which are the only thing that will
keep his feet from freezing, as the ther-
mometer drops down to sixty degrees be-
low, and it is that cold there now. He
wants canvas overalls, heavy underclothes
and wooden socks. He should get from
the natives water boot, at 81, and
pair made of deerskin, costing S.. He
should take along an oilskin suit and
long legged gum boots. He ought to
have $4OO in cash.