The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1900-04-22

degrees below zero. / never took off a
fur suit during December, and lay, in
bed TO keep warm during much of that
month. Frosted ears and checks were COM
mon in our party, and | used to dream that
my feet had frozen and my companions
were about TO hack them OFT to save my
life. The sun for ten weeks In miiwinter
was to be seen only about three hours out
ha2y, bleary round ball hung in the deep
blue Sky. IL seemed as if We never could
eudure life until warmer weather came and
We might be released from our tent prisons
among the snow and ice. I believe that we
would have given up but for the knowledge
that we had located claims upon the richest
placer dirt ever known and that at last
smiling Fortune had opened the door TO
each OF us poor cusses.
Push to Cape Nome.
I'VE began mining on April %. and by
May .. 1899, We We're getting out gold dust
and nuggets in quantities every day. The
news of the gold finds at Cape Nome had
been carried all over Alaska during the
winter months. When spring came there
WAS Il rush OF Gold-hunSry men To Cape
Nome. over l,ce1 arrived there in June
alone. and some 5000 men arrived at Nome
last summer.
Every one profited going to Nome. The
first men in tho iield-just rs happened in
the klondike gold region two years before
had choice OF the richest diggings. and
every one Of the Cape Nome pioneers has
mad. n fortune already. From some S.uI0
cubic yards of gravel ~ my claim on Anvil
Creek 1 sluiced with the help of three hired
mem over seventy pounds of gold. worth
nearly SlS.Go I declined to sell my claim
To II. T.. t;akins * 60. Of Los Angeles for
S>e.GJo. 1 believe it Will yield me fully $30,yD
in gold annually fer six or seven years
I p~rofited by the experience Of the
pioneers in the Kiondike region, and I in
vested my gold in ether placer claims on
nciGhboring creeks, ana I have leased two
claims on the sandy beach at Nome. All my
Investments have been extraordinarily
lucky. one beach claim l bought last July
for ten pounds of gold. and l sold 1t two
weeks later for fifty pounds of gold. It
seemed at first. when began to store
away nv gold every night last summer
after years of toll and hardship, / Fad
boarded some leo pounds of gold by August
|. II was months: before 1 really came to
realize that | was actually possessnr of 4
fortune many times larger than | had ever
imagined would be my own"
Bclding's companions were frequently rs
lucky as himself.
Other Lucky Miners.
II heard said Belding, "of a. man named
Sloan from Vancouver. who, with one help
or. cleaned up $it,nsa in six weeks. He
brought Gown on the Portland with him in
JuIr oyer S6y.G0 in gold. When was ut
OF gold that had been taken out the week
before ! go. there. Three Enslishmeu.
named Manchester. Phibbs and Drum,uond,
owned the gold. They were working on
Snow Creek. and sank a lj-foot hole in the
gravel ten feet from the water. They KEEP.
striking II richer as they went down. Well,
at Il depth of twelve feet they ran into the
richest dirt | ever saw. For two weeks
they could work Il few hours a dav. when
every pan WAS worth 81, and sometimes Il
shoVeiiUI of gravel ran over SIS. JUS, II
few days before l heard OF this the Eng
iistmen had worked in gold that went 81 10
the pan. The men are there yet, and the
last / heard from them, which was In June,
they were each making over 1880 a week,