The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-03-25
TIN CANS FULL OF GOLD.
STRANGE SIGHTS ON THE RICH
SANDS or CAPE NOUE
Great Wealth Left In Tent and Cabin IN.
guarded save ny the Certainty OF tho
Death Of Any Robbor-Curious Hecept"-
cies for Gold Of Men Never Rich bcf"r~
-Trem~ndous Cost of Their Treasures

Tremendous Cost of Their Treasures
Los ANGELES, Cal, March 20. William
=. Quinn, a Yukon River miner for seven years
and one II the first two dozen men who located
claims al Cape Nome, IL visiting rela'i,esm town
He IL investing some Of his suddenly mad" money
In real estate and preparing 10 return TO his placer
mines on Anvil Crrek At Cape Nome by the first
stea NOR 10 Alaska from San Francisco.
one Of the most notable things about the new
placer gold folds at Cap' Nome, said he the
Other day. was thu careless way that tn" gold
vas stored and cared for last summer, Il was
common to ind i've. gallon kerosene oil cans
half or who'll filed viii gold, standing on the iioor
of an unguard'd tent OF in Tho corner oi a cabin.
Ib~lisvc iha, Just b'for, III steamer ler,ha sailed
from Nome las, October with a big shipment OF
gold dus, and nugrct1 20 thu San Francisco mint
there " rs about half n ton ofE'll storrdin all man.
per of primitive rrC'piaclrs a3d odd ways in the
tents on Tho beach. it'Si l"S, there was fully
100 pounds of gold similarly saved in the
tents and cabins Of IN, mln'rS along the creeks
and in tn grav'lly cGlch'S back Of None. Any
hollow thing was uS'd coup turccns, til cans,
glass bottles, boots, gas pip, paint buckets
fur garments ana even stockings and Goloshes.
Very f,w q! IN. Miners failed In get some gold
The FIRST dav they pan ned and rocked for IT, lher
hoard grew fast and they had no strong box,
no pnrrh. in which TO store it, In som" instances
III, raLcshit,s wrr' amusing. One man made
rat pouch for his gold out OF an enormous
chest and bach protector a sort OF waisicoai
mad Of alyhiu, which h had cured, dressed
and made himself mother miner utilized a Joint
Of sto,rpipN. Il" didn't have even n tent when he
went 80 Norlr. Some on' threw away a rusty
s,ov, Mn .oint and IN" miner got Il. He cut q
round piece II board and fitted il IN one end ot the
pip. Then he stood she pip up On end on his
claim, and dumped into IT each day the gold dust
as fast as h. wnsh'd aHi drih IT, ! b'll"ve he
got about rinely pounds oi gold for his SEASONS
work les, y,Hr
a lot 81 III, ,;uld washers IN the beach used
wornout rubber boots a. rac"ptacles for gold
dust. ASwrin OH Snow ttNek had three rubber
boots nearly full u gold las, September. lie
lsp, the boots standing behind hiS bunk of blank
ke,s loaded rifle hung on nails over tn" boots
as sorl Of warning that any thi ot tn treasure
would ~ sho, with that particular weapon, be"r
bottles full Of gold duS, were common abou, the
Numers' habitHtionS, and SOM used old coffee
pots. \ man ON Anvil Greek, near my claim,
made his walrus skin cap into a gold dus, bag.
Tin tomato cans and fruit Jars standing under
miners hunks and full of gold were common
all oyarCHp' Nome last "tar.
The abundance of gold at Cap' Nome is with
on, precedent We thought hlondike rich, but
Car. Nor'P is far richer. Ny brother wrote me
from Dawson city last January that lour
thousand people were then masking ready 10 leave
the klondise and get to tap' Nome as taS, as
pDssiblp. There are eleven claims b,lng de
,elopsd at Nome that are all richer than any single
claim ever known in The klondi,e, and the Cap'
Nome field has only been cursorily prosprct'd
so far. The gold output from Nome last snmmr
was "a, 2OO,OO0 greater than that iror, The kloh-
dixie during It's first SEASON OF operations, !
have seen greater individual boards OF gold on
,aps Nome than j ever saw IN the klondike.
know a camp Of a dozen miners, all natives
of Connecticut, who had q lot Of fine claims on
Snow Creek. saw at their camp one Sunday
last September a pile Of gold that was sold to the
Alaskan Commercial Company a few days later
for S1D. $50. That represented about fourteen
wrrks' work. Besides, the men had spent some
800 in fumes for sluices and had lost time
from gold washing by doing carpenter WORK
ahou, their sluices. When | happened to go
stroIling into the company camp ten, the men had
almost finished a careful weighing Of the golden
heap The gold lay heaped up in the mlidl"
Of a canvas sheet. Come here Quinn, and look
at ms, Sdlu on" 81 the miners W NV - ! 'h'l0H'
There's the biggcs, gold sigh, you ever saw,
How's tina, for II few lonely cusses out OF luck'
who have been chasing over Alaska for a bare
living these five years
Il have seen in a walk about the camps at Nome
on a Sunday afternoon many a five gallon kern
scne oil can full Of dust ana worth about Sli,0ol
Out on Nom. lrerk four miners had a washtlb
half full oil gold dust. ItS tnr way, there was a
tragedy over that gold Two wsVAS after was
lava nna nj tho mariners WIS shot dead nv An
unknown man, but n haS always been believed
that one Of his partners Killed him because he
had stolen some Of the arm : gold. one Nor
wsgian miner, vino can t read or write and has a
claim on William Creek, showed M" a PAR OF
heavy canvas ~oNc'ail> that were his treasury.
lie had sewed and uv-rlapped the legs ol the gar
meni so AZ Ia make i've great hcavy bagS.
think he must have mad 100 pounds aNoirdupois
Of the yellow metal On hand when | was al his
cabin. have seen several times IN one day
in the tents along such creeks. AN AnNll. Snake
and Car, SlOb,OJO worth oi gold, anu was not
trying To- see the stud. either COL j, t. Mason
told me that in one day last summer h" sa " heuree
Miller, one uf the tr-t half dozen white men IN
the Cape Nome dlggingS, ana hN" helpers slulce
nearly 200 ounces 81 gold from MlIers 'lrm
no - on Anvil Ire"k lha, makes Vi" Yield
down the coast from nome on the Portland last
August and sold ms gold at the san Francisco
mint. had about sIo,Ooo, more IN god saved up
when last saw Inn and he expected 20 run the
amount up To- SSDuD by his annual cleanup
or sluiCing this SEASON.
an many places there was only the dirty con
vas wall Of a tent - protect = can ~ bon 81 gold.
But thettS Of gold dust wer" 50 rare that many
q miner went n mile or mora away from his han
tatlon and hIs treasure without leaving any une
there on guard. Incr" Is u certain rough, blunt
honesty in oil mining comps that does not obtain
in other communities, hNt not IN n! my n>rer-
ence nave known such general honesty rs con
Germs rights OF property as that at Nome last
summer. \ smell company ~ tnitoG States
infantry kept things Q'1et IN camp, II was under.
stood that death was th' only penalty for theft
or delin rate dishonesty. Several men hav"
been put to death mp N th" klondike Tor attempted
robbery among the nlning ca hinS and last year
three mn wore lynchrl a. circle city iur ob.rr
These acts have had q >aluiAry effect NJ Tap,
Nome. OE' rnib'r gnt ten m,rs from tie sCrna
Of his theft when th" fearful cold caused him 10
stop for tho night with a miner The batter aus
pactel that there wa something wrong about
inc man and kept HIM in his cabin while he 50
cratly spread Information concerning HIM Tho
thief was tried by fifteen mon The trisl l,g,rl
two hours, after which the man was stood M and
shot You hear true stores in Nome Nll the
time ~ men who, travelling among the gold dig
gers, enter cabins ana tents l't open while tho
owners arc niles away and 80 lars aud cans
standing on the Shel yes Of the rlqc' with pounds
of pure gold IN them. \ friend u NINE was ont
prospecting on y remote" cra'S last summer when
owner had gone to NOTa To grab NJ. Hitor tho
weeks of s!uicing, AMI had lett a notice - that
effect pinned ON tHr door Nv friend went in
and saw n wooden macN"r"l lit IN one corner
Of the tent well filed with gold dust \ GrImy.
tattered old blanket had been carrlpssly thrown
about sic, 0D Up on Cape Nom" n thlHf cEunot
get out Of the country without !ISk NJ hrs Ifn.
and II is impossible for him To- sirv thor, and not
be apprshrNdrl for his cr1W'
The population ~ Nome tIy ana the On m
tia, lin ihe creeks tributary 10 tho Nonla Snd
Snnkr rivers H. aS INTELLIGENT % in INV uiri,-