Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1900-07-27
PLENTY OF LIFE.

NO DEARTH OF EXCITEMENT AT
CAPE NOME-PRlCES AT THE
GOLD FlELDS-GRAND FORKS
MAN DOING WE'LL.
Grand Forks, July lD.-AleX McDon-
aid. one of the Grand Forks colony at
Cape Nome, writes as follows from
there:
1t is just midnight and | am perched
up ON 4 pile of freight as night watch
man on the Senator cargo at Sl2.UO
per II hours. 1t is broad daylight as
the sun only goes down for one-half
hour at night and would be visible any
time were it not for the mountains. l
am just twenty feet from the ocean
and at anchor two miles out lie at
least % steel ocean liners. ~discharging
cargoes. | forgot whether | wrote
you on the way up, but time and eX-
citement forbid it now. All | have to
say is that the trip is worth part of
anyonc's life and that some day soon
| hope to sit down and tell you of my
experience in this land of sunshine and
gold. We landed here the 14th, came
ashore the 18th and in eight days with
out a dollar. to help me. l have made
$3.50 clear and board. I made an av-
erage of SIT per night as freight clerk
and Waterman, during the day l have
amused myself with starting Il fellow
up in a lunch counter, sold W deliv-
cry carts and one tent for another fell
low. sold Zoo cigars for another.
Win Boulter increased the roll $500,
which he rocked out by good hard
knocks down at Gapcock. l will send
you a bunch just as soon as a bank
opens and | can get a draft.
Win was here for two days leaving
at / Il. m. this morning for Gapcock
and Calvin Bay. | fixed him out with
a 5000 grocery and camp supply and a
5000 stock OF groceries to sell. Be-
sides | have shipped the boiler and en-
CINE outfit by a sailing schooner which
will reach Topcock about the same day
as he will. At the very lowest figures
the outfit can turn out $500 per day
clear and with a little luck upwards of
a thousand. This may seem queer,
but $1,000 up here is like 80 cents.
Wait went away with Win. Topcock
is 80 miles south Of here.
Nome is sure to be a winner. There
beach for 400 miles. Already Nome
is a camp Of $4,000 people with more
to follow. Like all mining camps the
place is flooded with cranks and crooks
but darkness Injuries the game they
came for. Some Of the effects we no
tice to he different from the states, are
We pay $ 1-3 cents to enter a toilet; s
ID to wash our face and comb our
hair; Sl.:N for a bath, $l.IO for a
shave and haircut, 500 for a plain
steak, $50 for any meal, 80 cents
each for good drinks and - cents for
beer and cheap drinks. Beer is 81
per bottle. Lumber is worth 81 cents
per foot cust figure out how much it
would take to put a cheap walk in front
of your building.) Eggs are 30 cents
per dozen. condensed milk 30 cents per
can, sugar - cents per pound. city
lots from SG,OnO to $1,000 each. Horses
n,.N ,.N,.l, rtl ,~,,, g., ~,
and mems time from 81 to $l.:M per
hour.
At this juncture of writing | wan
dered up town and | must say that a
Cape Nome Saturday night is different
from any other. | saw two good fights.
saw n ia just finish losing $4,000
took him just two hours)' saw a fire
and was just gone II hour. And to
think that Cape Nome today isn't a
marker to what it will be when the
boys bring us their gold dust. The
women here are the same as men and
go in and take their drinks the same
as anyone. They get drunk, get out
in the street and yell or boot just as
their condition allows and no one
thinks it anything unordinary. There
have been seven people shot to death
since l arrived. Every place we see
dog teams whic.4 are used almost en-
tirely for hauling freight and outfits.
! was with Captain Mccormick for
two hours today.