The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-05-20
ALAsKA'S SUDDENLY RICH.
PEOPLE WHO HAVE LEAPED FROM
POVERTY TO WEALTH,

From the New York Sun.
Los Angeles, Cal.-Said George F. Fish
81 when he came down the coast from
Alaska the other day: 1.-The most inter
esting things 1 found in my year of
,ravel in Alaska and the Aleutian Islands
we're not the extraordinary golden plac-
ers but the men who have leaped from
noverty into large wealth. And the way
the newly-made rich men up in Alaska
live and spend their morley is. in some in
stances. even more interesting than the
ways they came quickly to have princely
incomes.
"For instance, there is Sandy Flaherty,
the king of the placers on Dominion
creek in the Klondike country. 1 sup
pose that any one in Dawson would say
that Sandy's wealth is upward of 100000,
and is increasing by $4,000 a year. Four
years ago he was on a chain-gang on the
reefs of Omaha, Neb., and three years
70 he was tending bar on the Barbary
p asst of San Francisco's water front.
told me in detail the story of his rise
worldly riches one day last summer. at
D lwson. He never knew who his par
epts were. He was left, when a baby
few weeks old, on the steps of a county
almshouse at Moberly Mo. This was
n 1860 An old pauper woman. in the
Lmshouse named May Flaherty took pity
D. the waif and asked to be his foster
other. So the child became known as
ndy Flaherty because of his sandy hair.
was a poorhouse lad until he was 10
ars DID, when he was taken by cigar
Aker who wanted a boy to do chores
Al / gardening for his board and clothes.
7 ere the boy learned to read and write
by instruction by the cigarmakers and
S. ar-old boys. The cigarmaker died,
Fl home was broken up, and Flaherty
4 to get new place to work.
j a word Sandy Flaherty experienced a
\ ,onstant round of toll, and felt ceaseless,
i iting poverty for twenty-five long years.
He tramped for two years and he labored
Il in pretty lowly walks of life from direct
necessity He was arrested in Omaha for
vagrancy in 1896, and worked two weeks
4 on the chain-gaug He beat his way to
attic. There he lived with half-breed
III ash Indians, and got a living by fish
and cooking for a camp of fishermen.
"a drifted down the coast to San Fran
Hi D and there he fell in with some
IN lers, who were about to sail for the
M ring and Arctic seas on years cruise.
u dy Flaherty jumped at the chance to
Ne long. For once in his life he was sure
n Jdging for twelve successive months. He
old me last summer that the happiest day
Dc had known since earliest youth was
#when he sailed out through the Golden
Gate. The whaler cruised about the
%Aleutian Islands. and in May, 1897, toudh-
Nd at St. Michael Flaherty was seriously
IN with typhoid fever and he was left
fhere, apparently to die. 1t was two days
Bitter the whaler had sailed before he re-
covered enough from delirium to know
where he was and that he had been left
behind at a God forsaken whaling port at
3he mouth of the Yukon river.
|# When he had been nursed to health by
fome Esquimaux fishermen, he began to
box around for any sort of work to earn
fnoney to get back to the States. Sudden
In the news came down the Yukon river
E1hat wonderfully rich gold diggings had
been struck in the Klondike creeks, at the
teadwaters of the Yukon. A score of men
N St. Michael started at once in a little
/ fkiff up the river to Dawson. Flaherty
has among them. He had but 81 in his
eocket and the clothes on his back when
BE started for the Klondike gold field. He
p0ked for his comrades and did general
,rk to pay his passage. Arrived at Daw-
FL ~ Sandy Flaherty got job as cook in
{ rough sawed pine barn that answered
III a boarding house. His pay was $50 a
Il eek and his own board and lOd ging. One
4X
p meals was an original Klondixer. He
two claims on Dominion creek. One
Nv he had delirium tremens and Sandy
rsed him to health. To reward Sandy
/ ~ old fellow gave him the poorer of the
70 claims. Sandy gave up his job as
&ok and began gold mining the next day.
e worked day and night, scarcely stop
ne to sleep two hours out of twenty-four,
anxious was he to know what sort of
aim he owned. Before the cold weather
in, in October, 1897, he had dug down
bedrock on his creek bench claim, and
as panning gold at the rate of So and
90 pan. He never spent dime I'M
eessarily, and early Klondikers still tell
w hard he worked with pick and shovel
- pan. Then he got capital. put up a
lice on his claim, and built 81 900 cabin.
Id fellow who gave him the claim
second case of tremenS and urged
n rty to buy him out for sixty pounds
gold and Flaherty bought on six
tbs time. Then the young fellow had
adjacent claims, and from that time
fortune has been rising fast. He has
INT and sold altogether some fifteen
er mines in the locality of Dominion
K and some of his single deals have
united to $4,000. He bought two well
ked claims on Beaver creek a year
Tor $4,000 together. Two
Phths later, when he had tax
oul HIty pounds OF gold from
M ne sold each for upward of $40, 900.
st June he sent 800 pounds of gold to
san Francisco mint by the Alaska
numerical Company. He carried a bank
ost at one of the big San Francisco
nKs Of between $15O,O00 and 100000, and
invested thousands of dollars of his
plus cash in Yukon River Transpor-
ION company stock, and Seattle city
as He has a lawyer employed at
year solely to attend to his bust
'ome ways Sandy Flaherty is a very
, 'ual man. One might naturally be-
! mat man who has been reared in
aimshouse, had lived the life of a semi
mp Tor twenty years. and had never
eu more than the ragged clothes on his
until he was 81 years old, would be
eI'y poor sort of business man. Well.
Gy Flaherty Is a plain, hard working
lDe business man. He invested some
~ a patent two years ago It was
h mule and from that time he has new
Meh wheedled out of a dime except for
III mate charity. His business sense
TO come to him as fast as his piles
He bought Yukon steamboat
n m mao been hawked about Dawson for
m No lor $4,000. He had her refitted and