Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-03-03
THE NEW MINING DISTRICT.
This Year VIII witness n Great StruE.
gle at.rapso Nome,

gle at,UapC Nome.
From the Scientific AHariea1I
The latest vessel to leave Cape Nome,
Alaska, arrived in port a few days ago
bearing the last u the discoveries and
million dollars in gold dust.
Cape Nome has absorbed the attention of
all those whose cosfiderfee in the future of
Alaska as the GREATEST gold producing coun-
try in the world has NOT been impaired by
a want of successoin the inhospitable in
terror regions of (which Dawson is the
great center. The american miners, driven
out of the territosies lIeontrolled by the
Canadians. have been ihdustriously pros
pecting along the acoast, finding traces of
gold almost everyHhers Rumors of the
rich discoveries atICapS Nome have been
abroad for over year past, contradicted
at times by those interested in keeping the
knowledge of the real facts from the rest
of the world From private sources and
from the occasional visits of the adventur-
Gus, Information Of the remarkable rich
ness of the country has been disseminated
In the west until the tide of travel and in
vestigation turned toward the point and
invaded the camp by thousands. In Au-
gust the population of Nome City amount
ed to 1000 men, and in the country round
about to at least 5000 more. A city has
grown up in a month. and though a very
large proportion of the prospectors have
left the country at the approach of the in
clement season, at least 1900 will brave
the rigors of the climate and remain until
the advent of summer permits a resump-
ton of work.
The output of the Cape Nome mining re-
gion for the past summer amounts to 81
1000, all from placers and with the aid
Of the most unscientific appliances. All
of the peninsula on Norton Sound. from
Norton Bay to Cape Prince Of Wales, APP
pears to be gold bearing. Within an area
fifty miles east and west of Nome, fronting
on the sea, gold-bearing sands have been
discovered. Back toward the range which
separates Norton from Kotzebue Sound
the most hopeful indications discovered.
Where these gulches have been mined, in
the immediate vicinity of Nome, the yield
of gold has been astonishing. Taking into
consideration the extent of country and
its known richness. together with the COM
paratively easy methods required for ex-
traction of the gold, it is the opinion of
men, not the most enthusiastic, that in
1900 Cape Nome will produce more gold
than all the rest Of Alaska, Klondike in
cluded, put together. The new fields have
the immense advantage of easy accessible
ity. From western ports to the beach at
Cape Nome means only a comfortable voy-
age by steam or sail. There are no dan
gerous passes to cross or expensive out
fits to purchase. 1t is on American soil
and open to the miners of the world. I'm
der these conditions 1t is anticipated that
the summer of 1900 will witness the most
gigantic flight of myriads of people that
the world has ever known toward these
new mines. ..--- 49,.
Cape Nome is situated in about the 9th
degree of latitude, 120 miles north of St.
Michaels and about 3 degrees south of the
Arctic circle. The seasons are much milder
than in the interior, and the more hardy
vegetables can be grown there. Snow and
ice disappear about the middle of May,
and until the early part of October the eli
mate is comparatively mild. Four and one
half months of work a season is the aver
age. Ice begins to accumulate in the sea
in October, and piles up in great hum
mocks during the winter season. The cold
sometimes reaches GO degrees below. In
summer there is much rain and fog. The
first placers were found on the beach in a
strata of ruby sand. generally about three
feet below the surface The streak is about
four inches in depth. and sometimes two
or three are found, one above the other.
On August IS. 900 men were working on
the beach and were averaging an ounce
day each. The theory has been that the
gold thus mined is washed up by the sea-
The origin is not as yet certainly known.
In the gulches the bed rock as far as
known, averages not deeper than five feet
from the surface. Where worked, the
yield of the gulches has been very large
Whatever the outcome of Cape Nome it
will ever be associated with the discovery
of new word in mining phraseology.
tundra" which is aborogine and describes
the low. marshy land lying between the
beach and the foothills, having a width at
Cape Nome of five miles and of indefinite
length, a feature of all Alaska seacoast
lands
Travellers in Alaska all refer to the moss
covered soils saturated with moisture,
Astounding in great areas in the valleys
and forests; a sort of spongy blanket on top
of the ground, generally frozen underneath.
At Cape Nome, extending from the sea
beach back to the foothills. a distance of
about five miles. and extending all along
the shore. is marshy stretch Of land
covered with moss. This is well defined
and characteristic of the country. and is
called by the Indians tundra" Its depth
al Cape Nome is three feet and under
meath. everywhere in fact. rich deposits of
gold are found