Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1900-07-26
John MCCrimmon, a Former Resident
OF jamestown, Tells of Affairs
at Nome.
Some Gold There, But More People
Than Gold Hundreds Are
Leaving.
Old Timers at Nome Are Very Un-
truthful and Stampede the New
Comers Occasionally.

The following letter received by
George AlthofT Of Butte and repub.
lished in the Butte Miner, from John
McCrlmmon. who is in Cape Nome
will be read with interest by his many
friends in jamestown:
/ am going to write a short letter
and to save time will so write it that
you can pass it around to the boys and
make it answer as an epistle to the
Butteites from d fool stampeder, or.
as they term them here, "Chee Chaw-
ker," applied, as you might guess by
those who Wintered here and call
themselves "SOur Doughs" and con-
slider themselves vastly superior be-
ings, mentally and otherwise AS for
mining, they know it all if they never
saw a mine till a year ago. l think
the ice is inclined to fasten to a man
and incorporate itself into his system,
for they are a chilly crowd those
''Sour Doughs" and think nothing of
sending a hundred or more 'Chee
ChaWkerS' on a 10O-mile stampede
with bull-con story told quietly in a
restaurant and listened to by some
gullible guy who im1parts it to his
friends with the attendant embellish-
ments, until before it quits is liable to
draw in the very ones who originated
the hoax. Now these are facts: the
biggest liars on earth are in this
northland, where they must practice
it druing the long winter nights and
are prepared to produce the finished
article to the foolish thousands that
they lure north with their unreasona-
BILE lies.
don't mean to say that there is no
gold here, but that there are more
people than gold and consequently not
enough to 60 round. The beach has
been turned over three or four times
for miles and will nc longer pay poor
man with rockers, and will have to
receive the finishing touches by ground
sluice, supplied by centrifugal pump,
run by gasoline engine: the best mo-
tive power because the cheapest. The
present known beach won't be much
good after this year for either. All
the poor people who came north to
work the beach will have to go back
for they can do as well in the states as
on the beach. and in month or SO,
when their grubstake is gone, will
have to pull out. They are going now
by the hundreds. The tundra, about
which they made SO much fuss is. as
far as l can learn, practically value
less.
1T is great sight to see the crowd
on the beach. For 20 miles it looks
like one big street, with all kinds of
outfits.
Anvil creek is certainly fine, particu-
larly Discovery and the Swedes who
own it are 1.-THE only people," Snow
gulch gave fair results last year and
winter and Dexter creek was fairly
good. Outside of these there was
nothing opened up that amounted to
much. So you can see the stampede
that brought us in was unwarranted.
when viewed from a dispasSionate
standpoint and. although the chances
may be good for quite few, thou
sands OF us will be sorry we left our
"happy homes" am. however, not
discouraged. We have nearly made
to 60 in on sluicing
and if we do we will, |
think, be able to beat them all out
from the fact that we brought in 1000
guny sacks to cotferdam the beach:
as yet not thought of by
many: in fact none that | can see. We
catch low tide. till our sacks with
sand, build a dam and clean up virgin
ground, pumping the water out to
keep the pit dry.
Many business men will fail. for
they can't all make money, and the
old houses who get freight cheap and
have large capital, will crowd the |
others to the wall. So | expect to |
buy grub cheap after mine is gone. |
Eggs sell at SOC dozen: beef 6Oc |
(fresh) spuds &c per pound:
St. Charles SOC can; small loaf bread
&c; butter SOC pound; all drinks 25.
md cigars vile, ditto: carpenters are
making $3.50 per hour. Team $40
Tito: longShoremen 81 ditto; wages
N creeks, miners, s. and board.
Houses are at premium and