The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-09-23

| There are 100 muIy IfrlduThhNHt WV s'h' W
them ARE serving meals Of one kind or another
At prices hardly abo We cost. There Is a plethora
OF lawyers. though the mills Of justice are eI-
ceedingly busy. Half the number OF doctors
would complain Of lack Of lucrative pracuce'
for the doctor. are many and the camp u re-
| markably healthy.
Certain private enterprises are very pros
porous, however. The man who owns the
toll bridge across Snake River Ia making more
money than almost any one else In Nome. prom
ably. One-quarter Of the population OF the
town dwells on the spit lust across me river,
and many people cross the bridge rom 'Wo
10 six times a day, There II also n constant
travel Of teams across the bridge. Early In
the season a person on foot Was obliged to pay
rs cents to cross the bridge. But men came TO
Nome who carry with them wherever they 90
an inherent hatred ~ prosperity and OF corpo-
rations and OF rich companies unless they hap
pen 10 strike II rich themselves. A loud clamor
was made for a free bridge. but MIR. telge
holds a charter granted by Congress In the
earlier DAYS OF nome. Then boatmen began
TO ferry people across the stream at I've cents
a head, and the bridg, owner promptly met
the cut IN price. The present tara is $3.50
for a team. rs cents for a single horse and wagon
and Ave cents for n pedestrian. Women are
allowed to have free passage.
ne Dtttn Nuldftul 10 NblllS II III lfIloih~
alb IL contrast to the beach as II AZ peared late
In June. Then the shore was covered with a
confused crush Of freight Of every kind from
the edge Of the surf 10 the south side Of Front
street. Fifty steamers were lying a mile off
shore and scores Of lighters we're discharging
careoes prOrniscuouSly where the beach was
already piled twenty feet high with merohan-
dice. Now there are a dozen vessels on the
anchorage grounds. Something like half Of the
lighters have been drawn up or blown up on
the shore together with n score OF wrecks Of
steam launches, Yukon River steamers and
sailing vessels. and the piles " merchandise
have either disappeared or lie ruined
In the sand. Thousands Of dollars worth OF
mining machinery IL to be found on the beach
where 1t was landed b. the lighters. Heavy
iron centrifugal pumps. steam and gasolene
engines and gold-saving machines in profusion
are rIsiug under tho salt spray or lying half
buried In the sand Their owners got cold feet
soon after landing and never moved their goods
away. The disappointment which MANY men
who came 70 Nome have had cause TO feel has
called forth the following poem by Samuel
c. Durham, the Census Supervisor for Alaska:
I've trudgsd and I've starved and rye from
All over this white, barren land,
where the .ea stretches straight white and silent
where the timbcrlcSs white mountains stand;
From the white peak that CLEAN in the moonlight
Like a garment that gracrs a soul
To the last White sweep Of the praitisS
Where the black shadows brood round the pole.
i've panned from Peru to Point Bsros.
Bu, I've never located a claim
TIN I'D fully persuaded my conscience
That pay dirt petvadrd the SANE.
And this Is the source Of my sorroW.
As you will b. forcrd n agree
when you learn how relentless Misfortune
Has dumped al. her tallings on me.
Iworked with my pardneg all summer
Gro scouting a cusNed old creek,
Which we never once thought Of locating
Unless we located the streak
W. trayerSed the toe.twistlng tundra,
where reindeer root round for their feed,
Ard the hurg cry IAplanders who herd then
Devour them before they CAP breed.
W. found there broad beaches Of ruby
And mountain, with placers ana leads
And all save tn. SKY was preempted
By salt water sailors and Swedes
We're too slow for tn new breed Of minefs,
Embracing all ella >ses u men.
Who locau " by power Of attorney
And prospect their claims with a pen.
Who do all Of their tne work through agents
And loaf round the town with the SPOTS
On Intimate terms with the lawyers,
ON similar terms with the courts.
4 more prosperous season Is promised for
next year. when there will be no illusions con-
corning the beach sands which have deceived
30 many gold hunters this sImmer, and when
men will turn to tho interior Of the country
and prospect II thoroughly. Several thou
sand men will remain In Nome this winter,
prapsred legally TO resfake mining claims.
Owners or lOCHterS Of countless claims which
were stdked a yodr or more ago have failed
10 do assessment work on them TO the amount
n 500, and these can be legally restaked on
Jan. / next. Some Of them are not worth
restakinG. Others nre being quietly pros
pected by would-be owners who will be on the
ground on Jan. /. 1901. prepared 10 take pos
session OF them under the mining laws Of the
United States. Movements about the coun-
Try for this purpose will call into use many
dog teams this winter. uUquestionably. Mala-
mute dogs are plenty In Nome and 20 are sleds.
but there promises 10 he a famine of dog feed.
The EsquimauN are usually expected to pro-
vide this AZ small cost. but the unusual scourge
Of disease that has visited the natives Of west
ern Alaska this summer hos kept them from
their usual summer occupation Of fishing.
Dried fish is the standard dog feed.
Tedious ~ it is 20 travel over the SHOWS 81
this peninsula in winter with the mercury
W ~ 0D ufGTff~ pflO" zero ana tIt WllOs from
the Rehring Sea cutting like a knife, n Is prof
cradle to the present method unless horses
are used The sea is so treacherous that sail
ing in small boats along the coast Is danger
ous. Scores Of bodies % drowned mon washed
ashore with their boats have been found all
dong this coast during the last three weeks.
The tundra. where a proSpector may 'mush"
hundreds Of miles In his search for gold with
out finding n dry place to lie down In his blan-
ket- at night. i almost impossible. Yet
hundreds Of men. bending under packs con-
sistinR Of a blanket, pick. shovel and gold pan
and a few provisions. may he seen walking
up and down this coast on the tundra for a
hundred miles each side Of Nome. No place
In the world is more lonesome than the tundra
In tho interior. A proST srtor may travel long
distances without seeing a human being or II
living thing except n certain water fowl that
lives around the lagoons. Stories have been
brought from the int ror Of fierce attacks
made on mon by these birds In their zeal 70
protect their young during the nesting sea-
son. The silence Of the interior becomes OPP
pressive TO n mNn who has not seen mankind
for many days. and II he finds gold in this I'M
I promising region he has earned II,
EnDECEEg ~ DJu-nE