The Oskaloosa herald., 1900-11-15
MONIES FORTUNE HUNTERS.
True Picture OF Condition. i'm Alaskan
Gold Fields.

umns Of one of the leading newspapers
of Chicago there appeared in a certain
issue the latter part of July an article,
headed in large type, Nome City is
veritable pit Of death" This statement
is false, and the entire article conveys
an absolutely untrue and unjust impress
sion of the new mining camp to the
people in the states, who have friends
here, and to the general public. Such
misrepresentation are not calculated to
cheer our friends at home or help mat
tiers along at Nome. Four months ago
the newspapers were filled with the
most exaggerated stories of the inn
niense richness of the Nome placer
mines, and the ease of obtaining for
tune in three short months 1t IS per-
haps natural that ones estimate OF
new country be formed by ones own
success or failure in that country, and as
the majority of fortune hunters will
leave Nome this summer with a long
tale of woe it is readily seen why their
interviews" are rather pessimistic,"
but real conditions of a country at large
are not as changeable as are the for
tunes of an individual, and facts remain
facts notwithstanding the discourage
ment of many. 1t is true that the town
of Nome has not been in the best sani-
tary condition this summer. In fact, 1t
has been otherwise. Dawson was in
lust such ondition in its early days;
but notwithstanding the sanitary condi-
ton of the place there has been but lit
tie sickness and few deaths, as the hos
pital and physicians will testify. The
druggists say that the health OF the peo-
pie has been painfully good. ! believe
there has been less illness among the
miners than there would have been
among an equal number of soldiers of
the regular army if encamped here.
People who came here expecting to
pick up a fortune during the summer
are, of course, disappointed. Any one
who knows anything about placer min
ing knows that even in the richest dig
gings" the small minority make for
tunes, and it takes them time to do this.
1t is little wonder then why men OF no
experience in mining or frontier life
are daily turning homeward, discour-
aged and disheartened. 1t would be
well for one to think twice before he
changes his occupation from that OF
farmer, merchant, banker OF lawyer, to
that of an Alaskan prospector, and
miner. Before one becomes a miner he
must be a prospector, for mines are
found by prospecting. A successful
prospector, however, need not have had
years of experience in the mines, for
some of the best placers have been
found by men who know very little OF
mining. The chief qualities to be de-
sired in a prospector are a robust con-
stitution and a large amount of perse-
verance, with a deaf ear to the general
advice of the public. Any young man
thus endowed will make a good pros
pector, with a fair chance of becoming
the owner of mine. A man under 40
is better than man past that age IN
Alaska, for he can stand the hardships
of the rough camp life much better. 1t
is a pathetic sight to see an old "torty-
miner" toiling over the trail in search OF
the fortune which perhaps he has never
found, his grit still with him., but his
vigorous strength gone years ago. Dur
ing the past two months several
Strikes" have been made which de-
monstrate beyond doubt that tins part
of Alaska will develop into good min
ing country.
On the benches" or hillsides of
Anvil and Dexter creeks very rich de-
posts of gold have been found, equally
rich with the famous benches" OF Gold
Hill in the Klondike. Just how extern
sive these bench diggings are remains
to be proved, but for the amount of
prospecting done, the results have been
eminently satisfactory. The recent dis
coveries on the Bluestone river and its
tributaries, and in the Koogrock rls-
trict, are the most important thus far
this season, and tend to redeem in
measure the good name of the camp.
These districts are both very extensive
and largely increase the gold producing
area of the country. On the claim on
the Gold Run, in the Bluestone district,
three men shoveled into three small
sluice boxes for ten hours the gravel
from the bed of the creek, and cleaned
up $4,000 for their labor. This is not
told as boom" story to excite people,
but simply to show that the country was
not all staked two months ago, as many
people believed and that there is still
valuable ground left open, only TO be
proved valuable by the prospector's pick
and shovel. Two months ago any one
could have staked and located this claim
for his trouble. 1t was then considered
of no value, because no gold had been
found on it because no one had looked
for gold, until three men came along
and prospected the claim, which today
is worth probably 100000, at q con-
sentative figure. Eight weeks ago six
men were the only prospectors in the
entire Bluestone district, covering many
square miles. The dIsrrlct was practi-
cally unprospected, and yet the loafers
in town, who had never seen the creeks,
told you there was no gold there. This
merely illustrates the absurdity of the
statements of people who do not know
what they are talking about, and from
these same people usually emanate the
wild stories of fabulous STRIKES" or
"hard luck" situations, always optimistic
of pessimistic in the extreme, never
striving the happy medium OF truth and
common sense.
The Bluestone and Koog rock dis
tricts are directly tributary to Port
Clarence Bay, on the shores of which
magnificent harbor, the only one in this
part OF northwestern Alaska have
sprung up two rival towns-Teller and
Boring City. 1t remains to be seen
which will eventually be the town. i
is great pity that gold was not first
discovered in the territory tributary TO
Port Clarence, for here IS pre-eminently
the natural site for the city Of the
north, and here viii be the metropolis
of northwestern Alaska within very
short time, as already people are COM
mencing to leave Nome for either one or