The National tribune., 1900-05-03
Mysteries of the Klondike.
Joaquin Miller, in Frank LeSlie's Popular
Monthly.

MoHthig.
Far up Forty Mile River. several years
ago. g party of miners came upon tissuree
in the frozen earth while pushing tunnel
in their mine. They tried TO explore the
bottom. They found it hottomless,, at
least as far as they went. The earth had
cracked open here, as any very warm pot
of earth or piece Of clay will crack open from
too sudden cooling. You think this one
isolated case doubtful evidence that the
warm earth suddenly was made cold and
so cracked open as if it had been an earthen
pot? But it is not an isolated case at all.
At this very hour bold men are trying 10
! find the bottom of a crack or fisSure III the
earth at the lower end Of the famous Berry
claims at FL Dorado. The miners there
| We're sinking "a hole for the purpose Of
| hoisting dirt up from the pay streak below
| the muck or black ice. They went down
through the black muck or ice 10 feet, 70
| feet. To their amaZement, they found no
| gravel, nothing but inky ice and now and
| then a stratum of sand, debris, dirt Of all
sorts. such as might sift in and filter down
| as the ages Went on from spring floods or
melting ice that would naturally find their
way into an open crack III the earth. ana
| these tons of ice The men went down,
| down and down. 40 feet, 60 feet, so feet,
| 80 feet. No bottom or sign OF bottom.
| This is many times the deepest hole ever
made in this northern country. And yet
| the bold miners. urged on not now by
| hope of gain, but only by laudable curlosI-
| ty TO know what may be revealed, keep on
and on. All Jil Dorado, Bonanza. Dawson.
everybody. wonders and wonders Yet
| there can be but one answer. 1t is fsSure
| III the earth. n crack in the earth'S crust.
| made when this North Pole end OF the
earth turned suddenly from hot TO cold.
| OF course, we have had lots Of jokes on the
subject. One man, an Irishman. in trying
! to explain the thing said it was all simple
enough; that the Garth was dropped on the
! ground and cracked when it was being
made. Another has said maybe the earth
was laid by the side Of the road to dry and
an IriShman ran his wheelbarrow against
the end of it and cracked it. Ay, these are
some of the things that men talk about III
| their Klondike cabins as the long nights
creep slowly by. OF course, there are
theories, some wild, fantastic, almost
terrible; but / have set down only that
which seems to my unscientific mind as
reasonable and backed by common sense.
AS before said, no verdict has as yet been
arrived at as to how, when and in the hands
of what great forces the gold was laid IN
little yellow streaks, so regularly along the
| beds Of streams under the inky lakes OF the
| deluge, although many and many a theory
quiet, thinking men of the Klondike cabins
do reach a verdict, if ever. or are even half
as certain one way or the other on the
subject as they are now that here was once
the deluge, the awful food of the old Bible
days with all its terrors, l shall be happy
| to tell you their conclusions and by what
route of reasoning they arrive at them.
Naturally, this theme has revived other
subjects along the same line. Where was
| Eden? Where is that river the gold where
Of was good? Unto Adam also and to
his wife did the Lord God make coats of
skins, and clothed them" Yonder stand
the poor trembling people clothed in skins
of wild beasts, as if but now expelled from
Paradise. Yonder flashes the flaming
sword which turns every way to guard the
| tree of life and the gates Of Eden all through
these icy nights Of endless darkness. May
be over yonder is evidence Of Eden, as here
is evidence Of the deluge, for surely yonder
Northern Light is the flaming sword that
turns continually every way. But here
the miners do not follow me.