Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1900-02-08
Collector lveu'S Luck.

The following item copied from
Mines and Metals published at Fort
land, Oregon, in regard to a former
Lancaster man will no doubt be Of in
terest to many of oW r'adera MI
Joe lycy was born and reared near
Lancaster and is a brother II Mrs.
Frank NandpN Of tuis ely HIS
many friends will be p'ea,ei TO hsar
Of his evident prosperity.
"Judge Johns n OF oar dist ict court
might nave been millionaire as well
as Collector of Cu,som' lvef had he
the same confidence in M ,nkind-
especially hat pariicI'ar KIND Of men
who devote their time to prosp ctlng
for gold in Alaska. says the Skagway
ALASKAN u hen Collector lvey re-
cciyed tip as To he wonderful wealth
OF the Cape Nome district long before
n me became a hon 'ehuld word win
miners every where. he hi! faith lie
forthwith grabslakcd tWo etalwart
miners and hnae,t, aad sent them
toward the golden Mecca by the Hrst
boat last spring Az Portland he
talked the matter to few friel ds so
earnestly that ne indUced them also
to erubStalle men FIR Nome. At Sc
attic, at*Juncau. al Sitka AMI at Skag-
way he talked Nome to his friends,
but th"y were weak OF faith and tim
id.
When Mr. Iyey arrived at Dawson
his ardor was not cooled by the infor-
nation that Dawson millionaires had
sent an expert to Nome, who had re-
turne and reported the rumors q
great strikes to be transportation
companies fakes. Not so Judge
johnson. who overlook Mr.. lvey at
Circle City The genial and popular
Judge had heard the rumOrs and he
knew of the unbounded faith OF the
collector Of customs in his sub rosa
information But that it had with
stood the chilling blast at Dawson and
was still alive and burning brightly
surprised him. Frequently on the
trip down the river as the unfayorable
reports were received at all the min
ing camps, old established and en-
byro Judge johnson would eXpostu-
late with the confident collector of
customs for persisting in booming a
country when all the evidence seemed
to be that it was either a fake or a
place Of misplaced confidence. "Nev-
er mind but wait till we get there, "
was the oft-repeated reply.
They got there, and the first words
that greeted them from Sam Durham,
the supervisor of the census for Alas
ka, were: .It's a world-beater. "
The -keptical Judge was soon the
most enthusiastic man in the party.
They had been at Nome but few
days when Mr.. Iyey, who probably
knows more Alaskans than any other
man in the district, learned of the
great finds on Solomon river He
saw prospector from that region who
exhibited to him a double handful Of
nuggets of nearly uniform size, and
in shape and size much resembling
beans.
The prospector told him how to
reach the country, which IS near Cape
York, Oh condition that he would not
make the information public and
would only let 4 few Of his personal
friends in on The find. Collector Ivey
at once impaired his information to
Judge Johnson and suggested that
they charter 4 steam launch and sail
at once for Cape York The Judge at
first agreed to the proposition but
upon consultation with Mr.. Wilson,
manager Of the n. A. L. & L. Co.'S
store at hat point, who advised him
that there was not, to his knowledge
any gold III the Cape York district,
his misgiyings over Collector Iyey's
unbounded enthusiasm were again
aroused and he weakened.
Collector Iyey went to Cape York
alone: is the owner of several claims
on the now famous Solomon river, of
great value, and has prospects Of
riches beyond the dreams of avarice''
while Judge Johnson will probably
continue to be the able presiding
Judge over Alaska's district court to
the end of his time.