Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1900-01-10
DIGGING KlONDIKE GOLD.
/ ouls Kier Writes Entertainingly Of His Ex-
periences Weather and Other Condit-
ions are Agreeable to Him.

Under date Of Decem Der 4th Ion;s
kler writes to his friend. Albert Solver
son. from Dawson City, Alaska. The
CENSOR Is permitted to make the fol-
lowing extracts from the letter:
We, Lewis and myself, are ENJOYING
good health and the country seems to
agree with us as well as ever. There
mas been very little sickness here this
winter The hospitals are all neatly
empty and several of the private ones
are closed ON account of small alnount
OF sickness. We have had the finest
weather ever saw for winter. 2Sc be-
low zero Is the lowest point reached
Most OF the time it has been about ten
Fellow. One week ago | came from Gold
hun, distance of fifty miles, part of
The way lying over the summit of the
highest divide In the cou ntry. wearing
2 nat al the way. As / travelled far
above lumber line where there is nothing
60 break the wind, you may know it was
not so very cold.
Ernest Is out near Indian river, cook
ing Tor surveying party at salary Of
slVo per month and board | have been
WORKING IN the mines at S. per day and
BOARD. | had a good place with good
board, Tor this country, and a good fore
man. The weather has been SO warm
this winter that many of the miners are
aot working. The country is still full
OF men looking for work. Nearly every
day all the fall there would be from one
TO dozen III search of work. About 4
week since, the man who owns the
claims where was working, came out
with contract for all to sign. agreeing
TO work until after the cleanup NEXT
summer Quito eighty men two signed
and the restquit. We thought it better
to quit and get payed for what we had
dorA than to run the risk of losing all
our winters work, as we had no security
for onr pay This warm weather il bad
for gas forming in the mines. The heat
from fire and dampness from the Fl Oxen
ground as it thaws, causes a gas that il
bad for wQrking in / was blind for
three days, caused by this obnoxious
gas. could not see to eat, the first two
days. The third day, however, ( was
better, and the fourth went to work
again. The boss gave me a lob ON ton
OF the ground for time until nv evasl
We're all all right. Sometimes there il
so much smoke in the drift that If Is
hard to see anything in the morning If
some OF the fires are still kept BURNING |
Many OF the men who never drifted |
don't know how to put in the fires sn5
the pay-dirt from the ws,,te
so those who do have to remain in sba
drift most of their time. Nearly All
who worked in the drift all the fall had
sore eyes and were laid up for q few
days l suppose you wonder how wei
hire drift to thaw the dirt. A drift
generally runs from three to six feet
high few feet from the wall; the nearer
the wall tie lower the drift In startino
to put in fire we first lay sticks on the
ground TO keep the fire from being
quenched by the water and to give
draft. After laying in shavings with fine
and coarse wood, which all rests against
the wall, and is SO arranged that the fire
Will run from one bunch of shayings To
the other until the entire pile is ablaze
It's full length, we then take green wood
about four feet long, and cover the drv
Ill over as tight as possible SO as not to
let the fire come through it. This causes
The heat to confine itself and enter the
wall Should more dirt fall during the
process OF thawing than is desired II all
aas to be removed, and as il contains no
gold is as worthless as it is troublesome
The fire in a drift is generally from fifty
70 sixty feet long Where / have been
1t work this winter it is about thirty
Jet to bed rock and the floor of the drift
was about six inches in bed rock You
zee 1t is quite little depth to hoist the
ilrt. The old miners in here from ali |
parts OF the world are no NOR, suecess-
-ul or better here than the men who
never saw mine. The man who hoisted
The dirt for me was an I'd miner from
The western states. He knows nothing
of cleaning up gold where the dirt has
20 all be thawed by fire, however.
You have, no doubt, seen accounts of
where they have several feet in depth of
pay dirt You can let such stories 90 in
one ear and ons of the other. for, with
the exception of few places, gold is all
near or in bedrock.
Dawson is becoming quite a place.
The telegraph line from here to Skaguay
IS good thing for this country. The
town has electric lights, water works
telephone system, two fire departments.
: livery stable, where they turn out as
Inc teams and cutters as anywhere, and
some fine large stores. One of these has
arge plate-glass windows. There is
also large brick storage building The
brick were burned here. -
Provisions are cheaper than they were
last year, at least greater portion of
them. Beef, 81 to $125 per pound
Clothing is very reasonable