The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-02-03
CAPE NOME GOLD FIELDS.
INCIDENTS AND CONDITIONS TOLD
by REV. II. :. WRIT.
Forty Hours work, IS,0OO-SaIoon
becomes II Church-SOme Prices.
Three Thousand Are Spending the
Winter There.

ihTeS ih"uShhu are SpcnuiuS the
Winter There.
From the New York Times
Apropos of the expected great rush in
the Spring to Cape Nome gold fields, a
description of which has been published
in these columns, anything relating to the
place, and of what is going on there is
of especial interest at this time. Last Au-
gust the Rev. Royal l.. Writ, a reprcsen-
tative of the Alaska Missions under the
auspices of the Congregational churches,
visited Cape Nome for the purpose OF
making arrangements to establish a
Christian church, hospital library, ana
reading rooms for the benefit of the min
ers. He found them very anxious for him
to remain with them, and they according
ly contributed generously of their money
to help him in carrying out his designs.
Mr.. Writ and his family concluded to face
the perils of an arctic Winter to carry on
their great work.
Letters written home to relatives tell Of
his arrival there, and s me OF his interest
ing experiences up to the tine of the leav-
ing of the last ship before the freezing
of Boring sea. In one of these letters he
says:
after my arrival at Anvil city was
asked il wished to undertake a long
tramp out to the hills to see for myself
the exact truth concerning the reported
richness Of the placers. | was warned
that 1t would be an exceedingly hard trip,
but assured my guide j was no novice
at that sort of thing, and began drawing
on the mutlocks he had kindly provided
At o'clock we started, and for four
miles walked over the tundra, a thick
growth of soft spongy moss. With ordi-
nary boots this would have been almost
impossible but with our light mutocks
we could jump from tuft to tuft, and so
keep out of the bog-holes There were
five in our party, two old miners acting
as guides. After reaching the foo hills the
walking became better, though the tundra
covers everything, even the hills, except
along the edges of streams. There are
no trees in this whole region. The land
scape is absolutely barren of vegetation
other than the water soaked tundra
Building material and fuel are, in conse-
quence very difficult to obtain. Lumber
sells for 500 per thousand, and coal brings
anywhere from $50 to 800 per ton. The alb
sence of mountains is also unique fea-
ture of this mining district.
Seven or eight miles back from the
town is a hill of some prominence per-
haps 1000 feet above the sea level. On the
summit of this hill stands a lone rock
about forty feet high, which has been
worn by glacial action into a remarks be
likeness to a huge anvil. Whether seen
from the sea or the interior the striking
resemblance is apparent Sklrtng this
hill, we soon came upon the famous Anvil
creek, where god was first discovered in
October 1898
THE strike was made by three Scan
dinavans who had been employed as gov
eminent reindeer herders. Winter closed
down soon after these men started their
claims, so that no development work was
done until after the ground was thawed out
late last spring. When we, therefore,
reached claim No. l. be,ow Discovery. the
method of extracting the gold from the
gravel called sluicing, had been In opera
ton less than two months In that time,
despite all sorts of hindrances and primi-
tive machinery, the claim had yielded up
ward of 800, 600
'"rhe camp consists of q cook tent,
around which are grouped half a dozen
wea therbeaten sleeping tents. From one
of these hearing our voices, the genia,
owner OF this rich twenty-acre claim. is
sued forth, and gave us "A genuine miners
welcome. For opeu-handed generosity
give me the miner In his mining camp
Invited into 4he tent our eyes soon dis
covered a common milk pan heaped fun of
shining yellow dust, not dust, properly
speaking but Manules of gold, averaging
about the size of wheat grain. This
said our host. represents three and
half days run in the sluice boxes. working
seven men, There was not far from sew
enty-hve pounds of gold dust Ia the pan,
which would bring perhaps $1,000 at the
mint Eighteen thousand dollars In forty
hours was his best run
1T was not far from the noon hour,
and of course, We were not allowed to con-
tinue our journey until the cook had done
his best TO fortify as against the next
stage of our journey. But imagine our
surprise when our host took us once more
into his tent poured ot 81 900 In big mug
gest, and said Help yourselves each to
souvenir, gentlemen The five souvenirs
weighed Inst SOL
From claim to claim we passed over
Anvil creek, and in good many tents
saw wonderful clean-ups standing around
i'm tin cans, bottles and buckskin 'pokes'
with an apparent carelessness, which
would have been sheer recklessness any
where else From Anvil creek we crossed
a divide TO Glacier creek, and from Ga-
cier creek to Snow gulch. thence we pro-
ceeded homeward by way of Snake river
and Boudbon creek. Just at midnight we
dragged our weary feet into the store.
Twenty-Five miles of the toughest kind oi
walking had put one in condition where
! could appreciate fairly good bed, but
looked around the big warehouse in vain