The Savannah morning news., 1900-07-14
is ROUGH ON NOME.
A MINER WRITES GRAPHICALLY
OF THE CONDITIONS.
LITTLE GOLD is TAKEN OUT.
MANY OF THE MULTITUDE OF
MINERS ARE DESTITUTE.

Rudolph Says the Beach la Pretty
Well Worked Out Only Place
Where Much Dust Is Found Is
Completely Taken Up-Prices Are
High ON Everything Rudolph
Doesn't See How the People VIII
Get Away.
Washington. July 13.-The Secretary of
the Treasury has received letter from
G. Rudolph, living at S26 Broadway.
Brooklyn. n. Y, on the situation at Cape
Nome. Alaska. The department sees no
reason to doubt the trustworthiness of the
story told by Mr.. Rudolph and suggests
its publication. 1t is becoming daily more
apparent to the officials that the condi-
tions in the new gold fields are almost
certain to result in great suffering during
the coming winter. especially as epidem-
les of smallpox and typold fever are
threatened The letter is as follows:
''On account of the terrible reports in
the newspapers concerning the conditions
at Cape Nome. l take the liberty of send
ing you few lines. l left Nome on
June 90 and being an old miner, l am
fully capable OF sizing up new mining
camp in a few days. ! arrived al Nome
on June 12 1 and my partner tried
working the beach for gold in several
places, and I personally saw others by
the hundreds do the same, but not in one
instance did we see a man take out
enough gold to pay for his grub. The
only place where any gold was being
taken out was between the beach and the
tundra. There they were only making
days wages of from 81 to $40 a day. This
place is only about three-quarters of a
mile long, and il is all taken up by about
500 men. Like the beach, it is now nearly
all worked out
II. with thousands of others, had been
led 10 believe that after a winter or af-
ter any storm, the beach would be just
as good as il was originally. That is not
so. When once worked out, the beach
there is done for. While at Nome talk
ed with men who had come from points
as far as fifty miles below the camp.
They told me they had found nothing.
and they were going farther north. /
talked, too with men who had come from
points far up the beach, but they deciar-
ed there was nothing up there, and they
were going down the beach. So, 1t seems
that the whole stretch is nearly ell
worked out
mo one estimates that more than 800
hands are at work on Anvil creek, with
as many more, each, on Snow, Glacier
and Dexter creeks-a total of perhaps
1,500 men. When / left, 10000 men were
in the district. and the only work was
in unloading boats or putting up new
buildings The former task kept about
500 men busy, and the buildings employed
bout 300. When l left on June 90 be-
tween 800 and 1000 were arriving daily. /
went up on the San Bias, which made a
trip on to ST. Michael's and brought down
800 men. The Aberdeen, on which I came
back, made two trips, and brought a few
over 500. Several other boats made one
or more trips 10 ST. Michaers and brought
more.
There are far more destitute people at
Nome than people OH the outside know of.
/ know that the San Bias had steerage
hunks numbered up to 800. and over 100
were in the cabin, while there were also
about twenty stowaways. On the Aber-
deem they told me that they had about
twenty stowaways, and no doubt every
boat had great many stowaways. l
spoke to dozens of men, and they told me
that they had no food, but expected to
go to work when they reach Nome.
meal costs 81 TO $150, coffee and pie or
three crullers Is cents; a bed from 81 % 50.
or when you furnish your own blankets,
from 81 to $1.50.
THE water wells I saw were from
twelve to fifteen feet deep, and are sure
to be contamina ted by all of these people
being huddled together. When l left there
were tents twenty deep and about three
miles long
Now you don't want to forget that it
took more than fifty vessels 10 bring all
of these people to Nome, to say nothing
of over 5000 coming from the Yukon coun-
try.s There are no inducements for the
steamship companies to send their vessels
back again for a busted mob. You may
think that l am a cod-foot miner, but
ask any miner who was in that country
whether he saw any gold dust In circula-
ton That is the way to tell a good camp
In eight days 1 saw only man pay
for a purchase with dust. When asked
about il, he said that it was from the
Klondike."