The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1900-07-14
Few Find Enough Of the yellow Metal
to Pay for Their Meals.
MANY PERSONS DESTITUTE.
Thousands Huddted Together i'll Cit,
of Tents, Where Wells Are Only
Twelve or Sixteen Feet Deep.
NoInduccn,cnts for Steam
ship Companies TO
Bring Them Away.

WASHTNGTON, July 13.-The Secretary
of the Treasury has received a letter from
G. Rudolph, living at No. S26 Broadway, 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.
Il is becoming daily more apparent to the
officials that the conditions in the new
gold fields are almost certain to result in
great suffering during the coming winter,
especially as epdencs of smallpox and
typhoid fever are threatened. The letter
is as follows:
"On account of the terrible reports in
the newspapers concerning the conditions
al Cape Nome, l take the liberty of send
ing you few lines. | left Nome on June
Goth, and being old miner I am fully
capable OF sizing up d new mining camp
in a few days. / arrived at Nome on
June 18th 1 and my partner tried work
ing the beach for gold in several places.
and I personally saw others by the hun
dreds do the same, but not in one instance
did we see q 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 G4S = NSttoto " - ~ ~
a day. This place is about three-quarters
of a mile long, and it is all taken up by
about five hundred men. Like the beach,
it is now nearly all worked out
FOUND NOTHING.
81 with thousands of others, had been
led to believe that after winter, or after
any Storm the beach would De just as
good as it was originally. That is not So
When once worked out, the beach there IS
done for While in Nome ] talked with
men who had come from points as Tar as
fifty miles below the camp. They told me
they had found nothing and they were
going farther north. 1 talked, too, with
men who had come from points far up the
beach, but they declared there was nothing
up there, and they were going down the
beach.
80 it seems that the whole stretch is
nearly all worked out No one estimates
that more than three hundred hands are
at work on Anvil Creek, with as many
more each on Snow, Glacier, and Dexter
Creels-a total Of perhaps 1900 men,
When I left 20,000 men were in the dis
trict, and the only work was in unload
ing boats or putting up new buildings
The former task kept about 500 men busy
and the building employed about 800
When | left on June 20, between 500 and
loo were arriving daily.
MANY DESTITUTE.
II went up on the San Bias, which
made a trip on to St Michaels and
brought down $50 men. The Aberdeen, on
which I came back. made two trips and
brought a few over 800. Several other
boats made one or more trips to St.
AIichaeis and brought more. There are
far more destitute people at Nome than
people on the outside know Of. I know
that the San Bias had steerage hunks,
numbered up to 800 and over 100 We're III
the cabin. while there were also about 70
stowaways On the Aberdeen they told
me they had about 20 stowaways and no
doubt every boat had a great many stowa-
ways.
II spoke to dozens of men and they
told me that they had no food, but ex-
pected to go to work when they reach
Nome A meal costs from 81 to $3.50.
Coffee ana pie, or three crullers % cents,
a bed from 81 to $3 or when YOU furnish
rour own blankets from 81 to $l.50 The
water wells | saw We're from i to 10
feet deep and are sure TO be contaminated
by all of these people being huddled to-
gether. When I left. there were tents
90 deep and about three miles long Now
You don't want to forget that it took
more than 50 vessels to bring all OF these
people to Nome, to say nothing OF oyer
30 900 coming from the Yukon country.
ship companies to send their vessels
back again for a busted mob.
You may think that l am cold-foot
miner. but ask any miner who was IN
that country whether he saw any gold
dust in circula ton. That is the way 10
tell a good camp. In eight days l saw
only one man pay for a purchase with
dust. When asked about it. he SAID that
it was from the klondyke."