The age-herald., 1900-03-11


 gentlemen The five souvenirs weighed | just $51.
 Prom claim to claim we passed over An | vii Creek, and in good many tents saw | wonderful clean-ups standing around in tin cans bottles and buclslin 'pokes,' with | an apparent carelessness, which would have l been sheer reclclessness anywhere else. l From Anvil Greek we crossed a divide to | Glacier Creek, and from Glacier Creek to | Snow Gulch thence we proceeded home ward by way of Snake river and Bourbon l creek. Just at midnight dragged our l weary feet into the store. Twenty-Five | miles of the toughest kind of walking had | put one in a condition where could ap- | preciate a fairly good bed but I looked | around the bGg warehouse in vain for any l such article of furniture. I was soon re- 1ieved by hearng the captain cherry voice calling from out the shadow: Here's the prophets chamber; it's not what we would | wish, but you will find the bed not so badi | Nor did I. A great pile of soft furs made | a bed fit for a king. There was no symp- l tom of insomnia that night, I'll assure you ''In this visit to the creek diggins we had seen enough to make 1t evident that this Is 1 to be a very rich district but our visit tho next day to the beach diggfnIgs revealed the peculiar feature of this marvellous camp I cog <feattire which must soon command wide attention
 '"rhree weeks before my visit to Anvil Cfty 1t was discovered that the very sand of the beach contained gold in large quan- l tities AS the United States government re- 1 serves sixty feet above tide on all shores, l the local United States commissioner held that the beach could not be controlled by | private parties. This kept off chaim locat- CTS, but permitted any one to mine the l beach anywhere at his free will. The result l of this ruling is that every man who has | not been fortunate enough to get creek | claim may provide himself with rocker | and go to work rocking the ruby sand on l the beach. Seldom in the history of mining 1 has there been a camp where every body could turn his labor to gold, but here every l man who is not doing better, may be found down on the shore line, rocking out from l $lO to $1O0 per day The average is not far | from $50. We found about 1,5OO men thus employed. There are probably 4,OeO people
 in the district, with Anvil as trading cen-. 1 ter.
 "Although this settlement is nearly year old my sermon was the first ever l heard in the place. 1t is estimated thar l 3OOO people will winter here There are i twenty-two physicians on the ground, but there was no minister until my coming. a3 | q was greatly surprised to have a large portion of the people urge me- with rough | but unmistakable sincerity, to remain with | them | .They pointed out the need of a church. a. l hospital and a public reading room They urged that the rigors of an Arctic winter | would soon be upon them, and that, unless tI~stood by to help them to these things, | their lot would be almost uncomfortable. l Many of these men have spent one or more l winters in Alaska, and know by bitter ex- | perience what it means to be shut up by l scurvy and darkness for six months, with l the thermometer 40, 50 and 60 degrees be- l low zero.
 l "A subscription was started among the miners, and 5000 was soon obtained. About l this time I learned that in the incorpora-
 ,lsa. x~cA1 Norr fr.xrrx yaAlyc haf l pital committee had been appointed. One | lot in each block was to be reserved and l sold for hospital funds. public square l was also set apart for buildings of that na- I ture. So at once the city deeded to me. in trust six beautiful lots, each 30 by 140 feet, | upon which to build a hospital, church. pub | lie library, or other building for benevolent or charitable purposes. There was need for l haste for navigation closes with the freez- l ing of Behring sea, some time in October. l There was little building material in Anvif | City, and nothing by way of furniture. | "The fame of Anvil City has gone out, and | people will flock here from the ends of the l earth in the spring. Typhoid pneumoria l has appeared, and there will be more sick | ness as the winter progresses. Building | material cannot be obtained nearer than | Seattle, and but one or two more steamers | can be expected to make the round trip. l A steamer soon left for Seattle and took | passage on this. She would remain there | about ten days and then return to Cape | Nome on her last trip This would give l me time to purchase what I desired and
 | then the miners could put up the buildings
 | before the severest weather set in."
 | Another letter, written in the latter part
 | of October says "It Is with feelings of
 sadness that write that barge filled with
 | our material sank at the ships side while
 being loaded. Some few things were saved
 l from the wreck but of course we cannot | build now. I hope, however, that our work | can go on. I have rented a large two l story building for $200 per month, and this l we are fitting up to care for the sick during | the winter. As nearly all of our books were l saved we have also obtained a large room, | for s100 per month for our library, and, | best of all, a hall originally designed for a l saloon has been found in which to hold re- 1 ligious services.
 | 'T said you could see how we are living. | One corner of large warehouse is curtain | ed off with a big tarpaulin, and that we call | home At night I fix cot beds and two l sleeping bags and cover the floor. The | weather is warm and cold by turns, with l snnw on the ground and tine streams frozen. l There is a great deal of sickness. Scores I if not hundreds are down with typhoid | fever.
 | "Coaq here is out of the market. bought 1 ten tons at $75 per ton Flour IS $l0 per l hundredweight; sugar, sSS per pound put l ter. s per pound: all candies A per box; | coal oil $1 per gallon; meals, S3 each; labor,
 
 l $2 per hour.
 | "There are plenty of thieves and hard | characters in the camp. The water is dead | Nv and there is no attempt whatever at canitatio The tents are three and four | deep on the beach for miles. We are only l 1tttle way back from the beach, and the
 men are rocking gold at our very doorstep. | at first thought they were digging 50 lay | a mine or scJmething-it never occurred 10 | me that there was gold in our front yaro' | Many of the poor fellows work long hours | with poor shelter and improper roou. iie | situation is desperate indeed, and tremfSe a little for the women and children as we face the winter"
 Tate communications say that quite an amount of building materials were Received from the sunlxen barge. and the situation in that respect is found to be Ia little more encouraging. Some building can be carried on after all. The last boat leaving m No yemIber reported that 20o0 peopie were 70 winter there, many in ten'ts