Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1900-04-19
DISCOVERED CAPE NOME.
AN AMERICAN MISSIONARY FOUND
THE NEW GOLD FIELDS.

He is Working Claim For His Church
Which is Realizing Hnndsomely-The
Rush For the New Eldorado is As
touuting-Gold in the Sands.
LIEUTENANT JARVIS of the
r. revenue marine service, who
has been in command of the
Bear in the arctics for several
years, and whose heroic rescue of the
ice-bound whalers in Bering sen two
years ago gained so much fame. for
him, says that n. o. Hultberg, of
Chicago, missionary Of the Swedish
Evangelical Missionary Society, which
has churches in Illinois, Wisconsin,
Iowa and Minnesota, was the actual
discoverer OF gold at Cape Nome, where
the miners are all fiocking now. Mr..
Hultberg is now in Chicago, where he
will remain until spring, and then re-
sumo work ct his mission on Golovin
Bay, sixty miles from Cape Nome,
where he has been located for three
or four years. Mr.. Hultberg is about
thirty years of age, native Of Sweden
and man of great endurance and
zeal. He is very popular with the
natives and miners and has been quite
successful in his missionary work.
Under his direction the missionaries
took up mine at Cape Nome last
summer, and during the ninety days
when It was possible TO work took out
about S75, ,00O, which has not only paid
all the debts of the society but has
paid for substantial buildings for the
mission station and left surplus to
purchase improved machinery and
other facilities for working the mines,
which promise to pay as well in the
future as in the past. 1t is rather un-
usual for missionary society to pay
its expenses by running mine. Mr..
Hultberg also took up claim on his
own account, and III addition to his
work on the mission mine made about
$50, 900 for himself last summer.
During the summer of 1897" said
lieutenant Jarvis, ''a party of Swed-
ish prospectors went to Golovin Bay,
where DR.. Sheldon Jackson has O
mission, and worked all around that
locality. L saw them several times
when [ was up there. They went with
Hultberg on his missionary tours and
examined several valuable discoveries
he had made in the Cape Nome re-
gion. Hultberg was much impressed
by them, and in the spring of 1898
fitted them out at his own expense for
the purpose of exploring Snake River.
These fellow-countrymen of his were
man named Brintenson, who had
worked in copper mines in the States
and had been up in the Klondike
country; Lindbloom, a runaway sailor,
hnd Lindeberg, who came over from
lLapland in charge of the reindeer
which DR.. jackson imported from that
eourtry. They struck it rich on An
vii Creek and in Snow Gulch and
staked out claims. They made their
way back to Golovln Bay and told
their story. They found there min
ing expert from California, of the
hame of Price, whom they took back
with them to Cape Nome, and also
DR.. Kittleson, from Stoughton, Wis
They panned out $1700 the first four
days, organized mining district,
elected DR.. Kittleson recorder, and
staked out claims for themselves and
for Hultberg. Then, feeling secure,
in November, 1898, they went down
to st. Michaels with their gold to
spend the winter and get an outfit
and supplies for early work in the
spring. The stories they told, of
course, set everybody wild, and when
they left st. Michaels for their claims
they were followed by 1000 people.
'By the opening OF navigation in
1899 the news reached California and
the Klondike country, and there was
intense excitement. The original
discoveries were made in the gulches
between the hills about three or four
miles back from the beach, and be-
tween them and the ocean is a level
! plain of sand called tundra. Along
in August last newspaper man Of
the name of Logan disappeared from
camp one day aud was gone for nearly
4 a week. When he came back he
| brought about $500 worth of gold
dust which he said he had washed out
of the sand on the short. At first
people did not believe him, but when
they tried for themselves they rocked
out such fabulous sums that the whole
camp in the gulches was deserted and
everybody went down on the beach,
making from SO to $500 day. From
August to November they took out
! s1,000,000, and the three Swedes,
Lindeberg, Brintensen and Lind
bloom, made about $200,000 each.
The total amount OF gold gathered at
Port Nome during the short season
was about So, 100000, and think
the product will be anywhere from
S5, ,00O,O 900 to $40, 1000, 600 this year.
1t depends simply upon the number
Of people that can get up there. There
will be tremendous rush as soon as
navigation opens. Every vessel that
can be had or the Pacific coast has
aireacy been chartered to carry miners
ana supplies, and every berth has al
ready been sold on every steamer.