The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-11-22
THE LAND OF ICE AND GOLD.
CAPE NOME IS NOW HIBERNA-
 TING,
The Miners Have Donned Their Fur Coats and Begun Their Dreary Annu- as Vacation Season,

The steamship on which this letter is
 sent to Seattle will make its way out of
 this port through field of floating ice.
 The Boring sea has begun to freeze
 over, and the great gold camp will be
 completely isolated from the civilized
 world in another week. There has been
 a great scramble among the entire pop
 ulation for the last week. Those who
 have not been winding up their affairs
 preparatory to leaving the country
 have been busy in transacting business
 Which must be completed before the
 last ship leaves the port and in prepar-
 ing final letters to distant friends and
 business associates. It means good
 deal to a man to remain in this snow
 bound, ice-locked region during the
 long Arctic winter, and all whose plans
 contemplate such a residence are keen-
 ly conscious of the fact that they will
 have only the most uncertain and in-
 frequent means of communication with
 the outside world for seven months.
 The events of the last three weeks in
 Nome, although they have not been of
 a violent or even disorderly character,
 have furnished quite enough excitement
 even for a mining camp. The intense
 public feeling against the system of re-
 ceiverships by which work on scores of
 gold creeks has been either suspended
 or seriously demoralized since the Uni
 ted States court was organized here in
 July has reached climax. The prin-
 cipal receiver in the whole Nome dis
 trict and one whose name has been in
 everybody's mouth for several months,
 has at last been arrested by the man.
 date of a higher court This receiver
 is Alexander Mckenzie, to whom the
 receivership of the rich Anvil mines
 was handed over by Judge Moves as soon as the court landed here late in
 July. Receiver Mckenzie has been the.I storm center of excitement concerning i the jumpers ever since he received his appointment. The original claimants to the properties on Anvil appealed | from Judge Moves action to the circuit | court sitting at San Francisco. An or der from the court was received here in | September vacating the receivership | appointment made by Judge Moves and commanding Mckenzie to turn over all gold dust taken from the Anvil claims to Iindeberg, Lindblom and Bryntesen and the other original claimants to the properties. Mckenzie refused flatly to comply, and the news was carried down to San Francisco in official form from the counsel for the defendants. Ten days ago deputy marshals dispatched by the circuit court at San Francisco appeared here and arrested Mckenzie for contempt of court
 A great miners meeting was held on the evening of October S. Its object was to protest against the system of re- so much in vogue under the administration of the United States court in Nome. The result of the meet ing was a protest in writing to be pre- scented to congress by q committee of Nome citizens this winter The com- ,nittee appointed by the mass-meeting consists of Captain Baldwin, Samuel Knight and Judge Hoggart They will appear at the national capital soon af- Der the assembling of congress.
 There is no person of any standing in this community who is willing to have the false impression go abroad in the United States that the Seward peninsu- la, as this part of Alaska is called, is not one of the most remarkable placer gold regions ever discovered. The sto- ries told by disappointed gold-seekers who returned to the States early in the summer, do not, as every one here knows, correctly represent the situa- tion in western Alaska. It is fact be- yond dispute that tract of lond some thing like fifteen thousand square miles in extent, in this region, will produce within the next ten or fifteen years not less than one hundred million dollars worth of gold. There ought to be no if the developments of the next two years promise an amount of the yellow metal at least twice as large-as , this conservative estimate. The hope of the western Alaska gold region is based on this remarkable and almost diffusion of the precious metal over tremendous extnt of terri tory. f
 In July disappointed fortune hunters returned to the United States and de- dared that the Nome boom was hoax, and that the output of gold would not amount to the price of one good placer { mining outfit. Despite drawbacks com- non to every mining community in it's f ,arly days, and despite other draw ( packs which are to certain extent pe- ,uliar to Nome, the output of gold in r his region in 1900 will be found to ex- 2 ,eed five million dollars. The beach s iiggings were it is true, a delusion, and I several millions of dollars have been i ost in projects for beach mining this a rear by men who invested their all in W hat unfortunate venture. But there is 10 reason for disappointment regarding p he creek mines, c
 The most serious drawback to suc- $ essfuI mining in western Alaska, aside I rom the natural one of a too short C ummer, is the almost hopeless state of J litigation concerning the ownership of T laims Nome has been the mecca of t grafters'' of every description. The V Jain, old-fashioned jumper is bad h nough, but he has operated in every s mining community in every part of the I ,orld ever since the discNery of pre- lous metals and the enactment of min 1g laws. But this region has been in .sted not only with ordinary jumpers, ut with "high-binders' of every de- t ,ription, who have for their object the N equisition of wealth by their wits, and roe nersOna1 gains by "graftine' on