The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-02-04


CAPE Nome than in the klondike, because The
fnghtful mosquito pest Of the klondiks Ia not
experienced In the CAPE, still only rugged people
should attempt 10 live then even u year In
summer tn. sou westers blow n censeless gale from
ths yea across the Nome plains and the low range
oi hills back from the shore These winds are
~ severe that whaling ships have sometimes been
blown ashor. Only IN. strongest men with good
lungs can endure the winds, aud there IL no pro
t.ctnn from them. In winter the temperature
* frequently NJ 10 degrees below zero Tor a week
or two At = time, and when the wind blows from
IN. northeast, A. 1, almost always does for four
months, one clad in even the heaviest fur gar
msnts cannot keep warm Frozen fert and hands
are n |cons,rn, menace - the Nomers all winter
long Last summer ] saw the mercury at 20
above zero for n few weeks, but At no time was the
ground where the miners worked well thawed out
The lack Of iurl. in Cape Nome, now that the debris
washed upon the shore has been largely con
sumed by TINS time, il a serious feature nj life
there. When came away there were some fears
that the shor,ness Of the fuel and food supply
would cause suffering in the town when winter
cama and built a barrier between the Arctic and
all III. rest Of the world, Malurial levers are
common at Cape Nome. 4 more inSaniIary con
d.uon than at Nome con scarcely be imagined,
Every few days a death occurred last summer
from typioid fever One day there were six
deaths from fever. and there were at that time
Atty men seriously III with fever. The country
,or miles around Is marshy, The water is not
NJ u drink as a rule, and when II is remembered
that the digging Of ~cesspools is impossible, and
tina, no attention is paid . the proper disposition
Of garbage, i, is surprising that there is not even
more typhoid fever.
How did the Caps Nome gold field come to be
discovered
"A veteran prospector, II. L. Blake, In some
way heard from an Innuit that there was gold 10
BE- found at Cape Nome. II was early in Ssp'em-
Der, 1893, when he decided TO 60 and see the Cape
Nome region for himself. He secretly gave his
information TO several friends Al Council City,
the Rev, O l%Iul,b-rg, Christopher Kimber and
Frank Porter The party went UP the Snake
River on Cape Nome, panned for gold at Hundreds
ot places, and then went over 10 Anvil Ccreek,
where they found gravel that went 81 to the pan
In seven other spots they found dirt that ran even
better Ia the pan. II was getting cold, and The
Blake parry, without setting a claim stake, or
making any legal claim, went back to Council
City On the way back each one in the party
agreed not 10 reveal the discovery until the next
spring, when they would return TO Cape Nome
and make themselves masters OF the richest parts
of the new gold country. But Mr. Hultberg,
a Lutheran missionary, had a friend, named
Anderson. another Lutheran missionary. Hul,-
berg let Anderson into the secret, and Anderson
straightway organized n party TO sail Immediately
to Cape Nome no matter what the climate and
make some claims 10 the golden wealth. Now,
the party led by Anderson went more energeticNlly
nj prospecting and making lis mining claims
| ,l., a., nlala ,a,ty nod I,,a In eptta nf n
blizzard and forming ice Anderson and his six
companions went over the hills and gulches at
Capa Nome. They found even richer spots for
digging gold than The Blake party had done, For
five days they worked with little sleep and rest
They staLed out claims for themselves and their
friends, panned out about 81 800 in gold and then
fastened back to Council City to wait for spring
They had no reason 10 keep their discovery secret
and in a few weeks the news Of the gold find had
travelled to camps Of other prospectors over Two
hundred miles from Council city.
An last winter there were parties Of prosIec,ors
going 10 Cape Nome on sleds and behind teams
Of dogs and RENDERS. The wonderful hold that
gold has upon a miner was never more strongly
illustrated than by the stampede Of miners to
Cape Nome across several hundred miles Of snow
and ice, through binding Billiards that no one
bu, gold crazy men would dare brave and In
a temperature of about so degrees below zero
About four hundred men reached Cape Nome last
January and lived there in tents till spring. in
different to the a vful climate so long as they were
early on the ground and could make their mining
I claims before the spring rush set in. saw some
gri7led old fellows in None, who told me hat they
had tramped to the new diggings from points on
Ko,zebue Sound about two hundred miles distant.
in the dead Of the last Arctic winter They had
ca rried packs of blankets and camp utensils on
their backs, had slept in snow when the mercury
was about 60 below zero, and had sometimes
travelled twenty miles a day without a bite OF food.
As for warm food, some Of these men did not eat
a morsel from start to finish during a ten
days ramp along the wind driver western coast
of Alaska to Cape Nome. II seems TO ME that |
never heard of sufferings and privatious like those
these hardy mining veterans endured to get IN
the new dlggings. No one who has never been in
the Arcic regions knows whata IN awful eS~ periencs
It's to travel on foot in the dense darkness OF those
ATTITUDES in winter wonder that any Of the
old fellows ever lived TO tell Of their ex perIence.
"Wh are getting richest At cape Nome They
are almost wholly Americans, and the greater
part Of them are men from the Pacific States
The percentage of intelligent miners at cape
Nome is far ahead of that in the klondike dur
! lHL u llNl WV N'bf' W Wv ~ : A''a''A ~
cape Nome hundreds Of young men who had
gone It the klondike and Copper River mining
regions only to b- disappointed The richest
man there is Loren NJ. Gardner. lie came orig
inally from a little New jersey town, but he has
mined In California and Oregon for twenty years
lie never made more than a living for himself
and family until he went to Cape Nome lie
went there early last February from st Michael,
where he lived in a hut after he had left the klOn
dixie country. lie he'd about 500, so he told me,
when he got 10 Nome. Ills klondike experience
was valuable IL him. Tie took up a claim and
/, bought two more for 500 each at Nome, Nj
three have proved very rich, one Of the claims
, he bough, he declined 10 sell two months later
, for $40. 900. lie knows how 10 make native
Iunults work, and last summer he had thirty OF
them getting cut gold for him lie has
I since bought half end third interests IN othe
claims. and now he has property that altogether
I IS worth at least 100000. lie sent down a.
, Seattle ON he steame bertha bullion that sold
, at the san Francisco mint for $4,000; besides
he kept a lot of his gold back for investment and
for working his properties at Cape Nome
|, Gabriel Price, a san Franciscan less than
, thirty years old, is walking into a mllllonaire's
place up there. lie deserves his luck, for he has
, brayed three Arctic winters, and has endured
/, mnre harlshipS all over the kot7ebue Sound