The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1900-04-11

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most finished ascareful weigh
ling Of the golden heap. The
gold lay heapedsnpin the mid
die of a canvas ssheet. "Come
here Quinn, and look at this
said one of.fhes miners as en-
tered. How's that for few
lonely cusses out of luck, who
have been chasing over Alaska
for a bare living these five
years.
have seen in a walk about
the camps at Nome on Sunday
afternoon many a five gallon
! kerosene oil can full of dust
and worth about $4,000. Out
on Nome Creek four miners
had a washtub half full of gold
dust. By the way there was a
tradegy over that gold. Two
weeks after I was there one of
the partners was shot dead by
an unknown man, but it has
always been believed that one
of his partners killed him be-
cause he had stolen some of the
firms gold. One Norwegian
miner, who can't read or write
and has a claim on William
Creek, showed me a pair of
heavy canvas overalls that
were his treasury. He had
sewed and overlapped the legs
of the garment SO as to make
two great heavy bags. [ think
he must have had 100 pounds
ayoirdupois Of the yellow metal
on hand when | was at his cab
in. | have seen several times
in one day in the tents along
such creeks as Anvil Snake
and Gar, 100000 worth of gold
and | was not trying to see the
stuff, either. Col. J. E Mason
told me that in one day last
summer he saw George Miller,
one of the first half dozen white
men in the Cape Nome dig
gings, and five helpers sluice
nearly 200 ounces of gold from
Millers claim (No. 81 on Anvil
Creek. That makes the yield
worth about $1,000. Bill Emo
ry, who come down the coast
from Nome on the Portland
last August and sold his gold
at the San Francisco mint, had
about $4,000 more in gold
saved up when l last saw him
and he. expected to run the
amount up to $4,000 by his
annual cleanup or sluicing
this season.
, In many places there was
only the dirty canvas wall of a
tent to protect can or box OF
gold. But thefts of gold dust
were SO rare that many a min
er went a mile or more away
from his habitation and his
treasure without leaving any
one there on guard. There is
a certain rough, blunt honesty
in all mining camps that does
mot obtain in all other com.
munities, but not in all my ex-
perience have I known such
general honesty as concerns
rights of property as that al
! Nome last summer. A small
company of United States in
fantry kept things quiet in
camp; it was understood that
death was the only penalty for
; theft or deliberate dishonesty
Several men have been put to
death up in the Klondike fo,
attempted robbery among the
mining cabins, and last year
three men were lynched al
Circle City for robbery. These
acts have had a salutary effect
at Cape Nome. One robbie,
J got ten miles from the scene
of his theft when the fearful
cold caused him to stop for the
, night with miner. The latte,
| suspected there was something
wrong about the man and kept
! him in his cabin while he sec
reilly spread information con.
. corning him. The thief was
: tried by fifteen men. The trial
lasted two hours, after which
the man was stood up and shot
You hear true stories in Nome
, all the time of men who, trav
!, cling among the gold diggers
enter cabins and tents left open
|, while the owners are miles
away and see jars and cans
standing on the shelves of the
place with pounds of pure colo
J in them. A friend of mine was
out prospecting on a remote
creek last, summer when he
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