Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-07-19
NOME STR|kEN
WITH DISEASE
ONE HUNDRED CASES OF SMALL
Pox AND FIFTY OF TY-
PHOID ON JULY 8.
STRINGENT RULES MADE
FOR CAMP SANITATION,
Montana Men are Coming Home
Again-Gold on the Creeks but
Claims Are All Taken.

Today's mail from the west brought a
big batch of letters from the Montana
boys who left here last spring for Cape
Nome. Without exception the reports
they send of conditions there are dis
heartening, and the next steamer from
Nome will carry back a large number
of the Butte men.
They report that the beach diggings
are exhausted. The deposits We're very
shallow, and while in spots they We're
rich, the discoveries practically stripped
all of h pay ground. There is consid-
cradle gold yet in the creeks, but as far
as the newcomers are concerned it
might as we'll be in the United States
treasury. The creeks have been staked
in every direction and many of the
claims have been jumped as many as
four times. Several of them are so plas-
tered with ocation notices that the SER
vices of a Philadelphia lawyer will be
required to %untangle the matter. The
shotgun and revolver, however, are the
favorite methods in vogue of settling
such disputes.
The unsanitary condition of Nome and
the prevalence of smallpox n typhoid
are matters upon which the Butte men
dwell in their letters to friends at home.
On the Goth Of June there were II cases
of smallpox. The next day there were
30, the next Al. and at the date of the let
ters July - it was estimated that there
were 100 cases there. The presence of
the disease is primarily attributable to
the steamer Oregon, which carried a
large number of men to Nome. Two
cases developed on board during the trip,
and it is said they We're surreptitiously
landed to avoid the quarantine of the
steamer and passengers.
The sanitation of the new city was s o
bad that the disease spread rapidly.
There We're about so cases of typhoid at
Nome early in July. The main street
0f tho TOWN iS "a 1nnp a beach Hirpnf1v nm
der the tundra, and the wells. from
which the water supply IS obtained, are
sun along this street. The tundra
above drains into these wells, which are
the refuse cast on the tundra is water
soaked, the drainage is direct from this
to the wells.
A special meeting of the Nome cham
Der of was held July 2 to dis
cuss the health conditions. It was de-
cided to adopt a vigorous policy to pre-
vent the spread of smallpox and typhoid.
ALI the garbage and refuse must be
dumped several miles out at sea, all
water to be used must be boiled at least
10 minutes and if kept for any length of
time it must be boiled again.
The first smallpox victim was a young
New Yorker named Wormsley. He died
! within "a hours after contracting the
disease. He was a member of tht
knights Of Pythias and representatives
of that Ordef DuflRQ MIN With HOHOIS
but the funeral cortege was the stranges'
on record. The coffin containing the re-
mains was loaded into a boat in which
were the 'pall bearers" Then followed
the members of the KNIGHTS OF Pythias
and other friends in boats, which pro-
ceeded in single file out to sea severa
miles, where the unfortunate young
mans body was cast into the sea
w.oighted down with. iron.
The tundra is a frost sure enough
according to the reports of h Butte
men. The tundra is the name given t
the ground between the beach and foot,
hills back of Nome. There may be golt
danosits there. but extensive capita
will be required in securing it. The eartl
is frozen and fuel to the,w 1T cannot b.
obtained except at enormous cost. Tit
ground would have to be enormousl,
rich to cover the cost Of fuel required t.
thaw it, and for that reason nobody ha!
attempted to work It.
The last steamer from Nome carried
back 300 passengers, among whom wer'
A. few Montana men. There are abou
80, 1000 men left, some of whom have no
+. the means to return. It is more thai
likely tina the merciless transportation
comnanies who have profited by carry
ing these men at high rates to Nome will
be compelled to bring them back.