The Atlanta constitution., 1900-07-16
GOLD HUNTERS IN BAD WHY
GOLD FIELDS ABOUT CAPE NOME
PLAYED OUT.
Hunger and Disease Are Bound TO
Cause Many Deaths in the
Near Future.

Washington. July 13.-The secretary OF
the treasury has received letter from
a. Rudolph. living at S26 broadway
Brooklvn. n. Y. on the situation at cape
Nome. Alaska. The department sees no
reason 70 doubt the trustworthiness of the
story told bv Mr. Rudolph and suggests
its nublication 1t is becoming daily
more aDDarent to the officials that tho
conditions In the new gold fields are al
most certain to result in great sun ms III
during the coming winter. anu e5pecldiiy
as epidernics of smallpox and typhoid
fever are threatened. The letter is as
follows:
ION account of the terrible reports in
the newspape pers concerning the conditions
at Cape Nome. take the liberty oi Manu-
ing you a few lines. I left Nome on Juho
goth. and being an old miner. am Iuuy
capable of sizing up new mining camp
In few days. l arrived at Nome on
June 18th. l and my partner tried work
ing the beach for gold IN several places
and | personally saw others by the hun
dreds do the same. but not in one m
stance did We a man take out enough
gold TO pay for his grub. The only place
where any gold was being taken out was
between the beach and the tundra. Ihere
they were only making days wages OF
from 81 to $40 day. This place is about
only lHftt-tllstf ttlS VI a AiiiiN AN-i17f
is all taken UP by about five hundred
men. Like the beach, it is Low nearly
all worked out. l. with thousands OF
others had been led to believe that aIter
a winter or after any storm the beach
would be Just as good as il was originally
That is not so. When once Wofked out
the beach there is done for. WhiIe az
Nome l talked with men who had come
from points as far fifty miles below tho
camp. They told me they had found noun
ing and they We're going farther north-
I talked too. with men who had come
from points far up the beach, but they
declared there was nothing up there ana
they were going down the beach. so II
seems that this whole stretch Is nearly
all worked out.
mo one estimates that more than three
hundred hands are at work on Anvil creek
with as many more each on snow, Glacier
and Dexter creeks-a total of perhaps
so men. When I left 20.o00 men were in
the district and the only work was IN
unloading boats or putting up new build
fnCs The former task kept about i've
hundred men busy and the building EN-
ployed about three hundred. When l
left on June Goth. between five hundred
and one thousand Were arriving daily l
went uD on the san Bias. which made
trip on TO St MlchaeTs and brought down
which | came back. made two trips, ana
brought a few over five hundred. Several
other boats made one or more trips 10 St
MichaeIs and brought more
There are far more destitute people At
Nome than people on the outside know
of. ! know that the san Bias had steer
age hunks numbered up TO three hundred
and ninety and over one hundred were
in the cabin. while there Were also about
twenty stowaways CA the Aberdeen
a great many stowaways / spoke TO
dozens of men and they told me that they
had no food but expected to 80 10 work
when they reached Nome. y meal costs
from 81 TO SD. coffee and pie, or three
cruuers - cents. a bed from 3 10 50, OF
when you furnish your own blankets
from 81 TO sl.59.
The water wells l saw We're from
twelve to fifteen feet deep and are sure
To be contaminated by all OF these people
being huddled together When iert
there were tents twenty deep ana about
three miles long Now YOU don { want to
forget that IL took more than Hfty vessels
To br .ng all of these people 10 Nome, TO
say nothing of over 300 coming from the
Yukon country. There are no induce
ments for the steamship companies TO
send their vessels back again for bust
ed mob You may think that 7 am a
coId-foot miner but ask any miner who
was i'm that country whether he say any
gold dust I'm circulation. TnaI i the way
10 tell a good camp. I'm eI4hI days ! saw
only one man pay for purchase with
dust. When asked about i he said that
II was from the klondihe.