The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-02-20
NONE CITY DESCRIBED
Town of Tents Built Along the
Bare Beach
WHOSE SAND YIELDS GOLD
Hot Summers and Mosquitoes
--ArctiC-CoId Winters.

New York. Feb. 19-The Herald says:
Cape Nome is queer looking place-tnat
is. if the man who visits it has not mad
previous views of mining camps. There
is one street to it, and it is called Main
street. This street runs from one end OF
the town to the other, and along 1t are
built all of the houses that the town
boasts. Some of them are frame houses;
they are owned and inhabited by the
aristocrats of the place. Some OF these
houses are two stories in height; put
there are exceptions. Most of them are
of only one story And there are no base
ments
But the frame houses are in the minor
ity. Most of the dwelling places and
stores are tents. Some of these tents are
improved. Inside of them are boards, and
they run up to the height of the walls.
Above them is the roof Of canvas.
There are no brick or stone houses IN
Nome up to the present time. There are
no materials for building such Iouses'
and the people who are there would not
take time to build them of such material
if they had il right at hand. They are
too busy digging and washing gold-or'
at least trying TO do so. The mater Oh
a dwelling is a secondary one to them
especially when it is considered that they
have not got their women folks with
them. After a time, when Nome gets TO
be something more than mining camp
and is really a city, bricks will be I'M
ported, and rocks will be carried down
from the mountains back of the town.
and great palaces will be built along the
level beach by the magnates who are
now but struggling miners.
Main street in Nome is straight. 1t is
not paved; some time in years to come
they may have time to pave streets IN
Nome. but not now. even though there be
but one of them. Main street is not as
wide as Market street in st. Louis by sew
eral feet. 1t is only about thirty feet wide
and it is lined on both sides by the bust
ness houses-which are also the dwelling
houses of the proprietors. There is little
symmetry to the buildings although near
ly all of them observe a building line
they are set as close to the edge OF the
street as they can be set. Here and there
a two-story frame building stands out
with as much prominence as the Union
Trust and the Chemical buildings stand
out on Olive street in st. Louis. Next
door to them are one-story frame houses
or shanties we would call thenl-Jr one
story tents, the interiors of which are
boarded up. People who have visited
Joplin and Webb City and have seen the
Of hill bat
there before anybody found time 20 be-
vote to the building Of houses, Will be
able to form a mental picture of what
some Of the houses in Nome look Ike.
There are no side streets in Nome. Here
ana there may be seen oreads in the sCFd
rows of buildings on Main street. but TO
houses front on them; they are simply
alleys that lead to a mining camp or to
stretch Of straight beach. For Nome is
all a beach. There is not tree nor shrub
nor spot of grass anywhere around. All
the wood that is used in the building of
houses has to be taken there by the men
who go there-except a small amount of
it that is washed up by the sea.
While any old kind of a house is well
come in Nome just now, it is anticipated
that after a time the question of building
houses along scientific lines will come up
for discussion. 1t may be that every
body will get rich enough to spend his
winters in the Estates" but even in that
event the matter of summer houses will
have to be considered. Louis Z. Breuer,
who has been there, and who says that
he may go there again If he doesn't con-
tinue to get rich enough in St Louis, says
the house that is best for St Louis will
be best for Nome. He says there are no
screen doors and windows in Nome just
now. but that is no reason for a suppo-
sition that they are not needed there dur
the summer, when the sun rises about
o clock in the monring and doesn't think
of knocking off work until o'clock at
night; and when the Woodworking mos
quitoes unwearied by their eighteen hours
of daylight toll, continue to make life
miserable for the tired miners all through
the Silly night. Mr.. Breuer thinks the
best thing TO do, if one expects TO make
a permanent home in Nome, is to take a
load of bricks along. and put in the first
few months building a house that viii
keep out the cold in winter and the mos
quItoes in summer. He has an idea that
nothing Of less resistance than an 1S-inch
brick wall would be proof against the
mosquitoes. As for the cold, one will get
used to that after he has been thorough
ly frozen a few times.
Nome is no place for invahds. Mr.
Breuer says it Is not necessary for man
to be fat and weigh 30 pounds 10 get
along there; but he must be healthy and
tough. He must be able to resist the eff
fects of a stiff wind, whether in winter
or summer; he must be able to stand
very hot weather IN summer, and very
cold weather in winter: ne must. in other
words, be well able TO rough it" There
is not much ickIeness in the Nome
weather. When it gets hot is stays hot
until time for it to get cold; and then.