Gilpin observer., 1900-08-23
CAPE NOME TREASURES
Strange Sights Seen on the Rich
Sands.

Sands.
BOOTS AND TIN CANS FULL OF GOLD
Great Weaith Left In Tent and Cabin
UnEuarded Save by the Certainty
OF Any Thics's Dcntil-Curious Re-
cept.cIcs For GoId-One Miner Had
II U7ashtub Full of 1t.
William ]. Quinn, Yukon river
miner for seven years and one of the
first two dozen men who located claims
at Cape Nome, is visiting relatives in
Los Angeles. He is investing some of
his suddenly made money in real estate
and preparing to return to his placer
mines on Anvil creek at Cape Nome by
the first steamer to Alaska from San
Francisco.
zone of the most notable things
about the new placer goldields at Cape
Nome" said lie the other day TO re-
porter of the New York Sun, was the
careless way that the gold was stored
and cared for last summer. 1t was
common to find Ave gallon kerosene oil
cans half or wholly filed with gold
standing'on the floor of an unguarded
tent or in the corner of cabin. | be-
| lieve that Just before the steamer Ber-
tina sailed from Nome last October
with big shipment Of gold dust and
nuggets to the San Francisco mint
there was about half n ton of gold
stored in all manner of primitive recep-
taclcs and odd ways in the tents on the
beach.
! Besides, there was fully 1900 pounds
of gold similarly saved in the tents
and cabins of the miners along the
creeks and in the gravelly gulchcs back
of Nome. Any hollow thing was used
soup tureens, tin cans. glass bottles.
boots, gaspipe, paint buckets. fur gar
ments and even stockings and goloshes
Very few of the miners failed to get
some gold the first day they panned
and rocked for it. Their hoard grew
fast, and they had no strong box. no
pouch, in which to store it. In some
instances the makeshifts were anus
ing.
tCrle man made Il great pouch for his
gold out of an enormous chest and
back protector-a sort of waistcoat
made of seaiskin which he had cured,
dressed and made himself. Another
miner utilized n joint of stovepipc. he
didn't have even a tent when he went
to Nome. Some one threw away
rusty stovepipe joint, and the miner
got 1t. He cut round piece of board
and fitted it in one end of the pipe.
Then he stood the pipe up on end on
his claim and dumped into it each day
the gold dust as fast as he washed and
dried it. | believe he got about 30
pounds OF gold for his seasons work
last year.
"a lot of the gold washers on the
beach used wornout rubber boots as
receptacles for gold dust. A Swede on
Snow creek had three rubber boots
nearly full of gold last September. lie
| kept the boots standing behind his
bunk of blankets. A man on Anvil
creek. near my claim. made his walrus
| skin cap into gold dust bag. Tin to-
mato cans and fruit Jars standing un-
der miners hunks and full Of gold
We're common all over Cape Nome last
year. The gold output from Nome last
summer was S4.200000 greater than
that from the Klondike during its first
season of operations. have seen great
er individual boards of gold on Cape
Nome than ever saw in the Klondike.
| Il have seen in walk about the
camps ut Nome on Sunday afternoon
many five gallon kerosene oil can full
of dust and worth about $4,000. Out
on Nome creek four miners had n
| xyo CT ttrI half fr,II of gold me Rr fhn
way, there was Il tragedy over that
gold. Two weeks after | 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 because he had stolen some
of the firms gold
"One Norwegian miner who can't
read or write and has II claim on VIII
liam creek showed me n pair of heavy
canvas overalls that were his treasury.
He had sewcd and ovcrlapped the legs
of the garments so rs to make two
great. heavy bags | think he must
have had 100 pounds avoirdupo!s of
the yellow metal on hand when | was
at his cabin. | have seen several times
in one day in the tents along such
creeks ms Anvil. Snake and Car $780,
coo worth of gold. and | was not try.
Ing TO see the stuff either. Colonel J.
Il. Mason toll me that in one day last
summer he saw George Miller. one OF
the first half dozen white men In tho
Cape Nome diggngs. and five helpers
sluicc nearly 300 ounces of gold from
Mil!or's claim (No. 81 on Anvil creek
That makes the yield worth about
$1,000.
"In many places there was only the
dirty canvas wall Of tent to protect q
can or box of gold, but thefts of gold