The Republican journal., 1901-07-18

Seattle and Alaska.

SEATTLE, WASH, June Goth, 1901.
Once more the ice of Behring Sea has
cleared, permitting communication be-
tween Nome, the city of Arctic gold
land, and Seattle, the gateway to all
Alaska and northern points. The first
OF the large fleet of vessels to Nome has
just returned, after bucking ice for
nineteen days, at one time being within
thirty-five miles of the Cars domain.
The steamer reached Nome on June 1st,
finding shore ice seven feet thick and
extending out two miles, which served
as wharf, the freight being hauled
ashore over the ice by wagons and drays.
The winters work in the district has
resulted in heavy yield of treasure,
and the prospects for the short summer
season are that Nome will yield not less
than $7,5OO,OOO worth of gold. While
there are no such bOnanzas as in the
klondike, yet claims are yielding well,
and ld-bearing territory is more wide
ly distributed. many supposed worthless
claims proving profitable, and all the
mining so extensive as to insure that
Nome is permanent mining center
The heavy travel to Nome this spring
was surprise to all. No less than
twenty-fOur vessels, all carrying full
lists of passengers, have sailed from Sc
attic for Northwestern Alaska The
former heavy percentage of men DOOM
ed to almost certain disappointment,
not being adapted for Alaska mining
experience, was not noticeable this year.
The great l.. ,jority are strong, sturdy
men; hundreds of hardened experienced
miners, and many old Alaskans, return
ing.
The first shipment, over million dol
lars, of klondike gold has just reached
Seattle, with several millions more en-
route. The dust has been coming into
Dawson at the rate of $4,000 to $40, 600
per day. The spring cleanup is esti-
mated at over s15,O0O,O0O worth of gold,
and the summers output at nearly as
much more. This assures busy sea-
son for the U. S. assay office at Seattle,
which received during the year 1900
bullion valued at s22, OBS, s55.12, covered
by 7,106 individual depositors, and dur
ing the last fiscal year this office did
more business than all the other offices
in the United States combined, except
Denver. Its earnings were greater than
than those of Denver.
The travel to and from Southern
Alaska is now heavy.It is not altogether
of those going to or returning from
the Klondike district via the White
Pass route-Alaska's Internationally
includes hundreds of tourists, who take
one of the very comfortable steamers at
Seattle for round trip to Juneau, Skag-
way and Sitka, to enjoy the wonderful
scenery of the fiords or long narrow in
lets, the glaciers and the mountains.
Henry Gannett chief geographer of the
U. S. geological survey, says: 'The
Alaska Coast is to become the show
place of the earth. The pilgrims not
only from the United States but from
far beyond the seas will throng to see
it. For the one Yosemite of California,
Alaska has hundreds, and the noun
tains and glaciers of the Cascade range
are duplicated and thousand-fold ex-
ceeded in Alaska" He advises people
who are old to go and see it; but to the
young he says they should visit other
places before going to Alaska, because
it is not well to dull ones capacity for
such enjoyment by seeing the finest
first.