The Savannah morning news., 1901-01-06

heao OF Likely looking creek, and staked
ABOUT dozen claims. recorded in the
nearest recording office as Discovery"
Creek. Scme time aftcrward another party
made an alleged discovery" staked and
recorded as eureka" In July a third
party, headed by one Mickey Hayden,
made another so-called discovery staked
and recorded as Gold Run" The creek
thus staked under three different names
was tributary OF Blue-Stone River, en-
tering Grantley Harbor.
A Remarkable Streak of Luck.
Now, 1t happened that party of four
men had gone to work and discovered a
| rich spot in the tundra a few miles from
Nome. They had worked for but a few
days, and were making good wages, when
| they We're driven off by the owner of the
tundra claim. Having no place in parti-
cular to go they got into their boat ana
kept on up the beach until they reached
| Port Clarence. Here they landed at Behr-
ing City, near Teller City, and went back
| sixteen miles into the interior. They found
a creek, with many stakes on it. 1t was
apparently all staked, but they thought
chat, as they were there, they would try
to ind a fraction. So they put their tape
line on the claims, and, to their surprise,
they found not fraction but whole
claim one thousand three hundred and
twenty feet long, which by chance was
| unstaked.
They prospected to the creek-head.
They hadn't any digging to do. They had
only to take a shovelful of gravel from
the bed of the running stream. They
were amazed at what they found. They
staked, went back to Behr.ng City, re-
corded their claim as No. 8, Gold Run,
and carried back sufficient lumber for
thirty-twe feet of sluice-boxes. After
theis sluice-boxes had been working
few days they went back to Behring
City and hired twenty-three men-eVery
man in town except two--to pack provis-
ions and supplies over to their camp
When the men got back to Behring City,
and the news of what they saw reached
Nome. claims on Gold Run were selling
within few days for ten thousand dol
lars.
One af the first to get to the new creek
and buy a claim was Oscar >Ashby, the
well-known Yukon old-timer. Ashby
showed me a small bottle containing gold
dust That" said he, lis the ten-dollar
pan that you heard about my taking,
1t was the first pan he took, and he
| PANIED it on No. 9.
The new diggings were not over five
| or six feet to bedrock with prospects.
| from almost the surface down, of two
| and a half to Eve dollars, while pans
| were taken of from sixteen to twenty
| six dollars.
1t was September before work began,
| and the longest time that work was done
on any claim was three weeks. The
freshets as on Garfield Creek put an
end to work; but in that short time no
fewer than six claims had been not only
| prospeeted but were producers, having
turned out from four 10 seven thousand
| dollars each. On many others, the So
| called "dead-work," as drains and dams
| was done, ready for work in the spring
| 1t is a safe estimate that one thousand
| men will be working next year on Gold
| Run and tributaries. If these creeks pro-
| duce as Anvil, Snow and the other creeks
| near Nome, as there is every indication
| at the present time they will, their out
| put next year. and the year following
| together with that of the Kougarok, will
| go into the millions of dollars.
Pcrmnnence of the New District.
| The new districts have the great adj
vantage of beng upon q harbot where
vessels can discharge and load safe from
| the gales that sweep the coast at Nome
| and wreak such havoc with shipping.
| Teller and Behring City are rival towns,
/ and are eight miles apart. Several hun
| dred people will winter in each place,
holding down lots until spring, when
| 1t will be settled which is the principal
town. At present fortune seems to favor
Teller Lots in the latter place are now
worth as high as fifteen hundred dollars,
and when / left there buildings were
! going up as fast as lumber could be
procured Some are even predicting that
| Teller will supplant Nome as the metro
| polls, but 1 think this will hardly be
! the case The sea ice is clear at Nome
| three weeks earlier than at Port
| Clarence. Though a safe harbor for the
smaller vessels, it is far from being an
| ideal one The deeper-draught steamers
| must ancher as far from the shore as at
Nome, while there are hidden shoals not
i'm the chart Our steamer, the Valencia,
drawing fifteen and one-half feet, and
the deepest-draught vessel that ever en-
tered Port Clarence, went aground in
supposedly deep water, and was pulled
off by a whaler which happened to be in
harbor at the time. The agent of the
marine insurance companies happened to
be aboard the Valencia when the ground
ing occurred and the mishap may result
in vessels being instructed by the insur-
ance companies that, until perfect chart
is made, they enter the harbor at their
own risk
Another striking development of the
latter half of summer was the discovery
of rich pay upon the hlllsides at the head
of Anvil Creek. Prospects of great rich
ness are 1OunQ from the surface down.
/ saw fifty-cent and dollar pans and a
nugget weighing one ounce taken from
only a shoye-blade's depth below the
surface, two hundred feet above the bed
Of Anvil Creek bench" claim at the
head of Nakkilla Guleh, Anvil Creek,
upon which four men were working with
two rockers, using water hauled by horses
from Anvil Creek. produced, on consecu-
tive ten-hour days respectively one hun
dren and ten, one hundred and thirty,
one hundred and fifty and three hundred
ounces of gold per day! The rockers were
cleaned up hourly. On the last day. when
the rockers record for both Alaska and
Klondixe was surpassed, one rocker rock
value of the days work being close to
five thousand four hundred dollars.
Winter Operations.
Steam thawers will be in operation this
winter on some of the creeks and
"benohes." The present scarcity of fue;
makes winter work difficult at present
but with lower freight upon coal, and
perhaps with the development of some
large deposits of coal recently discovered
near Nome, winter work Will be carried
on as Systematically as in Klondike.
About six thousand people will winter
around Nome. These will pass the winter
without great hardship, being housed for
the most part ia warm buildings and
with an abundance of provisions in camp
though the close of navigation promises
"A shortage Of coal. the visible supply on
October 16 being only two thousand tons.