The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1901-09-05
ENDOWED IN EXPERIENCE.
Bat the Cash Returns Of the Garrett County
Miners Was Not So liberal.

Miners was Not 50 LlCeral.
On the sixteenth OF June las: a sex
tet Of Garrett county citizens, com
prising Messrs. Lawrence E. Comp
ton, Michael Nathan, II. N. Ashby,
John Shartzer, Richard Browning
and Charles Beachy, took their de-
parture for Nome, Alaska, laboring
under the impression that pay dirt"
could be had in that locality in any
desired quantity. One of these gen
tlemen, Mr.. Compton, has returned
with his mind thoroughly disabused
of that idea, and his five companions,
also en- route home, entertain the
same belief.
Mr.. Compton, who arrived in this
city on Baltim ore and Ohio passen-
ger train yesterday and spent the day
as the guest of his uncle, Jacob
Brown, ESQ.,, 1.-The nestor OF the ALE
gany county bar" was called upon
by Daily NeoCs representative in re-
lation to his journey to the gold
fields.
The exodus from Nome has as
sumed the magnitude of stampede"
remarked Mr.. Compton in the course
of his conversation, land probably
not more than one thousand people
will winter there. You will readily
perceive what a rush this implies
when tell you thatNome in the zenith
of her fame had population OF 40
900. During those boom days real es-
tate and mining claims commanded
fabulous sums, but there has been a
very decided depreciation in both.
For instance, | know of Maryland
woman who owned lot in Nome for
which she was offered 100000 and
would now be glad to sell for one
fiftieth of that sum. There are num-
Der of substantial buildings in the
town which have taken the place of
canvas tents and shacks, and the res
idents are more comfortab bly, sheltered
than ever in the history of the town.
The saloons are abundantly in evil
dence and command the balance in
trade. Supplies, such as provisions,
clothing, fuel, etc, are as cheap as IN
Seattle, because the market is oyer
stocked. Labor no longer commands
the princely compensation it once did
and no one but skilled artisan re-
ceives more than five dollars per day.
The cost of living has also been cor
respondingly reduced, but the de-
mapd for labor has fallen off until
there is forty applicants for one job.
This summer has not in any sense
been adapted to the wants and needs
of the miners and has contributed in
a great measure to the enforced idle
ness and consequent exodus. The
beach and gravel along the creeks has
remained frozen and one OF the claims
located some fifty miles from Nome
was found to be covered with a ten
foot accumulation of ice, rendering it
impossible to mine the gravel. The
beach, which once yielded large re-
turns, is no longer a source of rev.
enue, as the thousands of miners have
washed out every particle of gold.
Some of the large mining companies
have been fairly successful on Anvil
creek and its tributaries, but the ex-
port of gold from Nome and vicinity
will be a mere bagatelle compared
with that of last and the previous
summer. Many miners from Dawson
and the bonanza region came to Nome
but quickly perceiving that every
claim had been taken, departed as
precipitously as they had come.
''This far, in the Klondike region
and in Nome, only free gold has been
discovered and the mining is purely
of a placer character. 1t is fully
agreed that lodes of quartz are to be
found and search is being made for
them.
Personally an glad to get home
and / know my companions are, al
though they concluded to prolong
their stay in Alaska two weeks after
my departure. While we are not
over-burdened with wealth as the re-
suit of our journey, we return rich
with experience.-Cumb. News.