The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1902-03-18
KLONDIKE DECLINING
By the Close of 1908 the Richest
Gravels Will Give Out
Probabilities of District Having
Reached It's Zenith as Pro-
ducer-NO Longer n Poor
Mans Mining Ground.

Mans Mining Ground.
Since the Klindike was discovered it
has contributed $65,oOo,OOo in gold to
the wealth of the world. 1t yielded
last year $22,00O,0OO. This years pro-
duction has, however, been consider
ably smaller, and a special commits
sioner of the London Economist, who
has reported on the district, expresses
the belief that it has passed the zenith
and will henceforth surely decline. 1t
is assumed that by the close OF the
season of 1908 the richest gravels will
have all been worked. Future opera
tions must depend on the lower grade
gravel deposits found on the hillsides,
benches and elsewhere.
These predictions regarding the fu-
ture of the Klondike, says the San
Francisco Chronicle, depend, of course,
on the non-discovery OF new deposits
and failure to uncover workable gold
bearing quartz lodges, which formed
the source of the gold concentrated in
the creek channels and distributed over
the benches. Heavily mineraIized
veins have, however, been found. But
it remains to be proved whether they
can be profitably worked. Fuel and
labor are dear, and the seasons are Sc
we're. But quartz veins, to be made
to pay, must be operated by machinery
and continuously, particularly in a re-
gion ike the Klondike, where the for
nations are heavily surcharged with
water. 1t has been reported that good
coal has been found not far from Daw-
son, and still other measures have been
uncovered in the neighborhood of Cir
clio City. This simplifies the question
of fuel, probably, so far as a perma-
nent supply is concerned, as the grow
ing timber is fast disappearing from
the district. But labor is always liable
to be high there, because of its remote
ness from the great centers of popula-
ton and the excessive cost of living,
due to causes which are well under
stood.
So far as explored, there are in the
Klondike 70 miles of creek-bed gravels
carrying gold in paying quantities un-
der existing conditions. These vary
in width from 20 to 1000 feet. The
gold is distributed unevenly. In spots,
the gravel is very rich; in sections, it is
practically barren. This has been char
acteristic of all the gold-bearing dis
tricts in British Columbia and the
Northwest Territory. From all ac-
counts the Nome district, in Alaska,
carries the alluvium gold much more
evenly distributed. If the mineralized
territory in the Klondike district is
confined to the ground already ex-
plored, the period of exhaustion is, of
course, measurable. 1t would not be
at all strange if the district should
have reached its zenith as producer.
But it will be many years before it is
exhausted. The Cariboo (B. c. placers
were discovered in 1861. The richest
deposits probably ever found in any
country were on William creek, within
a lineal area of about four miles. The
cream of the gold was taken out in the
first four years. But gravel mining
is still in progress in that area to-day,
40 years after the date of discovery.
Most of the ground is in the hands of
big corporations. The district ceased
to be a poor mans mining camp after
the first two or three years of it's ex-
istence as gold producer. The Klon-
dixie is undergoing similar transition.
1t never was really poor mans coun-
try. 1t is immensely farther from be-
ing one now than it was four years
ago. Henceforth there will be a con-
solidation of interests, probably, for
the sake of economical operation,
which will mean greater profits to the
operators on their outlay but smaller
total production comparatively In
this respect, then, the Klondike is pass
ing through the customary experience
of all placer-mining districts and is
fairly entering on the period of decad-
ence, although its gold-bearing gravels
will doubtless continue for many years
to come to cut conspicuous figure in
the worlds production of the precious
me tai.