The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-10-24

toward Siberia, and is only 100 miles
from Cape Prince of Wales, the ex-
IRENE point on the Alaskan coast be-
tween which and the Siberian shore
flows Boring strait. The name Boring
strait recalls those impressions we
used to get from our school geog-
raphies. I don't know what your
youthful ambitions were, but Boring
sea and all that belongs to it were as
sociated in my mind with remCteness
more unattainable than the highlands
Of Thibet Or the jungles Of Africa. But
that was long before the magnet Of
gold began to draw thousands across
that bleak and stormy water, before
the soldiers of fortune began to storm
the icy palisades of the north, and
sweep thru the Watery pass into the
Arctic ocean and explore it's inhospit-
able shores, not for fame or knowl
edge, but for the precious yellow
metal.
NONE IS something of summer
IN resort judging not by it's attrac-
tons for pleasureseekers, but
solely by the fluctuations in popula-
tion About $500 people spent the win
ter there last year and as many Will
be there next winter, but the arrivals
during the summer were nearly 5000:
Not all Of them, of course, remain in
Nome any considerable length of time,
but this greatest and most wonderful
and most interesting of Alaskan cities
is the gateway thru which arrive and
depart the thousands who are scat
tered over the richest gold field Of
equal area on the American continent,
and probably the richest in the world,
the Seward peninsula.
I have spoken in q previous article
of it's deplorable lack of harbor ia
cilities and protection for shipping,
ut iot On
the south shore of this peninsula any
better favored in this particular it
would sooner or later, and not much
later, take the place Nome now oc-
cupies with respect to the Alaskan
trade. It was the discovery Of gold
in the beach sands and on the creeks
near by which determined the location
of this city; there was no other in
fuence at work in it. While the boom
is over and the multitudes attracted
by the first discoveries and the chance
to stand on the beach and wash out
500 to $500 day have melted away,
thousands of tons Of merchandise are
received here every week, supplying
the 10000 to $4,000 people who are
scattered over the peninsula; and of
the S5,000,000 of gold sent out Of
Alaska annually nine-tenths of it goes
out of Nome.
d
4 torial party at Nome was hos
pitality itself. This was the
first stopping place since leaving
b Dawson, where there were any consid-
cradle number of ladies. Here they
had assumed the responsibility for a
formal reception and ball the first
night after our arrival. This very
swell event took place in the Arctic
Brotherhood hall, which was taste
fully decorated for the occasion. This
hall is the social center of Nome and
the members Of the brotherhood and
their wives constitute the 400"
Their hall was formerly a theater and,
aceommo dations for every sort Of
social function. It is a kind Of club
houec and 'oere the best element OF
Nonla socially struggles almost nightly
thru the long winter against thoughts
of home and of the leagues Of impassa-
BILE ice and snow which lie between
them and the outside world. Dancing
and cards avail when more serious &C.
equations fail to beguile the lonesome