The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1903-03-27

ullC NSou So"SO vi ISIl liz ," ooooO
$50 miles from ST. Michaels and 200
miles from Seattle. Here the beach
diggings are located: they extend
along the beach for a distance of
about fifteen or twenty miles and are
it was worked out during the season
beach that season did we'll. The sand
is worked with rockers OF sluice boxes.
Quicksilver is used for catching the
fine gold. There are numerous creeks
in the Nome and Kongarok districts
that are producing gold in paying
quantities and some of them are
very rich. The Bench and Tundra
property is also showing up good. l
saw one nugget taken from a discOv-
cry on Anvil creek that weighed 1O8
o., worth S1729 and one worth 1852
on the same claim, and small nuggets
worth from one to fifteen or twenty
dollars are common. In my opinion
this section of the country will be, and
in fact is, a great gold producer,
the best | have seen in Alaska. 1t
has shown up we'll for the amount of
work done. 1t is true that there have
been a great many people in this
section of Alaska but a very small
proportion of them have been willing
to get out with pick and shovel and
prospect. There has been lots of
ground located but comparatively
little thorough prospecting done.
In regard to the climate here. 1t
is about the same as l have already
described except that we have more
wind here than in the Copper river
and Yukon country. There is no
large timber in the Nome and Kon-
garok districts, but some spruce
timber in the Council City district on
Fish river. There is however plenty
of willow and alder on almost all of
the creeks which supply the miners
with fuel. Small game and fish are
plentiful, such as ptarmigan. ducks
and geese. A number of varities of
fish and crabs, but large game is
scarce in this locality. Farther east
in the Council City district there are
a few bear: farther north in the north
eastern part of Alaska is found the
musk-ox. There are two government
reindeer stations, one near ST.
and one at Cape Prince of
Wales. They have, | think, about
three or four thousand reindeer,
which live and do we'll on a kind
OF white moss. This grows album
dainty in this section Of Alaska. I
saw a herd of 500 reindeer passing
through Nome. L%aplanders are en-
ployed to herd and look after them.
The natives are Esquimaux Indians.
They are. a friendly and ~peaceable
class OF people and quite Industrious
and honest. Their principle occupa-
ton is fishing, hunting and trapping,
their principal food is seal, walrus
and fish. They drink seal oil in
winter. Their clothing is made from
reindeer hides and seal skin and fox
fur. Their foot wear is made from
walrus hide and seal skin. Some of
them however wear clothing which
they obtain from the whites in trade
for various articles which they have
to dispose of-some useful articles as
well as curios. The Esquimaux
igloo or winter houses are brilt of
logs or poles and covered with earth
or dirt and are very warm. There is
a mission school at Cape Prince of
Wales and one at Anvick on the
Yukon river. Some of the Indians
are quite well educated.
Nome is quite a city now, it is in
corpOrated and has electric lights.
water works, and fire and police
departments. There are about seven
miles of railroad built from Nome to
and along Anvil creek, and | believe
the intentions are to extend the road
to Council City in the near future.
There is no harbor at Nome for large
boats; they run to Sledge island for
nrOfpptlnn in a cfnprr ,vh;aI 4, cL-,@
20 miles up the coast from Nome.
The Behring sea gets very rough at
times. a number of boats have been
driven ashore at or near Nome, and
many lives have been lost in the surf.
Large steamers anchor out from a
half to three-fOurths of a mile from
shore n there cargos are landed by
lighters or tug boats and scows. Nome
Is well stocked with almost everything
That is needed and prices are quite
reasonable now with a few exceptions,
wages for mechanics we're from 75c
TO 81 per hour in 1902, and in 1900
and 1901 from 81 to 81. 80 per hour.
Miners get from s. to So per day and
board. Dogs are used for freighting
and stampeding into the interior. A
good dog is worth from $50 to 800
III ohC i"ii vi CdIly WllkcF. horses
are also used to quite an extent and
are worth in spring from $3.50 to $500
each, but in the fall they are cheap,
owing to the high price of feed which
was about $50 per ton in the fall of
1902. There has been some rich
quartz discovered in this section of
n country; also gold, copper and
tin and think it will prove to be
a rich quartz mining section as we'll
as placer. In the Kongarok district
there has been copper ore discovered
and in the Cape York district tin
has been found. Coal has also been
discovered in a number of places in
these districts. l spent nearly three
years in this section of Alaska, and
have travelled over a good portion
OF 1t and am satisfied that it is a
rich mining country. l landed at
Nome as l said before, October 8.
1899, remained there until the fall of
1901, when 1 started for the outside
n home. I reached Seattle Nov
ember 1st, and spent the winter in
Seattle and Milbank, S. D.
In June, 1902. l left Milbank for
Alaska, reached Nome in July, put
1n ~