River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1905-02-09
MINE LEFT TO KING EDWARD
VIII Be Lost to His Majesty Through
His Failure to Make Neces-
sary Improvements.

Because his majesty, King Edward
of England, wouldn't take the trouble
to come to Alaska or send anybody to
work a claim fer him he is out a whole
bunch of money, writes a Dawson cor
respondent of the Seattle Post-Intel-
ligence. Something over two years ago
Dawson man who thought that Ed
ward, then Prince OF Wales, was the
finest thing in the way Of royalty that
ever happened, gave his majesty a quit
claim deed to mine on the Yukon.
His majesty, however. appeared to
have no use for any little scheme for
his digging among the auriferous gray
els Of the great northwestern district
and let the claim so back. Possibly
he did not think it was worth much.
Nobody else did at that time. Now,
however, the camp in which it is To-
Gated has blossomed out, and it is the
general opinion that King Edwards for
mer claim is about the richest one in
the camp.
AS the matter stands now, unless
some bright mining man gets on to
the fact that the claim is vacant
through the kings failure to make i'm
prOyements on it, as stipulated by law,
and Jumps" the claim before repre-
sentative of his majesty gets on the
ground, the question will become sort
of a paradox, for the claim, once the
personal property of the king, will re-
vert to him in his official kingly capacity
to be held in trust by him for England.
The history of the deal by which the
king became the owner of an Alaskan
mine is as follows: On July 2, 1902, the
Canadian government sold at auction
property designated as A, on a tributary
of Eureka creek, at No. IS on the lett
fork. The plat was 250 feet in length.
and ]. X. Sparkling was the purchaser.
There was little boom on in the Eureka
district at that time and everybody
thought that it was going to turn out
millionaires faster than anybody ever
dreamed Of
Sparkling didn't Go anything on the
claim for the first year except to pay
up 5000 required IN lieu of the repre-
sentatiOn work required. The money
acted as renewal of the deed and mat
ters were squared with the govern
ment up to date. Then some people,
among whom was W. e. Carlin, came
along, saw the $50 feet of land, coveted
it and entered into an agreement 10
purchase it. The deal fell down some"
how, however, and MIR. Sparkling kept
the claim and did a little improvement
work on it.
Sparkling was the man who had such
a high regard for Edward. He decided
to give Edward the claim as a slight
token of his esteem. Just before Edward
was crowned king Mr.. Sparkling got busy
with the land Office and made out a
quit claim deed for the property to Ed
ward Sparkling paid the So filing fee,
and the deed was regularly recorded in
the records for Eureka creek.
1t is not stated whether or not the
king ever acknowledged the little gilt
of his Canadian friend. Anyway, it he
ever realized the advantages of possess
ing nice little mine in the frozen north
he didn't take any advantage OF his
opportunities, and left the claim relig
iously alone No work has been done on
the claim, ana II IS open TOT FelOcdtlOn
His majesty has now no more power
to hold the claim than one of the most
modest of his subjects.
Now Eureka has another boom on
and this time for the reason that it
contains really valuable pay dirt. A
promising pay streak was recently I'M
covered on No. 2, and it is believed
z, o re
merly owned by his majesty.