The Nome daily nugget., 1906-06-06
Preparing For a Busy
 Season.
Ditch Building to be Commenced On An Extensive Scale In a Few Weeks -- Other Items of Interest.

The coming summer Will be the most prosperous the KOugarok dis trict has ever known, is the opinion of MT .Maher, who has just returned from trip through that country. According to MT. Maher's statement it is the season of prosperity par ex- cellence, and ditch building and min ing on colossal scales are to be the principal industries.
 Many big outfits and an abundance of provisions have been hauled into that section during the past winter, and the big companies as well as the individual operators are all well out fitted and equipped for the seasons work. Mr. Maner was credibly in ormed that number of claims had been bought by J. M. Davidson last fall, and that his agents had secured others during the past winter, and these properties will be actively op- erated this summer. The individual operators were all ready to com mence work when Mir. Maher left. and most of them were sanguine of a big clean up this summer.
 Gunderson Bros. and Joe Vint, who too about 1,400 buckets of gravel on Dahl creek last winter, are now sluicing up, and the clean ups, so far, have been iminently satisfac- tory.
 Billy Hoas, superintendent of the Davidson waterway, has few men at work clearing out the ditch and getting ready for the summers work. This ditch is completed to a point about one mile above Taylor creek. 1 ne work will be pushed as rapidly as possible, and as soon as Taylor | creek is reached, hydraulic elevators will oe installed.
 The stone ditch, which runs from Taylor creek along the left limit of the Kougarok river, and which will be used to operate the benches or that stream, will be completed dur ing the coming summer. Nearly 50C tons of supplies and equipment were hauled from Lanes Landing during the past winter and distributed al different points along the waterway Messrs. Purden, Benson and Priest had charge of the transportation. A number of men are now at wor ant as soon as the ground is sufficiently thawed teams and scrapers will be used.
 l Another ditch is being built by Charles Merritt, it's intake being or Arizona creek, thence running along the right limit of the Kougarok riv CT for a distance of eight miles. This ground through which it is taking it's course will involve considerable rock work.
 Jim Mckay, the well known mush CT and mail carrier, has gone into the rcadhOuse business, having pur chased Harvey Fry's place, and fiXet it up in a maner most conducive tt catching the mushers who wend theil way through the Kougarok distric next summer. Henry Backus, at the Kurzamapa hot springs, has planted out a large patcn of lettuce and other vegetables, which will be marketed at the more densely populated DOT tions of the Kougarok district.
 The Seward Cooperative Tele phone Company had completed theil line to Taylor creek at the time MT Maher left, but it had not yet beer connected up.
 MT. Maher descriebs the trail iron the Kougarok to Nome as being sim ply rotten," and especially so along the upper portion of Nome river. The hills are all bare on the southerl! sides, but on the oposite they art covered with four feet of snow, ant some of the gulches are filed in witf lsnow to a much greater depth.