Charlevoix county herald., 1906-04-07

aska, alone, in her search Tor gold.
The railroad had not been built that
has since minimiZed the difficulties OF
Alaskan travel in the Chilcoot region.
Miss Malcolm declares that the tour OF
the Funeral Mountains however was
more hazardous than her lonely jour-
ney through the Chilcoot, years ago.
mo white person has ever visited
the spot where | viewed the great cop
per deposit until ! made my way
there" she said in a recent interview.
Il have never before seen such rugged
ness in mountains as the Funeral Range
presents. To climb up almost per-
pendicular grades means to slide down
others before the objective point can
be reached. l have been a prospector
for ten years and have passed much OF
my time in the mountains of Alaska,
Colorado and other places where there
is gold. The Funeral Range is the
worst of any. | made up my mind that
would search for gold and copper in
the foothills of the Funeral Mountains.
was compelled to cross the range to
get where | wished to go, and al
though / had no fear, there were min
utes when, in Ginning, I did not dare to
look back, but only kept right on.
There were many places where
misstep meant sure death. All there
was to do was to go head. Once started,
there was no way to stop without con-
Tossing defeat. Finally l found what
was looking for. At first l could hardly
believe my eyes. had reached point
about twenty-five miles from the line
of the Clark road and sixteen miles
from the line Of the 'Borax Smith
road, when the ledge doomed up i'm
mensely.
"Then I was happy. I have studied
minerology, geology, and other lines
leading to mining, and I have done
assessment work with my own hands
in deep shafts. In short, my experience
has been such that believe that l am
competent to know whether my min
eral discoveries are valuable.
"The ledge stands up clearly from
fifty to seventy-five feet, with both
gold and copper in it-but more copper
than gold. Millions maybe. there In
easy reach-a quantity that I~believe
is almost beyond ordinary computa-
ton. If / am not mistaken the dis
covery is valuable not only for its
richness but also because it opens up
knowledge of an entirely new copper
belt in the Death Valley"
Picturesqueness is added to Miss
Malcom's trip by the fact that the In
dian halfbreed that she took into the
desert where so many strong men have
died is "Bill Kee," who is "Scotty's"
friend. This Indian is a good guide.
The next step that Lillian Malcolm
contemplates is that OF informing the
railroad builders, now constructing
lines into the mineralized regions of
Nevada, Of the typographical features
Of the country to be crossed in order
to bring her copper and gold dis
coveries reasonably within Transports
ton facilities, and the place that form
erly required weeks for her to reach,
will soon be made accessible, when the
present railroading surveys are carried
out in rails. There is plenty of timber
in the Panamint Mountains that can
be utilized for mining purposes, and
the loot Of the steam whistle may yet
be heard in the fearful Businesses of
desolation that have so long appalled,
stout-hearted man, only to be con-
quered finally by woman in search of
precious metals.