Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1910-09-21

~ ~'S "'hh'9 OIStTiCI. Z."SpOt
3-HydrauIic Mining In the Yukon.
culiar difficulties. The ground being
frozen solid. 1t had 20 be thawed out
py huge fires before the dirt could be
e&cavated, and this was the work that
could be done during the long and Sc.
we're winter. The actual extraction
OF the gold by washing was only posi-
Ole during the three summer months.
When the gold fields of California
were discovered and the stories OF
their unlimited wealth heralded
throughout the world, there was a wild
and woolly rush to the shores of the
Pacific. In those days 1t was almost
an lmpossibility to get the worst OF a
venture to its coast. Starvation was
almost out of the question, save I'm the
northern and mountainous districts.
and a comfortable bed could ALWAYS
be found on the hillside of the land
or eternal summer. There were no
huge Ice and snow fields practically
destitute of bird and beast. On the
contrary, there were streams full Of
hsh, anxious to be caught, and for.
ests inhabited by flocks of birds that
have since acquired regulations for
nigh prices in city eating houses.
Again. the argonauts of California and
Nevada were almost exclusively hard.
headed. painstaking and sober-minded
men, who were willing to brave hard.
ships and privations providing they ul.
umately obtained Independence.
Frozen lin in MJfn@..
The Yukon river is absolutely closed
to travel save during the summer
months. In the winter the frost king
asserts his dominion and locks up all
approaches with impenetrable ice. and
the summer is of the briefest. II en-.
dures only for ten or twelve weaks.
from about the middle OF June to the
early part Of September. Then an I'M.
ending panorama OF extraordinary
picturesqueness IL unfolded to the
voyager. The banks are fringed with
flowers, carpeted with the all-per.
vading moss or tundra Birds count.
less In numbers and of infinite va.
riety OF plumage sing out welcome
from every tree top. Pitch your tent
where you will in midsummer. a he'd
or roses, clump of poppies and a
bunch of blue bells will adorn your
camping. But high above this para.
disc OF almost tropical exuberance
giant GLACIERS sleep In the summit of
the mountain wall, which rises M,
from bed of roses. BY September
everything is changed. The bed OF
roses has disappeared before the lev
breath of the winter king, which sends
the thermometer down to so degrees
below freezing point. The birds fly
to the southland, the white man IN
his cabin, the Indian to his hut and
the bear to his sleeping chamber IN
the mountains. Every stream he
comes sheet Of ice. mountain and
valley alike are covered with snow.
The KIondlke Today.
From 1900 the production gradually
diminished as the crude methods NJ
tho individual miner became Intellectual
with the exhaustion Of the richest
areas on the Bonanza and Eldorado
creeks. which between them have
yielded over $50,O00,0o0. In 1907 the
output had dropped to $4,000 900, and
for the following year &c was even
smaller, but this did not mean that
the gold field was worked out. The
fact was that placer mining had given
way to hydraulic and dredging "pron.
ositions" in the hands OF wealthy com.
panies, and the vast areas acquired nv
them were unproductive pending
equipment for operations on a large
scale with modern appliances. Work
IS now in full swing, and every scrap
Of earth in the auriferous creeks
right down to bed rocks now heinz
put through the dredging machines
and washed for gold. the dredger
blowing its way steadily from one end
OF the valley to the other. while the
hydraulic machinery deals with tbs
soil on the hill sides Science. indeed
has swept away the romantic side ~
gold-mining I'm the Yukon, but through
its agency the territory IS entering on
fresh period OF prosperity. which
may yet rival the heydey Of It's gIori
Gus past.