The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1910-09-01

"iHioulIIes. III ground being
frozen solid; 1t had to be thawed out
by huge fires before the dirt could be
excaveted, 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-.
Die during the three summer months.
When the gold fields of California
were discovered and the stories of
their unlimited wealth beralded
throughout the world, there was a wild
n wooily rush TO the shores OF the
Pacific. In those days It was almost
an tm~possibility to get the worst of a
venture to its coast. Starvation was
almost out Of the question, save in the
northern and mountainous districts
and 4 comfortable bed could always
be found on the hillside of the land
OF eternal summer There were no
huge ice and snow fields practically
destitute Of bird and beast. On the
contrary, there were streams full of
fish, anxious to be caught, and for
ests inhabited by focks of birds that
have since acquired regulations for
high 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-
timately obtained independence.
Frozen Up In Winter.
MI V,zI-Aa f..
TO travel save during the summer
months. In the winter the frost. king
asserts his dominion and locks I'D all
approaches with impenetrable ice, and
the summer is of the briefest. It en-
dures only for ten or twelve weeks,
from about the middle of June to the
early part of September. Then an IN
ending panorama OF extraordinary
picturesqueness is unfolded to the
voyager. The banks are frtnged with
flowers, caTpeted with the aIi-per-
vading mos or tundra. Birds count.
less in numbers and of infinite va
riety Of plumage sing out a welcome
from every tree top. Pitch your tent
where you will in midsummer, a bed
Of roses, q clump of peoples 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 I'D
from q 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 to
his cabin, the Indian to his hut and
the bear to his sleeping chamber In
the mountains. Every stream be-
comes a sheet of ice, mountain and
valley alike are covered with snow.
The kiondIke Today.
From 1900 the production gradually
diminished as the crude methods OF
the individual miner became Intellectual
with the exhaustion Of the richest
areas on the Bonanza and Eldorado
creeks, which between them have
yielded over $50, 900. 900. In 1907 the
output hdu uIOppSd 70 So,UUU, Y and
for the following year 1t 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 prop
ositions" In the hands of wealthy oou.
paniss. and the vast areas acquired by
them were unproducttve 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 creshs-.
right down to bed rocks now being
put through the dredging machfaes
and washed for gold, the dredser
blowing it's way steadily from one end
sc
hydraulic machinery deals with the
sol! on the It'll sides. Science. indeed.
has swept away the romantic side OF
gold-mining in the Yukon, but through
its agency the territory is entering on
a fresh period of prosperity, which
ma. yet. rival the lheydsy Mt its -gssora,
oys past
..ntr :. s.,~. ~~..-~,c- 's-".--." r. 80" - 80