Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1911-11-01

he decided, anu his QuiCh Alu0s
sketched Eldorado Creek, from mouth
10 source, and from mountain top 20
mountain top, in the hands OF one ca
pable management. Even steam'thaW-
ing, as yet untried, but bound to come.
he saw would be nakeshitt. "nae
should be done was to hydraulic the
valley sides and benches, and thea, on
the creek bottom, to use soio-oreoges.
There was the very chance for another
big killing. He had wondered JUST
what was precisely the reason Tor the
Guggenhamuers and the big English
concerns sending in their high.salaried
exuerts. That was their scheme. That
was why they had approached him for
the sale of worked-out claims and tall
ings. They were content to let the
small mine-owners gopher out what
they could, for there would be mil
lions in the learings.
And, gazing down on the smoky in
feruo of crude effort, Daylight outlined
the new game he would play, a game
In which the Guggenhammers and the
rest would have to reckon with him.
But along with the delight in the new
conception came WEAKNESS. He was
tired Of the long Arctic years, and he
was curious about the Outside-the
great world of which he had heard
other men talk and Of which he was
as ignorant sas child. There were
games out there to play. 1t was
larger table, and there was no reason
why he with his millions should not
sit In and take a hand. So it was,
that afternoon on Skookum Hill, that
he resolved to play this hast best Klon-
dixie hand and pull for the Outside. 1t
took time, however. He put trusted
agents to work on the heels Of great
experts, andton the creeks where they
began to buy ne likewise bought.
Wherever they tried to corner a
worked-out creek, they found him
standing In the way, owning blocks OF
claims or artfully scattered claims
that put all their plans to naught.
Followed wars, truces, compromises,
victories, and defeats. By 1898, sixty
thousand men were on the klondike,
and all their fortunes and affairs
rocked back and forth and were af-
fected by the battles Daylight fought.
And more and more the taste for the
larger game urged in Daylight's mouth.
Here he was already locked in Crap
Piles with the great Guggenhammers,
and winning, fiercely~ winning. Pos
sibly the severest struggle was Waged
on Ophir, the veriest OF moose-pas.
lures. whose low-grade dirt was valu-
able only because OF its vastness. The
ownership of a block OF seven claims
in the heart of it gave Daylight his
grip, and they could not come to terms.
The Guggenhammer experts conclud'
ed that it was too big for him to
handle, and when they gave him al
ultimatum to that effect he accepted
and bought them out. The plan was
his own, but he sent down to the
States for competent engineers to car
ry it out. In the Rinkabilly water.
shed. eighty miles away, he built his
reservoir, and for eighty miles the
huge wooden conduit carried the wa
ter across country to Ophir. Esti-
mated at three millions, the reservoir
and conduit cost nearer four. Nor
did he stop with this. Electric power
plants were installed, and his work.
ings were lighted as we'll as run by
electricity. Other sourdoughs, who
had struck it rich in excess OF all
their dreams, shook their heads gloom
lily, warned him that he would go
broke, and declined to invest in so ex.