Valdez daily prospector., 1912-07-09
THE ALASKA BUNCH ARE
 STUN0 VERY HARD
Continued ft.um page 1J

{ Continued ft.um page f. rated by Tom Doyle, who inycsl-
 cd his Alaska fortune in Yakima
 farms, and by others. The Ad- ans letter, among other things, says:
 That alleged strike on Tip
 uana river and the Ferguson let
 ter, telling of the riches to be
 found there, is a fake. There is absolutely nothing to it.
 Il arrived in La PaZ in March, and purchasing mules there, rode
 to this town, SOrita, and from here with all outfit started for the Tipuana river, where the
 strike was supposed to have been
 made. Was eight days travelling over the worst trail in the world,
 bar none. The elevation at the
 summit was more than i8,OOO feet, and the trail beyond would
 make a monkey dizzy. If a mule stumbled or the Trail you would mt even hear him drop. You
 couldn't even hear the echo of
 the bray. Nor would you see
 where he landed. Three Alaskans behind us lost several mules. One of them had S2,OO0 in American gold on his pack. They never found the mule or the money,
 nor could they get down to whcr.
 the mule lit.
 l Nr found that no man named Ferguson had ever been on the Tipuana river nor was there any
 trader here to buy the gold. There isn't any gold for anybody to buy. Tn" whole thing was frame up
 ln get American money and American miners down hcrc. "Snmr gold was taken out by
 Indians a long lime ago. and the
 Spaniards got lille metal, too.
 hut they picked il clean. IL would
 n't run an ounce in ih" squarr mile.
 "lt would take much capital In
 attempt iu search the lower levels
 and there Is no available labor. | Freight costs $500. Bolivian. a
 ton. Two white men have been
 on the river mining. one for eight and one for 20 years. and both are broke.
 ESQ far as can ascertain from all history. there is not Soli- tary paying placer mine in all South America. Should an Amer ican find new field he would have but small chance of making any thing. There is more litigation her" when anything worth while iS found than the people of Alas ka ever dreamed of. and a stran- ger has no chance in the courts. 1
 My partner and myself were the first of the siamprdrrS tn reach tn" Tipuana. We had a rough trip down that stream. I lost 25 pounds in weight, and I was i'll good condition when I started. We have hrrn chrwrd on by every kind of bug. fly and known In science. On two occasions We were out of grub for 36 hours and wrr" kick ing at inc mules along q trail SD steep in places il hung over backwards. We finally quit the mules and walked here. all in.
 "M. C. EmrrSnn. Roy Cutting and Jack TOhin. aiI of Nome. arc al La PaZ. Till Price and Chris Trrmp"r arrived in Tipuana as We wrrr leaving and intend in $Iay there q while. Tom Doyle k on his way nvar the divide. Earl Hyde and bunch of others ar" struggling to get back. I will wait here for q while lo Sr" if any of ih"m need assistance, and then will beat il back ir California"
 X letter from Tom Doyle states that Hyde has returned io La PaZ and that others arc rndcav- bring to get back across the mountains. All have plenty of food and good health, but are showing signs of ihc hardships through which they have passed