The Alaska citizen., 1912-04-22
AN|AK TURNS OUT A
 FROST

RUBY, March 30. - In the mail which arrived from the lower river last Saturday. Phil North received the following letter from Ed I. Stier. commissioner of Georgetown:
 Georgetown. Alaska.
 March :. 1912
 Friend Phil-Your letter of Jan uary C reached me about a week ago. and l have been hoping against hope that some good reports would come out of the Aniak and it's trib- utaries so that l could write you something worth while. but instead Of good reports coming they are quite the reverse. They can find prospects but no pay.
 There were great many good men men that are looking for ground to work and are not averse to work 10 find it-that went into the Aniak. The did work. dug h les, reached bedrock in a great many of them and on goodly number of creeks. and all they got for their trouble was prospects. no pay. So far, they have not found anything like paystreak It seems very funny thing to me that in a country where they can find the prospects that they say they can find, on this Kuskokwim river in places, that there is not a pay streak. There are thousands of creeks in this country. but so far they have not found one that has a paystreak
 "Of all the good men who went into the Aniak. there are but a few of them left; the rest or greater part of them have quit, and pulled l their freight and gone back to the places from whence they came
 There are a few of them who hauled lot of supplies in on the strength of the hot air that was pumped into them. that are staying with the country, and will prospect next summer.
 'I consider that the Aniak and its tributaries has had the best prospecting of any part of the kus- kokwim precinct. The men who went in there wtnt in to work and try to find the pay, and they went al il systematically and helped enc another to put down holes. They wanted to find the pay but they did not find il and most of them have quit
 Things over here are very much 'on the bum. There are only eighteen people in Georgetown at | the present time. But what one is to do. or where to go. I do not know so l am going to be a Micawber and wait for something to turn up. and l might as well wait here in Georgetown as anywhere else.
 Deputy Marshal Seibe resigned his position a few months ago, and man, a fine fellow by the name of kelday, is now deputy mar shal here. At the present time he is Investigating murder supposed i 10 have taken place last June. In, II on New York creek, below this place, We here do not know any thing about it. There are some men on that creek and they are some what mixed up; some say that they have found a little pay and others say that they have found nothing. One of them told me not more than ten days ago that they would probably take out a grub stake this spring and then it was for the Koyukuk for him. He told me that they found a good pros pect last summer on pup com ing into New York creek, and that almost all it's tributaries and gulches l carry gold, and that the main creek l surely must have a paystreak But so far they have not been able to find it.
 Phil, there is not creek in my precinct that has a continuous pay streak, at present. There is no place for man to earn a dollar. If man wants to prospect in this country, he must bring either his supplies with him, or the money to buy them.