Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1913-11-06
ShuShanna Region Promises a
Rich Yield.
GOOD PAY; NO FACILITIES.
Women Brave Hardships Of the Frozen
Desert-Motto, 1--WE Should Worry"
Expected That Fully Three Hundred
of the Three Thousand New Settlers
Will Spend Winter In kondike.

Seattle. Word came out of Alaska
/ on July 10 last that n new and star
: llingy rich gold strike hpd been made
on the extreme upper reaches Of the
| Tanana. Il strike which might rival
! the Klondike in Importance. The new
region was referred to as the Shu-
shanna. though the Biographies call
! the river ChiSana, pron0uncing the
"ch' soft.
The Seattle newspapers and the
news gathering agencies adopted the
word ShuShanna, however. ana by that
name the region is now known. This
4 new camp lies northwest Of the famous
/ Bonanza copper mine at Kennecott.
the terminus of the Copper river and
I Northwestern railroad and is reached
/ by Il very difficult. hazardous and try
! ing trail over Scolai pass. 10 miles
/ from the rail line.
! 1t can be reached by way of Daw-
son and by way OF White Horse and
White river, as we'll as via Cordova
and the Copper river railroad. The
/ three routes offer little choice in the
matter of freedom from hardship.
Immediately following the news of
i the strike Il stampede for the new
diggngS began. Most Of those who
went We're seasoned prOspectorS and
| veterans OF the north country The
number might aggregate 5000. The
number who actually reached the camp
cannot have exceeded 1000. Only 300
! will winter there.
Pay has been found on Bonanza.
Little Eel Dorado. Gold Run and Snow
/ Gulch. These streams are I'LL tribu
taries of Wi! M and Johnson creeks,
I two of the main sources of the Shu-
/ Shanna or ChiSana river. The Chisana
and Nabesna are the sources of the
Tanana.
! The James claims yielded about 400
ounces of gold up to August last and
! the Whitman claims about 100 ounces
/ The total for the district for the sea-
son is probably in excess of $4,000, Il
small yield. yet most promising when
i it is considered that no one had more
/ than Il length or two of sluice boxes
and but little water.
The gravel is shallow up around the
/ discovery claims ana the gold coarse.
Down the creeks the gravel deposits
4 are deeper, and only the surface is
thawed. There is but little wood near
/ the scene of the discoveries and. as
steam plants will not be available until
transportation is extended to the re-
giou. no frozen ground can even be
! prospected this winter.
Discovery was made in June last by
w. +. James. who had spent fifteen
years on the headWatcrS Of White. Shu-
shanna and NabcSna rivers prospecting
for quartz. Wonderful deposits of cop
per exist on all these streams, and both
the Copper river and White Pass rail
roads have made extensive reconnois-
sances and surveys in this region. Hen
ry Rratnober and his agents have been
active there also. 1t was copper and
not the possibility of gold pacers which
attracted proSpectorS to the ShuShanna
region
Another man hunting the red metal
was Carl Whitman. He was the sec
ond locator ON the new placer field. He
did not get started quite so early as
James and did not make so Sood Il
showing. the James ground yielding
about $4,000 this season. while Whit
ham took out only $4,000. Other pro-
ducing claims were those worked by
Fletcher Hamshaw and Joe McI.ennon
1t was an Indian who told James
that gold existed on the ShuShanna
hi,rI Il, ,l,,,,,
James verified the report. and he and
his partner were soon taking out the
yellow metal 1t was not an mcom-
mon days work with three men and
two lengths of Sluice box to wash up
$1,000 \ piece of ground two feet
deep. eighty feet long and sixteen feet
wide yielded 35S ounces of eighteen
dollar gold. or more than $4,000.
1t was this phenomenal richness
which started stampeders from all
parts of Alaska to the scene, making
one of the most interesting ruSheS of
recent years. The trail requires ten
days for experienced muShers to nego-
tiate from the end of the railroad TO
the scene of the strike.
Mrs. Grace Bostwick, who. with her
daughter, was the first woman over
the trail. writes of life in the new
camp. She says:
"One lives close to nature. for that Is
certainly all one has to live close to.
Nerves are unknown. and livers are
not objects of suspicion. Health stops
at every campfire to call out greetings.
The worries OF outside life slip away.
Bit by bit, very naturally. one drops
into the SiwaSh way of cNiStence-a
warm bed (of hemlock boughs on the
sroundl. three good meals = day, plen-
~ Of wood for the campfire. Men are
unshaved; every one is dirty. Skins
are hlackened by the sun and by the
smoke OF the fire, Sleeping close IL
the fire. many of the mems garments
are half burned away. We should