Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1913-02-01
NO PLACE FOR POOR
Mining at Dawson Available Only
to Men With Big Capital.
Pionser Says There Are Sections sa
the Yukon That Have Not Vet
Been Scratched by
Prospeetors.

New York.-Henry Pinkiert. who
used to be n merchant In San Fran
cisco and went to the Klondike In
1891 ana has been In business In or
around Dawson City ever since. ar
rived recently at the Breslin. He says
there are no mining opportunities In
the immediate neighborhood of Daw-
son, except for men and companies
with big capital.
lawson Is not growing" Baid Mr..
Pinkiert. Tn the early days there
were all kinds OF mining right there
on the ground for the individual. but
now. for radius OF about 80 miles
around the town. the territory II 10
worked out that only big corporations
can make money working 1t, and these
nave taken up great deal OF the
land. The biggest operations In the
neighborhood are being carried on by
South African company, which owns
OF practically controls all the claims
within that 50-mile radius that the
Guggenheims do not control.
In the days Of the gold rush a man
would stake his claim, which would
run 500 feet. The moment he got
that worked down to low grade he
was up against proposition that re-
quired dredges and hydraulic na-
chinery to work on a profitable basis.
The majority Of small claimholdefs
sold out. and some gave options. A
few are still holding out for their
prices. The government gives a man
the right to hold his claim so long 40
5000 worth of work Is done on II In
year.
But the situation at Dawson does
not end the Klondike for the prospeo-
tor by any means. | should say that
part of Yukon territory 10 Btill In its
infancy as a gold producer. in spite
of the millions that have been taken
out. The great difficulty has been
getting into the interior. Small boats
go up the streams now for hundreds OF
miles. but still there are regions prac-
tically unprospected In the past few
years the Canadian government has
helped transportation by subsidizing
these craft. and this makes It possible
for miners to carry up their grub In
the fall and continue their work In
the winter. In my. opinion. one of
these days we shall hear of discoveries
up there that will make the Klondike
finds seem Insignificant. From Daw-
son to White Horse 1t is 410 miles and
there are numerous regions on both
sides Of the way.that never have been
prospected.
I'VE lost lot OF prospectors eight
or nine years ago. They went over
the border into Alaska, where they
seem to have done well. These includ-
ed some of the best OF our prospectors.
Still about ESQ men are working on
Scroggs creek this winter. They
take out the frozen soil by thawing
with steam and using pickaxes. pile II
up and then put 1t in the sluice boxes
for washing in summer.
"Dredges are now working longer In
the neighborhood of Dawson than
used to be possible. OF course, you
cannot work a dredge in winter unless
you boil the water about 1t to keep IL
from freezing. The dredge has to be
turned around In order to be used.
Before they got to doing this dredge
could not start to work until June Is.
and 1t had to shut down In September.
Now 1t can begin work May and
continue until the end of the year.
Commercially, there is nothing do
ing in Dawson. Still, the business peo-
pie there are in fine condition.
"The dance hall element and all the
undesirable part of the former popula-
ton of Dawson have been weeded
out" added Mr.. Pinkiert. "and today
the town is as clean az any In the
world"