Evening star., 1914-08-23

his companions and was lost Mr. Whites
claim was on the bench above famous
Eldorado creek. and he struck IL rich on
his first claim.
''Scurvy?" asked the representative IN
reply to question. "I never had it
oh. the boys used to sit around OF sun
days and feel their teeth 10 see IL they
were loosening. and that was a pleasant
pastime. wasn't II? But l had been
warned that lemonade was a good prevef-
tive for the sickness. l followed the
beverage all the way from 81 a glass.
made with one-half lemon. TO Sl.f5.
Then | had to quit"
Although he had inside informs tion''
on the strike of 1898. when II was brought
outside by Nash. Senator Lane did not
go to Alaska until six years later. He
went first to Nome where. taken with
infiammatory rheumatism. he spent sew
eral months knocking about hotanizinE
and recovering before he struck out for
St Michaels, and from there on a steam
er 10 Fairbanks. where he prospected Tor
many months before starting for VALDEZ.
IN temperature Of 40 below. by way of
the Tanana river. across to the Big De-
"a over another divide along the Big
peita river and down the Gocoaa CRah-
DIT riverl headwaters until he finally
came TO the government trail
one OF the best stories in Senator
banks. Alaskaa, came into being
1t was all fuke." said rhe senator.
and the widest chance that | have
ever known. II was THIS way: Cant
Bennett. in the early nineties. set gu,
from Portland to Alaska, to establish a
trading post. and once in the new Couu-
try fell in With Charlie Smith. then gov
ernment customs agent at Circle City
They made a partnership OF It. sunk all
their capital in grub and supplies. guns
and ammunition. and laid their course for
Tanana Crossing. which lies some 800
miles above the mouth OF the Tanana
river.
In their hired boat they went I'D the
Tanana, where no gold whatever had
been discovered, until they came to the
Chena rapids. and there turning in
Cinema Slue. made a detour. going about
forty miles further before their boat
man, on account OF rapidly falling water.
refused to go farther. Turning back. he
dumped them. bag and baggage. in the
heart of the wilderness at the mouth of
Chena Slue. There were Indians.
even in that part of the world. SO thai
Bennett and Smith. who soon discovered
they had been exiled upon delta. We're
hard put to II to find a market for their
stock.
But, striking into the wilderness they
discovered. about twenty-five miles from
the delta, a creek which they named Gold
stream. Ten miles farther away they
found another, and they called this
Cleary creek And. mind you. not a mug
get or grain had been washed from either
Of them.
Nevertheless. they supplied Indian
runners with few stray nuggets they
had, and started them to the settlements
to tell Of a marvellous new bonanza, so
that when the stampeeders came, they
might purchase the goods
y
"On came the rush. And among the
miners was one Frank Manly. He had
Just $500 Bennett and Smith got this for
grub and supplies. Then they sold him
claims Three and Five below their Dis
covery' claim. upon contract calling FOR
the payment of $4,000 before the follow
ing 1st of August A penalty of $500 a
day thereafter was attached until the
claim should again revert to Bennett
Frank Manly started to work. BY
August 1 he had taken out more than
100000. Cleary creek was richer than
Eldorado creek. But when Manly came
to pay his $4,000 his attention was called
made in United States gold
There were then some 800 people in
Fairbanks, but there was hardly one gold
coin. and Bennett wouldn't accept dust
so QOWn TO nome went Manly, anu "
dint of hard going managed to dig up the
required amount in specie. 1 went back
up the river with him: when he arrived
he found he had forfeited $1,000 more
but as the mine was then paying S+oO
day, that didn't cause him much worry.
Just about the time that Key Pittman'
as district attorney Of the consent gov
ernment of Nome. had completed the
rout of the grafters who were jumping
claims and robbing the prospectors WITH
a high-handed lawlessness, Judge James
Wickersham. now delegate from Alaska
was appointed federal Judge for the
Nome district. Strictly speaking, the
Judge is not ''sourdough," having done
little prospecting on his own hook. But
he exercised his judicial functions In the
territory during the days when law and
order had not quite become the recog.
nized authority, and his first case. trieo
at Unalaska, was that of murderer
who had claimed three victims.
Judge Wickersham has been vitally an
actively interested in all movements
toward the betterment of Stewards ice
box" and one of his pet hobbies now is
the collection of every scrap of inforIna-
ton which has ever been printed about
the land Of his adoption.