American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1915-05-13
@SwRDE LUCK IN ALASKA.

| IL ls literally true tnat some men
who went to the North had fortunes
thrust upon them. There is Charley
Anderson who was prospecting on the
Yukon. Shortly after the Klondike
strike was made by George Carmack
and Skookum Jim, Anderson, trail
weary, wandered into the frontier
camp of Dawson, her known as
transformation Circle City. He had
developed a taste for a primitive bev-
erage of local manufacture known as
"hootch" and promptly proceeded to
crafty it. When he came to he dis
covered that his alcoholic companions
had gone through his clothes, extract
ed eight hundred dollars and left in
lieu thereof a deed to a claim on Ell
dorado creek which was thought to
have no other value except that which
%pertaines to grazing for moose An
derson almost wept. 1t was true he
was the owner OF a location, but a
claim isn't necessarily a mine, and also
there is a lot of difference between a
deed to a piece of frozen ground and
eight hundred dollars in real money,
which was all he had possessed. But
he was not bereft of credit. Taking the
deed to a trader he pledged it for a
grubstake which he hauled to the creek
on a hand sled. He burned wood to
thaw the frozen muck and discovered
that the gravel underneath was thickly
peremated with gold. The moose pas
ture proved to be worth more than two
million dollars. There are some Won
derful real estate records in Alaska.
Depressed and discouraged because
he had been unable to find values in a
quartz mine which he had been sent
to examine, John Treadwell sat in a
log cabin in Harrisburg, now Juneau,
waiting for a steamship to take him
back to San Francisco. French Pete"
Erussard drifted in and told Tread
well a hard luck story. Treadwell was
sympathetic. The tale was well told;
So well that he was induced to put up
five hundred dollars, taking therefor
a deed to a half interest in a claim.
Treadwell returned the following year
and examined the property. Then he
bought the other half and it became
known as the Treadwell mine. 1t has
produced more than fifty million dol
lars and there is sufficient ore blocked
out to keep the big stamp mills work.
ing for many years.
Eric Lindblom went to Alaska on a
whaling vessel--shanghaied from San
Francisco, some peiple say. With ia
fet Lindeburg and John Brynteson he
discovered the Nome gold fields and
laid the foundation of a big fortune.
Two of the richest placer mines in
northwestern Alaska were traded for
comparative triffles-one for a gaso-
line engine that couldn't chug and an
other for thirty dollars and a bottle of
brandy distilled from prune juice.
There are thousands of similar in
stances common in the history of ev-
cry mining camp.
But there is another side to the story
thousands of men in Alaska, with
privation and hardship for their team
mates. have toiled bravely and assid-
uously for many years and have fail
ed to find the golden fleece. Perhaps
they lacked what the north terms
"Swede luck"
"Swede luck" is SO called because
many of the rich strikes have been
made by Scandinavians. In Alaska
every Scandinavian is a "Swede." Per
sonal observation, however, has shown
me that "Swede luck" means hard
work and enduring fortitude under ad-
verse circumstances.
Several years ago at the mouth of
a creek where a strike had been re-
ported and an incipient stampede was
in progress, | met a prospector.
who made the striker" ] asked
Who do you think made the striker"
he countered disgustedly as though
l had propounded foolish question No.
1862. did you ever hear OF ANYBODY
havin' any luck in this darnel country
unless he was a Swede!!"
| walked fourteen miles up that
creek and found six holes to bedrock.
Pay had been encountered in Il e sixth.
Every shaft had been dug by the
Swede who made the strike, and who.
by the way, happened to be n Nor
wegian.-John J. Underwood in Nav
Sunset.