The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1915-08-19
Klondike--Its Golden Glory Is a
Thing of the Past.

Ivial flats where the Yukon is joined
by the Klondike river two tributaries
Iof which are the famous Bonanza
creek and bunker creek. Although
traces of gold were discovered in the
Yukon valley in about 1869, it was IL
years later, in 1881, before 1t was found
in the Big Salmon, and in the Lewes,
Pelly and Stewart rivers. Five years
afterward coarse gold was found on
the Fortymile, a tributary to the Yu-
kon below Dawson, and In 1S94-96 the
discoveries of Bob Henderson and
George Cormaek, in bunker and b.
nanza creeks, drew miners into the
Klondike valley from all quarters
Prodigious quantities of gold were soon
found in Bonanza creek and many
miners made fortunes in short time,
but unfortunately most of the gold was
spent foolishly or In debauchery. One
man Is said to have taken 100000 out
of claim SO by 300 feet, but, so the
story goes, he spent 1t in a few days
and died in poverty. The quickest for
tune on record was secured by two
men who cleaned UP gold to the value
of $4,000 In 81 hours. Stories of the
proceedings at Klondike during these
golden days" are not edifying, hut
point to the moral that wealth too
easily and quickly won Is apt to work
Ill.
Gold Output Decreases.
The total output in 1898 was $l),-
100000, from which figures 1t jumped
six million annually until in 1900 when
the production reached $22,275OOO, the
highest point. From this point a
steady decline began until in 1908,
when 1t was $2,820,131, at which time
hydraulicing and dredging began and
the total output rose slowly until it
was $5,0S1,411 in 1918. 1t has been
estimated that only about 100000
worth of gold remains to be produced,
! out of the original available amount
of nearly $1S0,OoOOOO.
At the height of the boom in the
winter of 1899, the population of Daw-
son is said to have reached $4,000 re.
Gently, however, it has dwindled down
to less than two thousand people
Early Mining Methods.
The various processes of recovering
gold in this region fell under three
J main heads; individuals, by washing
! surface gravels with shovel and pan,
or by sluiclng with flume and sluica
box; small parties by working drift
with mechanical scrapers and sluices
] or drift mining in shafts and slulcing
and capitalists, by dredging with pow
! erful mechanical plants, hydraulic
, suicing with monitors, or mining and
; stamping ore In mills The first class
includes poor mems diggings," and
} the second requires more financial re-
sources and mechanical ability, but a
successful man in the first may be-
: come a member of the second class
: While the first two classes require
fairly rich ground, only men with ex-
ceptional ability and ample capital
! can reach the third class and work
the low-grade placer gravels or
} quartz veins successfully
, Present Day Methods.
, The author describes in detail the
} several methods of extracting gold
from the frozen Klondike field, based
upon his personal observations, and
!, shows how man has changed the topo-
| graphy of this district, especially in
the valleys; first the drift miners turn
ed the gravel upside down, then the
dredgers plowed 1t all over again and
threw it into great ridges of stone with
mud banks between, and finally where
there were white gravels on the high
ground, the hydraulic giants" washed
them down into great fan-shaped
cones, sometimes reaching across the
entire valley, completely burying all
below, damming up guillies and pro-
ducing new lakes. All of which OPP
erations have made tough problems
for the future geologist.
The vast territory of the Yukon dis
trict is imperfectly explored and al
though 1t is far north, the climate in
summer is warm and favorable for
agriculture and grazing. Exploration
is now readily effected from Dawson,
and Mr.. Cadell hopes that fresh enter
prise will reveal new resources that
will lead to the permanent settlement
of this remote and almost uninhabitcd
outpost.