Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1916-07-16
DAWSON OF TO-DAY
SHOWS GREAT CHANGES
How Capital OF the lilondikc Looks
Twenty Years After Dis
Covcry of Gold.
NOW SUNDAY SCHOOL TOWN
Many Miners Still Live There. but
EducatiOnally and Socially Place
Is the Equal OF Any of Its Size
~ IN the States.
by FRANK g. CARPENTER.

e polls of the klondike mining region,
and for years the richest mining camp
n of the world. 1t is iust about two
decades since gold was discovered on
Sc Bonanza Creek and now SlSo000.coo
5s worth of the precious metal has been
~ thawed out of the frozen earth within
4 few miles OF whore 1 am writing
# The first discovery was in 1896. and
81 the camp reached the height Of its
IS prosperity about five years later. Its
rs gold output that year was over S22,-
1f 100000 and It has annually produced
II millions from that time until nov.
ss The product last year was about So
81 100000, and they w}l be getting out
Y that much for some years to come
The first mining was done by indi-
4 viduals. Stray miners. prospectors and
s. fortune hunters rushed in from all
Is parts of the world. Each had his own
g pick and shovel, his gold pan and his
81 firebrand. He dug down into the icy
81 gravel and thawed it away as he
4 looked for the rich pockets of gold
~ Within seven or eight years the cream
&, of the camp was skinned off and the
"a small miners left Then came great
&! companies with millions Of capital and
< the finest of mining machinery. They
) have been working the Iow-rrade
Fl washing down the mountains TO save
z the sprinkling of gold dust left
in them. Great dredses which cost
Il hundreds of thousands of dollars
& apiece. now do the labor, of hundreds
4 OF men, and rivers OF water. carried
n Tor miles in pipes. over the country.
"a are dashed against the hills 10 cc,
out tho gold. The age OF machinery
has replaced the age Of pure muscle
4 and men, and Dawson suffers in con
sequence.
The Dawson of the pas; had AT times
more than $4,000 citizens and in the
region about were more than co 600 in
habitants. To-day the city has less
than 5000 and the outlying districts
one-thlrd as much more. With the
gradual exhaustion of the gold the
s population is decreasing and il is only
s q. question of a few years when the
f precious metal will All he carried away
and the chief reason for a city her,
Will have disappeared. One Of the
great hopes of the people lies i'm the
discovery OF rich quartz mines or the
mother lode from which all this loose
& gold has come. With this view the
hills have been prospccted in every
direction, but 50 far no such find has
been made.
y HOUSES CLIMB lp
SIDES OF THE HILLS
The location of the city is lust where
1t started when gold was discovered
The houses still cover the mouth of the
Z valley OF the klondike River and tho
east hank OF the Yukon north of where
tha' river runs in. They climb the sides
OF the hills and run far up the l<lou
axe 10 where the mountains of gravel
upiiunG by the drcdpes begin. The
town Is laid out like chcckcrhonrd
WIN It's streets crossing one another
st right angles The streets are vida.
theE nave roadways OF solid earth and
sidewalks Of boards The roads ar.
smooth, and the traffic Includes auto
mobiles and heavy draft wagons. Thcr.
arc more than fifty automobiles i'm MS.
ana 200 miles of good country road has
been made by tho government In IN,
!. valleys nearby
The town looks shabby when Won
first enter ii 1t has been burned dow,
"a several times since the great rush
There are vacant lots here ana ,hcr.
ss covered with the charrcd remains Of
{ the buildings Most Of tie stores arc
OF one story. and log cabins of all sizes
Z are interspcrscd with frame houses AS
4 comfortable those in the larger
s towns in the States scores Of nm.
j homes have little gardens about them.
& and not a few have hothouses. in which
& vegetables ana flowers are raised under
glass.
q, Dawson has some pretcntious bund-
s fnEs. The administration Offices of I'm.
Yukon territory are in frame struc-
3. ture OF three or four stories. surround
81 ed by a lawn as smooth and as wcII
& Kept as that Of the White House AT