Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1916-08-06
WONDERS OF MINING
IN THE FAR NORTH
Joseph w. Boyle and tho Guggcn-
helms Conquering Nature in
Valley of KIondikc.
TASKS ARE DIFFICULT ONES
Mighty Ditch Bodied Upon Perpetual
Toe Runs Seventy Miles Over Noun
tains-Electric Tonstics Keep the
River From Freezing.
nr FRA Nix q. CARPENTER.

distance of the eastern end OF the
Mediterranean Sea. They were tho
Pillar Of Pharos. which the light
burned near Alexandria; tho pyramids
at Cairo, the colossus on the Island Of
Rhoades. the statue of Jupiter at
Olympia, Greece. the temple of Arte-
mis- at Ephesus, not far from where
Smyrna now stands; the mnusoleum at
Malicarnassus. on the same coast not
far away. and the gardens OF Semirl
mis-. at Babylon. In Mcsopotamia, the
land for which the Turks and the war
ring nations Of Europe are now fight
ing.
Tho wonders Of tho modern world
arc seventy times seven. and they are
to BIO found almost every part of
the globe from the diamond pipes be-
low the equator. In Southern Africa
TO tho gold workings in the perpetual
ice OF the Klondike. under the shadow
81 the north pole. have already writ
ton something OF how the Icy strata
are thawed by stcan points and how
the sprinkling OF gold scattered
through them is saved by the dredges.
I have shown you how great river
valley Is being lifted up and turned
over to a depth equal to the height Of
three or four-story house and how
from the Icy wastes which the indlvid-
ual gold miners had thrown away as
worthless Ia now pouring strcam o.:
gold into the rivers OF commerce. This
Ia the work in n nutshell. The story
az the work IN It's details is even more
wonderful. I shall mention few Of
them IN this letter.
First let us look At the great ditch
gougcd out OF the ice-frozen strata by
the Yukon Gold Company. When the
0uGEcnheims bought what were sup
posed TO be the exhausted creeks Of the
Klondike from which the mines had
already taken out millions. they found
they had TO have water to work
no nd bat al M.
Il would tear the earth to pieces when
tit came through the pipes There was
mono available excepting in the Tomb
stone Mountains. seventy odd miles
away. The work OF getting 1, mean,
tho carrying of this river over pre-
cipitous peaks. across frozen rnorasses.
through vast ravincs. down stup-ndous
mountains and delivering Il by great
inverted siphon over the klond.ke
River 10 the once-famous gold dig
Eings That lis one OF the things the
GuGgenheinls did. It took them four
years to make the ditch and & cost
them millions of dollars The ditch
is now in operation. |, consists Of
about twenty miles OF Hume, twelve
and half miles of steel and stavc
pipes. and thrty-eight miles OF ditch
II varies At every few miles in It's
method Of construction. according TO
the nature Of the ground which IL
crosses. but at the end the water is
u'llNeEeu ~ tuDlC 1eet per second
under working pressure OF from 900
To 500 feet. II comes with such force
that II can be thrown against the icy
hills at q pressure of over 400 mounds
10 tho square inch. washing down tho
sands containing the shrinking Of
gold dust and adding thereby great
treasure TO the wealth OF the world.
MUCH OF DITCH CIT
FROM PT:RPE:Tt Al. ICE
The making OF such a ditch in a
country like Panama would be easy
compared with the work here, where
Jack Frost Is king. Much of the ditch
had 10 be thawed out and cut from
the perpetual Ice. New methods OF
road building had to be devised for
the swamps. and men and machinery
had to be assembled far In the inte-
rior OF country which until lately
was thought inaccessible to all but
the most daring Arctic explorers The
supplies from the United States had TO
come 1000 miles over the ocean, and
then be carried 500 miles more over
tho mountains and down the Yukon
TO Dawson. At Panama they could
have been landed by ships almost
within sight OF the works. Here the
machinery had to he taken in pieces
and dragged by horses and dogs
through almost inaccessible wilds
People who have never done work
in Alaska or along the Upper Yukon
cannot appreciate the difficulties under
which these men are successfully la
boring in getting from 80 to go cents
worth of gold out OF each two-horse
wagon load of ice frozen earth That
IL is done at all is wonder: but 1t is
greater wonder that ii has been done
at n profit which runs high into the
millions. Altogether, in the neighbor-
hood OF s200.000,000 worth of gold has
como out Of the valley OF the Klon-
Il he lo -
flow into IL; and OF this almost half
has been won by this sort of mining.
The work is the carrying on OF
great manufacturing establishment
several thousand miles from the mar
ket and the same distance away from,
supplies. 1t is in a country that Is
frozen tight more than half tho year.
and where in tho summer it takes
weeks o" months to get duplicate parts
"f the machines from outside. Tho
work is such that the continuous run
ming of the machines means profit, and
the breaking down of drcdge means
loss of thousands Of dollars if IT
cannot at once he repaired Duplt-
Gates of everything must therefore be
OF. hand, and supplies OF all kinds of
machinery ready to make instant re-
rairS
Canadian Klondike Company as well
have great warehouses filled with
everything needed for carrying on
their operations. They have num-
Der of each part of every machine that
they use. and repairs for electrical
equipment. steam equipment. and every
possible sort of machine shop and
foundry for repairing broken parts
upon notice.
1t is the same with the supplies of
food for their men. They are bought
by tho ton, and that with a regard for
the demands Of the miners. One has
to understand the working force to
know how TO order. For instance, tho
first importation of groceries was
based on the demands Of tho Guggen-
helm mining camps in California. Tho
United States miners are fond OF cof-
fee and thia was sent with the sup
plies by the thousands of pounds. 1t
lay I'm the store. These Canadian
miners would not have it. They drink
tea instead of coffee. and have tea for
breakfast and dinner and tea for sup
per as we'll. Another peculiarly was