Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1916-08-13
He took his wifo

He puiieu OUT OF ms pocket Il garter
| which had a diamond clasp as big as
tho ond OF your thumb. and showed Il
| TO mo, saying: And that is all l have
| for IT. J anr almost broke now, but
VIII so back and find some more
His claim was then played out. Flo
! tried to find others, but failed. In his
| first trips with mo no lived In state
/ buying all the liquor and cigars that
| the ship had and handing them out
| free to the passengers His last trip
he made in the stccragc. He was dead
broke Shortly after we started I saw
! him. dressed in rough clothes, sitting
at the prov of the boat. ] went up to
him and said: Well, Charlie, It is diff
! fcrcnt with you from what II was In
the paste lie looked up and his Dyes
| filled with tears Yea said he, I am
| going stcerage, for I have not enough
money to pay for first class was
sorry for him. and l put him in one OF
the first cabins and took him homo
without charge"
Another claim on Eldorado made a
fortune for young secretary of the
Young Mems Christian Association.
This man had started mining on Forty
milo Creek, and when gold was dis
covered near Dawson he left his young
wife there and came on with the crowd.
The first claim he selected was COM
paratively small and it had no timber
n
cabin for himself and his wife. and
traded his claim for another further
down the creek where the valley was
wider, and timber was plentiful. The
Young Mems Christian Associa ton
man then built his cabin, sent for his
wife and started to work. When he
had thawed the earth TO some distance
below the surface his wife helped him
He labored down in tho mine. and she
wound the windlass that drew up the
buckets Of rocks. Time and again they
were In despair, and talked of selling
out and going back home. After n
whilo they came to bedrock, and the
gold was so rich that the claim paid
them about s2.oo0.0oo. That man took
his money to Seattle and invested II
In real estate He is now said TO be
one OF tho rich mon of the West. The
claim he first took up turned out very
well, but not as we'll as No. 16 Edo
RADIO, which gave him his fortune.
The gold of that day was discovered
In quantities. Pockets worth hundreds
of dollars were not uncommon. In
August. 1899. in claim on Bonanza
Creek. George T. Cofey took up two
shovclfuls from which he washed six
ty-thrce ounces of gold. worth between
$500 and $1,000. This included three
nuggets. each of which was worth S1oe.
a miner by tho name of Macdonald
took out $4,000 from n forty-foo
patch of ground two feet In thickness.
and il is said that some Of the miners
on Bonanza Creek were dissatisfied !
when the gravel went less than 81 n
pan. In ordinary regions cents n |
pan Is considered good, and. as ! have |
said. the earth they are now mining ,
In the valleys of the Klondike and In |
dian Rivers does not run more than
yard.
T.
SOUGHT RICH SPOTS ONLY
In the carly days no one thought Of
getting on; all the gold from tho
earth. The miners sought the rich
spots only. To-day every bit OF tho
vale" Is being worked over by the
dredEes. and that In such a way that
All OF the precious metal is saved. In
fact you can fire your gun at bird
anywhere in the dredging ground and
be sure that the shot will be recovered
when that ground is mined. You can
throw red cent into the heart of a
;en-acre field that is to be upturned by
these machines, knowing that the cent
Will come out with tho gold. The
Canadian 5-cent pieces are thin silver
coins half as hiE as = nickel. These
have been thrown into the fields and
common amusement is to take dime.
saving IL in halves and then bet
whether The dr"dgc will reclaim one
" the pieces. The man who bets in
he negative holds one OF the halves.
The other IS buried In the earth or
brown down among the gravel and
,overed. Just As soon as that spot Is
lredged. the missing half comes out
with tho gold
All sorts OF characters came 20 the
in the early days. With such
ypcs as the Lucky Swcde. Swift Water
BIZ! and Frank SlaVin, the prize iiEhter.
2a'ne business and professional men
rom all parts ~ tho United States.
There We're also correspondents and
writer's OF one Kind or another. Joa-
lu!n Miller came TO mine gold and
write poetry and newspaper articles
Eek Beach was here, and SO was Jack
london. Jack London was at Que time
| partner Of Swift Water Bill and II
IS said that the two owned a claim
that eventually produced over 81 900.
300 in gold.
Jack London began the work on tho
He made fire and thawed
the muck on the top of the gravel and
started TO work his way down. As
night came on he left his tools in tho
soft mud Before morning the ther
dropped TO 60 degrees below
zero. and when he again started 20
work he found he would have 10 thaw
'HN ms tcDiS, anu mat Urls would burn
up the handles. He left in disgust
and. az the story goes, Swift Wate.
B!M got tho money. Jack J.ondon's !
wealth came from the literary material
he carried away as the result or hi.
experiences. and the same may hc said
OF Rex Beach who has written 50
many good stories of Alaskan lie
GOLD REALLY SHIPPED
OFT ny TIE ton
Indeed many books might be mad.
OF the ups and downs of tho Kloudfl<c
in those early days Men came hero
begGars ana went away millionaireg
and m'!liouaircs lost fortunes as we'll
as made them cold was really shin
PED out by the ton. and In the CITY n,
Dawson II was spen, by the ounce
ana the pound. AZ tho start the town
was what in slang phrase IS known a,
vide open" There were scores Of sa
looms gambling houses and dance haIs
ana thcy all made money. In ono dance
ha!! twelve women were cTnploycd ar
you pc! week. and they received in ad-
H!lph :" per cent commission on tho
iflnks ana cigars sold through the,r
Another saloon had al,
"ctT"sscs to dance at $3.50 "A week and
IN many of tho halls the women 70