The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1916-08-13

ship had and handing them out free TO
the passengers. His last trip he made
in the steerage. He was dead broke.
Shortly after we started l saw him,
dressed in rough clothes, sitting at the
Prov of the boat. l went up to him and
said: We'll. Charlie, it is different with
you from what it was in the past?' He
looked up and his eyes filled with tears.
Yes, he said, I am going steerage, for 1
have not enough money to pay for first
class I was sorry for him, and I put
him in one of the first cabins and took him
home without charge
Another claim on Eldorado made for
tune for a young secretary of the Y. M.
G. A. This man had started mining on
Forty Mile creek, and when gold was
discovered near Dawson he left his young
wife there and came on with the crowd
The first claim he selected was compar-
atively small and it had no timber upon
it. He wanted logs to build a cabin
for himself and wife, and traded his claim
| for another further down the creek, where
the valley was wider, and timber was
plentiful. The Y. M. c. A. 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 the mine, and she wound the
, windlass that drew up the buckets Of
rocks Time and again they We're in de-
spair, and talked of selling out and go
ing back home. After a while they came
to bedrock and the gold was so rich
that the claim paid them about 100000.
That man took his money to Seattle and
invested it in real estate. He is now said
to be one of the rich men of the west.
"A
very well, but not as well as No. 16 Ell
dorado. 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 Coffey took up two shovelfuls from
which he washed GO ounces of gold. worth
between 5000 and $1,000. This included
three nuggets, each of which was worth
$780,
A miner by the name of Macdonald took
out $4,000 from a 40-foot patch of ground
two feet in thickness, and it is said
that some of the miners on Bonanza
creek were dissatisfied when the gravel
went less than a dollar a PAN In ordi-
nary regions s cents a pan is considered
good and, as have said, the earth they
are now mining in the valleys of the
Klondike and Indian rivers does not run
the cubic yard.
In the early days no one thought of
getting out all the gold from the earth
The miners sought the rich spots only.
Today every bit of the valley is being
worked over by the dredges, 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 a red cent into
the heart of a ten-acre field that is to be
upturned by these machines, knowing
that the cent will come out with the gold
The Canadian five-oent pieces are thin
silver coins half as big as nickel. These
have been thrown into the fields and
later on caught by the dredges. A COM
mon amusement is to take dime saving
1T in halves and then bet whether the
dredge will reclaim one of the pieces
The man who bets in the negative holds
one of the halves. The other is buried
in the earth or thrown down among the
gravel and covered Just as soon as
that spot is dredged, the missing half
comes out with the gold
All sorts of characters came to the
Klondike in the early days. With such
types as the Lucky Swede, Swift Water
came business and professional men
from all parts of the United States
There were also correspondents and
writers of one kind or another. Joaquin
Miller came to mine gold and write
poetry and newspaper articles. Rex
Beach was here, and SO was Jack Lon
don. Jack London was at one time a
partner of Swift Water Bill, and it is
said that the two owned claim that
eventually produced over one million dol
lars in gold
Jack London began the work on the
property. 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 the
soft mud. Before morning the Their
mometer dropped to 60 degrees below zero,
and when he again started to work he
found he would have to thaw out his
tools and that this would burn up the
handles. He left in disgust, and, as
the story goes. Swift Water Bill got the
money. Jack Londons wealth came from
the literary material he carried away
as the result of his experiences. and
the same may be said of Rex Beach,
who has written so many good stories of
Alaskan life.
Indeed many books might be made Of
the ups and downs of the Klondike in
CARS and went away millionaires, and
millionaires lost fortunes as we'll as made
them. Gold was really shipped out by
the ton, and in the city of Dawson it
was spent by the ounce and the pound
At the start the town was what in slang
phrase is known as wide open" There
were scores of saloons, gambling houses
and dance halls and they all made money.
In one dance hall u women We're en-
ployed at $50 per week. and they received
in addition Is per cent commission on the
drinks and cigars sold through their
Establishments. Another saloon had six
actresses to dance at $3.50 week, and
in many of the halls the women received
dollar for a dance of five minutes |
and one girl stated that her bar commits |
siens for the first week amounted to $3.50 !
The gambling houses had employees who
were paid from $15 to $40 day and SIS |
was the wage Of bartender.
l have before me copy of bill of !
fare of one of the old restaurants, with |
the prices attached. A bowl of soup cost
a dollar and bowl of mush and milk |
$1.25. A dish of canned tomatoes cost |
81. slice of pie rs cents and sand
which with coffee or tea SIPS. Beans, |
coffee and bread were 81, a plain steak |
$3.50, and porterhouse S..
One of the leading restaurants which
had seating capacity of 49, en-
ployed three cooks, one of whom re-
ceived 800 per week. and the others |
81 per hour The walters were both |