The Seward gateway and the Alaska evening post., 1917-02-09
LOST MINE
 LURES AN OLD
 TIMER BACK
He's Going After Gold Found in Stampede
 Years Ago


 aSka almost rivals in romance the hunts for the fabled treasure" isl andS in the Pacific.
 John D. DeFrieS, who operated i placerS in the Nome district and is interested in mining in Eastern Ore gon is the latest to join the ranks or the many who have already sought lost mines" in Alaska. He will l leave Seattle for the North in the late spring, as soon as navigation opens, says the Seattle Times of last Sun | day.
 De Fries hoated down the Yukon river from Dawson in an open boat in 1900. He said he then banned the Yukon river bars in several places. Every tributary emptying into the great Yukon river system, he said, carried percentage of gold. He be- lieveS that dredging operations after the government railroad iS completed so that heavy machinery may teI transported more cheaply, along the Yukon river bars will produce morc golden wealth than has been or will be taken from all the placer mining in Alaska.
 Gets Trace of Treasure
 It was on the Yukon river trip that De Fries got trace of what he believes will turn out to be rich placer dig gingS. He Is confident he has tbe right dope" Two men, strangers to each other, he says, have furnished him maps of the location, and one of them is going along to stake his own money.
 As the story goes, it is much like the account of other lost mines. One partner died and the other finally made his way out of the wilderness with a poke of coarse gold.
 The fact that rich deposits of gold have been uncovered in Alaska makes the accounts of "loSt mines" all the more tempting, and to the glamour of romance adds a touch of possible reality.
 One extremely rich claim, where the gold seemed practically concentrated from the whole surrounding district, caused the stampede to the Kant ishna. The owners were forced tol guard the ground to keep stampederS from "sniping" nuggets from the surface. Gold found in natural catch-basin caused the stampede to- the ChiSana.
 Possibly in Chisana
 Some AlaskanS now believe that possibly the "lost out" of the upper Panama basin may have had its origin in the Chisana. As the story goes, two prospectors penetrated the Tan ana wilderness before there was any white settlement. One was killed by the Indians. The other, though, wounded, escaped. He finally turned up in Chicago with strange story and a pocketful of nuggets to verify his story. He made a rough map from memory and from that the To- cation was thought to be in the vicin- ity of the confluence of the Goodpast- CT and Panama rivers. The map made by the prospector differed from the subsequent government maps, since the latter showed the Goodpaster flowing into the Panama from the south. The prospector's map proved correct. Many of the early govern ment maps were in error.
 After Fairbanks had established its reputation as the center of consid- erable placer camp, and the country had been thoroughly staked, one of those queer characters peculiar to the i Northland used to come to town peri odically with enough gold to keep him in liquor for several months.
 Cunning About His Find
 No matter how drunk he might be- come, however, or how much he might suffer from lack of stimulants after his money and credit were gone, he could never be made to talk about the origin of his find. He was almost un- cannily cunning on this point. Even "trailers" soon gave up the idea that