Iditarod pioneer., 1917-02-10
BOOMING qOLSTOl
Weird Stories in Coast Newspapers Calculated to Start Stampede
 to Nearby Camp

Recent arrivals over the trail from Sew ard and Anchorage report that consider II able excitement has been created on the coast by glowing accounts of conditions Tn tbe Tolstoi camp and enthusiastic predlc tions of the brilliant future that IS in store for that district, largely due to the reports of travellers arriving at Anchorage and Sew ard from the Interior. It Is sad that num- bers of persons already have started over
 he trail, and mPny more are making ar engagements to leave in time to Grrlve here before the break-up. Late numbers of the Seward and Anchorage newspapers confirm
 these reports and it is quite evident that 6 stampede of considerable proportions has started. caused by reports which, if not un-
 truthful, at leGst have been so constructed that false conclusions have been drawn from them. One of the reports responsIb e for the excitement was that of an interview with J. E. Riley the Otter creek operator, who reached Seward shortly before the first of the year The Post of that city, under late of December 27, contains the following
 Riley's Big Nugget
 "J. E. tGeorgeD Riley, we'll known oper- ator from Iditarod, who has two dredges at work on Otter creek, IS here with a potato from the strike at Tolstoi in the form of a hunk of gold weighing ten ounces. It looks like 8 potato, and Riley says he expects that the boys over on Boob creek, n the Tostoi will unearth a few hills with large ones during the winter, but so far this is the largest discovered.
 "'Tclstoi looks like winner said Riley. It is the most promising looking find since the location of Iditaroa Pay dirt has been heated over an area ten miles Ing.
 Jim Pitcher and Ira Van OrsdoI made he original discovery which led to the pres 1 ant activity.
 "'The center of excitement is on Boob ereek and 1t Is we'll named because hclaS were put down in the paystreak on dlscoT-
 " claim seven years ago. The men at that lime found l0-cent pans, but were not sat isfed, and put of further work until an other day The Diskaket-Ophlr trail crosses this same discovery claim, and has been in use since 1909 The paystreak on Boob ,reek has been lined up for two miles and l aries in width from seventy five to one i hundred feet It certainly did get the goats # men who have been over that trail year ter year to find that they had been cross 1 ng this paystreak for poorer pickings.
 "'Holcs have been put down n slE creeks in the camp. and pay developed run [ ing from 75 cents to 8 per square foot of bedrock
 "Rley says that the outlook in that par- i ticular sectlcn Is assured by good seasons on 1 the creeks near Idltarod and Flst and the l activity around Tolsto."
 Causes Surprise Here
 The many friends of George Riley here refuse to believe that he is quoted correctly by the Seward newspaper The incident of 1 the ten-ounce nugget is particularly mls- leading It will be noticed thst MT. Riley does not say in 90 many words that the hunk of gold" came from the Tolstoi, al hough that IS the inference conveyed by he article. The history of this nugget Is well known here that 1t IS considered ! likely that Riley must have been Tn joking 1 humor when he allowed the newspaper man 1 to infer that it came from the Tol:tol. The l statement that "Tclstoi looks like winner will not be contested, nor the further state | ment that it is the most promising looking l find since the Iditarod" But the assertion ! that "pav dirt has been located over an area ten miles long, is so misleading that it is mischlevsus
 | It is pointed, out here that nothing new has developed n the Tolstoi for several 1 months, and that the men who are most 1 likely to become excited over the poSslb'I!- ties of the new district, and who are far 1 better acquainted with its present develop ment that is Mr Riley, are anything but optimistic regarding the possibilities. There i is q general feeling Of hopefulness that pay ground sufficient to form the nucleus ot i camp of size will be uncovered. Up to the present time, however there IS nothing to warrant this belief.
 "On to ldtarod"
 Evidently inspired by the stories of Mir. Riley and others, the Seward Post ot De cember 30 contained a first page article with heading extending the full width ot he page, reading as follows: "On to ldlt- arod with Uncle Sam's Railroad" The article is as follows:
 Tditarod operators who represent heavy investments in the Interior sectlcn Of Alaska along the rivers flowing into the Yukon, are taking an active interest m the pro posed line of the governments system ot railroads in Alaska, which will extend from the Seward F Fairbanks line into Western Alaska. New discoveries in the ldltarod and Innoko districts assure the importance of this immense area lying north of the mountains and west of Mount Mckinley,
 Freight rates to the Iditarod at present are slO0 per ton. Operators like J. E. Riley and others who have dredges or large hydraulic plants pay immense sums each year to the transportation compames. Ordinary ground cannot be worked because it will not pay the expenses of operating. Tolstoi lay undiscovered for seven years because the prospectors found only 1o-cent pans on bedrock, and it did not look like pay in the face of the high cost of sup plies From practical mining standpoint thousands of miles of creeks along the rivers of this section have never been scratched and the real mineral worth of the country northwest of Seward is still unknown. Coco
 ay in Ophir, Flat creek, Marshall City anc other sections of the district shows that Il $ highly desirable place to prospect. 4