The Alaska citizen., 1917-03-19
NEW PANSTREAk IS REPORTED IN
 TOLSTOI CAMP

IOI.SIOI CAMP 1 Iditarod Pioneer. Information re gently received from the Tolstoi is to the effect that pay has been found on a new creek. Details are l lacking. but il is said that three holes were sunk. and that $2.50 was taken from the bottom of one of l them. The creek is named Flat, which is a tributary of Esperanto, ] the latter being a tributary of Madi. 1 son.
 1 Whether this information was re l sponsible for the fact or not, the early part of the present week de yeloped what to all appearances was another stampede to the new dis trict. Many dog teams left on Tues day and Wednesday. and there was considerable speed apparent in prepa- ralons for the trip. Some were of the opinion that the mushers were on their way to Beaver creek, | in the Innoko, from which most en- couraging reports were received re gently. However. it transpires that nearly all of the travellers had busi- ness entirely independent of any stampede.
 The fame of the Tolstoi is being noised abroad. Travellers from that section are eagerly interviewed by the coast newspapers. The follow ing from the Seward Gateway of 1 December Is will be read with in l terest:
 Ira Van Orsdal, one of the original discoyerers of the Tolstoi camp, who is now in Seward, brings word of recent discovery on one of the creeks l in that district which is enough to cause anyone acquainted with Alaska mining to believe that the chances are good for one more great placer camp in the territory when all hope of such a possibility had about fled. ] Mr. Van Orsdal arrived over the trail a couple of days ago, and is waiting to go out on the Alameda. He was in the Tolstoi district a month ago, and at that time got his information direct about the new dis coyery. The pay was found on Madi- son creek, which is about seven or eight miles from Boob creek, and | the remarkable fact about the dis covery is that the pay was found in the second tier benches, and is To- cated in a manner that shows the possibility of great extent. On cleo ton day MT. Van Orsdal was on the spot, and Wilson, the disCOyercr, banned some of the dirt for him, and by a little banning showed 5. { Boob is the original creek of the district where Mir. Van Orsdal and the others made the discovery It
 has five claims and a fraction now on which pay has been developed. 1 The difficulty of prospecting the coun- try is Illustrated by the name of | the creek, the discoyerers having given it that name because appar- ently no one but boob would ever
 think 1t could contain pay. The creeks run through low mud divides
 that are almost glaciers, and run | through flats. These facts will show
 any oldtimer that the discovery of pay on the second ter benches prom ises extraordinary developments. Van
 Orsdal also says that numerous
 creeks in the district have prospects
 that could be made to pay if any means of transportation were avail
 able. One of the paying creeks in
 there now was crosscut some years
 ago, but it was abandoned. The dis
 coycry of pay now is ore more illus tration of the old lesson taught Al aska prospectors--thel lesson that only a thorough prospecting can be de pended on to locate the paystreak.
 In reference to the above inter-
 view, it may be said that the sub stance is substantially correct, with
 the exception that the strike was
 made on the first bench instead of
 the second, as stated by MT. Van
 Orsdal. The news of the find was
 kept concealed for obvious reasons.
 Mr Van Orsdal was in Iditarod be-
 fore leaving for the Outside, and
 was careful not to mention the fact
 that the find had been made on the
 Madison creek bench.