Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1918-03-06

SkagWay, the gateway 10 the III
kon, is described as, "a wretched lit
tie town with decayed wooden houses
and grass-grown streets, the scene OF
many robberies, riots and murders at
the time of the gold rush, which the
police authorities had neither the
power nor energy to control. Skag-
use to the United States, except as an |
obstruction to Canadian prograss, but |
might be of some advantage to the
vast Canadian hinterland less than 20
miles inland.
Skagway is surrounded on three
sides by a plateau of steep and rug
ged mountains through which two
trails lead to the north over the |
White Horse and the Chilcoot passes,
up whose wild and difficult ravines |
thousands of fortune seekers trekked |
and struggled with their heavy packs,
tools, and tents in the mad rush to |
the expected Ell Dorado over 500 miles |
away. Soon after the gold was found |
in quantities, q mountain railroad |
was built up the White Pass from |
Skagway to the summit and on to !
Lake Bennett, a distance OF 40 miles,
traversing wild and ice-worn plat !
eau of gigantic proportions, strewn
with moraines, sprinkled over with
lakes, and enclosed by snowy peaks
5000 to 5000 feet in height.
At the head Of Lake Bennett lies
the deserted town Of Bennett, where,
at the time of the gold rush, there
houses, huts, and tents, but the only
building now standing, besides the
railroad station, is a wooden church
which shows that at least a few
righteous men were among that sor-
did crowd. 1t was here that the
prospectors and miners got into
boats and conoes, and navigated their
frail craft through lakes and rapids
for the remaining 531 miles of their
venturesome journey to Dawson City.
The last stretch of the railroad from
Skagway runs along Lake Bennett to
White Horse, few miles above Lake
Laberge, where safe navigation down
the Lewes river to Dawson begins.
Although the great ice fields of the
early ages swept the greater portion
of North America they missed the
region of the Klondike, and conse-
quently the gold producing deposits
remained intact until the early pros
pectors discovered them. The Yukon
gold field is confined mainly to the
vicinity of Dawson City, although
small quantities of gold can be found
in the sand of the Yukon for hundreds
of miles up the valley.
Dawson City is situated on the al
luvial fiat where the Yukon is joined
by the Klondike river, two tributar-
les of which are the famous Bonanza
creek and Hunker creek. Although
traces of gold were discovered in the
Yukon valley about 1869, it was IL
years later, in 1881, before it was
found in the Big Salmon, and in the
Lewes, Pelly, and Stewart rivers.
Five years afterward coarse gold was
found on the Forty-mile, tributary
of the Yukon below Dawson, and in
1894-1S96 the discoveries of Bob Hen
derson and George Cormack, in Hun
kerand Bonanza creeks drew miners
into Klondike valley from all quar-
tiers. Prodigious quantities of gold
were soon found in Bonanza creek
and many miners made fortunes in a
short time, but unfortunately most of
the gold was spent foolishly or in de-
bauchery. One man is said to have
taken 100000 out of a claim SO feet
by 800 feet, but, so the story goes, he
spent it in a few years and died in
poverty. The quickest fortune on
record was secured by two men who
cleaned up gold to the value of $685.
900 in 81 hours. Stories of the pro-
ceedings at Klondike during these
golden days" are not edifying, but
point to the moral that wealth too
easily and quickly won is apt to work
i'll.
The total output in 1898 was $l0,-
100000 from which it jumped six mil
lions annually until 1900, when the
production reached $22,275,000, the
highest point. From this point a
steady decline began until in 1908
when it was $2,820,000, at which time
hydraulicking and dredging began and
the total output rose slowly until it
was $5,018,000, in 1913. 1t has been
estimated that only about $20,000,020
worth of gold remains to be prodlc-
ed, out of the original available
amount of nearly $180,000,000.
At the height Of the boom in the
winter of 1899 the population of Daw-
son is said to have reached $4,000; |
recently, however, it has dwindled |
down to less than 1000.
The various processes of recover
ing gold in this region fall under |
three main heads; individuals, by
washing surface gravels with shovel
and pan, or by slulcing with fiume
and sluice box; small parties by
working drift with mechanical scrap
ers and sluices, or drift mining in
shafts and sluicing; and, capitalists,
by dredging with powerful mechani-
cal plants, hydraulic sluicing with
monitors, or mining and stamping ore
in mills. The first class includes
poor mems diggings," and the Sec
ond requires more financial resources
and mechanical ability, but sue
cessful main in the first may become
member of the second class. While
the first two classes require fairly |
rich ground, only men with excep-
tional ability and ample capital can |
reach the third class and work the
low-grade placer gravels or quartz
veins successfully.
The author shows how man has
changed the topography of this dis
: = ~ Al -"