The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-09-16
LABRADOR'S STIR
 ABOUT GOLD FIELD .|S STILL ELUSIVE
ProSpeCtorS Pour In From All Nations, But Yellow Metal
 Not Forthcoming
By SHELDON FAIRBANKS Correspondent of the North American
 NeWspnpcr AIlinnce

STAG BAAt Iaorauort sept 44'- Whether or not there Is gold in these hills Is still a disputed ques- tion, but one thing Is certain-there is wealth of material for movie camera.
 The setting, the background of the great open spaces, the perfect types are all in readiness. All is needed Is the fair heroine. facile scenarist and the cameraman.
 The much advertised "gold rush" Is far from stampede. That Is, so far as gold hunters are concerned. But there are man hunters galore. The Newfoundland government has stationed Il members of the con stabulary and five customs officers here. This allotment makes Stag Bays police force probably the larg- est in the world per capita of popu- lation protected, for 1t averages about one policeman to each inhabt- tant,
 These policemen certainly lend a picturesque atmosphere. They would play a prominent part in the movie thriller that cries out to be made.
 Each is a picked man, six-tooter, broad of shoulder, deep of chest, slim of waist, clear of eye and they look quick on the draw and deadly on the shoot. -brimmed Stetsons' trim blue jackets with Sam Browne belts, natty riding brooches and pol 
 business-like service pistols that swing between hip and thigh.
 You'd travel many weary mile 10 find so many potential movie heroes. And these men are not fictitious ne- roes, either. Almost without excep- tion they have excellent war records. And what a background
 10 P. M. Sum stu Shines.
 The mail boat steams through the
 fu 10 o'clock in the evening but the sun Is just glorifying the sombre Lab rador hills at their crests, while on the slopes the shadows stretch in an expanse of royal purple, gorgeous sunset that is not snuffed out in moment of beauty, but endures for an hour or more of unappreciated splendor-
 Crowding the decks of the New foundland governments steamer, the Watchful, which rides at anchor, are the police, the crew, dirty but color ful Eskimos, moved south with their families from Hopedale and Main to find work at mining, but discovering instead a batch of rumors; rough garbed fishermen dumping gloomily about because the late Ice has nearly ruined themi a handful of prospec- tors, grizzled veterans of the Klon- dike and the Yukon.
 s admirable about these gamblers In Mother Earth. They have tossed off hard-won fortunes in hectic week of life. Now they seek the iast stake. "Tve learned my lesson, they say, "one more strike and I'm all through"
 But you, and they too, know that is a careless falsehood. They could never be anything else, never be happy out of their role. Always IL. !. Rf the earth for that last stake, and, though they never would admit 1t, for the bit of life and adventure that may lie around one of the far cor ners that they turn so boldly. Flnd- ing it sometime, more often not, but win or lose playing the game like knights of old, with smile In the face of destiny and lips tight shut to hardship and disappointment. pn~,,.hm,n Brinxs Yacht In.
 Stag Bay may go down as an Eldo- rado or a fizzle but this little band | of sturdy adventurers has momen- tarily at least touched its rugged coast, it's high-flung peaks and mo squito- infested streams with the spirit of romance. Contrast. they say. is desirable In | a movie. So a short row from the Watchful, with it's Eskimos whose only possessions are the patched clothes on their persons and maybe a | skin or two; to the trim trim tWo-mas'eu "
 Outwardly a fine fisherman, in- | wSrdly a millionaire's yacht. Which | is quite fitting. for it is the property | of a millionaire, Major Alan $. Butler 1 of London, England; tlying man oi distinction in the late war sports man, clubman and striking tigure l of a man. Disdaining pilot or skipper he brought his own schooner through ethe thick field of ice to Stag Bay Nrimarily on a pleasure trip for him self and his friends; he brought along q geologist and if the gold is there lie will be there, too. His business interests are myriad yet his pleas ure trips usually yield new ana profitable one ready made, dash ing hero for the casting director of our imaginary movie. Outside the bay rides the Arctic schooner Bowdoin, with radio and | members of the North Greenland eX- petition headed by Capt. Donald E. MacMillan, noted Poiar eXplore[' !li- tent only on forging on through the Ee to the Far North before the sea ton is too far advanced to obtain { meat supply for the winter the nlre of gold fails to attract the ex- nIorers. who push on for the few remaining Labrador ports before cut ting across to Greenland But could not a yer, ,atile scenarist weave such a party into his movie thriller? Where Is The Goldf
 And how about the inception of this Labrador gold discovery" No body seems to know definitely who is supposed first to have discovered fhe gold or what has become of 1t. ' JThe writer saw one piece of quartz bearing fair amount or gold al Stag Bay. It was In possession fo a NeWfoundlander, farmer turned nrosnector He said he obtained 1t from Indians who brought 1t out from the interior. Maybe they did. Geologists who viewed 1t pronounced 1t very good specimen ana stated that if such quartz were present Tn any quantity it would be good pay ing proposition.
 This seems to be the chief question as regards Labrador as future gold field-whether the gold is present in u~aying quantities That there is gold In Labrador and that the geological formation would Indicate the presence ibf gold is agreed by all the geologists | who are now at Stag Bay. One of these, however, said that in about a l weeks work along the shore he had l not struck so much as color. The l prevailing opinion seems to be that f the gold is there in paying quanti- | les 1t will be found inland, possibly 1 long the river beds
 The regrettable feature of the hunt 1 gold at Stag Bay Is that many rd-werlying persons. living in New
 ndiand Canada and possibly a l
 in the United States have bought |
 ms in the Stag Bay region at
 $ varying from $200 to S700 |
 These claims are considerably |
 'er than the ones originally pur-
 for $10 each.
 To 1, Says PrOspectOr.