The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-01-26

<, the house again. Finally he wandered out into the cold.
 Six months later the old man came in again and he was worth $200, ,00O. | He had made one of the strikes. Yes, and he left lot of that with me, too. hope I haven't created the impress sion that the men who dug out all this gold got away from the Yukon with it. | On the contrary, they rarely went out with anything. The bulk of it went into the general development of Alaska. When a man made strike he would usually put his profits right back to the ground, buying other claims that din't pan out.
 I have said that made close to $50O,000 in four years. l never had that much at once. Just like the other prospectors I would trade in claims. There was nothing else to do with the gold. There was no fun in seeing it piled up in the safe. We had to have some kind of action.
 Though II made one fortune after Eanother I don't believe had over $60,- GOO when I finally came out for good to take a fly at the Nevada fields.
 One rainy day up at Nome soldier came into my place. Walking up to the bar he handed me yellow envelope, wet and partly torn. He was from a camp of regulars stationed on the Nome heach-a tidal beach that belonged to the United States, public land.
 ""weight that for me, will .you?' he asked. "Tell me what it is!"
 In a corner of the envelope saw a small amount of pure flour gold. It is as fine as pulverized sugar--the finest of all gold.
 I put it on the scales and it came to 60 cents. --
 "Where did you get that?' I asked.
 The Great Nome Discovery
 "Why, down on the beach," he said: q was fooling around and saw some of 1t on some clay bed rock. Just for fun I washed it out. Mount to anything?"
 In about five minutes dozen men were around looking at the flour gold.
 All 1t amounted to was that in two days didn't have a bartender-nor soul, even to help run the roulette wheel and the faro layout and l was alone.
 The soldier had made the famous Nome beach strike. For months miners had been going through the mountains and here was a wealth of gold right at their feet. Many of them were actually camped on the fortunes that they had been seeking. The beach was strewn with gold dust for ten miles. It had washed down from the mountains in some past era and the tidal waters had gradually exposed 1t.
 There was general stampede. My bartenders became miners. Any one of them could go down there on the La AL. aI lars worth of gold in a day. Some would rock out thousand. All they needed was a plain little rocker, sort of small box like dish tray that sits on rockers and can be moved back ward and forward until the dirt is washed away from the pure gold dust.
 Most of the gold was found on clay bed rock where it would stick together better than in sand. The land belonged to everybody. It could not be staked out. Anybody had right to go there and get what he could. They did form sort of agreement, though, that each man was to designate what section he was working and his space was left to him.
 Hundreds of miners came out of the mountains and worked the beach. Mill lions of dollars came out of that sand. The Nome beach strike was one of the most famous gold rushes in the history of Alaska. l have just told how it Started--that soldier with his wet pay envelope and his 6O cents worth or pure flour gold.
 After that the fight game was call ing me, but did not know it.
 Tomorrow Gun fights vs. prize fights in Nevada.