The Bismarck tribune., 1925-11-24
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER "a, 1926
CHAPTER XIX


Every new and PROSPEROUS mining
camp has an Arabian Nights atmos.
phere. characteristic. peculiar, indie.
Scrihablc. Especially noticeable was
this atmosphere in the early Arctic
camps, made up as they were OF
men who knew little about mining
rather less about frontier WAYS. and
next 10 nothing about the Co,,ntr,
i'll which they found themselves
These men l;od built fabulous homes
they dvclt in illusion, tlcy put ia;tl,
in the ,hinncst OF Shadows. Now
the most practical miner is not Z
cnnScrl aiiyc person; he is crratic
crcdu,ous. and cxtr,vagant reason
lc>> optimism is 4, once his blessing
and his curse. Nevertheless. the
"Cld timers" OF the Iullou were
moderate indeed as comDared with
tEc ,d>cnt,,rou~ hoI;l,v-scctcrs whc
swarmcd III ,,non their tracks. Beine
none too we'll balanced themselves
it was ONLY natural that the cx,,bcr-
ancc Of these new arrivals should
prove infectious and that a sort OF
General auto-in,oxica.icn should re-
suit. That is rrccisci: what han.
rcncd 1t Dawson. Men lost all eau.
ton. all common sense: thcv liz ed in
a land OF rosy imapirlings; hard
bought lessons Of experience were
forgotten: reality disappeared: fancy
took WING and lett fact behind cy-
pectationS we're capitalizcd and No
cxaGCcration was too wild TO c,,a,-
lcngc acceptance. 1t became = j'ity
Of Frenzy
II WAS all very fine Tor an arden,
youth like Pierce Phillips; !, SCI,
Inn ablazc. stirring , fever. j., y; :
blood Having Won thus ia1 he
made the natural mistake of bcliev-
ing that the race was his: 50 I've
wasted little time in the town. but
Ner> soon took to the hills. there to
make his fortune and be done Will,
it.
Here came the awakening. AWAY
from the dclirium OF the camp. in
contact with cold reality, he began
TO learn something of the scrious.
practical business Of rold-mining,
Rcforc he had been long on the
creeks he found that it was no child :
PLAY to wreSt treasure from the iroz-
cn bosom OF = hostile wilderness
and that. no matter how rich or how
plentiful the treasure. Mother Earth
guarded her secrets icalouslv. He
began to realize that the obstacles
hc had so blithclv overcome in GET
ting TO the klondikc were as moth
ing to those III the way OF his fur
u,c. success. or 4 sudden ms ,r,-
u,nrhal progress slowed down and he
came 70 a pause: he began to mark
. time.
There v'asSwork in plenty to b.
had. but, like most OF the ucw-com-
crs. he was not satisfied to take fixed
WAGES. They seemed paltrv ine,eeo
compared with the drunken tip,sres
tliat were on every liz. In the pres
cnce OF the uncertain nc could not
content himself with a sure thing.
Nevertheless, he was soon forced to
the necessity OF rcsortinr to it, for
through the FOG OF his misapprehen-
sions. beneath the obscuritv of his
ignorance. he began to discover the
true outline Of things and to under
stand that his IDEAS were ;unrac-
teal.
TO begin ,,i;h. every foot Of
ground in tho proyen districts w,s
taken. and even when he pushed ont
far aficld he found that the whole
country was rlastered with legations
rivers. creeks and tributaries bench.
cS and hlls:dcs. had been staked
For many miles in every direction
hlazcd trees and pencil notices greet.
cd him-IIc found them in nloccs
where it seemed no foot but his had
ever trod In Dawson the Gold Com.
miSsioncrs Office was besiercd nv
daily crowds OF claimants il would
have taken wears OF worl, on thc mart
Of a hundred thousand men To- wen
prospect the Ground already record.
cd on the books.
Bac,: and forth Ph;,,;ns came s;,d
went, he made trims with parl, ard
hand-slcd. he slert 'out in snrucc for-
csts, in prospectors' tents in ncw
cabins the sveatv Green logs of wh;c,,
were still dripping. and when he had
finished he was noorer by = pood
many dollars and richer only IN tlc
possession OF few recorders re-.
ceipts. the va!ue Of whic, he had al
ready begun to doubt.
Disappoin.cd he was l,,,+ NOT die
courased 1t was ali too new ard
exciting for that. Every visit ia
Bonanza or FL Dorado inspired him
1t would have inspired a wooden
man. For miles those valleys were
smoky from the sinking fire, and their
clean white carpets were spotted viii,
piles of raw rcd dirt. By day thcy
echoed to blows OF axes; the crash Of
falling trees, the plant of wind
lasscs, the cries of freichtcrs: by
night they became vast caldrons filed
with Pickering fires: tremendous
vats. the vapors from which we're Il
Would have thought that here eol1i i