The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-07-07

ment-controlled liquor store - to serve more than 100000 miles of territory between Hudson Bay and the Rock Mountains-would be opened also tended to prove to any doubters that civilization was mov- ing in. Thus the newest and richest gold discovery in Canada is the first which owes not only its existence but its future, to the airplane. Sup plies reach here by boat during the summer and now will come more cheaply by tractor train in the win- ter. But such slow mediums of transportation will not be for the modern prospector in the future.
 Prospectors, trappers and mem- bers of government survey parties this spring made their way in by plane. All arrivals here are re- quired to register at the Royal Can- adian Mounted Police barracks, which also serves as the claim rec ording office.
 With the aid of survey map, newly-arrived prospectors spot an unclaimed, promising section, To- cate the lake nearest it, and char ters plane to fly him there. At 8 given date, perhaps month or two later, the pilot is instructed to re- turn for the prospector.
 Precious Metal in Rocks
 Armed with 8 hand drill, he at- tacks the rocky, pre- -Cambrian ter- rain. There are no gold-bearing sands as in the Yukon and Klon- dike. The yellow metal must be hammered out of the rock which holds 1t before an assay can be made. A total of 18 claims can be filed by one prospector.
 But unless he can interest a rich mining company in his strike-pro- viding of course that he made one development is slow and tedious. Diamond drills and costly materials are required to extract the gold from the cold rocks of the sub Arctic. Additional cost is involved in the fact that to hold claims, they must be developed within one year.
 Tn the summer of 1888 few venturesome prospectors trickled into Yellowknife. Three log cabins and few tents comprised the camp in March. By October 1t was a roar. ing boom town. Its poly-glot popu- lation was drawn from clerks and students farmer who had seeded their crops and by harvest-time were due to return, spectators, la borers, and those who follow the mining camps.
 Youths Start Trip
 Early this year two youths, al ready known in Chicago rnterna- tional Grain Shows for their win- nings, started out for Yellowknife 330 miles from Grande Prairies. That was on May 22, 1889.
 They followed the course of the mighty Peace River, one of the most kindly in the world. For 600 miles 1t is navigable without portage. From Peace River to the chutes at Fort Vermillion it flows along one of the potentially richest agricul- tural areas on the entire North American continent. But the men in the bouncing river craft gave the fertile lands never @ thought. They couldn't see the yellow gold in the fields of wheat.
 At the chutes, straight drop of IS feet over 8 rocky ledge, they lowered their boat into an eddy be- low. The river then flows on through natural park where herds of buffalo and deer graze under government protection.
 Where the Peace joins the Atha- basca, the Slave River is born. It is chock-full of jutting rocks and whirl pools and fights its way through rocky foundations. This is mineral-bearing country. Seven days of fair weather brought the pair to Slave River. Two weeks more of cruising the shore of Lesser Slave Lake where the ice had just moved out and the days had length ened to almost continual daylight brought them to Yellowknife Bay on June IS. The first boats had crossed 1t two days previously.
 The rush went on from there. Logs were fitted together and be- came hotels. Stores and houses went up so rapidly that some were even hauled in on scows. When the logs arrived, there was mad rush for them. Day by day the rush for claims increased. There were A. 900 claims recorded last summer. Rumors of new strikes brought new stampedes. The town would empty itself as gold-seekers rushed to the scene of the latest strike, then would slowly refill again as disappointed persons filtered back.
 Yellowknife--and the Northwest Territories-will expand.