USA > Alaska > Alaska and the Klondike > Part 4
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The news did not reach the outside world until the next summer, 1897, but it spread rapidly up and down the Yukon and the stampede was soon on. Eight years have brought into the country, first and last, 50,000 to 75,000 people, developed a mining district Soo square miles in extent, and established a trade which is eagerly sought for by the coast cities on both sides of the inter- national boundary.
The work on Bonanza and Eldorado creeks, where the first gold strikes were made, consists now largely of work- ing over the gravel which was panned and sluiced and rocked in the first handling, bringing out only the coarse gold. Dredging machines, hoisting machines, and hy- draulic giants make it possible to handle so much larger quantities in the same time and at so much less expense to the yard that ground which it was once thought had been worked out with the pan and rocker is now produc- ing rich returns on the best claims. As evidence of the fact that the Klondike gravels are still believed to be valuable when handled by the cheaper and more reliable methods of extracting the gold, a group of sixty claims, comprising practically all of Golden Hill, at the junction of Eldorado and Bonanza creeks, was sold in one trans-
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action to one company for $562,500, in September, 1904. This ground has been worked over more or less by the cruder methods, but treated by the hydraulic system is still regarded as very valuable.
Bonanza and Eldorado creeks are small streams and the water supply is entirely inadequate. Some attempt has been made toward carrying water from other sources of supply through pipes and sluice boxes to where it is needed for washing out the gravel, and improvements in that direction would greatly increase the output.
Stops were made at various claims along the way, the noon hour finding us at No. 26 above on Eldorado, the property of Stanley & Worden. Mr. Stanley, who had been a fellow traveller on the way from Seattle to Skag- way, was the discoverer of this claim and with his part- ner owns one adjoining, which they were putting through the second handling with a steam hoist, with extremely satisfactory results. There was no clean-up at this claim, but Mr. Brackett washed out a couple of pans of gravel from the bed rock and secured from one about $1 and from the other about $1.50. As there are 90 to 100 pans in a cubic yard, this is rich dirt and afforded some idea of what it is to dig for gold in the Klondike when you have "struck it rich." A stretch of three and a half miles on this creek, Eldorado, is said to have pro- duced over $30,000,000.
At another claim visited shortly afterward a pan, taken at random, turned out $3. The operation of a big dredger furnished an illustration of placer mining by
" Chee-cha-ko" Hill in the Klondike
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machinery, and at another group of mines we were in- vited to witness a clean-up on property owned and man- aged by a man known as "Skipper " Norwood, at one time the captain of a sailing vessel, and the first whaler to voluntarily winter in the Arctic Ocean. When one of his sluice boxes, which had been running about two days, was cleaned up there was taken from it a small pailful of gold, the value of which was stated by the experts to be about $4,000. This was well up the side of the ravine, on what is called a hill claim.
In the Klondike the gold is comparatively coarse; that is, it is in the form of grains from the size of very coarse cornmeal to grains of rice, cracked hominy, peas and full grains of corn, with occasional larger pieces, as large some- times as twenty-dollar gold pieces. This gravel may either be washed out by the use of a pan about the size and shape of an old-fashioned milkpan, or in what are known as rockers or in sluice boxes. Panning consists of taking a pan half full of gravel, stooping over the running water in the stream, wetting the gravel, shaking it until the larger stones come to the surface, throwing them off by hand and gradually working down the gravel until only fine sand remains, the contents being repeatedly dipped in the water to cause the earth and decomposed rock to flow off. Finally the contents are reduced to a mere handful and on one side of the pan. This is carefully washed in the stream and as the dirt flows out the gold will be found lying on the bottom of the pan, if the gravel contained any. It takes about ten or twelve minutes to wash out a pan of gravel
A " CHEE-CHA-KO" IN THE KLONDIKE 65
carefully, so that ore which produces 50 cents to $1 or $1.50 a pan makes pretty good wages. On the very rich strikes, of course, it produces more, running
as high sometimes as $100 to the pan. The rocker is a different con- trivance : a wooden box is made to rock in such a way as to sift down the gold, which is always heavier than gravel, while the refuse is worked off through an opening near the bottom. A sluice box operated by two men is known as a "Long Tom"; it is eight to twelve feet in length. One man shov- els in the gravel on one side and the other one, with a dipper on a long pole, throws in the water from the other side. The gravel is sluiced out through the lower end and the gold is gathered " Skipper " Norwood in the bottom, either on riffles, or on a blanket, when it is in the form of fine dust, or by the aid of quicksilver.
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Where water is more abundant and operations are carried on on a larger scale, the sluice boxes are from 50 to 150 feet long, a rapid current of water is turned through them, the gravel is shovelled into the sluice box by several men and the rapid current works the sand and the pebbles and loose dirt down the sluice and out at the lower end; the gold, in the meantime, collecting on what are known as riffles on the bottom of the sluice or trough. These riffles are generally a sort of lattice work made to fit in the bot- tom of the sluice box, and removable. Iron riffles are also used in the form of sections of grating fitted into the bottom of the sluice box and removed when the clean-up is made.
To the inexperienced observer the method of sluicing seems like a very wasteful process, and as if quite as much gold might be washed out by the rapid flow of the water as collects in the bottom of the box. But experience justi- fies the process. Gold is very heavy and after the sluice boxes are cleared and the riffles removed, a strong current may be allowed to pass over the gold in the bottom and wash it clean of all dirt and sand without carrying any of it away. This, of course, is where the gold is coarse, as it is in the Klondike. In other gold fields, where the gold is in the form of fine dust, such methods cannot, of course, be pursued. There the gold dust must be gathered by the aid of quicksilver, with which it forms an amalgam, and from which the quicksilver must be released by being subjected to heat.
The great problem of the Klondike region to-day is that
A " CHEE-CHA-KO" IN THE KLONDIKE 67
of water, and if the Government of the Yukon could do as much for the miners in that region in the way of supply- ing water as it has done in building wagon roads, it would settle the question of profitable mining on many claims which are not now of much value. An attempt was made to provide water by granting what is known as the Tread- gold concession. This was a practical monopoly of cer- tain water sources given on the understanding that the supply would be developed and water sold to the miners at fair prices. Practically nothing was done under that concession and it has been cancelled by the Dominion Government.
IV CROSSING THE ARCTIC CIRCLE
I F you are ordinarily business-like and careful in your financial transactions, you at least glance at the change when it is handed back to you, just to see that there is no mistake. I saw a man make a purchase in a Dawson store, pull a leather poke out of his pocket and hand it to the clerk. He then turned around and engaged in con- versation with another man. Presently his poke was handed back to him, together with a number of articles he had purchased, and he left the store. He had paid for his purchases in gold dust, the amount had been weighed out by the clerk without any attention being paid to the operation by the purchaser, and when he departed he had no means of knowing, unless he had weighed his gold before he entered the store, whether the right amount had been taken out. I had heard before of the practice of receiving back the change without counting it and I asked the storekeeper if all his customers had as much faith in his honesty as this one appeared to have; whether they were all in the habit of handing over their dust pokes for him to take what he wanted.
" He knows well enough," said the merchant, " that I could not afford to cheat him. We trust one another in this country-more, probably, than you do in the States.
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In the early days we had to, and woe to the man who betrayed a trust. There is nothing so utterly unpardonable in a mining camp as a deal that isn't square, and in the early days a man who was not square did not last long."
The use of gold dust in the ordinary transactions of trade has pretty nearly gone out of vogue now, however, not only in Dawson, but in the surrounding mining camps. Gold dust is used more on the Alaska side than in the Yukon, because the conveniences of converting it into money are greater on the Canadian side than on the American. The commercial companies and some local mer- chants who act as brokers, but chiefly the commercial companies and the banks, buy the gold dust, and export it, paying the 2 1-2 per cent. royalty or export duty to the Government.
Next to a clean-up, where the virgin gold is taken out in the sluice boxes, the most interesting operation in which this precious metal figures is the smelting of the dust and nuggets into bars for export. Our company was invited to witness this interesting operation in the British Bank of North America. The gold is reduced in a furnace to liquid form and turned out into a mould, making a brick about the size of those ordinarily used for paving. Such a brick weighs about 1,000 troy ounces, or approximately 83 pounds troy weight. The Klondike gold runs from $15.50 to $17 an ounce, making the gold brick weighing 1,000 ounces worth from $15,000 to $17,000, varying accord- ing to the number of ounces it contains and the fineness
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of the gold. The actual value is determined by chipping off a little piece and assaying it. The brick is then stamped as to its weight and fineness, and is sent to the mint. Nearly all of the gold sent out of the Klondike region goes to the mint at Seattle. There is a Government mint at Vancouver, but as the ships of the regular lines from Skagway run to Seattle, the gold is nearly all shipped there, so that eventually the gold output of the Klondike finds its market in the United States.
Staking a claim in the Klondike is a much more exact proposition than on the Alaskan side under the American laws. In placer mining, which is about the only kind of mining carried on in the Klondike as yet, a creek claim means an area 250 feet up and down the creek and 2,000 feet in width. This seems to be a case where the thing described is broader than it is long. The mining laws have been amended at various times so as to change the area of a claim materially. Prior to April 1, 1898, and when the first claims were staked in that region, the claim ran from the base of the hill on one side of the creek to the base of the hill on the other side for a distance of 500 feet up and down the creek. This was changed April 1, 1898, to 250 feet lengthwise of the creek and running from rimrock to rimrock on either side. Two years later the form of a claim was changed again, allowing the claimant to meas- ure 250 feet along the creek and 1,000 feet back on each side. In 1901 the present method was inaugurated, which provides for a claim as already described, 2,000 feet by 250 feet; but it was found that in laying out claims per-
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pendicular to the creek difficulties were encountered from overlapping by reason of the sinuosity of the creek. It was therefore provided that when gold had been discov- ered on a creek the Government should survey what is called a base line; that is to say, a straight line, changing its direction at exact angles to correspond with the general direction of the creek. This provides for more accurate definition of claim boundaries by establishing a base line from which they may be measured.
A hill claim, that is one lying up above the creek claim, is only 1,000 feet in width; that is to say, it has the same frontage lengthwise of the creek as the creek claim -250 feet, but extends back in one direction only 1,000 feet.
When a prospector undertakes to stake a claim he must set two posts, one at the upper end on the creek and the other at the lower end on the creek, on which he must post the name of the claim, a description of it, in- cluding mention of natural monuments such as trees, or rocks, or anything else by which it can be identified; he must state the date of the location and give his own full name. Within ten days he must file his claim at the min- ing recorder's office, but before any prospector can file a claim to mining property he must take out a free miner's license, good for one year, at a cost of $7.50.
In the British Yukon no miner can stake more than one mining claim on one river, creek or gulch, although he may hold any number of claims by purchase, but he may stake claims on other creeks or gulches in the same district
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or on what is called a pup. A pup is a small creek or gulch leading into a larger one.
Every claim-holder is required to do what is called de- velopment work on his claim to the value of at least $200 each year, or in lieu of the work he may pay $200 a year to the mining recorder for three years, after which he must pay $400 each year. He must also have a certificate an- nually that his $200 worth of work has been done or his $200 paid, or the claim will be cancelled in the gold com- missioner's office.
The regulations for quartz claims and for copper loca- tions vary somewhat from those applying to gold placer claims. For instance, a quartz claim may be 1,500 by 1,500 feet. The annual development work required is limited to $100 and after five years the claimant may pur- chase the land at $1 an acre. Placer claims are really only leased, the claimant having no title to the land and being granted possession only so long as he complies with the above regulations. Copper locations may be 160 acres in a square block, but only one location may be taken within an area of ten miles square, nor is the claimant to a copper location permitted to mine any other metals not mixed with copper, and in no case may he mine free-milling gold or silver on a copper permit.
These restrictions guard against one man or a few monopolising the whole of a rich mining district. The Dominion laws are also liberal to aliens in that citizen- ship or first steps to naturalisation are not necessary in order to take up a claim. On the Alaska side only citizens
Washing out Gold with the Rocker
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or those who have declared an intention to become citizens may locate mining claims.
Very complete records are kept in the gold commis- sioner's office in Dawson. It is possible by these records to determine at any time the status of any claim, just as it is possible to determine by the examination of the records whether any mortgages have been recorded against a piece of land in the state of Minnesota. The contrast between the business-like methods and the clear and definite in- formation obtainable at any time in the gold commis- sioner's office in Dawson with respect to any piece of mining property in Yukon territory and the miserable tangle into which titles to mining property have been brought in Alaska, in the Nome district for example, is no credit to our American statesmanship; but that will be changed. That the business of bookkeeping with regard to the mining business of the Klondike country is con- siderable may be inferred from the fact that during the year 1902, 10,490 free miners' certificates were issued, showing that that many people were holding claims.
The output of the Klondike region for 1904 is officially stated at $10,300,000, a smaller production than usual on account of the lack of water. The mining season was dry and the snowfall of the previous winter comparatively light. But even with a better water supply the annual crop of gold is smaller by several millions now than in 1898 and 1899. The total output of the district since the discovery in 1896 is roughly estimated at $120,000,000.
River Front at Eagle
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When the senatorial party left home it was arranged that it should make the trip from Dawson down the Yukon on one of the fine boats of the Northern Commercial com- pany. This boat, the Sarah, was expected to arrive about the 10th or 12th of July and depart within twenty-four hours on the downward trip, thus giving the committee three or four days in Dawson. The Sarah did not arrive on schedule time, and was eagerly looked for for several days. There is a telegraph line from Dawson to Eagle, I IO miles down the river, and notice by wire of the arrival of the Sarah at Eagle was hourly expected. The 12th arrived, and the 13th, and the 14th, and still no word from Sarah. It was believed, however, that this boat would cer- tainly make her appearance within a day or two, when, on the morning of the 14th, we boarded a local boat for Eagle, the first town on the Yukon across the American border. The plan was to go down to Eagle, where, also, is located Fort Egbert, with the expectation of continuing the investigations with regard to Alaskan matters at that point for a day or two until the Sarah should arrive at Dawson and return, taking us on board on her downward trip.
The Yukon from Dawson northwestward to Eagle, flows through a succession of hills, slightly wooded. The only point of interest is a trading station occupied by both the great trading companies, called Forty-Mile. This post is at the mouth of the Forty-Mile River, on the tributaries of which is located the celebrated Forty-Mile mining dis- trict, a district which had turned out a great deal of gold
The Senator from Minnesota Ready for the Trail at Eagle
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before the Klondike was discovered, and from which oc- curred the first stampede to the Klondike region.
Eagle, lying within five miles of the international boundary on the American side, is a town with a future. With a population of about 250 it is of interest because of the location there of the most northern customs house belonging to the United States and the most northern military post. The garrison consists of one company of regulars, quartered in comfortable log houses and bar- racks, and then under the command of Captain Perkins, who had a company of the Eighth Regiment. Here is found one of the best demonstrations of the agricultural possibilities of Alaska, and the garden nearest to the Pole where important results have been secured. The gardens of the post produce large quantities of potatoes, cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce, turnips and radishes. So far as these products are concerned, the ability to produce them suc- cessfully on the 65th degree of north latitude has been demonstrated. Other vegetables, peas, beans, etc., are also grown to some extent.
Life in an army post almost under the Arctic Circle, as can readily be imagined, has its drawbacks, and, indeed, all Alaskan military service is counted in the war depart- ment as foreign service and calls for 10 per cent. extra pay.
The mails crossing Alaska from Dawson to Nome, which is the postal route by which Fort Egbert is supplied in winter, are carried at that season of the year on dog sleds and may not exceed 400 pounds on leaving Dawson.
A Dog Team in Alaska
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This means that no newspaper mail and magazines can be obtained after the river closes in October until it opens in June; no mail can be carried except first-class mail, paying letter postage. Friends outside sometimes send clippings from newspapers to their friends "on the in- side " under letter postage, but such packages must not be large enough to excite the suspicion of the mail-carrier or they will probably be left behind till spring, as the regu- lar letter mail for Nome, awaiting transportation at Daw- son, often exceeds 400 pounds. The excess must always wait until the next time, even if it should be a letter from home to some weary, homesick soul; and the next time is the next month, as the mail crosses Alaska to Nome not oftener than once a month.
Eagle, however, is not without its social life. It has two churches and these societies indulge in church socials, in musicales and resort to such other devices of cultivating the social nature and filling the contribution box as are common in other communities.
The feminine population of the village affords at least one fine example of enterprise and pluck. The hotel which sheltered our party was conducted by a young lady who had been a school-teacher in the state of Washington, but has found Alaska a more profitable field for the exercise of her energy and talents. She was in Sheep Camp down on Chilcoot Pass near Dyea, with two of her brothers, in the winter of '98 and '99, when the great snowslide occurred which buried eighty-nine men who were struggling up the mountainside. Her brothers helped to shovel out the vic-
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tims. A little later she crossed over the same trail, helped her brothers build a boat on Lake Linderman and floated with them down the Yukon to Dawson in the spring of '99. She was accompanied by a girl friend of the same indomitable spirit. This trip, she says, was a picinc. With all their possessions aboard and themselves comfortably housed under a tent erected on a flatboat, they had a jolly time floating with the current from the slopes of the coast range to the mouth of the Klondike. Stopping only two days in Dawson, she arrived in Eagle on the Ist of July, 1899, and while her brothers went on down the river with some freight which they were carrying for other people, she opened a restaurant in a tent and made it pay. She soon had a chance to go into the hotel business, has been appointed postmistress, and finds her employment so profitable, and is so well content in her northern home, that the schoolroom in the States which she abandoned for Alaska has no attractions for her now.
Cheery, energetic and independent, it never occurs to her that her lot is a hard one in any particular. She is prosperous and useful, respected and happy, which goes to show that these things do not depend wholly on environ- ment. She has been " outside " only once since she came to Alaska, and then in obedience to filial duty. Her par- ents live on a little farm near Seattle which her Alaska savings bought for them. Her piano and her small but well-selected library suggest what is confirmed by a few minutes' conversation, that the little postmistress of Eagle is a woman of culture and a womanly woman, with all
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her commercial ambitions and abilities. And so you find that here in the heart of the northern snowfields the women of Alaska rise superior to their seemingly overwhelming surroundings, and though imprisoned beyond the possi- bility of escape from October to June they bear their share of the burden of isolation with most admirable courage and cheerfulness.
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Among our fellow passengers on the boat from Dawson to Eagle was Captain D. H. Jarvis, United States in- spector of customs, who was on an official tour. Mr. Jar- vis is Alaska's hero. When the history of that country is written, no page, from the beginning until now, will glow with a brighter example of bravery, self-sacrifice and de- votion to duty than that which recites the story of the relief expedition to Point Barrow in the winter of 1897 and '98. Only brief reference can be made to it here, and if the details were obtainable only from the lips of Mr. Jarvis, the narrative would be meagre enough in that embellishment which the recital of thrilling personal ad- venture contributes ; for Mr. Jarvis is of the kind of whom heroes are usually made. Modest, quiet, never directing attention to himself and reluctant to converse on the sub- ject of his own exploits, it would be difficult, indeed, to gain from him in conversation any adequate conception of the brave work which he did.
In the fall of '97 eight whaling ships were caught in the ice off the northern shore of Alaska in the Arctic Ocean. Some of them were badly broken up by the ice, but the men managed to reach Point Barrow, the
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