All about the Klondyke gold mines Part 1

All about the Klond.y.k.e gold mines.

by J. Armoy Knox and J. G. Pratt.

GOLD.

THE SEARCH FOR IT PAST AND PRESENT.

Since the dawn of history man has attached to gold a value greater than that of any of the metals. Indeed, the value of every product of Mother Earth, of the fields, the forest or the mine has been fixed by its worth in gold. Hence the quest of gold has inspired mankind to acts of heroism, to a search for knowledge, and to a resignation to hards.h.i.+p and privation that have given to the explorer and prospector a character scarcely second to that of the heroes of the battlefield or the leaders of the world's senates. The history of the human race, even the record of the discovery of continents, is largely a history of the search for the yellow treasure in its hiding places in the earth or among the elements of Nature. Columbus' voyage, which gave to the world America, with its California and now its Klond.y.k.e, was but a search for gold.

Chemistry is only the offspring of alchemy, and while adventurous spirits were daring the main, suffering the torments of the tropics and the gloom of the wilderness, the hut and the cave of the hermit--man's first laboratories--were the scene of other labors and privations, and all in the search for gold, gold, whether in the ground, the water or the air. But it has remained to our own day to witness this quest extended to the region of eternal snow and rewarded among the glacial mountains of the frozen North.

KLONd.y.k.e AND CALIFORNIA.

1849 AND 1897.

As we are inclined to measure everything by comparison the discoveries in the Klond.y.k.e region and the already world-wide excitement created thereby naturally recall the discovery of gold in California, the memorable year '49, and suggests a comparison of the facts and conditions existing in and surrounding the two regions and the development of their respective resources.

In '49 California was scarcely nearer to the civilization of the then existing States of the Union than Klond.y.k.e is to-day. Though the climate of California, when reached, was salubrious in the extreme, the hards.h.i.+ps of an overland trip of more than three thousand miles or the scarcely less trying voyage "around the Horn," were quite as apt to deter the "tenderfoot" from attempting to seek fortune among the Sierras as are the extreme cold and possible privations that must be considered by the gold-hunters among the Alaskan mountains. But there were brave spirits in '49, who, defying every danger, flocked to the promised land, and realized not only their wildest dreams of wealth, but laid the foundation of one of the proudest among our galaxy of States. The population of the country by the census of 1850, a year later, was but 20,000,000. If there were thousands among those 20,000,000 who poured into California in '49, how much greater the influx into the region of the Klond.y.k.e will be if the same ratio of enterprise and adventure characterizes the 70,000,000 Americans of the present day. The first news of the discovery of gold in California was months in getting to "the States," and it was even months later before the gold fever had become really epidemic in the East. With the telegraph and cable of to-day the news from the Yukon has already encircled the globe and quickened the pulse of mankind in every land and lat.i.tude.

There have been gold excitements at stated periods from the Eldorado of the Spaniards down to Johannisburg, but none that has arisen so suddenly and spread so rapidly as that created by the tidings from Klond.y.k.e. Nor would it seem that the future of this excitement can be even conjectured. And perhaps the reason for this may be found in the fact that instead of the fables of an Eldorado, the reports from the Yukon have been shewn to be authentic and trustworthy.

THE GEOLOGY OF THE YUKON REGION.

THE "MOTHER LODE" AND THE GLACIAL DEPOSITS.

Under the caption "How the Gold Came to Klond.y.k.e Placers," Professor George Frederick Wright, of Oberlin College, author of "Man in the Glacial Period" and other geological works, has contributed to the New York Journal an interesting article in which he says:

"The discovery of gold in large quant.i.ties on the Yukon River is by no means unexpected. Eleven years ago, the last word I heard as I left Juneau was the pledge of a returning tourist to meet his friend the next Summer and prospect in the Yukon region.

"The great ma.s.s of gold-bearing quartz at the Treadwell mine, near Juneau, was what might be expected, and at the same time what might be the limitation of the supply. For more than ten years that mine has furnished more than a million dollars of gold annually, but it is not like ordinary quartz mines. It is rather a great, isolated ma.s.s of quartz with gold disseminated all through it. While its worth is great, its length is limited.

"Little is known about the geology of the Yukon River, where the Klond.y.k.e mines have been found. Being placer mines, the gold may have been transported many miles. The means of transportation are both glaciers and rivers. The Klond.y.k.e region is on the north side of the St.

Elias Alps. Alaska was never completely covered with glacial ice. The glaciers flowed both north and south from these summits. Dawson and Professor Russell both report well defined terminal moraines across the upper Yukon Valley. The source of the Klond.y.k.e gold, therefore, is from the South.

"Placer mines originate in the disintegration of gold-bearing quartz veins, or ma.s.s like that at Juneau. Under sub-aerial agencies these become dissolved. Then the glaciers transport the material as far as they go, when the floods of water carry it on still further. Gold, being heavier than the other materials a.s.sociated with it, lodges in the creva.s.ses or in the rough places at the bottom of the streams. So to speak, nature has stamped and "panned" the gravel first and prepared the way for man to finish the work. The amount of gold found in the placer mines is evidence not so much, perhaps, of a very rich vein as of the disintegration of a very large vein.

"The "mother lode" has been looked for in vain in California, and perhaps will be so in Alaska. But it exists somewhere up the streams on which the placer mines are found. The discovery of gold in glacial deposits far away from its native place is familiar to American geologists.

"I have encountered placer mines in glacial deposits near Aurora, in Southeastern Indiana; in Adams County, in Southern Ohio, and near t.i.tusville, in Western Pennsylvania, where, I see, there is a new excitement. But in all these cases the gold had been brought several hundred miles by glacial ice from Canada or the region about Lake Superior. These gold mines were near the edge of the glacial region, where there had been much a.s.sorting action of both ice and water.

"It is evident, however, that in Alaska the transportation of the gold has not gone so far. The difficulties of this transportation into the Klond.y.k.e region and the shortness of the season will continue to be great drawbacks to working the mines. The pa.s.s north of Chilcoot is 7,000 feet above sea level and but a few miles back from the ocean.

There is no possibility of a road over it. But from Taku Inlet, near Juneau, readier access can be had. This route was followed by Schwatka and Mr. Hayes, of the United States Geological Survey, a few years ago, and has been partially surveyed with reference to a railroad line, and reported to be available. The only other way is by a river which is open to navigation only a short time each year and is a great way around.

"The general climatic conditions on the north side of the mountains are much better than those on the south side. On the south side the snowfall is enormous, but on the north side the air is dryer. Schwatka and Hayes went in the Summer down the Yukon Valley about to the Klond.y.k.e region, and from there struck off west, pa.s.sing to the north of Mount St. Elias and down the Copper River. They had dry weather all the time, in which camping was pleasant, while Russell the same season was driven back by inclement weather from ascending St. Elias on the south side. It is therefore not impossible that explorations southwest of the present gold fields may be carried on with comparative ease. But at present that whole region is bare of means of subsistence.

"There is imminent danger that many will get in there before Winter with insufficient means and starve. An English missionary and his wife have been in that general region for many years, and report the people as being so near the verge of starvation that they do not dare both to Winter in the same village lest they should produce a famine. So they live in separate villages during the Winter. Eventually the reindeer which Sheldon Jackson is introducing into the lower Yukon region will be available both for transportation and food, being much superior to dogs in that they can procure their own food. But for the present every necessity must either be packed over the Chilcoot Pa.s.s or brought around by way of the Yukon.

"As to the ultimate yield of the mines or the prospect of finding more, we have nothing but conjecture to go upon. The geologists who have visited the region were not the ones who discovered the gold. What the prospectors have found points to more. The unexplored region is immense.

The mountains to the south are young, having been elevated very much since the climax of the glacial period. With these discoveries and the success in introducing reindeer Alaska bids fair to support a population eventually of several millions. The United States must hold on to her treaty rights with Great Britain for the protection of our interests there. If England accomplishes her unreasonable designs she would shut us off from all communication with the Klond.y.k.e region except by way of the Yukon."

THE GREAT GOLD DISCOVERY.

HOW THE FIRST AUTHENTIC NEWS REACHED US.

Placer mining had been going on at Circle City and the settlement of Forty Mile for some time, and news of the wonderful productiveness of the mines there had reached the United States, but the gold fever did not become p.r.o.nounced until the arrival in San Francisco, on the 14th of July of this year, of the steamer Excelsior with forty miners and gold dust valued at over $500,000.

These forty miners were the first to bring the story of the almost fabulous richness of the new Klond.y.k.e mines near the Upper Yukon. One of these miners, J. C. Hestwood, who brought home $10,000 worth of gold as the result of two months' work, had this story to tell:

"Circle City and Forty Mile have suffered the usual fate of mining camps which have petered out, only these camps have not petered out. When gold was found in such astonis.h.i.+ng quant.i.ties on the tributaries of the Klond.y.k.e the whole population of those camps moved bodily to the junction of the Klond.y.k.e and Yukon rivers, where Dawson City is established. This district, the richest placer country in the world, was discovered by an old hunter named McCormick, who has a squaw for a wife and several half-breed children. McCormick went up in the spring of 1896 to the mouth of the Klond.y.k.e to fish, as salmon weighing ninety pounds are caught where this stream meets the Yukon. The salmon didn't run as usual and McCormick, hearing from the Indians of rich placers nearby where gold could be washed out in a frying pan, started in to prospect.

"Near what is now Dawson City he struck very rich pay dirt in a side hill. As soon as news of his discovery spread men from Circle City and Forty Mile rushed in. The richest claims are in Bonanza Creek, which empties into the Klond.y.k.e three miles above Dawson City. There are three claims in that district, each 500 feet long, extending clear across the creek on which it is located. No one can file an additional claim until he has recorded his abandonment of his old claim.

"In the adjoining Bunker district there are 200 claims. The two districts have been well prospected, but further up the Klondike is much territory which has never been travelled over.

"Old miners declared that the north side of the Yukon was worthless, so no prospecting was done until McCormick started in. There is no claim-jumping, as the Canadian laws are rigid and well enforced. The rich pay dirt is only struck near bed rock and this generally lies from eighteen to twenty-five feet below the surface.

"The method of mining is to remove the surface ma.s.s, which is eighteen inches thick, and then build a fire which burns all night. In the morning the gravel is shaved down about two feet. This is shovelled out, and another fire is built, and in this slow and laborious way the ground is removed to bedrock. This work can be carried on all winter, except when the mercury falls below 60 degrees.

"Dawson City is a booming town of about 3,000 inhabitants and is growing every week. Provisions were scarce and dear last winter, and all supplies are costly. An ordinary 75-cent pocket knife sells for $4, and shoes bring from $6 to $8. A dog-sledgeload of eggs was brought in last winter from Juneau. About half were spoiled, but the whole lot sold readily at $4 per dozen. Flour sold as high as $1 a pound."

Mr. Hestwood showed many small nuggets from the new Bonanza Creek district, where his mine is situated. The gold is the color of bra.s.s, and is worth $16 to $17 an ounce. It isn't as pure gold as found elsewhere on the Yukon.

THE GOLD FEVER SPREADING.

THE STORIES OF SOME MINERS.

The stories of the returned miners, telegraphed from San Francisco all over the country and to the ends of the earth on the evening of the 14th of July, were what started the gold fever, and the craze to go in search of the precious metal that is now raging from one end of the country to the other. Soon after the arrival of the Excelsior, the half million dollars worth of yellow dust, which ranged in size from a hazelnut to fine bird-shot and kernels of sand, was poured out on the counter at Selby's smelting works on Montgomery street and then shovelled with copper scoops into the great melting pot. Those who saw the gold in one heap said no such spectacle had been seen since the days of '49, when miners used to come down from the placer districts and change their gold for $20 pieces.

The luckiest of these miners are Mr. and Mrs. T. S. Lippey, who left here in April, 1896. They brought back $60,000. They went in by way of Juneau over the divide, and Mrs. Lippey was the first woman to go over this trail. She is a small, wiry woman, with skin tanned to the color of sole leather. She seemed none the worse for the hards.h.i.+ps of Yukon life.