All About The Klondyke Gold Mines - free ebook by J. Armoy (John Armoy) Knox

All AboutThe KLONDYKEGold Mines.

PUBLISHED BY THE MINERS' NEWS PUBLISHING CO., 60 Liberty Street, New York . Copyrighted 1897 By THE MINERS' NEWS PUBLISHING CO....

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LOCATION OF THE YUKON MINES.

MAP OF THE YUKON GOLD DIGGINGS. Sitka appears at the southeast corner of this map, and northeast of it is Juneau, the usual fitting out place for miners going to the Yukon. The arrows show the route of miners bound for the Yukon. Steamboats can carry them from Juneau as far as Ty-a. Then they must pack their loads through Chilkoot Pass and boat them through a chain of lakes and down the Lewis River to the Yukon. It is about 700 miles from Juneau to the Klondyke River. The two other most importan

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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 hardship and privation that have given to the explorer and prospector a character scarcely second to that of the heroes of

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KLONDYKE AND CALIFORNIA.

1849 AND 1897. As we are inclined to measure everything by comparison the discoveries in the Klondyke 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 Klondy

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THE "MOTHER LODE" AND THE GLACIAL DEPOSITS.

Under the caption "How the Gold Came to Klondyke 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 quantities 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

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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 pronounced 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

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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 pour

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MILLIONS OF GOLD PANNED OUT.

POOR YESTERDAY—ROLLING IN WEALTH TO-DAY. The San Francisco correspondent of the New York Sun, who saw the arrival of the Excelsior, sent to his paper by wire a graphic description of the sensation created. He said: "San Francisco has not been stirred by any mining discovery since the opening up of the great bonanzas on the Comstock Lode in Nevada, nearly thirty years ago, as it has been by the stories of two score sun-tanned and hard-featured miners who have returned from the new Klondyke camp o

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ARRIVAL OF THE SECOND TREASURE SHIP FROM THE FROZEN KLONDYKE.

When the first stories of the fruitfulness of the "Far Off Land" came to the ears of the children of Israel there were many doubters, but when those who had been sent to spy out the land came back later bearing great bunches of grapes there were none that doubted. So when the Excelsior arrived in San Francisco, on the 14th of July, many may have doubted the truth of the stories told of the richness of the new gold fields, but when, three days later, the Portland steamed into Seattle with gold to

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SOME GRAPES OF ESCHOL STORIES.

RICHER THAN SINBAD'S VALLEY OF DIAMONDS. Among the Portland's passengers was William Stanley, of Seattle, formerly a blacksmith, who went into the country two years ago last spring. He returned with $115,000 in gold nuggets and dust. His claim is on the Bonanza Creek, emptying into the Klondyke five miles above Dawson City, the headquarters of the camp. Clarence Berry, formerly a farmer of Fresno, Cal., brought back seven sacks, containing $135,000. Clarence Berry, of Los Angeles, went to the Yu

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THE STAMPEDE FOR THE GOLD.

THOUSANDS JOIN THE EXODUS. To say that the news from the north brought by passengers of the Excelsior and confirmed by those of the Portland swept over the Pacific coast with the rapidity of a prairie fire would be to make use of an inadequate simile. In less than forty-eight hours hundreds were busy arranging their affairs so as to depart by the first steamer for the new Eldorado. On the 18th of July, only four days after the arrival of the Excelsior, the offices of the Alaska Commercial Compan

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WHERE THE GOLD IS FOUND.

HOW IT IS REACHED AND MINED. Dr. William H. Dall, one of the curators of the National Museum, is familiar with the region of country in which the Klondyke gold fields are located, through having been on several geological expeditions to the region in Alaska adjoining the gold district, and says that in his opinion the reports from there probably are not exaggerated. "When I was there," he says, "I did not find gold, but knew of it being taken out in profitable quantities for fifteen years or mor

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SOME LARGE NUGGETS.

THERE ARE MORE WHERE THEY CAME FROM. The largest nugget yet found was picked out by Burt Hudson on claim Six of the Bonanza, and is worth a little over $250. The next largest was found by J. Clements, and was worth $231. The last four pans Clements took out ran $2,000, or an average of $500 each, and one of them went $775. Bigger pockets have been struck in the Cariboo region and in California, but nowhere on earth have men picked up so much gold in so short a time. A young man named Beecher, ca

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MILLIONS UPON MILLIONS IN SIGHT.

WILLIAM STANLEY'S GRAPHIC STORY. The New York Journal prints this story of William Stanley: Stanley is one of the fortunate ones who returned from the Klondyke on the Portland. In addition to his present fortune he is interested with his son and two New Yorkers in claims which, he says, will yield $2,000,000. Stanley is a married man; he has a wife and several children. During his absence in the far North the family struggled to eke out an existence, for everything that Stanley had went to pay h

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HOW TO GET THERE.

CHOICE OF TWO ROUTES. There are two routes either of which can be taken to the Klondyke. The best but the most expensive is by steamer from Seattle to St. Michael's, and then by river boat up the Yukon 1,700 miles to Dawson City. By this route it takes thirty-five to forty days, and the fare is $180. The steamers permit only 150 pounds of baggage for each passenger. Two steamers that will leave before the river is closed by ice cannot carry more than 150 passengers each. The other route is by la

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PERILS OF THE TRIP.

ENCOUNTERS WITH THE ICE AND SNOW IN THE PASSES TO THE UPPER YUKON. A letter, written to the San Francisco Examiner by Edgar A. Mizner, gives a graphic picture of life in the Klondyke region and the hardships and perils that the miner may expect to meet and undergo. He is at present the agent of the Alaska Commercial Company there. He set out from Seattle for the Yukon in March last. He had had mining experience before, having been frozen in one Winter on the Pend d'Oreille. Mizner Mountain, over

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CANADIAN GOVERNMENT'S ATTITUDE.

AN INTERNATIONAL QUESTION AS TO MINER'S RIGHTS. The fact that the Klondyke placer diggings, as thus far prospected and developed, are well east of the 141st meridian, which forms the boundary line between Alaska and the Dominion of Canada has attracted no little attention among our northern neighbors, and many contradictory reports as to what attitude the Ottawa Government will assume as to the rights of miners who are not British subjects, have come to us. That the Canadian Government has the r

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DAWSON NOT A TOUGH TOWN.

THE CIVILIZATION OF A MINING CAMP. Ladue, who is a veteran prospector, and has seen all the tough mining camps on the Pacific coast, gives this interesting description of the new city of Dawson, which promises to have 30,000 inhabitants before Spring: "It may be said with absolute truth that Dawson City is one of the most moral towns of its kind in the world. There is little or no quarreling and no brawls of any kind, though there is considerable drinking and gambling. Every man carries a pistol

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FEARS OF STARVATION.

If twenty or thirty thousand go to the mining camp, as now seems probable, starvation will result, as it will be absolutely impossible to feed more than ten thousand people with the supplies that are now on the way. In another season boats can be built and arrangements made for laying down an unlimited supply of food, but now the Alaska Commercial Company has only three vessels, while the other two lines only run to Juneau. Yukon river steamers are sent up in small sections and put together on t

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COST OF LIVING IN DAWSON.

THE ONLY CHEAP THING IS ICE AND FRESH AIR. Laborers, it is asserted, are paid as high as $15 a day, but the advice is given that no man can afford to go to the new camp without from $500 to $1,000 with which to support himself and insure the possibility of returning in case of adversity. Living, of course, comes high. The region produces little or no fruit or vegetables. The meat of the caribou and the moose is sometimes scarce, and there are seasons when no salmon can be obtained. Here is a lis

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THE CLIMATE AND THE MOSQUITOES.

SHORT SUMMER—HEAT AND COLD CONTRASTS. There is a short, hot Summer of less than four months, with practically no Spring or Autumn. The ice begins to break up in the rivers about May 25, and navigation commences on the Yukon about the first week in June. It begins to get very cool by the latter part of September, and is almost Winter weather by the 1st of October. The winter is very cold and dry, with not more than three feet of snow. There is only about three inches of rainfall during the winter

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CAPITAL REQUIRED BY MINERS.

SOME THINGS INDISPENSABLE IN AN OUTFIT. Mr. William Van Stooten, the mining engineer and metallurgist, gives his views in the New York Herald as to the necessary outfit required by miners contemplating a trip to the Klondyke diggings. He says: "I should place the minimum amount at $600. It would not be safe to start out with less. But you had better make it a thousand if possible, for with the present rush it is likely that prices will be trebled or even quadrupled. Even the Indians will charge

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A WOMAN'S OUTFIT.

A woman who has "been there," says that in the matter of dress a woman going to the mines should take two pairs of extra heavy all-wool blankets, one small pillow, one fur robe, one warm shawl, one fur coat, easy fitting; three warm woollen dresses, with comfortable bodices and skirts knee length flannel-lined preferable; three pairs of knickers or bloomers to match the dresses, three suits of heavy all-wool underwear, three warm flannel night dresses, four pairs of knitted woollen stockings, on

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VALUABLE EXPERT ADVICE.

A MINING ENGINEER'S WARNINGS AND SUGGESTIONS. The New York Herald is authority for the statement that few persons in the mining world are more intimately acquainted with all its features than Mr. William Van Stooten, mining engineer and metallurgist. Besides being President of the South American Developing Company, which works the gold mines of Ecuador, he has relations with all the great gold mines of the world. To Mr. Van Stooten it appears that the gold discoveries in the Klondyke regions are

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THE NEW YORK JOURNAL EXPEDITION TO KLONDYKE.

The New York Journal, in keeping with its usual liberality and enterprise, has sent out a large expedition at its own expense. The Journal says: "To investigate the riches of the Yukon gold fields and to tell the tale of Nature and human nature in the new ophir of the far North for the Journal, a company of five distinguished writers have been sent to the gold fields. Edward H. Hamilton, chief of the Journal bureau, is admirably equipped for his task. His writings have given him a high repute an

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SAILORS GET GOLD CRAZE.

DESERT THEIR SHIPS IN ALASKAN PORTS TO DIG FOR FORTUNES. The gold fever has struck the hardy mariner at last, and desertions are numerous from ships up north. Shippers expect soon to hear of craft being tied up in Alaskan ports just as they were in San Francisco harbor in '49, when crews deserted wholesale to dig gold in the rich placers. When the steamship Pueblo arrived, Capt. Debney reported that the mates of the Al-ki and the Topeka had both left their ships in Juneau. Other steamer captains

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ONLY THREE DEATHS IN A YEAR.

THE HEALTHIEST REGION IN THE WORLD IS THE KLONDYKE. F. G. Bowker, of Dawson, says there was nobody there to die until less than a year ago, and that since then there have been but three deaths in that whole district as far as is known. Of the three deaths one occurred just before the steamer Excelsior left Dawson. A man who had just sold his claim for $12,000 passed away in his bunk with his head resting on the sack of coin which represented the success of his search for wealth. In the graveyard

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CANADIAN MINING LAWS.

REGULATIONS IMPOSED BY THE DOMINION UPON PLACER MINING. As the Klondyke diggings, as thus far developed and staked, are upon Canadian territory it is important to bear in mind the regulations imposed by the Dominion Government on placer mining. They are as follows: "Bar diggings" shall mean any part of a river over which the water extends when the water is in its flooded state and which is not covered at low water. "Mines on benches" shall be known as bench diggings, and shall for the purpose of

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SOME THINGS WORTH KNOWING.

Some of the miners who have recently returned from the mines say that those who wait until the Spring before going to Alaska will make a mistake, as there is room on the Yukon and around Dawson City for 5,000 miners. During the Winter months they can occupy themselves taking out the frozen earth, and thus have it ready for washing in the Summer. The most trustworthy estimates agree that over $5,000,000, in nuggets and gold dust has been the value of the output of the Alaska mines during the year

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EXPLANATORY AND IMPORTANT.

The Mining News Publishing Company was formed for the purpose of furnishing reliable information regarding the Alaska gold fields to all who may be interested. This book, "All About the Klondyke," is the first of a series to be issued as fast as news is received and mines are developed. Reliable correspondents, now in the mines, will keep us informed regarding all matters of interest, and everything of importance that is published anywhere regarding mining or the Alaska gold field will be verifi

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