Newspaper Page Text
VOLUME LXXXII.-NO. 97.
NEW STRIKES
RIVAL THE
KLONDIKE
Discovery of Streams Which
Seem to Run Over Beds
of Gold.
ONLY FOUR AT JUNEAU WHO
KNOW THE SECRET.
Prominent Mining Men Declare That the
Finding of Wonderful Placer Beds in
Alaska and the Northwest Has
Only Begun*
JUNEAU, Alaska, An*. 30 (by
steamship Queen), via Victoria, B.
C. Sept 4.— Another fabulously
ricn strike has been tnade close to
the mighty Yukon's headwaters of
gold. A new Klondike ha» been dis
covered, anew El Dorado, the streams of
which seem to run over beds yellow with
precious metaL The gold-seekers bound
lor the head creeks of the Stewart River
or for the Klondike neighborhood will not
find these new discoveries, but those who
bead cp the swift and beautiful Hoota-
Jinqua or the Telly rivers and prospect
among the many creeks which compose
their headwaters may strike it
A small number of prospectors went
into that particular section of the country
early in the summer unaware of the rich
strike that has been made. They went in
the belief that there ought to De diggings
in the country, and there are. Only four
men have been let into the secret here.
They are keeping it auiet and makine
extensive preparations to go into the ter
ritory as early next spring as possible. It
is a little too late to try to get there this
season.
The original discoverer, with a friend, I
ihsSi Indians and part horse?, dogs, sleds i
and a two years' supply of provisions, !
went over the Tana Pass, south of here,
two weeks ago bound for the place. The
new discoveries are about 300 miles from |
Dawson City in a beeline," and probably
twice that distance by the watercourse;'.
When the place is located and made
known there will be an exodus Irom Daw-
son City and another rush of excited peo-
pie from the thickly populated States.
It seems that discoveries of rich placer
beds in Alaska and the British Northwest
Territory have only just begun. The thou-
sands that have already gone into the in-
teriorandthe thousands now swarming
on the border of the land of gold will
doubtless stumble upon as good gravel as
has ever been washed in pan or sluice-
box. The story of the new bonanza • bed
is told and vouched for by J. A. Becker, a
mmmc engineer and one oi the best-
Known men in Alaska. He has made a
ptndy of the geography and topography of
the Territory. He is suuerintendent of
ihe P. I. and Lucky Chance mines at
Sitka. Mr. Becker is said to be a conser
vative man. Late last night in the lobby
of the Occidental Hotel he called me aside
and said placidly:
"There has been a new strike. It beats
the Klondike. lamin on it.'
"Room for any more?" I inquired.
"Penty." he said. "I'il not tell you
right where it is located, i want to get
there my-elf oefore the rush, but 1 will
s-ay this much: Eariy last spring a trap
per and prospector named .Polk or Folk
got lost beyond Lake Tesiin. He had
J. A. BECKER, the Wei.'-Kncwn Minng Engineer, Who Vouches
for the Discovery ot a New Klondike.
The San Francisco Call
been in there all winter and was trying to
find his wav out. His provisions ran out,
and he was on the verse of starvation,
when he ran across an Indian. The In
dian gave him his bearings. In coming
alone a creek on his way out he picked up
e'even pounds of gold in large nuggets.
Washed down the creek with the gravel
the nuggets had caught in riffles near the
places where the bedrock was exposed.
The high water having gone down, left
the gold exposed along the banks. He no
ticed the peculiar gravel beds, and stoop
ing down took up a handful. It was
heavy with gold. The nuggets he brought
out were picked from several handfuls of
gravel taken up from different places on
the edges of the bed. This man came to
Juneau, but never said a word to any o r .c
till he got to Seattle. There he told a friend
who is a merchant. I won't give his name,
for the reason that I know that he will be
| bothered to death by people. He has oeen
here several days, and went to Skaguay
to-day to take a look at the town before
returning home. He la au old friend of
mine. We are gome in there next spring.
I hare already sent to Cooks Inlet for
eighteen Copper River dogs, the big black
ones, the finest there are i.i Alaska. They
are worth about five ounces apiece, about
$180; they will make three teams. If
this is one of these Alaska tips it has
caught me. I am going next spring if I
iive."
The others here who know of the new
j discovery are Arthur C. Bates, manager
of the San Francisco house at 30 and 32
Fromont street of the Gutta Percha and
Rubber Manufacturing Company of New
| York, who is here, but *ill return to San
j Francisco in a few day-, and Major Mor
ris Orton. one of the proprietors of the
Occidental Hotel. Major Orion is an old
Yukon prospector. After nearly twenty
years' prospecting be mac*.e a rich strike
in the noted Cassiar district. A few years
j ago. Major Orton tells, there was a time
'in the Cassiar when he patched the ample
i portion of his trousers with flour sacks,
; but he came out all right. In regard to
j the new El Dorado he said:
'"1 have not seen these new diggings, but
I think they are possible. I liave never
been in the country beyond Lake Teslin,
but I have been in the country on the
other side, the Cassiar. We always be
lieved that there was gold, and plenty of
it, over there, and at one time I did intend
to go in there. I am too old now and
I must let the young fellows go and find
it. I have no doubt that there are rich
placer deposits in that section."
As near as Mr. Becker would locate the
place where the eieven pounds of nuegets
were picked up in a few minuter was that
it is between the head of Lake Teslin and
the headwaters of the Mackenzie Kiver,
SAN FRANCISCO, SUNDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 5, 1897— THIRTY PAGES.
WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN, the Apostle of Free Silver, Who
Declares That the Parting Company of Wheat and Silver
Will Aid the Cause of Bimetallism.
which flow on the farther side of an inter
vening range of mountains. He would
not say whether the creek is on the coast
or the larther side of the mountain range,
but beyond Lake Teslin is an expanse of
country not only never prospected, but
never trodden by the foot of a white man.
There are oid pro>pectors by the score who
have always believed in the richness of
this ground. Lake Teslin is perhaps the
largest of all the bodies of water lying in
ihe great basin between the Coast Range
and the Kockv Mountains. It is naviga
ble, and the Hootalinqua River is naviga
ble. Small steamboats, such as now ply
on the Yukon, can go from St. Michael up
to the Hootalinqua to the heart of Lako
Teslin. The bars in the Hoctalinqua
River have been wo: ked to some extent
and found to pay well. It is the general
understanding in Juneau that a line of
small steamboats will be run on Lake
Teslin next season, but nobody seems to
know who is going to put them on.
Much talk is heard here about the availa
bility of the Taku and Stickeen passes,
south of here, and the indications are
that they will be popular gateways to the
Yukon nnd Hooialinqua next year. A
steamboat now runs on the Stickeen
which comes out near Fort Vrangel.
News of another rich' strike in placer
ground has reached Juneau from the
Unuck River, which runs out of the
mountains near Dixons Entrance. In
dians are reported to have taken out $20
to $50 per day. They came out after a
few weeks' work, and when they returned,
broke, could not nno. the place again.
The Indians believe that a glacier has slid
down and covered it up. A number of
white men have gone from Fort Wrangel
and Juneaa to try to find it. The Indians
are poor gold miners. The white men
promise themselves they will take out $10
where the Indian took out $1. Heedless
of tbe rush and excitement, the thousands
of stamps in the many mills around
Juneau keep up their deafening racket
night and day crushing gold out of quartz.
There is hardly a mill in Alaska that has
not annunliy increased its capacity out of
its surplus earnings. Hal Hoffman.
STRANDED AT SKAGUAY.
Fortune-Seekers Disheartened and
Desperate Over the Impossi
bility of Reaching Klondike.
JUXEAU. Alaska. Aug. 30— (By" steam
ship Queen, ; via Victoria, 8.C.. Kept. 4). —
The situation at Skaguay is critical. De
ceived by stories of the condition of the
trail, halted and unable to move on, see
ing the Klondike further away than when
they siaried and ,an impossibility this
year, the crowd is in an angry, impatient,
dangerous state of mind. . The slightest
disagreement provokes a quarrel. .
The first murder nearly happened yes
terday. D.F. Johnson, better known to
the camp as "Pegleg," who has been run
ning a rowboat be. ween ship and shore,
shot at a restaurateur alter a quarrel over
a bill of $7 50 for lumber. He winged him
in the siioulder. Johnson then used the
gun as a club and knocKed his man sense
less. ''■ .. t '.:■:■ ■' ■..- .. ;>-■*•-• ;
At the same time the weapon exploded,
missing Joiinson by a few inches.. United
S:ates Commissioner John U. Smith and
Juri^e C H. Hannum of Juneau rushed in
and stopped the row. Johnson was. fined
$150 by the commissioner. He refused to
pay, and default, is now lock dup in ;
the Federal prison at Sitka. H« has been
in tliree other rows at Skaeuay. '
No unanimity prevails in the camp. The
ni ipwm > ■ n iwi II iinMiiii ii * mJim'iiiil'i iff
I desire to get tha trail in passable shape is
j general, but there is no concert in action.
| The frequent meetings are got well
attended or harmonious. Indifference is
spreading. All express willingness to go
to work on the trail, but comparatively
few actuaily do so. The New York World's
expenditure of money for the purpose of
putting the trail into condition was ac
cepted with general enthusiasm. Even if
the trail is in good shape inside of a week,
it will not be possible for more than a very
small percentage of the crowd to reach
Dawson before the river freezes.
For nine-teutbs 01 the people on the
ground the situation is a puzzle with only
one solution. That is to winter on the
ground or return to Juneau or home.
Golden dreama have cbaneed into a night
mare of the bitterest disappointment. To
leave Skaguay means to aoandon expen
s ye outfits to be either stolen or ruined
by the winter storms. To remain is
about as expensive as to go away and re
turn in the spring. Tents are unsuitable
to live in there during the winter. The
rains are furious and the wind sweep?
down the canyon with enough velocity to
almost blow the bark off the tiees>. It is
much colder and stormier at the bead of
Lynn Canal than at Juneau. To build
board cabins is beyond the means of
many; lumber is very expensive here.
Many of those at Skaguay are already
running short of money. Five hundred
transients are now lodged in Juneau, and
the limit is 300 more at the outside.
Men are coming in daily from Dyeaand
Skaguay. Probably 250 might be accom
modated across the cnannel at Douglass
City and Treadwell. What will finally be
done the arrival of winter will reveal.
The Klondike lias ruined hundreds finan
cially before they have got fairiy started
on the journey. The Klondike is now men
tioned in the same breatti with curse*.
Tins is not pleasant readme; the plain
truth is not always pleasant. It Is now
"every fellow for him-elf and the devil
take the hindermost." If the devil assumes
JOHN MUIR'S VIEWS ON ALASKA'S WEALTH.
JUNEAU, ALASKA, Sept. i— (By Steamship Queen, via Victoria, B. C, Sept
4). — Professor John Muir, homeward bound, was aboard the Queen when she
arrived here to-night. He freely consented to gsve THE CALL his impressions of
his visit to Skaguay, Dyea and Muir Glacier. He said :
"I went ashore at Skaguay and w;nt several miles up the trail. It is about
the poorest trail I ever saw, and I have seen many in my life. It is a wild, a reck
less trail. They are laying corduroy up the hills. What is the use of building a
slippery corduroy ladder for a horse to climb? He will fall and break his legs or
neck or both. An experienced packer will lead a horse over these ridges without
a trail to better advantage and easier than horses are now being taken over the
Skaguay trail. It will require much blasting and filling in with broken rock to
make the trail passable. They are moving over it, but it is very hard and slow
work.
"At Dyea 1 did not go ashore, but I was told by a passenger who went up the
trail to Sheep Camp that gold-seekers are moving right along ever it. As to gold
mining in Alaska, I think now about as I did when I wrote on the subject eighteen
years ago. Gold and other development has only just begun. There is no reason to
believe that the Klondike is the only rich gold-bearing stream in the Yukon basin.
Gold can be found in nearly every stream in Alaska. The finding of gold will be
followed by commercial developments. Alaska is very rich in -quartz. 1 think there
may be a wagon and railroad from British Columbia up into the Cassiar country and to
the Yukon. The rush to the Yukon has, in my judgment, only just begun. Thou
sands of prospect. rs will go next year, and 1 anticipate that other unusuilly rich
placers will be uncovered. Uncle Sam made not a poor beginning when he bought
Alaska. The glacier is there and attending to business. It is one mile and a half
further back than it was when I last saw it a year ago, so that our ship sailed that
distance through water .that was once covered by the glacier. The tendency of
glaciers is to become smaller. In time the Muir glacier may entirely disappear."
ttie form of winter he will overtake
thousands.
The fiat is black with horses, moving
with "for sale" signs upon them. Fully
1000 bea»ts'of burdens are here, idle, use
less and eating their heads off. They can
be bought now ;or $20 each. Under the
circumstances it will cost more than
the beasts are worth to feed them through
out the winter.
Far from imug ination is it to say that
before the coming of spring the flats and
the tide tliat laps the front of the city of
tents will run red with the blood of
slaughter. These poor beasts are already
subject to horrible cruelty. They return
from an attempted trip over the trail with
backs sore, raw, torn by the packs and
pack saddles, with rivulets of blood trick
ling down their ' legs from wounds re
ceived on jagged rock* and roots. In New
York, Chicago or San Francisco their piti
ful condition would excite public indigna
tion and the drivers would be instantly
arrested. No man has really heard pro
fanity until he hears the driver of a pack
train swear on a mountain trail.
The Skaguans have already had a taste
of winter. Yesterday a chill and howling
wind, carrying sheets of rain, swept down
the canyon. It lashed the bay into fury.
Ships had to heave anchor and to Dull out
into the canal for room to ride the storm.
One hundred horses had been unloaded
from the steamship Bristol upon two
scows lashed together. A small steam
boat, making a great deal of fuss and
splurge in its effort to be a tug, was try
ing to tow the barsres to Dyea. The lash
ings parted, owing to the hish wind, and
the scow drifted ashore on the rocky point
which juts out into the canal between the
rival camps. The scows bumped against
the rocks in imminent danger of going to
pieces. Neither man nor beast could have
lived in such a sea. The horses shivered
in the relentless storm forty-eight hours,
with nothing to eat or drink.
Up the trail outfits and supplies were
Continued on Second I'aue.
HAL HOFFMAN.
HIGH WHEAT,
LOW SILVER,
THE THEME
William Jennings Bryan
Writes About the Law of
Supply and Demand,
SAYS THE PRESENT CONDITIONS
WILL AID BIMETALLISM.
"If Republicans Desire to Claim Credit for the
High Price of Wheat They Must As
sume the Responsibility for the
Famine in India/
THE rise in wheat will aid rather
than injure the cause of bimetal
lism. While a few people may be
inclined to give an id ministra
tion credit or blame, as the case
may be, for every. hing that happens dur
ing its existence, every intelligent person
reasons from cause to eftect.
Wheat has risen because the foreign
crop has been exceedingly short. Bimet
allists contend that the law of supply and
demand is universal. They apply it not
only to money but to bullion, both gold
and silver, to wheat and to every other
article of value. They contend that the
exchangeable value of both money and
merchandise will be affected by anything
which affects either the demand or the
supply.
The American wheat-grower is just now
profiting by the almost unprecedented
disaster which has overtaken wheat
growers of India, Europe and South
America. When wheat reached 75 cents
a bushel a Republican, in Western Ne
braska, pointed out that the rise was just
about equal to the tariff on wheat, and at
tributed the rise to the Dingley law, but
it would be an insult to the intelligence of
the average Republican to sudposp him
capable of cherishing such a delusion.
While wheat is higher in Liverpool than
it is in New York— and it al ways, or nearly
always, is — a tariff on wheat has no influ
ence upon the price in the United States.
In an interview given ont August 22
President McKiniey said: "The cause of
the Dresent boom in the West is un
doubtedly due, in a great measure, to
large crops and high prices caused by the
failure of crops in other countries." II
Republicans desire to claim credit for the
high price of wheat they must assume the
responsibility for the famine in India.
Will any Republican convention "point
with pride" to tbe lamine as an evidence
that the Republican party is redeeming
its campaign pledges? Will the Republi
can narty pledge itself to use its be.->t
effort* to continue the famine abroad, as
it pledged itself last year to promote in
ternational bimetallism?
The most significant thing about Re
publicans rejoicing over the rise in wheat
is that in admitting the rise to be benefi
ficial they answer the arguments made
last fall by leading advocates of the gold
standard, and plant themselves on -.round
heretofore occupied by bimetallists. We
were told last fall that an appreciating
dollar was a National blessing, and yet
within a year the entire Republican press
is in ecstasy, because tbe purchusing
power of a dollar has been to some extent
decreased.
Wage-earners were told last fall that a
rise in the price of commodities would be
a detriment to them, and yet, behold how
happy Republican spellbinders are be-
cause one great staple— flour — has risen.
Laboring men were told that their wages
would be virtully reduced when it re
quired more dollars to buy a given amount
of food aid clothing. (Jan it be that
our opponents have forgotten the "Rail
way Sound-money clubs"? As soon as
employes ask for their share of tbe prom
ised prosperity the large employers will be
compelled to raise wages or cease boasting
that prosperity has returned.
While Republicans seem to have come
over to oar position there is an essential
difference between tnem and bimetallists.
The latter desire to raise all prices to a bi
metallic level and then keep them there
by a financial system which will furnish a
standard of money sufficient in volume
to keep pace with the demand for money.
The former praise the dear duller, but
grow happy over the cheapening of 'he
dollar in its relation to a few articles. The
general rise qu ckens enterprise for the
time-being and maintaining the level, '
when reached, protects business in gen
eral, ana producers of wealth in particu
lar, lrom disastrous effects of falling
prices; a rise in a few articles may bring
an advantage to those who produce MJCh
articles, and yet be a detriment to those
who are encaged in the production of '
articles which do not enjoy a correspond
ing rise.
A few instances n-.av be given : If wool
is high the grower will be benefited, but j
the manufacturer o; woolen goods will !
suffer unless there is a corresponding ad
vance in the price of woolen goods. But '
an advance in the price of woolen goods
s an injury to those who wear woolen
goods unless they enjoy a corresponding
increase in their income". If »u<»ar ri-ies
the sugar trust rrapa the profit, but it
must be at the expense of those who con- |
sume sugar, unless consumers of «ngar i
can make enough money to cover the in
creased price-. So when wheat rises the
wheat-grower is benefited, but he profits at
the expense of those who use flour unless
the latter in some way serure a corre
Bponding increase in their incomes.
PRICE FIVE CENTS.
A general rise in prices should be fol
lowed by a rise in wages. Mr. Carlisle in
his speec i of 1878, commenting upon the
advantages to be secured through the
Bland act, said: "Instead of constant
and relentless contraction, instead of con
stant appreciation of money and depre
ciation of property, we will have expan
sion to the extent of at least $2,000,000 per
month, and under its influ-nce the ex
changeable value of commodities, includ
ing labor, will soon begin to rise, thus in
viting investment, infusing life into dead
industries of the country and quickening
the pulsations of trade in all its depart
ments."
The larmer and manufacturer would
each receive a higher price for his produc
tion. Laborer-, on the other hand, would
at once realize the advantage enjovea by
employers and tteir own disadvantage and
demand an increase in wages. Labor or
ganizations, aided by increased demand
for labor, would obtain this increa c and
thus secure protection from barm. The
good effect of a peneral rise and a subse
quent level of prices would be widespread
and permanent. The owners of ruoney
and holders of fixed investments are tlio
only ones to whom rising prices bring real
injury and this injury is partly remedied
by the greater security given to invost
ments.
If it could be said that rising prices do
injustice to tbe owners of money and
those enjoying fixed incomes let it be re
membered that the restoration of bi
metallism can only take away tbe advan
taee which the gold standard gaVe. It is a
choice between falling prices indefinitely
continued and a return to the bimetallic
level. The gold standard gives a perpetual
advantage to the money-owning class and
works perpetual injustice to producers of
wealth, while bimetallism gives a tem
porary advantage to producers ot wealth
at the expense of money-owners, and then
establishes justice between all classes by
preserving stability in the purcnasing
power of a dollar.
Those who understand the cause of the
recent rise in wheat know tnat the price
will fall when the foreign crops again be
come normal; in fact, wheat has already
receded twice owing to a fear that the first
reports of the foreign crop failure were
exaggerated. The export price of wheat
for the year ending June 30, 1892, was
$103; for the year following it was 80
cents, and by the Ist of November, 1893,
the price had fallen below 70 cents.
What will be the political tfteet of this
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