The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1, No. 41, August 19, 1897 A Weekly Magazine for Boys and Girls

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The first accounts have not only been verified, but surpassed by the later news. Four million dollars' worth of gold is said to be waiting shipment at St. Michael's, Alaska, and miners at the Klondike say that fifty millions more will be taken out next season.

Men who went out poor a year ago are now returning with fortunes. Two miners found $10,000 worth of gold in twenty days.

One man who has just come back bringing $180,000 worth with him gave a reception at his hotel in San Francisco, and invited all who cared for the sight to come and see the nuggets he had brought.

It is said to have been the largest exhibit of gold since the famous times of '49. He had scores of nuggets as large as a man's thumb, but the feature of the collection was one about the shape and size of a full-grown potato. This nugget was said to be worth $250. Those who have seen the Alaska gold say it is very bright, and brassy in color, but not as fine in quality as the California gold.

The stories of these enormous fortunes have set the Californian and Northwestern towns in a fever of excitement. A tremendous rush is being made for the Klondike. Men are leaving good employment and hurrying off to the gold-fields. Professional men (lawyers and doctors), business men, merchants, clerks, and laborers are all joining in the mad rush for the land of gold.

The excitement is as great as it was in '49, but the terrible experiences of that year have now become ancient history, and the gold-seekers have to learn the sad lesson anew. It looks as if this land of gold would, like California in '49, become a land of death.

When the gold fever reached the Eastern States in the spring of '49, there was just the same mad rush for California that is now being made for the Klondike.

The emigrants had in those days to cross the prairies in wagons. None of them understood the rigors of the journey they had to undertake, and many fell by the wayside and died before the promised land was reached. After a while the track across this great American desert was marked by the skeletons of oxen and horses, and boxes and barrels which people had thrown out of their wagons to lighten the load of their poor weary beasts, to enable them to reach water and shade. Here and there a rough mound would mark where some poor soul had been unable to bear the sufferings and had given up his life.

Thousands died in the awful trip across the continent, and thousands more, who thought to make an easier journey by sea, died of fevers contracted in crossing the unhealthy Isthmus of Panama, the strip of land that divides North and South America, separating the Atlantic from the Pacific Ocean.

The historian Bancroft says that while between four and five hundred millions of gold were obtained in the seven years following the find in '49, the gold cost, in human life and labor, three times what it was actually worth.

A few of the Forty-niners gained the riches they sought, but the greater part of the gold-seekers barely made a living by the most exhausting toil.

As regards the Klondike, all the miners who have returned declare that the life is so hard that only the very healthy can stand it. In spite of this warning, weak and delicate men, and men who have lived in luxury all their lives, are setting their faces toward the north, to undertake a life of untiring labor and privation, in the intense cold of an Arctic region in winter, and the most extreme heat in the three short months of summer.

During this latter season the sun does not set till 10.30, and rises again at 3 A.M. There is no darkness, midnight being almost as light as midday. During the hot months all kinds of insects pester the inhabitants. The horseflies and mosquitoes swarm in such numbers that the rigors of winter are considered preferable to the warmth of summer.

In addition to the horrors of the climate, there is no real supply of food obtainable from the Klondike region. There is practically no farming done, and so no crops to amount to anything are raised. Practically all the food used at the gold-fields must be carried there by the miners, and the method of travel is such that it is impossible for one man to carry all the food he will need until the open season comes round again, and he can secure fresh provisions.

When the winter once sets in in the Klondike country the people are completely shut off from the rest of the world, the only way to reach civilization being by a long and exhausting journey on snowshoes over mountains and through fearful gorges, through which it would be impossible to carry baggage. The only communication with the outer world is through the mail, which reaches the district twice during the winter, the mail-carriers being mountaineers who understand how to travel these Arctic mountains over glaciers and snowy peaks.

The returning miners have all told the same story of the journey and the lack of provisions, but, in spite of this, crowds of men are hurrying into this country which is already on the verge of famine. Those who have taken food with them are unable to get it carried to its destination, and it is said that the road is now blocked with it. The only means of transportation is by Indians on mule-back; the mules are very scarce, and the Indians only work when they feel like it. The chances are that many men will be starving in the Klondike this winter, while barrels and boxes of food will be piled mountain-high at the last station, waiting to be carried through the long succession of waterways and portages. A portage is a place between lakes and rivers where the waters become so shallow or rapid that they cannot be navigated, and the boats have to be lifted ashore and carried overland until it is possible to take to the water again.

The word Klondike is said to be a mispronunciation of the Indian words "thron dak" or "duick," which means "plenty of fish," from the fact that the Klondike is a famous salmon stream. The river is marked "Tondak" on the Canadian maps.

In the Klondike district are a number of rivers flowing eastward from the Yukon. In all of these gold has been found. The Stewart River, which lies south of the Klondike, has been found to be as rich in gold as the Klondike, and it is confidently asserted that the Alaskan side of this region is as rich in gold as the British Columbian.

But, so far, all the gold-fields have been located in British Columbia, and the great rush for them has been from the United States.

The Canadians do not like this, and feel that it is not fair that Canada should be making nothing out of these fabulous finds.

There is very little redress for her, however. Americans have taken up the greater part of the claims in the Yukon district, and have been careful to comply with the very strict laws which Canada has laid down to govern mining claims. She can therefore make no objections on that score, but she is determined to get some share of the new riches.

At the present time the Americans are taking their goods into the new country free of duty, and are making what purchases they need in Alaskan towns.

Prominent men in Canada are demanding that custom officials shall be placed at all the Canadian mountain passes.

It is expected that the taxing of the Americans will produce a large income for the Government. One Canadian firm has offered $50,000 for the privilege of collecting the customs for ten years.

A cry has gone up that imposing duties on the miners will make their lot still harder than it is at present, but this will not be heeded. Men who start out expecting to make a large fortune in a few months ought to be willing to pay handsomely for the privilege.

Besides establishing custom-houses, the Canadian Government is seriously discussing the idea of making foreign miners pay a heavy royalty for the right to work in the mines.