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A Mile of Gold Strange Adventures on the Yukon (1898)
A Mile of Gold Strange Adventures on the Yukon (1898)
A Mile of Gold Strange Adventures on the Yukon (1898)
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A Mile of Gold Strange Adventures on the Yukon (1898)

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"The most readable volume that has yet appeared about the Yukon...told the story of his successful search for treasure in an entertaining way." -San Francisco Chronicle, Feb. 13, 1898

"William Stanley, 84, who was with George McCormick when the latter discovered gold in the Klondike died in Pomona after an

LanguageEnglish
PublisherBookcrop
Release dateJul 3, 2023
ISBN9781088203637
A Mile of Gold Strange Adventures on the Yukon (1898)

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    A Mile of Gold Strange Adventures on the Yukon (1898) - William M. Stanley

    A Mile of Gold

    Strange Adventures

    on the Yukon

    (1898)

    By

    William M. Stanley

    (died 1918)

    Originally published

    1898

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    Contents

    I. A Little Personal Biography—Leaving Seattle, March 8, 1896—Forming a Partnership on Board Ship—'We Beach Juneau—On the Ocean on a Fishing Craft—Shipwrecked at Berner's Bay—A Miraculous Escape.

    II. Dyea, at the foot of Chilkoot Pass—Packing One's Goods—Sleds and Snow Shoes—Camping in the Snow—From- the Stone House to Pleasure CampDouble-tripping—Climbing to the Summit—700 Feet up a Wall of Rock—Crater Lake—A Precipitous Descent—Lake Lindeman at Last!

    III. Dangers and Hardships of Chilkoot Pass—Graphic Description by T. B. Corey, Who Crossed it, July, 1897—Exactions of the Indian Carriers—Buying an Indian Maiden for $50—Boat Building on the Lakes—The Plainest Food Tastes Splendid.

    IV. Kid, My First Eskimo Dog—Across Lake Lindeman on a Sled Fitted With a Sail—Over Lakes Bennett and Le Barge—Sledding it on Fifty-Mile River—Avoiding the Treacherous White Horse Rapids—Its Many Victims—Caching Our Supplies—Nine Days Building Our Own Crafts.

    V. Sailing Down Thirty Mile River—The Perils of Five Fingers—The Funny Adventures of Blizzard Bill—Ruins of Old Fort Selkirk—Here the Yukon Assumes Its Name—J. F. Miller's Experiences on the Same Route, June, 1897—Graveyards by the White Horse Rapids.

    VI. On the Yukon at Last—The Breaking-up of the Ice Jam—Entering the Stewart, or Grub Stake River Poling vs. Bowing—The Ferocious Mahoney Indians—Dutch John's Bar—Jerking Moose Flesh—Digging Gold at Sperry Bank—Prospecting the McQuestion River—Looking After Supplies and Winter Quarters.

    VII. The First News of the Klondike Strike—Old Indian the News-Bearer—Beaching Sixty-Mile Post—A Storm on the Yukon;—Two Claims Staked by My Partners on Bonanza Creek—We Locate Two More on the Hardly Known Eldorado Creek—Plenty of Gold, but no Supplies—Down the Yukon After food—A Terrible Jam of Ice-Floes.

    VIII. Was There Gold in Our Claims?—The Placer Miner's Ever Reviving Hopes—Is it Clondyke, Klondyke or Klondike?—The Story of George W. McCormack, the original Discover of this Nature's Treasure House, August 15, 1896.

    IX. The Birth of a New City—Joe Ladue Locates Dawson, September 1, 1896—Grows to 5,000 Inhabitants as if by Magic—What it Costs to Live There—One Thousand Precious Dogs—Wages Paid Unskilled Labor—A Boisterous but Orderly Crowd.

    X. On the Frozen Klondyke—Pitching 'Our Tent on the El Dorado Creek—Building a House—Putting Ourselves on Rations—Our First Beefsteak for Months—Starting Our First Shaft Down to Bed-Rock—Beaching Pay Dirt!—Fifty Dollars to the Pan—Working With a Will Through the Dark Winter Days.

    XI. Watching the Neighbors' Claims—El Dorado Creek, the Richest Placer Mine in the World—Charles Myers' Banner Pan of $800—Great Difficulty to Get Help, Even at $15 Per Day—Our 4,000 feet of Placer Ground Worth $16,875,000—Hundreds of Fine Claims Will Show up Next Season.

    XII. Inventive Genius Never Had a Better Field—To Extract the Frost From the Ground—Many Grotesque Devices—How They Prospect on the Yukon—Winter and Summer Diggings—A Nugget of $320—Thawing the Pay-Streak—Sluicing the Gold.

    XIII. Definitions of the Canadian Mining Laws—Bar Diggings; Dry Diggings; Creek and River Claims; Beach Claims—The Representative Season—How to Live There—Dreary Winters—Hungry Summer Pests—The Dog Again: the Most Precious Friend of the Klondyker—Salmon Their Food.

    XIV. Geological Formation of the Gold Bearing District—Where Is the Mother-Lode—Quartz Croppings—Quartz-Grinding Glaciers—Antediluvian Skeleton Galore.

    XV. One Winter's Work: $224,000 in Gold Dust and Nuggets—I prepare to go home—Hotel De Bum—Half a Million Dollars in Buckskin Sacks—Five Gallon Oil Cans Filled with Gold—A Woman Prospector Worth $250,000.

    XVI. The Yukon Basin—Fish and Feather—All Mariners of Game—Indian Way of Hunting Moose—The Settlements on the Great River—Down Stream to St. Michael's—On Board the Portland—Fair Seattle Again!

    XVII. Fortunes on Board the Portland—The Excitement Beaches Its Climax—The Stampede Northward Begins—A Graphic Newspaper Description of the Bush—Inquiring Visitors and Correspondents by the Thousand—Off to San Francisco—Five Thousand Six Hundred Shining Double Eagles Stamped Out of My Klondyke Gold.

    XVIII. The Great Boundary Question—A Possible Quarrel Between Uncle Sam and John Bull—The Anglo-Russian Treaty of 1825—Russian Rights Transferred to Us in 1867—Possession of the Lynn Canal in Question—It Commands the Overland Routes From the Coast to the Gold Fields—The Seattle Merchants' Petition.

    XIX. Women Tell of Their Adventures in the Yukon—Mrs. Clarence Berry's Narrative—Fanning Out $7,000 Pin Money—Mrs. Thomas Lippy's Letter—A Model Housewife at the Diggings.

    XX. The Route to Dawson City—The Principal Transportation Companies Over the All-Water Route, via St. Michael's—The White Pass Route, From Skaguay Bay—A Simple, hut Eloquent Letter by a Sturdy Prospector.

    XXI. Earlier Stampedes to the Northern Gold Fields—Famous Australian Discoveries—An Arizona Miner on the Yukon in 1852—The Marvelous Success of Young Henry Dore—From Want to Affluence—A Grateful Heart.

    XXII. Outfit and Supplies Needed for One Man, One Tear—Outfit for Two Men—Table of Canadian Customs Duties on Goods Needed by the Miners.

    XXIII. Canadian Mining Laws and Regulations—Recent Amendments.

    [graphic]

    I. A Little Personal Biography—Leaving Seattle, March 8, 1896—Forming a Partnership on Board Ship—'We Beach Juneau—On the Ocean on a Fishing Craft—Shipwrecked at Berner's Bay—A Miraculous Escape.

    Yes, I am the man who recently returned from the ice-bound regions of the north with $112,000 worth of dust and nuggets taken from the frozen earth in less than three months. It is gold. The metal the whole civilized world is courting. The one thing that all men are striving to win; the deity before which universal man has ever bowed; the material sought alike by the tutored and the untutored, the rich and the poor, the righteous and the wicked, the old and the young, the strong and the weak, the Christian and the heathen, aye by all men of whatever nationality, religion or condition.

    But I wander from my text. I was about to tell you how I came to go. Well it is an old story. In one word I might call it hardupishness. The striving to earn a maintenance for a large family, while at the same time laying by the requisite store for the proverbial rainy day which is sure to come, became more and more wearying. Work was scarce with many a needy man walking the street not knowing how to secure a subsistence for his family. While I had always managed to provide for my people, I saw no way whereby I could lay by a sufficiency for my old age, and the dread of getting out of work was at times horrible.

    My attention was first directed to the Yukon gold fields by the reports of rich strikes on Forty Mile, Sixty Mile, Miller, Glacier and Birch Creeks, and along the Thron Duyck river, since named Klondyke. I resolved that since there was gold in the far north I would have some of it, despite the snow, ice, blizzards and mosquitoes. To raise the wherewith to procure an outfit and provide for my family while I was gone, was a problem that must first be solved. Finally with the aid of a son of mine, who, happily, had steady employment I managed to secure an outfit for two, taking one of my boys with me.

    But enough of these hard luck stories. Pass this chapter by; and let us hasten on to the narration of success,—success beyond the visions of my most ardent dreams.

    "Laugh and the world laughs with you.

    Weep and you weep alone."

    The first and most important duty to be attended to in making preparations for a trip to the Yukon gold fields is to secure an outfit. This is by no means an easy task. So many little things must be remembered, for in those regions of perpetual snow there is but little chance to procure tools, food or clothing. One must have plenty of substantial food, such as beans, bacon and flour; for the climate is so intensely cold that it is absolutely necessary to keep the stomach well filled. Warm clothing too is essential. I believe that I spent more time and care in stocking my wardrobe for this trip than the average dandy, who contemplates a few weeks at the seashore, would bestow upon his. Heavy woolen goods had to be selected and oil skins purchased. In the way of tools we needed shovels, picks and pans for mining, and a whipsaw, jack-plane, draw-knife, axe, hatchet, rule, nails, oakum, pitch, rope and mosquito netting.

    Then came the leave-taking from relatives, friends and neighbors. I realized that I was bidding goodbye to civilization for a long period, perhaps forever to brave the dangers of an arctic region, to be menaced by wild beasts and blizzards, climbing rocks and precipices where a single misstep might plunge one into a gorge hundreds of feet below; perhaps to be frozen to death, or worse still to die of starvation; shooting rapids where a misstroke would prove fatal or a hidden rock might send me into eternity.

    But all these dangers were lost sight of in the pain of bidding farewell to a loving wife and fond children. It is this that tries a man's nerve. To keep a smiling face and light heart when you are receiving the good-byes of wife and family is no easy task. But then the hope of an early return loaded with the treasures of the north was a powerful solace, and perhaps restrained the tears that strong men oftimes find it difficult to control. Finally, we had gotten all on board the boat and waived a last good-bye, from the deck of the steamer Alki, to family and friends, and found ourselves steaming towards the Mecca of our hopes. We left Seattle March 8, 1896, and as the Queen City faded from view, I, for my part could not help feeling somewhat homesick. However, my thoughts soon turned to the yellow nuggets in the far north and hope again ran high.

    Seattle is situated on Puget Sound and has a population of about 70,000. It is the largest city in the State of Washington and bids fair to become the metropolis of the Pacific northwest. In 1889, the entire business portion was totally destroyed by fire. This, however, was no drawback, for hardly had the ashes become cold, before men were at work erecting massive stone and brick buildings upon the ruins. This same spirit of enterprise is displayed at all times and no emergency can exist that its business men are not equal to. Surrounded by salt water on the one hand and beautiful fresh water lakes on the other, with snow-capped mountains in full view on either side. Mt. Rainer (14,444 feet in altitude) 60 miles to the southeast; Mt. Baker to the north; the Olympics to the west and the Cascade Range forming the background toward the east, make its scenery perhaps the grandest and most picturesque on earth. Add to this a climate seldom too hot or too cold, and is it a wonder that when I contemplated the radical change I had decided upon, hope should for a while be darkened by regret.

    "Forty miles down the Sound is Point Townsend, the port of entry for the district comprising the State of Washington. It is a small town of about 5,000 inhabitants, picturesquely situated at the confluence of the Straits of San Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound.

    Our next stop was at Victoria, across the Straits of San Juan de Fuca. Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia and is the metropolis of a large area of British territory.

    After leaving Victoria, we might be said to be fully started, as no stop was to be made until we had reached far-away Alaska. From here our course was northwest, through the Gulf of Georgia and Queen Charlotte Sound, running between Vancouver Island, the largest island along the Pacific Coast, and the mainland.

    On a voyage of this character the formalities of society are to a great extent dropped and acquaintances are soon formed. In many cases lasting friendships and permanent business connections are the outgrowth of such chance meetings. Thus it was in our case. Among our fellow passengers, all of whom were interesting, were two boys who were natives of New York State. We seemed to fall in with them from the start and before we had been long in their company resolved to pool our issues and succeed or fail together. These men were two brothers, Gage and Charles Worden.

    From this time on our party consisted of four, and our interests have not been divided since.

    The weather was good, the trip, in the main, pleasant, and we reached Juneau without further incident. At Juneau we had to disembark and make as far as Skaguay Bay and Dyea, but at that time there were not many passengers going north of Juneau and the boats therefore did not run farther.

    Juneau was then a town of two thousand inhabitants and the metropolis of Alaska. It is situated at the base of a mountain about three thousand feet high, which rises almost perpendicular to its summit. The flat space, between tide water and the base of this mountain, is not very extensive and is already well filled with houses. The citizens seemed to be prosperous and the place in general had the appearance of a live mining town. Water works and an electric light plant are among the modern improvements. It is the outfitting point for resident prospectors starting for the interior, and is the winter headquarters for the miners of the surrounding country.

    It was the most northern station of the Puget Sound and Alaskan Steamship Company and therefore a resting place for Alaska tourists.

    When I returned, a little over a year later, I learned that a short time had worked a great change in this northern metropolis. Nearly all of its inhabitants had joined the stampede and rushed to the Klondyke, taking with them all the available dogs, for which the city had become so famous.

    They have become almost deserted on account of the rush to the interior.

    At Juneau we expected to take passage in a small steamboat called the Rustler, but, as her boilers had recently been condemned by the government Inspector of Hulls and Boilers, we had to seek other means of transportation. After looking around some time, we found that the best we could do in this line was to charter a small fishing boat that lay in the harbor. The master of this craft assured us that she could ride any sea, and that he would guarantee to land us safely at Dyea in a short time. So, highly elated over our success in securing it, we closed the bargain and soon had our outfits aboard and were again on our way north.

    Dyea is about one hundred miles from Juneau by boat and we should have sailed over the distance in two or three days. But owing to a gale which wrecked us we lost five days on the way. When about fifty miles out from Juneau we encountered a storm which beat against us from leaward. The wind was violent and the sea ran very high. So strong were the combined forces of these elements that we were driven against the rocks and the boat stove in. When the storm struck us we tried to hold her out at sea, but little by little we were forced landward until we gave up hope and prepared ourselves to bow to the inevitable. This was one of the most exciting moments in my life and was an experience that I do not care to repeat.

    If you have never been shipwrecked, no pen can describe to you the terrible 'sensation of such a disaster. In an awful suspense—worse a thousand times than the most dreadful certainty—we were drifting slowly towards certain

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