The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, May 19, 1899, Page 4

THE N FRANCISCO CALL, FRIDAY, MAY 19, 1899 B ———— ] WINTER WORK OF THE KLO Wide Area of Good Pay Claims in Vicinity of Dawson. Thousands of Men Now Laboring Industriously dlong the Various BY SAM . W. WALL. Special Correspc April 7.—That big ecrowd that came down river last s heard staked the to work out. part of the his big and and summer np that ed on, has t that most people Several ambi- towns have been born farther down, d town or two have been revived and creeks ks and creeks—a hundred of them v hitherto unheard of—have found queer names for themselves and been given strange places on strange, be- & maps. But the men who scaled fers or climbed the divides breast | ow, hauli fter | ons to the: wn, have ¢ cases come back this spring worked out expected it nd ¢ mar wilderin; the along the river as far down i sfaction. seen develoy e is a wide area of “‘good pay” with that the miner is disposed to be hopeful, with a hope that scz rd till it becomes jubilant with some have not well stomed to again who have seen much \e-pan diggings being to air breathes sat 1S been thers ng twer cent gravel which may own for a recording fee of §2 5 happy n as his still re- he and new overed ranging from ugh ve hds been given e past thing just of Circle Ci there three points at which have centered and from which vack into the hills ile, at the mouth of | x miles below | four miles be- ¢ Mile, twe , ck Wade B past weeks become pre-em . The the common level of owever, 1 in with Gold Hill excite its people. n out of a hole rook, fell fr nent aund, del cents s weighed pan. One_ of another $16 course with located from ¢ to end a | row of ber or side claims. It -two miles long and is | from the town of Forty is 1 adian territory creek in American. The trail to_the Forty Mile er to Steel from the ynal boundar hree mil ver a cre Working hundred men now k, about 200 having ne in since the big find was made. Tha strike was made on No. 8 below upper dis- [& by aylor & Able, ¢ partnership of the not relate t fall of the big nuggets the best pan had been 20 cents: with: 21 10 4 feet of zravel, in which that kind of pay was found. Bedrock is from 9 to 15 feet deep and the ground is easily worked. The gold is of light color, worn smooth, and closely resembles thit of Napoieon Gulch, which, on the other side divide, heads'up in the same hiils, . eek empties Into Waiker R Work s, or was at the time being done on Bergl Colman Bros.’, No. 1 1, and on Frank | i's | ood pay wa the lower end of No, 2 | king out dirt ranging his high pan b have sunk thirteen crosscutting thewr claim and found in each of the holes. In No. 4 above | mouth Henry Benis, with little pros- the pecting, found as high as 40 cents to the pan. Altogether thirty claims have been pros- pected on the cree k this winter and every one h; developed pay. The claims on the | generally 1000 feet; a few that | ked before this Tegu | T arc allowed to remaln a 20 1 =1 The creek was staked in great part in the names of people who were never on the | creek, powers of attorney being used by | | general consent. It is reasonably cer Thai, should the cresk tumn out as it i | now expected it will, these claims will be jumped and plenty of trouble result. The creek |s staked from an upper and lower discovery and elso from the mouth up to lower discovery. Jack Wade, for whor it is named, 1S an old Yukoher who is said to have got lost in there some years ago in ranging over the hills, but after some weeks of wandering came out with the news that this was a_good creek he having gotten 2% cents without trying. The Forty Mile diggings are about the oldest in this Yukon country. Forty Mile was a town long before Circle City was thought of. It is called Forty Mile be- cause it was supposed to be forty miics below Fort Rellance, Jack McQuesten's carly establishment (some ten miles down the tiver from Dawson), only a few crossed logs of which cstablishment rev main. Forty Mile River i shallow stream with m winter it affords an e in summer it is not navigable except fo poling boats, and the canyon, ahng: 1[1‘15 teen miles from its mouth, adds greater difficulty to this difficult method. Fifty- three miles from the mouth O'Brien Creek, which heads in the American Creek country, enters the river, and eigh- icen miles farther up the North Fork branches away the same direction with a hundred tributaries. South Fork swings away in the opposite dlrection, heading up in the Sixty Mile divide. Den. nison's Fork on the south and Mosquito on tho north divide the waters again in in | | dence of The Call | to the Creeks. like manner farther up, each having many tributaries. | Walker’s Fork is the principal branch | of the South Fork, and it is into this, | heading Lack toward the main river Forty Mile town, that Jack Wade Cree enters Other tributaries cof Walker Fork_where pay has been found are Po- ker Creek, Davls and Liberty creeks, the | best of which is Poker Ci and’ the | best of this is in Canadian territory. Good pay has been found on Walker's York {tself at or near No. 36, below up- per discovery, which r the bou dary line. Lemont brothers, W. H. Ca nahan and L. P. Stockings own thr alms in this vicinity, and have found 28 cents to the pan by the bucketful. They have prospected sixty feet across and got ey dirt all the way. The owner of 12 Cherry, is also taking out good pay Creek has developed excellent | a number of men are| two oth- 0 in slx to J. T. Hayes and to have taken out $2 have uncovered enough summer. hown for some weeks wash out $10,000 this Davis Creek has been k and time to_be good diggings. An old man named McDonald, however, owns near the whole creek—15 claim§—and neith o nor allows others to work. He lives there with-his young wife, whom he married In Juneau some 3 1 when he went out with $17,000 in_his McKinley and Libe ‘row Tigner creel works himself as been staked, but heard of them, alt gold has | been found the All ing nto | Canyon Creek are found to be gold-bear- | ing.” Among the is Creek h | nished mai grub stake ! “amp Creck, F 00 and Squ all said to carry pa t they are as yet almost v wmber of men went weeks' A n rk NDIKERS | creeks that have been previously worked | that they will tell what they know about | and the men of | for variety | elected for its of Hutchinson, all show good pay in re- sponse to rather hasty prospecting. F. Bennett and Elliot Westfall on Confed- erate are getting out good dumps. Prog- ress in this direction brings the traveler into that region which is - claimed by Eagle City as its own. To be understood geographically, according to the accepted method of approach to it, therefore, one must talk ‘of it from the Eagle City standpoint. Before leaving the .Forty Mile district, however, it may be said in a general way that the work done in the whole region has been little more than mere prospecting, or where the pay has been located the work being done is pre- paratory to summer ground sluicing. The groupnd 1s generally shallow, and most of the claim owners and laymen, aside from gettng out lumber for sluice-boxes or stripping the surface, are “mushing” in their grub for the summer's work. It is estimated that there are about 1200 men at work in the district covered in the foregoing, including about a hundred at work on Miller and Glacler creeks of the Sixty Mile district, who outfit from this point, and about 250 people in the town of Forty Mile and at Fort Cudahy, just across the river. The town and all these dig; struck a paralyzing blow by the ! big finds of the Klondike, are now reviv- ing and are destined to a new life and far greater activity and more rapid devel- opment through the overflow from the Klondike than those finds have called in from over the face of all the earth. These people are generally poor, however. All ve with which to enter the strug-| heir pick and shovel and thelr two | :ands and the steam which may be ap- ed to these with their own poor little outfit. And this outfit they must carry | with them wheréver they go—up the creeks and over the divides. So the work fs very slow to begin with, and only those and the pay streaks located can hope to turn out something above a grubstake this year. Of these Chicken Creek will take fi place. It is estimated that $100,00—some say twice as much—will ba cleaned up from the four or five claims being worked there. Nearly all the work of the district, other than by claim own- ers themselves, is done on the lay sys- tem, 50 per cent being allowed. The old diggings of Miller and Glacler creeks are paying some wages at §1 per hour. The ground throughout the entire district, however, is for the most part shallow, and better worked in summer time, and it will be next fall rather than this spring gold. All this applies equally to the diggings agle City. Eagle City, a town of 800 people, has ce the ice went_out last spring, risen up at the wuth of Mission Creek. Not exactly under the shadow—as every man writing about it will probably be tempted to | —but shouldering "up against that rock that marks a point in the | scape at the mouth of Mission Creek. | But ¥ v is not in or under the |y | shadow of a great rock or a other | shadow. Its people are very proud of it | and believe it will grow to be a big and | permanent city. It has its parties and its | politics, and each man in his bonnet. has some sort of a bee or cther. A short time | ago it was violently addicted to the miners’ meeting, but with that craving yearning for office that | merican it ha civil government o marks the fits | ¥ this last winter, but 3 Lo B oYL reported. This Is true also of the Middle | OWD 0ut of; Ay atoNa ‘“‘(‘;“;,"{‘ Fork, and the towns of Forty-mile and | ¢ “,'li"" Lk pxeling g taec) Eagle City are await them with great | ;"‘I“‘ “-‘;_ | expectations. b | % e bt | hiAken O o4l Swhich prior to theiris after much’ hustling x of | icken Creek, which prior to the rising | &fter, much hustl AR O ack Wade was the Forty-mile A Nothing found on Mosquito For Créek is a very small s jump over it at high water, be difficult to a good sluice that time. Th about Discovery being worked, are being worked-thoroughly. Joe son and Joe Dyer own Discover; they have 100 holes down. The creek in s into | banner distrie! being_worked chiefly on the lay system, and the busy nts eclipses * Hunker. It has ‘“‘been | vears, getting deeper in debt to the company his best ende: will this year square give him stores in s on Chicken | 11 old a ars. him home stake beside 1 f: is being ) at work. I « nted for | ng out a | ta. dump and hav | pan. | Alex McDonald paid $1000 on No. 4 above, | | but lost it, a man from Dawson restak- | it. | One lay is being worked on Thomas | ‘;l](v No. 6 above. Good pay is found | ther: Ten la dump i were let on No. 2 below, but no ing taken out. A few p: were taken showing as high as 2 c but as for the rest nothing better ti for twelve | ! high as 7 cents | & and sleds from the « , they | nt of a Councll | y: and the Council— | . Robinson, §. B. Ballou Judge, A. Be: S McMahon; a' Treas . Mey and a Marshal, M. and the Marshal has twelve | deputi A code of civil, sanitary and | minal regulations has been adopted. e townsite, contaming elghty-seven acres, ha een surveyed and streets lald out. The town contains 560 cabins, while at the same place this day of the month last yeay there was just one cabin, one of | T, % yer, Mather, cabins” built by the | common, -all stop. lers. The people hav hz new n al of to a juc > a land office opened the hope their wishes | may be fu spring. Captain | hardson, ites military com- n the kon, has had ten acres town on the river front set ¢ for barracks. A detachment of the soldiers now statloned at Circle City will be sent up on an early spring boat and | t acks will be bulit. The Alaska | wtion Company and the North | an _Transportation and Trading | any have bulit large warehouses, and the Alaska Commercial Company, | now renting a storehouse, has let a con- | tract for a big building, will commence at one dozen_smaller stor of saloons, restaurants and the like. Without one public dance hall they have a_ circulating library and a_literary so- clety. The town is about fifteen miles from the boundary line on the American work upon which There are half a ith a_complement | | S yrtstpr e diite e ! | side, and this fact gives its gwuple the Baen idaveloned downis 3 | hope of securing much more of the trade g s g bottom 1t | 0f the miners of the Forty Mile district | very wide, but they have heen getting 15 | than would otherwise fall to them. For to 30 eent pans. Below this very lttle | PY taking goods over the trails that lead work h STONE SE is a tributary or continu- ation of Chicken Creek. Nos. 2 and 3 are | being worked. MecDonald took out a dump on No. 2 and on No. 3 four lays are working, and the; dirt is estimated as worth 18 cents to the pan. On No. 4 two ays are being worked, but they have no dump to speak of. Three clalms are be- o8 worked on Dry Pup, that comes in at No. . Some work is heing done on two or three other pups, as well as some benches. A bench off No. 2 Stonehouse 1s sald to yleld an average of 12 cents. Wash ravel Is found all along the top of the divide between Chicken, Stonehouse and Meyers Fork. FRANKLIN CREEK and NAPOLEON GULCH enter the South Fork | of “Forty Mile below Mosquito | Fork. Both are roducer A number of lays are belng worked su cessfuily on Franklin Creek, and the North American Transportation Trading Company is doing conside; work on_property they own in Napoleon The formation there is most dif- ficult to wark and pay dirt is found in an i and a half on bed rock. This et down under & wicker work of roo and moss. The gold is all In large pic and smooth, like watermelon seeds. The zold of Jack Wade Creek and of Franklin “reek, which head up with Napoleon, is exactly like it. The )iold of Chicken (‘ron‘}(‘ on the contrary. is generally fine powder. _O'BRIEN CREEK, which comes into Forty Mile 63 miles from the mouth, is a long stream that yet remains to be prospected. It has one tributary, how- ever, that gives it importance. his is Dome Creek. A great deal| has been heard of Dome Creek in wson this winter. There is a pretty tale told of it, of how two men went out in '§7 to Seattle, both having heavy gold sack: but one having also the ~consumption. The one died, but before doing this he told to the man who nursed him the secrét of where he had gotten his gold, giv! him a map and such careful directio) that subsequently a party whom he dis patched in had no difficulty in finding the diggings, together with the cabins form- erly occupied by the men and the .old rockers they had used. The creek had in the meantime, however,:suffered ons of these latter day stampedes, from which no break in the hills wide enough to be visited bv dayllfiht can hope to escape, especially one with an old rocker on ft. T bellevé, however, the Seattle party succeeded In getting the claim by some means, and it Is deemed valuable. John E. Barrett and party who own Discovery and one above on Dome Creek, have slui¢ed off 300 feet and will shovel in this summer. Several other cluims are being worked on the creek and pans of $150 and $200 are not unusual. THE NORTH FORK-—More men have turned up the North Fork than into any other branch of the Forty Mile this win- ter, and previous to Jack Wade it w considered much the most hopeful divi: ion of the district. There {s a loop in the creek which is called the North Fork Kink. A company has been formed to di- vert the water by cutting across the loop and leaving the creek bed for several miles dry and easily worked. As one goes up the North Fork HUTCHINSON CREEK is the first tributary where much effort to find treasure is discovered. There has been a £ood deal of prospecting there during all the winter, but glaclers and water have greatly handicapped the workers. On Dis- covery $150 has been taken out of one pan. MONTANA CREEK on the left going iED- up and PRENCH GULCH and CON ERAN CRESK on the Heht fributacis | houses upon the trade of the South Fork. | But that is a tale of a town or of two | little pay as WOLF CREEK, a tributary near the | mouth, about which a good deal has| been 'said this winter, has been | prospected somewhat over f{ts en-| tire length. Prospects have: been | found on No. above Bounds ay from Eagle Clty into that country, national line need not be crossed and ¢ of paying duty will beavoid- vinter trails lead up American and Mission creeks and by the crossing of | a low divide drop down into the tributaries of the north fork of Forty Mile and any division of that creck may be ched. The diggings on the South, Den- | nison and Mosquito forks are of course | more easily reached from and more | naturally tributary to the town of Forty Mile, but they are nearly all in Ameri- can territory while the international | boundary line, to cross which 1s to settle | with a customs collector, stretches be- tween them and the town. Forty Mile, to be sure, may find a means of overcom- ing this difficult but if she cannot Eagle will certainly bulld some more log towns and this is a tale of the mines. MISSION CREEK, at the mouth of which sits Bagle City, has developed very & Peterson, No. 10 above, J. Brown, and | No. 23, A. Charlton. A shaft sunk on Discovery disclosed a three-foot vein of | good coal. On No. 22 pup a man named Martin last fall struck a quartz lead at a depth of en feet which is said to stand all the tests of genulneness, the seam be- ing eighty-five feet wide, with granite walls both sides, and can be traced for one and a half miles. $4080 to the ton. W. Kelsey, 8. B: B W located claims and set four men to work uncovering the rock. AMERICAN CREEK, its principal trib- | utary, empties into Mission a few | miles from the mouth. The creek is ~ about twenty-two miles long, and Discovery is twelve miles up. The creek s shallow and all summer diggings, but it has as yet scarcely been tested. Jerry Heator owns Discovery and two_adjolning claims and is prospecting them. The most enersi displayed 18 on No. 2 above, owned by Lorimar & Smith. The claim has been developing pay for two years. and the owners sxpect to take out ,000 this summer. Something over $12,000 last year. The present owners bought the claim and were assured at the time by the previous owner that there was no gay excepft in the bottom of the creek. hey took his word for it and worked out the bottom of the ereek, and after that put a hole down a little higher up, There they struck much better pay, gelting as high as $1 a pan. Louis Anderson, on No. 9 above, is get- ting still better than this. Big prepara- tions are being made by Cosky & Jensen on No. 10 above, and by the Rasman Bros. on No. 16 below. This is about all the work being done on the creek. DISCOVERY FORK is the best tribu- tary of American so far In | its hiktory. There are about twenty men working on it and good pros- pects are found there. Thomas Welch prospected and_claims to have found coarse gold on Union Gulch, a tributary otcmscnvery Fork. CHAMPION CREEK or LITTLE NORTH_ FORK is just over the dlvide In the Forty-Mile country b, American Creek, The ecreek Is all staked out, but John Mahalcik on No. 9 built the only cabin and has sunk two holes to hedrock. He claims to ve got d surface prospects and will make a thor- &b ubois did some work on above the snow now | 5 | ticn on the part of | are about a hundre | Seventy-mile this winter. | of July, MeKinley and | the paints where two of the h search for a pay sh:e% Jiioher(qun a the mouth, and will, after getting some provisions over, tr§n§aln. OLD SILVER CREEK, slightly pros- pected on three claims, has discovered \'er¥ coarse gold. The same may be said of Star, Bonson and Cub creeks, COMET CREEK, Bear and Arkansas creeks have been staked out but not prospected. EUREKA CREEK is the continuation of the North Fork. Little work has been done on it. A. Flint, James Boggan, James Tuppey, George McClure, Mike W: Krebs and Dan Powell have done more prospecting mnear the mouth of Slate Creek and have found good pay. They have buflt a cabin, and are now engaged in getting provisions over to enable them to work the clalm this summer. This Is Discovery, The creek is staked to eight below and twenty-eight above, and there is room for many more. SLATE CREEK enters Eureka Creek at Discovery, on the latter creek. It is sixty miles long. Discovery 1s twenty milés from the mouth, and from the mouth to 43 above the creek is staked and recorded. Prospect holes have been sunk at frequent intervals over this long stretch, and in no instance without find- ing coarse gold. The creek Is satd to have developed not a single “‘Rnocker” out of all the crowds who have stampeded it this last winter. The creek was staked originally about the Fourth of last July, 2 a tributary also thoroughl)f s!akedd that comes in near Discovery, {s name Fourth of Jul{,. Discovery was made by the Hudson brothers, Teddy and Jim, who previously distinguish themselves by a great slaughter of cariboo in_ the winter of 1897-68, thereby getting them- selves into the newspapers. Thelr find, backed by an enerFeuc effort to get pro- visions over the divide to_ their claim, started.the first stampede. There are now about fifty men at work on the creek and twenty well separated claims. others are engaged in taking provisions over, for the diggings are all shallow, and | the real work will be done this summer. In fact, the town of Eagle City is now comparatively deserted from this cause. A party of n eye s, who own several claims, have thoroughly prospected No. 13 below, and oug for a width across the creek of sixty feet | they find a depth of three feet of gravel, which pans from 6 to 40 cents. is elght feet deep with fhree feet muck. The Buckeye boys Keley, manager; Sylvester Wideman, James Sanderson. George Gleckler, Wil- llam Theme, William Fettle, Howard Huntington, George Miller, Charles Smith, be Mftzer, Hemry Zerker, William Co’ hen, J. L. and Ross Livengood, Frank At- tleman, Dal Days and Patrick McCristal, all of Sendusky, and Jullan L. Shay an Perry Hutchins of Dayton, Ohfo. ~They form the Alaska Co-operative Mining Company, a corporation formed at San- dusky, and of which James E. Sneveley was manager. He fell into deep disfavor with the (‘ompan"] and they put him on rations and told him to leave the coun- try, and he did so. The company owns twelve claims in the vlclnlt{. = Jack Mahalelk, Mike Beckler, Nicholas Licht and W. M. Flaherty are known as the cariboo boys. They own Nos. 10 and 11 above and have the same gold, but tue depth of gravel is not so great. It is estimated that 100 men will be working. ‘on the creek all summer if enough provisions can be got over while lasts. There will be a great deal of prospect- In the neighborhood this summer for of ing r Qquartz, a number of men having claimed {o have found good indications n several Maces, especially on Jim Creek and on Gold Run., Bench claims have been staked on Slate ('mulk. but the ground Is by no means covered as yet. The principal tributaries of Slate are Independence, Ruby, i Y Christmas and Happy New Year, of which the same good surface ve been found, though no real yet being done on any. There is untry in here that remains to be spected. Almost nothing is known of Middle Fork and all its tributaries. Merry on all prospe work the These will be invaded this summer, no doubt. BOUNDARY CREEK is a good sized stream that flows into the Yukon just at the boundary line. The lower half of the lower claim only lies Vs About a dozen men are working the they claim to have found big prosp but that water has troubled them all ter so that they could do little work, but they hape for better opoprtunity in the sulmer. TLe district thus touched on its directly tributary to Eagle City and includes a great number of creeks that are wholly unprospected. What prospecting has bee done on any of the creeks is general'y of the most superficial kind, consisting of the sinking of mere potholes that almost run out before they reach bedrock. This has not been because of a lack of inclina- rospectors, but be- ise of an enforced hurry. On mere ting tours into regions difficult of a and distant from a base of sup- plic en cannot carry great quantities of food and therefore must do only what they can do quickly. The whole region remains to be really tested. Even the coming summer will not see this done, although the thousand men at work there now will see their number multiplied sev- eral time: - THE SEVENTY-MILE COUNTRY— The Seventy-mile is a big stretch of coun- v, with on the map more creeks to the square inch than any other division. There d men working there and a small settlement at the mouth, Nothing to cause a thrill has come out of Twelve claims ¥ n ca prospect are being worked on BARNEY CREEK — Like Forty-mile and Mission, nearly all the Seventy-mile diggings are shallow and better worked during the mosquito drill. Twelve claims are being worked or made ready. Lee and Frohlick are the owners of four claims, one of which paid three ces to a man last summer. The dirt from 15 to 20 cents in 3% to 6 feet of gravel. Powell ‘& Nelson are working a clatm, and Reynolds and Runnells two | others. A. J. Freitas and V. L. Bening- ton own a_portion of 1000 feet at the | mouth which developed excellent pay. FLUME CREEK enters seventy miles | from the opposite side from Barney, the and some miles farther up. Several claims were worked there last fall, and provisions. were taken in this winter for the summer campaign. Claim owners in the forties say they have made recent good finds. % Claim owners on Crooked Creek, Broken Neck and Pleasant creeks are cheerful, and declare a stanch faith in their prop- erty. There is_a little bunch of creeks that enter the Yukon in close vicinity to each other about thirty miles below Seventy Mile. They were staked during the throes and enthusiasms of the late war time and were called Dewey, Schley, Fourta ’h{lchlgan. I wrote concerning them after my run down the river last fall. 1 was unable to visit them left going up, | this time and cannot tell whether any- thing has developed in line with their promise or otherwise. What they hald will, however, only be delivered in the bright summertime. Fourth of July Is the creek of this group that caused the most stir last summer. It is about thirty miles long and Discovery is half way up Discovery was made by T. McMichaels, and it s said he took out gold in ounces. Nos. 10, 11 and 12 are owned by Van Ness, Pennoyer and Pickenbaugh. They shov- eled sixteen days off No. 10 from a depth of six feet and with a net result of 92 ounces. A chemist from the Armour Packing Company went to the diggings from Circle at the instance of Alex Mc- Donald last October, so they say, and in two pans got 88 and 52 cents respectively. CHARLEY RIVER—A number of men are working on the tributaries of Charley River. On Sam Creek eleven men have been working and are said to have been finding good pay; but some of them were compelled to come out for lack of pro- visions. On_Bonanza Creek, twelve miles up Charley River, forty men are at work. TY\& “find_encouraging colors, but have not Yocaled a pay streak. Draham Creek, four miles from the mouth of Charley River, has twelve men working who claim to have 10 and 15 cent dirt. Todd Creek, a tributary of Draham, has developed pay. Todd, who made the discovery, claims to have gotten 60-cent pans with an_average of twelve. This reglon from Forty Mile to Charley River comprises many hundreds’ of miles of water shed and many thousands of possibilities for prospectors. It need not be said that the vast area has scarce- 1y been touched and remains as an almost unlimited opportunity to those who are equipped physically and otherwise to in- vade it, to meet and overcome the hard conditions it has laid upon the taking from it what it holds. It offers oppor- tunity tf these onlx. My trip, which did not extend beyvond the Forty Mile and Mission Creek coun- tries, comprehended a journey. of about miles. 1 found exceuerg tralls and road houses or miners’ cabins at con- Venlent distances for each day’s travel, so as to necessitate camping out but two or three times on the whole trip, which cov- ered a period of three weeks. This in itself I8 a long stride toward the rapid development of the country that has been taken in this one year just past. In the journey down the river I DA?led river steamers are wintering, the Arnold of the | Alaska Exploration Company back of an land abgti” ihiry miles . below Forty MHQ agd the John C. Bar u*!he Tiver five es fl?w the Arnold. The Arnold is osition that she sought, though she sought it yather late in Many | {neteen, known as the Buek- | Bedrock | are Charles | Fourth of July, | -‘ure e year, when | she had little time to make choice. The Bar is lying where she was caught by the ice and her positton is extremely. dan- gerous. The ice has been cut around her and her officers hope that she may have water enough on top of the ice to enable her to run to a more protected position before the dce breaks and the crush comes. The Arnold, Captain McNoble in command, is in comparatively safe quar- ters. As the water rises the boat will be hauled in close back of and in the shelter of the island, and unless some accident happens she will weather the storm. The long days are gradually dlssnlvlnfi the snow and the period of interrupte communication on the river, the trails being impassable because of rotten ice, is at hand. This, that leaves to-day, will perhaps be the last mail out—the last, at least, that starts with any reasonable certainty of getting out before the river ice breaks. The system to which the car- riage of mails has been reduced by Col- onel Steel and the Police Department may, however, prove successful in keep- ing up communication later than even they themselves will guarantee. It is time, then, to say a word that may be final before the clean up as to the result of the winter's work in the Dawson dis- trict, nlthough it be only repeating what has been sald time and again through the winter. ~Conservative estimates by the best gos!ed peoi)le place the output of the Klondike and Indian River districts for the year at from twenty to thirty mil- lons. In the list of creeks El Dorado will still stand &t the head with an output of five or 8ix millions. Bonanza, with her won- derful benches, will make a close second with a yleld of over five millions. Hunker and Dominion will dispute for third place with something like three and a half mil- lions each. Sulphur, which has proved something of a disappointment, rather because of its deep diggings, perhaps, than because the gold is not there, will not turn out more than half a million. Gold Run and Eureka creeks, which this winter have entered the lists of good pro- ducers, and Quartz Creek, which has de- veloped better pay on the benches than in the bottom, will each produce about a quarter of a million. All other creeks and benches, including Thistle Creek, Stewart River and other independent districts con- | tiguous to Dawson, may be set down at about half a milllon. EI Dorado has sim- | ply *“kept up its lick” in turning out a steady stream of gold. Bonanza, that last year took on the shape of a disap- | pointment, has developed in much better torm, so far as indications go, this year. | Gold in paying quantities is being taken | out as far up as the eighties above, while the sidehils have been a surprise and wonder. Many small gulches entering Bonanza lon the left limit, that is, on the El | Dorado side, have proven big producers, | such as Monte Cristo, American, Adams and Victoria. The hillsides bounding | these have also discovered big pay. A | year ago they had not been prospected | and were not even staked in the great | stampeding season—the winter of 1837-9. | Bonanza_is now belng prospected all the | way, and it is not impossible will furnish new' surprises. The benches a side hill of the creek from Discovery to forty | below on the left limit are being bo: | into "until they present the appearance | from below of a long succession of earth | works. | Tha output of Hunker this year will greatly exceed that of last. The benches here, too, have turned out very rich. Last’ Chance, a tributary of Hunker, was until lately little thought of, but the side hills through a certain area have been found to contain good pay. The same is true of Gold Bottom; another tributar: Dominfon Creek ~over in the Indian River division has had a varying expe- rience during the winter, the utmost en- thusiasm being felt in its name at times, while at others claim owners fell into | the blues. This is because the pay streak was elusive and pockety. On the whole, however, the creek will make big returns for the labor. The best results come from between the dis veries and to 20 below | and 10 above uy Work_ ha: t 1 -k been done far down E have | n found at intervals all the way and some pay dumps will be taken out down in_the hundred The diggings at Stewart River and Thistle Creek, of which much has been reported here during the wimter, will not | advance much above the prospecting | stage, although all rounded up there will | be “considerable gold come out. The | prospects at Thistle Creek and tributaries | efinite and tangible and indicate ex- cellent diggings. I have seen a pocketful ! of gold that averaged in size from a grain | of wheat to a marble taken out of two | holes on one claim. There aught to be | more where it came from. , | "As for the other diggings at Circle City, up_the Kuyukuk and toward the upper lakes, they are too distant for me to venture to speak of as something that | T know about. At Circle 1 learn, the same active operations are going on there that have been progressing for some vears with the same good resu On the Kuyukuk nothing can be look for this year more than the results of | prospecting, as it was invaded in num- | bers only this last fall. I have, of cour: | heard many reports from there, but they | vary. | The slow appreoach of spring and sum- mer, the warm, long de and cool | nights has the effect of dissolving the | snow very gradually. The sunny side of | the hills are already bare in spots, the much used tralls are worn through and on the ice of the small streams are be- coming difficult to travel over. The freight rates are going up in eonsequence, | and again the question of the sufficlency | of the supply of water for the wash-up | is raised. Many believe there will not be enough to clean up the dumps now stand- ing. Thus early, however, this is some- thing in _the nature- of going to meet trouble. Business has already revived somewhat in anticipation of the big out- put, and miner and merchant are in tune with the sunlit springtime. The second winter of the great Klondike stampede is safely and successfully over. EetiotiohotioN e etieteNeteNom WESTERN MEN FOR THE NAVY e Secretary of the Navy Interested. e Special Dispatch to The Call. Call Headquarters, Wellington Hotel, ‘Washington, May 18. Secretary of the Navy Long is deeply interested In the result of an experiment which is to be made under the direction of Captain John M. Hawley for the en- listment of 300 or 350 men in the Middle West and West. It is belleved Western enlistments will quicken that section’s in- terest in the navy. Many inquiries have been received by the department from the West by young men of adventurous spirit who would like to join the navy, but who cannot afford the expense of traveling to New York or Boston with the chance of rejection after their arrival. It is proposed, therefore, to send a recruiting officer tnrough the West next month to gather in 300 or 350 re- cruits. Only bright and promising Ameri- can citizens between the ages of 18 and 25 will be taken. They must be able to read and write. Exceptional inducements are to be offered those recruits in the shape of_a long crulse on Admiral Farragut's old flagship Hartford, which is now at the Mare Island Navy Yard. She has been thoroughly refitted at a cost of about $350,000. The recruits will be sent to the receiving ship Independence at Mare Island for several months of pre- liminary “shaking down,” and then will embark upon the Hartford for New York either by the way of Cape Horn or across the Pacific to China, thence to India and through the Red Sea and the Mediter- ranean. Her executive officer will be Lieutenant Commander Alexander Sharp, a nephew of Qeneral Grant, who distin- uished himself during the recent war as he commander of the auxiliary yacht ‘Vixen, which was attached to Schley's fixipa’ squadegn, In addition to the re- ts, she will carry 150 axgerlenced men, “P°" arrival in New York the recruits will be assigned to warships, If this ex- periment is a success, as Captain Hawley confidently expects it to be, it will be re. peated with a view to the enlistment of more Westerners. A Nihilist who went to Siberia to rescue his father from prison writes up his thrilling experience and pub- lishes the photographs he took, in next Sunday’s Call. | Hugh _McGuire, James Tyrrell, Henry Berg, Valentine Witt and Henry Hier. Yol WITHDRAWS FROM THE GAS CONCERN L J. K. Prior Leaves Light and Power Company. e MISMANAGEMENT | g CHARGES PRICE OF STOCK AND DXVI-! DENDS DWINDLE AWAY. —_— How Competition Has Cut Into a -Great San Jose Monopoly That | Formerly Yielded Fortunes in Revenues. e Speclal Dispatch to The Call. | SAN JOSE, May 18.—There is trouble in | the directorate of the Light and Power | Company of this city, and J. K. Prior of San Francisco, one of the largest stock- | holders in the concern, has resigned. He charges mismanagement of affairs and | shoves the responsibility for this on the | shoulders of President Quilty. Prior has been interested in the proper- ties of the company for mnearly forty | vears. The annual meeting of the com- | pany last Saturday was stormy, and at its close Prior resigned. No one was elected to fill the vacan The remain- | ing directors are: C. W. Quilty (presi- dent), J. L. Leiter, Amasa Eaton, Lloyd | Tevis, Urlah Wood and Gus Lion. The Light and Power Company has been a sort of gold mine to its owners until recent years. For a long time it had a monopoly of the gas and electric light | business of the city at prices that were top-notchers. Prior was a large owner | of the San Jose Gas Company, and when | it was merged into the electric company | he got some 2000 shares. The capitaliza- tion of the Light and Power Company is | $1,000,000, and the gas company’s business went in at twelve- s of this amount of stock. Dividends were large and the concern enjoyed the city lighting contracts and all other business. The management changed, and H. J. Edwards was deposed as superintendent. He at once organized the Electric Im- provement Company and started in busi- ness for himself. His popularity carried | him along against the immense capltal of the opposition, and the new company cut into the business and dividends of the Light and Power Company. The latter's stock dwindled from $6a a share to $42 50 three months ago, and now it is $22 50 and dividends have ceased. The Improvement | Company has just added a gas plant and has reduced the price of this light from | 2 75 to $2 per thousand feet. It is now laying pipes and has contracts ahead that ill keep its force busy for months to come. ; Since this latest move the Light and Power Company has been seeking a _con- solidation with the Improvement Com- . Prior was particularly anxious for this. This combination fell through, how- aver, and he in disgust resigned. He al- leged mismanagement and declared he | would not remain a director and be re- sponsible for it. Prior is a practical man and proved valuable in the concern’s man- agement, but the smaller stockholders | combined and took affairs out of his hands. CITY EMPLOYES’ Surprising Growth of the Freedman Surety Company. NEW YORK, May 18.—The Mazet com- mittee spent the greater part of the da in an attempt to show the respective bonding interests of city employes held by the so-called Freedman and the so- called Platt Surety companies. Counsel Moss for the committee, after an elab- orate examination Into this matter, said | that the significant feature of what has been shown was the growth of the Freed- man company, the youngest of all the bonding companies, during the past year or two in the bonding of city officials, Police Commissioncrs Hess and Abell were .on the stand for a short time to- | day. Commissioner Hess agreed with Counsel Moss in an expression of an opin- fon that facts of a suspicious nature had been presented before the committee. — FUNERAL OF MRS. DONOHOE. Large Concourse of Yuba and Sutter County Friends Attend. MARYSVILLE, May 18.—The funeral of the late Mrs. J. C. Donohoe of Lomo took place from St. Joseph's Church in this city at noon to-day at the conclusion of requiem high mass, which was read by Rev. Father Coleman, and attended by a large concourse of Yuba and Sutter Coun- ty friends. Rev. Father Hines officiated at the grave in the Catholic Cemetery. The pall-bearers were D, P. Donahue, | BONDS. Native Sons Entertained. WOODLAND, May 18.—A large delega- tion of members from Dixon Parlor of Native Sons was entertained by the Woodland parlor Wednesday evening. A banquet and after-dinner speech making were.the features. |§ ARNDT CHOSEN CHANCELLOR —_— Some Officers Elected by Pythians. —_—— JETER GETS SECOND PLACE —_— RATHBONE SISTERS ALSO SE- LECT NEW LEADERS. e In the Evening the Knights and La= dies Hold a Grand Ball, and the Scene Is Most Beautiful. e Special Dispatch to The Call. SANTA CRUZ, May 18.—The fourth day’s proceedings of the Grand Lodge, Knights of Pythias, although' occupying the entire forenoon, resulted in little be- ing accomplished. The main interest cen tered upon the election of officers, but at the hour of adjournment only four of- ficers had been elected. _ The fight for supreme representatives somewhat delayed things, as there were oix candidates for the honmors. The of- ficers elected were as follows: Supreme representatives, Walker C. Graves of San Francisco and George E. Church of Fresno; grand chancellor, Dr. Arndt of San Franclsco; vice grand chancellor, William T. Jeter of Santa Cruz. The balance of the officers will be elected at to-morrow morning's session. The Rathbone Sisters were also session, and spent their time in a re- Vision of the by-laws and election of of- ficers, Twenty-four laws were acted upon and the grand chief was sustained in all cept two. o mittes. consisting of Mrs. Lucy Holland of OaKland, Mrs. Kratzenstein of Sacramento and Mre. M. A. Welden of G Valley, was appointed to extend a vote of thanks to members of Hermion Temple and the citizens of Santa Cruz for iheir generous hospitality. The election of offi resuited as fol- in lows, all of the officers being new ones with the cception of Mrs. Rru\\'n}:mrl >ast ho were re-elected: A. Fitzgerald of Mrs . grand se! iverside; of lda E nior, M grand Oak nior, 5 g ) : grand manager. X S. Pringle of Santa Cruz; grand mistress of R. and C., Holmes of kland; Ir Louise rand M. of F Santa Rosa; grand protectc ple, Mrs. 8. J. Rodgefs of San Jose, and grand ou guard, Mrs. Brown of River- ¢ The grand ball in the evening at the Armory surpassed all previous efforts in the line of entertainment. The dance hall presented a brilliant ne. Beautiful decorations adorned the walls and bunt- ing as used in profusio The affair scial one of the season and the W visiting Knights, Rathbone ters and society people were there The grand march led by Grand Chancellor Pat and Chief Mary Fitzgerald. cellent music was fur- nished for the daneing and the order of dances was a_good one. The souvenir programme given to all in attendance was very appropriate and on each was a_photographic view of a scene on _the cliff drive Frank J. Hoffmann was the efficient floor manager, ted by the following floor. committe rl B. Lindsay, H. E. Irish, Oscar A. F R. H. Pringle, B. F. Booth and W Forsyth Reception committee—W. T. Jeter, J. .. ‘Wright, N. N. Knapp, A. N. Sheldon, H. D. Smith, A. D. Pena, I Clark, W, M. € ., M. Rawle, W E i C. dron, W. E. I ¥ gen, J. G. Tanner, Dr. F Hopkins and F. W, Freight by Boat and Team. WOODLAND, May 18.—There is such & disparity between the freight rate force between San Francisco and Sacra- ramento and San Francisco and Wood- land that local merchants find it difficult to compete with Sacramento merchants in many lines of goods. In order to ove come this handicap local merchants hava adopted the plan of shipping heavy frelght. by the opposition line of steam- ers to Elkhorn. Thence it is hauled to Woodland by team. A saving in frefght is thus effected and the local merchants are afforded an opportunity to give em- ployment to local teamsters. Sl North Wind Damages Wheat. WOODLAND, May 18.—The north wind which prevailed for several days last week did .considerable damage to wheat, especially to winter sown. For four days this week a_ coal, moist wind from the south prevailed, and as a result much of the damage inflicted by the north wind was neutralized and the crop prespects were materially improved. This morning the north wind began to blow again and farmers are very apprehensive about the result. The hay harvest is under way and the yield is considerably above the aver= age. - Death of Mrs. Rhoda Maxwell. WOODLAND, May 18—Mrs. Rhoda Maxwell, §2 years of age, and for nearly half a century a residerit of Yolo Count died in Winters on Wednesday and buried this afternoon. OF THE HEART Is often caused from Nerve Weakness or D gestive Disorder, HUDYAN CURES. 50c. WEAK HEARTS DITION. EV ILY, OR ACHES, s BE POSTPONED A SINGLE DAY, KANSAS CITY, MO. Dear Sirs: After taking Hudyan for about four weeks I find that I ‘am per- fectly cured of Heart Trouble and Dyspepsia. 1 am satisfied my heart affec- tion was due to the stomach trovble. thank you for placing within my reach your valuable remedy. R. HUBBARD. | HUDYAN If your Druggist does not keep ©+CHE+O+ OO U MAY CONSULT THE HUDYAN OF CHARGE. CALL OR WRITE. Yoro+® : : g : : : { i ARE AS COMMON AS WEAK STO TROUBLE AND NERVOUS WEAKNESS OFTEN BRING O} SRY HEART THAT FLUTTERS, PALPITATE: IS WEAK OR DISEASED, AND TREAT HUDYAN C 1S SAFE, SURE, AND CURES THIS DISORBER PERMANENTLY. those weak spells nor that fluttering of my ! son. is for sale by druggists—s0c a HUDYAN CO., corner Stockton, Ellls and Market streets, San Francisco, MACHS. STOMACH THIS SAD CON- S QUT E. SHOULD NOT IS A POSITI HUDYAN LOS ANGELES, CA' Dear Doctors: I -am feellng splerf:‘iid since F took Hudyan, for I no longer have heart. My nervousness has all away, and I ean sleep better than plasd!xedd Hudyan has made me feel ke p new per- MRS. LOUISA WARREN. ackage or six packages for $2.5 send. direct to the HUDYAN REMEDY . Cal. DOCTORS ABOUT YSUR CASE FREE m@«@op@#@@o@w) |