THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN ALASKA

By Dr. L. H. French.

DR. FRENCH, from whose "Nome Nuggets" this account of the discovery of gold, in 1899, and pioneer mining operations in Alaska is taken, by permission of Montross, Clarke & Emmons, headed an expedition which installed the first hydraulic mining outfit on the site of Nome, at the mouth of the Snake River, in 1900.

The gold output of the Nome district in that year -was more than $5,000;000, and in the following year it was estimated at $7,000,000. During that period a "mushroom" settlement of tents, first called Anvil City, sprung up. Gradually it gave place to a permanent city of frame structures, and there now exists a fully organized municipality, compactly built along the beach, electrically lighted and equipped with a good water system. The last census recorded a population of about 5,000.

GOLD was first discovered at Nome in July, 1898. The discovery was made by men who had been up the coast, who were returning, and whose schooner was capsized in a storm off the mouth of Snake River. After doing a little prospecting they hastened to Golovin Bay where they induced others to return with them to Cape Nome. A considerable number of men did so and made valuable discoveries on the creeks, the presence of gold in the beach not being then known. By this time, as winter was setting in, they went back to Golovin Bay. Of course, after they arrived there, the news being too good to keep, every one heard of their luck. In a few hours there was a general stampede from Golovin Bay to the new diggings. Word was sent to Council City, and on the 18th of November the exodus from that place began. Shortly afterwards the news reached St. Michael, where men from Nome had gold dust to back up their statements, and spent it freely, in stores and with trading companies, for mining tools and provisions to take back with them.

This caused a great deal of excitement among the employees of the stores at St. Michael. In five days many had secured dog teams and provisions, and were on their way over the ice to the new land of gold.

In three weeks the place was nearly deserted, the same being the case with other small camps nearby. The news spread to the villages along the Yukon. Soon scores of dog teams, laden with provisions, passed through St. Michael, en route for this icy Eldorado.

Most of the men had powers of attorney to stake claims for their friends some even had powers of attorney for their wives and children in the States. In this way claims in the Nome district were taken up. In a short time, when navigation opened, newcomers could find little ground that was not staked. During the summer of 1899 about five thousand people gathered near Cape Nome, and whatever ground remained unclaimed was then taken up. Gold was found in abundance. The transportation companies were largely instrumental in advertising the supposed richness of the beach. During the summer of 1900 gold remained in the beach at Cape Nome in small quantities, but the best of it had been taken out in 1899.

The great richness of the country, which can hardly be overestimated, lies not in the beach, but in the interior. So far only placer claims have been worked, although many valuable quartz claims have been located, and next season will see many of them in operation.

The climate of Nome is, for the most part, anything but agreeable. The weather during last July was ideal, the mean temperature being 52 F., though the nights were very cold. In August continuous rain set in, accompanied by high winds. Only those who are physically strong should venture into this country, as the hardships to be endured are of the severest kind. Those going there should, under no circumstances, take their wives and children.

In June, 1899, gold was discovered in the sands of Nome beach. So many different stories have been told as to the manner in which gold was discovered in the sands on the shores of Behring Sea, that it is difficult to find two men who agree exactly as to the facts of the discovery. The accepted version is that one of the early gold seekers, being stricken with scurvy and unable to work, spent a number of hours each day on the beach, in order to avail himself of the old time whaleman's cure of sand and salt water. In order to occupy his time he took a miner's pan with him and, in a short time, established the fact that gold in large paying quantities could be found in the sands. This, undoubtedly, caused the first real operations in that line by white men; although it is more than probable that the natives had taken gold from the sands long before this, as the early traders found rudely fashioned gold ornaments among them. As no trace of their mining in the interior has ever been discovered, we must draw the aforementioned conclusion.

Quite a number of idle men made rockers and started to work ; and even some of the business men sold out and went to rocking. As soon as the miners, working on the creeks for wages, knew that many of these men were making from $15 to $100 a day, they threw down their picks and shovels and made for the shore. In an incredibly short time the beach was literally covered with men and rockers, work on the creeks being materially interfered with.

The beach diggings are about two hundred feet in width. They lie between the ocean and the tundra. The tundra is elevated from ten to thirty feet above sea level, stretching back four to six miles to the foothills. It is composed of frozen moss and muck; its surface being dotted with small lakes.

Beach gold is very fine and hard to save; some of it will actually float, with sand, out of a gold pan. It is found on a false bed rock of blue clay. There are from one to three pay streaks of ruby (garnet) sand. The pay streaks vary from one to four inches in thickness, with a bed rock two to six feet deep.

Of the beach, however, I shall have little to say. Its richness was ephemeral, although the vast wealth of the interior exceeds, by far, the most sanguine expectations ever entertained concerning the sands along the shore.

During the winter of 1899-1900 the marvelous stories of the richness of the newly discovered Cape Nome district induced me to make preparations for spending the summer there. A number of friends and acquaintances in New York and New England electing to become interested with me in the venture, a considerable plant was ordered in New York and shipped to Seattle. The machinery, which proved to be the largest plant of the sort taken to work on the beach at Cape Nome, was designed to take up sand from the bed of the ocean.

The several members of the party reached Seattle during the last days of May to find the town full of men preparing to go to Cape Nome. Steamers left almost daily, laden far beyond their capacity both as to passengers and freight. For many weeks vessels had been departing with the full knowledge that Behring Sea would be full of ice floes and that there must be long delays in reaching Nome. But so great was the eagerness to be the first on the field, that a great number of people left in the early spring on sailing vessels and steamers. Tent makers, grocers, hardware dealers, and general outfitters benefited principally among the merchants of Seattle, though, perhaps, hotel keepers and transportation companies should be mentioned first.

I was advised to take drafts, instead of cash. I had, however, a premonition that I might have some difficulty in securing cash at Cape Nome, and so took greenbacks for a large amount, the various members of the expedition carrying them in money belts. This was a most fortunate thing for us, as not only should I have failed in securing, for some time, any money on drafts at Cape Nome, but I even failed to find a place to deposit our money. For some weeks we had to continue to carry this decidedly bulky and disagreeable load.

On June 7th our party sailed from Seattle on the S. S.---, the best steamer of the Cape Nome fleet. We took with us over two hundred tons of machinery, the plant of the Cape Nome Hydraulic Mining Company, which we believed to be adapted to the conditions prevailing at Cape Nome, together with a large amount of coal, lumber, supplies, tents, hardware, etc., etc. The vessel had on board one thousand and nine souls, far more than she was licensed to carry. But, while there were many complaints, there was really no actual suffering from overcrowding, nor was there any lack of anything essential to the comfort of the passengers, although, had we not made so speedy a voyage, our condition might have been pitiable owing to the lack of provisions. As an evidence of the parsimonious policy of the steamship company (which was really one of the best), I have simply to say, that we made the trip in ten days, certainly quite as short a time as could have been anticipated; yet on the morning after our arrival, and before the passengers landed, it was necessary to send to other vessels of the fleet, lying in the offing, for food for breakfast. While we were delayed less than two days in the ice, it would not have been unusual at that season of the year to remain in the ice a week or more. Had this happened, it is easy to see what suffering to the passengers would have been entailed.

The personnel of the passengers on board the S. S.---was about the same as that of the community at Nome. About one-third was of the "sporting" class, male and female; one-third was of the idle, always foot-loose class, who never do well anywhere under any circumstances, and who had no definite plan of any sort. The last third was divided between men who had experience in mining and definite plans for operations and work at Nome, those who were going into mercantile business, and professional men. The presence of gamblers and "sporting" people in a mining camp is one of the best indications of its prosperity, and I am not prepared to say that they do such a community great harm.

When I landed at Nome City I found over fifteen thousand people. These, I supposed, comprised most of the people who had come to that section, yet I later found that from five to ten thousand more were scattered along the beach for twenty-five miles.

The scene on the beach was absolutely chaotic. Thousands of tons of freight of every conceivable description were piled high, from the water's edge far up the beach, and for two miles along the water front. Everything was in an appalling state of confusion. Machinery, all sorts of supplies, hay, grain, lumber, hardware, provisions, liquor, tents, stoves, pianos, sewing machines, mirrors, bar fixtures, everything that one may imagine, was there. The delivery of goods to their rightful owners was next to impossible. In many instances, steamship companies claimed that their responsibility for goods ceased when the goods went over the ship's side. As this performance took place about a mile out to sea, a very risky and expensive trip on lighters had still to be made before the landing, through the surf, was accomplished. It will thus be seen that this was hardly a pleasant prospect for shippers of freight.