A young man who went to the Klondyke recently writes that he is taking out $1,800.00 a day from his claim.

It is stated on good authority that one claim yielded $90,000 in 45 feet up and down the stream.  Clarence Berry bought out his two partners, paying one $35,000 and the other $60,000, and has taken up $140,000 from the winter dump alone.  Peter Wiborg has purchased more ground.  He purchased his partner’s interest in a claim, paying $42,000.  A man by the name of Wall has all he thinks he wants, and is coming out.  He sold his interests for $50,000.  Nearly all the gold is found in the creek bed on the bed rock, but there are a few good bench diggings.

Perhaps the most interesting reading in the Mining Record is the letters written by men in the Klondyke to friends in Juneau.  Here is one from “Casey” Moran: 

Dawson, March 20, 1897.

“Friend George:  Don’t pay any attention to what any one says, but come in at your earliest opportunity.  My God! it is appalling to hear the truth, but nevertheless the world has never produced its equal before.  Well, come.  That’s all.  Your friend,

“Casey.”

Burt Shuler, writing from Klondyke under date of June 5, says: 

“We have been here but a short time and we all have money.  Provisions are much higher than they were two years ago and clothing is clean out of sight.  One of the A.C.  Co.’s boats was lost in the spring, and there will be a shortage of provisions again this fall.  There is nothing that a man could eat or wear that he cannot get a good price for.  First-class rubber boots are worth from an ounce of gold to $25 a pair.  The price of flour has been raised from $4 to $6, as it was being freighted from Forty Mile.  Big money can be made by bringing a small outfit over the trail this fall.  Wages have been $15 per day all winter, though a reduction to $10 was attempted, but the miners quit work....  Here is a creek that is eighteen miles long, and, as far as is known, without a miss.  There are not enough men in the country to-day to work the claims.  Several other creeks show equal promise, but very little work has been done on the latter.  I have seen gold dust until it seems almost as cheap as sawdust.  If you are coming in, come prepared to stay two years at least; bring plenty of clothing and good rubber boots.”

Thus far little attempt to mine quartz has been made in the interior of Alaska and the Northwest, although many quartz croppings have been seen.  It would cost too much to take in the machinery and to build a plant until transportation facilities are better.  In time, however, quartz mining operations will commence, for the placer mines were washed down from the mother veins somewhere.  If the washings have made the richest placers in the world, what must the mother veins be?  One dares hardly to imagine.

This is a brief description of the gold region in the Northwest.