HOW IT IS REACHED AND MINED.

Dr. William H. Dall, one of the curators of the National Museum, is familiar with the region of country in which the Klondyke gold fields are located, through having been on several geological expeditions to the region in Alaska adjoining the gold district, and says that in his opinion the reports from there probably are not exaggerated.

"When I was there," he says, "I did not find gold, but knew of it being taken out in profitable quantities for fifteen years or more. It was first discovered there in 1866. In 1880, when I was up in that country, the first party of prospectors who have made mining profitable, started out. The gold is found on the various tributaries of the Yukon, and I have been within a comparatively short distance of the Klondyke fields. I made one trip to Circle City, just over the boundary of Canada.

"The gold bearing belt of Northwestern America contains all the gold fields and extends into that part of British Columbia known as the Northwestern Territory and Alaska. The Yukon really runs along in that belt for 500 or 600 miles. The bed of the main river is in the lowlands of the valley.

"The yellow metal is not found in paying quantity in the main river, but in the small streams which cut through the mountains on either side. These practically wash out the gold. The mud and mineral matter is carried into the main river, while the gold is left on the rough bottoms of these side streams. In most cases the gold lies at the bottom of thick gravel deposits. The gold is covered by frozen gravel in the Winter. During the Summer, until the snow is all melted, the surface is covered by muddy torrents. When the snow is all melted and the springs begin to freeze the streams dry up. At the approach of Winter, in order to get at the gold the miners find it necessary to dig into the gravel formation.

"Formerly they stripped the gravel off until they came to the gold. Now they sink a shaft to the bottom of the gravel and tunnel along underneath in the gold bearing layer. The way in which this is done is interesting, as it has to be carried on in cold weather, when everything is frozen.

"The miners build fires over the area where they wish to work and keep these lighted over that territory for the space of twenty-four hours. Then, at the expiration of this period, the gravel will be melted and softened to a depth of perhaps six inches. This is then taken off and other fires built until the gold-bearing layer is reached. When the shaft is down that far other fires are built at the bottom, against the sides of the layer, and tunnels made in this manner.

"Blasting would do no good, on account of the hard nature of the material, and would blow out just as out of a gun. The matter taken out containing the gold is piled up until Spring, when the torrents come down, and is panned and cradled by these. It is certainly very hard labor.

"I see many reasons why the gold fields should be particularly rich. The streams which cut through the mountains have probably done so for centuries, wearing them down several hundred feet and washing out the gold into the beds and gravel.

"It is a country in which it is very hard to find food, as there is practically no game. Before the whites went into the region there were not more than 300 natives. They have hard work to support themselves, on account of the scarcity of game."

An interesting letter telling of the recent trip of the steamer Excelsior has been written by Captain J. F. Higgins, of the steamer, to a friend. He says:

"The word Klondyke means Deer River, and the stream is called the Reindeer River on the charts. It empties into the Yukon fifty miles above the Big River. The geographical position of the juncture is 76 degrees 10 minutes north latitude, 138 degrees 50 minutes west longitude. Bonanza Creek dumps into the Klondyke about two miles above the Yukon. Eldorado is a tributary of the Bonanza. There are numerous other creeks and tributaries, the main river being three hundred miles long.

"The gold so far has been taken from Bonanza and Eldorado, both well named, for the richness of the placers is truly marvellous. Eldorado, thirty miles long, is staked the whole length and as far as worked has paid.

"One of our passengers who is taking home $100,000 with him has worked one hundred feet of his ground and refused $200,000 for the remainder, and confidently expects to clean up $400,000 and more. He has in a bottle $212 from one pan of dirt. His pay dirt while being washed averaged $250 an hour to each man shovelling in. Two others of our miners who worked their own claim cleaned up $6,000 from one day's washing.

"There is about fifteen feet of dirt above bed rock, the pay streak averaging from four to six feet, which is tunnelled out while the ground is frozen. Of course, the ground taken out is thawed by building fires, and when the thaw comes and water rushes in they set their sluices and wash the dirt. Two of our fellows thought a small bird in the hand worth a large one in the bush, and sold their claims for $45,000, getting $4,500 down, the remainder to be paid in monthly instalments of $10,000 each. The purchasers had no more than $5,000 paid. They were twenty days thawing and getting out dirt. Then there was no water to sluice with, but one fellow made a rocker, and in ten days took out the $10,000 for the first instalment. So, tunnelling and rocking, they took out $40,000 before there was water to sluice with.

"Of course, these things read like the story of Aladdin, but fiction is not at all in it with facts at Klondyke. The ground located and prospected can be worked out in a few years, but there is an immense territory untouched, and the laboring man who can get there with one year's provisions will have a better chance to make a stake than in any other part of the world."