A Grubstake Agreement
By DAVE BRACE
In the early days of Fairbanks
town a boat builder started in busi
ness on the north side of Chena
Slough. He was an expeir at his
trade, and all of the idle population
of Fairbanks watched with interest
the boat builder’s skill as he rapidly
fashioned native lumber into frames,
fastened on the planking, adjusted
fiunwales or rousir.gs and seats,
smoothly planed the entire craft, ap
plied one coating of grey paint and
sold it to the first comer for one
hundred and twenty-five dollars. I
should have mentioned that a pair of
fine pike poles and thirty feet of
m aril a rope completed the appurten
ances of the outfit.
I had no particular use for a boat
at that time but I had the price,
and like the man who buys at an
auction some article that he has no
need for, because others with even
less need are buying, I announced to
the builder that I would take the
next one.
When it was completed I put an
additional coat of white paint on
the hull and one of bright green on
the seats and gunwales, and there it
stood on the bank of the slough,
a fine lined, shovel-nosed beauty.
There was great demand for these
boats and the builder had orders
ahead all the time. Stampeders
wanted boats so badly that I was
importuned every minute by pur
chasers who were willing to pay
double the original cost of the boat.
The vanity of one who has some
thing that many others want was,
I believe, 'what deterred me from
accepting a profit of almost one hun
dred per cent on my investment. I
afterwards regretted that I had not
sold it for any reasonable price.
One day when I was cogitating as
to what use I should make of my
much admired boat, who should drift
upon the scene but Frank Hennessy,
just in from the new Calchaket dig
gings. I had known Hank on the
Bering Sea Coast and knew that he
was grubstaked to the Tanana strike
by a Nome barber. Hank was one
of the best single handed talkers
north of fifty-three. Hank’s ex
pressed admiration of my boat
pleased me. He called my attention
to the fact that the boat builder had
one unsold boat upon the bank and
that the stampeders were all sup
plied. I quickly realized that I could
not now sell my boat for any profit.
I was always slow in business mat
ters and never knew that there is
a psychological time to sell 'any
property one holds in a mining camp.
Well, Hank knew the psychological
time to make an offer for marine
property and I accepted his tender
of an undivided one-half interest in
a recently located nine hundred foot
fractional placer claim in the Sal
chaket country for the poling1 boat.
Just about the time that the deal
with Hank was consummated, one
Hector McTavish, a professional
stampeder whom I had known on
Mastodon Creek in ‘ninety-eight
showed up to assure me that I had
simply accepted a gift from Hen
nessey in exchanging a poling boat
for a half interest in a valuable
placer claim. McTavish had seen
the claim ai.d would have willingly
gambled a thousand dollars if he had
it on the half interest. He did not
have the thousand dollars, however,
but he did have plenty of money
coming from Dawson, and in antici
pation. of the arrival of a draft on
the next river steamer he negotiated
a loan of five dollars from me. The
river steamer arrived at Fairbanks
on time; in fact many river steam
ers arrived on time, but the Dawson
debtors of McTavish failed to remit.
In the evening of the same day
that T loaned my five dollars to Mc
Tavish T was approached by Hennes
sey with the proposition that inas
much as I had made a great bargain
in securing a half interest in his
claim for my poling boat, I ought
to be willing to prospect the claim
with him or grubstake a man to
work with him. That appealed to
me as being a fair proposal, but as
other interests would occupy my time
during the coming winter, I could
not go to Salchaket myself and
therefore would have to get a man
to go with him. Hennessey expressed
keen disappointment that I could not
go with him, but he suggested that
there was no better prospector in
all the north than Hector McTavish,
and besides his efficiency as a pros
pector he had learned the machin
ists’ trade on the Clyde and could
build a boiler if necessary. This
accomplishment of Hector’s was men
tioned largely in the way of sug
gesting that we would need a boiler
for the prospecting venture, and Bar
rack had an excellent one with fit
tings, points and pipe for sale at
three hundred and twenty-five dol
lars.
We then hunted up McTavish and
he rather hesitated about entering
into a grubstake agreement. The
reason for his hesitancy was, he said,
that he was expecting his money
from Dawson and he would rather
pay for his own winter’s grubstake.
He finally, however, entered into an
agreement whereby I would give him
one-half of my half interest in the
claim and I would furnish a boiler
and grubstakes for two men, the
understanding being that as soon as
the claim was on a paying basis,
Hennessey would reimburse me for
his share in the boiler and grub
stake. I also purchased a winter’s
supply of clothing, shoe-packs, mitts,
snow-shoes, gun and ammunition for
two men, Hennessey’s share to be
paid me when the claim was on a
paying basis. I also furnished both
men with eating money for two
weeks; Hennessey’s portion of this
was also to come out of the proceeds
of the claim.
When the outfit was ready to start
up the Slough I was in over twelve
hundred dollars on the grubstake,
boiler and boat and owned a one
quarter interest in Hennessey’s frac
tion.
At about midnnight before the
morning on which they were to start
for Salchaket my partner, Hennes
sey, came to my cabin and woke
me up to tell me of a tip he had
received on a strike down the Tan
ana near the Crosschaket. McTav
ish knew’ the exact spot and in fact
had found a good prospect there twro
years before. Of course, the Sal
chaket location was good for a year
and a half and if the dowm river
strike did not pan out there W’ould
be plenty of time to come back be
fore the freezeup. This sounded rea
sonable, and wTe agreed that I should
have half of all ground staked by
both men at the new strike. This
was really better for me than the
Salchaket deal where I held only a
quarter interest.
The outfit slipped quietly down the
Slough in the early morning. Hen
nessey and McTavish seemed to feel
that considerable stealth was re
quired in connection with their de
parture, as they w’ere fearful that
some one might hear of the strike
and beat them to it, but outside of
Hennessey, McTavish and myself no
one ever learned of the strike. I
learned that my partners called in
at Chena during the first forenoon
of their drift and there were told
by a steamboat fireman of a new
strike at Dali River. There was in
those days a permanent strike on
Dali River but the passengers from
Daw’son ahvays renewed the interest
in it when they arrived at Fairbanks.
This Dali River strike was always
good for a grubstake when interest
in other strikes flagged, and so at
Fort Gibbon my partners interested
the fire room crew of the SEATTLE