EXPERIENCES
IN ALASKA
I.—RAMPART.
LEONARD M.DAVIS
in the Mining: World.
One can have no adequate conception
of that which he has not in some way
experienced. Statements are accepted
or rejected in proportion as they coincide
with some previous knowledge. Real
izing these facts together with the pre
vailing ignorance of the public with
regard to the interior of Alaska, one
may readily hesitate before endeavoring
to describe the most central mining
town in that great northwestern conti
nent. Such statements as that several
nuggets of solid gold as large as a hen’s
egg, worth hundreds of dollars each,
hive been recovered from different
creeks around Rampart, or that the sun
there sometimes rises and sets in the
north, are veritable facts; but some I
skeptics might consider this a new class
of fabrications.
Rampart City is about 1,000 miles up
the Yukon, and about 650 miles from |
Dawson, or 1,1200 down the river from
Whitehorse. The city is situated on one
of the most beautiful bends of that j
mighty stream, which is navigable for
nearly 2,300 miles. It is built on a high !
bank and extends along the river for ]
nearly a mile. Here the largest steam
ers can unload their cargoes of hydraulic !
pipe, heavy machinery and provisions!
over a gangplank direct on the river
bank.
On tbe opposite side of the Yukon
from Rampart is the United States agri- j
cultural station, where nearly all kinds !
of vegetables are grown and several I
kinds of grain matured. It is note
worthy that Alaska can supply the world
with huckleberries, raspberries, currants
and cranberries. Wild Bowers grow in
prolusion, there are no [Kii.sonous plants
nor reptiles in Alaska.
The winter is cold and bracing, with a
temperature front 10 to 74 degrees below
zezo. During the summer the climate is
delightful, the thermometer registering
from 40 to 90 degrees above zero. The
longest days, in June, have 24 hours of
continuous sunlight; the shortest, in
Decemlwr, from two to four hours of
sunlight. On the creeks, however, the
sun is not seen for alsiut ten weeks.
During the longest days the sun glides
below the horizon and rises in a few
minutes nearly in the north. The color
• fleets are gorgeous lieyond description.
The writer has [tainted in water color,
without artificial light, some of the most
delicate tones in [sirtraying from nature
a midnight sunrise or sunset. These
long days allow plant life to mature very
rapidly, ami [s-rmit the employment of
two shifts a day (of 10 hours each in a
mine. The summer working season is
from May 1 to October 1. The miner's
pay is a day ami board.
Several years previous to the great
Klondike rush, a (ulMd<**led Indian
prospector, John Mims.k, after whom
several creeks have been named, discov
ered the first gold in the district, on
what is now known as Ihg Mi nook, just
Indow the Health of limiter creek. Bis
Muesik runs from smith to north, aiel
empties into the Yukon at Rampart
City, limiter i* its first ami Ingge t
tributary, following up his lead, John
Mitesik struck |sty about two ami a hall
miles up llunlcr creek at a hat is now
palled Discovery claim. This naturally
brought several old-time prospectors and
miners into the district. It was not long
before these men got “busy,” and one
strike followed another, until pay was
located on Little Minook, Big Minook,
L. M. Junior, Hoosier, Florida, Slate
and Ruby creeks. Later discoveries
were made on Eureka, Glen Gulch,
Rhode Island and a number of other
creeks over the divide. These rich
strikes have steadily increased and last
season was the banner year in the pro
duction of gold and new discoveries.
At one time there were more than
1,000 people around Rampart. They
were a combination of all kinds, classes
and color, with a corresponding diversity
of mental and physical development;
there were state governors, lawyers,
bankers, missionaries, doctors, authors,
artists, gamblers, actors and “bad men.”
A surprising fact is that no one asked of
his neighbor his pedigree nor for his
birth certificate; this rather emphasizes
the cosmopolitan population of Alaska.
All seemed to remember the adage that
the poorest man today may he the richest
tomorrow; hence each wondered if it
would be he. But there were many who
did not soliloquize, determined to con
quer with an ax, pick and shovel the
numerous obstacles which abound in a
strange, undeveloped country, where
traditions must t>e cast aside and new
conditions recognized. Those who would
not adjust their thoughts and actions to
their environment formed a group of
“hot-stove miners,” whose vocation was
to sit around a hot stove, discontented,
telling wonderful stories about their
more successful comrades. It is this
class of humanity which lost all hoj>e
and fortune in Alaska, and which has
not met success anywhere since. It is
amazing that these gossips can induce
even intelligent people outside of Alaska
to believe that more money has been
taken into Alaska than was ever taken
out. To create this erroneous impres
sion these “hot-stove miners” cite un
hesitatingly isolated cases as examples
of the whole. On the other hand,
that man is far from lacking in courage
who w ill rejieatedly go out harnessed up
in a sled or with a heavy pack on his
hack w hen the thermometer is 20 to 60
degrees below zero, to do battle with the
frozen ground and strange conditions,
for the imrjKjse of gaining a new for
tune, or regaining a lost one, wherewith
to accomplish some cherished purjwse.
It is not uncommon to see men jierform
ing feats for which in any civilized
country they would be awarded a medal
for heroism. Such men have made
iiumpnrt City the pros|>ering mining
camp that it is today. Last season it
produced more gold per capita than any
other camp in Alaska.
Two ncwsjm j«r» are I sing printed in
town, the Yukon Valley News and the
Rampart Forum. The Northern Com
mercial Company, the .Miners Store, and
.1. \V. Young's (formerly the North
American Trading and Transportation
Company arc the main supply stores at
present. Everybody carries a “poke,”
and neither store nor saloon is without
its gold st ales. Wages and store bills
are |*aid in golddust. The two large
company stores get some each
season from the miners. They value
tilen tnilcli gold at fl*> per ounce, and
that from Hunter, Little Mitvook, lb»>
«ier and Itig Mims>k at $1(1 per ounce.
At tin- l nited States mint this gold is
worth from |l» to $lw.7H per ounce.
Fntil very lately only capital produced
in camp was weed for developing the
mines, t ine claim on tilen milch pro
duced some $4.1,imi in two month* last
*>tmtner at an etprnse of » per rent.
No a Little Mwes'k postured about
S. E. HEETER.
HARRY BURRU8S.
HEETER & BURRUSS,
FREIGHTERSand PACKERS
Freighting and Packing to and from all Creeks.
Good Equipments and Service Unexcelled
IKK),000 ill one season, which is more
than all the money the “checharcoes”
(tenderfeet) brought into the camp in
eight years. This statement effectually
disproves the report that it costs $10 to
produce one dollar in Alaska. One town
reported $0,500,000 last season, which is
nearly as much as the United States
paid for the whole of that vast territory.
It is estimated that nearly $500,000 lias
been taken from No. 8 Little Minook,
and that, after it was crosscut and hud
been abandoned as worthless. This
property is owned by ex-Governor Mc
Graw and General Carr of Washington.
Other creeks around Rampart have been
good producers. A number of the largest,
like Hunter and Big Minook, are showing
up well. Where a creek, however, aver
ages from 500 to 1,000 feet in width it
does not attract the ordinary prospector
who must have immediate returns, more
especially because he is compelled to
prospect with good fires to thaw the
ground at the rate of 10 inches a day.
Hunter creek is about evenly divided
between a high bench and a flat, which,
with an abundance of water, makes hy
draulicking comparatively easy. To ex
pect great results by working large
creeks single handed and with insuffi
cient capital is absurd. Still returns are
more than satisfactory, as may be judged
by the accompanying illustration, which
shows the exact size of gold nuggets
taken from different tunnels on Hunter
creek. [Nineteen nuggets are pictured.]
The original nuggets are on exhibition
at the New York office of the Mining
World. It is interesting to state that
the two largest nuggets were taken from
tunnels several hundred feet apart, and
one, valued at $14, was found a half
mile above them. At least one nugget
of over $30 in addition to pans from vir
gin ground, worth over $1 each, have
been taken from six different tunnels
on Nos. 17 to 21 Hunter. Indiscrimi
nate pans of from $2 to $7.20 each have
also tieen taken from this ground, which
speaks well for future hydraulicking on
Hunter creek.
There have been nuggets of nearly
$200 each taken from the first four creeks
nearest to Kampart, and one of $100
from Big Mi nook, and Glen Gulch.
Tin1 o|i| method of thawing the ground
with wood tires tun I wheeling the dirt to
a dum|>, where it in left until spring,
w here it munt again lx- handled before
tlie gold ean U- washed out, in shown in
Fig. 3. [Winter dump on No. IT hunter
creek in pictured.] Thin dump, it is
worthy of remark, wun taken out hy one
man. Naturally only the very richent
dirt, nay two feet from In-droek, in con
nidereil pay. The budge in the picture is
on laniriak ala wit '.t» feet almve the
creek.
Fig 4 »lmw« a L'l h p Imiler uneii to
thaw the frozen ground in place of wood
tifen, thin in alnuil one haft mile up
Hunter from the place shown in Fig. X
To the right in a wind Imp over the shaft
where the lint pun t*hvn yirhled 91.mi
RECEPTION
...SALOON...
S. E. HEETER, BOB SCHABER,
Proprietor Mauuger
Wines, Liquors and
GOOD Cigars....
....Billiard and Pool Rooms
Barber Chair in the House. $
st i.ouis
ABC
rand Seattle
fianier Beers
OLD VALLEY WHISKY
The Only Stock.
MIXED DRINKS
Our Specialty
A. B. NOTICE.
Regular meetings of the Arctic Brother
hood Lodge are held at the ir hall on the
second and fourth Fridays of each month at
S o’clock j>. m.
C. A. DAVIDSON.
JULIUS RAHMSTORF, Arctic Chief.
Arctic Recorder.
(A Qr Vni I on* of thoSf People whoy
AnL I UU seldom write home? \
They will know you are all right if you I
send them the YUKON VALLEY NEWS. I
Mail yours or let us send one weekly./
in cnarxc >1<1. Tin* ditch for the prex
ent hydraulic plant may Ix- xeen in the
background. The windlaxx frame in the
foreground ix over a xhuft nut of which
came a tin-cent pan; tliix ix buck > feet
nil the lx‘lieh.
[The illuxtratinnx mentioned are ao
line it ix regretted they can not lx- re
pr.»lined A well-executed mapnf Ram
part dixtrict alxn accuni|<anie« the ar
ticle.) _•
515 TO THE PAN.
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