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KLONDYKE NUGGETS

A Brief Description of the Great Gold Regions in the Northwest
Territories and Alaska

BY

JOSEPH LADUE

Founder of Dawson City, N.W.T.

Explorer, Miner and Prospector

September, 1897





PREFACE.


The extraordinary excitement arising from the reports of the discovery
of Gold in the Klondyke region in the great Canadian Northwest is not
surprising to one who, through personal residence and practical
experience, is thoroughly conversant with the locality.

Having recently returned for a temporary stay, after a somewhat
successful experience, I have received applications for information in
numbers so great that it far exceeds my ability and the time at my
disposal to make direct replies.

I have therefore arranged with the American Technical Book Co., 45 Vesey
Street, New York City, for the issue of this brief description,
preparatory to the publication of my larger book, "Klondyke Facts," a
book of 224 pages, with illustrations and maps, in which will be found a
vast fund of practical information, statistics, and all particulars
sought for by those who intend emigrating to this wonderful country.

It is well-nigh impossible to tell the truth of these recent discoveries
of gold, but while I can only briefly describe the territory in this
small work, it shall be my endeavor to give the intending prospector,
in the large work above mentioned, as many facts as possible, and these
may thoroughly be relied upon, as from one who has lived continuously in
those regions since 1882.

JOSEPH LADUE.


       *       *       *       *       *


KLONDYKE NUGGETS


CHAPTER I.


KLONDYKE.

Klondyke! The word and place that has startled the civilized world is
to-day a series of thriving mining camps on the Yukon River and its
tributaries in the Canadian Northwest Territories.

Prior to August 24, 1896, this section of the country had never been
heard of. It was on this day that a man named Henderson discovered the
first gold.

On the first day of the following month the writer commenced erecting
the first house in this region and called the place Dawson City, now the
central point of the mining camps.

Dawson City is now the most important point in the new mining regions.
Its population in June, 1897; exceeded 4,000; by June next it cannot be
less than 25,000. It has a saw-mill, stores, churches, of the
Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist and Roman Catholic denominations. It is
the headquarters of the Canadian Northwest Mounted Police, _and perfect
law and order is maintained_.

It is at Dawson City that the prospector files his claims with the
Government Gold Commissioner, in the recording offices.

Dawson City faces on one of the banks of the Yukon River, and now
occupies about a mile of the bank. It is at the junction of the Klondyke
River with the Yukon River. It is here where the most valuable mining
claims are being operated on a scale of profit that the world has
hitherto never known. The entire country surrounding is teeming with
mineral wealth.

Copper, silver and coal can be found in large quantities, but little or
no attention is now being paid to these valuable minerals, as every one
is engaged in gold-hunting and working the extraordinary placer mining
claims already located.

The entire section is given up to placer mining. Very few claims had
been filed for quartz mining. The fields of gold will not be exhausted
in the near future. No man can tell what the end will be. From January
to April, 1897, about $4,000,000 were taken out of the few placer claims
then being worked. This was done in a territory not exceeding forty
square miles. All these claims are located on Klondyke River and the
little tributaries emptying into it, and the districts are known as Big
Bonanza, Gold Bottom and Honker.

I have asked old and experienced miners at Dawson City who mined
through California in Bonanza days, and some who mined in Australia,
what they thought of the Klondyke region, and their reply has
invariably been, "The world never saw so vast and rich a find of gold as
we are working now."

Dawson City is destined to be the greatest mining camp in the history of
mining operations.



CHAPTER II.


KLONDYKE FACTS.

There is a great popular error in reference to the climate of the gold
regions. Many reports have appeared in the newspapers which are
misleading. It has been even stated that the cold is excessive almost
throughout the year. This is entirely a mis-statement.

I have found I have suffered more from winter cold in Northern New York
than I ever did in Alaska or the Canadian Northwest.

I have chopped wood in my shirt-sleeves in front of my door at Dawson
City when the thermometer was 70 degrees below zero, and I suffered no
inconvenience. We account for this from the fact that the air is very
dry. It is a fact that you do not feel this low temperature as much as
you would 15 below zero in the East.

We usually have about three feet