KLONDIKE MILLIONAIRES.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 10150, 24 September 1898, Page 2

KLONDIKE MILLIONAIRES.

■ At the Klondike nothing (writes the correspondent of an American paper)' strikes one so much as the ludicrous disparity between the wealth of many of the miners and the miserable conditions under which they live. '. '. George Cormack, pspbably the wealthiest man in Dawson City, who could at any moment write a cheque for $1,000,000, a nd yet remain a rich man, is living in a hovel in wliich you wouldn't house your dog. It consists of a single room of rough hewn logs, smeared inside and out with mud> and with a tiny opening of 2ft square, by courtesy called a window. Under Cormack's mud floor lies buried £60,000 worth of gold dust, and outside his hut are small mountains of gravel ready for sluicing, each one of which represents a fortune. Cormack is the pioneer among the miners, and two years ago was earning a bare living by fishing for salmon in the company of his squaw wife. •

Another miner who lives like a pauper, in the company of a quarter of a ton of gold dust, is Barney Fhnn, of Hunker Creek. Barney simply dare not take away his gold to bank it for fear that he-might lose his claim; and it is stowed away to the value 8f £25,000 in oil cans, discarded boots and Irty blankets.

One of the cleverest women in Dawson is Mrs Flaherty, who, three years ago, was cook in a small hotel in California. She was induced to accompany her brother to the diggings, and, to occupy her time during the long winters, took with her a large quantity of coarse yarn. With this she began to make stockings, which were eagerly purchased at £4 a pair. Her first savings she invested in real estate, which quickly grew to ten times the value she paid for it. With" her increased capital she took to money lending and various forms of speculation, until to-day the excook can put her hands on $100,000.

Of course, there has been a great deal of high play in Dawson City during the winter. The greatest plunger was Jim Dougherty, a fine fellow, well over 6ft. Jim thought nothing of risking _cwt of gold on a single game of cards, and once staked 601b of dust on one throw of the dice. Like so many reckless men, fortune smiled on him, and he is already almost among the millionaires. Prices have, naturally, been terribly high. I remember a single box of candles last winter was sold for £30, or at the rate of 5s each; and one miner refused an offer of £20 for a small can of coal oil.

On my journey down from Dawson to Dyea I met at least 15,000 men, struggling towards the Yukon; and from one point of the Chilcoot Pass I counted no fewer than 200 tents of immigrants. Many of the would-be miners %vere in a state of shocking destitution and suffering; in fact, the whole of my journey down f was a long trail of dying men. Thousands were suffering from scurvy and frost bites, and several fine fellows had to be taken back to Dyea to have limbs amputated.

However, if the half has not been told of privation and suffering, it has also not been told of the wealth of the Klondike. I fully expect the miners will take out from £3,000,000 to £4,000,000 worth of gold this summer; and it would be safe to 'estimate the «_,lue of the accessible gold in the 700 square miles of the Klondike district at as many million dollars.

"Has your measles gone, Bessie?" shouted a little friend to the tot who was looking wistfully from the window. "Yes, they's left. I heard the doctor tell mamma that they broked out last night."

The governess was giving little Tommy a grammar lesson the other day. "An abstract noun," she said, "is the name of something which you can think of, but not touch. Can you give mc an example?" Tommy: "A red-hot poker!"