THE GOLD FEVER

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 8757, 12 June 1914, Page 10

THE GOLD FEVER

GRIM RUSHES AT KLONDIKE. • One of the few places where it is still possible to have adventures is the Klondike. It is not the riotous Klondike of ’9B, but there is still _ much gold there, and'wherever there is gold there are adventures to be had. Every now and then a prospector wandering about the country discovers gold in & fresh place. After staking out his claim, he goes into DawSon to report it to the authorities. Quickly the news leaks out that gold has been discovered in new country,' and at once there is what is called a. “stampede." Hgrriedly men get together a few dogs, harness them. to a sledge, and 1 rush over the snow-oovered mountains. Each man tries to get to the new gold country first, and each man thinks that at last he is going to make his fortune. Mr Percy' Dent, author of “Klondike Yarns,” who is about to return to the Klondike, gave to a Loudon pressman an interesting account of one ol these rushes, i “For the past seven years,” ho said, “1 have been knocking about Alaska and the Klondike goldfields, and many a gold stampede I have taken part in. My last was to a new strike at the head of the Sixty Mil© river. With two 1 dogs and a sled load of blankets'and provisions, I ‘hit the trail.’

‘‘Dawn saw a struggling line ol ‘mushers’ labouring up the Sixty mile. There were representatives from all the civilised nations of the world —the scum of Europe, as tho dapper, fireside civilisation would term them. Grim and determined, they struggled through the desolate wastes of snon, straining at gee-pole, cursing tho pall rope which cut into both neck and armpits, and prodding their dogs mer-' cilessly. The men’s eyes were glassy; their beards and moustaches one mass of congealed breath. Each man held his own course, and allowed no other stampeder to oust him from the irregular trail. When a dog, unable to stand longer the awful strain of the race, gave in from sheer exhaustion, the poor brute was cut loose and thrust brutally aside, to find its way back or starve. All higher instincts are subservient to self-interest in a gold rush. “I saw the figure of- a,> miserable wretch standing knee-deep in an overflow of slush, in which his sleigh and whining dogs were anchored. Another grizzly giant sat astride tho quivering carcase of_ a dog just brained for insubordination. No one interposed. the mob of breathless, gasping cars and men crunched by unheeding. “Indian dogs are wonderful.: They live almost entirely on rice, and they, will go on pulling to tho last gasp. “When you come to the new country, there is a feverish search for gold. Men rush about looking for traces of it, and when they have decided on a claim they stake it out and hurry back to Dawson to report. It's an exciting life. ■ At any moment you may hit on a fortune—or so, at least, we persuade ourselves. “And even if you’re not digging for gold on your own account, you can do pretty well. Tou are paid £1 a day and everything is found except your clothes. There’s no reason why you shouldn't save £6 10s a week, but somehow no one does.”