Late Estimates of the Yukon's Wealth.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXI, Issue 8835, 15 July 1905, Page 4 (Supplement)

Late Estimates of the Yukon's Wealth.

Gold-mining in the Klondyke region attracts comparatively little attention at the present time, and little would be known of the prospects of that country but for an occasional magazine article like that contributed by Mr C. M. Woodworth to the Canadian Magazine for February. Mr Woodworth has made a careful tabulation of the entire production of Yukon gold from the time of its discovery to the close of 1904, and he disregards the figures shown in the Canadian Government reports as too small, since the royalty tax,' while it existed, was a constant incentive for the concealment of the t-Tue figures. Every fair test, he thinks, fixes the total at about, or in excess of, one hundred and thirty millions of dollars. This is nearly twice the amount of the entire placer output of British Columba from 1858 to 1903, inclusive. As to the question, "Is the Klondike nearly worked out?" two answers may be given: "If the conditions and methods of mining which prevailed in 1898 were still in vogue, the answer would be in the affirmative. At that time, drifts paying less than £1 8s to the cubic yard, or five cents to the pan of gravel, were abandoned; wages were £3 a day, and'no machinery was used. Present conditions, however, are altogether different; ground yielding two cents per pan, or 13s to the cubic yard, i 3 now considered as good pay, while a. drift bearing half that pay would not be abandoned if the pay-streak were continuous and not too thin. Steam shovels and hydraulic works are coming into use. By methods now in common use, gravels yielding from 8s per ton upward are commonly worked, but with the steam shovels and hydraulic workings already installed, ground yielding fifty cents to the cubic yard on the average has already been worked at a profit. In California and other countries, where hydraulic mining is in vogue, gravels yielding less than ten cents to the cubic yard have been worked at a profit. In the Yukou, however, the fact that much of the gravel is frozen, together with the remoteness of the territory, will prevent such cheap workings. It is estimated, however, by this writer, that twenty-five cents to the cubic yard should pay handsomely. In the region lying within one hundred miles east j of Dawson, it is believed that there are more than fifty square miles of hills, carrying a depth of from 25 to 125 feet of pay gravel which will yield an average of more than twenty-five cents to the cubic yard. At least twent3 - square miles of hills in the Klondike basin are much richer. One square mile of Paradise Hill, on Hunker Creek, will produce fifty millions of dollars, of which one-half will be profit. The hills of the Klondike basin will produce, it is believed, more than eight hundred millions of dollars, while those in the Indian and Stewart river districts will produce at least half as much. These will be worked by hydraulic systems. As for the creeks, many of these have already been worked over by wasteful methods, while others have not yet been prospected. These old claims will in future be worked over by steam shovels or by hydraulic elevators, and it is estimated that they will produce one-half as much more as they have already produced.