KLONDYKE AS IT IS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2284, 9 December 1897, Page 18

KLONDYKE AS IT IS.

(Bt Ouk Wakatipu Correspondent.) Till. v THE REVERSE OF THE MEDAL.

As it is desirable that; men iatending to start for Klondyke should have a clear conception of what they have to face in getting there and after they have got to the end of their journey, a few extracts from the Klondyke' News, printed on the fiuld, will not be out of place. Under the heading of deaths there are the following :— ■ •

" Robert Carlson, aged 26 ; Charles Carlson, 22. — Two of the saddest of the many deaths at Dawson City were those of Robert and Charles Carlson,' who died about the first of the month (July last). Their claim was No. 27, Bonaiz«,v And they had taken out over llOOoz when the elder was stricken with fever. Robert was. the first to fall ill. He lingered a week, and the day, before his death Charier was stricken. Within 10 days both were in their graves. They were buried on Prospect Hill. •

•'.On July 13 James T. Jone3, aged 27 years, died of malarial fever. The funeral was largely attended. Tho grave was the sixteenth to be dug in the new cemetery. - " Aged 23 years, Frank Belcher, of Peunsjlvania, died Wednesday night of typhoid fever. He had about 25,000d0l stowed in his cabin, and bad just sold his cl*im for 25,000d0l more. It was his intention to leave on the Healy, bub Fate willed it otherwise. He was buried on ' Prospect Hill."

Another writer says that one of the most melancholy spectacles are the rainy simple wooden crosses that etud the country, telliug cf the fate of so'wany fortune hunters who staked out their everlasting claim. The same writer goe* on to query how many graves there might be not marked by a cross, and al*o proejects the problem of what may have become of >he property of 'tk^e deceased, many of whom «ere known to be possessed of considerable wealth. «

But it is likely that in spite of, all this those -'-*iso are afflicted with the gold* fever will not hjed any other fever and turn a deaf ear to all that may be said on the subject. Other, though lesser, drawbacks are the laoequitoes and gadflies. The following is what the Klondyke News has to say on this sub • jo.ct :—

."Cornelius Edwards reports the 1038 of & horse last Tuesday night. The animal had been accustomed to forage on the hills when off duty, and never wandered far. This once, however, he strayed off into the bottom lands of th& Kloodyk?, where the motquitoes and gadflies are thickest. Before he could regain the hill he succumbed from loss of blood, his veins being" actually sucked dry by the pests. Mr Edwards was in town last night; endeavouring to perfect other" arrangements whereby he might get supplies to his men." ' It appears that the MOSQUITOES AND GADFLIES-

are very dangerous customers. A lai-gokind of mosquito has a habit of making for the eyes of men and animals, and one bite is enough to cause serious trouble, and sometimes leads to the loss of the optic attacked. Bsars and other wild beasts that have become blind from this cause arc sometimes met with, so that it will be seen thafr the danger from this source is not in imaginary one.

In the matter of sickness there is scurvy in addition to the fever. The presence of this scourge is easily accounted for, and nothing elie could be expected from diet of pork,- beans, preserves, and the absence of fresh vegetables. {Fhia, however, will soon correct itself.

Although all the obstacles taken together znatfe a formidable array, and might well make the most robust and hardiest .hesitate before he gees to face the situation, the real questions to decide are

THE CHANCES OF SUCCESS.

It would be folly trying to diminish the getting* on the field. A great amount of the evidence as to its richness so freely circulated is undoubtedly true, while it is also indisputable that there is much exaggeration; but; when everything has been duls. considered, the fact remains that the field is one of exceptional richness and considerable extent. As to its being the richest field ever discovered, this may be taken with a grain of salt, for Victoria can easily compete with anything that has so far been furnished by the Yukon. Leaving out of the question Reed's Creelr in the Ovens district, Victoria, where' three' runaway sailors obtained lb.OOOq'z of gold out of a claim Bft (say Bft) equare"/ "washing as' much as 721b of gold from one bucket ofjdirt, there are B«llarat, Bendigo, Castlemaine, Ararat, and ever lo many other places where claims 32ft square yielded as much gold as any of the fortune claims of 500 ft frontage at Klondyke.

There is at present' in this district an old miner, Mr Samuel Rogers, who with three other

men bad a claim 32ft square at Gumttee Flat, Ballarat, which gave them £5000 per man clear of all expenses. New Zealand also can challenge tbe reports current about the richness of Klondyke — Doctor's Point upon the Molyueuz, Hartley and Reilly's beach on the same river, the Frenchmen's claim near Alexandra Soutb, Skippers, and Maori Point on the Shofcover ; or, to come down to our own time, Robertson Biros', claim at Cardrona and Fox Bros', claim at Mount Cciffel, all yielding from £20,000 and upwards per claim. But ib is always thus — far-off fields look green ! What is clearly and indisputably against general success at Klondyke is the s'ze and nature of the claims grautcd. Lsb anyone consider what would have beeu the result had such a thing been the order of the day in Victoria or New Zealand. Rich as both colonies wera in the number of their runs or leads of gold, ti thousand parties or so would have "monopolised a goldOeld which u*:d<?r the theu existing lawi of small claims afforded employment for 30,000, 50,000, or 60,000 men. Large fortunes were made by at least a corresponding proportion as compared with Klondyke, aud decent competences by the majority, while of the remaining crowd all who wera willing to work earned small wage*. There are 5280 ft in a mile, or, say, 1 1 claims of 500 ft each. Now, given a river 30 roilos long, which would be a river like the Shotover, there would bo room for 330 claims ! All experience teaches that runs of gold of such a length are extremely rare, and no lead of gold has ever been known to be uniformly rich throughout its y/hole length. It may be taken as a fair average that oF every three cKinas obo is a duffer^ so that tho 330 claims would be reduced to 220 pay&ble- ones. From this calculation it is quite clear that the chances of procuring a goldea claim are rare, and the besb show for succsss would be for a party oF two or three men to go out prospecting on their own account. This i*, first and foremost, a matter of money — aud plenty of money — as it involves a couple of horses and a boat. In the back country the boat may be dispensed with and au additional horse substituted. It must be borne in mind that the "country is one of magnificent distance*, and that the time for being out iv the back country at, high levels is limited to three or "four months in the year, according to elevation, so that every hour is valuable. The above is a commun-sense view of how matter* really »re in the glacial fields of Northweat danada. It .is true that in addition 1 to gold in "creeks and rivers the mebal bAs alrt ady been found upon. the terraces, as witness the Klondyke News :— ' ' " GOLD ON THE HILLSIDES. 11 Four weeks ago-Abrahain Metz, who arrived too late to come in on the Bonarz * and -El Dorado propositions, thought he ,would do a little prospecting on his own account. , Nob being a miner be did not follow creeks and gulches as raiuers do, but wandered over the hills collecting samples oE diet. In the eveuio'jrv he took his material to the stream and washed out a few panfuls. Some of the pans ran as high as four or five dollars. He at once staked out locations. As soon as tbe news reached the catnp.i there wrs a rush to the hills. Old miuers* are pnzztefl to account tor the prenence of gold where Melz found ib, bub as it seems to be there no one has any compl»i,pfci to make. About 150 hill locations have been filed fc? date."— July 17

last. • This piece of information 3hows plainly what has been stated »s to the v*gue terms in which accounts about Yukon mining are done up. A» a further example the following may be cited • " In speaking of the much-talked-of Too Much Gold Creek it is eaid that the gold is there so plentifully that • you mu<t mix gravel with it to sluice it.' Another story which has appeared in more American papers than one is that a Klondyke gold-miner went to have hia haic cut. The barber charged Idol for the job, and obtained 15dol worth of gild— say, 15dwt: — out of the c!?d ! Such stories 'as these throw a peculiar light upon the greater part of the information provided in the American papers, and all should be closely examined before any credence is attached to them. TO GO OK NOT TO GO ?—? — that is a question the decision of which rests with those who intend to go. General advice can be of no use beyond that, in order to do a trip to the Yukon, it would be a mistake trying to do it on the cheap, which would be almost certain to ensure failure and the bitterest disappointment-. At tho lowest calculation it would take not less than £200 per man to carry out a prospecting trip in such a way that would hold out at least a reasonable chance of success. Parties starting with les9 than that amount would simply be courting failure, and in all cases anyone going on whatever terms ebould reserve enough money out of his funds to pay his return journey, or he might fiud htrriaelf in a very awkward fix.