A MAD RUSH FOR GOLD.

Otago Witness, Issue 2467, 26 June 1901, Page 21

A MAD RUSH FOR GOLD.

EXTRAORDINARY SCENES AT KLONDYKE.

The correspondent of the Daily Express wiites from Victoria (B.C ) : — Some .xtraordinary scenes occurred in the Klondyke district on .February 26, when the "Crown claims "' were thrown open to the public. It W3B a wild stampede, such as has never before been known since the di&covery of Klondyke. Hundreds of men and women struggled through the snow, with the thermometer 35tlejj below zero x to stake out

claims, and then to ru«li back to Dawson City to register them at the gold commissioner's office. Thousands of claims had lapsed to the Crown, and others had reverted thereto bylapsed rights, and, in addition, there were the reserved alternate blocks of 10 claims each. Many of those who were anxious to pe-g out a claim were already on the creeks on the morning of the opening day, but they were kept off the ground by strong barriers, which wer6 only lowered on the stroke of midnight. Then all in a moment the gold seekers were here, there, and everywhere ; many claims were staked twice, and ownership disputed with a revolver. As soon as. the staking was over, the hurried rus'i back to Dawson began. Over the snow-covered tracks the stampeders raced, Using all manner of Klondyke conveyances. Borne had teams of horses hitched to light sleighs, some rode bicycles and others were hurtled over the ice witti fast dog teams, and many went by special stage or on foot. One man went 18 miles on Norwegian "skis," aided by a dog running before him and tugging a rope, which he held. He travelled the distance in two and threequarter hours, and beat a horse which drew j a sleigh. Many women joined in the race, in which ' the stampeders joined from (4old Run, 45 mile? out to Bonanza, the nearest of all the creekd. One little woman, weighing less than 1001b, hurried in from Bonanza to record with a dog team, and other women stampeded in sleighs and on foot. The J cyclists wore perhaps, the swiftest of all on ■ the whole. The trails and roads from the j creeks were packed hard, and they pedalled j o\ev them, despite the low temperature, like racing pacemakers. The scone at the goM commissioner's office was extraordinary. On arrival there the stampedprd had to stand in line until 9 a.m., the regular opening hour. Some hundreds were waiting in Indian file. The first had arrived from Bonanza with a dog team at 2.30 a.m . and then came men fiom Hunker, with horses panting and almost dead with fatigue. Then came a wheelman from Hunker, and from this nucleus the mob > grew until with daylight there wert hun- ' dreds stamping their feet and slapping their hands to keep warm while waiting foi the | opening of the oflice. At length, though, the dreary hours ' passed, and the wickets were thrown up, and' the recording began — the most unique thing of the kind in the history of the Klondyke. Bad news continues to travel south from, i Nome, where men have lately been frozen ' to -death by the intense .cold. Most of the new gold finds reported from that part of the world are entirely fictitious. No one should dream of going there, as they are sure to be disappointed in that frozen Inferno. It is impossible to make the warning too emphatic.