THE RETURNING MINERS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6028, 16 November 1897, Page 4

THE RETURNING MINERS.

THE MEN AND THEIR GOLD. Eighty-two as disreputable appearing passengers as the Danube has ever carried disembarked from her deck last evening upon her return from the golden but famine-threatened north. And the tramps in looks, or many among them, were men of money, miners returning from the land of quickly-made fortunes, against whose doors so many disappointed ones are beating their hands in impotent vexation. They are glad to bo out of the Klondyke country, which so many more are mad to enter. Of the gold dust and nuggets they have brought back with them they have nothing to say. Mention the subject, and their lips shut tight and a far-away look comes into their eyes. It is safe to conclude that none of the twenty - three who came through from the mining district has enough to retire on ; and none of them but is determined to try the north country again, having aumle confidence in it as a producer of gold. ~ From 500dol to 5000dol is said to be the average of the individual wealth among the Danube treasurebearers, although the officers of the ship smile when 75,000d0l is suggested as an estimate of the gold they have carried, and suggest that 250,000d01s would be nearer the mark. That the sacks are not heavier is partially accounted for in the fact that only a few of the miners have had the luck to share in the profits of the Klondyke claims, the majority hailing from Birch Creek and the generally neglected diggings of the Alaska Yukon, where living wages rather than big fortunes are the rule. ■ The " tons upon tons of gold " that were to come out by way of St Michael's, and upon which pirates were already said to contemplate a bold descent, are still at Dawson, filling the coal oil tins of the miners and overflowing the safes of the commercial companies.