ALASKAN GOLD.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XIX, Issue IX, 21 August 1897, Page 284

ALASKAN GOLD.

A great many expeditions are being organised in the States to thoronghly prospect the great unknown region in North British Columbia and Alaska, where it is believed there are goldfields of vast extent. One of the first to leave New York, and in some respects the most venturesome, is that planned by a combined hunting and gold-seeking party, under Mr Panl Kemble, to penetrate the Copper River Country back of Cook Inlet. This section has always been a sealed book to prospectors, principally on account of its inacessibiiity, but also because of the supposed savage nature of the tribes that inhabit it. Once a year the Copper River Indians come down to Cook Inlet in their akin canoes to trade with the white men of tbe small settlements scattered along the sho-es. Then they return —no man knows how. Those who have attempted to follow them have invariably come back discouraged ; some have never returned. The trails they follow have so far remained a secret, which they keep close locked in their breasts. Almost always the savages bring virgin gold, sometimes

in good sized nuggets, sometimes in dust, which on account of its purity and peculiar colour, has gained a dis tinctive character and set the white miners nearly crazy with desire. Tbe Copper River Country is believed to be the great Kie centre of Alaska. Moose, cariboo, rs, goats, wolves, foxes, minks, etc., are found there in great numbers. A story which circulated among the miners of Cook Inlet last year is to the effect that a party of Copper River Indians recently killed on their principal hunting grounds two mastodons the like of which they had never before seen. They described them as being * four times bigger than the biggest moose, with enormous heads full of ivory and with bodies covered with patches of long hair that swept tbe ground.’ They were said to have weighed several tons. The skeletons are now gracing the tepee of the great war chief of the tribe. Virgin copper in nuggets tbe size of a man’s two fists have been exhibited on Cook Inlet, and pelts of the finest and rarest character occasionally find their way to the trading posts, coming from this unknown but wonderfully resourceful country. This much was learned from Captain Percy Hunting, tbe guide who goes with the party. This man has achieved a reputation as a hunter and prospector in South-eastern Alaska, and has also ascended the Shnshitna River, going forty miles further than any other white man. He has camped with and studied the ways of the Copper River Indians, and feels confident of making his way into their country this winter. Captain Hunting has made a map of the section lying north and east of Cook Inlet, which is considered the most accurate yet drafted.

* We are a little party of twelve,’ said Captain Hunter, * and are organised primarily to hunt big game in the country surrounding Cook Inlet, where moose, bear, and caribou are plentiful. We are going to a small island off the western shore of Cook Inlet, at a point called Snug Harbour. This will be the headquarters for our party. It is an ideal spot and from its heights the eye traverses the whole of the inlet back to the glaciers and ranges of snowclad peaks far off in the interior, with an occasional glimpse of a smoking volcano.

■ Do you expect to take up any mining claims around Cook Inlet, Captain ?’ *lf the members of the party wish it, they can do so. As for myself, I have all the claims I can handle there now. It is not what you might call a poor man's proposition. There are virtually only two poor men’s claims on Cook Inlet.’ * And how is the climate in summer ?’ ‘There are three months of positively glorious weather. These are June, July, and August. During this period the sun never sets. You go to sleep in the day and wake up in the day. At first it is rather difficult to accustom yourself to all this light, but you soon get used to it, like everything else, and after a good day’s tramp can lie down and sleep the sleep of the just. * There is something about the water, too, that tones up tbe whole system and makes you as hard and rugged as an athlete. ‘The Indians on the inlet live on fish nearly the year round. Salmon is so plentiful that they knock them out ot the water with clubs. There’s a small fish called the candle fish, which they dry and use for lighting purposes in the winter. So full of oil are they that they burn entirely up.’

AN INDIAN STORY. * By the way, talking of Indians reminds me of a good story which you will appreciate,* interjected Captain Hunting, laughing heartily. ‘My Indian boy, who is exceptionally intelligent, was with me one day last year when I received a package of papers from a vessel just in. Among them was a copy of a paper containing an illustrated supplement. After I had looked this over I tossed it to him, and I give you my word I never saw a more interested Indian in my life.

* He squatted down on the beach, under the broiling sun, with the gnats swarming around his uncovered head, and sat there the livelong day studying those pictures, the like of which he had never seen before. One picture especially caught his particular fancy—that of a section of New York city showing the elevated road and some of the skyscrapers. He studied the height of those buildings most attentively — even

measured them by the tallest thing he could bring within bis vision on tbe inlet. ‘ I called to him several times, but he paid not the slightest heed. Once in a while his hand would go up to bis head, and mechanically and soberly he would brash tbe flies away. But they never caused his attention to wander from the paper. Nothing did—he was in a trance. Finally he got up, looked about him slowly, heaved a deep sigh, and with a wealth of feeling that simply beggars de scription. exclaimed—- * “ Huh I White man, he knows everything ; Indian, he all same fool I” * Our intention is to cut a trail back into the Copper River country this winter, ascending the Shnshitna as far as possible and packing the rest of the way with a dog train. We go fully equipped to stand off all known hardships and dangers.*