Frank Keller, of Los Angeles was one of the Portland's passengers. He went in last year, mined during the winter, and last year sold the claim for $35,000. William Sloat, formerly a dry-goods merchant, of Lanimo, B. C., sold his claim for $52,000, and, with the gold he took from the mine, came back on the Portland. Another man named Wilkenson, of the same city, sold his claim for $40,000. Frank Phiscater, of Baroda, Mich., returned with $96,000, the result of his labors in Miles. Capt. Strickland, of the Canadian mounted police, who is en route to Ottawa on official business, is among the arrivals. He says: "When I left Dawson City about a month ago there were about 800 claims staked out and between 2,000 and 3,000 people. We can safely say that there was $1,500,000 in gold mined last winter. Wages in mines were $15 a day, and the sawmill paid laborers $10 a day with claims now staked, but will afford employment for about 5,000, I believe. If a man is strong and healthy and wants to work he can find employment at good wages. Several men worked on an interest, or what is termed a lay, and during the winter realized from $5,000 to $10,000. The mines are from 35 to 100 miles from Alaska boundary." J. Kellar, who pronounced it the richest gold country in the world, said: "It was 68 degrees below zero last winter, and the ground was frozen to the depth of forty feet. The snow doesn't fall to any great depth, three feet being the greatest, and that was light and fleecy frost. All the gold is taken out of gravel by thawing in the summer. There are nine months of winter. We left Dawson City on a river steamer on June 19, and were eight days reaching St. Michael's, 1,800 miles. The weather in Klondyke was warm and sultry, much warmer than it seemed, and mosquitos were in myriads. They are in the water one drinks. They give a man no rest day or night. I am satisfied to stay away from Klondyke, although I did well. "It is a horrible country to live in, but it is extremely healthy. Every man is on his good behavior, and, for a mining country, has as good, orderly, law-abiding citizens as I ever saw. At present there is no prospecting going on, all men in the country being employed at $12 or $15 a day, or are working on their own claims. There is a big country open to prospectors." Tom Cochrane, a grocery clerk, staked one of the Klondyke miners with $300 worth of supplies eighteen months ago. His dividend received on the Portland was $41,000.