One of the most interesting contributions to the history of gold and gold mining has undoubtedly been discovered in the region of Cape Nome, Alaska, during the past summer. Vague reports have from time to time, for a period of a year or more, been sent out from the bleak and inhospitable shores of Bering Sea of the discovery there of rich deposits of placer gold, and of almost fabulous wealth acquired by a few fortunate prospectors--a new Klondike on American soil--but these gained little credence beyond the portals of transportation companies and the organizers of “boom” enterprises. A few of the more credulous and those unmindful of adventure and hardship took practical action on the receipt of the reports, and prepared to buffet the still ice-bound waters of the Pacific to gain early access to the new land of promise. In a brief period the fame of Golovnin Bay had been spread broadcast, only to be again dimmed by the later announcements that the earlier reports of finds were only “fakes.” Making and unmaking are a part of all new mining centers, and in an incredibly short time all manner of conclusions are arrived at regarding the possibilities of a location. [Illustration: AN OFF-SHORE VIEW OF NOME.] New reports of finds made along the coast of Bering Sea, about fifty miles west of Golovnin Bay, called renewed attention to the region, and those who in the early summer of the past year (1899) timidly ventured their fortunes to share in a possible discovery, found, on their arrival at the tundra-bound shores about Cape Nome, that miles of territory had already been located as claim sites, that sluice-boxes were in full operation, and that sackfuls of gold dust and nuggets had been carefully laid to one side, representing “outputs” of tens of thousands of dollars. At this time many of the journals of civilization in the East, repeating the warnings that they persistently threw out following the discovery of gold in the Klondike, jealously guarded the secrets of the earth by doubting, or even denying, the claims to discovery, but, withal, wisely counseling against that haphazard and purseless rush which is one of the invariable accompaniments of gold announcements. A new mining district had suddenly sprung into existence, and before two months had passed--i. e., by the early days of September--a full front of tents and frame houses took possession of what continues to remain a dreary and desolate expanse of ocean beach--sufficiently pleasant in the quiet, balmy days of summer and autumn, but wofully exposed to the hurricane blasts of the arctic winter--and gave shelter to from three to four thousand adventurers, where formerly a few Indians and Eskimos from the still farther northwest and King’s Island constituted a straggling and accidental population. This, in brief, is the initial history of the Nome or Anvil City mining region, which will almost certainly call to it in the coming spring fifteen to twenty thousand additional inhabitants.