History for ready reference, Volume 6 : $b Recent history - 1894-5 to 1901 A-ZLarned, J. N. (Josephus Nelson)
History
History for ready reference, Volume 6 : $b Recent history - 1894-5 to 1901 A-Z
Larned, J. N. (Josephus Nelson)
History -- Dictionaries
any more work with the rockers the party broke camp on the 3d
of November and returned to the schooner, which they found
frozen solid in 2 feet of ice. They then made their way in a
small boat to an Indian village, near Cape Nome, where they
obtained dogs and sleds, and a little farther on they were met
by reindeer from the Swedish Mission, with which they returned
to Golofnin Bay.
"The lucky miners had agreed among themselves that their
discovery should be held secret, but the news was too good to
keep, and soon leaked out. A general stampede commenced at
once and continued all winter. Every available dog and
reindeer was pressed into the service, and they were soon
racing with each other for the valuable claims which had been
left unstaked in the vicinity of Anvil Creek. As soon as that
creek had been all taken up the stampede extended to the
neighboring streams and gulches, and Glacier and Dexter
creeks, as well as many others which have not proved equally
valuable, were quickly staked and recorded. By the 25th of
December a large party armed with numerous powers of attorney
had entered the district, and as the local regulations allowed
every man to stake on each creek one claim of the full legal
dimensions (660 by 1,320 feet), it was not long until the
whole district had been thoroughly covered, and nearly every
stream had been staked with claims, which in some cases were
'jumped' and the right of possession disputed.
"The news of a rich strike at Nome worked its way up the Yukon
River during the winter, and as soon as the ice broke in June
a large crowd came down from Rampart City, followed by a
larger crowd from Dawson. The 'Yukoners,' as these people were
called, were already disgusted with the hardships,
disappointments, and Canadian misgovernment which they had met
with on the upper river. … Those to whom enough faith had been
given to go over to Cape Nome were disgusted and angered to
find that pretty much the whole district was already staked,
and that the claims taken were two or three times as large as
those commonly allowed on the upper river. Another grievance
was the great abuse of the power of attorney, by means of
which an immense number of claims had been taken up, so that
in many cases (according to common report) single individuals
held or controlled from 50 to 100 claims apiece. …
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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