Klondyke Nuggets: A Brief Description of the Great Gold Regions in the NorthwestLadue, Joseph
History
Klondyke Nuggets: A Brief Description of the Great Gold Regions in the Northwest
Ladue, Joseph
Alaska -- Gold discoveries; Klondike River Valley (Yukon) -- Gold discoveries
"At the junction of the Lewes and Teslintoo I met two or three families
of the Indians who hunt in the vicinity. One of them could speak a
little Chinook. As I had two men with me who understood his jargon
perfectly, with their assistance I tried to get some information from
him about the river. He told me the river was easy to ascend, and
presented the same appearance eight days journey up as at the mouth;
then a lake was reached, which took one day to cross; the river was then
followed again for half a day to another lake, which took two days to
traverse: into this lake emptied a stream which they used as a highway
to the coast, passing by way of the Taku River. He said it took four
days when they had loads to carry, from the head of canoe navigation on
the Teslintoo to salt water on the Taku Inlet; but when they come light
they take only one to two days. He spoke also of a stream entering the
large lake from the east which came from a distance; but they did not
seem to know much about it, and considered it outside their country. If
their time intervals are approximately accurate, they mean that there
are about 200 miles of good river to the first lake, as they ought
easily to make 25 miles a day on the river as I saw it. The lake takes
one day to traverse, and is at least 25 miles long, followed by say 12
of river, which brings us to the large lake, which takes two days to
cross, say 50 or 60 more--in all about 292 miles--say 300 to the head of
canoe navigation; while the distance from the head of Lake Bennet to the
junction is only 188. Assuming the course of the Teslintoo to be nearly
south (it is a little to the east of it), and throwing out every fourth
mile for bends, the remainder gives us in arc three degrees and a
quarter of latitude, which, deducted from 61° 40', the latitude of the
junction, gives us 58° 25', or nearly the latitude of Juneau.
"To make sure that I understood the Indian aright, and that he knew what
he was speaking about, I got him to sketch the river and lake, as he
described them, on the sand, and repeat the same several times.
"I afterwards met Mr. T. Boswell, his brother, and another miner, who
had spent most of the summer on the river prospecting, and from them I
gathered the following:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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