The name of these helpers is Legion. That their cabins may be warm and roomy, winter dumps high and numerous, sluice boxes filled with nuggets, and lives long and happy is the earnest wish of MAY KELLOGG SULLIVAN CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE _I The Miner's Reasons_ 11 _II Under the Tundra_ 22 _III The Hidden Ledge_ 44 _IV A New Klondyke_ 81 _V Estella the Eskimo_ 106 _VI Why Midas Failed_ 132 _VII The Old Stone House_ 172 _VIII A Miner's Own Story_ 192 _IX Eyllen's Water Witch_ 214 _ILLUSTRATIONS_ _Page._ _The Heart of Alaska in Winter_ _frontispiece_ _A Huskie_ 21 _Dressed in his fresh miner's rig_ 25 _A welcome shelter_ 43 _The scene on shore was a repetition of that on the neighboring beach at Skagway_ 51 _A Messenger of cheer_ 80 _Panning out_ 105 _Upon his mother's back, beneath her parkie_ 115 _The little one clinging tightly to her hand she approached the door_ 121 _The pretty woman was a full-blooded Eskimo_ _to face page_ 138 _Poling up the river_ 171 _When Old Tillie was Young_ 181 _She scanned the horizon_ _to face page_ 216 _"Holy Mother Mary! I believe it's gold"_ 223 _Father Peter_ 229 _The Lord of the Northland_ 258 _The cover design is a picture of Cape Nome, Alaska._ The Trail of a Sourdough CHAPTER I THE MINER'S REASONS A furious blizzard was raging. Six or eight miners of various ages were huddled around the stove in a little road-house where they were likely to remain storm-bound for several days. "Chuck some more wood into that bloomin' fire and fill up my pipe if you fellers want a yarn from me," said one, when they had besieged him for a story with which to pass the time.