THE METHODS OF PLACER MINING
in the Klondike region and elsewhere along the Yukon are different from those pursued elsewhere, owing to the fact that from a point about three feet below the surface the ground is permanently frozen. The early men tried to strip off the gravel down to the gold lying in its lower levels or beneath it, upon the bed rock, and found it exceedingly slow and laborious work; moreover, it was only during the short summer that any work could be done. Now, by the aid of fires they sink shafts and then tunnel along the bed rock where the gold lies. A returned miner described the process as follows, pointing out the great advantage of being able to work under ground during the winter:
"The miners build fires over the area where they wish to work and keep these lighted over that territory for the space of twenty-four hours. Then the gravel will be melted and softened to a depth of perhaps six inches. This is then taken off and other fires are built until the gold bearing layer is reached. When the shaft is down that far other fires are built at the bottom, against the sides of the layer and tunnels made in the same manner. Blasting will do no good, the charge not cracking off but blowing out of the hole. The matter taken out, and containing the gold is piled up until spring, when the torrents come down, and is panned and cradled by these. It is certainly very hard labor."
Another quotation may be given as a practical example of this process:
"The gold so far as has been taken from Bonanza and Eldorado, both well named, for the richness of the placers are truly marvelous. Eldorado, thirty miles long, is staked the whole length and as far as worked has paid.
"One of our passengers, who is taking home $100,000 with him, has worked one hundred feet of his ground and refused $200,000 for the remainder, and confidently expects to clean up $400,000 and more. He has in a bottle $212 from one pan of dirt. His pay dirt while being washed averaged $250 an hour to each man shoveling in. Two others of our miners who worked their own claim cleaned up $6,000 from one day's washing.
"There is about fifteen feet of dirt above bed rock, the pay streak averaging from four to six feet, which is tunnelled out while the ground is frozen. Of course, the ground taken out is thawed by building fires, and when the thaw comes and water rushes in they set their sluices and wash the dirt. Two of our fellows thought a small bird in the hand worth a large one in the bush, and sold their claims for $45,000, getting $4,500 down, and the remainder to be paid in monthly installments of $10,000 each. The purchasers had no more than $5,000 paid. They were twenty days thawing and getting out dirt. Then there was no water to sluice with, but one fellow made a rocker, and in ten days took out the $10,000 for the first installment. So, tunnelling and rocking, they took out $40,000 before there was water to sluice with."