A few words concerning mining law as applied to Alaska seem now appropriate. The United States laws, which control, permit an individual to "locate" and hold as many tracts or parcels of ground as he desires, each not exceeding, however, twenty acres in area, provided, first, that there be a bona-fide discovery of gold; second, that the ground be properly staked or marked out; third, that at least one hundred dollars' worth of work be done on each claim every year. It is further provided that the miners may organize a district, elect their own recorder, and make rules and regulations which shall have the force of law in so far as they are reasonable and not in conflict with the federal statutes. Many perplexing questions arise, however. Our laws are too liberal and loose, leaving open too wide the door to fraud and blackmail, such as exist galore in Alaska, and which could not be practised under the carefully drawn Canadian statutes. For instance, though the law requires that a claim shall be distinctly marked or staked, there is no provision made as to how it shall be marked, nor is it made obligatory that the stakes shall be maintained. The fraud and confusion arising from this situation are aggravated in this barren country, where timber is very scarce, and the original stakes, for the most part, are made from the inadequate scrub willow found along the creeks.
Placer-mining (as contradistinguished from quartz) consists in extracting loose particles of gold from the alluvial deposits in ancient river-beds. Claims which border upon and include sections of the present streams, greatly reduced in size, are known as "creek" claims, and are generally supposed to be the richest. There is on every creek a "discovery" claim, and all the others upon it are known as Nos. 1, 2, 3, etc., "above" or "below Discovery," and are so staked and recorded. Those claims which are located farther up the bank, and which do not embrace the stream, are called "bench" claims, and are known frequently by the name of the wife or daughter of the miner, or by any fanciful designation. It was this latter class of claims which, up to that time ignored or overlooked, in the middle of the season were discovered to be in many cases richer than the creek claims. Many who had left the country, disgusted and crying out against the laws which permitted a few individuals to take up and hold an entire creek, had passed over this good ground without even prospecting it. On the other hand, more persistent miners had secured rich claims where apparently there was no ground to stake. The twenty-acre claim is usually staked out in the shape of a parallelogram 1320 feet by 660 feet. One is likely to locate rather more than less ground than that to which he is entitled. Therefore, some of these canny old boys would measure along with their tape-lines, spell out a "fraction," and immediately seize upon and hold it.
We were early impressed that there was no "fake" about this country. It was a continuation of the wonderful formation which, beginning in the west back of Port Clarence, extends eastward and back of Nome to the Golovin Bay country. Clients began to drop in. In many instances they sought free advice; and, sometimes, when the conversation had reached the legal point, it became necessary to instruct our callers that, if they desired to know anything further, our consultation fee would be exacted. It was therefore a case of pay up or move out. For Alaska, our law library was imposing and complete. Certainly it was the best in Council City. The surveyors (T—— working in as chainman) were busy.
We had been settled only a few days when First Lieutenant Offley of the Seventh United States Infantry, with thirty-odd men from St. Michaels, trudged by our camp, and it was good to see them. The lieutenant had been sent to preserve law and order and hold military court pending the passing of the country into the hands of the civil administration, and the arrival at Council of the United States commissioner, as provided by law. They camped in their round tents near the river and beyond the reservation, in our plain view, whence the various bugle-calls came to us very clearly and marked the time of day.
The world is very small. It soon developed that, after the Cuban campaign, Lieutenant Offley and my brother, by chance, had traveled together in the same train from Montauk Point, in the same seat, and the lieutenant, weak from Cuban fever, had been assisted over the ferry to New York by my brother. Neither knowing the name of the other, they next met at this jumping-off place.
Throughout his stay at Council the lieutenant performed his duties with an ability and conscientiousness which commanded the respect of the community; and there was much for him to do which was both novel and perplexing—for instance, the assumption of the judicial rôle. One of the things which tried him sorely was the case of a woman physician, who had wandered down from the Klondike country and squatted with her tent on a lot which somebody else claimed. The case was argued before the lieutenant, and the decision went against her, and very properly. She refused absolutely to vacate, insisting upon being a martyr; and, though the duty was unpleasant, for the sake of example at least, she was put under arrest, with generous jail liberties. Finally she was sent down the river with a corporal's guard to the higher authorities at St. Michaels.
Within a short time we had as much law work as we could do, and very interesting and novel, and frequently fatiguing, it was. In addition to drawing agreements and deeds, it consisted of preliminary interviews in that stately office, followed by long and laborious walks for many miles through the timber, up and down mountainous hills, over tundra, and through streams, to the mines on the creeks beyond, there to examine stakes, witnesses, and liars. Frequently, before starting back, we would be invited to eat with the men, and a fine lot they were as a rule. Then the case had to be presented before the lieutenant and argued, with the assistance of mining-law quotations and diagrams. In many instances the lieutenant would make a personal inspection of the property in dispute. If one side appeared to be clearly in the right, the other party would be ordered off the premises; if it seemed to be an honest contention, and there was merit on both sides, the disputed ground would be tied up, a dead-line drawn, and soldiers camped there to see that neither party mined the contested territory. Either party, if dissatisfied, might appeal to the federal court then established at Nome. But we were hearing strange tales about that court. There was a persistent rumor that it was only the instrument of a great scheme to confiscate the rich mines. There was said to be a large corporation organized in the East, with influential political backing, whose guiding genius, on the flimsiest of pretexts, in violation of all the rules of legal procedure, and virtually under no bonds, was being repeatedly appointed by this court receiver of these mines.
Through a tip from a client for whom we had done some legal and surveying work, my brother and I secured a fraction of mining ground on Melsing Creek, which was staked, surveyed, and recorded as the "Eli Fraction." We four staked out also an association claim of eighty acres on a bench of Ophir Creek, which claim is called the "Rajah," and we secured other interests farther up on Ophir Creek. As a favor to friends, we would be willing to sell out our mining interests for a million dollars cash!
In placer-mining the "pay dirt" (usually found near bed-rock) is shoveled into long, narrow boxes called "sluices," varying in length, at the bottom of which are small cross-pieces of wood ("riffles"), or copper plates, or mercury, devised to catch the gold. The creek is diverted so as to send a stream of water into the "head" of the sluice-boxes, and the gold, by virtue of its greater specific gravity, is caught by one or several of the contrivances—the stones, gravel, and dirt being carried by the current out of the boxes, and constituting the "tailings." After a certain number of hours' "run," the water is temporarily diverted, and the "clean-up" takes place; that is, the sluice-boxes are cleaned out, and the gold separated from the black sand and iron substances which usually remain with it. Water, therefore, is absolutely essential. In 1900, at first, the general complaint was "no water," although later, when the heavy rains came, it was "too much water." Placer-mining is a delicate and uncertain business, and is very hard work. Gold is not "picked up" anywhere, and mother earth yields her treasure very stubbornly. The gold of this country consists mainly of fine particles or "dust," and, compared with the Klondike, but few nuggets are found. It is, however, purer than the Klondike gold, and assays higher.