ALASKA: YUKON VALLEY AND GOLD FIELDS.
(The State of Pennsylvania is inserted to show comparative size.)
One miner, who is a thoroughly experienced man, declares that he is absolutely amazed at the amount of gold that has already been produced. He says that the work has only been commenced, and that this present find which is setting people crazy is nothing to the gold that will be discovered as soon as the miners really get to work.
He stated that, in addition to the rich pay-dirt we have already spoken of, there were veins of gold in the rocks underneath, which veins appeared to grow richer the farther they were probed. In his opinion the gold deposits of the Yukon region form the mother vein of all the gold in North America.
Many people are hurrying to the Klondike district from all parts, and the excitement is intense.
San Francisco has caught the gold fever. It reached the city through some miners from Klondike, who arrived by steamer, bringing with them piles of shining gold to prove the truth of their stories.
Not one member of this party went up to Alaska with anything more than his outfit and a few hundred dollars. All have brought back stores of riches.
The smallest amount of gold owned by any of these men was valued at five thousand dollars, while several had as much as fifty thousand dollars' worth.