incidental thereto shall, on and after the passage of this act, be in
full force and effect in said district of Alaska, subject to such
regulations as may be made by the Secretary of the Interior and approved
by the President," and "parties who have located mines or mining
privileges therein, under the United States laws applicable to the
public domain, or have occupied or improved or exercised acts of
ownership over such claims, shall not be disturbed therein, but shall be
allowed to perfect title by payment so provided for."
There is still more general authority. Without the special authority,
the act of July 4, 1866, says: "All valuable mineral deposits in lands
belonging to the United States, both surveyed and unsurveyed, are hereby
declared to be free and open to exploration and purchase, and lands in
which these are found to occupation and purchase by citizens of the
United States and by those who have declared an intention to become
such, under the rules prescribed by law and according to local customs
or rules of miners in the several mining districts, so far as the same
are applicable and not inconsistent with the laws of the United States."
The patenting of mineral lands in Alaska is not a new thing, for that
work has been going on, as the cases have come in from time to time,
since 1884.
[Illustration: THE POINT AND BEACH AT METLAKAHTLA.]
One of the difficulties that local capitalists find in their
negotiations for purchase of mining properties on the Yukon is the lack
of authenticated records of owners of claims. Different practices
prevail on the two sides of the line and cause more or less confusion.
The practice has been at most of the new camps to call a miners' meeting
at which one of the parties was elected recorder, and he proceeded to
enter the bearings of stakes and natural marks to define claims.
Sometimes the recorder would give a receipt for a fee allowed by
common consent for recording, and also keep a copy for future reference,
but in a majority of cases even this formality was dispensed with, and
the only record kept was the rough minutes made at the time.
On the Canadian side a different state of affairs exists. The Dominion
Government has sent a commissioner who is empowered to report officially
all claims, and while no certificate is issued to the owners thereof,
properties are thoroughly defined and their metes and bounds
established. The commissioner in the Klondike district, whose name is
Constantine, also exercises semi-judicial functions, and settles
disputes to the best of his ability, appeal lying to the Ottawa
Government.
As to courts and the execution of civil and criminal law generally, none
were existent in the upper Yukon Valley on the American side of the line
during 1897. The nearest United States judge was at Sitka. At Circle
City and other centers of population the people had organized into a
sort of town-meeting for the few public matters required; and a sort of
vigilance committee took the place of constituted authority and police.
As a matter of fact, however, the people were quiet and law-abiding and
little need for the machinery of law is likely to arise before courts,
etc., are set up. A movement toward sending a garrison of United States
troops thither was vetoed by the War Department.
Canada, however, awoke to the realization that her interests were in
jeopardy, and took early steps to profit by the wealth which had been
discovered within her borders and the international business that
resulted. The natural feeling among the Canadians was, and is, that the
property belongs to the Canadian public, and that no good reason exists
why the mineral and other wealth should be exhausted at once, mainly by
outsiders, as has largely happened in the case of Canada's forests. A
prohibitory policy was urged by some, but this seemed neither wise nor
practicable; and the Dominion Government set at work to save as large a
share as it could. As there are gold fields on the Alaska side of the
line, and the approaches lie through United States territory, a spirit
of reciprocal accommodation was necessary. One difficulty has been
averted last spring by President Cleveland's veto of the Immigration
bill, one provision of which would have prevented Canadian laborers
drawing wages in this country, and probably would have provoked a
retaliatory act.
Canada has already placed customs officers on the passes and at the
Yukon crossing of the boundary to collect customs duties not only on
merchandise but on miner's personal outfits. There is practically no
exception, and the duty comes below 20 per cent. on but few articles. On
most of the goods the duty is from 30 to 35 per cent., and in several
instances higher, but the matter may be very simply adjusted by
purchasing tools and outfits in Victoria or Vancouver, for thus far the
United States has placed no corresponding obstruction in the way of
Canadian travellers to the gold-fields, but, on the contrary, has made
Dyea a sub-port of entry, largely to accommodate British transportation
lines. The Canadian Government is represented in that region now only by
customs officers and 20 mounted police, but it is taking steps to
garrison the whole upper Yukon Valley with its mounted police,--a body
of officers, whose functions are half military, half civil, and which,
it may as well be conceded once for all, cannot be trifled with. There
is no question but that they will do their level best to enforce the
laws to the utmost. The commander of each detachment will be constituted
a magistrate of limited powers, so that civil examinations and trials
may be speedily conducted.
The plan is to erect a strong post a short distance north of the
sixtieth degree of latitude, just above the northern boundary of British
Columbia, and beyond the head of the Lynn Canal, where the Chilkoot
Pass and the White Pass converge. This post will command the southern
entrance to the whole of that territory. Further on small police posts
will be established, about fifty miles apart, down to Fort Selkirk,
while another general post will patrol the river near the international
boundary, with headquarters, probably, in the Klondike valley.
The mining regulations of Canada, applying to the Yukon placer claims,
are as follows:
"Bar diggings" shall mean any part of a river over which water extends
when the water is in its flooded state and which is not covered at low
water. "Mines on benches" shall be known as bench diggings, and shall
for the purpose of defining the size of such claims be excepted from dry
diggings. "Dry diggings" shall mean any mine over which a river never
extends. "Miner" shall mean a male or female over the age of eighteen,
but not under that age. "Claims" shall mean the personal right of
property in a placer mine or diggings during the time for which the
grant of such mine or diggings is made. "Legal post" shall mean a stake
standing not less than four feet above the ground and squared on four
sides for at least one foot from the top. "Close season" shall mean the
period of the year during which placer mining is generally suspended.
The period to be fixed by the gold commissioner in whose district the
claim is situated. "Locality" shall mean the territory along a river
(tributary of the Yukon) and its affluents. "Mineral" shall include all
minerals whatsoever other than coal.
[Illustration: FORT WRANGELL.]
1. Bar diggings. A strip of land 100 feet wide at highwater mark and
thence extending along the river to its lowest water level.
2. The sides of a claim for bar diggings shall be two parallel lines run
as nearly as possible at right angles to the stream, and shall be marked
by four legal posts, one at each end of the claim at or about high water
mark; also one at each end of the claim at or about the edge of the
water. One of the posts shall be legibly marked with the name of the
miner and the date upon which the claim is staked.
3. Dry diggings shall be 100 feet square and shall have placed at each
of its four corners a legal post, upon one of which shall be legibly
marked the name of the miner and the date upon the claim was staked.
4. Creek and river claims shall be 500 feet long, measured in the
direction of the mineral course of the stream, and shall extend in width
from base to base of the hill or bench on each side, but when the hills
or benches are less than 100 feet apart the claim may be 100 feet in
depth. The sides of a claim shall be two parallel lines run as nearly
as possible at right angles to the stream. The sides shall be marked
with legal posts at or about the edge of the water and at the rear
boundary of the claim. One of the legal posts at the stream shall be
legibly marked with the name of the miner and the date upon which the
claim was staked.
5. Bench claims shall be 100 feet square.
6. In defining the size of claims they shall be measured horizontally,
irrespective of inequalities on the surface of the ground.
7. If any person or persons shall discover a new mine and such discovery
shall be established to the satisfaction of the gold commissioner, a
claim for the bar diggings 750 feet in length may be granted. A new
stratum of auriferous earth or gravel situated in a locality where the
claims are abandoned shall for this purpose be deemed a new mine,
although the same locality shall have previously been worked at a
different level.
8. The forms of application for a grant for placer mining and the grant
of the same shall be according to those made, provided or supplied by
the gold commissioner.
9. A claim shall be recorded with the gold commissioner in whose
district it is situated within three days after the location thereof if
it is located within ten miles of the commissioner's office. One day
extra shall be allowed for making such record for every additional ten
miles and fraction thereof.
10. In the event of the absence of the gold commissioner from his office
for entry a claim may be granted by any person whom he may appoint to
perform his duties in his absence.
11. Entry shall not be granted for a claim which has not been staked by
the applicant in person in the manner specified in these resolutions. An
affidavit that the claim was staked out by the applicant shall be
embodied in the application.
12. An entry fee of $15 shall be charged the first year and an annual
fee of $100 for each of the following years.
13. After recording a claim the removal of any post by the holder
thereof or any person acting in his behalf for the purpose of changing
the boundaries of his claim shall act as a forfeiture of the claim.
14. The entry of every holder for a grant for placer mining must be
renewed and his receipt relinquished and replaced every year, the entry
fee being paid each year.
15. No miner shall receive a grant for more than one mining claim in the
same locality; but the same miner may hold any number of claims by
purchase, and any number of miners may unite to work their claims in
common upon such terms as they may arrange, provided such agreement be
registered with the Gold Commissioner and a fee of $15 for each
registration.
16. And miner may sell, mortgage, or dispose of his claims, provided
such disposal be registered with and a fee of $5 paid to the Gold
Commissioner.
17. Every miner shall, during the continuance of his grant, have the
exclusive right of entry upon his own claim for the miner-like working
thereof, and the construction of a residence thereon, and shall be
entitled exclusively to all the proceeds realized therefrom; but he
shall have no surface rights therein, and the Gold Commissioner may
grant to the holders of adjacent claims such rights of entry thereon as
may be absolutely necessary for the working of their claims, upon such
terms as may to him seem reasonable. He may also grant permits to miners
to cut timber thereon for their own use, upon payment of the dues
prescribed by the regulation in that behalf.
18. Every miner shall be entitled to the use of so much of the water
naturally flowing through or past his claim, and not already lawfully
appropriated as shall in the opinion of the Gold Commissioner be
necessary for the due working thereof, and shall be entitled to drain
his own claim free of charge.
[Illustration: CHILKOOT PASS.]
19. A claim shall be deemed to be abandoned and open to occupation and
entry by any person when the same shall have remained unworked on
working days by the guarantee thereof or by some person in his behalf
for the space of seventy-two hours unless sickness or some other
reasonable cause may be shown to the satisfaction of the Gold
Commissioner, or unless the guarantee is absent on leave given by the
commissioner, and the Gold Commissioner, upon obtaining satisfactory
evidence that this provision is not being complied with, may cancel the
entry given in the claim.
20. If the land upon which a claim has been located is not the property
of the Crown it will be necessary for the person who applies for entry
to furnish proof that he has acquired from the owner of the land the
surface right before entry can be granted.
21. If the occupier of the lands has not received a patent thereof the
purchase money of the surface rights must be paid to the Crown and a
patent of the surface rights will issue to the party who acquired the
mining rights. The money so collected will either be refunded to the
occupier of the land when he is entitled to a patent there or will be
credited to him on account of payment of land.
22. When the party obtaining the mining rights cannot make an
arrangement with the owner thereof for the acquisition of the surface
rights it shall be lawful for him to give notice to the owner or his
agents or the occupier to appoint an arbitrator to act with another
arbitrator named by him in order to award the amount of compensation to
which the owner or occupier shall be entitled.
The royalty and reserve additions to this, made since the recent
discoveries and on account of them, are as follows:
1. A royalty of 10 per cent will be collected for the government on all
amounts taken out of any one claim up to $500 a week, and after that 20
per cent. This royalty will be collected on gold taken from streams
already being worked, but in regard to all future discoveries the
government proposes
2. That upon every river and creek where mining locations shall be
staked out every alternate claim shall be the property of the
government.
These regulations, say the Canadians, are made with the purpose of
developing a country, which, as elsewhere shown in this pamphlet, is
capable of supporting a large permanent population and varied
industries. Whether they can be enforced remains to be seen, and
difficulties will certainly attend the collection of a royalty on
gold-dust. The effect of these regulations, it is believed by the
authors, will be to encourage permanent settlement and the treatment of
mining as a regular industry and not simply as an adventurous
speculation. Another effect, undoubtedly, will be to cause immigrants,
including Canadians themselves, to prospect and mine on the United
States side of the line, whenever they have an equal opportunity for
success.
The boundary dispute does not as yet seriously affect the question or
rights and privileges in the new gold regions, as the disputed part of
the line, southeast of Alaska, runs through a region not yet occupied,
and practically the whole of Lynn Canal is administered by the United
States, and the Canadians act as though it were decided that their
boundary was farther inland than some of them pretend. From Mt. St.
Elias north, the 141st meridian is the undisputed boundary, and this has
been fixed by an international commission, crossing the Yukon at a
marked point near the mouth of Forty Mile Creek. Nearly or quite all of
the diggings upon which are written Alaskan territory, as also are the
valuable placers on Birch and Miller creeks. It will be a matter of
extreme difficulty along this part of the boundary to prevent smuggling,
to discover and collect Canadian royalties, and to capture criminals
except by international coöperation.
CLIMATE, AGRICULTURE AND HEALTH.
The Weather Bureau has made public a statement in regard to the climate
of Alaska, which says: "The climates of the coast and the interior of
Alaska are unlike in many respects, and the differences are intensified
in this as perhaps in few other countries by exceptional physical
conditions. The fringe of islands that separates the mainland from the
Pacific Ocean from Dixon Sound north, and also a strip of the mainland
for possibly twenty miles back from the sea, following the sweep of the
coast as it curves to the northwestward to the western extremity of
Alaska form a distinct climatic division which may be termed temperate
Alaska. The temperature rarely falls to zero; winter does not set in
until Dec. 1, and by the last of May the snow has disappeared except on
the mountains.
"The mean winter temperature of Sitka is 32.5, but little less than that
of Washington, D. C. The rainfall of temperate Alaska is notorious the
world over, not only as regards the quantity, but also as to the manner
of its falling, viz.: in long and incessant rains and drizzles. Cloud
and fog naturally abound, there being on an average but sixty-six clear
days in the year.
[Illustration: GENERAL VIEW OF SILVER BOW BASIN, NEAR JUNEAU.]
"North of the Aleutian Islands the coast climate becomes more rigorous
in winter, but in summer the difference is much less marked.
"The climate of the interior is one of extreme rigor in winter, with a
brief but relatively hot summer, especially when the sky is free from
cloud.
"In the Klondike region in midwinter the sun rises from 9:30 to 10 a.
m., and sets from 2 to 3 p. m., the total length of daylight being about
four hours. Remembering that the sun rises but a few degrees above the
horizon and that it is wholly obscured on a great many days, the
character of the winter months may easily be imagined.
"We are indebted to the United States coast and geodetic survey for a
series of six months' observations on the Yukon, not far from the site
of the present gold discoveries. The observations were made with
standard instruments, and are wholly reliable. The mean temperatures of
the months October, 1889, to April, 1890, both inclusive, are as
follows: October, 33 degrees; November, 8 degrees; December, 11 degrees,
below zero; January, 17 below zero; February, 15 below zero; March, 6
above; April 20 above. The daily mean temperature fell and remained
below the freezing point (32 degrees) from Nov. 4, 1889, to April 21,
1890, thus giving 168 days as the length of the closed season of
1889-'90, assuming that outdoor operations are controlled by
temperature only. The lowest temperatures registered during the winter
were: Thirty-two degrees below zero in November, 47 below in December,
59 below in January, 55 below in February, 45 below in March, and 26
below in April.
"The greatest continuous cold occurred in February, 1890, when the daily
mean for five consecutive days was 47 degrees below zero.
"Greater cold than that here noted has been experienced in the United
States for a very short time, but never has it continued so very cold
for so long a time as in the interior of Alaska. The winter sets in as
early as September, when snow-storms may be expected in the mountains
and passes. Headway during one of those storms is impossible, and the
traveler who is overtaken by one of them is indeed fortunate if he
escapes with his life. Snowstorms of great severity may occur in any
month from September to May, inclusive.
"The changes of temperature from winter to summer are rapid, owing to
the great increase in the length of the day. In May the sun rises at
about 3 a. m. and sets about 9 p. m. In June it rises about half past 1
in the morning, and sets at about half past 10, giving about twenty
hours of daylight and diffuse twilight the remainder of the time.
"The mean summer temperature in the interior doubtless ranges between 60
and 70 degrees, according to elevation, being highest in the middle and
lower Yukon valleys."
Accurate data of the temperature in the Klondike district were kept at
Fort Constantine last year. The temperature first touched zero Nov. 10,
and the zero weather recorded in the spring was on April 29.
Between Dec. 19 and Feb. 6 it never rose above zero. The lowest actual
point, 65 below, occurred on Jan. 27, and on twenty-four days during the
winter the temperature was below 50.
On March 12 it first rose above the freezing point, but no continuous
mild weather occurred until May 4, after which date the temperature
during the balance of the month frequently rose above 60 degrees.
The Yukon River froze up on Oct. 28 and broke up on May 17.
The long and severe winter and the frozen moss-covered ground are
serious obstacles to agriculture and stock raising. The former can
change but little with coming seasons, but the latter, by gradually
burning off areas, can be overcome to some extent. On such burned tracts
hardy vegetables have been and may be raised, and the area open to such
use is considerable. Potatoes do well and barley will mature a fair
crop.
Live stock may be kept by providing an abundance of shelter and feed and
housing them during the winter. In summer an abundance of the finest
grass pasture can be had, and great quantities of natural hay can be cut
in various places.
Diseases: In spite of all that is heard in the newspapers regarding the
healthfulness of the climate of Alaska and the upper Yukon, the Census
Report of Alaska offers its incontestable statistics to the effect that
the country is not more salubrious, nor its people more healthy than
could be expected in a region of violent climate, where the most
ordinary laws of health remain almost totally ignored. From the
Government Report we quote the following:
"Those diseases which are most fatal to life in one section of Alaska
seem to be applicable to all others. In the first place, the native
children receive little or no care, and for the first few years of their
lives are more often naked than clothed, at all seasons of the year.
Consumption is the simple and comprehensive title for the disease which
destroys the greater number of the people of Alaska. Aluet, Indian and
Eskimo suffer from it alike; and all alike exhibit the same stolid
indifference to its slow and fatal progress, make no attempt to ward
it off, take no special precautions even when the disease reaches its
climax.
[Illustration: MUIR GLACIER (MIDDLE PORTION).]
Next to consumption, the scrofulous diseases, in the forms of ulcers,
eat into the vitals and destroy them until the natives have the
appearance of lepers to unaccustomed eyes. As a consequence of their
neglect and the exigencies of the native life, forty or fifty years is
counted among them as comparatively great age, and none are without the
ophthalmic diseases necessarily attendant on existence in smoky
barabaras. Against snow-blindness the Eskimo people use peculiar
goggles, but by far the greater evil, the smoke poisoning of the
opthalmic nerve is neither overcome nor prevented by any of them. All
traders carry medicine chests and do what they can to relieve suffering,
but it requires a great deal of medicine to make an impression on the
native constitution, doses being about four times what would suffice an
Englishman or American.
OUTFITS, SUPPLIES, ETC.
Houses.--Almost every item has been taken into consideration by the
prospectors starting out to face an Alaskan winter except the item of
shelter when they shall have put their boats in winter dock. The result
will be that many hundreds will find themselves in the bleak region with
plenty of money and victuals, but insufficient protection from the cold
weather. From accounts that have come from Alaska and British Columbia,
there are more men there skilled in digging and bookkeeping than in
carpentry, and more picks and shovels than axes and planes. With the
arrival of parties that have lately gone to the headwaters of the Yukon,
there will necessarily be an immense demand for houses, for without them
the miners will freeze. This matter is beginning to receive attention in
San Francisco and Seattle, and preparations are now under way to provide
gold seekers with houses.