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THE LAND OF NOME
THE
LAND OF NOME
A NARRATIVE SKETCH OF THE
RUSH TO OUR BERING SEA GOLD-FIELDS,
THE COUNTRY, ITS MINES
AND ITS PEOPLE, AND THE HISTORY
OF A GREAT CONSPIRACY
1900-1901
BY
LANIER McKEE
[Illustration]
THE GRAFTON PRESS
NEW YORK
Copyright, 1902, by
THE GRAFTON PRESS
PREFACE
After returning from his first experience in Alaska in 1900, the author
was prompted to write from his diary, primarily for his friends, a
sketch of the rush to the Cape Nome gold-fields and the character of the
country and its people. This account, with some modifications, forms the
first half of this book. The second half, parts of which were written in
the atmosphere of the situations as they arose during the following
year, has been recently completed upon the adjudication of the United
States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Pacific Coast, which, in effect,
finally frees northwestern Alaska from one of the most dramatic and
oppressive conspiracies in recent history.
The writer believes that the discovery of this El Dorado of Bering Sea
has created an epoch in the development of our national domain,
wonderful and unprecedented in various phases, and but little understood
or appreciated by the general public. Because of its uniqueness, it is a
difficult matter to treat adequately. Certain features of the subject
can hardly be exaggerated; for instance: the magnitude and blindness of
the stampede of eighteen thousand fortune-hunters in the summer of 1900,
and the almost indescribable scenes which attended their arrival on the
"golden sands"; the marvelous richness of some of the placer-gold
deposits; the dreariness and barrenness of the new country; and the
enormity of the judicial conspiracy, whose proceedings the United States
Circuit Court of Appeals has declared "have no parallel in the
jurisprudence of this country."
Special laws concerning Alaska, the local methods of mining, and various
other matters pertaining to the country and its people, are dealt with
herein, probably with sufficient fullness for the general reader. The
book, however, as a whole, is in narrative form; and personal
experiences and character-sketches (especially in the second part) have
been freely utilized for the purpose of illustrating characteristic
conditions and typical people.
If the narrative in places seems too personal, this, perhaps, will be
pardoned, for the reason that an account of the actual experiences of a
few individuals--tame, indeed, compared with those of many others--may
better suggest the atmosphere of a weird land than a mere resume of
impersonal facts. Finally, it is hoped that this book may, in some small
measure, prove of service in directing attention to the past neglect and
present needs of our wonderful Alaska.
L. McK.
NEW YORK, February, 1902.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I THE RUSH IN 1900 1
II THE HYBRID CITY OF NOME 30
III TRAVEL TO THE INTERIOR 54
IV THE INLAND COUNTRY--THE MINES 76
V MCKENZIE AT WORK--THE STORM--THE
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS 105
VI THE DANGERS OF BERING SEA--A
DISMAL OUTLOOK 137
VII UP THE STREAMS--AN EVENING AT
JOHNSON'S CAMP 166
VIII THE COUNCIL CITY MINING DISTRICT--JOE
RIPLEY AND OTHERS 187
IX THE OPERETTA AT DEXTER'S--NOME
CITY OF TO-DAY 230
X THE END OF THE CONSPIRACY--A
WORD FOR ALASKA 246
PART I
1900
I
THE RUSH IN 1900
The remarkable discoveries of gold at Cape Nome, Alaska, situated almost
in the Bering Strait, only one hundred and fifty miles from Siberia, and
distant not less than three thousand miles from San Francisco and
fifteen hundred from the famed Klondike, naturally created more
excitement in the Western and mining sections of this country than in
the Middle States and the "effete East," an expression frequently heard
in the West. These rich placer-gold deposits were discovered by a small
party of prospectors in the late autumn of 1898. The news spread like
wild-fire down along the Pacific coast and up into Dawson and the
Klondike country, and the following spring witnessed a stampede to the
new El Dorado, which, however, was wholly eclipsed by the unprecedented
mad rush of eighteen thousand persons in the spring ensuing. During the
summer months of 1899, when, in addition to the gold along the creeks,
rich deposits, easy to extract, were found in the beach extending for
miles by the sea, every one at Nome had an opportunity to share in
nature's unexpected gift. Consequently, upon the return in the fall, the
story of the wonderful wealth of this weird country was circulated
broadcast. All kinds of schemes, honest and dishonest, were devised
during the winter to obtain the gold the following season, and the
matter of providing suitable laws to meet the many difficult conditions
and questions which had already arisen, and which would be greatly
aggravated by the threatened and succeeding stampede, came definitely
before Congress. Alaska, legally, is not even a Territory, though
commonly so called. It is the District of Alaska, possessing a governor
and other officers, but, unlike a Territory, no legislature; and it is,
therefore, entirely dependent upon Congress for all legislation. The
Alaska bill, under the charge of Mr. Warner in the House and Senator
Carter in the Senate, consumed a great deal of the time of Congress;
many of its provisions were hotly debated, and finally it became a law,
June 6, 1900--in the main a satisfactory piece of legislation. By it
Alaska was divided into three judicial divisions, and that which
embraces northwestern Alaska and the new gold-fields was allotted to
Arthur H. Noyes of Minnesota, formerly of Dakota. If ever a position
demanded an honest, able, and fearless man, it was this judgeship, which
should be the guaranty of good civil government, establish a court, and
disentangle and dispose of, among a mixed population largely composed of
unscrupulous elements, an indescribable mass of legal matters, already
accumulated and ever increasing.
When in Washington in the winter of 1899, I became interested in Cape
Nome. I met there an able young attorney from the Pacific coast, who
among the first had gone to Nome, where he had practised his profession
with great success and secured interests in some promising properties.
He was then in Washington in the interest of Alaskan legislation. The
prospects for great legal complications in the new country were highly
encouraging. Lieutenant Jarvis of the United States revenue service, a
man of sound judgment and few words, who so signally distinguished
himself in 1897 by his overland expedition and rescue of the crews of
whaling-vessels ice-bound in the Arctic seas, had been the chief agent
of the government at Nome the preceding year. He not only corroborated
what I had already heard, but gave the impression that the story had not
half been told. My brother and I decided to make the venture, and to be
content with a safe return and a fund of experience, to offset the
uncertain rewards of business and law practice during the dull summer
months. He took up surveying, and I spent all my spare time in studying
the elaborate codes of laws which Congress was then enacting for Alaska,
as well as substantive mining law and all available information
pertaining to that little known or understood country.
In San Francisco there were many signs of the Nome excitement. "Cape
Nome Supplies," in large print, met the eye frequently. One ran across
many who were going, and heard of many more who had already started for
the Arctic gold-fields. All indications pointed to the advent of a small
army of lawyers and doctors on the shores of Nome. But, though there was
a stir in the atmosphere, the excitement was nothing compared with that
at Seattle, which is the natural outfitting-point for Alaska; for San
Francisco has had a long experience in these "excitements," and treats
each recurring one with comparative indifference. We took everything
with us,--tents, stoves, provisions, all sufficient to enable us to live
independently for three or four months,--not to mention the "law
library" and surveying apparatus.
The _C.D. Lane_ was the ship, named after its owner, the prominent
mining man, who had backed up his belief in the genuineness of the new
country by investing in it a great deal of money, and who was now taking
up in his boat machinery, supplies, miners, and general passengers, some
four hundred persons in all. The sailing from San Francisco, and the
scenes of farewell at the dock, were both amusing and impressive. Ready
exchanges of repartee between the ship and the dock were in order.
Passengers held up "pokes," small buckskin bags for gold-dust, and
cheerfully shouted to their friends that they would come back with their
"sacks" full. But there was about it all at the same time something not
altogether gay. It was no certain undertaking. The great majority, of
course, would not return successful, and it was not improbable that some
might not return at all.
I presume that the _Lane_ carried in its personnel an average assortment
of the eighteen thousand similarly brought to Nome; perhaps, however, a
higher average, due to the fact that many of its passengers went
legitimately to work in the employ of the Wild Goose Mining and Trading
Company, in which Mr. Lane is largely interested. Nevertheless,
students of human nature could there have found an ample field for
study in the array of adventurers, gamblers, pugilists, alleged actors
and actresses,--a nondescript male and female population, which might
very appropriately be collected under the term "grafters"--an expression
commonly used to designate individuals who ingraft themselves at the
expense of others. One of the first men we met was V----, who shared
accommodations with us. He was a practical miner, who had prospected
through nearly all of the Western States and parts of Alaska, and, like
the great majority, he was going to make a try at the new gold-fields,
with nothing assured, but with the determination to strike out somewhere
and "make it." It did not take long to learn that the real American
miner, the man who undergoes hardships and endures privations such as
but few people can know or understand, is a fine, intelligent, and
generous citizen, whom it is a pleasure to know.
On the 24th of May the ship steamed out of the Golden Gate and up the
coast, to stop _en route_ at Seattle for additional machinery, freight,
and passengers, though it was difficult to figure just where the latter
were to be distributed. All ages are subject to the gold fever. We met
aboard ship a gentleman of our own university, a classmate of Senator
Stewart, who, catching this fever in 1849, without waiting to graduate,
left New Haven with Mr. Stewart in 1850, and joined the pioneers in
California. He has since then been a Congressman and held an important
federal office. His ship's companions likewise had been through the
"early days" in the Western country, and were now going to take a look
at the new El Dorado, but, I inferred, rather as investors and
investigators, and not, like the majority, dependent upon what the new
country might give to them. These people were worth listening to in
their continual discussions as to the conditions to be met and the
opportunities to be grasped in the Nome country. One of them I remember
saying that there would be more broken hearts at Nome than in any other
community. And there were on the _Lane_ people who had staked their all
upon this venture, and who confidently believed that, soon after
landing, they could dig out a small fortune. A number of these, men with
their wives, knew practically nothing about mining. I recall a woman of
refinement from the South, who, with her two sons, recently graduated
from college, was likewise in quest of a ready fortune. She had never
cooked in her life, but thought it would be interesting to look after
her boys while they were digging gold from the beach to empty into their
mother's lap. This sentiment certainly betokened more hopefulness than
common sense. A few days after their arrival at Nome, they departed for
home, having had all the experience they wanted; and I subsequently
learned on my return that the mother had been confined in a hospital for
some time, suffering from brain fever, a malady which it is strange she
could have contracted.
The _Lane_ remained six days at Seattle, and was one of the last boats
to sail from that port for Nome. Everything in Seattle seemed to be
labeled "Cape Nome"; it was in the air. General Randall and the military
were there, expecting to sail for the North any day on the transport
_Seward_, the guardians and guaranty of law and order in the new camp
until the inauguration of the civil authorities. The lawyers were
anxious to know the status of the Alaska bill then under debate in the
Senate, especially with reference to its provisions regarding the rights
to hold and mine the beach. This matter proved, after all, to be of very
little consequence, as the beach had been practically worked out the
preceding season and before the arrival of the 1900 stampede, about two
million dollars' worth of fine "dust" having been taken from it. But the
bill became a law on the sixth day of June, when we were on the high
seas, and the best that the goodly sized legal fraternity represented on
the _Lane_ could do was to discuss the proposed provisions, and "what
would you do in such a case?" There was developing aboard ship a certain
nervousness to get away--people wanted to arrive among the first, and
thought that they were losing valuable time; but Mr. Lane, who had been
at Nome before, remarked that we should arrive there none too late, and
his judgment proved to be sound.
Leaving Seattle June 3, with something of a send-off and some
interesting additions to the passenger list, associations with
civilization were finally severed.
As it is problematical in the spring just when the Bering Sea is free
from ice, the first objective point of all vessels bound for the Arctic
regions is Dutch Harbor, Unalaska, one of the numerous Aleutian Islands
at the mouth, so to speak, of Bering Sea, which extend in a broken chain
across the Pacific Ocean almost to the coast of Asia.
The stretch from Seattle to this Bering Sea harbor of refuge is
twenty-one hundred miles, and the route is not like that of the
delightful inside passage up the Gulf of Alaska, by Sitka and the Muir
Glacier, replete with magnificent scenery, and calm. On the contrary, it
furnishes nothing to gaze upon except the majestic and not always
sufficiently tranquil ocean.
There was, of course, on the _Lane_ a goodly representation of the genus
"know-all," whose fortunes were really assured by reason of an
infallible combination which they held or device which they had
contrived. Such a combination was a certain Alaska "syndicate," from the
East, whose component parts consisted of an ex-"judge," to decide the
vital legal questions which might arise in the acquisition of property;
an attorney, to search titles; a general manager, who declared that he
didn't know gold from brass, but would soon find out the difference; a
couple of engineers, and some others--not to mention clever machinery
with which to extract gold, supplies of all kinds for a year at least,
and the essentials of a ready-made house which could weather the fierce
winter Arctic gales. It was really too good to endure long. Then, there
were individuals who could demonstrate by their blue-prints just how the
gold was to be dredged from the sea, it being to them a moral certainty
that the gold, probably emanating from the Siberian shore, had been
washed by the ocean upon the beach. One of professed large experience
vehemently maintained that his theory of the beach deposits was the
correct one; that is to say, the gold came down the Yukon River attached
to the bottom of icebergs which were carried out to sea, and then,
somehow, through the kindness of the Japanese current, the gold which
they brought was deposited upon the long-extending beach at Cape Nome!
Of course, as had been clearly demonstrated in the preliminary United
States geological report, the beach gold had been carried down from the
interior by the streams emptying into Bering Sea, and there distributed
in the black and "ruby" sand.
The atmosphere became chill and penetrating, the sunsets later, the
nights less dark. The crowd were kept in good nature by sparring-matches
conducted along professional lines, mock trials, concerts, and
recitations by the "profession." The popular song "Because I Love You"
was murdered several times daily, only to be re-resurrected. We made the
acquaintance of another Yale man, Mr. C----, a member of the California
bar, with whom I worked, weather and disposition permitting, over the
proposed Alaska laws, and with whom I later formed a law partnership.
Early in the morning of June 11 the _Lane_ went through Unimak Pass and
was steaming toward Dutch Harbor, all aboard eager, with eyes straining,
to see whether the vessels which had preceded us were there, or had
continued up into the Bering Sea, navigation being open. To the surprise
and delight of nearly all, there lay at anchor in that magnificent
harbor, almost landlocked, what appeared to be the entire Nome
fleet--steamers of all sizes, sailing-craft laden with lumber and black
with passengers, and the United States vessels _Wheeling_, _McCullough_,
_Manning_, _Rush_, and _Lawton_.
It is a weird and majestic spot. Great hills, almost mountains, barren
of timber or shrubbery of any kind, and streaked with snow, come down
precipitous to the water's edge. Rising beyond these are snow-covered
mountains. Not a tree nor anything green is visible. The surface is
somber with the all-pervading tundra, or Russian moss, which stretches
over the greater part of Alaska and northern Siberia. Looking down the
harbor are discovered the large warehouses of one of the great Alaska
commercial and trading companies, and the ancient and unique Russian
settlement of Unalaska, peopled mainly by a mixed-breed population of
Russian, Japanese, and native Eskimo constituents. There are a
picturesque little Russian church, and the Jesse Lee Home for orphans
and foundlings, endowed by a number of charitable women in Washington.
It was quickly learned that a number of the more adventurous ships were
frozen up in the ice. Others were not known about; perhaps they had
found a lucky opening and slipped through. Several of the vessels then
in the harbor, essaying to get through, had met with ice in quantity,
and had discreetly returned. A photograph taken by a passenger on one
of these latter ships, posted up on the _Lane_, tended to chill the
ardor of some of the enthusiastic souls who were for going right through
and losing no time in accumulating wealth. It is safe only for wooden
vessels, specially fortified for the purpose, to "buck" the ice, such as
whalers and the United States revenue cutter _Bear_, which was among the
first to arrive at Nome. The _Santa Anna_ had had a fearful time of it,
having been afire in the hold for four days, reaching Dutch Harbor,
however, with no lives lost, but with all baggage destroyed.
Naturally, every one was keen to be ashore and to stroll about the
island, meeting friends who had come on other vessels. Everything was
"wide open." Hastily-erected saloons and gambling devices of all kinds
were doing a flourishing business, patronized indiscriminately by the
sexes; and there was a large run on the stores for candies and sweets
generally. I trustingly gave to one of the most intelligent-looking
native women some soiled clothes to wash. When returned they were
scarcely recognizable, but she insisted that they belonged to me. People
were almost universally complaining about the over-crowding on their
ships and the poor food, so much so that we of the _Lane_ began to
believe that we were living strictly _en prince_. Some of the horses
which had been taken ashore were in a pitifully cut-up condition, but
nearly all that I saw at Nome were splendid-looking animals. Base-ball
matches between nines picked from the various ships were held, with the
usual ensuing umpire difficulties. After a while, however, the novelty
of the thing wore away. Under the leadership of a certain "judge,"
prominent in the organization of townships in Oklahoma, a party of us
from the _Lane_, half in jest and half seriously, staked out, pursuant
to law, a town site to be known as "Lane City," and drew lots for our
respective real-estate holdings. This move seemed to create some little
stir, and there appeared many who wished to secure a lot in the new
metropolis. I believe that I am still the town recorder; but it will be
very strange indeed if the law will suffer such transient guests thus to
create, and in absence maintain, a town site, and the more especially so
when others claim the ownership of the property. As a matter of fact,
Dutch Harbor will very probably become an important station in the
Philippine and Asiatic trade of this country; and General Randall, in a
recent report, has strongly recommended the government acquisition of
land there for commercial and outfitting purposes.
The weather had been somewhat misty and chilly, with only occasional
gleams of sunshine. It was not disagreeable, however, and at times was
very pleasant. The ships were daily setting out for the North, and the
_Lane_ was delaying with a number of others, awaiting the advent of an
expected collier. There were excitement and curiosity, indeed, when the
_Cleveland_ came in, the first large vessel to discharge passengers and
freight at Nome and to return for a second trip. Adventurous, she had
taken advantage of a lucky break in the ice, and had safely gotten
through and reached her destination. The dock was crowded with people
seeking interviews with those returning on the _Cleveland_. The latter
were, for the most part, a poor-looking collection, who told dire and
terrible tales of the Nome "fake" and of the lawlessness and crime
existing there. They said that the beach had been exhausted of its gold,
and that people were leaving for home as quickly as the steamers would
take them or they could scrape up enough money to pay their passage. To
those especially who were relying upon getting ready money from the
beach this news was not reassuring.
On June 17 the _Lane_ withdrew from Dutch Harbor and headed up into
Bering Sea. Whales were frequently seen, sometimes very close to the
ship, and we occasionally skirted around fields of ice. A matter about
which we particularly wished to know, and regarding which the testimony
of experts was sharply conflicting, was just what kind of a climate is
that of the Nome country. Some said that it was chilly and that it
rained all the while, and that rubber boots and oilskins were always
essential; a former whaling captain, with whom I could talk New Bedford,
said that frequently during the middle of the day the sun was so hot as
to be almost unbearable. But as to knowing anything at that time, the
weather proposition was a gamble. Since the coming of the _Cleveland_
there could be detected among the "syndicate" a certain lack of
enthusiasm, as evidenced by a few chance remarks about the comforts of
home, and a less sprightly step and challenging eye. But, generally, on
nearing the destination, the crowd aboard ship were in good spirits,
though, naturally, somewhat more serious. It was now practically
perpetual daylight.
The first sight of Nome City, as we steamed toward the place in the
clear morning light of June 20, was impressive. It was indeed a "white
city," tents, tents, tents extending along the shore almost as far as
the eye could see. Scattered in the denser and more congested part of
the town were large frame and galvanized-iron structures, the warehouses
and stores of the large companies; and there was the much-talked-of
tundra, upon which the multitude were encamped, extending back almost
from the edge of the sea three or four miles to the high and rolling
hills, which bore an occasional streak of snow. Not a tree, not a bit of
foliage, nothing green, was in evidence. Had it not been for the chance
discovery of gold in that remote spot, one passing along the coast would
have considered it barren and forlorn, "a dreary waste expanding to the
skies." There is not even the semblance of a harbor. It is a mere
shallow roadstead open to the clear sweep and attack of the Bering Sea.
Anchored from one to two miles from the shore were strung along, I may
say, scores of nondescript steamers and sailing-craft, with here and
there a tug towing ashore lighters filled with passengers or freight, or
bringing them back empty. These tugs were so few that they could command
almost any price for a day's use, and proved veritable gold-mines to
their owners. When the sea is at all rough no disembarking can be done.
We were in great good luck to have at that time an unprecedented spell
of clear weather and calm seas, which tended to lessen the confusion and
misery, which were, even under those favorable conditions, only too
great.
Well, here we were finally and at last, and now to face the music!
Bundled into scows, passengers were towed by the light-draft boats to
within some thirty feet of the shore, and then the scows were allowed to
drift in upon the moderate but wetting surf. Women were carried ashore
on the backs of men who waded out to the lighters; and the men, for the
most part, completed the remaining distance in their rubber boots, or
got wet, or imposed upon the back and good nature of some accommodating
person.
II
THE HYBRID CITY OF NOME
The town forms dense right at the shore, extending back and along upon
damp and muddy soil hitherto covered by the deep and marshy moss. The
Snake River, a sluggish, unnavigable stream, coming from the back-lying
hills and through the tundra, empties into the sea where the town tapers
off at the north, and thereby forms a sand-spit.
The first impressions after landing were those of confusion, waste, and
filth. The shore was an indescribable mass of machinery, lumber, and
freight of all kinds, the greater part of which represented fortunes
thrown away. Scattered about and along the shore, looking for an
opportunity to steal, were as tough a looking lot of rascals as one
could meet. Upon walking into the center of the town one was greeted by
a sight which beggars description. Certainly it was a case of "whited
sepulcher." The whiteness viewed from afar disappeared. The main street
was lined with hastily-erected two-story frame buildings, with here and
there a tent--a series of saloons, gambling-places, and dance-halls,
restaurants, steamship agencies, various kinds of stores, and lawyers'
"offices." It was filled with a mass of promiscuous humanity. Loads of
stuff drawn by horses and dog-teams were being carted through the
narrow, crowded ways, and the cry of encouragement to the dogs of "Mush
on" (dog French for _Marchons_) was heard frequently. Miners with heavy
packs on their backs were starting out for the claims on the creeks and
into the unknown interior, but the "bar-room" miner was far more in
evidence.
It was not the typical mining camp where the population for the greater
part is composed of hardy, honest people who have undergone privation to
reach their destination, and thereby represent, in a measure, the
survival of the fittest; for this was a great impossible hybrid sort of
city, accessible by steamer direct from San Francisco and Seattle, where
the riffraff and criminals of the country were dumped, remote from the
restraints of law and order. I heard old-timers who had visited all the
principal mining camps in recent years remark that this Nome was the
"toughest proposition" they had ever encountered, and I must admit that
it would be difficult to picture anything tougher. However, it was soon
realized that the matter to be reckoned with was that of sanitary
conditions, or rather the lack of them. The general "toughness" of
things and the inconveniences of getting settled had been in the main
foreseen and discounted, but the rather alarming outbreak of smallpox in
the camp, and the reported filling up of the "pest-house," made matters
somewhat more involved and complicated. There had been a warning in
Seattle that certain vessels were bringing up persons infected with the
disease, and two of the suspected ships were then being held in
quarantine by the vigilant government representative, Lieutenant Jarvis,
but the disease had, nevertheless, secured a foothold in the camp.
Undoubtedly, however, the matter was grossly exaggerated, and there were
probably more deaths from pneumonia than from any other disease. The
smallpox scare, nevertheless, gave the doctors a good opening, for
vaccination was strictly in order. Considering in retrospect the site of
the place, the total absence of any sewerage, and the great motley crowd
there herded together, Nome proved to be a remarkably healthy camp--a
fact due, in the main, to the prompt measures for sanitation taken by
General Randall immediately upon his arrival, and the introduction into
the town, later in the season, of good water conveyed by pipes from the
streams beyond. During the preceding year typhoid had been very
prevalent and deaths numerous. A repetition was thus happily avoided,
though, during the first days the prospects seemed indeed dismal, and
the old-timers (always spoken of as "sour doughs" in Alaska) predicted
that, after the rains should set in, the people were going to die like
flies; and, without the least exaggeration, it certainly looked that
way. I believe, nevertheless, that if the story could be told, it would
be learned that more lives have been lost in that country through
drowning than in any other way. Hundreds of gold-hunters, in small and
unseaworthy boats, as soon as they could do so, left Nome to prospect
the remoter coast and possible creeks, many of whom perished in the
sudden and fierce storms which occur in the Bering Sea, and wives and
mothers wondered why no letters came from Alaska.
We were four or five days collecting our seventeen packages of freight,
and with V---- took turns day and night waiting for the uncertain
lighters to come ashore with their mixed loads of machinery and
miscellaneous supplies. I believe that between us we saw and examined
every parcel which came from the hold of the _Lane_. C---- was ill
aboard ship, and we looked after his freight as well. Some days it was
too rough to discharge any, or a tug could not be secured or had broken
down. It was good luck finally to get it all, for many were left high
and dry with nothing, their vessels having returned for a second trip
with cargo not wholly discharged. During these nights--or what should
have been nights--we were fortunate to have extended to us the
hospitality of the floor of the storehouse of the Wild Goose Mining and
Trading Company, and I can very distinctly recall the stretched-out,
blanketed figures lying about, the coughing of a sick Eskimo family in
the attic above, and the yelling of the fellow across the way exhorting
people in the ever-restless street to enter the dance-hall and see the
"most beautiful women in the world."
Until our tents and provisions could be collected, it was necessary to
live, so to speak, "on the town," but restaurant competition was already
so keen that one could get a really excellent and clean meal for a
dollar and a half or a dollar. I drank no water at all, unless it had
been boiled, and then took it with tea. It is possible thus to accustom
one's self; but I distinctly remember being on one occasion so thirsty
as to give fifty cents for a glass of ginger-ale, and poor at that.
Despite our special vigilance in watching our freight as it accumulated
on the shore, in an unguarded moment, when our backs were turned, one of
the numerous thugs stole V----'s valise, containing many essentials and
keepsakes of the miner which could not be replaced. The calm, manly
manner in which he bore his great loss, for which my brother and I felt
partly responsible, was an excellent example for us when, on the morrow,
we similarly had stolen from us the sack which contained our invaluable
sleeping-robes, made from army blankets, things which we missed all
summer, and the lack of which made us mentally sore. Of course, among
such an assortment of persons, there were a number of murders, suicides,
and indulgences in "gun-play," and it was not precisely the proper thing
in the small hours to stroll carelessly about the place.
Early in the spring of 1900 a "strike" had been made at Topkok, a small
stretch of beach some thirty miles east of Nome, near the mouth of a dry
creek called Daniel's. Four men with primitive contrivances had taken
out at least forty thousand dollars' worth of gold-dust in thirty days,
when the secret leaked out, and a stampede to that quarter ensued. Small
vessels of all kinds, charging from fifteen to twenty-five dollars a
passenger and a good deal for freight, were making the trip, crowded,
between Nome and the new diggings. It was generally conceded that all
the ground along the creeks back of Nome, and the tundra, had been
staked and restaked for many miles; in fact, nearly all the surrounding
country had been gobbled up, on speculation mainly, after the rich
discoveries on Anvil and other creeks. There had been a rush to Port
Clarence, forty miles north and west, but it was common belief that no
gold had been discovered there, and that it was a mere real-estate boom
and a fake excitement. Cape York, thirty miles beyond Port Clarence,
which had been reported rich the preceding fall, and where it was
believed there would be a considerable and prosperous settlement the
following season, had not panned out successfully. The beach about Nome
had been already practically exhausted, so that it yielded in its best
spots only a few dollars a day, an amount which does not go very far in
a new country. It was, therefore, a serious question for the average
miner to decide in what direction and how he should move. Undoubtedly,
the poverty of the beach, which was considered common property, was a
keen disappointment to the many who had hoped to take from it sufficient
wherewithal to tide them through the winter and furnish a little capital
for future operations. The working season is short, scarcely three
months, as operations must practically cease when the water freezes; and
one must "strike it" early, or not at all. Hundreds of the adventurers
immediately threw up the sponge, cursed the Nome "fake"; and, if they
could pay the fare, departed for home. The steamers for the most part
were returning as crowded as they came, and many of their passengers, on
reaching home, exaggerating the sufficiently bad conditions which did
exist, immediately circulated in the press of the country most alarming
accounts of the situation at Nome, and also generally condemned as a
fraud a country marvelously rich in gold, a country which they had not
given even a decent trial.
Having finally collected the bulk of our freight, we put up a tent on
the sand-spit across the Snake River, half a mile perhaps from the heart
of the metropolis, the only ground except the beach which was not
tundra. This place was already becoming thickly populated with temporary
tenants like ourselves, small stores of various kinds, and
lodging-tents, not to mention a fat individual near us who, decorated
and bedecked with medals, hung out her sign--"Lady Barber." Our camp was
about fifty yards from the ocean. Driftwood from Siberia, tossed up by
unusually severe storms, lay about in quantity. V----, with his mining
partner, R----, camped with us, and all took turns in guarding the
provisions, cooking, and doing camp chores generally, during this period
of deliberation. At times during the day it was very warm,--the sun
blazed down hot,--but toward six o'clock in the evening it became
chilly, and at night it was positively and uncomfortably cold; for, be
it remembered, all through that section of the country, a few feet from
the surface, and this, too, in the case of the tundra, perennial layers
of ice and frozen ground are met. Putting a flooring to the tent, and
the purchase of some reindeer-skins to fill the want caused by the
"lifting" of our sleeping-robes and the mysterious disappearance of the
folding cots, made the nights much more agreeable, and, furthermore, we
were becoming inured to the climatic conditions. The midnight sun stood
up in the heavens small and red like a toy balloon; and it was the
perpetual daylight, aggravated through the whiteness of the tent, which,
aided by the cold, made those first nights almost sleepless ones. Near
us, living in a small hut fortified with driftwood and canvas, was a
queer little old German-American, who was one of the pioneers in the
Nome region. He was addressed as "Captain Cook," and, with a twinkle in
his bright eye, he referred to his abode as his "castle." We secured his
good will, and the old fellow related some of his interesting
experiences. He said, now that he had accumulated some gold, he was
going home in the autumn to see his "leetle wife in Kansas City," whom
he had not seen for many years.
Westward along the beach, for miles, all kinds of contrivances, from the
simple hand-"rocker" to complicated machinery, were being used to get
the gold; but the men did not seem cheerful in their work, and most of
them would freely and candidly admit that they were not making even good
wages. Among the many strange sights on the beach was an enormous
machine, built upon huge barrels, which some of our friends with the
blue-prints were making ready to dredge gold from the sea. It
represented a great deal of money. When subsequently launched, and tons
of sand had been taken by it from beneath the sea, not five cents' worth
of gold was found to compensate for the enormous expense and labor. Not
far away, at a point which was to be its terminal, men were landing as
best they could the machinery, rails, and ties for the railroad of the
Wild Goose Company, which was to extend for several miles back over the
tundra to the rich placer-mines on the creeks.
Hundreds were living in tents upon the beach, thanks to the clemency of
the weather. Within a very short distance from our camp, with their
freight piled about, were the "syndicate," and quite unenthusiastic.
There was defection in their camp. Actually, the "syndicate" were
selling out, and without a struggle. Several of its members very soon
bade us farewell, and pulled out for what they thought the "real
thing"--quartz-mines in Oregon. And yet some of the mines on Anvil Creek
even then, and with only a few men shoveling the pay dirt into the
sluice-boxes, were turning out from ten to fifteen thousand dollars a
day. To be sure, this was for the very few only, but, at the same time,
it went to prove that the country was not a fraud. Even the dirt in
those miserable Nome streets contained "colors," or small particles of
gold; and it is an incongruous thought that, of all the cities of the
world, Nome City, as it is called, most nearly approaches the
apocalyptic condition of having its streets paved with gold!
We daily crossed the Snake River on "Gieger's Bridge" when going into
the town for investigation and information. Gieger was an enterprising
fellow who had built a rough but sufficiently substantial bridge at the
mouth of the stream, and, by exacting a toll, he was making a pretty
good thing out of it. Frame buildings of the wood of Puget Sound were
going up like mushrooms throughout the town, and the noise of saw and
hammer denoted that the carpenters were making small fortunes. "Offices"
which could scarcely hold more than a chair and a table were for rent at
one hundred to one hundred and fifty dollars a month, and these, too,
frequently were merely spaces penned off in connection with stores or
bar-rooms. Absurd prices were demanded for town lots of very uncertain
title. I know of one instance where four thousand dollars was given for
a lot on the main street. The saloon which bore the proud sign "The
Only Second-Class Saloon in Alaska" seemed to be the best appointed and
to be playing to the largest audiences; but it was then too early for
the miners to come in with their gold dust, and the gamblers, therefore,
were not doing a harvest business. We met college-bred men. A man I had
known at college was doing business in a tent pending the building of a
bank with safe-deposit vaults, of which he was the general manager.
Another, with whom I had attended law school, and whom I had never seen
or thought of since, had come to Nome in the first rush from Seattle,
and now, situated in Easy Street, was one of the leaders of the Nome
bar. The negro Pullman-car porter, whom we had last seen at San Antonio,
Texas, on our way out from the East, reintroduced himself to me on the
street, to my infinite surprise, and wanted to know if I could give him
work of some kind, which I was not then in position to do. We may have
been responsible for his infection with the gold fever.
The place was really under martial law. The town government, useless and
corrupt, was practically nil; and as it was believed that the federal
judge, with his staff of assistants, would not arrive until August, it
was the plain duty of the military to preserve order and, so far as
possible, leave legal matters _in statu quo_ until the advent of the
civil authorities as provided by the laws which had been recently
enacted for Alaska.
For various reasons which seemed good and sufficient, we decided to quit
Nome and go to Council City. We knew that Mr. Lane's company had large
interests in that region--that he believed in it; and we knew people on
the _Lane_ who had gone thither direct on reaching Nome. It was said,
too, to be a healthful country, with plenty of good water and even a
belt of timber. One did not hear it much discussed at Nome--people did
not seem to know much about it,--but what was said was favorable. As to
the means of reaching it, information was scanty, and that somewhat
discouraging, but certainly the thing to do was to go by boat east about
seventy-five miles to the mouth of Golovin Bay, from which point we
should have to travel up shallow rivers some fifty or sixty miles to
Council City. C----, who had been a pretty sick man, but who had
declined to follow certain "sound advice" and return home (having
joined us from the _Lane_), and G----, another fellow-passenger, thought
the move a good one, and agreed to come with us. We four, therefore,
making selections from our respective supplies, sold or otherwise
disposed of provisions which were less essential, for the carrying of
freight and supplies in that impossible country, however short the
actual distance, is a very serious and expensive matter. V---- and R----
were building their boat, though they had not yet decided in which
direction to go; but they agreed to communicate with us somehow during
the season. A tent labeled "Undertaker," with the American flag on top,
had just been put up for business across the way from us; and it seemed
fitting that we should celebrate the Fourth of July by leaving Nome.
This was accomplished on the little steamer _Dora_, belonging to the
Alaska Commercial Company, not much to look at, but it afforded the
greatest comfort and luxury we had known since the days at San
Francisco, and, furthermore, it carried drinkable water.
III
TRAVEL TO THE INTERIOR
Leaving Nome in the evening, by the following noon we were off a small
settlement comprising a few scattered sod houses, warehouses, and tents,
called either by the Indian name "Chenik," or "Dexter's," after the
pioneer who lived there with his Eskimo wife and children. Dexter had
settled at Chenik a number of years ago, and was making money by trading
with the natives, when, in the autumn of 1898, the discovery of gold at
Nome made him a very rich man. He was among the first to secure
valuable claims. Chenik, as I prefer to call it, is a sand-spit in the
entrance to Golovin Bay, a large and shallow body of water with
treacherous mud-flats, surrounded by great barren hills and the
all-pervading tundra. Not a tree is to be seen, but rising immediately
behind the scattered settlement is a steep hill, less somber than the
rest, upon which the occasional wooden bier of a departed Eskimo makes
the scene less monotonous. There is a small Swedish mission, in charge
of a good man, Mr. Hendricksen, who was looking after the welfare of
fifty or sixty natives there encamped. The entire picture is far more
cheerful than that of Nome. Until further and more definite information
concerning our destination could be gathered, we made temporary camp on
dry ground not far from the shore, fortunate in being able to borrow
some loose boards for a flooring. The weather certainly had been and was
very good to us, the days bright and clear and, at times, quite warm,
but the nights always cold.
Generally, what was learned about the Council City country was far from
reassuring. Men who seemed to be of a sturdy, reliable sort, and who
said that they had been there, reported that it was not worth while, and
dilated upon the arduous work of dragging one's self and one's boat up
the shallow streams, eaten up by mosquitos, to find everything staked
and nothing doing. I recall a Hebrew who made us a visit, and, almost
with tears in his eyes, entreated us not to blight our young lives by
going to Council City; and what a chapter of horrors he detailed! He
maintained that we should go to Eagle City, about fifteen hundred miles
distant via the Yukon River, where nuggets as large as one's fist lay
carelessly about, and where there was a great field for lawyers. He
insisted that we take his picture, in order that in the future we could
point to it, saying, "This is the man who advised us _not_ to go to
Council City." It was subsequently learned that this gentleman had gone
half-way to Council, and no farther. We met some, however, who believed
it to be a good country, and who were making ready to set out for it. To
get freight up the rivers a narrow and shallow boat is essential, and
such a craft, twenty-two feet in length, was quickly and dexterously
knocked together out of rough lumber by two enterprising carpenters who
were doing a land-office business. Each one of us became a
quarter-owner in the _Mush-on_, as the boat was christened.
Living at Chenik was not agreeable, and we were willing to tackle
Council City anyhow. We four, together with the more valuable of the
supplies, occupied a ten-by-twelve tent, and the water proposition was
worse than that at Nome. It meant a long walk up a hill past the Indian
graves and along the high cliff descending steep to the water's edge, to
a crevice in it which held a bank of frozen snow. This was brought back
in buckets and melted, and, for drinking purposes, boiled and filtered.
Then, too, the general epidemic of sickness which prevailed during the
season of 1900 among the natives throughout northwestern Alaska was here
manifest. They all coughed, and while we were at Chenik there were
several deaths from a complication of measles and pneumonia. Two young
Swedish women, belonging to the mission, were faithfully ministering to
the sick, for the Eskimo is as helpless when ill as are the members of
his household to care for him. Later, Dexter found a dozen of the
unfortunates dead across the bay, and tumbled their remains into a
single grave.