IN THE GOLD COUNTRY
A LOW, sandy beach, without a tree to break its level, rows of plain
frame-houses, some tents and wooden shanties scattered about, the surf
breaking over the shore in splendid foam,--this was Teddy's first
impression of Nome. They had sailed over from St. Michael's to see the
great gold-fields, and both the boys were full of eagerness to be on
land. It seemed, however, as if their desires were not to be realized,
for landing at Nome is a difficult matter.
Nome is on the south shore of that part of Alaska known as Seward
Peninsula, and it has no harbour. It is on the open seacoast and catches
all the fierce storms that sweep northward over Bering Sea. Generally
seacoast towns are built in certain spots because there is a harbour,
but Nome was not really built, it "jes' growed," for, when gold was
found there, the miners sat down to gather the harvest, caring nothing
about a harbour.
Ships cannot go within a mile of land, and passengers have to go ashore
in small lighters. Sometimes when they arrive, they cannot go ashore at
all, but have to wait several days, taking refuge behind a small island
ten miles away, lest they drag their anchors and be dashed to pieces on
the shore.
There had been a tremendous storm at Nome the day before Ted arrived,
and landing was more difficult than usual, but, impatient as the boys
were, at last it seemed safe to venture, and the party left the steamer
to be put on a rough barge, flat-bottomed and stout, which was hauled by
cable to shore until it grounded on the sands. They were then put in a
sort of wooden cage, let down by chains from a huge wooden beam, and
swung round in the air like the unloading cranes of a great city, over
the surf to a high platform on the land.
"Well, this is a new way to land," cried Ted, who had been rather quiet
during the performance, and his father thought a trifle frightened.
"It's a sort of a balloon ascension, isn't it?"
"It must be rather hard for the miners, who have been waiting weeks for
their mail, when the boat can't land her bags at all," said Mr. Strong.
"That sometimes happens. From November to May, Nome is cut off from the
world by snow and ice. The only news they receive is by the monthly mail
when it comes.
"Over at Kronstadt the Russians have ice-breaking boats which keep the
Baltic clear enough of ice for navigation, and plow their way through
ice fourteen feet thick for two hundred miles. The Nome miners are very
anxious for the government to try this ice-boat service at Nome."
"Why did people settle here in such a forlorn place?" asked Ted, as they
made their way to the town, which they found anything but civilized. "I
like the Indian houses on the island better than this."
"Your island is more picturesque," said Mr. Strong, "but people came
here for what they could get.
"In 1898 gold was discovered on Anvil Creek, which runs into Snake
River, and this turned people's eyes in the direction of Nome. Miners
rushed here and set to work in the gulches inland, but it was not till
the summer of 1899 that gold was found on the beach. A soldier from the
barracks--you know this is part of a United States Military
Reservation--found gold while digging a well near the beach, and an old
miner took out $1,200 worth in twenty days. Then a perfect frenzy seized
the people. They flocked to Nome from far and near; they camped on the
beach in hundreds and staked their claims. Between one and two thousand
men were at work on the beach at one time, yet so good-natured were they
that no quarrels seem to have occurred. Doctors, lawyers, barkeepers,
and all dropped their business and went to rocking, as they call
beach-mining."
[Illustration: "'LET'S WATCH THOSE TWO MEN. THEY HAVE EVIDENTLY STAKED A
CLAIM TOGETHER.'"]
"Oh, dad, let's hurry and go and see it," cried Ted, as they hurried
through their dinner at the hotel. "I thought gold came out of deep
mines like copper, and had to be melted out or something, but this seems
to be different. Do they just walk along the beach and pick it up? I
wish I could."
"Well, it's not quite so simple as that," said Mr. Strong, laughing.
"We'll go and see, and then you'll understand," and they went down the
crooked streets to the sandy beach.
Men were standing about talking and laughing, others working hard. All
manner of men were there scattered over the _tundra_,[14] and Ted
became interested in two who were working together in silence.
"What are they doing?" he asked his father. "I can't see how they expect
to get anything worth having out of this mess."
"Beach-mining is quite different from any other," said his father.
"Let's watch those two men. They have evidently staked a claim together,
which means that nobody but these two can work on the ground they have
staked out, and that they must share all the gold they find. They came
here to prospect, and evidently found a block of ground which suited
them. They then dug a prospect hole down two to five feet until they
struck 'bedrock,' which happens to be clay around here. They passed
through several layers of sand and gravel before reaching this, and
these were carefully examined to see how much gold they contained. Upon
reaching a layer which seemed to be a good one, the gravel on top was
stripped off and thrown aside and the 'pay streak' worked with the
rocker."
"What is that?" asked Ted, who was all ears, while Kalitan was taking in
everything with his sharp black eyes.
"That arrangement that looks like a square pan on a saw-buck is the
rocker. The rockers usually have copper bottoms, and there is a great
demand for sheet copper at Nome, but often there is not enough of it,
and the miners have been known to cover them with silver coins. That man
you are watching has silver dollars in his, about fifty, I should say.
It seems extravagant, doesn't it, but he'll take out many times that
amount if he has good luck."
The man, who had glanced up at them, smiled at that and said:
"And, if I don't have luck, I'm broke, anyhow, so fifty or sixty plunks
won't make much difference. You going to be a miner, youngster?"
"Not this trip," said Ted, with a smile. "Say, I'd like to know how you
get the gold out with that."
"At first we used to put a blanket in the rocker, and wash the pay dirt
on that. Our prospect hole has water in it, and we can use it over and
over. Some of the holes are dry, and there the men have to pack their
pay dirt down to the shore and use surf water for washing. Most of our
gold is so fine that the blanket didn't stop it, so now we use 'quick.'
I reckon you'd call it mercury, but we call it quick. You see, it saves
time, and work-time up here is so short, on account of winter setting in
so early, that we have to save up our spare minutes and not waste 'em on
long words."
Ted grinned cheerfully and asked: "What do you do with the quick?"
"We paint it over the bottom of the rocker, and it acts like a charm
and catches every speck of gold that comes its way as the dirt is washed
over it. The quick and the gold make a sort of amalgam."
"But how do you get at the gold after it amalgams, or whatever you call
it?" asked Ted.
"Sure we fry it in the frying-pan, and it's elegant pancakes it makes,"
said the man. "See here," and he pulled from his pocket several flat
masses that looked like pieces of yellow sponge. "This is pure gold. All
the quick has gone off, and this is the real stuff, just as good as
money. An ounce will buy sixteen dollars' worth of anything in Nome."
"It looks mighty pretty," said Ted. "Seems to me it's redder than any
gold I ever saw."
"It is," said his father. "Nome beach gold is redder and brighter than
any other Alaskan gold. I guess I'll have to get you each a piece for a
souvenir," and both boys were made happy by the present of a quaintly
shaped nugget, bought by Mr. Strong from the very miner who had mined
it, which of course added to its value.
"You're gathering quite a lot of souvenirs, Ted," said his father. "It's
a great relief that you have not asked me for anything alive yet. I have
been expecting a modest request for a Malamute or a Husky pup, or
perhaps a pet reindeer to take home, but so far you have been quite
moderate in your demands."
"Kalitan never asks for anything," said Ted. "I asked him once why it
was, and he said Indian boys never got what they asked for; that
sometimes they had things given to them that they hadn't asked for, but,
if he asked the Tyee for anything, all he got was 'Good Indian get
things for himself,' and he had to go to work to get the thing he
wanted. I guess it's a pretty good plan, too, for I notice that I get
just as much as I did when I used to tease you for things," Teddy added,
sagely.
"Wise boy," said his father. "You're certainly more agreeable to live
with. The next thing you are to have is a visit to an Esquimo village,
and, if I can find some of the Esquimo carvings, you shall have
something to take home to mother. Kalitan, what would you like to
remember the Esquimos by?"
Kalitan smiled and replied, simply, "_Mukluks_."
"What are _mukluks_?" demanded Ted.
"Esquimo moccasins," said Mr. Strong. "Well, you shall both have a pair,
and they are rather pretty things, too, as the Esquimos make them."
FOOTNOTE:
[14] The name given to the boggy soil of the beach.