John Muir On the Sea. He Writes of the Throng Pushing Northward. The Scientist Advises Fortune-Hunters Not to Be in a Hurry. Spend This Winter Trying Your 'Prentice Hands on the Gold Belt of the Sierras . ' Port Townsend, August 22.

• Main Author: Muir, John
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Scholarly Commons 1897
• Subjects: John Muir; Bibliography; Kimes; William F. Kimes; Maymie B. Kimes; pamphlets; journal articles; speeches; writing; naturalist; annotation; Goldfields; Klondyke; Yukon; Alaska
• Online Access: https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/jmb/237; https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1236&context=jmb

1 -i N He Writes of the Thr The Scientist Advises Fortune- Hunters Not to Be in a Hi Spend This Winter Trying Your 'Prentice Hands on the Gold Belt of the Sierras. TEJy Professor Jolrxtn. lVIu.ii-. f ORT TOWNSBND, August 22.—Though the open seas t'o the frosty goldfields of A4 the north ai, fast drawing to a close, and white winter stands ready to lock the .mountain doors against all save the hardiest mountaineers, the tide .of travel to the Yukon goes wraely on like a hot stream that refuses to be frozen overV laden with picks, shovels and provisions. -.' The eager throng is pushing blindly northward in mad PROFESSOR JOHN MUIR 00 on- A i l, jui tUy, *& , l4t.6 Uri.0V) excitement. |( (Every one .is anxious to get ahead, 4mpJngiand grinding against gse another like bowlders in flood time swirling in a pothole. *~&KccM &*$ It is ft fine thing to see people in dead earnest about anything, /AEven so dull a business as gold-getting JiHfcyi.be interesting. Nature scatters grains of gold in gravel beds, and so the laziest crowds rotting in cities spring to life and are scattered over the.farthest wildernesses to make way for civilization. The right ministry of wealth is blessed, and one must admire the energy of those who seek it in the face at cold, hunger and self-denying toll. But in the search many become insane and strike about blindly in fierce excitement, moved more by the mere lust of wealth than appreciation of its right use. A little money we all need nowadays, but there is nothing about the getting of It that should rob us of our wits. Gold digging is only a dH chore, and no sane man will allow.it to blind him and draw him away from the real blessings of existence. Life is too short to allow much time for money-making. Many are beginning to find this o'U. and so arc in great part gold-proof. /Y*s\*4A/Wu,.\iA4 $tirWl-•• lsm noticed. There is nothing novel in this Klondyke discovery. Similar discoveries of the yellow stuff, many of them with their attendant excitements, have been made in our fertile mountains north and south and in all quarters of the globe. The bonanzas of California, Nevada and British Columbia are still fresh in gold-burdened minds. The Cariboo mines, so destructive to many, boasted their thousand-dollar pans. A million and a half dollars'worth of oreiwaa taken in a few weeks -in a pocket in Treasure Hill, Nevada, and other ore masses were scarcely less marvelously rich, jiving rise to one of the most violent excitements that ever occurred in the history jf mining. All sorts of people, weak and strong, young and old, tailors, shoemakers, farm- srs as well as miners, left their own right work as so many are doing now and ;fell In a perfect storm of energy upon theNtfhite JiMne hills, covering the ground adjacent to the rich spots like grasshoppers, and seeming determined by the very violence of their efforts to turn every stone into gold. With few exceptions these mining storms pass away about as quickly as they rise, giving place to steady, plodding labor, and leaving a few rich and many poor. Drifts and shafts driven into the rocks may be regarded as prospectors' prayers for wealth, but like prayers of any sort not in harmony with nature's laws, they are offered in vain. But after all, effort, however applied, is better than lazy stagnation. Better toil blindly, beating every stone in your way for grains of gold, whether they contain any or not, than 4&y- idle in wasting apathy. I suppose that nothing I can write will be of much avail toward calming the present rush into frostland. I would say to every inexperienced fortune-seeker, " be patient and bide your right time." Nothing is to be gained in a controversy with climate. Spend the winter in California, and try your 'prentice hand on the gold belt of the Sierras, the prospectors' paradise. Those barred out at the foot of the passes at Dyea may spend the winter comfortably working in the mines of the coast mountains or prospecting for new ones. The climate of Northeastern Alaska is mild; timber for fire and shelter abundant and a vast stretch of gold-bearing rock'and gravel beds are easily accessible by boats in which food and clothing can beA;arried without fatigue. Skill and experience are required in mining, as in every other business, and nowhere, as far as I know, may you get a gold education cheaper than in California and Southeastern Alaska. In any case you will get a glorious outing amid the grandest scenery on this continent. Then next spring, or in the-ne*t, if you still hunger and thirst for the Yukon, you will make your way over good roads with a steady pulse. You will thus gain time instead of losing it. You need not fear being too late. Nearly all the gold or Alaska is still in the ground and centuries upon centuries of mining will net exhaust it. Hundreds o'f placers as rich as those of the Klondyke await disco/cry. Several hundreds of the hardiest and most skillful prospectors, graduated from the gulches of California and Nevada, have roamed over the'Vast basin of the Yukon for over fifteen years, while only this one very productive Klondyke region has thus far been found. By reasonable waiting you will gain not only experience, the / advantage of good roads and cheaper travel, but also health. ooHin https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/jmb/1236/thumbnail.jpg