Northwest History. Alaska. Emigration & Immigration.

• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1932
• Subjects: miners; Alaska; gold; Gonzaga; college course; William J. Porter; Paulsen-Porter company; Seattle; California; hydraulic operations; government statistics; Seward; Fairbanks; Nome; the United States; Goldfiedls; Hammon Consolidated; Kougarok; Iditarod; Kuskokwim; Yukon; Henry creek; Northwest; Pacific > History > 20th century; Goldfields; Henry Creek; Pacific; Seward Peninsula
• Online Access: http://content.libraries.wsu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/clipping/id/90668

Miners Flock Toward Alaska: Rich And Poor Turn Backs On Home Conditions To Win-Now Gold Of North./Gonzaga Boy Hits It./ Digs Out $3000 Last Fall -- Had Given Up Hope Of Completing College Course. MINERS FLOCK TOWARD ALASKA Rich and Poor Turn Backs on Home Conditions to Winnow Gold of North. GONZAGA BOY HITS IT Digs Out $3000 Lost Fall—Had Given Tip Hope of Completing College Course. "This is going to be a banner year for Alaska, with an unusually heavy migration this spring," said William J. Porter of the Paulsen-Porter company on his return from Seattle yesterday. "Eighty years ago, during a similarly prolonged period of business depression, the land of gold and opportunity was California. Today it is Alaska. Kich and poor are now flocking there to win gold for themselves, the former by means of dredges and large-scale hydraulic operations and the latter by hand labor on claims of their own locating. "Since 1880 Alaska has yielded, according to government statistics, more than $400,000,000, an annual average of about $8,000,000. Last year's output was $10,000,000 and this year it will greatly exceed that figure. Hand Methods Win. "Most of the gold now comes from the Yukon region, centering around Fairbanks, and the Seward peninsula region around Nome. Dredges account for most of the output from either district, although hydraulic operations contribute an important total, while primitive hand methods still yield an impressively large volume in the aggregate. "The United States geological survey in a recent bulletin, says that although output between 1904 and 1930 totaled $80,000,000 in the Fairbanks district, an even greater amount is likely to be recovered from the same area in the next 25 years by dredges and other mechanical devices, reworking the same streams and others that could not be worked by hand methods. Eyes on Kougarok. "The biggest producer in the Seward peninsula region is the Hammon Consolidated Goldfields, the leading dredge operation at Nome, but the section from which it is expected the greatest proportionate increase in gold production this year is the Kougarok, about 100 miles north and east of Nome. While the Kougarok is a shorter river than the Iditarod, the Kuskokwim or the mighty Yukon, it has an unusually good production record. During the last 12 years, with only one dredge in operation, output is conservatively estimated at $4,000,000, largely obtained by primitive hand methods. The paystreak along the Kougarok and one of its tributaries, Henry creek, is consistent and continuous, with values over considerable areas running as high as $9 to the cubic yard. Says Untouched Areas Await. "Like many another area in the Seward peninsula region, the Kougarok contains much virgin territory that will today pay good wages to willing and intelligent workers. Such men need only enough capital to get them to the scene of operations early in the season with an adequate grub stake and tools. "I know of a Gonzaga student who thought a year ago he might never be able to finish his course. He could get no job that would help finance him for another term. An old prospector offered to take him in on a third lay. He tackled it in desperation and came out last fall with $3000 as his share.