Democratic Sentinel, Volume 22, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 April 1898 — THEY MINED IN ALASKA. [ARTICLE]

THEY MINED IN ALASKA.

Lost Only Their Labor and $lO Apiece in Six Months’ Operations. Every one who had ever been in Alaska of course began at the opening of the Klondike craze to relate personal experiences which in some way or other had connection with the subject of gold mining. Many of them bad a chance to make a fortune, if they had only known, and others saw millions, more or less, taken out of the ground with a broken shovel, and the man Whose only capital it was come back to the States and live happily ever afterward. But in spite of the ingenuity which has been put into the manufacture of these stories, there is an original flavor to one told by a soldier at present located in the United States army in this city. It was in 1880, when he was in the navy, that he was stationed on a vessel near Sitka. There was considerable gold being taken out near there, and an enterprising speculator got hold of a party of marines on the ship and induced them to buy his mine. There were 100 of them who finally went into the scheme, and they paid $lO each for their new source of wealth. There was always a good deal of spare time on their hands, and they easily secured permission to use this in working their claim. For six months the soldiers dug quartz by day and dreamed of sudden wealth by night. All were confident of being able to retire from the service with comfortable riches, and looked sadly on the poor officers, who would have to keep on soldiering all their lives, not being in the scheme. At the end of six months they had a large pile of quartz, and, loading it into all the old barrels, bags and provision cases they could find, they sent it by ship to the nearest crushing mill. Then followed weeks of waiting till the returns should come, and an air of subdued importance grew in each mar who expected at any time to be informed that he was worth thousands of dollars. At last the ship came which brought the returns from the consignment, and the gallant hundred gathered around the treasurer of the company to hear how much each was now worth. That individual opened the message, and a grim smile froze on his face as he went through a short calculation on the back of the envelope. “Gentlemen,” he said, “you each owe the sum of ten cents to the steamship company that carried the quartz. The gold in it was just $lO short of the freight charges.” And then he passed his hat, while one of their number sought out the ship’s chaplain to lead in a short service.—Springfield Republican.