THE STORY OF
ANTON MARKS
AN ALASKA OCTOGENARIAN
(Continued from last week.)
When the Indians would not let us
cross the summit at Chilkat, we return
to Sitka and reported the facts to the
captain of the man-of-war which was
stationed there. The captain sent some
soldiers and two lieutenants in a steam
launch back with us. When we arriv
ed one of the lieutenants made a speech
to the Indians, in which the officer told
the Indians not to bother us, and told
them that if they did he would turn the
gatling gun on them. So we went
through the pass. When we reached
the lakes we sawed some lumber and
built a boat. When we reached the can
yon we took our boat up on land by
the aid of skids. We went a considera
ble distance down the river, cached our
grub, and went into the interior with
our tools. We were out about twenty
days and found some gold, but not
enough to pay. As it was approaching
fall, we turned back and made a port
age on the return.
On the way out we went up into the
Atlin country. We prospected up there
and found some gold. We only stayed
about a week, however, the snow driv
ing us out. We planned to go out by
the Taku, but one of our partners got
sick, so we went out the way we came.
A few days alter we arrived in Sitka,
Dick Harris and Joe Juneau got back
and we asked them where they got the
ore, for they had pretty rich ore, but
they would not tell us. We were sat
isfied, however, that w'e knew pretty
nearly where they had found it, so five
of us, John Prior, James Roswell, Frank
Berry and Billy Mehear and myself,
bought a canoe and started. After we
had gotten some distance on our road,
we got into a storm, and it was thought
at Sitka that we were lost. Citizens of
Sitka went out to look for us, and be
sides, a government launch was sent
after us. Those rescuing parties failed
to find us, and the fact that we were
lost was duly chronicled in the Sitka pa
per. But we reached an Indian village,
waited until the storm abated, and then
rested for a day. The storm spoiled our
provisions.
When we reached the Gastineau chan
nel we met an Indian on the beach, and
he told us that it was' not very far to
where the white men had been camping.
When we got to the place, we found
John Williams and Billy Bennett. We
asked them for the news, made a tamp,
and stopped over night. The next morn
ing we got our paeka. a,nd went up the
the mountain to the Silver Bqw Basin.
We found some claims already stak
ed. The first stake we found was that
of Captain Glasse. Another set of
stakes Were for Lieutenant Maclanan,
and still another for Rockwell Lund.
We also found the stakes of Hams
and Juneau.
we took tne ground tnat was staked
for Glasse and the lieutenant. We
camped there for nearly a week. We
thtn came down and each of us took
up a lot on the beach. We built a
cabin on Billy Mehean’s lot and mov
ed in. It took us only a few days to
build the cabirn
A few days after we had moved in
to the house we went down to Sheep
creek prospecting. We found some
float on the hillside, and some veins,
but did not take up any claims. We
camped at Sheep creek that night, and
in the morning we crossed the channel
and were pulling slowly by the beach
when we saw a piece of ore sticking
out and we stopped there to prospect.
We thought it was good ore, and we
panned some dirt at the foot of the
rock. We thought we had a good pros
pect out of that, and we took another
panful. We got about six bits to that
last pan..
Frank Berry passed the remark that
it was not gold, and we laughed at
him.
“Boys,” said Billy Meliean, “We’ve
got it—almost the ready bullion.” We
returned to our cabin at Juneau that
night, but the next day we returned
and staked two quartz claims, one of
"wkicIT'wtrnamed the Ready Bullion, and
the other the Golden Chariot. Then
we staked some quartz claims.
We could do nothing until spring,
and we were out of provisions. We
wrote a letter to Sitka that we had
some good prospects. About a month
later a little steamer came up from
Killisnoo. They had a lot of provis
ions on board, but they would not trust
us. We had been living on clams and
muscles for about three months. We
asked them for credit and told them
that our prospects were good, and ask
ed them to come up and see them.
They declined to look at them, howev
er, and then we asked them for some
nails to build a sluice box. Mr. Spuhn
was willing to give us the nails but
his partner was not, so he let us have
them and charged them to himself. We
wrote to Sitka for some provisions, and
in about a week they arrived. Then
we went back to Juneau and helped
each other build cabins on all the lots
we had taken up.
One of these cabins is still standing
and is called the “log cabin church.’’
After we had completed the cabins
we went up to the Basin again.
The man-of-war Jamestown came to
Juneau in the spring. Captain Glasse
came up to us and asked us what we
were doing on that ground. We told
him we were hunting for gold. He said
that his stake was there with his name
on it, and ordered us to give it up. We
told him we owned it, and if there was
any gold we would keep it, and if not
he could have it. We could not do
very much as the snow was on the
ground.
But Captain Glasse gave up his
claim.
We also gave it up—because it did
not pay. Then we went over to the
Ready Bullion and built three cabins.
We got some lumber, made sluice box
es, and got the water in. We cut the
timber down and made wheeling planks
and wheelbarrows. With the first
clean-up we made we went to the store
to buy some grub.
We worked the ground according to
the tide, fifty feet below high water
mark. We wheeled it up in wheelbar
rows, dumped it, and shoveled it into
boxes. We took out over $4,000 in
one season’s work..
French Pete came up from Sitka in
a sloop and had some provisions with
him. We told him to take up a claim
by our mines. He did, and called it
’the P&riB Lode,' afterward selling it to
John Treadwell for $400. Some men
came from Wrangell and took up pla
cer claims above the Paris Lode. They
built a flume to work the ground and
did welL
This group of claims made three
towns—Treadwell, Douglas and Ju
neau.
Next season I built an arastra alone,
at the Ready Bullion. I was doing
pretty well when I got sick and went
to Sitka to be treated by the navy sur
geons. I was still sick when the ship
sailed away. I returned to Juneau,
but being still very sick, I went to
Vancouver. As soon as I had recover
ed my health I returned to Douglas
again.
(Continued next week.)
THINKS HE’S A HUMORIST
J. Lindley Green has reconsidered
and concluded not to be a candidate for
congress. In a letter addressed to the
Seward Gateway, he says:
“To the Editor:—I desire to inform
you that I must decline to allow my
name to be used as a possible candidate
for delegate to congress. T am frank
to c<^pfess that in viewT of the fact that
Alaska has elected two jokes and one
would-be -gladiator as delegates to
congress, I though there might be
a show for me. But my friends inform
me that I am not a gladiator, nor am I
a sufficient joke to land the plum, and
that the people will probably want a
real delegate this time, so I must de
cline. Very truly yours, J. Lindley
Green. ’’
At P. H. Fox’s
Be sure to see our Christmas
line of presents. Dolls and
Toys for the children, and
USEFUL
PRESENTS
for all the grown up folks
t
THE
ISLAND
DEPARTMENT
t
STORE
!
•♦•♦•♦•♦♦♦•♦•♦•♦•♦•♦•♦•♦•♦•♦•♦•♦•♦•♦•❖•♦••I’**
ToJUNEAU
HOUSE
HOLDERS
THE DOUGLAS ISLAND CONCRETE WORKS
have made the blocks for nearly three hundred chim
ney during the summer just past and all of them are
giving perfect satisfaction. 8 inch Chimney Blocks
50c each. Telephone Douglas 4-3-6.
GOOD PLUMBING PAYS!
Take a look at my work in the new
Alaska Labor Union Hall.
MINKOVE
E. M. Peters
PLUMBING
STEAM FITTING, SHEET
METAL AND MACHINE
WORK. JOBBING AND
ALL KINDS OF REPAIR
ING DONE ON PHONO
GRAPHS, GAS ENGINES,
& SEWING MACHINES.
0TBBBT
Park
CITY
MWi