FIFJT YEARS AGO CAPTAIN MOORE
SAID THERE HE VAST GOLD
DEPOSITS IN THE TESL1N
?
Was William Moore, founder of
f)*agway, a prophet?
Did he lift the veil of the future
and see things that are hidden from
the gaze of most men?
Or was l is prophecy, made fifty
?ears ago. but the deductions of a
man of wide experience, who had
lL'ieiit'd to the stories and traditions'
of an almost unknown race of In
dians living In the Yukon country?'
I'erhaps he possessed something of
all these qualities, for It Is certain
tnat the very country which Is ijow
undergoing a stampede resulting
from the recent discovery of gold in
the Teslln region, was prophesied
by him to contain gold before
many of the present generation were
born.
Through the courtesy of E. J.
Shaw, of Skagw.ty, who has the orig
inal memoirs, the Alaskan is enabled
to reprint part of the story of the
life of Win. Moore in the north. Un
fortunately our space forbids the
publication of It In detail, but the
fallowing extracts are thrilling In
interest, especially at the present
time.
"My early steamboating experi
ence in Alaskan waters dates back
to the year lSt>2, when I took myi
steamboat the, "Flying Dutchman")
with a barge In tow from Victoria,!
British Columbia, laden with a large'
crowd of gold seekers aud their sup- f
plies of provisions and so forth, to!
tae newly found bar diggings then 1
being worked on the Stlklne river
in the vicinity of "Buck's Bar."{
1 ascended the latter river with thej
?"Flying Dutchman" as far as,
Shakesvllle, an Indian village which
t.ien existed on the banks of the
Stikine, about three miles from '
the present site of Glenora.
While at Shakesville I gained con
siderable knowledge about the In
ferior of the country, from Indians
who inhabited the country us far
north aa the Pelly river. These
Indians were commonly referred to
as "Stick" Indians and were in the
habit of coming out to Sbakesvllle,
to trade with the Coast Indians
who kept them la a sort of sub
jection, never permitting them tO|
come any lower down the river,
obviously for the purpose of con
trolling the trade in furs with them
b'fom the "Stick" Indians I got u
great deal of valuable information ?
about the rountry and of localities
where there were large lakes and
streams, in some of which they told 1
me gold existed, similar to that
being then found on the Stiklne.
From what I learned from these In
dians I beoame strongly convinced
that somewhere in the large unex
plored territory lying adjacent to
the headwaters of the Stiklne, there
was every probability of a rich gold
bearing district lying undiscovered,
perhaps rivalling Cariboo in degree
of richness which at that time
was at the height of Its fame as a
.;old-producer.
I thereupon resolved upon giving
this district my close attention and
? xploring it at some future time
Uut the Stikine river bars not prov
ing extensive and becoming soon
worked out, I transferred my opera
tions to Cariboo and subsequently
to the Omiueca district, and it wat |
not until after a lapso of ten years,
cr to be exact, the summer of 1873,
that an opportunity came which en
abled me tc carry out my former
resolution above referred to. In
the year just mentioned I set out
with my three sons, namely, Johu,
William acd Henry (the latter then
only 14 years of age), and Btruck
ii from the foot of the Great Can
yon on tho Stickino river, through
what was then a trackless wilder
ness, over the height of land where
NEW SPRING*****
...millinery...
now
Being
Displayed
H. J. Lynch
Tha Leading Ladies Furnisher and Haberdasher of Skagway
- - - * - m m m ? m ? m I. ?. '?
? ?
+ (.'apt. Win. Mt>ore ?
the waters divide and flow Into!
Uease lako and thence into the Arc !
tic ocean.
After enduring much hardship
;.p ' severs trials, making double
trips In forwarding our supplies, ,
myself and eldest sou carrying 11"
pounds on each of our backs, and
?*iy two younger sons, William and
Henry 75 and SO pounds respect
ively we finally succeeded in dis
covering paying ground on Dease
creek finding to our surprise, how
ever, that we had to divide the hon
i r of being the discoverers of the
camp with a Mr. Henry Thlbort uid
his party, who had managed to got
into the country from York Factory
by way of the I^alrd and Dease r.ver
and had precedtd us In the dlscov- j
ery of gold on Thlbert's creek. by '
about two weeks.
On the results of our joint dls- ?
coveries -being made known a "stam
pede" took place in the early part
of the following year (1874 )
tc the district when It became
known to fame as the "Cassiar"
gold fields.
Following the discovery of gold
in the Cassiar district as above re
cited, I built and operated a lino
of steamboats which ran between
Victoria, B. C. and Telegrnph cre"k
the head of navigation on the Rtlck
l.io river. I continued stoamboating
o.. this route until the Cassiar dig
gins showed signs of . "petering" I
out, and th-> miners began to leave
there, when I transferred my busi
ness to the Fraser river during the
construction of the Canadian Pacif
ic railway in the early eighties.
Being aware of the fact that a
3iut.ll number of Ca&iar miners
had crossed over by wo* of Chilkoot
Pa an, to the head waters of the Yu
kon river, and had taken eonslder
ablo gold out of some bars in the
vicinity of Hootallnqun river; and al
so that "coarse" gold had bean
found In Forty-Mile creek, a tribu
tary of the Yukon, and, knowing
what a vast extent of couotry re
mained to bo explored in that re
gion, and, feeling confident that a
large and rich gold field would be
struck in there sooner or later, and,
being anxious to anticipate such an
event, I seat my son William up
there. Acting under ray instructions
my son left Seattle in 1886 and wen
in, that season as far as Dig Sal
mon rlvor, and when he returned In
the fall, he informed me, amongst
other things, that he had heard of
a pass through the mountains that
had never been used by while men,
and which he had bevn informed
by an Indian, was a much easier
l>a?s than either of the others in
use for entering tho Interior, name
ly, the Chl'knt and the Chilkoot
passes
In the following spring < 1 8 S 7 ) I
furnished mj sons William and Ber
nard vvith an outfit of provisions
:ud clothing and in addition gave
them a sum o>" money amounting to
#190 and being thus equipped, they
st&rted north, and when they arriv
ed at Forty-Mile river my son Wil- ,
liiim decided to stop there and en- ]
rag? In mining, while Bernard con
tinued the journey down the Yukon
to St. Michaels and returned again
later in the season to tho upper ri
ver. I remained lr. Victoria to Join
Mr. Ogilvle's survey party, which
?saw 1
London, March 18 ? King Georgt
of Oreece, riding at the head of
the army at Salonika , wrns assas
sinated today, according to <ll?|iatch
ea.
Aji atu nipt was made to assassin
ate him in IHttH b"?t it failed. His
eldest son, Prince Const&ntine, is
at Janina commanding the tii-eek
soldiers there. He will succeed to
the throne.
King (irdrgi- w as hum I>eeetnber
J I, 1H45 and kin# In 1 80S.
Me was a brother of the late king
ot Denmark, Frederick VIII, and
brother of the Dowager Vneen of
threat Britain an<l the Dowager
Kmpress of Russia.
Only the barest news of the as
sassination has been obtained. an<!
nothing can at present be 'earned
n the details.
Grass Seed
Fine Quality Seeds Just Received
White Dutch Clover ? ? 60c lb
Kentucky Blue G-rass - 25c lb
Onion 8ets ? - - ISo lb
Place your order
NOW
P. H. GANTY, Grocer
HE ABANDONED All BUT "WHITE
PASS;"SKOOKUM JIM AND CAR
MACK GO IN VIA SKAGWAY
then on (be way from (HUti
tc Forty-Mile river for tii* pirpose
of determining the inter-natlonal
boundary line In that vicinity. My
object la Joining Mr Ogtlvle's p?>
ly was fo.- the purpose of (tlnini
all the Information I could about th
beat and most feasible route that
exited for entering the great Yukon
country from the coast
I left Victoria with (bis expedition
ubout the Mh of May, 1817, and
when we nrrlved at I>yea Inlet at
the foot of the Chllkoot pans some
days afterwards. I hunted up a Tag
Isb Indian commonly called "Skoo
kum Jim," who bad informed my
son William, the previous fall, of a
low-lying pass through the moun
tains, a few miles to the south of
the Chllkoot pass, over which we
were then r.bout to take our sup
plies 1 ati.-rta Inert from the Indian
that he had on one occasion travel
ed over th* mountains from Tagish
lake by way of thia paa-> and had
com* out al a bay raited -kagway '
about four or five miles to th<
rou" of i)ye a, and that the pass
wu much mailer to travel ever thae
'lie Chllkoot pass, aa the altitude
was not so great, and t iat It was
t.mbered all the way thrrugh to the
summit, and that It only took hi?
three days to make the trip acmes
from Taglsli lake On b'.inglng the
.antler to Mr Ogllvle's attention. I
suggested tc him that I be allowed
o take "Skookum Jim" along with
rr?e and explore this pass Mr (>*?
llvle consented td this proposal, and
the next day dispatched me and
"Skookum Jim" for the work When
; we got to Skagway Bay. I troll
thorough roundlngs of the harbor
in order to ascertain the depth of
water, and other matters In connec
tion with shlpolng farllltlpe. an t the
results of ray In vest i rations, in
these resp?*<-ts, proving \ery si;|?
! ft ctory. I ut once came to th<? con
'elusion tfcat tkia pi are WM P??
'?ng unrivaled arfrantagea u a port
1 1. the trrit of a pnw. vll'k ??
w*f> th?n about to ovplore. pror
Ing aetlafartory for tranaportatl-m
pnrpoaea, tn whfh ?r??( I mad* tip
ray mind to atake land adjaront to
tne bar. *ltk a r*.ew of toraritig p ?r
rr.anontly t hereon In following np
my tra^fc ?ar?-5 of tfc# p?ai. I
found that It wan Wond all com
ttarlaon, attporior to any otber pu?a
known to Mlat through tb? ?w
t.?in?. and 'hat I <-> reported oo it
?o Mr Oidttf on rompletlng tb?
work and rejoin in? Mm at
BnMlt.
Mr Ogllvto after noting my re
port. decided to nam* thta paaa *b
"White I'aan" In boo or of the late
Honorable Tbomaa White, Mtnlater
of the Interior of Canada, by ?b-w
> imetlon tbe espoiltiion aet ont
But tfco Brttiah Columbia Got
eminent aerated 'o bo in faror of
an all-Canadian route in an? event,
?o as to aerwre tbe trade of 'He in
frtor to tbe merrhanfa of British
Columbia. and ?itl till end In Tie*
hey sent i.nt an "?p*1ltkHi that
nuan 1 1 *9S I tinder tbe dlr??* ion
>' Mr X B c,auvre?a. to mak* a
econnnlanure of tbe raMona ron?ea
?adlng into 'be Tukon dWr'" I
van detbi <m| to arroMpony tbte ?v
jedttlon
Onr opeT-liona tint aenaon oero
r-K?(lh?>d r i toffy to tbo S'l^Hn#
ud Takn ronton by way of T"nlln
lake Bnt towardo tbo <*lon# of tbe
*>-naon Mr Oawvren* bin ??
?infant In tbo field to make a har
ried eyplomtlon and >r?'h ww
of the White Paao
If It bad not been frtr ay ever
? ton# and r*r**T*rmn,"a In the
t?r. the Wblte Pass wonld not la
ill probability bo In ww aa M es.
lata now, with railway nMiaMi
at Ion ? lh? gateway and roemorelal
, '>>ute into tbe interior
At a man grow* old?<r, h* hotter
rare of bin ? !oth?**. and h? ia a
lot bettPT ?atiafted with th*m
P'HHE sen ice of this store is not
^ confined to young men. Any
man of any age can be well-fitted,
and conservatively dressed in these fine
Hart Schaffner & Marx
suits and overcoats. Now is the time
to see them.
WILL CLAYSON
T5/>e Home of
HART SCHAFFNER; <21 MARX
CLOTHING