HOT SPRINGS POST
Published Every Thursday at Hot Springs, Alaska,
Vo. I
BY ARBUCKLC A WARD
No. a
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PROSPECTED CREEKS
During the past summer creeks in the Fairbanks dis
trict that for the past five years have been deemed hardly
worth staking, have turned out to be fabulously rich, and
one, Little Eldorado, is said to be the riohest creek yet dis
covered in the Tanana district. New pay is also being con
stantly found on the older creeks: Ester, a creek that has
been constantly worked since 1903, has shown up new pay
every year since then, and now in some places pay has
been fonud 1500 feet across the creek. New pay has been
found on Goldstream, and the biggest cleanups of the year
have come from a claim that was considered of but little
value a year ago.
These instances are cited in order to show the utter
idiocy of saying a creek is prospected because there are sev
eral holes or even several dozen holes down on the stream.
It is a common thing to hear men in speaking of a new
creek say: “There is nothing there, it is punched full of
holes.” “Punched full of holes” usually means three or
four holes at probably half-mile intervals. But that i^
enough to keep many men away from otherwise promising
creeks, and there are no doubt many creeks in this vicinity
which will later develop good pay that are idle now be
cause they have one or two holes to bedrock which failed to
land on the pay.
Little Eldorado was “punched full of holes” years ago,
Vault was a “moose pasture,” Ester “had pay in only a
small spot,” and so on through the entire list of creeks
known to be producers. We all might ha.ve had the rich
est claims on this creek and that creek but so and so told
us he had prospected it the year before, and there was
“nothing there.”
Time and experience have proven that no creek of any
size or depth to bedrock can be thoroughly prospected in
one season. It takes years to do it well. A paystreak may
not he more than sixty or seventy-five feet wide, and while
that is plenty big after it has been discovered, it is usually
mighty hard to find it in a creek that it probably a half to
three-quarters of a mile wide. It does not do to get dis
couraged after the first few holes prove to be blanks. The
pay may be in the creek, and if it is to be located it will bt
necessary to continue diggtng.
There are today hundreds of creeks in the Hot Spring?
district that have a few holes in them, and are for that rea
son given no thought by the prospectors. Instead of run
ning away to newer creeks farther away it'would be a good
idea for these men to prospect these creeks nearer homt
that are just as liable to have the pay as those in the dis
tance, and are much more easily reached.
Presidential Candidate Chafin, of the Prohibition party,
is undergoing a strenuous campaign. A couple of weeks
ago he was hit with a brick at Springfield, 111.; a few days
later he was nearly drowned in a Y. M. C. A. swimming
tank at Indianapolis, and at Providence, R. I., last Friday
he was arrested for fast-driving his automobile. Mr. Chafin
recently stated a speech that his election to the presidency
would cause the biggest earthquake in hell the world ever
heard about. _
The offer of Japan to stop building warships if the
United States will maintain a large fleet in Pacific waters
will prove a great surprise, and be the source of much sat
isfaction to the majority of the American people. Ever
since the Russo-Japanese war the growing strength of the
Empire of the Rising Sun and its supposed antipathy for
the United States has been the cause of great uneasiness to
many, which alarm this offer will do much to allay.
If the Domocrats are successful in the eleetion on Tues
day the coming four years will be the time for Alaska to
get some much-needed legislation. Alaska has progressed
and developed much since the Republicans came into power
twelve years ago, but it has been so gradual that we have
not received the recognition to which we were entitled.
It is much to be deplored, but it is nevertheless a fact,
that this city is at present the hanging-out place of a num
ber of sneakthieves and persons of undesirable character.
It is no longer safe for one to leave a door unlocked or any
thing of value out of doors, over night without being the
loser thereby. If some of these good-for-nothings were
given the hint that their room was better than their com
pany, the community would be the gainer.
Next week we will be able to print the name of the
president-elect of the United States, as on Tuesday the elec
tion will be held. Up here we will miss all the excitement
and glory of the victory if we are of the political belief of
the winning side, but we likewise avoid the humiliation of
defeat if the champion of our party is not elected. But in
either case our hopes for the bettermeut of the country will
| be either raised or lowered by the result.
If the quartz properties which are now being developed
in the Fairbanks district should turn out as is expected by
their owners, a new era of prosperity would visit Alaska
which would extend to all parts of the interior. If Fair
banks has quartz Hot Springs has it, and it would be well
for our prospectors to always keep an eye open for the main
chance. _
Every day brings in new reports of good pay being
found in Sullivan creek, and the paystreak there is being
located far beyond the expectations of the old-time miners.
JUST ORDINARY
He never scaled no summits, nor stood out upon no brink,
And his name was never blazoned on no page in printer’s ink,
And no one in the next county never knowed he was on earth,
And a mighty little money would have bought all he was worth,
But his horses neighed a welcome when he come into the barn
For he gentled ’em and loved ’em, an’ he never grunted ‘-‘Darn!”
Ner used any other swear word, ner laid on ’em with a goad,
When th‘ pullin’ was too heavy; he jest lightened up their load.
An’ his babies run to meet him when the workin’ day was done,
And he hollered soon’s he saw ’em, and he helped ’em romp an’ run,
And the harder the day’s work was and the wearier the mile,
The smoother growed his wrinkles an’ the broader growed his smile,
And his wife was never worried feaY* he’d come home out o’ sorts,
For he never lost his temper and he never made retorts
That would hurt a body’s feelin’s, he was always just the same,
Though no one in the next county ever knowed him nor his name.
So although he scaled no summits an’ was quite uijknown to fame,
Yet I think the hosts o’ heaven flew to meet him just the same,
An’ they bore him on their pinions to .beside the crystal sea
Where the lovin’est and gladdest and the gentlest spirits be.
And although the w'orld kept rollin’ when he smiled and said good-bye,
An’ there ain’t no big mausoleum to show where he does lie,
Yet the world’s a whole lot better fer his livin’ just bekuz
His children are proud of him ’caus he was just like he was.
—Judd Mortimore Lewis.
T
HOW A
IS WORKED
“I wish you would tell me all about the way men get gold
and silver out of a mine, my dear,” said a lady in East Laramie
the other evening to her husband, as he peeled off his coat and
sat down in three chairs for the evening. “I hear you talk
with your friends so much about mining, and I am not able to
understand it, or converse with people intelligibly about it. ”
“Well, what kind of mining do you want to hear about;
gold or silver, quartz or placer, deposit or defined lead?”
“Well, all of them briefly. I want to know.whether they
scrape off the gold from the under side of the ground, and wash
the dirt off in the creek, or how is it?”
“Well, they don’t scrape it off the under side of the ground
exactly. There you are in error. In placer mining, they have
to collect the dust and pan it out with a gold pan.”
“Oh! they have to use a gold pan, do they? That must be
what makes mining so expensive.. Does the pan have to be
solid gold?”
“No. It isn’t made of gold. It is simply to pan gold;
hence the name. In quartz mining, the prospector first finds
the float, and tracing it to the lead, he begins to dig for the
purpose of ascertaining how extensive it is, and what it will
assay.”
“Oh, that-is it. I thought they first bored into the ground
with a paystreak until they found the shaft, and then they
drifted for the assessment, and when they found that, they just
put a blast in the indications and salted the dump. Now it
seems that you don’t do that way. You follow up the rnicaci
ous slate till you strike the bias fold. Then you see if you can
find a color that matches with the copper-stained trilobites,
that you prospect and you-”
“No, I must stop you there. You are getting a little off
the vein. You probably have the right idea, but you are using
terms that are not correct. After they get the rock wall on
the dump and pinch out the night shift, they salt the contact
and blast the vertical chilblain. Then they drift for the blos
som rock, baled hay and poverty till they strike the varicose
vein. After that it is a short job to put on the bias folds and
sample the stockholders. When the bituminous duplex bisects
the brocaded porphyry and scallops the gouge with cross-eyed
shirrings and bi carbonate of colic interlaced with moire an
tique wads of gray copper and free milling erysipelas. This is
not always the case, however, for indirectly or inversely, per
haps more, or sometimes less, as the case may be, and still we
might or might not, according to whether we did or did not,
but also besides, if not always, as already described, perhaps,
yet I wouldn’t be positive of anything which might be doubt
ful.”
Then he laughed a cold, hard laugh, and went to bed. If
husbands would always explain these things to their wives,
how much pleasanter our hoipes would be-—Bill Nye.
Merritt G. (Shorty) Robinson, an old
timer in Alaska and a well-known
friend of all the dear people, made the
hearts of his many acquaintances
acquaintances happy by making his ap
pearance amongst them last Sunday.
Mr. Robinson has been on an extended
prospecting trip at the headwaters o
the Kuskokwim river, and during th(
coming winter he will devote his tim(
to his interests in this district.
Lynn Smith made ft flying trip t<
Rampart this week,
Hot Springs Hotel
F. G. MANLEY PROP.
The Only First-Class Health Resort in Alaska
VISITED YEARLY BY HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE
IN SEARCH OF REST AND RECREATION
THE HOTEL
la built in close proximity to the famous Hot Springs, and
the natural warm water is piped throughout the entire
hotel building. The entire hostelry is heated by steam
and lighted by electricity.
THE NATATORIUM
Will compare favorably with any in the world. No arti*
cial heat is used—the water being turned into the plunges
and bathtubs at its natural temperature. Two large hot
plunges and an immense concrete swimming tank add to
luxury of the equipment.
THE DINING ROOM
In connection with the hotel is the Best in Alaska.
Fresh Vegetables from our gardens during the entire year.
Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Green Onions, etc., served without
extra charge. Fresh Milk in abundance from our Dairy.
Our service is unexcelled, and the comfort of our guests
always the aim of our employes.
LUMBER
Ail Kinds of Rough and Dressed Lumber
on Hand at Ail Times.
Orders from the Creeks receive our prompt attention.
Sluice
Lumber
———— WE PRINT
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Our Work is Artistic and Up-to-Date
and we use the best quality of Paper in
the market. We solicit a trial order.
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