A MAD RUSH FOR GOLD.

Greymouth Evening Star, Volume XXXI, 29 May 1901, Page 4

A MAD RUSH FOR GOLD.

Extraordinary Scones at Klondike

VICTOETA, (8.C.) March 16,

Some extraordinary scenes occurred in the Klondike district on February 26th, when the “ Crown claims, 1 ’ were thrown open to the public. 'lt was a wild stampede, such as has never before been known since the discovery of Klondike. Hundreds of men and women struggled through the snow, with the thermometer 36 degrees below zero, to stake out claims, and then to rush back to Dawson City to register them at the Gold Commissioner’s office.

Thousands of claims had lapsed to the Crown, and others had reverted thereto lapsed rights, and in addition there were the reserved alternate blocks of ton claims each.

Many of those who were anxious to peg out a claim were already on the creeks on the morning of the opening day, but they were kept off the grounds by strong barriers, which were only lowered on the stroke of midnight.

Then all in a moment the gold-seekers were here, there, and everywhere; many claims were staked twice, and ownership disputed with a revolver. As soon as the staking was over, the hurried rush back to Dawson began.

Over the snow-covered tracks the stampeders raced, using all manner of Klondike conveyances. Some had teams of horses hitched to light sleighs, some rode bicycles, and others were hurtled over the ice with fast dog teams, and many went by special stage or on foot. One man went eighteen miles to Norwegian “ skis, ” aided by a dog running before him and tugging a rope, which he held. Ho travelled the distance in two and three-quarter hours, and beat a horse which drew a sleigh. Many women joined in the race, in which the stampeders joined from Gold Eun, forty-five miles out to Bonanza, the nearest of all the creeks. One little woman, weighing less than one hundred pounds, hurried in from Bonanza to record with a dog team, and other women stampeded in sleighs and on foot. The cyclists were, perhaps, the swiftest of all on the whole. The trails and roads from the creeks were packed hard, and they pedalled over them, despite the low temperature, like racing peacemakers. The scene at the Gold Commissioner’s office was extraordinary. On arrival there the stampeders had to stand in lino until 9 a m., the regular opening hour. Some hundreds were waiting in Indian file. The first had arrived from Bonanza with a dog-team at 2 30 a m., and then came men from Hunker with horses panting and almost dead with fatigue. Then came a wheelman from Hunkor, and from this nucleus the mob grew until with daylight there were hundreds stamping their feet and slapping their hands to keep warm while waiting for the opening of the office.

At length, though, the dreary hours passed, and the wickets were thrown up and the recording began—the most unique thing of the kind in the history of the Klondike. Bad news continues to travel south from Nome, whero men have lately been frozen to death by tho intense cold. Most of tho now gold finds reported from that part of the world are entirely fictitions.

No one should dream of going there, as they are sure to be disappointed in that frozen Inferno. It is impossible to make the warning too emphatic.