A Great Gold Rush.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 6709, 30 May 1900, Page 4

A Great Gold Rush.

Last June some lucky prospectors tnada the discovery that the sands on the shoi-a of the extremity nf Alaska were full of gold. The treasures of the fabled Pactoius were mere sweepings compared with the richness of the sands which were covered and uncovered by every tide on the shora of Cape Nome. The sand and gravel on the sea-shore were full of gold in grains and iv nuggets. No mining was necessary. When the j tide f til you simply scooped up the sand into buckets, washed away the sand, and gathered pure gold by the handful. The news spread. Soon 200 men were on the spot scooping up the treasure cf the new Tom Tiddler's ground. Iv three months they had gathered £500,000 ; worth of gold in grains and nuggets. I Then the dense darkness of the Arctio winter descended upon the scene. The water froze solid over the Pactolean sands. The miners waited for spring. But already the news had spread far and wide of the fabulous find. From all the northernmost regions a migration set in. Klondike, Dawson City, and all the gold fields of the Yukon supplied thousands of adventurers, who joined in tbe tush to Cape Nome. As many as 51 dog teams started from Dawson City in a single day. The journey across the snow and ice in the Polar night was an affair of a couple of months. But if it had been twice as long, the loadstone would haye been powerful enough to attract them. Fot at Cape Nome there was gold to be had for the taking, gold beyond the utmost dreams of avarice. Already 10,000 men are waiting for the first thaw- Wonderful stories are told of the wealth of the new goldfield. Nuggets ! worth £100 are reported to have been found washed out by the rain, while £5 and .£lO nuggets were not at all unusual. Men who had not a penny in their purse thought they were wretchedly unlucky if Jiheir day's taking 3 did neb exceed £5 ; ±50 per day was not regarded as extraordinary good fortune. Men came home with little nuggets of gold sticking to their boots. The officials of the Government estimate that in the three months of this year's summer no less a sum than £4,000 000 sterling is certain to be garnered between tides at Cape Nome. It has been decided by the United States Government that the goldfields, being a tidal water ocean beach, cannot be appropriated. Each miner can appropriate as much of the shore as his spaae laid crosswaya will coyer lI G can work as long as he can stand but the moment he drops, another can take his place. For there aro no title-deeds to claims in Cape Nome. It is fust come, first served—a veritable Tom Tiddler's ground, where fortunes are to ba had for the picking. It is not surprising that in those circumstances, a rush to Ca~e Nome is setting in which casts eyen that lvlondyke into the shade. Eighty thousand men oT all stations in Hf e lire making ready to sail as soon as the icebound waters are free, to take part in this unparalleled scramble' for gold Every steamer and sailing vessel on the Pacific Coast is being made ready to carry this vast army of Argonauts to the G ■■.lden Cape. The shipping companies expect to receive no less that £1,500,000 in fares for ferrying the impatient army of gold-seekers across the 2800 miles of water which separate Seattle from Cape Nome. Further developments from this region of gold will be awaited with keen interest.