the klondike gold district. 295 



Are New Gold Districts Likely to be Found? 



Shall we ever find another gold district like the Klondike? This 

 question has often been asked since the returns from the latter have 

 diminished so greatly. The probabilities are in favour of discovering 

 other very productive gold districts in British Columbia, the Yukon 

 territory, and the western and northern parts of the North-west 

 territories. These great regions are, as yet, only veiy imperfectly 

 explored. The rocks of the Klondike are probably repeated in some 

 districts within the great regions just enumerated. The geological 

 conditions of this district are sufficiently known to enable prospectors 

 to recognise similar conditions if found elsewhere. The Tanana 

 River, in Eastern Alaska, is a case in point. This stream flows 

 parallel to the Upper Yukon, at about 120 miles west of it, and joins 

 the Lower Yukon 200 miles below Porcupine River. Since 1904 its 

 valley has been producing almost as much gold as the Klondike dis- 

 trict. Mr. Joseph Keele, of the Geological Siu'vey, who for the last 

 few years has been investigating the Stewart River region, has found 

 workable placers in several localities, and these may be only fore- 

 runners of richer ones which will be found in the same district. Dis- 

 coveries of heavy placer gold have been lately reported on Dease 

 River, which joins the Frances, to form the Liard, in latitude 60 

 degrees and longitude 128 degrees 30 minutes W. The writer has 

 heard of discoveries of coarse gold in this region on two former 

 occasions within the last twenty-five years. The placers of Cassiar 

 district, which about twenty years ago were yielding the greater part 

 of the gold then produced in British Columbia, are situated not far 

 from Dease River. Possibly other goldfields may be discovered in the 

 territory lying southward of Herschel Island, perhaps about 100 miles 

 inland. 



The Net Result. 



The large quantity of gold from the Klondike which has been 

 added to the world's supply may be of some service to mankind in 

 general, but it is doubtful if the total removal of this virgin wealth 

 out of the country has been any gain to Canada. The greater part 

 of it went to the Pacific seaboard of the United States, and helped 

 materially to build up such cities as Spokane, Portland, and Seattle. 

 Very little of it remained in Canada. No permanent development 

 worth much — no equivalent in any form — was left to pay for even a 

 portion of the immense amount of gold taken out of the country. It 

 would be better for Canada at this moment if the Klondike had 

 remained undiscovered until we were in a position to secure the gold 

 for ourselves. A greater sum than the amount of the royalties paid 

 by those who were enriching themselves was spent in providing facili- 

 ties, such as roads and bridges, for getting out and removing the 

 gold, and this was also a direct loss to Canada. As soon as the pay 

 streak along the bed of a creek was exhausted, the miners all aban- 

 doned their flimsy buildings, framework for machineiy, flumes, pumps, 

 sluices, and all kinds of appliances or apparatus, their rude furniture, 

 and even their cheap bedding and old clothes. The next flood over- 

 turned and mixed up all these evidences of temporary habitation, and 

 left only wreckage along the bottoms of the valleys — a sad spectacle, 

 as if the tide had gone out and exposed the ruins of our richest 

 goldfield. 



