GOLD 235 



c washing ' in the summer when the river-ice would be melted. 

 In the holes thus excavated they built more fires, thus gradually 

 working their way down. Later on they adopted another 

 method. By means of a strong hose and sharp nozzle they 

 injected a continuous supply of hot steam from a huge 

 cylinder into the earth and thus melted it. 



There are various routes to Klondike, but all of them are 

 long and difficult, so that the wonder is that men were willing 

 to endure such hardships in their search for gold. Yet in four 

 years' time no less than 30,000 miners had entered the country. 



In the short summer from the beginning of June to the end 

 of September it is possible to proceed from St. Michael at the 

 mouth of the Yukon by a river steamer up to Dawson City, 

 a long and uncomfortable journey. 



The usual way now is to start from Skagway, on the coast of 

 Alaska, go by rail over the White Horse Pass to White Horse 

 on the Lewes River, and thence by steamer down the Lewes 

 and Yukon to Dawson. But in early days this railway did not 

 exist, and many a pioneer lost his life in journeying over the pass. 



The gold in the Klondike district is found in alluvial 

 gravels, and so far no veins or lodes in the rocks have been 

 discovered. In consequence, the miners, having to a certain 

 extent exhausted the surface workings, are drifting away 

 from Klondike lower down the Yukon into Alaska, and the 

 Klondike output is not so great as it was. 



3. Ontario. Gold is found in various places in Ontario, but 

 at present Porcupine, to the north of Sudbury, is the most 

 productive ' field '. 



There is also gold in Nova Scotia, but the yield is decreasing 

 in quantity. 



Canada as a whole stands fourth in the list of gold-producing 

 countries within the empire. 



British India, 



Mysore, in the south, produces most gold, though a certain 

 amount is found in the valleys of the Himalayas and in the 

 Central Provinces. 



