CONCLUSION 409 



means tackling the frozen earth with pick and shovel, thawing it 

 with log fires, throwing out the loosened soil, thawing it again, 

 and panning all the while to see whether there are any " colours " 

 (small gold particles) in it. Sometimes it will take a man a 

 couple of months to sink such a hole, and usually he gets nothing 

 for his pains, but sometimes he finds the glittering and desirable 



LAKE, FIFTEEN MILES SOUTH FROM FORT GIBBON. 



metal. If gold is found, off he goes to the nearest town or store 

 to get a " grubstake" (food to work on), and he returns to his 

 claim to ascertain the extent of the gold seam. Rumours 

 spread, God only knows how, and far and wide sounds the report 

 that gold is struck at Sullivan Creek ! But rumour magnifies 

 the amount of gold found to an alarming extent, and the further 

 away from the strike the richer it becomes. Day and night the 

 miner will dream of this rich strike, and at last he cannot resist 

 temptation any longer, but starts out on the trail as one of 

 the many who from all parts of Alaska are stampeding toward 

 Sullivan Creek. Most of these people are splendid travellers ; 

 wonderful marches are on record, performed by men travelling for 

 long distances with nothing to eat but a handful of beans and 

 some bacon, on the small hand sledges they pull themselves. 



But excitement is at its highest at the diggings themselves, 

 and from the immediate neighbourhood people will flock there 

 almost immediately gold has been found. The N.A.C. people 



