44 THE UPPER YUKON 



sellers of stock, and now ruin stared all of the 

 officials in the face. The very simple precau- 

 tion of having the bottom of the lake explored, 

 before making such a costly experiment, had 

 never apparently been thought of. 



There was nothing to be done but to leave 

 the dredge where it was, and so when a man — 

 any man — wanted something that could be 

 removed from it, he came and took what he 

 needed, and there was '^none to say him nay." 

 So the small army of "succors" who had lis- 

 tened to the siren voices of the "windy" pro- 

 moters received no returns for their hard- 

 earned investment in the "British American 

 Dredging Company." 



I tell this story because it is typical of so 

 many similar gold-mining fakes, trusting that 

 it may act as a brake to the eagerness with 

 which men part with their money to follow 

 the "Will-o'-the-wisp" in vainly searching for 

 gold in far-away countries. 



About ten years ago a young man from New 

 York with nearly two hundred thousand dol- 

 lars in cash came into a district one hundred 

 and seventy-five miles from Atlin and near the 

 head of another notable lake. This young 

 man had no practical knowledge of mining. 

 He was but a youth — inexperienced in the 



