42 THE UPPER YUKON 



mining enterprises was one that promised sure 

 and large dividends, because of the fact that 

 the proposed company would control the wa- 

 ters of a considerable sheet of water called 

 Atlin Lake. 



The projectors laid much stress on their 

 plan of having a large and powerful dredge 

 built in San Francisco; the same to be for- 

 warded piece-meal to this lake at an enor- 

 mous expense of time and money. When it 

 arrived and was finally put together, with 

 boilers and all the attendant machinery in- 

 stalled, it was calculated that they would move 

 the dredge to and fro over the water, and lift 

 up the rich sand from the bottom. They 

 would then abstract the abundant gold dust 

 from it at little cost, and thus realize large 

 dividends in return. Such was the plan. 



A rather "windy" promoter visited the 

 large cities of the East, including New York 

 and Philadelphia, carelessly carrying with 

 him numerous big nuggets of gold in a bag 

 to show to the prospective stock buyer how 

 easy it would be under their novel plan of 

 mining, to lift barrels of just such nuggets 

 from the depths of the lake. 



The season when work of this kind could 

 be done in this sterile and cold country be- 



