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 f rom 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 



