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USTER FROM greg stewart a gentleman well known to residents of salt lake but better known perhaps to citizens of grand junction colo and who is now in the despised klondike seeking out a fortune has written to his wife in this city telling her of his experience since february last at which time he left here northward bound to rejoin his brother and associates in their operations along the yukon and its tributaries tributa ries mr stewart came down from the north last summer and in october took unto himself a wife leaving his brother and associates to look after a number of valuable claims which they had formerly acquired until his return i his letter is in dated dawson city N i W T april 10 1897 and was received by his wife in this city on sunday through the courtesy of a friend the news to Is permitted to make a few j excerpts mr stewart writes 1 I arrived safe at dawson april ath at 2 p m and went up to the claim the next day finding everything all right clair his brother was some what surprised and glad to see me once more he talked nearly all night I 1 met george westfield dave hanna shortie bowman and W T carpenter ti tie te e day I 1 arrived and gave carpenter his letters he made anything here george la is over on dominion creek and I 1 did not get to see him yet I 1 dont think any of the grand valley boys have made a fortune yet I 1 think some of them will go out next summer I 1 clair got any of my letters written after september but he has been well and getting along fine he has worked five to six men all ajl winter but only has two now as the weather Is too warm to drift the claim turned out all right and I 1 think we will have a good cleanup clean up in the spring as he has a good deal of dirt out ready to be washed the fraction just below my claim is very rich they found about 30 ounces of nuggets today right close up to the line not over two or three feet from our line one of the nuggets weighed six ounces and is worth the largest nugget clair found this winter was a hundred dollar one and he has had several smaller ones he has bils been paying his help an hour he has plenty of provisions to last him all summer there are plenty of supplies here there has been no suffering here this winter for the want wani of food and although some were a little short it was more on account ot beang hard up tor for money last tall fall than anything else A great deal of pro visions was brought up last fall and held by speculators and was selling very high for a while last winter flout flour sold as high as 2 per pound and othel things in proportion clothing was very high capes came and sins sold for as much as 20 at one time dogs I 1 were selling from to a head one month ago but are not worth much now BOW ait to is so late in the season A man was offered one thousand dollars tor for his work horse the other day and refused to sell j they have been paying as high as aa per foot for hauling lumber up to the mouth of eldora creek which is ia about 14 miles and it is worth 1 per i 1 foot en cn the claims there is a big chambe in dawson city and bonanza creek since I 1 left last june the timber has been cut off along the banks and hundreds of log cabins have been built along bonanza and eldorado creeks many rich strikes have been reported in this part of the country but bout not many ot of them have proved to be much good so far the strike on the hill by no 3 is true and is very rich in spots there are a good many bandh claims staked in this neighborhood 1 I 1 I got the turkey and cake here all right and george westfield is going to raffle the turkey off tonight the eake cake was a great treat to clair and he sends many thanks to you it is true there was lots vt of sickness and a great many died in dawson damson last summer A great many froze their feet and hands in this part of the country this winter although it was a mild one there were about people went out on the tee ice this winter we were a long time on the way but had a good trip several of the best beat buildings in dawson were burned last november april lith 1898 1 I just got back i from town this morning and the mail carrier expects to start in the morning so I 1 will finish this letter tonight and take it down in the morning I 1 paid 20 for four boards at the saw mill yesterday and brought them up with me mr westfield raffled off the turkey and got for it joe edge of grand junction won it and we got some of it I 1 think there were over one hundred people who ate of the first turkey that ever came to dawson and you may be proud that you had the pleasure of cooking it I 1 guess it sold for the most money that any one turkey ever brought concluding his letter mr stewart expressed his intention to take the first boat for home the gentleman stating that he thinks he will be able to return before the fall of the year i |
