The land of Nome; a narrative sketch of the rush to our Bering Sea gold-fields, the country, its mines and its people, and the history of a great conspiracy 1900-1901 . nal, this, perhaps, will be pardoned,for the reason that an account of thevii PREFACE actual experiences of a few individuals —tame, indeed, compared with those ofmany others — may better suggest theatmosphere of a weird land than a mereresume of impersonal facts. Finally, itis hoped that this book may, in some smallmeasure, prove of service in directing at-tention to the past neglect and presentneeds of our wonderful Alaska. L
The land of Nome; a narrative sketch of the rush to our Bering Sea gold-fields, the country, its mines and its people, and the history of a great conspiracy 1900-1901 . nal, this, perhaps, will be pardoned,for the reason that an account of thevii PREFACE actual experiences of a few individuals —tame, indeed, compared with those ofmany others — may better suggest theatmosphere of a weird land than a mereresume of impersonal facts. Finally, itis hoped that this book may, in some smallmeasure, prove of service in directing at-tention to the past neglect and presentneeds of our wonderful Alaska. L. McK. New York, February, 1902. Vlll CONTENTS OHAPTEB PAGB I The Rush in 1900 1 II The Hybrid City of Nome ... 30 III Travel to the Interior .... 54 IV The Inland Country — The Mines 76 V McKenzie at Work—The Storm—The United States Court of Ap-peals 105 VI The Dangers of Bering Sea —ADismal Outlook ....... 137 VII Up the Streams—An Evening at Johnsons Camp 166 VIII The Council City Mining District —Joe Ripley and Others . 187 IX The Operetta at Dexters—Nome City of To-day 230 X The End of the Conspiracy—AWord for Alaska 246 ix PART I 1900. THE RUSH IN 1900 HE remarkable discoveries ofgold at Cape Nome, Alaska,situated almost in the BeringStrait, only one hundred andfifty miles from Siberia, and distant notless than three thousand miles from SanFrancisco and fifteen hundred from thefamed Klondike, naturally created moreexcitement in the Western and miningsections of this country than in the MiddleStates and the effete East, an expres-sion frequently heard in the West. Theserich placer-gold deposits were discoveredby a small party of prospectors in the late1 THE LAND OF NOME autumn of 1898. The news spread likewild-fire down along the Pacific coast andup into Dawson and the Klondike country,and the following spring witnessed astampede to the new El Dorado, which,however, was wholly eclipsed by the un-precedented mad rush of eighteen thou-sand persons in the
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