d was discovered on Anvil Creek, which runs into Snake River,
and this turned people's eyes in the direction of Nome. Miners rushed
here and set to work in the gulches inland, but it was not till the
summer of 1899 that gold was found on the beach. A soldier from the
barracks--you know this is part of a United States Military
Reservation--found gold while digging a well near the beach, and an old
miner took out $1,200 worth in twenty days. Then a perfect frenzy seized
the people. They flocked to Nome from far and near; they camped on the
beach in hundreds and staked their claims. Between one and two thousand
men were at work on the beach at one time, yet so good-natured were they
that no quarrels seem to have occurred. Doctors, lawyers, barkeepers, and
all dropped their business and went to-rocking, as they call
beach-mining."

"Oh, dad, let's hurry and go and see it," cried Ted, as they hurried
through their dinner at the hotel. "I thought gold came out of deep
mines like copper, and had to be melted out or something, but this seems
to be different. Do they just walk along the beach and pick it up? I
wish I could."

"Well, it's not quite so simple as that," said Mr. Strong, laughing.
"We'll go and see, and then you'll understand," and they went down the
crooked streets to the sandy beach.

Men were standing about talking and laughing, others working hard. All
manner of men were there scattered over the _tundra,_[14] and Ted became
interested in two who were working together in silence.

[Footnote 14: The name given to the boggy soil of the beach.]

[Illustration: "'LET'S WATCH THOSE TWO MEN. THEY HAVE EVIDENTLY STAKED A
CLAIM TOGETHER.'"]

"What are they doing?" he asked his father. "I can't see how they expect
to get anything worth having out of this mess."

"Beach-mining is quite different from any other," said his father. "Let's
watch those two men. They have evidently staked a claim together, which
means that nobody but these two can work on the ground they have staked
out, and that they must share all the gold they find. They came here to
prospect, and evidently found a block of ground which suited them. They
then dug a prospect hole down two to five feet until they struck
'bedrock,' which happens to be clay around here. They passed through
several layers of sand and gravel before reaching this, and these were
carefully examined to see how much gold they contained. Upon reaching a
layer which seemed to be