at General Grant should have a memorial commensurate
with his greatness, and that his last resting-place should be in the
city of his choice, to which he was so attached, and of whose ties he
was not forgetful even in death. Fitting, too, is it that the great
soldier should sleep beside the noble river on whose banks he first
learned the art of war, and of which he became master and leader
without a rival.

"But let us not forget the glorious distinction with which the
metropolis among the fair sisterhood of American cities has honored
his life and memory. With all that riches and sculpture can do to
render the edifice worthy of the man, upon a site unsurpassed for
magnificence, has this monument been reared by New York as a
perpetual record of his illustrious deeds, in the certainty that, as
time passes, around it will assemble, with gratitude and reverence
and veneration, men of all climes, races, and nationalities.

"New York holds in its keeping the precious dust of the silent
soldier, but his achievements--what he and his brave comrades wrought
for mankind--are in the keeping of seventy millions of American
citizens, who will guard the sacred heritage forever and
forevermore."

[Illustration: ALASKA]

General Horace Porter, president of the Grant Memorial Association, made
an address, giving the history of the crowning work of the association,
rendering acknowledgment to those who had given valuable help, and
closing with a masterly and eloquent tribute to the great citizen whom
all had gathered to honor.

THE KLONDIKE GOLD EXCITEMENT.

There was much excitement throughout the country in 1897 over the
reported discoveries of rich deposits of gold in the Klondike, as the
region along the Yukon River in Alaska is called. These reports were
discredited at first, but they were repeated, and proof soon appeared
that they were based upon truth. In the autumn of 1896, about fifty
miners visited the section, led thither by the rumors that had come to
them. None of the men carried more than his outfit and a few hundred
dollars, but when they returned they brought gold to the value of from
$5,000 to $100,000 apiece, besides leaving claims behind them that were
worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. In July, 1897, a party of miners
arrived at Seattle from the Klondike, bringing with them nuggets and
gold-dust weighing more than a ton and worth a million and a