d sounded some
dismal note, old Jim, good-naturedly enough, turned to him, and said:
"Mr. Sunnyside, my feelings to'a'd you am very well expressed by the
col'ed gen'leman who was divo'ced from his wife. Says he, 'Em'line, if I
nebber see you again dat won't be any too _soon_.'" A roar of delighted
appreciation went up from the double row of tables.

The roughing and hardships of the California forty-niners, who,
bountifully supplied by nature on all sides, needed no cover at night
other than the canopy of heaven, and who could work twelve months in the
year, seem trifling compared with the conditions which the Alaska
pioneers have confronted in a land disconsolately barren and
inhospitable, that metes out a meager four-months season for their
labor. To borrow again from Dunham, here were globe-travelers, men who
had "panned from Peru to Point Barrow," now in August "cross-cutting a
cussed cold creek," who would say, "There's no use telling the people at
home about this country; they'd think you were lying." And so, in fact,
it is a very difficult thing to undertake to do; for the reader or
listener has really nothing relative to go by, and, of course,
_atmosphere_ is essential to an adequate appreciation and understanding.

The ultimate yield of the "gold of Ophir" Creek will be enormous and
astonishing, justifying its right to a name famous from ancient times.
But, as is generally true of northwestern Alaska, the claims in order to
pay well must be (and they will be) owned and worked by large companies,
able to incur a considerable preliminary expense to mine them properly
and on a large scale. Now and then the individual will find a rich spot
from which he and his partners may realize a few thousand dollars; but
the palmy days of the Nome beach and the Topkok diggings are seemingly
over, and, as most of the miners say, it is not a "poor man's country."
And yet, as regards its wealth, hardly the surface has been scratched.
Dredging companies have been formed to operate the gravel bars and the
gold deposits in the beds of the streams; and there is excellent reason
for believing that fortunes will be made in this way. An excellent
indication of the stability and extent of the Council City District is
the fact that the common currency is gold-dust. Every store and office
has its gold-scales, and one must, for his own protection, be skilled
in manipulating the delicate balances. Although an ounce of "clean" gold
will aver