resented a great deal of money. When subsequently launched, and tons
of sand had been taken by it from beneath the sea, not five cents' worth
of gold was found to compensate for the enormous expense and labor. Not
far away, at a point which was to be its terminal, men were landing as
best they could the machinery, rails, and ties for the railroad of the
Wild Goose Company, which was to extend for several miles back over the
tundra to the rich placer-mines on the creeks.

Hundreds were living in tents upon the beach, thanks to the clemency of
the weather. Within a very short distance from our camp, with their
freight piled about, were the "syndicate," and quite unenthusiastic.
There was defection in their camp. Actually, the "syndicate" were
selling out, and without a struggle. Several of its members very soon
bade us farewell, and pulled out for what they thought the "real
thing"--quartz-mines in Oregon. And yet some of the mines on Anvil Creek
even then, and with only a few men shoveling the pay dirt into the
sluice-boxes, were turning out from ten to fifteen thousand dollars a
day. To be sure, this was for the very few only, but, at the same time,
it went to prove that the country was not a fraud. Even the dirt in
those miserable Nome streets contained "colors," or small particles of
gold; and it is an incongruous thought that, of all the cities of the
world, Nome City, as it is called, most nearly approaches the
apocalyptic condition of having its streets paved with gold!

We daily crossed the Snake River on "Gieger's Bridge" when going into
the town for investigation and information. Gieger was an enterprising
fellow who had built a rough but sufficiently substantial bridge at the
mouth of the stream, and, by exacting a toll, he was making a pretty
good thing out of it. Frame buildings of the wood of Puget Sound were
going up like mushrooms throughout the town, and the noise of saw and
hammer denoted that the carpenters were making small fortunes. "Offices"
which could scarcely hold more than a chair and a table were for rent at
one hundred to one hundred and fifty dollars a month, and these, too,
frequently were merely spaces penned off in connection with stores or
bar-rooms. Absurd prices were demanded for town lots of very uncertain
title. I know of one instance where four thousand dollars was given for
a lot on the main street. The saloon which bore the proud sign "The
Only Second-Class Saloon in Alaska" seemed