with returned miners:

William Kulju said: "I brought down just 1,000 ounces of dust and sold it to smelting works. I worked at Eldorado Creek, near Dawson, and was in that country about a year, and had a couple of dollars and a pack last Summer when I went in. I sold my claim for $25,000, part cash and the balance to be paid as it is taken out. Now, I am taking a trip to the old country—Finland—and am coming back next year."

Fred Lendeseen: "I went to Alaska two years ago, and when I left there six weeks ago I brought $13,000 in gold dust with me. I have had considerable experience in mining, and say without hesitation that Alaska is the richest country I have ever seen. I have interest in a claim near Dawson and am going back in the Spring."

Greg Stewart: "I had a partner and I sold out my interest for $45,000 and put my money back again at interest in mines. My partner had 1,500 ounces of dust, but it fell short four ounces on the way down. The dust will go over $17 an ounce, but we are all waiting for returns from the smelting works. I brought a few hundred ounces with me, but I get interest of 2 per cent. on short loans. I expect to return next Spring."

John Marks: "I brought $11,500 in gold dust with me, but I had to work for every bit of it. There is plenty of gold in Alaska—more, I believe, than the most sanguine imagine—but it cannot be obtained without great effort and endurance. The first thing for a poor man to do when he reaches the country is to begin prospecting. As snow is from two to five feet deep prospecting is not easy. Snow must first be shoveled away, and then a fire built on the ground to melt the ice. As the ground thaws the shaft must be sunk until bed rock is reached. The average prospector has to sink a great many shafts before he reaches anything worth his while. If gold is found in sufficient quantities to pay for working, he may begin drifting from the shaft, and continue to do so as long as he finds enough gold to pay."

Albert Fox: "I and partner went into the district in 1895 and secured two claims. We sold one for $45,000. I brought 300 ounces, which netted $5,000. Everybody is at Dawson for the present. The district is apt to be overrun. I wouldn't advise anyone to go there this Fall, for people are liable to go hungry before spring. About 800 went over the summit from Juneau, 600 miles, so there may not be food enough for all."

Robert Kooks: "I've been four years in Alaska. I had a half interest in a claim on Eldorado Creek, and sold out to my partner for $12,000. I bought a half interest in a claim on the Bonanza, below the Discovery claim, and my share is worth easily $15,000. I brought $14,000 in gold dust, and shall return in the Spring, after rest and recreation."

J. B. Hollinshead: "I was in the diggings about two years, and brought out about 1,500 ounces, which I suppose will bring $17 an ounce. I'm not sure about going back, though I have a claim on Gold Bottom Creek, fifteen miles from Bonanza. It is less than a year since I located my claim. My dust will bring over $25,000."

M. S. Norcross: "I was sick and couldn't work, so I cooked for Mr. McNamee. Still I had a claim on the Bonanza, but didn't know what was in it, because I couldn't work it. I sold out last spring for $10,000 and was satisfied to get a chance to return to my home in Los Angeles."

Thomas Flack: "My dust will bring more than $6,000. I have an interest in two claims on the Eldorado. One partner sold out for $50,000 and another for $55,000. I had an offer of $50,000, but refused it just before I came out."

Thomas Cook: "It is a good country, but if there is a rush there's going to be a great deal of suffering. Over 2,000 men are there at present, and 2,000 more will be in before snow falls. I've been at placer mining for years in California and British Columbia, and the mines at Dawson are more extensive and beyond anything I ever saw. Last year I did very well at Dawson. I have a claim worth about the average, they say from $25,000 to $50,000, on Bear Creek, across the divide from the Bonanza."

Con Stamatin: "I was mining on shares with a partner. He's still there. We worked on Alexander McDonald's ground in Eldorado for forty-five days and took out $33,000. We got 50 per cent. and the other half went to McDonald. Then we divided our share, and I came away."

All miners unite in saying that the only fear for the coming winter is the lack of supplies. The Alaska Commercial Company promises, however, to send in all that is needed. Living is high now, as may be seen from these quotations of prices when the miners started for home: Flour, $12 per hundredweight; (following are the prices per pound) moose ham, $1; caribou meat, 65 cents; beans, 10; rice, 25; sugar, 25; bacon, 40; potatoes, 25; turnips, 15; coffee, 50; dried fruits, 35; tea, $1; tobacco, $1.50; butter, a roll, $1.50; eggs, a dozen, $1.50; salmon, each, $1 to $1.50; canned fruits, 50 cents; canned meats, 75; liquors, per drink, 50; shovels, $2.50; picks, $5; coal oil, per gallon, $1; overalls, $1.50; underwear, per suit, $5 to $7.50; shoes, $5; rubber boots, $10 to $15.

Miners who have reached San Francisco do not act like people who have suddenly jumped from poverty to comparative wealth. They are level headed. They went to the best hotels, and they are living on the fat of the land, but they do not throw money away, and not one started in to paint the town red. They have worked so hard that they appreciate the value of money. What they delight in most are theatres and other amusements. They say no one knows how to enjoy these if he has not spent a year in Alaska. Three-quarters of the miners will return in the Spring when they are well rested."

ARRIVAL OF THE SECOND TREASURE SHIP FROM THE FROZEN KLONDYKE.

When the first stories of the fruitfulness of the "Far Off Land" came to the ears of the children of Israel there were many doubters, but when those who had been sent to spy out the land came back later bearing great bunches of grapes there were none that doubted. So when the Excelsior arrived in San Francisco, on the 14th of July, many may have doubted the truth of the stories told of the richness of the new gold fields, but when, three days later, the Portland steamed into Seattle with gold to the value of over $1,000,000, brought from the region of the Upper Yukon, no one who saw with their own eyes the gold, and who heard with their own ears the tales of mineral riches unsurpassed, could doubt that on the banks of the Klondyke had been discovered the world's greatest gold fields. An eye witness of the scenes of the Portland's arrival thus tells the story in the New York Journal:

Gold in boxes, gold in bags, gold in blankets, fine gold and coarse gold, gold nuggets and gold dust, the yellow treasure of the Klondyke diggings, came from the far North.

A ton and a half of gold was a part of the load of the steamer Portland from St. Michael's, Alaska, and with the 3,000 pounds of gold were the several owners, sixty-eight miners, some with $5,000, some with $10,000, some with $50,000, a few with $100,000 and over, but all with gold.

With the product of their work for a season in the new "diggings," the richest in surface gold ever discovered, these miners had made the long voyage from Dawson City, the new golden town, 1,895 miles down the Yukon to St. Michael's, and at St. Michael's had boarded the Portland with their treasure, bound for homeland and intent upon changing their dust and their nuggets into the minted, milled coin of their country.

On the voyage the gold was stored in the captain's state room. The little safe in the corner was packed full of bags of gold, and the remainder that the safe would not hold was placed in three boxes.

When the steamer came to the port the miners