THE KUSKO TIMES
A. X. Grant, Publisher, Sol*
Owner and Editor.
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Entered as secona-ciass matter Au
gust 29th, 1923, at the postoftice at
Tokotna, Alaska, under the Act of
March 3, 1879.
Tukotna, Alaska, June 25, 19'12.
dick McArthur, noted
ALASKAN, RECOUNTS HIS
TORY OF 45 YEARS I NNORTH
(Alaska Weekly, Seattle.)
Dick McArthur, early-day Yukon
pioneer, early-day pioneer of Nome,
early-day pioneer of the upper
reaches of the Kuskokwim, and one of
the first two white men to wash out
a pan of gravel in the Circle country,
long before the Klondike rush, is in
Seattle today, his second trip out of
the Northland in forty-five years.
luck, despite his tourscore years
spent on the frontier, is hale, happy
and hearty. Perhaps less nimble of
foot, the oldtimer’s hull is yet as
sturdy as the oak of which the frig
ates of war were built a century ago.
Yes, it’s a wee bit more than forty
five years ago since Dick McArthur
bade good-bye to his friends in Butte,
Montana, bound for Juneau, Alaska,
to try his luck in the placer diggings
discovered by Joe Juneau and Dick
Harris in Silver Bow Basin. _
“Juneau was in the spotlight in
those days,” said Dick at the North
ern Hotel the other day. “A few
Montanans had wandered in there and
were impressed with the possibilities
of the country. Some of my friends
heard from them, so I decided to hit
the trail for the North. When I got
to Juneau and hiked up to Silver Bow
Basin I was surprised how small the
pay area aws. There was but a hun
dred acres of flat land in the basin, j
all of which carried working values.
However, there was not sufficient wa
ter for large operations, and a tunnel
was driven 3,500 feet through the
hard formation to tap Granite creek
and work the property by hydraulic
methods. They took out over $2,000,- •
000 in placer gold from the basin. ^
Most of that work was don after I:
went into the Inteior.
“At times some of the boys from
the Fortymile country came out to
Juneau, and in the spring of 1890 a
bunch of us in that town decided to
hit the Dyea trail for the Upper Yu
kon. There were seven of us in the
party, which included Major Leventy,
‘Skiff’ Mitchel, Bill Liggett, Harry
Smith, Frank Hawley, Frank Klock
and myself. We relayed our outfits
over the pas and built our boats at
the head of Lake Bennett. Yes, we
took the usual route through Miles
Canyon, Whitehorse Rapids, and on
down river. We did not have any
trouble, as we all knew how to take
care of ourselves.
“We split'up at the Fortymile and
went to mining. • ’Twasn’t very rich,
but we made sufficient to keep going,
and we took "life easy. There was a
fine bunch of men in the country at
the time. All were law-abiding and
the court of last resort was the
‘miners’ meeting,’ where JUSTICE, in
capital letters, was dispensed. It was
a court from which there was no ap
peal, and was never called upon to
! function unless a miners’ arbitration
| committee failed to settle the dispute,
\ “In the fall of 18113 Peter Buckley,
now !>2 years young and enjoying life
[ in California, and myself were in
; Jack McQuesten’s store at the mouth
| of the Fortymile. Yes, his son, Jack
Buckey, is U. S. deputy marshal at
i Fairbanks today. Well, anyhow, we
| were loafing around the store when
! in came a half-breed Russian named
Seruskey and two Indians named
Pitka and Minook. They tossed a
| poke of dust on the counter and asked
McQuesten to weigh it up. It tipped
the scales at a little more than $500,
and they told us they had panned it
from the bars of a creek in the Circle
country where there were many birch
trees. They also informed us that
there was a big country in there and
all creeks panned a little gold.
“Next morning Peter Buckley and
myself started out for Circle, and
found Birch creek. The first bar we
panned on showed good values. We
staked it and called it McLeod’s bar.
The boys from the Fortymile then
started to come in, so we looked at
adjacent creeks. With ‘Missouri’ Bill
McPhee and Johnny Cannon we lo
cated and staked on Independence
creek. Jack Gregor and Pat Kinnal
ley were the discoverers of Mastodon.
Eric Herman and Missouri Bill were
the original discoverers of Deadwood,
and the following spring I located
Eage creek. The sum total produc
tion of those creeks would run into
the millions of dollars. In fact, I am
given to understand that they will
produce millions more.
“In the spring of ’97 I beat it up to
Dawson and took charge of operations
on No. 23 Eldorado for Belcher. The
following spring Fay Delzene, Andy
Hart and myself prospected in the
White River country for some time.
We returned to Dawson and in the
spring of ’99 II read a letter from
Alaska’s friend, Col. Dick Richardson
(then a captain), whose memory all
of us revere, to the effect that Gabe
Price had cleaned up the first $10,000
from No. 8 Anvil creek, in the Nome
country. So forthwith we set out for
Nome, where we arrived on July 3,
1899. It was but a small tent town
in those days, with but one saloon,
run by a man named Parks. The day
after our arrival was the Glorious
Fourth. The committee had arranged
a sports meet, and I won the pole
vault. I was competing in the broad
jump later that afternoon when Cap
tain Ferguson came up to me and
said: ‘Here, you Klondiker, I’ll bet
you $500 that you can’t beat that last
jump.’ The young fellow who had
just performed cliped off a few inches
over 20 feet. I knew that I could not
do any better, or even as good, so I
thought I would run a blu and said:
‘Cap, I’m from Dawson, and I’ll bet
you $35,000 that I can outjump the
best man you have here.* He looked
me straight in the eye and said:
FIRE INSURANCE
; You should carry a liberal amount of fire insurance
. for the sake of your credit and your peace of mind,
Needless to say this insurance should be of the very
highest quality.
That'll the Kind Written By
Alaska Insurance Agency
FAIRBANKS, ALASKA
Inquire of Kuako Tine*.
‘Well, I guess you’re one of those
Klondike kings. It’s^ust a little too
ninth monej- for me to cover.’ I '
walked away laughing, as possibly <1
had less money thaa Cap Ferguson.
However, I think I established a cer
tain prestige by my bluff* No, 1
would not even compete in the jump
after that
! “Shortly after that Fay Delzene,
I who was my partner, secured a lease
on No. 2 Above on Anvil creek. P. H.
Anderson, a missionary, was the own
I er of this claim. We started right in
I and worked the claim out in 13ft days.
I Archie Mitchell and Frank Hawley
; had a lease on No. 3, and the ‘Swedes’
were working on the other side of us.
The ground was rich, so all of us
I made a litte stake. The following
! year I decided to take a trip through
| the United States. I set aside $5,000
! for this purpose. However, I was
compelled to call on my reserve cap
ital, for even in those days the lights
were bright and the ladies fair.
“My trip over, I returned to Nome,
where I prospected -and mined for
some time. Just' then- came a rumor -
of big things in the Kuskatariin coun
try, sq a bunch of us got together to
take whirl at that section, little did
we think that we would remain in
the Kuskokwim for almost thirty
years. At any rate, one fine day,
Dan Sprague, Billy Stanton, Ed Qpe
son and myself started out, headed
for the Hoholitna river, a tributary
of the Kuskokwim, haf way between
Bethel and McGrath. We got bar
prospects everywhre up to the head,
and then crossed the divide into the
Mulchatna. We failed to find aqy
i thing worth while on that side of the
OW uuvnMOClVCUf AUU tf LUCl X Ul
ther work on the Hoholitna struck up
the Kuskokwim to McGrath. The fol- .
lowing year we poled up the Nixon
Fork and prospected. Later we wan
dered up the West Fork, which w.e
named. The Kuskokwim is a big ;
country, and I am sure will have a }
live camp or two in years to come.
There is a dearth of prospectors in
the country. If there were prospect
ors on those creeks like we had in the
early Yukon days I am sure that
steamboats galore would be running
up and down that great water artery
of the Northland. , ‘
“I came out to have treatment for; >
my eyes. Just few cataracts that
prevent me from seeing colors in the !
pan, and when I get fixed up I will
hike back to where 1 don’t have to
dodge crazy automobiles all day long.
These peope out here haven’t a min
ute to spare, and I wonder where they
are all going, and if they ever get
there. Of the bunch of us who came
to the Kuskokwim country thirty
years ago, but one has crossed the
Great Divide—old Ed Opeson. he's
gone. You know, he got married. 1
guess that’s what happened to him.
The remainder of us are still bach
elors. Anyhow, this is leap year, and
while there’s life there’s hope.”
Dick McArthur is a guest at
Northern Hotel. Judging by the
number of oldtimers who visit him
every day, he wil have to appoint a
reception committee. Dick is known
as the “Lone Wolf” on the Kusko
kwim/ He makes his' appearance at
some trading post in t.ho spring,
where he purchases his supplies. He
may be seep again ip the fall. How
ever, hq subscribes for the best mag
azines and papers in the country, and
when he gets his semi-annual mail
mentally digested there is no sleep
for the passing m usher who cornea to
his cabin. International topics as
well as national and current topics
are at his finger’s end. He t«llr
more intelligently on frenzied finance
thbn B. C. Forbes of Hearst news
paper fame, and when it cornea to
early-day Yukon history Dick McAr
thur’s mind is as cear as that of any
college professor half his years. Like
all frontiersmen, he hates publicity*
and we hope he will forgive us for
publishing this little tribute to a .pio
neer of the Great Northland.
Are you a Kasfco Ttmaa mkaeftal
Why not jointho happy throng:?
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