Letters from the Nome Gold Rush

I came to St. Michael August 25 and staid there several days. On September 1, was transferred to Camp Anvil City on Cape Nome. At that time Anvil City was and is yet one of the greatest mining camps in Alaska. There are about 3,000 people here. Since July, 1899, I have been acting as hospital steward in the army and am now here with a detachment of 20 men from the Seventh United States Infantry. We had a great typhoid fever epidemic from September to December and many persons died. Since at that time there was no hospital except the United States hospital, I had more patients than was convenient to handle. Among them was one named Lindeberg, a Norwegian, who had managed some of the best claims and mines in the country. He promised me a good paying claim.

The Cape Nome mining district is probably the richest mining country in the world. Gold was first discovered here in the fall of 1898 by Lindeberg, who staked on most of the good creeks. Anvil creek has so far proven the richest creek; about $800,000 were taken out in six weeks. Owing to the scarcity of lumber and provisions, few of the other creeks were worked, but some prospects were found everywhere. Most of the money last summer was made on the beach, rocking gold out of the sand right below the surface. Digging a few feet below the surface a man could make from $10 to $300 per day with a single rocker. If I had not been bound to the hospital on account of having so many patients I would have made good money on the beach. The gold is so fine that you can hardly see it with the naked eye and have to use mercury and copper plates to catch it. But out on the creeks coarse gold is found. On Anvil creek a nugget worth $435 was found. I have two nuggets in my possession worth $20 and $25 respectively. Since New Year's I have no patients and take things easy now. The 4th of January I went on a six days' trip to prospect some claims myself. There were five in the party and we had two sleighs and 12 dogs to carry provisions and sleeping bags. The temperature was from 20 to 30 below zero and a strong wind was blowing in our faces. We traveled about 30 miles through high snow to get to the place we wanted. Owing to the deep snow and hard frozen ground we prospected but little. I staked two claims on creeks that showed fair prospect: 10 cents to the pan three feet from the surface. Since then I have got hold of some more claims in other districts and hope to make some money out of one or the other. I think if I can stay here another winter I can go home with a nice little stake. For some time we had only an hour of sunshine every day, but now the days are getting longer and we have four hours' sunshine. The only way to travel here in the winter time is with dog sleighs. Everybody is dressed in fur coats and fur shoes or moccasins. We have not had any outside mail since October 12, when the last boat arrived here. At present the Bering Sea is all frozen and we do not expect a boat before the first of July. We may get some mail from the outside by dog teams, but it is uncertain. This letter leaves here Jan. 27. I am sending this by a special carrier, who is going out over the ice. He charges $1 per letter. I received at last the medal of honor for which I was recommended. It was just about one year after the battle. On the back is engraved: "The Congress to Oscar Burkhard, for bravery at Leech Lake, Minn., Oct. 5, 1898." My promotion I received only by going through examination. There were four in the class and all but myself failed. I am now spending a good deal of my time in studying materia medica, for, although the town has three thousand inhabitants, life is very monotonous, an occasional ball being the only entertainment. The town as it stands now was built in less than two months and has many large buildings. It is astonishing how quick things change in a mining camp. When I arrived here there were about 200 tents stretched along the shore of the Bering Sea and on both sides of Snake river, and to-day it is a busy city of 3,000 inhabitants and fully 50,000 people are expected to live here next summer.

I received your most welcome letter a few days since and was glad to receive at last some news from the outside. Navigation has been open since May 21, and your letter which arrived here about July 1, was the first sign I received that some of my relatives are still alive.

Last Sunday the United States army transport Rosencranz arrived here with two companies of the 7th Infantry. There is going to be a big fort on Nome river, about four miles from Anvil City, but at the same time there will be a down town post for the detachment doing police duty in town. The chief surveyor department of Alaska and General Randall, with his staff, are here also, and will stay during the greater part of the summer. The chief surveyor told me that I would stay here for another year.

There has been a large crowd of people in town since navigation opened, expecting to pick up gold by the bushel, but they got badly left on that proposition, and many are going back disappointed. They will no doubt go back and tell their tale of woe and say it is all nothing but a fake. But the country is good, nevertheless, and the professional miners are well satisfied. It's only the tenderfoot who is complaining.

The weather is very favorable at present for prospecting and many new creeks are being opened. As soon as the rainy season commences some of the rich creeks, which were worked last year, will employ as many as 1,200 to 1,000 men, not to speak of the many new creeks which will all need a number of people to develop them. I had one of my claims prospected last week, but as yet failed to locate the pay streak. The claim prospects fair for ground, and I expect to sell out to some large stock company.

Enclosed you will find a few nuggets out of the Cape Nome mining district so you can see plainly it is no fake that I am telling you. The two black ones are from Anvil Creek. You can have them cleaned by a jeweler and have a scarf pin or a watch charm made out of them. The two small ones would not look bad if fixed for earrings.

I have been so busy the past three weeks that I have hardly had time to sleep. You must have seen in the papers that we had smallpox here in Nome, but so far only about thirty cases have been reported. Many people are down with pneumonia and in a destitute condition. I am filling prescriptions from morning till night, and what the worse of it is, the people have no money for the service.

Robberies are becoming quite common, and I am called up one or more times every night to attend to people who were stabbed or hurt otherwise and afterward robbed. Twenty of our men are patrolling the town every night, but as there is a stretch of about four miles long, the beach covered with tents and houses, it would take a whole regiment to protect everybody.

We have not had any rain for more than two months, and all the mine owners are complaining about the lack of water for working their claims. The United States district judge arrived here a few days ago and many of the good claims are being contested in the United States Court. The best claims have stopped working altogether, which may be detrimental to some of my calculations.

You remember that I wrote to you about a man named Lindeberg. His claims are jumped and are now tied up so he cannot work them. He was going to give me enough money this fall to pay my way through college, and he will do so yet if he wins back his property. But I will not lose courage and will try to get there, even if he cannot help me. My present enlistment expires on March 15, 1902, so I will have to serve another year and eight months. Remember me kindly to all friends.