Mr. and Mrs, W. A. Turner of San Francisco are in the city, guests at the
Dominion Hotel. Mr. Turner, better known among his friends as "Doc" Turner, being a dentist by profession, is one of the pioneers of Atlin. He arrived in Victoria last evening from the Sound and expects to return to Atlin in a few days. Speaking of the new gold fields and his experiences there Mr. Turner said:
"Yes, I suppose we might properly call ourselves pioneers of Atlin, as we were there when the original discovery of gold was made. George Miller, who is now the proprietor of the Circle City Hotel in Juneau, was prospecting around Atlin before the strike on the Klondike was made. When he heard the news from Dawson he immediately started for there, leaving his brother, Fritz Miller, to look after his interests in Atlin. The latter made the actual discovery of pay dirt about February 1 of last year, and within a week my wife and I were on the ground."
Asked if Mrs, Turner would accompany him back to Atlin this time, Mr.
Turner, with a merry twinkle in his starboard optic, replied:
"No, sir; I am not taking her in with me. She took me in last year, and she is taking me in again with her this trip."
Continuing, Mr. Turner said: "My wife was the first white lady in Atlin. We spent all last summer there, coming out on October 1. We lived in a tent and intend to do so again, as it is far better than a log house in that climate. What is the climate like? Why, it is as fine as any on earth, and for from five to six months in the year, between May and October, a man can do all the work he wants in the open. I own claims on
Pine Creek and others, and am well satisfied with the prospects. I wouldn't say that any one creek is better than the rest: there are good claims on all of them. The country is not as rich as Klondike, perhaps, but it is a good place, nevertheless, and, best of all, it is a poor man's country and a greater proportion of men will strike it rich than around Dawson.
"Last year I outfitted in San Francisco, but was utterly disgusted with the way I was treated there by the transportation companies. Their charges were simply exorbitant. I determined in future to fit out in Victoria, and there is every reason, from a business standpoint, to do so. Things are practically as cheap here as on the Sound, and there is no duty to pay. But we are not taking a very big outfit in this time, as I understand that Victoria and Vancouver merchants will carry big stocks of goods in there this year.
"There is no object in a man staying in Atlin during the winter. It is just as cheap to come out and live in civilization, and a good deal more comfortabile.
"In regard to the Alien Exclusion law, I don't care to express any opinion on it, because I realize that if I don't like a country's laws I am not compelled to come and live under them. Still I will say that, though it does not affect me or my interests, personally - my claims being all recorded before the passage of the act- I cannot but think it is an unwise measure from a Canadian standpoint. I know, myself, of a large number of miners who would have gone there this year, several relatives of mine among them, and they had all intended to outfit in Victoria, for the same reasons that I am outfitting here. Now, of course, they cannot go, and the amount of business thus lost must be considerable in the aggregate. It is the experience of all mining camps that two dollars are spent there for every dollar taken out of the ground and it will be so in Atlin. However, the law is none of my business and I have no desire to criticize it."
