H. A. Stewart, one of the real pioneer mining men of the Yukon, arrived in Seattle this week from the Sixty Mile River where he is operating a deep drift placer property, says The Alaska Weekly, and continues:
Stewart went into the Yukon back in 1892 at the time of the strike on Miller Creek in the Forty Mile and before the Klondike was found. Since that time he has mined in various parts of the North with more or less success, and it is a peculiar freak of chance that at the present time he is working ground that he staked when he first went to the North, prospected and abandoned.
In speaking of the season's work he said: "It took a dredge to show us where the real pay was located on the Sixty Mile. The dredge took out the creek channel, but since that time some of us have located better 'pay' on the benches than the dredge ever had in the creek.
"This Fall just before I left the diggings, we ran into some very good pay at a depth of 90 feet, drifting down stream. We are using a steam plant and plan on working up until the real cold weather sets in and then will close down until along in March. We have a pretty uneven bedrock to contend with and while the ground is good it takes a bit of mining to handle it.
"Lots of dredges coming into the Fifty Mile now. Holbrook will be going good on Jack Wade next summer and I understand that the Walker's Fork Dredge is having a wonderful end to a very successful season. They will be able to work well up into November provided they do not run into unexpected weather.
"Four barge loads of dredge equipment were landed on the banks of the
Yukon just before I left, and will be hauled in this winter over the ice. Looks like the Old Forty Mile is staging a real comeback, and while I was there in the beginning, I am glad to be there at the finish as well."
Mr. Stewart will spend the winter in Seattle, returning North in the Spring.
