The False Gold of the Klondike

Every train to the west lately has been loaded with people bound for the Alaskan gold fields. The great majority of them are young men from the far east. They are in general very enthusiastic and seem to have no doubt whatever about their ability to shovel up plenty of the yellow metal. It is our firm conviction that at least nine out of ten of these people will utterly fail. They will spend more money than they will find. They will suffer hardships which they have no conception of, and many will not survive but will fill unknown and unmarked graves in the frozen north. A large majority of those who survive will finally, after many months of suffering and privation, drag their emaciated, frostbitten, and diseased bodies back into the land of the white man. The News would not only discourage the senseless rush on the ground of humanity to those deluded easterners, but we have a more selfish motive. It can only result disadvantageously to this state, as the many who do not strike it will be dumped into this country next fall by the thousands, the most destitute class of beings this country has ever seen.