|
Paris
Mercury October 5 1900 (excerpts)
Rube Holbrook A Millionaire
The
Monroe County Man Strikes It Rich Near Cape Nome
Three years ago a party of 25 Parisians went gold
hunting in Alaska. The poorest man in the crowd
was Rube Holbrook...... Wednesday night Tan
Bassett returned from Nome, where he has been during the
summer. He says Holbrook is interested in some of
the biggest claims in the Cool Creek country, 80 miles
back from Nome, and in undoubtedly a millionaire.
The other Monroe boys, Wright, Beagles, Powers and the
rest, are doing well. Tom Murphy and Abe Hill are
in Seattle, where they probably remain. Mr.
Bassett says Nome is the richest of all gold countries
and will yet startle the world with its output. He
states, however, that government favoritism toward
syndicates is visible even in far off Alaska and that
the poor man has stood a poor show in Alaska. The
big companies jump claims with impunity and have seized
almost the entire beach. One miner's house was
moved off his claim and in resisting, he was killed.
Small pox raged for awhile and there were some suicides,
but the reports sent out were greatly exaggerated.
Mr. Bassett says he saw no starving men. He still has
great confidence in the value of the Paris company's
claims.
(Courtesy of Kathleen
Wilham)
|
