tinually changed. In 1900 the chief producing creek was Myrtle, which
is a tributary of Slate Creek, and the town at the mouth was in eligible
situation, though much over-built from the first. Then the centre of
interest shifted to Nolan Creek, fifteen miles farther up the river,
which is a tributary of Wiseman Creek, and the town of Wiseman sprang up
at the mouth of that creek. The post-office, the commissioner's office,
and the saloon, the stores and road-houses, migrated to the new spot,
and Coldfoot was abandoned. Now the chief producing creek is the Hammond
River, still farther up the Koyukuk, and if its placer deposits prove
as rich as they promise it is likely that a town will spring up at the
mouth of the Hammond which will supersede Wiseman.

There has never been found a continuous pay-streak in the Koyukuk camp.
It is what is known as a "pocket" camp. Now and again a "spot" is found
which enriches its discoverers, while on the claims above and below that
spot the ground may be too poor to work at a profit; for ground must be
rich to be worked at all in the Koyukuk. It is the most expensive camp
in Alaska, perhaps in the world. This is due to its remoteness and
difficulty of access. Far north of the Arctic Circle, the diggings are
about seventy-five miles above the head of light-draught steamboat
navigation, and more than six hundred miles above the confluence of the
Koyukuk with the Yukon. Transshipped at Nulato to the shoal-water
steamboats that make three or four trips a season up the Koyukuk,
transshipped again at Bettles, the head of any steamboat navigation,
freight must be hauled on horse scows the remaining seventy-five miles
of the journey; and all that handling and hauling means high rates. The
cost of living, the cost of machinery, the general cost of all mining
operations is much higher than on the Yukon or on the other tributaries
of that river. The very smallness of the camp is a factor in the high
prices, for there is not trade enough to induce brisk competition with
the reduction of rates that competition brings.

[Sidenote: MINERS' GENEROSITY]

Yet the smallness and the isolation of the camp have their
compensations. There is more community life, more _esprit de corps_
amongst the Koyukuk miners than will be found in any other camp in
Alaska. Thrown upon their own resources for amusement, social gatherings
are more common and are made more of, and hospitality is universal. Like
all sparsely s