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Kimes Entry Number
215
Original Date
10-11-1897
Publication
The [San Francisco] Examiner, Oct. 11, 1897
Page/Column
p. 6, cols. 5-6
Recommended Citation
Muir, John, "Pathless Treasure Fields of the Frozen Northland. John Muir Writes of the Vast Country, Rich in Gold, That Has Not Been Disturbed by the Prospector. There is No Occasion for Seekers After Fortune to Rush Pell-Mell Into the Region of Snow and Ice, for Alaska, for Many Years, Will be the Poor Man's Mining Country." (1897). John Muir: A Reading Bibliography by Kimes, 1986 (Muir articles 1866-1986). 240.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/jmb/240
William and Maymie Kimes Annotation
"In courting fortune in Alaska one should go slow, count the cost, go into training and study mining like any other business .... "Muir believes that "no one unable or unwilling to stay and work faithfully and patiently in the frosty wilderness for at least ten years should venture there at all." After discussing placer formations, Muir writes: "I throw out these hints hoping they will do no harm; that they will cool, rather than inflame, the present excitement. I never wasted a minute hunting gold mines, knowing that gold dust in one's eyes prevents one from seeing much else." Muir wisely predicts: "This is still the day of small things in the north." Stressing that the vast interior is still a wilderness and "will long remain a poor man's country" Muir concludes: "'Boys will play their games, go to school, study mining at their leisure and still be in time to share the wealth of the North."