Document 51: Reprint in the Alton Democrat of a Letter from an Iowa Goldseeker at Clear Creek, Alaska
Alton Democrat, November 21, 1898; Letters of Iowa Goldseekers, Archives, University of Alaska Fairbanks. See also, John Clark Hunt, ed. "The Adventures of the Iowa Goldseekers," Alaska Journal 3 (Winter 1973), p. 2-11.
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....it is slow work....ground is only frozen two feet deep, and as soon as you get through that you strike water, then you have to lay off for three or for days, and let the ground freeze down a says, then put in a fire and thaw six or eight inches, and throw it out, and then let it freeze again and so on....So you see we really have to freeze a hole down as well as to thaw it.