Six thousand spent the winter of 1897 in Dawson, work on the creeks went on apace, while beyond the passes it was reported that one hundred thousand more were waiting for the spring.

Late one brief afternoon, Daylight, on the benches between French Hill and Skookum Hill, caught a wider vision of things.

Beneath him lay the richest part of Eldorado Creek, while up and down Bonanza he could see for miles.

It was a scene of a vast devastation.

The hills, to their tops, had been shorn of trees, and their naked sides showed signs of goring and perforating that even the mantle of snow could not hide.