The ALASKA
SOVmOVGH
Vol. /. No. 13
Douglas, Alaska, Tuesday, November 28, 1911
10c a Copy
SENATOR POINDEXTER’S ALASKA COAL BILL
A friend of Senator Poinedxter in
Juneau has received a copy of Senator
Poindexter’s bill for the opening of the
Bering river coal fields. The bill is as
follows:
Be it enacted by the Senate and
House of Representatives of the United
Slates of America in <.engross assen
bud, That the Secret v ;>f War, under
i’.t' direction of the P'cvdent. proo >ed
to open a mine, at '.he 1 < st ai l Most
.available point, coal < f the best '{ini
it„ . there ft be obtained on tin peluic
in iqs of the United Star in what is
Commonly known as tin* Bering .liver
c>f fields in \’nsfc»
2. That all public lands containing
coal in said Bering river field are here
by reserved from sale or private entry.
3. That the jurisdiction of the inter
state commerce commission is hereby
extended to all privately owned or op
erated railroads, telephone, and tele
graph lines, and express companies in
Alaska, to the same extent as in the
States and territories.
4. That the Secretary of War, un
der the direction of the President, shall
proceed at once to develop the harbor
and navigable channel of Controller
Bay, Alaska, and to erect docks,
wharves, and other harbor facilities
thereon so as to make it available as a
deep water harbor, as such depth as the
Secretary of War may deem necessary;
and shall proceed to acquire and oper
ate a line of ships, of such tonnage as
may be required to transact the busi
ness hereinafter referred to, and to op
erate the same for carrying freight and
passengers for the Government, and for
the public generally, between said Con
troller Bay and Bellingham, Everett,
Seattle and Tacoma on Puget Sound.
5. That the Secretary of War, un
der direction of the President shall
construct a railroad from said Control
ler Bay to the coal mine in said Bering
River field, to be opened up as herein
before provided, upon tin* be;t and
most available route, of standard guage
on the best practicable grades; that the
said railroad shall be located with a
view of its ultimate extension, Dy
branch lines or otherwise through the
Copper River Pass to the interior ot AI
aska.
6. That when said mine railorad,
and boat line shall be established the
Secretary of Wat «hall provide from
said mine such supplies of coal there
from as may be required by the United
States Navy and Uevcm. i I’utt.ei Ser
vice on the Pacific > •• ist, and tv Ihe
United States coaling stations on the
Pacific and other Government; needs on
!he Pacific, whenever the same can not
be more cheaply or advaatag i >uslv u. o
cured elsewhere.
7. That the Secretary of War shall
acquire or erect such coal bunkers,
dock and terminal facilities as may be
required at the various ports referred
to for carrying out the purposes of this
act, and shall make such rules and reg
ulations for the operation of said rail
road, coal mines, and ships as he may
deem advisable.
8. That in addition to supplying the
Government needs coal shall be sold
commercially to any persons desi.*’ lg
to buy the same from said gove iment
mines, and the price charged thorefj.
shall not be in excess of the ^ost rf
mining the same and four per .-'nitum
per annum rvenue on the sum expend
ed therein by the government; tl at
■aid boat line and railroad shall be
open to all persons alike, as comm >n
carriers of freight and passengers, it
charges therefor to be fixed by the
Secretary of War, which shall not he
in excess of the cost of operating and
maintaining the same, and sufficient to
yield a revenue of four per centum
per annum on the amount expended
therein by the government.
9. That no further grant si .ill be
made by any harbor franchise or lauds
or casements thereon in said Control
ler Bay, or on the tide lands or shore
lands adjacent thereto; and if it shall
be found that any rights have been ac
quired in or to said lands, franchise,
or casements the President shall pro
ceed, by condemnation or otherwise, to
acquire the same for the government.
10. That the sum of five million dol
lars is hereby appropriated, out >l an1'
funds in the treasury not otherwise ap
propriated, for the purposes of this
act.
Two Interesting Skippers
The Pacific Coast Steamship company
has severed its relations with that fam
iliar and peculiar navigator, Captain
Janson. Whether this fact has any
thing to do with the loss of the Cottage
City, the public will probably not be
informed.
Rumors along the Southeastern Alas
ka coast have had it for some weeks
that Capt. “Hog” Thompson’s rela
tions with the Pacific Coast company
had also been severed, but this is de
nied. It would be a distinct loss if the
company should lose both of those ec
centric mariners at the same time.
The loss of the Cottage City while
under the command of Capt. Janson
was the irony of fate. Janson was
the irony of fate. Janson was careful
to a fault, especially in making land
ings. Every waterfront in southeastern
Alaska has its own story of how long
it took him to reach the dock.
At Treadwell they say that on one
occasion he was laboriously working the
Cottage City into the dock for some
thing like a half an hour. Finally
some one on the dock bawled out:
“Wait a minute captain—we’ll save
you a little time, we'll bring the dock
out to you!”
Capt. Thompson is a specialist in cuss
words. Members of his crew say that
he could cuss steadily for twenty min
utes and never say the same cuss wor i
twice. None of the officers or members
of his crew were safe from the cussing
and he cussed every day from the hour
the vessel left port until she returned
at the end of the voyage. Generally
the crew did rot mind much after they
were once used to the skipper's odd
ways, but there were times when he
took the ski a off.
“Whenever he came out of his room
with his hat on one side,” said one of
his off . n , when the Meteor wu« in
port the other day, “every body ran
foj f i •
Crushed to Death by Surf
Fred Hubert, a native of Hoonah,
was crushed to death while trying to
push his boat of the rocks near Honah
during a storm one day last week. His
aged father, from the shore unable to
assist, witnessed the tragic death of
his son.
Young Hubert and his father left
Hoonah to go to a nearby camp to get
fire wood. While they were on the
beach, a storm came up, and their row
boat broke from its fastenings. The
storm continued to grow worse, and
Hubert, fearful for the safety of his
gas boat, swam out through th<. u-.r,
ers, with the intention of starting up
his engine and getting the craft to some
more sheltered spot. For some un
known reason, he raised the anchor be
fore getting his engine started.
The engine refused to work, and the
launch was driven onto the beacli.
When it reached the rocks, Humbert
jumped over the side, and endeavored
to push the boat off, but the breakers
drove the boat upon him, crushing him.
Heubert’s father, who is a feeble
old man, remained on the beach for two
days without food or 'belter, with the
dead body of his son nearly, until help
Spectacular Suicide at Sitka
Tommie Smith, a half breed employ
ed last summer at the government hos
pital in Juneau, committed suicide in
a spectacular manner at Sitka last
week.
Tommie went to Sitka in the fall and
entered the Sheldon Jackson institute.
He got into some trouble in the school
and was expelled recently. Also, while
he had some considerable savings when
he left Juneau, at the time of his ex
pulsion from the institute he was with
out money.
After brooding over his misfortunes,
he procured a revolver, and walking out
in front of the school, shot himself.
And He Believed Every Word
The youngsters of Juneau have been
having a great time coasting for the
last few days, not only the “young
sters” of a tender age but many of
those of mature years. The kids ap
pear very fond of this sport and take
advantage of every oportunity of in
dulging in it. With the nine o’clock
curfew eomes the end of their days
sport, unless they can frame up some
excuse for being out later, and when it
comes to framing up anything you can
leave it to the Juneau youngsters to
deliver the goods. In fact it was one
of these little frameups that was the
cause of the night force of the Juneau
police department getting an awful
“bawling out.” Sam Cohen didn’t
want this to get out but it was too
good to keep.
The curfew had rung and the kids
were very reluetant about quitting, but
Sam came along and in a very authora
tive manner ordered all to “beat it”
while the going was good. While sad
ly plodding their way home the kids
hit on the scheme of inviting their
school teacher for a slide, thinking
that Sam would never have the nerve
to chide them for not being in their
little beds while under the wing of
such a matronly chaperone. The teach
er was not told about Sam and his
drastic nine o’clock law, and she fell for
the invite to slide. So they slid, but
the night force was on the job backed
by the majesty of the law. When
they reached the bottom of the hill
Sain stepped out of the shadow of the
Elks club and declared in a stentorian
tone: “Say, didn’t I tell you kids to
beat it home once? How many more
times have I got to tell you? Now
git.”
From o/t of the crowd of coasters
there stepped the petite little school
marm, quivering with rage and offend
ed dignity, and walking right up to
Sam, who was scared blue, she ex
claimed: “I want you to distinctly
understand that I am thirty-five years
of age and 1 am no kid, and further
more if I wish to stay out after nine
o’clock I am perfectly able to look out
for myself.”
And Sam believes every wrnrd she
said.
“Talk By String In Ketchikan"
Indians are good patrons of tbe
government cable office especially at
this season of the year, when they
have returned from the fishing banks
with money in their pockets. They
have all sorts of messages to send to
their friends and relatives in other Al
aska towns.
Some of them can write their own
messages without any trouble, but oth
era are under the necessity of engag
ing the assistance of the operator, and
besides understanding the Morse and
Continental codes, a government cable
operator has to know more or less
about the Indian sign language.
“I want talk by string in Ketchi
kan,” a native informed Cable Office
Manager JDeLong one day last week.
Thereupon DeLong tied the strings, and
the native “talked in Ketchikan.”
HELD ON SUSPICION
While not much of a case has been
made out against Chick Boyle, alleged
sailant of Guptil, he has been bound
over to await the action of the grand
jury, and will be brought to Juneau
soon.
A flannel outershirt and an under
shirt were recently found at Skagway,
tucked under a carpet which was
thrown over the fence back of the Pul
len house. Some blood was found on
the garment. The outer shirt was be
lieved to have been the property of
Chick Boyle, a dishonorably discharg
ed soldier from Fort Seward, and he
was arrested. At the preliminary hear
ing he admitted that the shirt had been
his, but that he had abandoned it in a
house from which he and his Indian
wife had moved some weeks before.
He was in doubt, he said, about the
undershirt, although he admitted that
he had once owned an undershirt of
that kind. On this evidence he was
held to await for further developments.
There is no ehange in Cuptil’s mental
condition.