The
ALASKA SOURDOUGH
Published for the Sourdough and
the Chechako as well, by A. B. Calla
ham.
Subscription price, $3.00 a year;
Six Months, $1.60; Three Months, $1.00.
Single Copies Ten Cents.
Issued Every Tuesday
Application made for admission to
the Mail as Second Class Mail Matter,
and Conditional Permit Issued.
Home Office, Old Methodist Church
Building, Douglas, Alaska. Tel. 36.
THE SALMON TAX
The salmon “crop” this year will
reach a value of about six million dol
lars. Out of this the government Is
entitled to four cents. Probably a dol
lar a ease would be too much, but it
would be nearer the right figure than
four cents. Undoubtedly the salmon
canneries should contribute a much
larger portion of the taxes of the ter
ritory. v
AN ESKIMO STORY
As a conjurer he was an awful liar,
says Dr. Marsh, who translated the
story for the Alaska-Yukon magazine.
He was always saying the wonderful
things he could do in that line., but
he did not hold up his self-given rep
utation.
At night all the men used to congre
gate in the common hall, called the
“kadigi," to see or to work charms;
so Chalagula came to the hall to con
jure, with his feet all wrapped up in
a thick winter deer skin.
When he thus entered the alley way
to the kadigi the people were all scar
ed Aery badly, so badly, in fact, that
they were afraid to leave the hall for
fear that he would put a spell on them
in their absence. After he had sung
a few “devil’’ songs he went home.
The frightened ones just barely
peeked out of the doorway, and even
though they did not see him they
would not dare to go home till day
light. And they had to sleep all day.
At daylight Chalagula went out on
the ice to try to catch seals, and was
successful.
At eight as usual all the men went
to the kadigi and lighted it up, and
performed the ceremonies.
Som'e of those who were wont to
meet hid under the edge of the cliff,
fearing that Chalagalu would put
spells on them. Chalagalu went to the
kadigi. He entered the alley way.
Those hidden under the cliff saw him
enter.
Chalagalu went out of the kadigi to
go to his own house, but he could not
run a little bit, for his feet were tied
up with the skin.
Then some of the men from under
the hill went into the kadigi, one at a
time. One of the men, thinking to
scare the rest, said as he was ntering
that Chalagalu was in the entry. Then
he conjured all he could to kill Chala
galu. But in the morning, as one of
the men rose, he saw Chalagalu going
out to the ice, so he went into the
kadigi and told the rest.
It was night again. The kadigi be
ing full, it was lighted. A very old
man who was wise in all knowledge
■was called to come to the kadigi to
try hiS luck at working a charm on
Chalagalu. He was a very wise man,
and he knew how to make a man’s
legs so they could not stop running;
so he cast his spell on Chalagalu,
thinking that if he could not stop
running they would get rid of the un
desirable.
At daylight a man was looking at
him and his legs woke him up wanting
to run. Then Chalagalu woke up run
ning 'and went out on the ice at once
for seal. When he got to the blow
hole of the seal he wanted to stop,
but his legs would not stop. So, still
carrying a three-legged stool, he ran
back to land and could not stop even
there, and ran on and on and on.
While still running he saw a house
with a window aglow. Catching hold
of the side of the house, he managed
to stop, and lifted up the corner of
the window, oh, just a very little bit.
He saw that the igloo had but one
inhabitant and that a woman, by name
Taipen. He also saw that the lamp
was burning deer fat, instead of seal
oil, and had a strip of deer fat on the
trying out stick back of the lamp. He
had been very quiet, so the woman did
not know that he was there, and now
he knocked to let her know.
The woman appeared, coming out of
the * ‘ panga, ’ ’ or hole, into the alley.
She asked him what he was doing
there, why he had come.
Smelling that deer fat made him
very sad, so that he must lie to the
woman, saying that for two long
winters and two long summers he had
not seen or tasted any deer meat, and
that was the reason that he came there.
Taipen bade him enter, and he did
so willingly. After eating as much of
the choice parts of the deer as he could
he went to sleep.
When he woke up in the morning
the woman asked him whether or not
he wanted to go back to the coast,
if so to tell her. Chalagalu said that
he wanted to go home. Then Taipen
took his outside, and gave him the end
of a long braid that had its other end
in a box on her cache to hold. She
told him to take it home with him;
so he started off. When he had gone
a very great way toward the coast
the rope jerked along as he went over
hill and dale, till fianlly it parted, and
lo and behold all along this rope were
deer hanging, and now they scattered
on all sides as far as and farther than
the eye could reach.
And this is the way, so the old men
tell us, that the country became
stocked with deer. From that time to
this there have been deer, and of
course there will always be deer.
KETCHIKAN HAS A flit*.
By one of those unaccountable freaks
that fire some times plays, tIre Ketchi
kan saw mill came nearly being wiped
out last week. Early in the evening
the flames began to appear on the roof
and had gained considerable headway
before being discovered, and before the
fire company could get a stream of water
upon it the entire roof was a mass of
flames. They were speedily conquered,
however, by the efficient work of the
Ketchikan fire department under Dale
Hunt. Five streams were soon playing
on the fire, and before the flames did
much damage to the machinery, they
were under control. There was consid
erable danger to the firemen and by
standers from falling timber and debris,
and some of the machinery was injured
considerable. Manager Dayl said to the
Sourdough correspondent that he did not
thing that the damage would be great.
He has set about repairing, and the mill
will be doing regular work again in a
few days.
As near as can be learned the fire
started in a saw dust chute, but how it
managed to come up the chute to the
carriage room and attack the roof is a
mystery. The foreman, A. C. Rois,
says that he thought that particular
place to be free from fire.
The mill is being worked over time
and has been for the last six weeks,
attempting to fill orders. The men have
been working fourteen hours a day Sun
day included. Foreman Rois has been
with the company only about six weeks,
but has made some valuable changes
in the methods of handling the lumber,
so as to save waste both in time and
material. There are at least two months
of work still in sight, before the man
ager hopes to be able to close down for
the winter.
THE ALASKA EARTHQUAKE
From along the Alaska coast to the
westward the reports which have come
in indicate that that part of the terri
tory received a considerable shak
ing up.
From the reports it is believed that
the center of the disturbance was some
where in the neighborhood of Port
Wells. The entire glacial region, from
Valdez eastward to the inside passage
was shaken severely. Columbia glacier
received a terrific shaking, and is shat
tered all along he face.
At Port Wells, the miners were ter
rified by the convulsion. Trees snap
ped off at the base and great masses
of rock slid down the mountain sides,
smashing and carrying everything
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