The
ALASKA SOURDOUGH
Published for the Sourdough and
the Cliechako 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
Entered at the Post Office at Doug
las, Alaska, as second class mail mat
ter.
Home Office, Old Methodist Church
Building, Douglas, Alaska. Tel. 36.
WANTS NIGHT CABLE SERVICE
Because the government cable office at
Cordova is connected by telephone with
the government wireless station at Cape
Whiteshed the last federal grand jury
there asks for an all night service for
all the cable offices in Alaska.
“It is only by this means,” says the
grand jury, whose report has just been
received at the office of Govenor Clark,
“that any news of ships in distress
can be transmitted to the towns of Val
dez, Cordova and Seward. This was
made evident in a striking manner at
the time of the grounding of the steamer
Olympia on a reef off Bligh island dur
ing a violent wind storm while making
a run from Cordova to Valdez in De
cember, 1910. The operator at the wire
less station at Cape Whiteshed caught
the distress signals from the Olympia
and by mere chance or unusual good
luck was able to raise the Cordova ca
ble office.
“There were no rescue boats avail
able at Cordova at that time, however,
but had the cable operator beeu able to
raise the Valdez office, a number of
boats could have been dispatched from
that point without delay. The rescue
efforts were initiated by these means,
but not until the Valdez office had open
ed up for business the next day on the
morning following the grounding of the
ship.
Under less favorable conditions tue
Olympia might have gone to pieces with
consequent loss of life by drowning
and freezing. It is with a view of pre
venting a recurrence of such delay in
similar moments of distress that this
grand jury earnestly recommends that
the government inaugurate an all night
cable service at our several offices.
A WORKING GOVERNOR
One reason why Governor Clark has
won the regard of progressive Alas
kans is because he accomplishes things.
His quiet methods and lack of self
advertising have worked to his disad
vantage, because there are many per
sons who fail to appreciate modesty or
to credit an unassuming person with the
ability to perform anything worth
while. But among those who have
watched the career of the governor,
genuine appreciation has grown stead
ily. When he was placed in the exe
cutive seat of Alaska, there were as
many gaps in the walls of the terri
torial eabin as there are in an Indian
woodpile. The governor devoted him
self at once to the homely but neces
sary work of chinking the cabin, and
he is making good at the task.
Chief among the achievements or
the governor was the extension of the
general mining law to Alaska so as to
permit the appointment of a mining in
spspector for the territory. The work
of the governor, both in securing the
privilege from congress and in appoint
ing the inspector, is typical of the man.
He secured the legislation, not with os
tentatious blowing of trumpets, so that
all Alaska might know without doubt
that he had done it, but by quiet hand
to hand labor among the members of
congress and the administration. And
when it came to the appointment of an
inspector, he refrained from playing pol
itics, but went directly to the govern
ment bureau of mines. Instead of a po
litical hanger-on, we have a non-polit
ical mining expert as inspector in Al
aska.
In the same quiet manner the gov
ernor has prevailed upon the fedeial
government to dispatch a regular quar
antine officer to take charge of the
quarantine work in the territory. The
importance of such an official is all the
more apparent when we consider the
narrow escape of the territory from
an epidemic of smallpox this year.
When Governor Clark finishes his term
in the executive mansion at Juneau,
and it comes to a summing up of his
achievements while in office, it will be
found, we are confident, that he has
accomplished more real good for Alas
ka during that time than any other
one man.—Fairbanks Times.
COURT MARTIAL
OF SERGT. SCALES
(Seward Gateway)
The court martial of Sergeant
Scales, of the U. S. Signal Corps, is in
session at Fort Liscum, Alaska. The
court martial consists of seven officers,
five of whom are from that fort and two
from Fort Seward. Attorney Paul
D’Heirry, one of the most brilliant
members of the Valdez bar, apepars
for Scales. A large number of witness
es from all points along the Copper riv
er are in attendance.
Lieut. Prosser, in charge of the sig
nal corps in this section, is the com
plaining witness. The defense will
seek to prove that it was impossible
for Scales to carry out the instructions
of his superior, for the failure of which
he is being tried.
Sergeant Scales’ arrest about two
months ago followed the search he
made for Privte Reeves, wTho started
down the river from Copper Center
last July and was never heard from
afterwards.
Scales was ordered by Lieut. Prosser
to proceed down the river in a boat.
It is charged that he hired two civil
ians to go along, instead of only one,
as authorized.
He wyas ordered to bring the boat
back to Copper Center. In doing this
he had eight Indians drag the craft
out of the water. The station agent of
the Copper river road then loaded the
boat on a car and took it up to Chitina
free of charge.
A four horse team hauled it from
there towards Copper Center, Scales
dragging the boat himself after it had
been dropped by the driver.
The specifications charge that Mr.
Scales violated the articles of war by
accepting gratuitous service. He in
turn asserts that the service was ren
dered him personally and not on the
strength of the fact that he was in
the army.
Owing to the swiftness of the water
in the Copper river Scales asserts that
it was impossible to take the boat back
in the water and that it was necessary
to secure aid.
He wrote a letter to Lieutenant
Prosser later, declaring that he
thought the criticism of his expendi
tures was unjust.
For this he is charged in the speci
fications with criticism of a superior
officer.
When arrested he was ordered to pro
ceed from Teikhell to Fort Liscum on
foot but came on a horse, that he as
serts was sent him by Major Bennett,
the post commander.
This act of disobedience is the sub
ject of another charge against the ser
geant.
STORM AT CHIGNIK
At Chignik the cannery building
known as the old Haines cannery blew
down in a recent gale, and during the
same storm the waves undermined a
bunkhouse, 65 feet in length and
washed it into the sea. Both build
ings belonged to the Northwestern Fish
eries company, of Seattle.
FAIRBANKS CHICKEN RANCH
Over a thousand chickens, of half
a dozen varieties, to say nothing of
the flock of pigeons, help to fill the
air with. their language in the vicinity
of Seventh and Cowles, where Douses*
chicken ranch is located, says the
New’s-Miner. There the visitor, when
in the yards, has hard work to believe
that he is in the Far North, for'all ar
rangements are made to care for the
fowls in the same manner as on the
Outside in any of the cold countries.
For Xmas bargains see Case, the Ju
neau photographer and curio dealer.
Ladies’ furs, rugs, robes and skins
at lowest prices. W. JL Case, Juneau.
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