A REHASH OF LOCAL NEWS
Last weeks forest fires, reported
here by cable as devastating Alaska
forests, were, according to Captain
Thompson of the steamer Meteor, con
fined to Vancouver island, British Col
umbia.
Col. Sol Ripinsky, of Ilaines qluck
ed a strawberry six inches in. circum
ference iu his garden at Haines the
other day.
William McGlew, who for seventeen
years was engineer at the Juneau el
ectric light plant will try farming in
Oregon.
Observer Sharrock of the United
States weather bureau at Douglas, has
made a reputation this summer as a
prognosticator. For a long time his
predictions wTere regarded doubtfully,
but they have come to be consulted
with a good deal of confidence.
The run of salmon, which at the
opening of the season threatened to
leave the pack short, has been much
heavier last week, and the years pack
may yet come up to expectations.
John Henson & Co. have let the con
tract for the erection of a building on
the corner of Bradley and Front St.
to George Brown. The building will
be part of a hotel building which will
be put up in the spring. John Henson
will move into the completed portion
this fall, and give Douglas her first
safety deposit vaults.
Ben Learning at the Treadwell Club
is constantly picking up diamond pins
which the bathers carelessly leace
sticking in the walls of the dressing
rooms.
The power boat Oakland broke down
at Dry bay the other day and was tow
ed In by the Georgia.
Douglas has received its first chem
ical engine. It is to be installed on
St. Ann’s road, and is intended to be
of use especially in case of fire on the
beach.
Barney Conrad, formerly shift boss
at the Treadwell mine succeeded Dan
Popovich as manager of the Island sa
loon.
Born—To Mr. and Mrs. C. B. Walk
er, a boy. The baby’s father is reg
ister of the land office at Juneau.
Inspectors Whitney and Newhall ex
amined over 70 vessels on their late
trip to the westward. No hulls were
condemned but a number of engines
and boilers wrill have to be replaced
or overhauled.
MARVELOUS ESCAPE
George Perkins, a member of a
troupe which presented several plays
in Douglas and Juneau recently, nar
rowly missed death on Denver Glac
ier while the company was in Skag
way. As it was, he was a mass of
sprains and bruises, and the fact that
he broke no bones is regarded in
Skagway as little short of marvelous.
A special train had taken a number
of excursionists to the point on the
railroad nearest the glacier. From
the railroad to the glacier the passen
gers walked.
Here those members of the party
who desired were presented with ice
creepers, after which the journey up
the ice heights was resumed. When
a high elevation had been reached
one of Perkins creepers became loos
ened, and he stoped to fasten it. Sud
denly his feet slipped from under him
and he started down at a fearful rate
of speed.
The awestruck crowd saw him race
down the 125 feet of glistening ice,
plunge downward and disappear in a
yawning chasm.
When his feet slipped they went
straight from under him, and he slid
downward to what seemed to the be
holders to be eertain death, on his
back, with his feet foremost, and his
legs extended in the air. The Blide
of 15 feet was down a declivity at a
sharp angle, but when he reached the
crevasse he fell over a perpendicular
precipice, and landed on the ice thirty
feet below. The crevasse is thirty feet
wide at the top, and narrows down to a
small fissure.
For a moment the frightened crowd
stood transfixed with awe and horror,
and then a half a dozen men made
their way to his assistance.
They found him squeezed in the
fissure, his legs doubled up under
him. To this is attributed the fact
that no bones were fractured. The
fall was broken by the gradual closing
of the tissue. His legs, however, were
badly sprained and bruised, and he was
unable to move.
His removal from this position in
the crevasse was extremely difficult.
Many hours were required for the men
in the party to carry him back to the
railroad.
The next day when the troupe left
for Whitehorse, he had to be caiiied
on a stretcher to the train, and to
make the journey on his back, but
with plucky firmness he refused to be
left behind.
THE THREE TERRITORIES PLAN
The Seattle Post Intelligencer is de
finitely committed to the Sulzer plan
of having Alaska divided up into three
territories. “It is precisely the thing
to do, ” thinks the P.-I. ” but it thinks
altho that would be better, as things
are, to secure territorial government
for Alaska as now constituted, and let
the division come later. Says the Post
Intelligencer:
The three different portions of Alas
ka naturally fall into the groupings
suggested by Representative Sulzer.
While communication between all
the parts of each one of the seperate
districts is as easy as it was between
parts of any other territory when first
organized, there is more or less diffi
culty, with existing systems of trans
portation, in going from a remote part
of one district to remote parts of ano
ther district. Indeed, for travel be
tween parts of Alaska as it is now con
stituted, the speediest route is often
to be found through coming down to
Seattle first and from there taking a
new' start to the point of final destina
tion.
But congress has been singularly
reluctant to extend to Alaska, even as
at present constituted, a territorial
form of government. The territory
remains governed from the outside,
with the only legislative power in
matters affecting the territory in con
gress alone. As congress has refused
for all these years to give self govern
ment to Alaska as a single territory,
how is it possible to secure congres
sional consent to the erection of three
seperate territories out of the district?
Perhaps it would be better, as things
are, to secure territorial government
for Alaska as now constituted, and
then, after the territorial government
has been in effect for some time,
working smoothly and showing that
all the arguments advanced against
such a government were baseless, the
matter of subdivision can be taken up.
That is the system adopted in the past.
The old Northwest territory was divid
ed ultimately into six states; there
were twice as many states made out of
Louisiana territory; the two Dakotas
were once one; while Washington ter
ritory, as originally constituted, once
bordered Dakota, while two states now
intervene.
Clarence’s Thrillers.
When Clarence Perkins gave up the
third chair in the Mountville tonsorial
parlor to go to Alaska (though he
might have been promoted to second
chair in the fall), folks shook their
heads and mentioned that Clarence had
always been a little wild. Not that
he didn’t come by it naturally, for
Clarence’s father had gone to Chicago
three times in less than ten years, and
once he had bought a hundred dollars
worth of mining stock. Everybody
had predieted that Clarence’s venture
someness would lead him into some
thing. And, sure enough, it had.
“Write us all about your adven
tures,” they called to him as the train
pulled out; but they hardly expected
he would survive long enough for that.
The day after Clarence was lighter
ed ashore at Nome, I found him be
hind the fifth chair of a plain barber
shop in the big, hustling Northern
mining city, with double his ordinary
work, double the highest wages he had
ever received—and triple the expense.
Otherwise things were not very excit
ing. But he had not forgotten the
home market for adventure. He would
do his duty by the folks. So he con
centrated for a week upon a really
THE BEST AND MOST SELLABLE
STORE IN TOWN
We carry the largest and best selected
stock of Men’s, Women’s and Child
ren’s wearing eppareL We take orders
for Ladies’ Salts and Coats—tailored
in New York. Big line of Women’s
and Children’s Sweaters—a special line
for large women. Don’t forget our
line of Silk Waists—Latest Styles at
REDUCED PRICES.
WELL MADE AND BEAUTIFUL
Does not cost as much as some people
think. But Our Chairs and Tables
Book Cases, and indeed all Our Furni
ture adds much to the cosiness of home.
Alaska Furniture & Undertaking Co.
L. O. THOMAS, Mgr.