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
Entered at the Post Office at Doug
las, Alaska, as second class mail mat
ten
Home Office, Old Methodist Church
Building, Douglas, Alaska. Tel. 36.
THE IMPORTANCE OF A FACT
The case of Albert Swan the C >r
dova stowaway who was put ashore
on one of the San Juan islands, is ai> il
lustration of how a public sentiment
may go off at half cock.
Som< body came excitedly into a
crowd of passengers on :he Alameda
one morning, and announced that a
fearful outrage had oe-j committed.
A tender youth had been marooned on
a deicrt ah nd because ne was found
aboard without money to pay his fare.
The '"id.gu'ition was g-ent. No at
tempt was made to secure the captain’s
side of the story, but a highly colored
statement of his supposed cruelty was
drawn up. signed !.\ the passengers,
mailed to the officials of the company
and given to the newspapers.
Subsequently the boy arrived in Seat
tle. flushed with the ;,ey of advanture.
He laugh l at the story told by the
passeugeis an ! s.m! < at lie na 1 l«e« n
well treated aboard the vessel, Coat the
is-and on which he had been landed
was not deserted, that everybody on
the island was good to him and that
somebody gave him the money to take
one of the sound steamers to Seattle.
Certainly an uscertaining fact is a
thing highly to be prized.
THE ANNUAL HOT AIR
One of those annual victories was se
cured at Portland which always are
secured whenever the Arctic Brother
hood meets. Hereafter, citizens of the
northland are to be rule the organiza
tion, so the cablegrams announced.
When the whole truth was learned, a
resolution had been passed requiring
that the officers elected hereafter must
be residents of the northland. Grand
Recorder Kellar says that there has
been no provision made that regarding
how much of the year the officer must
have spent in Alaska, and the chances
are that the officers of the Arctic Bro
therhood will continue to be residents
of “Nome and Seattle,” “Fairbanks
and Seattle,” “Valdez and Seattle,”
as heretofore.
The fact is that the rulers of the
Arctic Brotherhood are past camp offi
cers and others who have long since
ceased to reside in the north, and these
ex-Alaskans will continue to govern the
order until the Alaska camps form a
now organization with a new constitu
tion.
GATEWAY’S ALASKA POLICY
If the proposed convention, for which
Cordova citizens, or some of them, says
the Seward Gateway, are agitating,
shall prove a non-partisan affair, pos
sibly some good might accrue from it.
But if it is to be a partisan convention,
held for the purpose of serving the in
terests of a particular faction, its use
fulness will be destroyed. Rumors
reach here from Valdez and Cordova
that it will evolve into the latter. If
this be true, the 'Gateway believes it
voices the sentiment of this town when
it states that we will have none of it.
At this time, a crisis in the affairs
of Seward has been reached. The ad
ministration. through the secretary of
the interior, is advocating measures for
our relief. Therefore, we should use
the utmost caution before participating
in a convention which may pass reso
lutions derogatory to the president and
his advisors. We are not especially
concerned in any political fight in Alas
ka. What we seek is results. The
Gateway has taken occasion, numer
ous times, to criticize the Taft admin
istration for dilatoriness in settling the
Alaska coal land question. We believe
this criticism to have been merited. But
now that active forces are at work
at the national capitol, seeking to re
lieve the situation, it becomes our man
ifest duty to fall in line and aid, rath
er than seek to pull down. For petty
political scraps within Alaska the Bate
way doesn’t care a rap. For the poli
tical fortunes of a mere man, we are
not concerned. What we desire is that
the Alaska coal lands shall be opened,
that the Alaska Northern railroad shall
be built, preferably under government
auspices, and that a naval base shall
be established on Resurrection bay, the
logical place in all Alaska ^or such an
enterprise. The present administration
through the able secretary of the in
terior, is seeking to bring about just
these important matters.
WANT NEW LAND OFFICE
That there is a strong movement ou
foot to the westward for a United
States land office at Valdez, is evidenc
ed not only by the resolution of the
grand jury at Valdez recently but by
the concerted endorsement of the pro
position by the newsoipeis at the west
ward. The Seward Gateway sn\s:
One of the immediate necessities in
the Third judicial division is the crea
tion of a new land district, with a land
office located at Valdez, said Will A.
Steel, of the Cordova Alaskan, who
was in Seward recently. At present
the extensive and rich copper and gold
quartz sections, tributary to the coast
towns of Cordova, Valdez an Sedw:ud,
are required to do business through the
land office at Juneau. And in the pact
so have the coal claimants of the Mat
anuska fields. By reason of the great
distance and lack ot transportation fac
ilities a great burden in time and ex
pense is thus inflicted upon persons
seeking to acquire land titles from the
government.
This fact must be apparent when it
is considered that but two steamers
regularly ply between Southwestern
Alaska and Juneau. The steamer Ber
tha makes the trip but once a month
and the steamer Admiral Sampson once
every twenty days. The distance fron|
Juneau in nautical miles is about as
follows: Cordova 504 miles, Valdez 58S
miles, Seward 730 miles; the coal town
of Katalla 384 miles. The steamers
Alameda and Northwestern each ply
regularly every two weeks between
Cordova, Valdez and Seward, thus giv
ing a weekly service, in addition to
which small craft frequently make the
run.
During the past two or three years
since the development of the richest
quartz section in Alaska, miners and
attorneys with headquarters at Cor
dova, Valdez and Seward have bitterly
complained of the necessity that re
quires them, in the effort to secure
patents, to correspond with or per
sonally visit the land office at Juneau.
This necessitates the loss of much time
and the expenditure of considerable
money.
Prior to July 1, 1907, there was but
one land district in Alaska, at Juneau.
Under an act approved March 2, 1907'
two additional land districts were cre
ated, with land offices at Fairbanks
and Nome. The act authorized the
president to designate the boundaries
of these new districts, and he very
wisely left the southwestern section in
the Juneau district. But since the
creation of the Third judicial district
with headquarters at Valdez, and with
the increasing development of the min
eral resources within the division, it
must be apparent that another land
district is a necessity.
THE MOOSE SOCIAL
The Douglas Moose celebrated the
closing of the charter by a very de
lightful social on Friday evening.
One of the features of the program
was the violin and piano music by Geo.
Drew and Miss Bessie Johnson. Ano
ther popular number was a French
song by Mrs. Jean Van Der Wyer.
Jack McDonald sang the “The Hat Me
Father Wore,” receiving a tremendous
applause. Mrs. John Mills, sang “Kil
larney, ” to a delighted audience. Be
freshments were served at the San
Souci building.
For leather art goods, mottos, hamp
ers see Case.
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