iii the way. On Mineral creek wTkicli
flows into Port Valdez, a small moun
tain peak, overhanging a glacier broke
off and slid down into the creek bot
tom. The creek was dammed, and
when the dam reached the depth of
ten feet the entire mass gave way and
a torrent of water six feet deep rushed
down the valley, sweeping everything
that offered resistance. Fortunately,
all the camps along the course of the
creek were elevated above the flood.
Pack trains report having been de
layed by similar occurences at different
points along the coast. Ships arriving
from the eastware bring stories of
thousands of red snappers and other
fish floating dead upon the surface of
"the waters of Glacier bay, killed pre
sumably by the jar of the earthquake.
The bays along the coast are filling
with icebergs broken prematurely from
the glaciers.
In Valdez, the shock was the most
severe since 1899, when Yakutat was
the center of disturbance. The first
shock was felt at three minutes after
seven o 'clock in the evening, and last
ed fully one minute. Shocks continu
ed at intervals during the night.Houses
were jarred severely and the occupants
rushed into the streets for safety.
Trees and telephone poles swayed as
in a violent gale. In the shops, mer
chandise was shaken from the shelves
and in the homes many table dishes
were suddenly converted into frag
ments on the floor. Strange to say, the
actual total damage does not amount to
very much.
AWAKENING OF SITKA
A hundred years ago there might
have been seen at Sitka a condition
which would compare with that of some
of our booming young towns in this
section, said Herbert Campbell in
the Alaska-Yukon magazine.
Energetic, ambitious men were build
ing at Sitka a monument to their own
names as well as a monument to the
name of government which sent them
there. It would be a difficult matter
to find in history a story of a more
complete, self ustaining colony, built
under adverse condition than that with
which these colonists had to cope, the
least of which was the hostility of the
Indians.
At Sitka, then, there were ship yards
foundry, flour mills, saw mills, tannery,
shoe factory and, in fact almost ev
ery industry was there represented.
Cattle were successfully raised; and
the resources of the country were de
veloped to the utmost with the excep
ting mining. “Necessity is the
mother of invention. It was the
necessity at Sitka then that compell
ed greater exertion of ingenuity and
energy toward creating a self sustain
ing colony.
Wheat was brought from Odessa in
slow sailing ships over the long routes
then necessary for navigation. At
Sitka this wheat was made into flour
in quantities which made it possible
for export. In 1811 Kuskoff took
flour made n Sitka as a commodity for
trade with the Indians in California,
which today is among the greatest
flour producing sections of the world.
Wrecked on the coast of Mexico,
today, they are two ships which were
built at Sitka. On the bank of the
West river near Macao, thirty miles
from Hongkong, there is a little vil
lage, many houses of which are built
of spruce boards sawed at Sitka. In
southern California and in Mexico the
clear tones which occassionally ring
from crumbling missions are sounded
on chimes of bells cast almost a hun
dred years ago in the foundry at Sitka;
and many are the axes and tools used
today which were made there.
The tide of events, commercial and
political, has changed. Transportation
in altering conditions all over the world
has not included Sitka among its list
of exceptions. Primarily, the purchase
of Alaska is the cause for the great
change which took place n the affairs
of the little city. Development which
might have followed along other lines
was frustrated by the experimental
policy of the department in the gov
ernment of Alaska, and Sitka simply
rested.
Then came the days of the great dis
covery of gold on the Yukon, follow
ed by other exodus. Sitka lay off the
road of travel—isolated until the day
that the attention of the tourist was
attracted toward his wonderful coun
try, Alaska. Sitka then became the
Mecca of the tourist. The historic
associations there woven made the mag
net of attraction far greater than the
desire to see the modus operandi of
the great mines in the north.
People said that Sitka was dead—
sleeping in the memory of its past.
Those there were, however, in Sitka
who “stood by the fort,” and they
are the ones who will see their patience
rewarded. That Alaska has not yet
been scratched is nowhere more forci
bly true than on Baranoff and Chica
goff islands; and to those men who
have withstood the tempting lure of
fortune further north will be due the
credit of the re-establishment of Sitka
to the prominence it once occupied and
too, more fully accentuated.
It is only necessary to read the re
cent geological reports of that section
to see the mining possibilities. It is
only necessary to look at the timber
in the forests to see what the develop
ment in lumber will be; and its rela
tive position which the developing
‘ ‘ Westward' ’ suggests the commercial
position it is possible for Sitka to as
sume, while the natural environments
of Sitka will of necessity claim the
residence of hundreds both winter and
summer.
Among the men who have realized
what is coming to Sitka and who have
patiently survived the “days of trial”
we find a few who are still working.
PATROLING BEHRING SEA
With a wider precinct than any oth
er similar officer in America, Captain
E. P. Berthof, of the revenue cutter
Bear, appointed a special United States
commissioner with roving jurisdiction
has spent a large portion of the past
summer and many previous ones in dis
pensing justice at points to the north
ward of Dutch harbor. His decisions
are based more on common equity and
a rugged sense of justice than on a
knowledge of technicalities of the law,
but it appears to have given general
satisfaction. All of the litigants, whe
ther whalers, Eskimos, sailors or beach
combers, are well pleased and abide
by his decisions.
The days when “There’s never a
law of God or man runs north of fifty
three,” no longer applies to Alaska
for Captain Berthof has carried the
law as far north as seventy-two, and
on some occasions, when the ice has
not been absolutely impenetrable, ev
en further.
If two or more northern whalers
have a dispute over a capture, they
do no longer go to Nome, the nearest
seat of justice, but await till the ar
rival of the revenue cutter Bear.
Captain Bertholf settles the matter on
the spot. That this method ot juris
diction is satisfactory is attested by
the fact that no appeals are taken.
Disputes between natives over trades
in furs are settled in the same manner
and sometimes a criminal case is tried.
If the prisoner is found guilty he is
confined in the ship’s brig, and his
sentence is made to fit in with the it
inerary of the ship. When prisoners
are arrested for felonies of a serious
character, they are confined in the ship
and taken to Nome, where they are
brought before the United States dis
trict court.
The revenue cutter Bear, besides
patrolling the seal islands and arrest
ing Japs for poaching, is equipped with
the strongest wireless apparatus in the
Arctic, and frequently goes to the aid
of Amssels in distress. During the past
season Captain Bertholf and his offi
cers are said to have saved many lives
in the north. They rescued the pass
engers and crew of the gasoline schoon
er Joe Matthews crushed in the ice
near Golovin, last June, and also sav
d a large portion of the cargo. They
succored passengers and crew of the
schooner Helen Johnson, wrecked in
the ice pack in the vicinity of Icy
Cape, north of Kotzebue sound. Be
sides this the Bear rendered inestim
able service to the merchant marine
plying Between Seattle and Nome, by
keeping their commanders informed, by
wireless of ice conditions, ahead, and
advising them which way to steer in
order to get through.
At P. E Fox’s
+
Before sending to
any mail order
house see our
stock and prices
t
THE
ISLAND
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DEPARTMENT
STORE
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To JUNEAU
HOUSE
HOLDERS
THE DOUGLAS ISLAND CONCRETE WORKS
have made the blocks for nearly three hundred chim
ney during the summer just past and all of them are
giving perfect satisfaction. 8 inch Chimney Blocks
50c each. Telephone Douglas 4-3-6.
•A«A*A«**A*AaA*«b«A«A«A«4*4«4«4*4*4*4*4«4«4*4*4*4*4*4
4*4*4»4*4#4*4«4«4*4*4«4*4*4*4«4«4*4*4*4*4*4«
E. M. Peters
STEAM FITTING, SHEET
METAL AND MACHINE
WORK. JOBBING AND
ALL KINDS OF REPAIR
ING DONE ON PHONO
GRAPHS, GAS ENGINES,
& SEWING MACHINES.
FRONT STREET
PLUMBING
Near Baseball Park
DOUGLAS CITY
Being a wooden ship with a prow
sheathed with Australian ironbark
wood, the toughest in the world, the
Bear is well equipped to venture into
the ice floes. She is usually the first
vessel to enter Behring sea in the
spring and she is always thfe last to
leave in the fall. Not until every
other ship is safely through Unimak
pass into the Pacific ocean is the Bear
allowed to point her nose southward.
Weekly Sourdough, $3.00 a year.
FOR CHILDREN’S MATINEE
A children’s matinee is contemplated
for some afternoon of each week at the
Treadwell club. If the plan is adopt
ed, the films will be particularly chos
en for the juvenile population, and the
luric melodrams and certain varieties
of comedy will be omitted. The chil
dren will, in case the plan goes through,
be eliminated from the Saturday after
noon program.
May Roberts tonight, Ntatatorium.