The McCarthy
Weekly News
VOL: VIII
McCARTHY, ALASKA, SATURDAY, .January 17 l.ii.a
No.:{
OF INTEREST
TO TOWN AND DISTRICT
Mr. and Mrs. J. J Price arriv |
ed in town from Dan Creek. Mr.
Price will mane a hurried trip to j
Seattle while Mrs. Price will rein (
ain in McCarthy until his return.
Harry Boy den came in from
Sushannu-on Sunday having retu
rned via Gulkana and Chitina iea
ving his dogs atChitina, Hr? star
ted on his return trip Friday and
Will go in the same way he came
on account of his dogs being left
en route but says it is his last
trip that way.
A benefit dance is being!
given to night k>r Billy Wejtzel
who broke iiis leg in a lull at
Kennecofct last week. Tickets are
selling fast and receipts a-re ex
ceeding expectations.
Martin Radovan accompanj
ied Mi'. Price into town Timsda.x j
returning to dan Creek the foil j
owin g day.
Clifl Cayuuette wander* d |
into town early this week, returi
ning to his diggings on Thurs
day.
We have reported that Sg
Wold hfcs gone a way every week
lor the last six weeks and every
time la* fooled us and didn’t go
at all. An 1 now he has gone and
missed another boat. What is all
the attraction around here any
way. Sig?.
The weather man is making
ns pull in our necks again.
For Sale
THREE DOBS and HARNESS
and complete outfit for one year!
AEL FOR S‘175
Apyl.v P W. Holmes, McCarthy
IMPORTANT DISCOVERY OF
a New MI NEPAL
Queer things are ton ml in
nature, particular where client
ical and physical forces have op
e rated with abnormal inte nsity,
as in the valleys of the Chit inn
and Nizina Divers lying hot.ween
the Cluigach and Wrangell Dang
of mountains.
From this mineral region
there comes the news tlut an
enterprise is about to be hunch
ed of which it may he stid, in the
words of the South Sea Hubble
prospectus, that it is “a project
the nature of which will he divul
ged later”. However I should
doom it unwind t.o with hold evejn
ui.v present incomplete informat
ion from a world eager for enl
ighten ment.
] uin told that a discovery
lias been made more important
in a truly economic sense than
that which made the Busied
Mountains famous in the early
days, or the celebrated “Ha He I
ujah Consolidated”, whose seirch
for oil in the obsidian of the
‘Never Never Land" has excited
keen interest among geologists.
The enterprise to which 1 re
fer is already the subject of exci
ted conversation in all of the
mining communities of the Copp
er River and Nizina River distri
cts. It is called the "Wei Prouu
cts Corporation” and its promot
ers are said to control seveaal
claims covering an immense dep
osit of Hootchiie or Hootehspar,
a mineral containing a laig? per
centage of Alcohol. The deposit
is covered by a flow o' basaltic
lava called locally tl e Nikolai
Greenstone, and its existance
was disclosed by a natural spr
ing. It appears that M . Me
Spoof, tli*-* well known mining
mar., while directing assessment
work on the mining claims in
which he is interested on Hon Id
er Creek last summer, looking
out of his cabin window one
morning, happened to se< a wol |
verine in hot pu: suit of a rabbit:
which stopped to drink at the!
s|)ni alter which the chase!
was resumed, hut much to McSp
I
oot s astonishment, the labbit
[turned on the wolverine and
J
I attacked it savagely, compelling
it to retaeat. The rabbit jumped,
j tumbled and roiled, as if in an
i ec stacy, ami tnen started after!
I the wolverine with such speed
that its tail was extended out
! horizontally Captain MeSpool, hei j
! ng ot a scientific turn of mind. !
was curious. He went to examine j
| the spring, and being an expel-]
| ience.t prospector, he h id no!
‘difhcultv in detecting the famil !
i |Hr odor of a venerable corn whi
j sk,\. He look a sample with him
j to McCarthy, where his surmise!
I was confirmed. Returning to the,
! s|>ot in a lew days with several'
! mining men, who were willing!
j to assist him in a scientific study I
of tlie deposit, it was ascert lined
that in an earlier geologic age
long pt ior to the glaciation period j
and also prior to the general up
lift of the present mountain ran j
ges, the valley and surrounding [ ■
hills had been covered with vast'
corn fields, probably in tiie ( arb
I
omferous Period when vegetal
growth was so abundant. A flood
; had swept the corn into a low j:
| depression and later a flow of;
lava from one of the adjacent vol!
anic mountains had buried it com
pletely as in a retort. Heat and
pressure, during long geologic
time, had consolidated the decay j
mg corn into a soft yellowish min ;
oral, now Known as Hootchite or |1
Hootchspar, which at one place?
where the greenstone is fractur
ed, has been dissolved by the
ground—water and brought top
the su rface as a medicated spring-; ^
Krom observation during the ! 1
summer, it was found necessary j 1
to cover the spring with wire sc J
reen to Keep the rabbits from dri 1
Continued on page 4
IDITAROD
PRODUCING
STEADILY
Then* has beer, considerable
aciivity in the Iditarod during
tlx* past season and there is en
ougii ground left theie to keep
the old camp going for a numb
er of years yet, according to
Joe Ulmer, trail blazer in the
employ of the Alaska Road Com
mission, who passed thru Anch
orage y esterday on his way to
Juneau to report on the work
done by him during the last
season in that remote section of
the Territory.
Two dredges operated on
Otter creek last season and it is
undi rstood they will continue
operations next spring. In audit
ion, there will be a resumption
;>f the usual mining activities on
Plat creek.
Regarding mining operations
an Nixon Fork, in the Kuskok
vvim district, Ulmer reports that
E.d Whalen who was associated
with several others in the operat
ion of the Treadwell quartz prop
srty under lease, will operate
the property alone next season,
riiey are reported to have done
nery well the last year.
Pierscn and Strand, who
ire working aujoining ground
ilso are understood to have done
fairly well.
Preparations are being made
to operate the placer ground wh
ch was located on Crooked creek
by Dave Clough and associates,
rhe discovery of pay on the
3reek over a year ago, created
considerable excitement at the
time, but prospecting has failed
to revai'. a very extensive pay
streak, the gold being confined
argely to one claim. Clough dis
josed of his interest in the pro
jerty some time ago. *
Ulmer expects to return to
he Interior, after a short stay in
runeau.