HYDER - FIRST ALASKA TOWN THAT CAN BE REACHED BY PACIFIC-YUKON-ALASKA HIGHWAY
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SPECIALIZING IN
MINING NEWS OF THE
PORTLAND CANAL
DISTRICT
SUBSCRIPTIONS
$3.00 PER YEAR
IN ADVANCE
VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2.
IIYDER, ALASKA, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1933.
SINGLE COPIES 10 CENTS
DAVE MCVAY SUCCUMBS
CN LONE EXPEDITION
David McVay, one of the best
known oldtimers of the district,
met a lonely death, apparently
some time Tuesday, while en
gaged in goat hunting far up
on the lofty and rugged slopes
of the mile-high mountains
overlooking the westerly side
of Salmon River valley and di
rectly across the river from the
Riverside mine, where he was
employed as watchman.
The body was located shortly
before 2 o’clock Thursday af
ternoon, following an intensive
search of the valley west of the
liver and along the adjacent
mountain slopes by an official
search party of four men
under the direction of E. E.
Charlton and upward of a doz
en friends of the deceased who
voluntarily joined the hunt.
Mr. McVay left his cabin at
the Riverside mine Monday af
ternoon, leaving a note in the
cabin stating that he was go
ing hunting across the river.
He was seen crossing the
stream about 2 p. m. by a pass
er-by on the Salmon highway.
This was the last seen of him
alive.
During the succeeding two
days his absence from the mine
cabin was noted by T. H. Ev
ans, local superintendent of
the Bureau of Public Roads,
and others passing up and
dowrn the highway, but no
alarm was felt until he failed
to appear by Wednesday after
noon. Mr. Evans and others
then entered his cabin about
4 p. m. and found the note ly
ing on the table. A search
of the bottom land west of the
river was started by Mr. Charl
ton and Gus Erickson and re
sulted in the finding of Mc
Vay’s boat tied up on the far
ther side of the stream. Foot
prints were also found leading
from the beat in the direction
c,f the mountains. With these
findings it became practically
assured that the massing man
had either became lost or had
met with some mishap. This
view was further supported by
the fact that weather condit
ions had been particularly bad
during the two preceding days,
with heavy rain and lowhang
ing fog making it easy to be
come lost in the dense timber
along the valley and adjacent
mountain slopes, which are of
the most rugged character,
creviced by deep ravines and
faced with numerous precipes.
After finding the note, Mr.
Evans notified the U. S. Com
missioner’s office and a search
party consisting of Mr. Charl
ton, Ray Snyder, Hans Bunzel
and L. C. Thornton was de
tailed to take up the search
Another Marmot Gold Find
Eli Watland has made a dis
| eovery of free gold bearing
quartz in the Marmot River
district and hsa brought in i
fine looking samples. This:
was the second free gold strike
made in that section during the '
present season and is further
convincing evidence of the gold
production possibilities of the
Portland Canal district.
Thursday morning. A strong
light was kept burning at the !
Riverside camp during the j
night, in the hope that it lpight j
guide the missing man back to j
shelter and safety, and Paul
Meger kept an all-night vigil '
to watch for night signals.
On leaving the Riverside ear- '
ly Thursday morning, the ■
search party hunted through
the bottom lands west of the
river and later worked up the
towering mountains, some of
them to points above the tim
ber line, about 3,000 feet
above the valley floor. Al
though the distance is not \
great the climb was so diffi-,
cult that it was after noon be
fore the ascent was completed.
The trip was also rendered I
still more difficult and dan-'
gerous by rain and fog.
Credit for locating Mr. Mc
Vay’3 body falls to Hubert W.
Thomas, owner of the Bound
ary Gift Shop, who was among
;hose volunteering his services.
While proceeding along a
-mall terrace a short distance
above the timber line in comp
any with Hans Bunzel, A1 Phil
lips, Emil Davis and Malcolm
Smith, he encountered the re
mains lying face down in a
small grassy space and called '
the rest of the party, who were ■
close at hand. Shots were also
fired to appraise the far-flung
searchers that their quest was
over. The body was located by
Mr. Thomas shortly before 2
p. m.
Examination of the body dis
closed no evidence of injury
and the clothing wras in no way
disarranged. From the posit
ion in which the remains lay,
with one hand clutching a
small clump of grasJ3 and
twigs, it appeared certain that
the deceased had been sudden
ly overtaken by a stroke or
heart attack and had dropped
in his tracks. His gun, contain
ing five loaded shells, and a
hand axe lay beside the body.
A shell in the firing chamber
of the rifle had not been dis
j charged.
As the late hour and lack of
adequate equipment made in
advisable any attempt to take:
the body down the mountain,
it was wrapped in canvas and i
and left until the following
BIG MISSOURI TO
RENEW DEVELOPMENT
Authoritative announcement
that the Buena Vista Mining
Company will renew develop
ment activities'On the Big Miss
ouri property was made this
week by Douglas Campbell, E.
M., resident engineer of the
company.
Mr. Campbell vouchsafed
no information regarding the
character or objective of the
proposed activities, mere 1 y
stating that the company “is
going ahead.”
Consonant with the an
nouncement, i t was made
known that one man, Oscar
Larsen, had been employed to
assist in going over the camps
and equipment preparatory to
the impending activities.
This is good news for the
camp and is looked upon as
presaging a new era of mining
development jn the district.
day. The return trip to the
Riverside required about three
hours, owing to ihe difficult
traveling conditions.
Friday morning, a party con
sisting of Mei' rs. Charlton, R.
Snyder, Bunzel, Thornton, Sof
te, A. J ohnson, A. bweeny,
Floyd Snyder, Johnny Hewitt,
Clyde Hager, R. Wirth, Arthur
Hall, P. S;apleton, Arthur
Moa, John Hovland and Al.
Phillip- ascended the mount
ain and brought the body
down to the Riverside, virtually
the entire day being consumed
in the task, owing to the diff
iculties encountered. The re
turn of the party across the
densely bru do-covered river
flat was greatly assisted by J.
H. He wit 1. Joe Connors and L.
Gorman, who cut a trail for
their passage.
Save for the generous help
given the official search party
by the large number of volun
teers, it is probable that some
days would have been required
to locate and rescue the re
mains and they are entitled to
the utmost credit and praise
for their assistance. As one
member of the party observed,
“It was exactly like looking
for a needle in a haystack, be
cause of the wide area that
had to be covered, the rough
country and the timber and
brush that prevented observat
ion more than a lrort dist
an"C ”
The remains were brought to
town Friday evening and
placed in charge of the under
taker. As there is no reason
to suspect that Mr. McVav
came to his death through
other than natural causes an in
quest war not considered nec
essary.
Continued on Paso Four
I Petition Asks for Fish
Creek Trail Work
A petition addressed to the
Governor of Alaska, asking
that the activities of the feder
al emergency employm e n t
camp crew be devoted to im
proving the Fish Creek trail,
after the completion of the
Moose Fark road, was circulat
ed this week and forwarded to
Juneau Thursday.
General appreciation of the
fact that the present trail is
not only badly situated in part
but is also inadequate to meet
the development needs of that
section caused the petition to
receive wide endorsement by
residents, although a number
objected to 'Signing it on the
ground that it was not directed
to the proper authorities and
for that reason might provoke
a situation which would result
in a total suspension of the
local emergency employment
activities.
The objectors point out that
the emergency employment
work is wholly a federal gov
ernment institution, created un
der the Roosevelt reforestrat
ion plan and, insofar as Alaska
is concerned, is under the suit
jurisdiction of the Forestry
service otlicials. being a nat
ional government activity, it
was pointed out that neither
the Governor >or the Terri
tory have the slightest author
ity in directing what shall or
shall not be done with respect
to the conduct of the work car
ried on; jurisdiction over the
work reposing wholly in the
forestry officials especially ap
pointed for that purpose.
In view of this situation, it
was held by the objectors that
a petition addressed to the gov
ernor to employ the road camp
crew on Fish Creek in effect ig
nored the authorities actually
in charge of the emergency
employment program. As this
might be considered by the
latter officials as an object
ionable effort to “go over their
heads,” it was held that the pe
tition was inadvisable and
might result in the closing of
the local camp when the Moose
Park project is completed.
The Herald editor, who was
one of the objectors, offered to
gladly sign the petition if it
was addressed to the officials
who are actually in charge of
of the employment camp work,
instead of to the governor of
Alaska, but this the sponsors
would not agree to do.
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The first ground frost of the
fall season occurred Sunday
night but fortunately did but
little damage to local gardens.
RICH ORE FOUND
ON SALMON GOLD
A free gold ore strike of un
usual richness has been made
by Salmon Gold Mines, Ltd. on
the company property in the
upper Salmon basin. Samples
of the ore brought out by E. C.
“Ted” Morris, one of the orig
inal owners, showed an abund
ance of the yellow metal and
created something of a sensat
ion in mining circles.
The property is said to con
tain four known gold-bearing
veins, averaging 5Vs! feet in
width on the smaller veins and
11 feet on the main vein. Ac
cording to a company state
ment the average value of all
surface open cuts is $22.50 per
ton, on the basis of $30 gold.
The company was organ-'zed
recently with a $1,500,000 cap
italization and shares of 5C
cents par value. It is currently
reported that approximately
$5,000 worth of shares were
sold to Premier residents dur
ing recent days as a result of
the latest find.
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Customs Chief Visits Camp
J. J. Connors, Collector of
Customs for the Alaska dist
rict paid Hyder a short visit
last Sunday.
Mr. Connors, who is also the
Democratic National C o m
mitteeman for Alaska, arrived
shortly before noon on the U.
S. Coast Guard cutter Talla
poosa and remained here until
about 4 p. m. He was accomp
anied by his chief assistant, M.
S. .Whittier. The visit conclud
ed a tour of the entire Terri
tory made by Mr. Connors dur
ing the past summer, in which
he visited virtually every cus
toms office in Alaska.
The visitors were greeted on
arrival here by deputy collect
or of customs J. L. Abrams.
Dui'ing the course of their
stay the officials, both of
whom are old-timers of the
north, were greeted by quite a
number of sourdough friends
and also took in the sights of
Stewart, B. C. before sailing
on the return trip to their head
quarters in Juneau.
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Another Plane Visits Port
A Canadian plane arrived
this afternon from Anyox with
two commercial agents bound
for Premier. Their names
could not be ascertained. The
plane left immeditely after
arriving.
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S. P. Fitzgerald will leave
Sunday for a visit in the south.
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Mrs. Embleton and children,
of Premier, will leave Sunday
for a visit in the south.