..—■<
AN ALL
ALASKA
NEWSPAPER
DEVOTED TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF ALASKA AND THE PORTLAND CANAL MINING DISTRICT.
SUBSCRIPTIONS
$5.00 PER \F.A?>
IN ADVANCE
i:
VOL 2, NO.2
HYDER, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16,1925
FIFTY CENTS A KCMH
SACKING HIGH GRADE
FROM NEW STRIKE
With sixteen tons of high
grade ore sacked and ready
for shipment and an average
of a ton being taken out and
sacked every day by a crew of
three men, the Cantu Group,
recently located by F. N. Cron
holm and associates along the
west side of Salmon glacier,
promises to add a consider
able quota to the district’s
ore output by the close of the
season. According to Mr. Cron
holm, the ledge matter from
which the high grade is taken
is so easily worked that nine
tons of the ore now sacked
was extracted without a pound
of powder being used. Being
already much broken up by
frost and processes of erosion,
the ore is merely broken out
with pick and wedges along
the protruding face of the vein
and shoveled into sacks. Mr.
Cronholm states that practic
ally all of the vein on which
work is being done is of ship
ping grade, averaging some
thing over $100 per ton, in sil
ver, lead, and copper accord- ]
ing to assays. The vein is
the lower strata of an immense
porphyry and quartz dike
which extends along the
mountain side entirely through
the 14 claims comprising the
gi’oup. The dike is in the neigh.
borhood of 200 feet wide, lhe
upper strata is a close grained '
porpTiyry whicfi "Has not yet
been investigated but is known
to carry gold values. Below
this is a wide strata of gray- j
ish-hued rock which also car
ries considerable golfa. This in :
turn merges with the vein car- j
rying the galena. The latter is !
about 4 feet thick and pitches •
slightly upward toward the
porhyry zone as far as it has
been traced, while the porphy
ry dips westward into the
mountain at an angle of about
40 degrees. The general strike
of the huge zone is north and
south, paralleling the western j
edge of the glacier. The gal-:
ena ledge is only a short dis-:
tance from the trail and can
be easily reached by pack
trains. During the short inter
val since discovery, the own-!
er3 have - cut a good trail to
the point of operations. Mr.
Cronholm states that work on
the high grade will be con
tinued as long as weather per- j
mits and it is expected that;
close to thirty tons of ore can
be extracted and shipped this
fall. , |
* -o
The Admiral line steamer
Curacao arrived from Seattle |
Sunday with several passen- j
gers and approximately 130]
tons of freight, a large part of
which was feed for the Pre
mier Gold Mining Company
and was landed at the Stewart
dock.
The Curacao is scheduled to
leave Seattle on her next sail
ing to this port on Sept. 28,
according to the local agents.
-o
As a result of a change in
the schedule the next Grand
Trunk steamer will not arrive
until Sunday morning at 7 a. m.
The change affects only the
Prince Rupert and Prince
George, as the Prince Charles
BIG PORTER IDAHO
SHIPMENT READY
The Porter Idaho is prepar
ing to forward another big
shipment of high grade ore
to the Selby smelter within a
few days. Close to 90 tons of
ore is now on the beach await
transportation and will be in
creased by approximately ten
tons more by the time the oi’e
steamer arrives. In addition a
large quantity of ore is sack
ed and piled up at the mine
in readiness for transportation
down the mountain but can
not be brought down at pres
ent owing to a shortage of
pack horses. As the mine
started up one month earlier
this year than last and also
exceeding last years’ record
for extraction, the output of
the present season will prob
ably be considerably larger
than in 1924.
•o
Miss Eleanor Peck and Thom
as Powers, widely known pion
eer resident of the north, were
the principals in a pretty home
wedding at the residence of
Mr. and Mrs. Dale L. Pitt at
Premier, Monday evening. The
wedding ceremony was per
formed by Rev. A. W. R. Ash
ley, rector of St. Mark’s
Church, Stewart, and was wit
nessed by a gathering of twen
ty friends of the happy couple,
who were imited under a.
beahWul floral horseshoe of
pink and white flowers. The
bride was handsomely gowned
in a wedding dress of white
silk and carried a bouquet of
flowers. Miss Florence Taylor%
charmingly gowned in pink,
attended the bride and Mr.
Bert Smith functioned as best
man for the groom. Mr. Dale
L. Pitt performed the time
honored ceremony of giving
the bride away. The room in
which the wedding took place
was handsomely decorated,
with pink and white the color
motif, while the hallway and
dining room were adorned
with yellow.
Following the ceremony a de
licious buffet luncheon was
served. The happy couple will
make their home in Hyder
and are temporarily stopping
at Mrs. Campbell’s
-o
Stewart brothers and practic
ally the entire directorate of
the Dunwell Mining Company
arrived from Vancouver Satur
day. Stewart advices pay the
purpose of the visit is to en
able the directors to become
personally conversant with the
present status of the mine and
the work done in order that
the future development policy
may be planned in a compre
hensive and intelligent man
ner.
As approximately $150,000
worth of the new $350,000
stock issue is said to have
been already subscribed for
by present shareholders, the
company is now in a position
to renew development operat
ions, which is expected to be
done in a short time.
-o
W. H. Longley, returned
Tuesday from a visit in the
PLAN COMMERCIAL
PRODUCTION FOR
OUTLAND BAR GROUP
C. L. Hibbard, director, and
F. C. (Jutland, president, of
the Outland Silver Bar Com
pany left last week for Seattle.
Before his departure Mr. Out
land stated that Mr Hibbard
and himself were well satis
fied with the pest seas
on’s development operations on
the company properties on Sal
mon Glacier, that work will be
resumed next summer on a
much increased scale.
“Much depends, of course,”
he said, “on the results of the
smelter test of ore taken from
the new vein found this sum
mer. We are shipping- out fifty
sacks of the ore, weighing
about 2 tons, and if it holds
up as good as the assay re
turns, we will be prepared to
start work on a productive
scale as soon as possible.
Miss Hazel Wilson, neiece of
Mrs. Dale L. Pitt, sustained a
broken ankle while gathering
ferns in the vicinity of the
Premier mine Monday morn
ing. According to the inform
ation received, Miss Wilsch
had ascended the steep hill
side above the mine to pick
ferns for decorations at the
wedding of Thomas Powers
and Miss Eleanor Peck, which
took place at the Pitt resi
dence Monday .... eyanlmr.. Ill
stepping across a log, Miss
Wilson failed to see a small
hole or crack on the farther
side, with the result that her
foot was caught in the crevice.
As there was no one within
calling distance, Miss Wilson
endeavored to extricate her
foot alone and in so doing
twisted the member in such a
way that a bone was snapped.
Although suffering severely,
Miss Wilson retained her pres
ence of mind and, realizing
that she was too far from the
mine to make herself heard
by calling for help, she pro
ceeded to slide down the steep
acclivity until she reached a
point where she could see one
of the employees at work.
She succeeded in attracting
his attention and was speedily
earned to the home of her
aunt, where the serious nat
ure of her injury was revealed.
Owing to the remoteness of the
place where the young lady
was injured, it was due entire
ly to her grit and resourceful
ness that she did not spend
several painful hours on the
mountain side before help
came.
-o
President H. A. Henton and
olher officials of the Standard
Mines Corporation, now en
gaged in opening up the Big
Missouri, arj din* to arrive in
Kyder this week to make their
f.rst insectiofi of that noted
property, according to advices
received during the week.
The official party will arrive
by way of Ketchikan, coming
on a chartered vessel. Accord
ing to the information receiv
ed, the party will arrive some
time Wednesday.
-o- ■ - ■
“PEGGY” JR. ARRIVES
Mr. and Mrs. William Bunt
ing are rejoicing in the arrival
SAYS KENO GROUP
SHOWING UP WELL
The Keno group in the upper
Texas Creek section is show
ing up exceedingly well as de
velopment work proceeds and
is unquestionably a property
possessing excellent prospects
of developing into a real mine,
according to C. B. Murphy,
one of the original locators
who spent a few days in town
last week.
Mr. Murphy and N. H. Stev
ens who was a joint owner in
the original locations, have
been doing development work
on the group during a large
part of the season and with
most encouraging results. In
addition to tracing out some
of the fine looking galena
showings, which run through
the property, the partners
have also done considerable
underground work, including
the driving of about 50 feet
of tunnel.
The group comprises nine
claims and is situated close
to the Texas Creek Comstock
properties on the west side of
Ferguson Glacier at an alti
tude of about 4000 feet. In ad
dition to Messrs. Murphy and
Stevens, a number of local
and Ketchikan people are now
associated in the ownership.
•o
Members of the Hyder base
ball team are discussing a pro
posal to wind up tlui ptwwt
baseball season with a big
joint banquet, of the Stewart
and Hyder teams. The Stewart
club is already making prep
arations or its end of the pro
posed event, which will take
place in the near future re
gardless of whether the Hyder
aggregation participates or
not Although not all of the lo
cal team are not in favor of the
proposal, it appears an ex
tremely nice way to close the
athletic period. The boys com
posing the team assuredly de
serve a “treat” for all their
hard work and also the thanks
of the ball loving public for
the amusement they have pro
vided.
-o
Joe Jackson came in from a
prospecting trip in the Texas
Creek section Wednesday af
ternoon bringing some fine
looking samples from a new
vein of silver-lead-copper ore
located by him a few days ago
on the south side of Texas
Creek at the end of Casey
Glacier. The ore is a greyish
white quartz heavily mineral
ized with fine grained galena,
grey copper, black silver
sulphides and pyrites. The
copper elements constitute a
large part of the mineralizat
ion and are carried in stringer
like blebs through the galena.
Judging from the general ap
pearance of the rock it should
also carry a considerable gold
content. The vein at the sur
face is several inches in thick
ness but is said by the discov
erer to show a width of about
three feet where it has been
cut by a small ravine, some
20 or 2S feet below the general
slope of the mountain. Joe has
traced the lead for Several
hundred feet to a point where
it disappears under the glac
ier. Being situated close to the
HOW DID HE
GET THAT WAY?
Louis Lefko, former Tusla,
Oklahoma attorney, who spent |
several weeks in the district'
this summer is not not only a 1
most genial gentleman, but is
also something of a romancer,
to judge by the following de
cidedly bald perversion of:
facts anent the Hyder district
credited to him by his home
town paper the Tusla Tribune.
If the genial Louis actually
wrote all the statements at
tributed to him, he is assured
ly the possessor of imaginat
ive qualities second only to the
famous Baron Munchasen,
This, however, is not a valid
excuse for handing Hyder a
nasty “black eye” in order to
make himself appear in the
light of a bold and fearless
adventurer before his friends
back in the jack rabbit count
ry. Some of the things he says
can be overlooked in view of
his obvious desire to appear
heroic; but when he openly
declares that "the human
driftwood of the world is here”
and that "there is no law in
this remote region,” we feel
that he is rather overstepping
the limits' o'f toleration. Did
but time and space permit we
would be tempted to give
friend Louis a proper "pan
nmg lor noiamg up our mgn ;
jy progressive and law abidr j
human derelicts and still in
the “wild and wooly” stage
of development, merely to
adorn a fancy tale for the
folks back home. Here is his
little romance.
“Louis Lefko, Tulsa attorney
and former secretary of the
Better Business Bureau, has a
pick and a pan and is digging
for gold on top of the world,
according to letters just re
ceived from him at Hyder,
Alaska, by W. D. Hoover,
Orpheum building, a former
legal associate.
“Lefko left Tulsa six weeks
ago bound for Nome, Alaska,
j He expected to make a stay of
! two or three months. Now he
may stay two or three years
for the benefit of his pocket
book, since his letters intimate ;
he has high hopes of striking
it rich.
"I finally landed at Hyder,
Alaska, after a long and event
ful trip by land and sea,” his
letter to Hoover say, “I did not
get to Nome at all, but chang
ed my course at Vancouver,
B. C., and came on here when
I learned of the big gold strike
in this locality. I am outfitting
here for a three weeks’ trip
into the roughest country in j
the world in search of gold. |
“Yesterday it took half a day
to make a mile and a half
round trip. At one point we
had to climb a perpendicular
cliff of 100 feet on a shaky
timber ladder. One slip and
it would have been ’goodnight’
for us. The mountains are
covered with glaciers for the
most part, and one mine
which pays $50 a ton is 4,000
feet above sea level, on a nar
row trail, down which it is j
necessary for horses to pack
the ore between the ice-clad j
peaks.
“The human driftwood of the I
HYDER SITE FOR
SALMON CANNERY
The recent removal of more
than nine tons of salmon
from Spring Creek between
the Rozenstain store and the
Hovland residence by Messrs.
Ernest Blue, John Hovland
and others who are desirous
of preserving the purity of the
atmosphere in that locality,
has revealed that Hyder pos>
esses excellent possibilities as
a cannery site.
That great numbers of sal
mon annually spawn in Spring
Creek is known to everyone
who has resided in Hyder. At
the height of the spawning
season this small stream run
ning through town is fairly
packed with salmon of various
species; but few have guessed
that they represented any
things like the weight indicat
ed by the recent removal,
which included both dead and !
living fish. According to those
interested in the project there
is no doubt as to the accuracy
of the weight of the fish taken
from the stream, as they were
hauled away in a 1-ton truck,
each loaded with all it would
hold. Many of the salmon
were found to be from 20 to
25 pounds in weight. As the
salmon season is not yet over
there is a prospect that the
tonnage of fish actually com
ing into__this one stream w'll
amount lo 12 or 15 toh3.
About 75 per cent are of the
variety known as chums, the
remaining 25 per cent being
made up of cohoes and hum
pies, all of them splendid food
"ish. It is these varieties which
compose the bulk of the Alas
ka salmon pack.
Assuming that another 9 tons
of salmon come annually to
the small creek below the
townsite. we have a total of ] S
tons of fish with which to
form a basis for computing
the total which might be tak~
jn or cannery purposes. As a
v’astly greater number of sal -
mon come into Salmon River
and Fish Creek to spawn it is
probable that the total weight
of fish reaching those streams
will approximate 50 tons, mak
ing a total of at least 68 tons.
As allowance must be made
for escapement, let us assume
that only 30 tons of these
fish are taken for canning.
Packed in the usual 1-pouid
cans, this quantity of fi ,h
would represent 60,000 cans
or 1250 cases of 48 cans each.
Estimating the average price
per case at $4 this would
yield an annual income of
more than $5300. In reality
the revenues would be consid
erably larger, as more fish
could be actually taken and
canned than the above fig
ures show and still permit suf
ficient escapement to keep
the various streams well stock
ed, hence it appears that a
small one-line cannery could
be made a profitable invest
ment.
fortunes with the pick. The
others going with me are ‘Dog’
Davis, a prospector who has
been 20 years in the hills, and