SPECIALIZING IN
MINING NEWS OF THE
PORTLAND CANAL
DISTRICT
>- *
HYDER WEEKLY HERALD
DEVOTED TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF ALASKA AND THE PORTLAND CANAL MINING DISTRICT.
/"■ ■ " —1 ■ '
SUBSCRIPTIONS
♦3.00 PER YEAR
IN ADVANCE
VOL 7, NO. 33
HYDER, ALASKA, SATURDAY, MAY 23, 1931.
PRICE TEN CENTS
U.S, WILL TAKE PART
INSILVERCONFERENCE
That the United States gov
eminent is prepared to take !
part in an international eon-;
ference on the silver question, I
was announced last week in !
Washington, D. C., by under- :
secrtary of State, William R.
Castle, according to press re
ports. At the same time Mr.
Castle intimated that this
country does not propose to j
call such a conference.
Questioned about reports
that the Chinese Nationalist
government would sponsor a i
conference to stabilize silver,
Castle said that such reports
had reached him informally
but that the State Department
had received no communica
tion from the Chinese govern
ment.
-O
GOOD PROGRESS
ON METCALF GROUP
Excellent progiess in driving
the new prospect tunnel on the \
Metcalf and Fendley group j
was reported by W. W. Met-;
calf, superintendent of oper- j
ations and co-owner of that
highly regarded gold property,
who spent a few days in town
this week.
The new tunnel, designed to
explore a section of the huge
gold bearing quartz belt ex
tending through the property,
was in a distance of 35 feet
and making 3 feet a day when
Mr. Metcalf left Banded
Mountain.
Transportation and supplies
over the difficult Chickantin j
Glacier route is the great dif
ficulty in opening up this prop- i
erty, which shows all the ear
marks of developing into a big
gold proposition.
Roof Fire at Laundry
A roof fire at the Hill bath
house and laundry on First
Avenue caused a flurry of ex- j
citement in the piled district
late Thursday afternoon but i
was extinguished by means of I
the wheeled chemical engine ;
before material damage was
done.
Sparks from the chimney j
held against the inflamable i
tar roofing by a ladder lying
on the roof are believed to j
have started the blaze. The
bath house management wish
es to thank all who assisted in
the preservation of the prop
erty, which for a time appear-;
ed in very serious danger of
destruction.
•0
Victor Stella, Italian resident!
of Stewart, was sentenced
Friday to one month imprison- ;
ment and to pay a fine $25, J
following his conviction on a j
charge of receiving public re- '■
lief while drawing down rent !
from property in Stewart of
which he is the owner.
The Hyder School Board is
further improving the school
grounds by extending the1
front fence to enclose the for- !
mer Fernald lot, recently pur
chased for the use of thei
school by the Moose lodge, j
As a result of this acquisi-1
tion, the school grounds now
embraces an area 200 feet
wide and of equal depth.
U. S. CRUISER COMING FOR
INTERNATIONAL CELEBRATION
The United States Navy will be
represented at the Alaska-British
Columbian Celebration to be held
here July ISth, 19th, and 20th, with
Stewart and Premier, B. C„ and
Hyder, Alaska, participating, accord
ing to a telegram front Admiral
Schofield, commandant of the Puget
Sound Naval Station, to E. 1). Hud
don, Hyder representative on the
celebration committee. The message
says:
“Your letter of May 7th to com
mandant thirteenth naval district and
telegram to Secretary Navy in re
gard to naval participation in the in
ternational celebration to be held
Hyder, Alaska, July 18th and 19th
have been forwarded to me for ac
tion.
"I am pleased to advise you that
the U. S. S. Detroit, a cruiser, has
been detailed for this duty.”
The Detroit is one of the U. S. |
Navy's modern light cruisers. The i
vessel is slightly under 500 feet in !
length and of 7,050 ions displace- |
meut. Details regarding her arinen
ment. Details regarding her arm
ament and personell are not avail
able.
Highway to Meziadin Lake
Urged by C. of C.
Extensive arguments for the
routing of the Pacific-Yukon
Alaska Highway by way of
Meziadin Lake to permit early
auto travel to Alaska over a
branch road to the Stewart
and Hyder districts are con
tained in letters forwarded
this week by the Chamber of
Commerce highway committee
to H. H. Rice, chairman of the
U. S. commission appointed to
study the big international
highway project, and his as
sociate members, Ernest Walk
er-Sawyer and Major Malcolm
Elliott.
The letter points out that by
routing the main highway via
Meziadin Lake, only 25 miles
>f branch road construction
will be required to open the
way for auto travel to Alaska
and directs attention Jo the
important fact that by su h a
route* Hyder will be 500 mil 's
nearer the United States than
any other Alaska town that
can be reached by the high
way. The letter also directs at
tention to the splendid Foal
government road system, the
scenic wonders of this region,
and the strategical impoUance
of having the proposed high
way meet the sea on Port
land Canal.
The committee, which in
cludes Ernest Blue, J. A. Hall,
and Chas. F. Sandford, plans
to forward similar letters to
the members of the Canadian
commission and others v.l ose
influence may assist in secur
ing the proposed short route
to Alaska.
t
Indian Bands to Compete at
Big International Celebration
Plenty of band music and an
interesting competition be
tween Indian bands of Alaska
and British Columbia are pre
saged in an announcement this
week by Oren F. Hill of the
Alaska-British Columbia in-1
ternational celebration com
mittee that the Kincolith, B. ;
C., Indian band has agreed to
meet the Metlakatla Indian (
band in competition during
the celebration period, July,
18th, 19th, and 20th.
The committee has entered :
into communication with the;
Metlakatla band organization, I
which is expected to reply :
favorably.
Merl. F. Thomas, former local
merchant, who removed to
Cordova several years ago, is
now located in Juneau, accord
ing to recent advices.
OUTLOOK POO B, C,
SILVER OEVELOPMENT
IS NOT PROMISING
The arrival from London of
reports of the annual meeting
of the Selukwe Gold Mining
and Finance Company, con
troller of the B. C. Silver, is
eagerly anticipated by local
mining and business interests
in the hope that they may re-'
veal the company’s contem
plations regarding future de
velopment on that highly re
garded local property. It has
been hoped generally that the
recently opening up of several
of the numerous ore deposits
discovered in earlier years
forecasted an early inaugura
tion of commercial production.
It appears, however, that the ]
view was held in London prior
to the annual meeting on May,
4 that it was not likely to clis j
close any practicable scheme
for working the property.
Commenting on the outlook
The Mining and Engineering
Record, prominent British
mining journal, says:
The deadlock with the Pre- [
mier continues year after year;
to the disadvantages of the j
shareholders of both compan
ies. Selukwe has large cash re- J
sources in hand, and can stand
the siege for a long time to
come, whereas in the case of
the Premier, the reports be
come more doleful with the
passage of time. The Premier
Co. has paid its shareholders
$15,000,000 out of a small por- j
tion of its property, and if only |
satisfactory terms as to the!
milling could be arranged;
large dividends could be paid '
to the shareholders of both j
concerns from the adjoining
set of claims.
l ne stumbling block lias al-1
ways been the terms. Both par- i
ties regard each others’ point
of view as unreasonable. The
Premier in the past has stated
that its tramway, which has
a capacity of 10,000 tons, was
filled to capacity and, there
fore, could not take any fur
ther ore belonging either to the
B. C. Silver or Selukwe prop- j
erties. Surely this contention
cannot be used as an effective
argument today.
It is significant, as observers
have noted, that in the latest:
Premier report any reference
to the Selukwe Co. should have
been made. After all, the Pre
mier Co. owns only 38 per cent,
in the B. C. Silver. If this prop
erty was of such little value as
has often been contended, and
the reserves were so small,
why should any reference to
such a trifling interest be re
ferred to in the report of such
a successful company as the
Premier? When the original
discovery was made in 1923,
no mention of the B. C. Silver
interest (w'hich was still 38
per cent.) was made, notwith
standing the fact that the
whole of the mining commun
ity in the Salmon River was
wild with excitement over such
a find. How long this man
oeuvring for position will con
tinue remains to be seen, but
it is very doubtful if any fur
ther light will be thrown on
this interesting subject at the
Monday’s meeting of Selukwe.
SUGGESTS SILVER
RESTORATION MOVE
AT OTTAWA MEETING
The coming Imperial Econom
ic Conference at Ottawa would
be an excellent place to start
the restoration of the value of
silver. J. F. Darling, director
of the Midland Bank, of Lon
don, told the banking and
commerce committee of the
Canadian House of Commons,
in an interview with that bod>
last week. Mr. Darling also
suggested that Premier R. B.
Bennett would be an excellent
man to start it.
Something has to be done to
rescue the world from the
economic morass into which it
was sinking, Mr. Darling de
clared. The impossibility of
carrying the stupendous debts
resting on the nations of the
British Empire—and the same
was the case with the United
Sates and other nations—un
der existing price levels, was
emphasized by Mr. Darling.
The present scales of wages
could not be maintained un
less something was done to lift
prices of commodities. The
great need of the world was
higher price levels.
The scheme outlined by Mr.
Darling contemplated the for
mation of an Empire bank
which would make possible a
bi-metallic basis of currency,
silver being restored to its
place alongside of gold, with
a value ratio of 1 to 20 in favor
of gold, instead of the exist
ing very one-sided ratio in
which gold is 70 to 80 times
as valuable as silver. This
would resort to India and other
countries using silver currency
the wealth and purchasing
power which they enjoyed be
fore the deflation of their met
al took place.
Mr. Darling said it would re
quire 225,000,000 rex to take
over all the monetary gold in
the British Empire. Offices of
the bank, he said,
would be established in Lon
don. in convenient parts of the
Empire, and in India. The
bank would purchase gold at
the rate of 113 grains per rex,
and there would be established
a fixed price for silver at 20
times that of gold.
The restoration of silver val
ues would mean, of course,
immediate enhancement to
those holding silver, Mr. Dar
ling agreed, but it would en
able these people to purchase
with this increased wealth.
If the British Empire took
the lead, he thought all por
tion of the world using silver
currency would join in the
move. He hoped the United
States would join in the
scheme. In view of the im
mense international debts,
should silver begin to slip in
value as compared with gold
it could be regulated by the
nations accepting debt pay
ments in silver. A big step in
the proposal would be the im
mediate acceptance of d;bt
payments in silver by Unite!
States and Britain.
Mr. Darling replied to a
long series of questions as to
the working out of his propos
als. One thing he emphasized
was that something must be
done soon and an international
conference would be too slow.
Fcreat Bureau Authorizes
Improvement of the
Banded Mountain Trail
Improvement of the Banded
Mountain mountain trail to
the extent of $300, with a
view to assisting prospecting
in the Chickamin River dis
trict, has been authorized by
the Forest Service trail bur
eau, it was announced at a
meeting of the Chamber of
Commerce held Wednesday
evening.
Mr. Metcalf, coowner and
manager of the Metcalf and
Fendley group operations, has
been delegated by the bureau
to direct the work, which will
include both reconditioning
and improvement of the trail
which extends along the south
erly border of Chickamin gla
cier.
This \vlork will be much ap
preciated by the miners and
prospectors of that section and
will do much to facilitate de
velopment work on the prom
ising Metcalf and Fendley
gold property.
SPECIAL HIGHWAY
EDITION PROPOSED
Tentative plans for the pub
lication of a special edition ol
the Hyder Herald to advertise
the projected Pacific-Yukon
Alaska Highway and the pro
posed branch to Hyder, were
discussed at the meeting of the
Chamber of Commerce Wed
nesday evening.
The plans, as outlined by at
torney Blue, provide for an j
edition of several pages, of
which possibly 2000 copies
would be printed, mainly for
distribution to newspapers ana
automobile clubs throughout
the nation.
In addition to presenting a j
wide variety of articles de
scriptive of the Highway pro :
ject and the Hyder and Stew- !
art districts, the issue would
contain a map of North Amer
ica showing the various auto- \
mobile routes by which auto !1
tourists could reach the dis. j
trict via the Highway from any i'
section of the United States or>
Canada, and also many cuts |;
depicting the scenic beauties;1
of the district.
The proposal, which would ,1
give the district an immense '
amount of publicity regardless ^
of the effect on the Highway,
was warmly endorsed by the 1
Chamber and it was decided '
to present the matter to Gov
ernor Parks, with a view to se- i
curing an appropriation from !
the Territorial Publicity fund j
to help meet the expense of <
publication. I1
“E rnie" Crawford
Killed in Auto Accident 1
George Ernest Crawford, 46, ;
brother of W. J. Crawford, of ,
Stewart, met with an untimely
death in New Westminister, ;
B. C., last Saturday as a re
sult of injuries sustained the
preceeding day when his 1
automobile crashed into a 1
street car.
“Ernie,” as he was generally i
known, resided here for sever- (
al years and was well-known
to most of the old-time resi- ;
dents of the camp. He was a 1
mining engineer by profession :
and a native of Illinois, al
though residing in Canada for i
35 years. i
He is survived by a widow, i
one son, one brother, two sis- :
ters and an aged father.
JACK CRAWFORD
KILLED IN FALL
Victim of a mysterious ac
cident, the details of which
will probably never be reveal
ed, the body of Jack Craw
ford, well known Stewart res
ident, was found Monday
morning in the icy waters of
Boundary Creek, on the upper
reaches of the Salmon River
road.
When discovered by Joe
Frank, the body was jammed
against a log in a sitting pos
tui'e a short distance from the
bridge and with the spray
from the swift rushing stream
breaking over the head, the
only unsubmerged portion of
the remains.
An examination by Dr. J. H.
Robinson of Premier disclosed
a bad cut on the head, al
though the skull was not frac
tured, and that the unfortu
nate man’s right kidney had
been ruptured, with resultant
internal hemmorhage. He had
apparently been dead about
12 hours and exposure appear
ed to have been a principal
:ause of demise.
Evidence given at a coroner's
nquest in Stewart Tuesday,
ndicated that the deceased
nad fallen over the low guard
rail of the bridge while mak
ng his way from a nearby
^ad house to the W. J. Craw
ford barn at 13-mile. His body
apparently struck the rocks in
he creek bed some 20 feet be
ow and rolled into the stream,
(vhere it was caught and pin
led against the protruding log
vhere the corpse was found.
\ verdict of accidental death
,vas returned, together with
■ecommendations that a rail
ng be installed on the bridge,
.vhich is apparently a decided
y dangerous spot after night
fall.
The deceased was 50 years
)f age and is survived by one
brother, W. J. Crawford, of
■Stewart, owner of the Craw- -
’ord Transfer Co., three sons
uid a daughter, all of whom
■eside in the south.
Mr. Crawford’s death occur
•ed only a few hours after that
)f a younger brother, George
2rnest Crawford, who was
filled in an auto crash with
i street car in New Westmin
ster, B. C., May 15th.
The funeral was held Thurs
lay afternoon with services at
St. Mark’s Church, which
vere attended by a majority
)f the resident’s of the district,
rhe services were conducted
>y Rev. G. H. Moody. The
’uneral cortege was probably
he largest in the history of
he camp, as the deceased, was
>ne of the districts most widely
cnown and highly esteemed
•esidents.
A telegram from Governor
Ceorge A. Parks to U. S.
Commissioner Chas. F. Sand
’ord this week announced the
idmission of Charles Malan
ler, aged local resident, to the
Pioneer’s Home at Sitka. The
idmission of the old-timer to
he Home was due principally
o the efforts of the local ig
oo Pioneers of Alaska, wh »
nterested themselves in his
!ase some months ago and also
:ook the initiative in securing
neans for his transportation
o Sitka on the Zapora.