A
SPECIALIZING IN
MINING NEWS OF THE
PORTLAND CANAL
DISTRICT
V
J
DEVOTED TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF ALASK^ AND THE PORTLAND CANAL MINING DISTRICT
' —.
SUBSCRIPTIONS
S6.00 PER YEAR
IN ADVANCE
■ - -•
VOL 6, NO. 14
HYDER, ALASKA, SATURDAY, JANUARY 11,1930.
PRICE TEN CENTS
CANTU PROPERTY
IS REDEEMED BY
NEW PURCHASERS
The long continued labor dif
ficulties involving the Cantu
property, resulting from the
failure of H. M. Covey and as
sociates, previous part owners
and option holders, to settle
labor accounts due in connect
ion with their operations in
1928, were finally adjusted
last week with the payment of
all labor claims against the
property by the present own
ers, the Cantu Mining Comp
any, of which Conrad Wolfle,
noted Western mning man, is
the leading figure.
Liens filed against the proper
ty by the unpaid laborers, who
were hired in the States by one
M. J. Lee, a representative of
the Covey interests, totaled
$2,157.90, to which was added
in the final settlement court |
costs and other expenses, in-1
eluding the costs of two years' |
assessment work performed by
the lienors on the 20 claims in
eluded in the group, bringing
the total amount charged
against the property to $7,355.
The eight lien claimants in
cluded C. N. Crone, Vena L.
Crone, Ray Monroe, Lee Mur
ray, John Olson, Ben Malnin,
L- F. Taylor and Roy Smith, all
of whom have now been paid
in full.
Subsequent to the filing of the
liens, Mr. Wolfle became inter
ested in the property and was
so greatly impressed by its
mineral development possibili
ties that he decided to acquire
the group and assume the labor
indebtedness of his predecess
ors in control. Having secured
the half interest held by Mr.
Covey and his associates, and
also the remaining interest,
owned by Mrs. Frances Foster
Cronholm, of Los Angeles, wife
of one of the original locators,
Mr. Wolfle organized the Can
tu Mining Company to take
over and develop the property;
which, in many respects, is one
of the most promising in the
Hvder district and splendidly
located on the east side of Can
tu Mountain in the upper Sal
mon valley, about 14 miles
from Hyder and only a short
distance from the new Texas
Creek highway, to which it is
connected by a private road
constructed in connection with
earlier development opera
tions.
The group contains some of
the most extensive galena
showings ever found in the Hy
der district, in addition to a
massive porphyry belt ranging
up to 200 feet in width from
which commercial gold values
have been obtained in assays.
Under the capable manage
ment of Mr. Wolfle, who is a
mining man of wide experi
ence, the property is confident
ly expected to develop into a
productive mine. Associated
with Mr. Wolfle in the venture
are a number of Northwestern
capitalists, who are in a posit-,
ion to finance development.
\
ROBERT GORMAN IS
PARALYSIS VICTIM
..Robert Gorman, well known
pioneer resident of the district,
became the victim of a paralyt
ic stroke Tuesday afternoon.
The stroke involved his left
side, which is said to be com
pletely paralyzed. Mr. Gorman
was at his home in the Forest
townsite at the time of the at
tack.
Although in a highly precar
ious condition for some hours
after the attack, Mr. Gorman
rallied during the night and
was reported much improved
Tuesday morning.
At last accounts he was rest
ing easy under the care of Dr.
H. A. Whillans.
I
; RECORDS DISCLOSE
AVERAGE BIRTH AND
DEATH RATE, 1929
Vital statistics records in the
off ice of the United States
Commisisoner disclose a total
{ of five births and an equal,
| number of deaths in the Hyder
'district during 1929. The nurn- j
| bers, in both cases, approxi- J
mates the annual average for;
the past six years, although
there were four more deaths
last year than during 1928. ‘
The number of births occuring
was exactly the same as in the
preceding year.
The 1929 mortality was unus
ual, however, as four feminine
members of the community
passed away during the year.
This was three more than in
any previous year in the
camp’s history.
The number of marriages re
[ corded was four, a decrease of
10, as against the high record
of 14 established in 1928.
The records show a total of
31 births, 39 deaths and 62
marriages in the district since
the Commissioner’s office was
established, April 1, 1920.
PIONEERS INSTALL
NEW OFFICIALS
The annual installation cere
monies of Hyder Igloo No. 20,
Pioneers of Alaska, were held
in Pioneer Hall Tuesday even
ing and the newly elected offi
cers were inducted into office.
The new official roster in
cludes Thomas Kelly, presi-1
dent: Herman Nichols, first
vice president; F. R. Nagle,1
second vice-president; August
Pohlke, prelate; Clyde Hager,
secretary; T. H. Evans, treas- j
urer; B. B. Smith, historian;
P. Stapleton, sergeant-at-arms; j
trustees; E. M. Reynolds, Aug.
; Pohlke, Angus Kennedy.
; The installations were fol
i lowed by a supper and an hour j
or two of conviviality.
j Charles Lund and two com
panions made an emergency
trip to the Silverado property
I early this week' to relieve
shortage of supplies and also
save the lives of the crew who
were out of tobacco. The trip
up the snow-clad heights of Mt
Rainey is said to have been a
. decidedly difficult one but
was safely negotiated.
GOOD OfiE FIND
ON SIXTH LEVEL
SEBAKWE GROUP
An important ore strike 6n
the lower or sixth level of the
Sebakwe and District Mines
property, adjoining the north
line of the B. C. Silver, was re
ported in the London press on
December 16,
The announcement is based
on a telegram from the local
manager to the Selukwe offices
and discloses that the new ore
body is forty feet in length, av
erages seven feet in width and
gives average assays of $13 per
ton; the best five feet backs
giving samples of $36. Follow
ing is the full text of the re
port as published in the Lon
don papers:
Hyder, Alaska Dec. 16,
Blasting out north wall drift
631 from station 603 plus
200 ftto 240 ft exposed ore
body 40 ft long; average of
assays $13, average width 7
ft. The best 5 ft back sam
ples $36. Work continues
here.
The discovery, while not in
itself of particular moment^
possesses an added importance
as indicating the probable
downward continuity of the
massive ore body opened up on
the fourth and fifth levels in
earlier periods; but whether a
part of the upper ore body or
not, it is a distinctly encourag
ing discovery, as it indicates
the presence of commercial
ore to a depth of more than
400 feet, approximately the
horizon of the Premier No. 4
level.
o
NEW SCHOOL HEAD
CANDIDATE APPEARS
W. H. Keller, superintendent
of the Juneau' public schools,
has announced his candidacy
for the office of Territorial
Commissioner of Education. He
will run as an independent can
didate.
Mr. Keller is one of the fore
most educators of the North
and has been connected with
Alaska school system for nine
years. Prior to taking charge
of the Juneau schools he was;
superintendent of the public;
schools of Fairbanks.
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The lowest temperatures ex
perienced here in years visited
the camp durjng the early part
of the present week. Temper
atures as low as 12— were reg
istered by thermometers at var
ious points in both the upper
and downtown sections during
the first two days of the week.
-o
J. D. Littlepage, former sup
erintendent of the Riverside
mine, who left Alaska several
years ago to take a position in
Siberia under the Russian Sov
iet government on a mining
project, is now in the States
and expects to visit the North
again in the near future, ac
cording to a letter received, by
a friend in Juneau.
HYDER DISTRICT
STILL GOOD FIELD
FOR PROSPECTORS
New mineral land locations
embracing a total of 182 claims
were made in the Hyder sect
ion of the Portland Canal min
ing district during 1929, ac
cording to the records in the
United States Commissioner’s
office. This number exceeds
by 13 the new claim location
record of 1927, when 119 new
claims were staked and record
ed, but is 71 below the top rec
ord established in 1928. In ad
dition to the strictly new locat
ions recorded, a number of
amended locations of existing
claims wore also filed during
the year.
Assessment work returns cov
ering a total of 271 claims
were also filed for record dur
ing the year. This is far below
the number of claims repre
sented in the filings of 1928,
when proofs of labor covering
408 properties were recorded.
The induction, however, does
not represent a lessening of the
number of claims held by locat
ors, as the records disclose
quite a number of claim own
ers who have been accustomed
to recording their assessment
I work but failed to do so last
year.
As the annual labor law re
quires the peformance of not
less than $100 worth of labor
and improvements on mining
claims each year until patent
is issued, the proofs of labor
tiled during the year represent
expenditures of money and lab
or totaling $27,000 in value.
The records also show the
issuance of one mineral land
patent during the year. This
covers the Virginia group, near
13-Mile, owned by Mrs. M. D.
Bunting and others.
The new locations cover prac
tically every section of the Hy
der district, although a large
majority were made in the
richly mineralized Texas Creek
section, where the new govern
ment wagon road, now under
construction, is opening vastly
increased opportunities for
both prospecting and mining.
The location of such a consid
j erable number of claims indi
cates clearly that oppoitunities
for acquiring valuable miner
al lands by location are by no
mean exhausted, despite the
fact that the district has been
the scene of extensive prospect
ing and mining development
for years. It is also well known
that, owing to the exceedingly
rugged character of the local
terrain, most of the claim locat
ions made so far are situated
in the sections most easy of ac
; cess and there are still exten
sive areas within a few miles
of Hyder that are still practic
ally unexplored by the pros
pector.
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There will be no motion pict
ure show Sunday evening, ow
| ing to the non-arrival of film
from Ketchikan, according to
Albert J. Mayer, manager of
the movie shop, who is unable
to account for the failure to re
ceive the usual program.
I
HOSPITAL REPORT
Following is a statement of
receipts and expenses of the
hospital for December and also
for the year just closed. The
figures presented are derived
from a report by Mr. Jas. Wil
son, secretary of the Hospital
Association.
Receipts for the month of De
cember were $534.46, and ex
penses (not expenditures)
amounted to $729.76. Services
rendered by the hospital for
this expense consisted of 124
patient days. Bills receivable
for these services are: pat
ients’ fees, $340.00; Work
men’s Compensation Board
cases, $143.00; and govern
ment allowance, which is in
tricately calculated on a slid
ing scale, $103.00, a total ol
$586.50. It is pointed out by
Mr. Wilson that indicated sur
lus is exceptional. If people
were as unfortunate to the
same extent as in December
throughout the year, financing
of the hospital would presen.
few difficulties. Such is not the
case, however, as, with the ex
ception of last August, when
there were 132 patient days,
December showed the largest
attendance of patients of any
month in 1929. In April there
were only 4 patient days. The
costs per patient day in Decern
ber were $5,89. For the past
year the cost per patient day
was $8.53, and the number ot
patient days was 856, a total
of 118 persons being cared for
during the annual period. Ex
penses for the year totaled
about $7,300.
The income for the year, $6,
975.62, was obtained from the
following sources: government
grants, $811.15; fees from pat
ients, $2810.95; W. C. B..
$136.80; contracts, $494.81;
donations, $1736.25; liquoi
profits, 449.81; miscellaneous,
$9.40. Among the donations,
(which were too numerous to
mention individually) was one
from the Provincial Secretarj
of $500 and another from the
government of Alaska foi
$372.50. The latter was ob
tained through the commend
able efforts of Ernest Blue, ol
Hyder, and the personal inter
est of Governor George A.
Parks. Without these two gen
erous donations, the hospital
would be in a bad way indeed.
Of the $729.76 expense in
curred in December, $292.50
has been paid, all for salaries
or wages, leaving December
accounts totaling $437.26 un
paid. November accounts total
ing $120 are also unpaid, mak
ing a total unpaid indebtedness
for the year amounting to
$557.26.
During December cash do
nations totaling $60 were re
ceived from the following sour
ces: Bank of Hyder, $20; Bank
of Montreal, $20; Nels Lyng
ham, $15; Mrs Lawrence, $5.
Donations of merchandise,
furnishings and other supplies
were also received from vari
ous parties in Stewart. Net re
ceipts from the New Year’s eve
dance amounted to $395.75.
This includes a cash donation
of $25 from the Power Cor
poration of Canada
Next week the Herald will
publish a statement of compar
HOMS BUREAU IS
GIVEN S4SI.314 FOR
1931 ROAD WORK
Alaska has been allotted
$459,384 for construction of
roads and trails in and adjac
ent to its national forests, ac
cording to recent announce
ments from Washington, D. C.
The allotment is a part of to
tal apportionments of $4,500,
000 for forest road purposes
made by Secretary Arthur M.
Hyde of the department of ag
riculture.
In the States the money is ap
portioned among the various
states having national forests,
according to the percentage of
Ihe national forest area and
value of the national forests in
comparison to the total area
ind value of all the national
forests combined. The Alaska
allotment is. made available
through the U. S. Forest Serv
ice and the work is performed
under the direction of the Bu
reau of Public Roads.
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INDIAN COMMITTEE TO
.. PASS ON CANDIDATES
Henceforth, before any candi
date for Territorial office can
receive the support of the Alas
ka Native Brotherhood at the
polls, his record will be scrut
inized by a special committee
appointed by the Brotherhood
during a recent convention at
Haines. The committee will be
composed of six past presi
dents and the presiding officer.
When the committee has made
Lhe required study of a candi
date their findings will be sub
mitted to the Brotherhood,
which, it was intimated, will
not follow' party lines strictly.
-o
A radio from Point Barrow,
most northerly settlement on
he continent, on December 23,
reported an unusual week of
radio entertainment. Christ
mas music was received from
Sngland, Germany, and all cor
ners of the United States, in
addition to broadcasts from
Japan. The reception up there
was reported continuous day
and night.
-o
Dave Allan left Thursday on
a vacation trip to the States.
ative costs of hospital mainte
nace since 1925, showing the
ratio of expense to the number
of patients in attendance and
the per capita costs.
The annual meeting of the
Hospital Association will be
held in Moose Hall, Stewart,
January 16th. Mr Wilson has
suggested to the Herald that
inasmuch as the people of Hy
contribute to the support of the
hospital and the hospital serves
Hyder, it would seem advisable
for Hyder residents to attend
the meeting and present their
views and ideas regarding the
institution and its maintenance.
The idea is an excellent one
and all who can do so are
urged to follow the suggestion.