·«E«JY HERALD
HYDER
DEVOTED TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF ALASKA AND THE PORTLAND CANAL MINING DISTRICT
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TOL 4, NO. 16 HYDER, ALASKA, SATURDAY, JANUARY 7,1928.
KILLING MARKS NEW
YEAR'S START
IN STEWART
Victim of a deadly rifle bullet
believed to have been intended
fbr another, while attempting
th'e role of peace-maker in a
quarrel in Stewart during the
early hours of New Year’s day,
William Ritchie is dead and
Henry Rivard, well known res
ident of the district, is facing a
'■ charge of murder as his al
leged slayer.
Despite the holding of an cor
oner's inquest and a subse
quent preliminary hearing be
fore Stipendary Magistrate
Scarlett, the exact circumstan
ces surrounding the shooting
are still far from clear. No one
appears to have actually wit
nessed the firing of the fatal
shot and other facts concern
ing the early morning fatality
werfe apparently dimmed by
the maudlin condition of those
involved.
From the evidence so far pre
sented it appears that tht
shooting was the culminatior
of a drinking bout held New
Year’s eve in Rivard's place ol
business, a combination of sec
ond-hand store, rooming house
and alleged boot-legging es
tablishment, in which Ritchie
Rivard, a man known as Demp
sey and several others, partic
ipated. An altercation is saic
to have developed between Ri
*■ vard and the others, in whicl
Ritchie is said to have attempt
ed unsucessfully the part of i
peace-maker. Rivard is said ti
have become so incensed thai
he finally ejected the visitors
from his premises. The party
later returned and attemptec
to gain entrance but Rivarc
is said to have refused to opei
the door and ordered then
away. Angered at Rivard’s con
tinued refusal to admit them
Dempsey and some of the oth
ers are said to have attemptec
to break in the door. Daring
the ensuing altercation it it
claimed that Rivard warned
the visitors not to come in, bm
with apparently no other ef
xeci tunu 10 mcrease men uc
termination, to gain entrance
During this period Ritchie i:
amid to have again endeavored
to placate the belligerents ant
also attempted to induce Ri
vard to permit them peaceable
entrance. «
Following the assault on the
door, Rivard is said to havt
become greatly enraged and
rushed up stairs, apparently tc
secure a weapon.
Exactly what happened aftei
this no one concerned appear:
to know clearly, save that a
shot was fired and Ritchie fell
dead, shot through the body
Following the coroner’s in
quest Tuesday evening, the
jury returned the following
Verdict:
“We, the jury, find that Wil
liam Ritchie met his death by s
rifle bullet on the morning ol
January 1, 1928, in a building
known as* Rivard’s on Fifth
Street in the town of Stewart
B. C., but no evidence has beer
produced as to how the rifh
was fired or by whom.”
Rivard, who was arrested bj
Constable Potterton shortly af
ter the shooting, was given i
ESTIMATES OVER SIX
MILLIONS IN ORE IN
SELUKWE HOLDINGS
That there is a reasonable ex
pectation that 466,000 tons of
ore of a gross value of $6,590,
000 exists in the local holdings
of the Selukwe Company, is
the substance of a recent re
cent report to the company by
C. A. Banks, managing engi
neer, according to a reputed
copy of the statement publish
ed in the Mining World and
Engineering Record, one of the
most reputable and best in
formed British mining jour
nals.
Mr. Banks’ statement, as pre
sented by this journal in it’s is
sue of December 3, reads as
follows:
“As a result of a careful esti
mate on the ore position of the
mines we can reasonably ex
oect 466,000 tons of ore of a
?ross value of $6,590,000 to
be won from the exploring and
mining of the ore bodies en
j countered to date.”
j It appears,however, that Mr.
j banks’ estimates of the ore po
1 entialities of the B. C. Silver
ire not concurred in by the
Premier engineers who recent
y examined the property in
connection with the proposed
Premier-B. G. Silver-Sebakwe
merger, as the Mining World
states that the Banks report
was sent to the head office of
selukwe in London after the
oroperty had been examined
by Premier and adds that the
j 'igures given by Mr. Banks,
| ‘were never confirmed by the
! juggenheim’s or their repre
| centatives.”
■o
Much to the gratification of
everyone in the district the se
vere cold weather of the past
few weeks came to an abrupt
md Wednesday evening. Such
an extended period of unusual
y cold weather has never been
•ecorded in the history of the
camp.
preliminary hearing before
Magistrate Scarlett Wednes
iay morning. Following the ex
amination of a number of wit
nesses, Rivard was ordered
held for .trial by the assize
courts and was taken south
Thursday.
William Ritchie, victim of the
fatal affray,' is said to have
been in no degree responsible
'or the slaying and to all ap
pearances met his fate through
no particular animosity on the
; part of Rivard. He was known
as a man of quiet and peace
able disposition and was high
ly regarded by all who knew
him. During the past summer
he was engaged in assisting P.
’ M. Moncton in the mapping of
■ the upper Nass River district
, for the provincial government.
DRIVING BIG TUNNEL
AT BIG MISSOURI
Winter development work on
the Big Missouri property is
being directed principally to
driving a large tunnel which is
laid out in such manner as will
cut a majority of th$ ore bodies
on which development work
was previously done, in addit
ion to others which have not
been explored, according to
late reports from that noted
property.
The new tunnel is said to
I possess the dimensions of a
large working tunnel, being
about 8 by 8 feet as far as driv
en, indicating that the comp
any intends it for more import
ant uses than prospecting.
It is also said that the devel
opment plans of the Buena Vis
ta Mining Company, as indicat
ed by the trend and scope of its
recent activities, are by long
odds the most extensive so far
attempted on the property.
, , —o ■ —-—
PIONEERS OF ALASKA
HAVE HIYU TIME
A more pleasurable enter
tainment has never been given
under the auspicfs of the local
igloo of the Pioneers of Alaska
than the big potlatch held at
Pioneer Hall Tuesday evening.
With practically every member
of the Pioneer order in the dis
trict on hand, in addition to a
number of invited guests, the
sourdoughs present presented
an unusual array of trail-blaz
ers, many of whom mushed the
trails of ’98 and earlier; when
the latch-string hung from ev
ery door and the bean pot was
always on the stove in readi
ness for the visitor. The pot
latch followed the annual in
stallation of officers, who were
ushered into their respective of
ushered into their respective
offices in an impressive cere
monial.
w neii tuts last uuc woo ocqicu
and the business routine was
completed, the big bean pot
was brought forth, with num
erous additional good things
to eat, while tales of the early
days were told; old time songs
were sung and thoughts roam
ed back into the distant times,
when
“They size a feller-sinner by
his heart an’ what he knows,
An’ never ask his Southern
name or criticise his clo’s.”
- o -
M. M. O'Brien, Jr. who is in
charge of the development ac
tivities of the Buena Vista Min
ing Company on the Big Miss
ouri property, returned Thurs
day from a holiday visit in the
south.
v-o-—
Clay Porter, managing direct
or of the Porter-Idaho, is bad
from a holiday trip to the
south.
TWO NEW MINING
SYNDICATES FORMED
The organization of a new lo
cal mining .syndicate under the
name of the Beaver Develop
ment Syndicate was announced
during the past week The new
development organization has
its '' headquarters in Stewart
and, is capitalized at $50,000,
divided into 5,000 units of $10
each.
The Syndicate holdings com
prise 22 claims located in the
upper ‘ Bear River section a
short distance beyond the Bear
River glacier and about one
mile from the Consolidated
Mining and Smelting Co. hold
ings.
But little development work
has been done on the property,
which is said to display a num
ber of very promising silver
lead showings, from which
samples running over $100 per
ton have been obtained.
The ground is easily accessi
ble, with a good pack trail ex
tending to its borders and is
otherwise splendidly located
far development activities.
$1. Scovil, Wm. Noble and C.
G. Jackson are the leading fig
ures in the organization.
The organization- of another
Bear River mining syndicate,
the Mayou Development Synd
icate, is indicated in an agree
ment and declaration of trusit
filed in the Mining Record
l ers office in Stewart January
Is.
; The capitalization is 10,000
units of $10 each. Details of
i
i the syndicate’s contemplations
i and holdings could not be ob
I tained prior to going to press.
i
o
M. R. Boyd, receiver of the
defunct Washington - Alaska
j Bank, of Fairbanks, recently
! received checks aggregating
| $28,029.02, the amount of the
' shortage in receivership ac
counts during the administrat
ion of O. P. Gastaud, who was
| recently sentenced to the peni
i tentiary in connection with the
; defalcations. The money was
! paid by the surety companies
; in settlement of the shortages,
i after a suit brought by the
I present receiver had been
1 called for trial in the district
i court. It is understood that the
receiver will shortly ask for a
court order directing a divi
dend of 121/i per cent to the
depositors of the defunct bank.
I
Hugh B. McGuire, prominent
mining man, left for the south
Thursday after a short vist. Mr.
McGuire plans to return in
about three months.
E. H. Fernald, well known
member df the Premier forces,
returned Thursday from a visit
in Portland.
MILL FUNDS RAISED
FOR WOODBINE
Late reports from Vancouver
announce that the Woodbine
is now fully financed and in a
position to proceed with the'
construction of a mill, as a re
sult of a deal made recently in
Winnipeg by J. B. Watson,
the energetic president of the
Woodbine Gold Mining Comp
any.
Mr. Watson, the reports state,
returned to Vancouver from
Winnipeg December 22 and
announced that ample funds
for mill construction and nec
essary development work are
now available.
Mr. Watson’s success in fully
financing the property so soon
after development was insti
tuted is a noteworthy achieve
ment. The company was not
organized until last February
but during the succeeding in
terval has developed an im
mense body of milling ore at
remarkably low cost, in addit
ion to raising sufficient funds
to bring the property into a
productive state.
As reported in an earlier is
sue of the Herald, M. Rene Cel
lier, a noted French mining
engineer, recently estimated
after an extensive examination
that there are 558,000 tons ol
ore in sight on the main level
with a number of adjacent ore
bodies of apparently great size
still unexplored.
The reports indicate that the
company plans to proceed with
the construction of the mill
during the coming season.
Unmistakable signs of the
shifting of the sea floor in
Southeastern Alaskan waters
as a result of the recent severe
earlhquake were found by the
cableship Dellwood, while re
pairing two breaks in the Alas
! ka cable following the quake.
One break was in Chilkoot In
let, 16 miles south of Skagway
and 4 miles from Haines, and
the other about 2 Va miles from
Wrangell.. The breaks were
sharp, showing that the cable
had been snapped by sudden
strain, due to the raising or
lowering of the sea floor.
-o -
I. N. Hoguewood returned to
camp Thursday after several
i weeks absence.
A true bill was returned by
the grand jury at Juneau re
cently charging H. E. Taylor
with manslaughter in connect
ion with the killing of Albert
Chisel at Skagway on July 4th.
The killing is said to have re
sulted from a quarrel over a
dog.
-o
James H. Kelley, of Fair
banks, has been appointed s
trustee of the Alaska College
TRETHEWEY*
NOT PURCHASERS
OF RED TOP GROUP
That recent Vancouver press
reports of the sale of the Red
Top property near the head of
Bear river to the “Trethewey
interests, of Cobalt,” are in er
ror, in the degree that the op
tion was taken not by the Tre
thewey’s bift by Wm. McAd
am, formerly of Sandon, B. C.,
and now connected with the
Imperial Oil Company,is as
serted by the Mining and In
dustria IRecord of Vancouver.
The confusion was apparent
ly due to the fact that the prop
erty was examined for the pur
chasing interests by W. J Tre
thewey, an eminent Canadian
mining engineer,, who, how
ever, is in no way connected
with the Trethewey’s of Co
balt.
■o
The regular monthly meeting
of the Hyder Chamber of Com
merce was held in Chamber of
Commerce Hall Tuesday even
ing with a majority of the
members in attendance.
Routine business occupied a
large part of the session and
developed little of general int
erest, aside from the passage
of an amendment to the by
laws permitting memebership
of corporations and compan
ds. Following the adoption of
the amendment, two corporat
ions, the International Electric
Company, of Stewart, and the
Hyder Lead Mines Inc., were
admitted to membership. Hon
orary memberships were also
conferred on Col. E. R. Stivers
and E. R. Bryson.
Dr. S. V. Warren, secretary,
: announced the arrival of 100
j opies of the Cordova Daily
I Times All-Alaska Review for
• 1927, containing an illustrated
I article on the Hyder district
j and setting forth the local min
ng and industrial possibilities,
| scenic beauties and other feat
I ires of the district. The Re
j dews were ordered some time
i ago for publicity purposes and
j’have been placed on sale at the
! Hyder Drug Company and
Boundary Gift Shop, where
they may be obtained by those
who are desirous of helping to
boost the district, for the nom
inal price of 35 cents per copy.
A large number of copies
were purchased by the mem
bers present at the close of the
meeting.
Lack of space precludes a re
view of the many highly inter
esting features of the publicat
ion, which represents probab
ly the most ambitious attempt
of a territorial publication to
advertise the resources of Alas
ka to the outside world.
An announcement by the Lad
ies Home Journal of a project
ed Alaska Garden Contest,
with three prizes aggregating
$1,000, also attracted consider
able interest, owing to the
splendid success attending lo
cal gardening efforts and the
unusual siz» and quality at
ained by many varieties of veg
etables in this locality. Fur
ther details of the contest will
be given in a later issue..