SPECIALIZING IN
MINING NEWS OF THE
PORTLAND CANAL
DISTRICT
V
HYDER WEEKLY HERALD
DEVOTED TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF ALASKA AND THE PORTLAND CANAL MINING DISTRICT.
.'1.'■
SUBSCRIPTIONS
$6.00 PER YEAR
IN ADVANCE
VOL 6, NO. 26
HYDER, ALASKA, SATURDAY, APRIL 5,1930.
PRICE TEN CENTS
NORTHLAND S,S, CO,
REFUSES REGULAR
TRIPS TO HYDER
Ilyder shippers are again con
fronted with the problem of se
curing direct freight transport
ation from Seattle, as a result
of the announcement by the
Noithland Transportation Co.
that after April 14 the com
pany will no longer handle the
freight traffic to this port un
der regular schedule.
This interesting intimation is
contained in a communication
leceived this week by the Hy-1
der Dock Company, local agent
of the Northland company.
The reason ascribed for the un
expected cutting off of the
company’s service after .the
next visit of the motorship
Noi thland is that the volume of
local traffic is not sufficiently
large to warrant the company
making the long side trip to
the head of Portland Canal on j
regular schedule. The com- j
pany offers, however, to send a '
vessel here at such times as a j
sufficiently large cargo can be
secured to make the voyage
profitable.
a resuu oi uie company s
decision, local shippers are
confronted with the prospect
of having to ship all goods
fiom Seattle by way of Ketchi
kan, at a considerable advance
in transportation costs, togeth
er with added prospects of de
lays in deliveries owing to the
limited capacities of the small
vessels plying between Ketchi
kan and Hyder. Merchants
here estimate that this will
entail and increase of from 30
to 40 per cent over present di
rect from Seattle freight
charges, in addition to extra
wharfage and transfer charges
in Ketchikan, which will bring
the costs of Seattle products!
still higher when landed in Hy
der. The only alternative is to
induce some other transportat
ion concern to place a vessel in
the local service. Steps in
that direction will be inaugu
rated immediately by those
chiefly interested and the view
i 3 expressed that arrange
ments can be effected whereby
shipments can be received di
rect from Seattle at frequent
intervals.
It is also pointed out that as
a last resource it may be poss
ible to overcome customs ob
stacles to the extent of enab
ling transporation of local ship
ments by the Canadian boats
arriving here weekly from the
south, as was the case in the
early days of the camp. It is
also pointed out that this ex
cellent boat service would still
be available but for the dis
criminatory provision of the
so-called Jones shipping bill
prohibiting transportation of
goods in foreign bottoms be
tween American ports where
Alaska is concerned, although
permitting such shipments else
where. .
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With the advent of milder
weather the , snow is rapidly
disappearing. Small patches of
bare ground are visible along
the thoroughfares i n both
the forest townsite and down
town districts.
SUBSTANTIAL RETURNS
FROM PROSPERITY ORE
A Seattle press dispatch of
March 27 reports the release
i there of the monthly report
of the Premier Gold Mining Co.
covering operations of the com
pany on the Prosperity proper
ty during the preceding four
months as follows:
“The report states that Pros
perity mined and shipped to
smelter during the month of
! February 1479 tons of ore of a
gross value of $45,615.
According to report substan
tiated by smelter returns, this
shipment netted Prosperity
$23,436.
February completes four
months’ operations of the Pros
perity mine and during this
time Prosperity has shipped
ore the net profits on which
were $69,122.51.
Mining men who are watch
ing production sheets and
'melter returns on Prosperity
are confident that if such a rec
ord can be made despite in
clement weather and difficult
ies incidental to opening pro
duction and putting the tram
in operation, Prosperity is
bound to become the outstand
ing producer of Portland Canal
within the present year.”
PROSPECTORS LEAVE
FOR TEXAS CREEK
Prospecting activities in the
, Texas Creek section were re
newed this week when W. W.
Metcalf, Frank Blasher and
Bert Bobo, well known pros
pectors and claim owners, of
the Texas creek and Chickamin
district, left for the head of the
west fork to commence, the
transportation of supplies to
the Metcalf and Fendley prop
erty on Banded Mountain near
the head of the Chickamin riv
er. The party plans to take ov
er a considerable quantity of
provisions stored at the Blasher
cabin on Emerald Lake, in ad
! dition to several pack loads
i taken from town., ,,
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HIGHWAY CONFERENCE
CALLED AT PORTLAND
| The Oregon State Chamber of
Commerce has invited all per
sons interested in the proposed
j Pacific-Alaska Highway to at
j tend a conference in Portland
on April 14, according to press
announcements..
HELP! !
! Owing to the rapid thawing
• during the past few days, the
i up-town streets are in extreme
ly bad condition for pedestri
| ans, with most of the sidewalks
! blockaded with deep snow and
! the roadways flooded in many
places with several inches of
i water, which is unable to es
; cape because of the high snow
: banks on both sides of the
i groove created by wheeled
i traffic.
j Some thoughtful persons have
; cut trenches at a few points tc
j permit the water to escape; bul
unless some of our public spirit
ed citizens open more chan
nels, it looks as if the schoo!
children and women-fojks wil
soon have to swim to get aboul
in ]the upper townsite.
NENANA ICE POOL
ATTRACTS INTEREST
The interest of sourdough
! Alaskans throughout the Terr
itory is now centering on the
big Nenana ice pool with its
purse of many thousands of
' dollars awaiting the lucky per
1 son who will guess closest to
; the day and hour in which the
j ice will break on the Nenana
I River. That Hyder sourdough’s
i are no less interested than
those of other sections of the
! North is amply indicated by
! the announcement of E. M.
Reynolds, local agent of the
sweepstakes committee, that
$500 worth of tickets were tak
en locally before the closing
of the subscriptions some days
ago.
Late telegraphic reports from
Nenana received by Mr. Reyn
olds indicated that the pool
may be larger than last year,
when the purse totaled over
i $52,000 and was divided
among several persons, one of
whom was Mr. Reynolds. Two
years ago the big sporting
event was won by a single indi
vidual, Edward Kehoe, who
alone guessed the exact time of
the breakup1—5:42 a. m. May
13.
The telegram received by Mr.
Reynolds said the „ice was four
feet thick on the river March
28, with an average snowfall
during the winter. There had
been no thawing weather up to
that time and the opinion pre
| vailed there that the breakup
; would be medium late, al
though conditions might
change. Time has shown,
however, that the thickness of
the ice has little influence on
the breakup. It all depends on
the volume of water that comes
down after the spring thaw is
under way. This is shown by
the close proximity of the dates
on which the ice moved in the
13 years in which the pool has
been held. Following are the
dates of the ice movement since
1917:
1917 . April 30, 11:30 a.m
1918 . May 11,9:33 a. m.
! 1919. May 3, 2:33 p. m.
J1920 . May 11, 10:46 a. m.
1921 . May 11, 6:42 a. m.
j 1922 . May 12, 1:20 p. m.
1923 . May 9, 2.00 p. m.
1924 . May 11, 3:10 p. m.
1925 . May 7, 6:32 p. m.
j 1926 . April 26, 4:03 p. m.
1927 .May 13, 5:42 a. m.
1928 . May 6, 4:25 p. m.
1929 ........ May 5, 3:41 p. m.
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M’CGRMACK OUT OF
PRIMARY RACE
The name of P. C. McCor
mack lias been stricken from
I list of republican candidates
j for Legislative nominations in
I the April primary, owing to a
defect in his filing papers, it
I was announced recently. Mr.
McCormack apparently filed
i to late to rectify the error, with
the result that his name was
withdrawn from the list of can
dates. It is understood that he
will probably run as an inde
pendent at the general elect
: ion.
Alex. N. McDonald, pioneei
mining man, who spent the
winter in the south, returned
Monday evening.
LEAD PRICES AGAIN
ON THE UP-GRADE
| The recent rapid slump in
j lead prices has apparently
' been halted and quotations are
! again assuming an upward
; trend. The latest metal mark
' et reports received here dis
; close an increase of ten cents a
hundredweight during the past
week, increasing the price from
$5.65 to $5.75. The increase
was announced March 28 by
the American Smelting and Re
fining Co. and was the second
raise in two days. The first in
crease advanced the price from
$5.50, the lowest level attaine^
by the metal in several years,
to $5.65, after remaining at
5*/> cents from March 10th.
... ... n--...
LONDON BELIEVES
PREMIER-B. C. SILVER
DEAL APPROACHING
Commenting on the annual
meeting of the B. C. Silver
i Mines, The Mining World and
1 Engineering Record, of Lon
S don, remarks that the “long
drawn out battle for position”
between the B.< C. Silver and
Premier “is continuing.”
“Time in operations of this
nature is always a doubtful
neutral,” the journal contin
ues, “but in London it is be
lieved that a fusion of interests
on favourable terms is ap
proaching in view of the furth
| er falling off in Premier re
j serves and developments that
i have taken place recently.”
MINER BREAKS LEG
Nels Halvorsen, miner, sus
tained a fractured right leg
by falling from the approach
to his residence, the Gus Er
rickson house, on First Avenue
about 5:30 a. m. today. Halvor
sen had gone to his home ac
companied by Pete Lowe, who
resides* a short distance beyond
the Errickson place. Mr. Lowe
continued on but had not pro
ceeded far before hearing Hal
; vorsen’s calls for help. Return
| ing along the street he found
the latter struggling in several
feet of water on the tide flat.
By this time “Scotty” Thomp
son arrived on the scene and
together they rescued the in
jured man and took him home.
Halvorsen was later trans
i ferred to the hospital, after re
ceiving first aid from Hubert
Thomas under instructions
from Dr. Whillans.
The accident appeal's to have
been due primarily to the elec
tric lights being out of com
mission in that section at the
time. Being unable to see his
i way clearly, Halvorson appar
j ently stumbled or walked off
the very narrow approach in
the dim light.
As the tidewater was more
than sufficiently deep to break
his fall, it is surmised that the
man’s leg wag broken through
striking a projecting timber as
to the flat, about a dozen feet
he fell to the flat, a dozen or
so feet below.
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Mrs. Oren F. Hill of the Hy
der Drug Co. left Thursday for
Seattle to secure medical as
sistance in relieving a stomach
complaint from which she has
suffered for some time.
GOLD SHORTAGE SAID
TO BE IMPENDING
Danger of a gold shortage and
the need for cooperation and
economy among the central
banks in the use of gold, in or
der to avert the impending
shortage is the keynote of a re
cent article on the gold situ
ation published in the Wallace
(Idaho) Press-Times Mining
Review.
The article points out that
the world gold output, which
reached its highest value of
$468,504,000 in 1915, declined
rapidly to $819,000,000 in 19
22. A gradual recovery has
followed but the 1929 out
put of $417,500,000 was still
below the 1915 level. Only
about 52 per cent of the annual
production is available for
monetary purposes, the article
points out, the remainder be
ing consumed by the industrial
arts or hoarded in India and
the Orient. An addition of 3
per cent annually in the
world’s gold stock is required
by currency and credit needs
alone, the review continues It
is estimated that the actual in
crease in gold will not exceed
two per cent during the next
five years and is expected to
decline after that. Production
from the South African Trans
vaal, largest source of gold, is
expected to decline about 48
per cent before 1936 and ex
cept Canada, few countries
show possibilities of offsetting
increase.
“Should gold production re
cede at its present rate,” the
review says. “this decline
would be gradual and would
give opportunity for readjust
ment; but even so, it might
have a gradual adverse effect
on business.”
INTERESTING REPORT
OF ALASKA JUNEAU
OPERATIONS
_
The following interesting re
port of the operations of the
Alaska Juneau mine in Febru
ary was issued recently:
The estimated net operating
profit for the month was $71-,
500. Surplus after deduction
of costs of exploratory Avork in
other locatities, was $59,900.
The ore mined and trammed
to mill totaled 298,440.
Receipts
Cents
Per ton
Gold . $249,000 83.43
! Lead and silver .... 6,500 2.18
| -
Total . $255,500 85.61
Operating Expenditures
Mining and
Tramming .... $ 85,000 28.48
Milling .. 87.500 29.32
All other Juneau
operating costs .... 9,000 3.01
New York stock
Transfer and of
fice expenses. 2,500 .84
Total .$184,000 61.65
Opr. profit.... $ 71,500 23.96
Other expenditures and
accrued charges:
Ebner, Taku River,
Manville.etc. .. $ 11,600
Surplus
$ 59,900
SUTHERLAND SAYS
REPORT 01 INDIAN
BILL WAS ONTRUE
_
Declaring that recent Wash
ington, D. C. press reports that
the Claims Committee of the
House of Representatives had
reported adversely on the ap
plication o f Alaska native
tribes for the right to sue the
government for alleged alien
ation of valuable property and
other rights in Alaska were ut
terly false, Alaska delegate to
i Congress, Dan Sutherland has
| issued a specific denial of the
; Washington message in a tele
I gram to the Alaska Weekly, of
j Seattle.
> As reported in that journal,
i Mr. Sutherland’s message said
j that the story that the bill in
j troduced by him to permit the
I Indians to file their suits had
been rejected by the committee
was absolutely without the
slightest foundation in fact, as
as there had been no action on
the part of the claims commit
tee regarding the bill, Mr.
Sutherland’s message further
declared that the bill had nev
er been discussed in commit
tee; that the Washington dis
i patch was “nothing but a
| fake,” and “was made out of
; whole cloth and sent to the
Juneau Empire and other pap
i ers in Alaska.”
The -message concludes with
a request that it be published
“in order that the people of
Alaska may not be misin
foimed regarding this bill.”
While we have not discovered
any indication that the people
of this or other sections of the
Territory are particularly in
terested in in the matter,, we
will say that the Herald pub
lished the alleged false state
ment purely for what it was
worth as news and without the
slightest intent to prejudice
the cause of the natives, who
we feel are entitled to a fair
hearing on their claims jantd
also to proper reparation if, as
claimed, they have been in any
manner dispossessed of proper
I ty or other rights to which they
I are justly entitled.
The motorship Fairbanks en
I countered a decidely hard trip
j from Ketchikan this week. It
j is reported by passengers that
the little mail boat ran into
hard going off Cape Fox and
required eight or ten hours to
make the turn into the calm
waters of Portland Canal. Dur
ing most of this period it was .
impossible to make even a cup
of coffee and waves boarded
the vessel at frequent intervals.
Later a heavy snow storm was
encountered in the Canal but
the staunch little ship came
through without mishap, altho
i considerably behind schedufe.
-&—.
In is understod that the C. N.
R. steamer Prince Charles will
appear here next Sunday for
the last time until the summer
schedule is inaugurated and
will be replaced next week by
the Prince Rupert, which has
been undergoing the annual
overhaul in Vancouver.
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C. Tomlinson returned to Pre
Sunday after a visit outside.