AN ALU
ALASKA
NEWSPAPER
HYDER WEE
DEVOTED TO THE DEVELOPMENT OP ALASKA AND
CANAL MINING DISTRICT.
' 1 "■■.TT-—'
SUBSCRIPTIONS
$8.00 PER YEAR
IN ADVANCE
VOL 5, NO. 13
OTHER, ALASKA, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 29,1928.
PRICE TEN CENTS
A HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR TO All
BIG HYDRO-ELECTRIC
DEVELOPMENT IN
PROSPECT—REPORT
Late reports from the south
indicate that the Power Corp
oration of Canada, which re
cently obtained options on the
power plants and business of
the International Electric Com
pany in both Hyder and Stew
art, js contemplating a huge
hydro-electric power develop
ment on the Nass River to pro
vide power for both the Port
land Canal and Prince Rupert
districts.
It is said on apparently reli
able authority that the project
embraces the development of
approximately 100,00 electric
al horsepower on the Nass for
distribution to all points in the
adjacent district where elec
trical or power demands exist.
Engineers of the corporation
are said to have already com
pleted exhaustive examinat
ions of the power development
possibilities of the Nass River
and plans for the project have
been fully worked out.
Prince Rupert recently voted
to sell its municipal plant to
the big Canadian corporation, i
thereby adding another unit to
the interests acquired in this
section.
Despite the absence of defi
nite assurances regarding its
contemplations, there appears
little reason to doubt that the
corporation is preparing to in
augurate activities which will
ultimately prove of tremend
ous importance and benefit to
this district, particularly with
respect to mining development
and transportation.
PIONEERS TO
HOLD INSTALLATION
Hyder Igloo No. 20, Pioneers
of Alaska, will install new of
ficers for the coming year
Tuesday evening. The instal
lation ceremonies will be held
in Pioneer Hall, and the funct
ion will be strictly invitational
and open only to members of
the order, both local and visit
ing.
The following officers will be
installed:
Thomas Kelley,
W. R. McDonnell,
Geo. Bunn
Clyde Hager,
T. H. Evans,
F. R. Nagle,
Lon Doggett,
Bob. Matheson,
Pres.
1st. v-pres.
2nd. v-pres.
Secretary
Treasurer
chaplain
historian
Sergt.-at arms
Trustees: Geo. Devine, Alex.
Frazer, E. M. Reynolds.
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With but little snow on the
lower levels, autos still run
ning and mild weather prevail
ing much of the time, the old
timers are again commencing
to speculate on another switch
in the Japan current..
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The freighter Norco is sched
uled to leave Seattle enroute
to Hyder on January 8, accord
ing to advices received by the
Hyder Dock Co., local agents.
COMMUNITY CHRISTMAS
TREE BRINGS JOY
TO KIDDIES
The annual Community Christ
mas celebration, held in Pio
neer Hall Monday evening,
proved one of the most enjoy
able entertainments of that
character held since the pretty
and benevolent feature of our
communal life was established
by the local Moose lodge long
years ago.
The array of gifts received by
the youngsters was probably
the largest and most varied
aver bestowed, while the enter
tainment given by the kiddies
themselves far surpassed any
thing of the kind presented in
recent years. The entertain
ment was also given added at
tractivesness by the handsome
decorations, the big hall hav
ing been converted by the ef
forts of the decoration commit
tee into 'a veritable bower of
evergreens and other Yuletide
decorations. The Christmas
ree, resplendent with myriad
colored lights and tinsel fest
oons was, of course, the chief
center of interest to the large
gathering, made up of a major
portion of the camp’s populat
ion.
[ The entertainment was op
ened with a splendid rendition
of “It Came Upon the Mid
night Clear” by the M. E.
Church Choir and included a
wide variety of songs, recitat
ions and playlets by the school
children, all of whom acquit
ted themselves in excellent
fashion and won much ap
plause from the audience. A
costume playlet in which a
dozen or more of the school
pupils appeared as dolls of
different lands was an especi
ally pleasing feature of the
program.
The showing made by the
school pupils was far above
the ordinary school presentat
ion and reflects great credit
on Miss Geraldine Torrance,
teacher of the school and
chairman of the entertainment
committee. Music for the vari
ous numbers was provided by
Mrs. Harold Johnson at the
piano, while Miss Catherine
Finlayson made a splendid an
nouncer.
Following the program came
that most wonderful of child
ish events—the arrival of good
old %anta Claus, with his jolly
ways and overflowing pack of
gifts. First came the sound of
distant sleigh bells, followed
by the ringing tones of Santa's
voice as he entered the hall.
A moment later, to an accom
paniment of childish squeals of
sheer delight, the jolly old
chap appeared upon the stage
and gave jovial greetings to
the gathering; later regaling
each little tot with a hand
hake and word of personal
.•ecognition in a tour through
the audience.
Greetings concluded, Santa re
turned to the big Christmas
tree, opened his pack and the
big event of the evening was
inder way. Packages of gifts
’.nd bags of fruit and candies
STABLER ENDORSED FOR
NEW U. S. ATTORNEY
Howard D. Stabler, assistant
United States Attorney for this
district, has received the unani
mous endorsement of the Jun
eau Bar Association for the
position of United States At
torney, to succeed United
States Attorney Justin W.
Harding, who was nominated
recently by President Coolidge
to be Federal Judge of this di
vision. Upon Mr. Harding’s
confirmation, which had not
occurred up to a few days ago,
the office of United States At
torney will be vacant.
Mr. Stabler has held the post
of Assistant U. S. Attorney for
the past eight years. He was
first appointed to the position
by Arthur G. Shoup, who was
appointed district attorney by
President Harding in 1920, and
has continued in the office un
der Mr. Harding until the pres
ent. During his incumbency,
Mr. Stabler has established a
record for ability and careful
attention to the demands of
the office which well entitles
him to consideration as success-,
or of Mr. Harding. ^
o
A bill has been introduced in
Congress to exempt salaries of
officers and employees of the
Territories of Alaska and Ha
waii from the income tax, a<>
cording to information received
at the Governor’s office. It was
presented by Victor S. K. Hous
ton, Delegate to Congress from
Hawaii. Senator Bingham in
troduced a similar bill in the
Senate.
Only salaries paid by the Ter
ritorial Governments would be
exempt Any salary derived
directly or indirectly by such
officers and employees from
.he Federal Government would
not be exempted by the meas
ure.
came forth in a continuous
stream from the capacious bag
while the children came for
ward to receive their gifts as
each name was called. The big
bag empty, several large boxes
of packages were distributed
by Santa, assisted by Mrs. Al
bert Mayer, head of the pur
chasing committee, until every
child in the audiences had re
ceived from two to a dozen or
more presents. Santa’s favors
were by no means confined to
little folks, as many of their
elders also received presents
from the bountiful store dis
bursed by the patron saint of
Christmas.
The various committees in
charge of the entertainment
are entitled to the highest
praise for their efforts in giv
ing the kiddies as well as the
public such a splendid Christ
mas entertainment.
Chairman John Hovland of
the general committee has re
quested the Herald to express
in his absence his personal ap
preciation and thanks to every
member of the committee for
their devoted and highly sue-1
cessful labors.
SEATTLE-ALASKA AIR
LINE CERTAIN IN SPRING
The Seattle-Ketchikan-Juneau
air service will become a reali
ty before the summer of 1929,
according to Ralph Sandbank,
a representative of the Union
Air Lines, who recently arrived
in Juneau in connection with
the enterprise, after a satis
factory survey of Ketchikan,
where sentiment was entirely
favorable to the project, ac
cording to the Juneau Empire.
The company was organized
last August and is a consolidat
ion of the Capital Air Lines of
California and the West Coast
Air Transport, both of which
have been operating airplanes
on regular schedules on the
Pacific Coast for several years.
The planes employed are to
be of the Sikorsky amphib
ian type, with two motors,
which are capable of sustain
ing flight with only one motor
working. The ships are strong
ly built and able to stand
heavy seas when on the water.
Twelve passengers can be ac
commodated, with the pilot,
navigator and mechanic, in ad
dition to 2,000 pounds of
freight or express. The ships
also carry radio outfits and
will keep contact with shore
stations at all times.
The route from Seattle north
will be over the regular steam
ship passage. Trips wiH be
made from Seattle to Juneau
in about 9 hours, with a stop
over at Ketchikan. The fare,
although not definitely decid
ed, will be about $60 to Ket
chikan and $80 to Juneau from
Seattle. A ship will leave the
Seattle and Juneau terminals
every day during the summer
months and winter service will
be maintained as business justi
fies. The ships will also carry
mails, Postoffice officials hav
ing already stated that air mail
contracts will be let to com
pany when the service is un
der way. It is estimated that
an Alaska air mail would pay
from the start at the same rate
of postage as prevails in the
States.
The proposed service is not
without local interest, princi
pally owing to the prospect
that local mail forwarded by
air mail from Ketchikan will
reach the States in 18 or 20
hours after leaving Hyder, al
lowing 12 hours or so for
transportation to Ketchikan
and six to eight hours from
Ketchikan to Seattle.
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Up to the end of August, in
terior mines had produced
about 81,000 tons of coal as
compared with 104,000 tons
for all of 1927. It is estimated
that this year’s output will
reach 120,000 tons and may;
possibly, exceed that figure.
-o
The extent of the interest in
the Alaska Juneau gold mine
is indicated by the circum
stance that recently its stock
ranked among the first five in
i the volume if shares sold on
i the New York Stock Exchange.
MARMOT METALS
EXTENDS INTERESTS
Marmot Metals, is deveolping
into a holding as well as as an
active mining organization by
obtaining control of the treas
ury stock and properties of
promising companies. In addit
ion to the original holdings of
the Marmot Metals, on Mar
mot River, the company holds
options at present on the treas
ury and property of the Glac
ier Girl Mining Co. on Glacier
Creek, an option on the traes
ury stock of Bitter Creek
Mines, which in turn holds an
option on two thirds of the
capital stock of the Black
Hills Mining Co., Glacier
Creek, and also an option on
all treasury units of the Mel
vin Syndicate, of the Marmot
section.
SNOW AN AID TO
ELECTRIC PROSPECTING
An interesting: discovery in
connection with the new elect
rical system of prospecting is
that the presence of snow on
the ground under survey is an
aid rather than a handicap to
operations. In fact it has been
found in several instances that
electrical surveys can often
be completed in winter in much
less time than during the sum
mer. This is due primarily to
the fact that snow tends to
provide less difficult traveling
conditions than are found in
the periods when the ground is
bare, according to outside
mining publications. The less
difficulties in the way of trav
el, the faster the time made on
the survey.
The Radiore Company of Can
ada is said to have covered as
much as 45 acres per day in
winter surveys in Eastern Can
ada, although the average in
that section is about 20 acres,
per day. Surveys in British
Columbia indicate an average
of about 10 acres per day.
«•
FLU EPIDEMIC AT HOONAH
Three hundred cases of influ
enza, many of them serious, I
were reported at Hoonah, In
dian village on the north coast
of Chichagof Island, on De
cember 17. In addition to the
300 Indian cases reported, a
number of whites were also af
fected, some of whom were
critically ill. The gravity of the
situation was increased by an
almost entire absence of drugs
and medical supplies. Only one
physician and one nurse were
combatting the epidemic at
that time and the former was
also ill with the flu but man
aged to keep going. The Ter
ritorial Board of Health was
taking active steps to relieve
the situation, although flu con
ditions in Juneau necessitated
calling volunteer nurses. Hoo
nah is the first Indian village
to report a flu epidemic and
others are almost certain to be
similarly affected.
HONESTY PREVAILS IN
TOWN OF HYDER
When the business section of
the town of Hyder was de
stroyed the latter part of June
this year, Ray McCormick of
Douglas and Frank Metcalf of
Juneau were stopping in a
hotel in the heart of where the
fire broke out. They were out
in the field surveying and
when the fire occurred one of
the residents of the town rush
ed to their room and threw all
their clothes out of a window
and then he was obliged to
jump from the burning build
ing. Returning to town the
two surveyors were taken to a
log house about two blocks
away where everything was
thrown together and they
found two suitcases which con
tained field notes and maps
and some clothing. Thinking
that the balance of their cloth
ing had been burned they
thought they were fortunate in
saving this much.
Two weeks ago Mr. McCor
mick received a letter from
Hyder stating that some
clothes had been found and
that they might belong to him
or Metcalf, and when he sent
word for them to be sent to
Juneau they arrived on the
Alameda Tuesday. When the
box was opened Ray found
two suits of clothes, one be
longing to him and the other
to Metcalf. In Ray’s inside
coat pocket was a bill fold—
the amount of money not being
stated by him—and the suit
belonging to Metcalf contained
an Elk’s pin, stick pin and fire
man’s badge. Frank says that
he wouldn’t have cared about
losing the pins and the badge
but he sura hated to part with
the cigar.—Stroller’s Weekly.
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ARMY WILL REMOVE
ITS ALASKA DEAD
The bodies of 44 soldiers and
civilian employees of the army,
now interred in four aband
oned army post cemeteries in
Alaska, will be shipped to the
states next spring, according to
plans of army officials, as re
vealed in correspondence with
Karl Thiele .secretary of Alas
ka.
They will be taken to the
Presidio, San Francisco, and
interred in the military ceme
tery there.
There are nine in the ceme
tery at old Fort St. Michael,
nine at Fort Davis, Nome, five
at Fort Egbert, adjoining the
town of Eagle, on the upper
Yukon river, and 21 at Fort
Gibbon.
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The Pioneers of Alaska have
further increased the comfort
and convenience of their big
hall by covering the floor of
the dining room with heavy
linoleum.
As a result of the numerous
improvements effected during
the past year or so the Igloo
possesses at present one of the
best appointed halls in Alaska.