VOL. 2
PETERSBURG, ALASKA DECEMBER 30, 1927
NO. 25
From the Club
of Commerce
At tilt regular meeting in the
Club Dining Room of the Grand
Cafe the Petersburg Commercial
Club got down to the usual grind
on tbe evening of the 28th.
There was a communication from
the Governor’s office relative to
depredatorc animals and a statement
that R. K. Stewart, U. S'. Depreda
tory Animal Hunter, will be in Ju
neau in January and that if suffi
cient interest were taken in wolf
destruction it rould be possible to
have Mr. Stewart visit Petersburg
bearing on the trapping and killing
of these enemies of wild game.
There was also a letter from the
Game Commission office, Juneau, re
lative to the stocking of trout lakes
This was in connection with a pre
position that hud been handled
the Commercial body. The Game
Commissioner's letter was to the ef
fect that tlie stocking of any pond
or lake or stream with young trout
would have to be through the U. J.
Bureau of Fisheries, although the
initial move w'ould have to be with
the Alaska Division of the Bureau
of Fisheries. No particular drive
made at this time to go on writh the
idea, but it wmuld be advanced at
an early date.
There was a communication from
Tenakee on the herring question
This was inclosed with return of pe
tition sent out from the city with
signatures attached. There are
still a number of petitions out and
the Club would like very much to
have them signed up and mailed in
as soon as possible.
A letter from Mr. E. Schoenwald,
of the Petersburg Packing Co., had
to do with the dredging project of
mud and gravel shoals in front of
town. The gist of thi3 communica
tion was the recommendation that
the wrork continue toward the deep
ening the water front.
There was a proposition from a
Mr. E. E. Wallace of Clinton, Iowa,
(P. O. Box 928) that gave an oul
line of an air ship service taking in
Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg
and Juneau, and possibly, Seattle
later. This Mr. Stewart wras at one
time a resident of Fairbanks, but it
appears that the 3cheme of air traf
fic is being promoted in Iowa. The
company is called (already) the
To Restore Property
There will soon be a bill intro
duced in the Hou3e of Representa
tives providing for the return to
former American enemies $264,000
000 worth of property. The bill is
expected to pass the Senate March
1st.
The Annual Feast
Up io 'he Tate Hotel last l ues .ay
even.Mj there gathered ar.‘ r»i a
foo, lacien table the annual assem
blage of Earl Ohmer and his anti* rs.
The^s occasions are romethiug more
than t astronomic for the y- v a
work comes up for review and pla »
for the year ahead are gone over.
To fact eating is really a side issue
to th* work done find doia*. but
so ina; jtant, withal, that u> good
wa-wa may be expected whe*v feed
i s scarce.
Chris Tveten local coal dealer re
ports a dearth of King Coal. He er
pects ten ton in tomorrow which
will be only a drop In the bucket is
compared to the demands. The De
nali, sometime in early January,
will be the first coal boat in.
/
At the Lutheran
Church
There was a long, complete and
delightful program at the L ithe»-au
Church last Monday evening Of
course the Christmas tree is the big
thing for the youngsters on tuete
occasions, and the tree at th \ Luth
eran Church was a riot of eo • and
blaze and a cargo of gifts. The
program was made up of childrens’
songs and recitations and a striking
tableau by a dozen or so litt'e folk
represening the story of Bet.h.'om
There were many pretty costumes
in this feature of the evening. The
entire program was gotten up and
carried through by Mesdam-^ Truit:
and Lotsfeldt and a corps of able
assistants. The music was by Mifl3
lsobelle CJoetzman.
on the last day of the year there j
will he a watch meeting at the Lu j
tlieran Church when 1927 will be
given Godspeed on his way and
1928 will be welcomed in. Super
intendant of the Petersburg Schools,
Conrad Bowman, will speak.
There will be services at the
church on the evening of January
1st, 1928.
Has Awakened High-ups
The write up of the Navy in the
Saturday Evening Post by Rear Ad
miral Magruder has put a lot of gold
lace men to rubbing their eyes, and
the big wigs on shore to gasping.
Now there is a House Committee in
vestigating and it has the pen push
ing admiral on the carpet. An the
daughty mariner is sending in as
good as he gets. He says that there
are far too many admirals, too many
navy yards, too many typewriters to
each war vessel, too much of this
and too much of that. He hag a lot
of people naval and otherwise, wor
ried. Probably Rear Admiral Ma
gruder knows exactly what he is
talking about and if he does ,let him
go to it. No harm comes from just
criticism.
I
Alaska Aeronautical Service and la
a stock affair offering both prefer
red and common stock, although
very little of the latter. The com
munications were read and filed. No
action taken by the Club at this
time.
The greater part of the evening
session was taken up in discussion of
the proposed dredging project; what
had been done, what is doing and
what remained to do. Practically j
all of the exhibits, charts, literature I
and drawings were ready to forward j
to "Washington, D. C. In fact the
next southbound steamer will likely
carry the completed plans as a start
on their way east.
There was the usual Club attend- ^
I
ance.
HIS OWN COUNSEL
Young Hickman, the butcher,
wants to be his own counsel wheu
he comes before tht court in Los
Angeles. There is that much saved
if he should an<L he probably will
hang himself just as quickly as if
he had a dozen attorneys.
ON A CHRISTMAS VISIT
Ellery Carson and wife journeyed
over c Wrangell to visit >.v« the
holidayi.
Mr. • nd Mr?. Willian Dunkeloorg
er a' i family were, also, Wrangel'
visitor for the Chr’stmas period.
The* i cturned Tuesday even 4
Touching on 1928 Regulations
Alaska Fisheries
A complete text of the new Fish
eries Regulaitnos is now in print
and in circulation. The new rulings
become effective January 1st 1928.
In 118 closely limited places, speci~
fled, traps are allowed In the south
eastern area. In 25 limited places
traps are allowed in the Prince Wil
iliam hound area. There will he, ap
proximately, 160 fewer traps in the
Is. li.. Alaska waters. The following
use by such ctrc‘ menody-fi.AZ
aie excerpts from the regulations:
“The total aggregate length of gill
nota on any salmon fishing boat, or
in use by suchc boat, shall not ex
ceed 250 fathoms hung measure.
“Stake and anchored nets shall nt
optrated in substantially a straight
line.”
“No salmon flshine boat shall car
ry or operate more flan on» ntin*
of any dtschiption, v i no adi lonal
net of any kind shau be carreu on
such boat. No pree sei:: -3 shall
be less than 175 meshes nor mor° j
taan 250 meshes deep, nor less thnn j
150 fathoms nor more than 200 1
fathoms in length, by cork measure.'
No leads to seines permitted Mesh
es are measured on a basis of 3*4
inches stretched measure.”
“Commercial fishing for salmon,
except by trolling, is prohibited pri
or to 6 o'clock antemeridian July
15th in each calendar year.” (This
for the Prince of Wales Island Dis
trict ). In the southern district—
all waters south of the 57th parallel
of north latitude, exulusive of the
Stickeen River and Prince of Wales
Island Dictrict herein described.
‘‘Commercial fishing for salmon, ex
cept by trolliny, is prohibited prior
to 6 o’clock antemeridian June 25th
in each calendar year; from 6 o’clock
j postmeridian August 18th to <i
j o’clock post meridian September
114th, in each year, and for the re
mainder of each calendar year after
6 o’clock postmeridian October
>5th.”
‘The taking of salmon for fos
shall be considered as commercial
fishing and subject to all of the limi
tations in respect thereto.”
The regulations are rather long
and receiving them late, we havent
bad the time to go thoroughly thrd
them. So far as we’ve gone we see
no mention of the trapping area
along the south shores of Admiral
ty, upper Chatham Straits nor in
waters north of Frederick Sound.
On the surface of things it looks like
the cannery traps are STIL PRET
TY WELL PROTECTED
Articles Filed
Articles of incorporation have
been filed for the Washington-Alas- *
ka 't ransportation Company of Se
attle. Capitalization, $13,000. In
corporators, I. Revig and C. E.
Smith.
AMUSEMENTS OF THE 25TH
There were parties, exereise3, holi
day festivals and heavy eats rampant
in the city this holiday season. The
recitations, dialogues and plays at
the Public School were real nice
Christmas affairs. The entertain
ments were all enjoyable gatherings
and a deal of Christmas spirit pre
vailea. Although there isn’t the
money in circulation this holiday
time that there is usually on Decem
ber 25, it seems that there was
enough to make the 1927 Christmas
one to remember.
Punched Bottom Out
C. O. Parks came down from
Coney Island for the Christmas
week. He moored his gas boat over
near the cold storage building and
when the tide fell, shortly after,
the boat settled down on an old oil
drum and a chunk of the vessel’s
bottom was cut away. This necessi
tated running the boat on the grids,
so a portion of Mr. Park’s holiday
went in boat repair, and in this sort
of weather there are lots of things
more agreeable than that. i
Touched Bottom
The Alaska Steamship Company’s
S. S. Lakina, after taking on coal at
Ladysmith, B. C., steamed out into
the pass and hit bottom. For n time
it wasn’t known how badly she wa*
injured, but it seems now, since the
vessel was floated off, that the injur
ies are not severe. However, the De
nali will take the Lakina’s cargo
and transport it north. This change
will delay arrival of cargo here *ev
eral days.
A White Christmas
The city’s appearance on Christ
mas Eve was anything but inviting
The remnants of a prior snow fall,
sooty, ragged and miserably dirty
lay in grimy hummocks, shoveled
windrows and plastered patches all
over town. But on the forenoon of
Christmas Day, as if to make a neat
er appearance, Nature spread 3 or
4 inches of new and clean snow in
discriminately around and the gen
eral aspect was greatly improved. To
be sure it would have been much
more agreeable had there been no
snow at all, but a nw layer was such
an improvement over the soiled
leavings of other 3torms that it was
gladly accepted.
A BA1) EXPLOSION
At the Peter Skog resdence, in
which at the present time the Lar
son family is living, there was an
explosion, Thursday morning, that
came pretty near being disastrous.
It sems that one of the heating coils
of the stove got plugged with ice
and rust and shortly and shortly af
ter the fire was started in the morn
ing the big blow up took place. The
force of the explosion was so 3evere
that the big plate windows were
blown out, the stove was wrecked
and there was more or less other
damage around the room. Fire and
ashes dere trofn all over the house.
The little lad, Hendrik Larson, was
standing close to the stove at the
time. He was thrown down and
bruised and suffered scalds on face
and hands. At the time of the ac
cident, Mr. Larson was working
with Mr. Carlson in the former's
new house and he was soon at the
scene of trouble. With the rooms
full of smoke and ash dust, the im
pression was that the house was
afire and an alarm was truned in.
However, Mrs. Larson saw the dan
ger of fire immediately following
the burst and began picking up thi
scattered roals and tossing them
outdoors. In this bit of heroic
work she had her hands burned
severely. In a room like this, and
so many so close around the stove,
it is in deed fortunate that the ac
cident la no worse.
The Coal Burner
5. $. Mercer
After a deal of experimentation
the U. S. Shipping Board vessel Mer
cer went out on a trial trip witn
newly pulverized coal burners be
neath her boilers. This is really the
first actual sea test made althougn
for some time stationary equipment
has been using pulverized coal suc
cessfully. The boat went through
all sorts of severe tests in rough
water and so well did everythin?
work that the ship was immediately
loaded for Rotterdam soon as the sea
trial wa3 over. Under the burning
lives, was cleared of negligence bj
Mercer had to have four boilers to
supply power to the engines. Wito
pulverized coal she went thrugh the
test with two boilers and only toe
two will now be necessary on her
cargo voyages. The running ex
penses in the engine department will
be cut down to below that of average
Deisel machine costs.
Not for Pigs
The Game Commission had some
hay unloaded at Petersburg during
the heavy snow some time back. It
is for deer feed should the
weather turn so severe that the ani
mals couldn’t rustle their regular
rations. For some time lately a
number of deer have been sort of
wintering in the brush and timber
back of the upper end of town ana
the other day it was decided to
move a little of the baled product
up there for thm to chew on. The
hay was urned over to Charley West
to distribute, and now it is gossip
ed about that West is using the stuff
as pig feed. It is sometimes easier
for people to talk than to make an
endeavor to find out the truth of
a hing. In this particular case the
chatterers are mistaken. The hay
wa-s distributed for the deer.
! ___
DOWN AT THE BIG DITCH !
6,073 sea-going vessels passed j
through the Panama Canal for the
fiscal year closing June 30th, 1927.
The revenue amounted to $18,132,
819. A net profit of more than a
million dollars was made in auxil
iary service.
. . A HOLIDAY DISAGREEMENT .
Down the vicinity of Sing Lee's
store, the other night, a number of
young fellows got into an argument
as to whether snow flakes were pure
cotton, bleached shoddy or white
wool. The wordy war wound up in
a muscular demonstration that
strethced one or more out on the ma~
terial they were arguing about
There was no particular harm done,
however, and snow remains the same
stuff it always has been.
Died Last Night
Little Eddie Hante died last night
of pneumonia. For some time the
boy had been severely ill with the
whooping cough, and when lung
congestion came on top oc that'it
became more than he could live jup
to and he passed on. His parents,
who were out on Dorn Island, wer^
notified that the lad was growjhig
worse and they got into tow^^ ou
9 o’clock last evening. Eddft ;as
about 9 years old.
THE ELKS HAVE SOCIAL
At the S. of N. Hall, last Wednes
day evening the Elks had a card
party and dance. There was a good
turn out an all present had an agree
able time. b h
Wants Whats
Due Them
There is a threat to take the bid
of the Albina Marine Works, on
the three lightships that the govern
inent wants constructed, to the floors
of Congress. We don’ know how
many biddere there were, but it
seems that the Albina (Portlandi
bid was the lowest, and an effort is
being made to switch the contract
elsewhere. Senator McNary cham
pions the cause of the Portland in
dustry. It appears odd that when
bids on anything are requested, and
that when bids are made in good
faith, that political juggelry and fa
voritism should climb over honorable
business ethics. Evidently, the ask
ing of bids is mere routine duty and
that political minds were already
made up as to who should have the
jot before the bid was opened. This
political hamstringing is what is de
stroying the efforts of many worth
while enterprises. There is much
to it: If a bid to do a certain kind
of work hasn’t any more considera
tion than the Albina Marine Iron
Works’ bid seems to have, what is
the use of going to the expense of
time and money in making up bids
in the first place? ’Twould be bet
ter, all around, for the government
to build its own ships in its own
navy yards.
The Wealth Rolled In
On December 15th eight foreign
governments paid into the United
States Treasury portions of thei.
debts to this country. Most of these
liabilities were incurred during the
war and payments will go on for a
long time yet. The principal and
interest paid on December 15tb
amounted to $96,544,830. Great
Britain’s payment at this time makes
the tenth semi-annual payment,
for Belgium the fifth, for Czecho
slavakia the fifth, Estonia the(fourth.
Finland the tenth, Hungary the
eighth, Lithuania the seventh and
Poland the sixth.
A Family Row
Eddie Kern, a half caste from Ju
neau, who has been around Peters
burg for some time, mixed it with
his native wife for a Christmas diver
sion and now is in the ba3tile and
the woman is nursing a sore head.
They haven’t gotten-on well togethei
for a long time and their differences
reached the hit and jolt stage the
other night when Kern, after a
wordy battle, swung from the
shoulder and cut the woman’s head
open. He followed this up with an
attempt at knife slashing, but
changed his mind when a Jap neigh
bor halted him with the business end
of a rifle. Then, for a peaceful
night he rambled up to the Jail and
gave himself up.
Shipment of Value
. . Furs to the value of between $25.
000 and $30,000 were taken out by
the Alameda on her last trip south
bound. This lot is a Petersburg ship
ment and marks the first of more
than ordinary worth for the season
TO THE ALASKA STEAMSHIP
The Heffermen dock at Seattle
have been leased to The Alaska
Steamship Company for a period of
12 years. The steamship company
will erect machine shops and ship
repair plant thereon.