VOL. I
V
PETERSBURG, ALASKA JANUARY^ 1927.
NO. 26
SPEAKS WITH BROAD EXPERI
ENCE ALASKA EUR Ml
By PERRY A. COLE.
Inspector of American-National
Fox Breeders’ Association
1
Continued from last week
Polygamous mating will be car
iled on more extensively as the
l ancher gets accustomed to it, and
i he semi-circle yards will be a big
help in watching the animals, as
you are able to see every animal at
all times, providing they are not in
holes, which is most of the cases
in Alaska. I think it is a very good
thing for foxes to dig holes, for the
exeicise, but it is my opinion they
should be filled each time before
the animal gets out of sight; as
one lose a fox once-in-awhile
by the ground caving in, and some
times a whole litter. It has been
my system that when the cause of
losing a fox, to keep thinking or
observing until I rectify it; that is
one of the reasons why I use & ma
ternity hospital, cut tushes on
males, use the round bottom nest
box, etc.
1 find a few that are a little dis
couraged with the fur farming
business, but that will be so in any
business. Fur farming is here to
stay, and the ones that observe
and use a little good judgement
will have a very interesting and
profitable business The fur mar
ket will vary, without a doubt, all
markets vary, but they are bound
to Increase La time.-- Silver fox'
is one of the most beautiful furs
. that is known and beauty will win
with our fair sex.
American-National Fox Breeders
Association, 424 McKnight Build
ing, Minneauolis, Minnesota, is run
by its members, and not a profit
organisation, and the .$10.00 for
membership dues is money well
.pent and has a lot to do about ad
vancing the business. To members
of the association, the registration
is $2.00 less on each fox. The li
NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS
Sealed proposals will T>e received
at the U. S. Engineer Office, Burke
Budding, Seattle, Washington, un
til 11:00 a. m. February 10, 1927,
and then opened, for dredging and
rock removal in Wrangell Narrows,
Alaska. The quantity of materia]
to be removed is estimated as ap
proximately 4,037 cubic yards of
rock and 161,500 cubic yards of
other material, at submarine depths
varying from 13 feet to 21 feet M.
L. L. W. Contract form and maps,
plans and specifications may be ex
amined at U. S. Engineer Offices,
Juneau, Alaska, and Seattle, Wash.
All proposals must be made on
forms and in accordance with in
structions. 1-8-27
It is reported that Marshall
Harvey Sullivan received a letter
from the Department of Justice re
calling the dismissal of Deputy
Marshall Harry L Staser of Anchor
age and requesting his reappoint
ment.
Staser was dismissed for alleged
derogatory remarks about Anchor
age in repeating a remark mad© by
Major Kemp that Anchorage was
a mighty wide open town and that
it was practically impossible to get
any action to shut down dispens
ories of “white mule” and other
high power drinks.
terature that is sent out to each
member per year, costs more for
postaeg than the $10.00 member
i
ship fee, and this literature is
worthwhile.
The Association registered foxes
in Alaska this year, and will next
year; the herd book closes Febru
ary 1st, 1928, and all foxes that
are not registered by that time will
never be eligible for registration
unless their sire, and dam are re
g.siered. I advise every one in
Alaska, that has foxes, to join the
association and apply for registra
tion by July 1st, 1927 so as not
to be left out.
If I can be of assistance to any
one, I will be only too glad to do
so.
Mr. E. P. Walker, of the Biologi
cal Survey, Juneau, Alaska, recog
nizes the advantages of registra
tion for th< Alaskan Far Farming,
and I am sure he will !e only too
C ad to help out in ai y way pas
s'* le. He has done so this year,
and expressed himself for next
?«ar
CHASING FOXES
A shipment of fifty blue foxes to
Dr. R. N. Monahan, of Anoka, Minn,
made its get-away causing the
staging of an unique fox hunt.
Mounted National Guardsmen of
Anoka, Minneapolis and St. Paul,
and citizens and hunters from oth
er places, on skills joined the
search. (Wonder if the hunters
got close enough to put some salt
on the tails?) \
A recent shipment for the town
Wrangell totaling 308 boxes of
salmon to the European market Is
a very good beginning in the fish
export business. And from these
initial shipments it is expected
that an important foreign trade in
connection with fish business will
be developed which will mean
n uch to Wrangell.
C C. Mundy, a well known lo
cal fish buyer, has already made
the following export shipments:
To Antwerp, 20 boxes of salmon.
To Liverpool, 14 boxes salmon.
Tc London, 74 boxes of salmon.
The fourth shipment, consisting
of 200 boxes of salmon, will go to
London, and will be shipped from
Wrangell on the Alameda, sailing
from this port on January 26.
An important export business
for Wrangell in more lines than
cue is slowly but surely coming to
be a reality. Four months ag> tho
big steamship Commercial Quids
tied up at the local Sawmill. dock
io take on a big cargo of lumber
wh.ch was the first shipment of
lumber to go from Alaska to the
Atlantic Coast via the Panmaa Ca
nal. This was in reality a foreign
shipment inasmuch as the cargo
upon its arrival in New York was
divided up and reshipped to vari
ous points In the United Kingdom.
That an export flBh business of
no little importance is already lin
i ed up for 1927 is indicated by the
anouncement of Mr. Mundy that
. he has contracted for the entire
■ cold storage space of the Wrangell
Ice and Storage Company, the com
ing aeasn.—Wrangell Sentinel.
i
Finny inmates of the Kansas fish
hatchery at Pratt, Kansas are re
[ ported as thriving on a diet of
' iodine.
J Several hquariums were treated
with iodine, and comparison show
ed that the growth of fish in those
pools was much more rapid than
J that of the tiny denizens of the oth
j ev reservoirs. The output of the
I hatchery, which totals more than
| a half million “fingerlings” a year,
is expected to increase materially.
It might not be a bad idea for
the Alaska Fish Commission to try
a few barrels of iodine on the fry
they hatch out each year. We might
further suggest that both the Com
mission and Prof. O’Malley spend
a few millions on Mother’s Oats
or some good corn meal, as in the
old days, putting it where the “dogs
humps and reds’ can see it, or else
put notices “Food for fish” or vice
versa and the escapement to spawn
ing ground will take care of the fu
ture, of course by putting in more
traps, and cutting out the seines.
In the army the medical corps
gave the boys iodine for headaches
and “CC’ pills for chilblains. A
treat combination that those in
Rtf SALES
A special sale held on the 30th
oi I*ecember on the Seattle Fur Ex
change showed an active market
on all fresh items excepting wolves,
vhich lacked a demand.
Mink averaged $12.60 with $20
for top price.
Red fox averaged $20.23, and
for tops and best lots, $23. The
three best specimens brought $40.
Muskrat showed an improve
ment.
Flue fox sold very well. One
lot containing all grades brought
$65. The average of the entire
collection was $51.00.
The next sale will be held in Se
attle January 26th.
A record in rock breaking was
set in Juneau recently 'when the
Alaska Juneau mine in a single
shot brought down 5,000,000 tons
of rock. Ten and a half tons of
powder were used in the * blast.
charge of our fisheries have not !
tried on the poor fish, the industry* j
or themselves. We recommend Itj
as a relic of the army.
“DANGEROUS H” REPLIES
ID “HERRING” JOHNSON
Editor The Alaskan - i
Petersburg, Alaska
Dear Sir:
> There has been called to my at
tention a letter by J. B. Johnson,
published in the Presa I wish a
little space in your paper to reply
to the display of ignorance of a
in an more generally known as
‘ Herring” Johnson. I suppose
by virtue of his name he is an auth
ority on herring fisheries. But he
reminds me of the Irish lad in the
Army on parade out of step with
the whole company but when the
platoon he was in passed the point
where his mother was viewing the
boys, she said, “And begorrah, they
are all out of step, but my Pat.”
So Johnson would have us believe
that we are all wrong on this im
portant question but himself.
I will bother about answering
and in dealing in personalities for
the question is above that. I will
go into facts. The run of herring
in Tebencoff and other Chatham
Straits bays is one that must be
met squarely. The run of herring
i i those bays has been growing less
for the past five year? The run
of herring ip the Westward dis
tricts was a complete failure this
summer; the normal winter pack
being 35,000 barrels yet the pack
ers are leaving with a pack of only
4,000 barrels at this writing. *
A Japanese fish buyer and pack
er who was at Ketchikan last sum
mer stated that Japan was facing
depletion of her herring fisheries.
Mr. Johnson Evidently knows
more about the North Sea herring
fisheries than does the American
Consul who stated early this fall
that “owing to reckless fishing, the
industry (herring) was in danger.
That up to August 8, hardly more
than 40,000 barrels of herring had
been salted on the North Coast as
aga-nst 100,000 barrels by that time
last year.”
4 From 18,296 bbls. In 1916, the
Alaska pack increased to 145,326
bbls.. and now averages about 100
COO bbls. a year."-Pacific Fisher
man. I quote further from this or
gan of the Packers: “the output
of herring'oil and meal, which las!
year-amounted to about a million
gallons of oil and meal**will prob
ably be increased this year by ov
er 50 percent, Government figures
for 1923 when ONLY SIX PLANTS
OPERATED—MOST OF THOSE
ON A MUCH SMALLER SCALE
THAN AT PRESENT*"
The State of California through
its Fish Commissioners carried in
to the courts a case against the
California packers of sardines who
were making the same destructive
practices as are the Alaska herring]
packers today. The Packers were
not content with the ruling of the
lower court which upheld the Com
missioners against wasteful prac
tices. so they carried the case be
fore the Appellate Court and there
again lost. Today the California
sardine packers are putting up a
fine pack of sardines and not- wast
ing for fertilizer good food fi3h.
I would recommend that “Her
ring*’ Johnson send to the Cali
fornia courts and get the decision
In that case. It stands in the same
relation to the wasteful practices
lu the herring industry of Alaska.
At least three thousand fisher
men are indirectly dependent on
the herring for their livelihood.
The herring industry supports, ac
cording to the Pacific Fisherman
just 312 persons. The Territory
.an afford to lose the herring indus
try with its questionable benefits
a whole lot better than it can af
ford to lose three thousand fisher
men who outfit here as aainst the
Packers in Seattle, mantain homes
here as against the Seattle “birds”
and tax-payers. 1
It is time that Mr. Johnson get
wise to the fact that he is defend
ing a system that takes value from
'he future of the Territory without
ghing adequate return.
Much more can be said on this
important subject but I believe
lhave said enough to hold Mr;.
Johnsonand other pro-destruction
ists for awhile.
Yours very truly,
DAN ALSTAN.
; Petersburg, Alaska
t( January 2, 1927 ~
Last week we published a letter
from J. R. Heckman of Ketchikan,
in which, he promised to write the
story of a man who almost single
from death. His letter is as fol
lows:
“Christopher C. Thurber was and
is an up-standing six footer. Five
years ago he was running success
fully an orphanage somewhere in
the United States. His Church,
the Protestant Episcopal, released
him to the Near East Relief, that
he might have charge of an orphan
age in northern Turkey. On his
arrival, he found 3,000 orphan chil
dren. He also found orders from
the Near East Relief not to take
any more children because Ameri
ca was tired f giving. It was at
this time that the last great drive
of the Turks began, when more
than a million people were driven
from Turkey chiefly into Greece.
Past Thurber’s Relief Station there
surged 80 to 90 thousand people,
not ten percent of whom ever lived
great mass of suffering humanity
to get to the Coast. Out of this- I
Mr. Thurber gathered up 4,000
children and for eight months fed
the 7,000 children out of funds
i
supposed to be adequate for only
3,000.
“One day, on account of an im
aginary crime, Thurber was beaten
by the Turks into insensibility, the
soles of his feet pounded into jelly
his ribs crushed, and he was left
upcqnscious all night without medi
cal care.
“After he had recovered from
this torture, he and the three Am
erican women with him were
thrown into prison because they re
fused to pay a $5,000 income tax
on their combined salary of $2,800.
One of the women went insand,
Thurber was unconscious with ty
phus. A relief worker trying to
come to their rescue died in the at
tempt
‘ After being freed from prison.
rl hurber was ordered to leave T>u
key taking with hii the 6,000
children for whom he caring.
Over two ranges of u
through the snow he brought oat
his children, some on foot, the 111
tie ones on the backs of horses and
donkeys, without the loss of a sing
le child.
Upon recovering he went back to
to find thousands of refugees dying
of typhus, typhoid, cholera, small
pox and scurvey. He lived among
them day after day and thousands
owe their lives to this man's cour
age.
“Broken by his experiei he re
turned to America for a 4 but
is now back in Greece an.< the
children for whom he repeat w
lisked his life. He finds tr.
living in mud huts, holes in tli
ground, and sleeping on be floors
or m the lofts of factor.?? where
ih *y fork and earn ju\<u’. c 'five t<
thirty cents a day w5*-! 1,' r.u eo«
as high or higher than they are h
Alaska. He is establ horn*
for these boys where they can rnake
a 'i: ctisful fight against renercu
losio and other diseases which
have been ravaging them. He is do
ing two men’s work or more every
cay and is giving all of 1:1s own
meagre funds to relieve '*•«: suffer
ings of the boys. He ?-k? only
•’or funds sufficient to encourage
•.he boys, as they make such a he
re c fight to support themselves
To me, Thurber is the Near East
Relief and the least we an ’o is
to untie his hands and l ke it
possible for him to rescue ' boys
who are fighting so valian _ for
tl^eir places, in the world.
Yours very truly,
, . , J. R. Heckman,
The Alaska and Western Wash
ington Near , Relief Headquarters
are at 339 Burke Building, Seattle,
HI SCHOOL
PAPER GONIES1
Opportunity to take advantage
of the benefits afforded by the Co
1 imbia Scholastic Press Assaciation
of Columbia University, New York
City, is presented to Alaska high
si hods which publish newspapers
or magazines (uot annuals). The
A ssooiation holds an annual con
vention at which school newspapers
and magazines from all parts of the
United States are exhibited. Prizes
and other awards are made to su
perior publications . The next con
vention will be held on March 11
and 12, 1927. Mr. Joseph Murphy
Secretary of the Association, has
invited Alaska high schools to par
ticipate. If a sufficient number of
high schools submit publications in
the contest it is possible that a
special certificate for the best high
school paper in Alaska may be
arded.—Alaska School Bulletin.
LOCAL CANNERYMAN SUED
FOR DIVORCE
.Mrs. Henrietta G. Archibald Ailed
suit here (Seattle,) yesterday for
divorce from Ernest Schoenwald,
head of the Petersburg Packing
company, charging that “March IS
he began and practiced a course oi
systematic and studied abuse of ai
unusual, brutal character."—Ketch
ikan Chronicle.
. “DO UNTO OTHERS” . . .
Judgie^ Ritchie fired Cmmission
er Arthur- G. Thompson from his
office in Anchorage because he
(.Ritchie) thought that “official pa
tronage ought to be passed around.
I have numerous friends I would
like to do something for, but the
hardest part of parcellin out pa
tronage is choosing between
friends.” He declared in his let
ter to Thompson that “your work
has been entirely satisfactory.”
Just a case of a carpetbager pass
ing out his last gasps.
HELG OK AS
ly Erling J. Peterson, 18 year old
youth, admitted having assaulted
a sixteen year old whit© girl. He la
tei made a complete confession, giv
ing details of the crime to U. S.
Marshall Humber <Jf Ketchikan^
The victim of his attack identified
him in the Commissioner’s court.
He was bound over to the next
grand Jury sitting with bail set at
, $2,500.
It is believed that the young man
is the victim of a deranged mind.
' *'■' --
f- The Ketchikan Alaska Native
i games with the local Hi and Town
- teams for next week. See The
Alaskan for arrangeemnts.