VOL. I
PETERSBURG, ALAS]
NOVEMBER 19 1926
NO. 19
“MEDICINE MAN DIES”
“Gambier Bay Jim” last of the j
old “medicine men” or “witch doc- j
tor” is dead. He passed on to the j
land of the unknown on the 10th j
ot this month. He vras buried at
Taku Village near Juneau.
“Gambier Jim” was of the old
school of Indians and raised under
a system of discipline no longer fol
lowed. Tor many years he was un
compromising in his attitude to
ward the white settlers. He claim
ed Gambier Bay as his heritage and
would not permit any one to fish
beyond a certain line. Those who
insisted on fishing in this “closed
area” had their nets pulled up un
til they made appeal to the Bureau
of Fisheries. Since that time he
gave way to the tide of civilization
which did not stop at his demand.
Jim had peculiar psychic powers
that were beyond the comprehension
and understanding of modern civi
lisation in Alaska. Such powers as
were demonstrated by him, if car
ried further would stump the late
magician Houdini. As a man able
to cure, many had no faith in his
powers. But as a seer, he might
have been a credit to Juneau, that
being the only town that has a for
tune teller taking in the shekels
from the gullible.
WESTWARD
Frank Finnegan and George Ken
nedy hare a muskrat farm near Mile
106 on the Alaska Railroad which
thtey believe will begin to bring
them a good income within a few
years. The 20-acre farm is entirely
enclosed by fences. A large part
the of the area is occupied by a
take. The number of muskrats now
on the farm is estimated to be be
tween four and five thousand. —An
chorage Times.
The following tabulation of the
returns from the late election are
the final figures as there are only
four small precincts remaining un
counted; which precincts ars Sha
kan, Salt Chuck, Tokeen and Ba
rauoff. The following figure* five
th# relative position of the different
candidates:
FOR DELEGATE
Marquam 2378
Sutherland 8533 -
FOR SENATOR
Batcheller 581 -
Shattuck 2258
Steel 2554
FOR REPRESENTATIVE
Benjamin 2992
Ferguson 2908
Gurr 2445
Hardy 2459
Kubley 2567
Locken 2371
Paul 2808
Worth 2800
Ivey Owens was slightly hurt
Wednesday evening while coasting
down Post Office Hill.
halibut season
On November 16 th the season for
f«Mu ghalibut ended not to open
again until February 1ft, 1127. The
fleet has been busy working its way
to the markets and are now return
ing to home ports.
A survey of prices this year show
that Ketchikan has paid higher
prices than ever before. The urge
for closing the Rupert port.prevent
<d by Mr. Sutherland, show* the cor
rectness of his position in that com
petitve prices and not regal statute
would make Ketchikan the mart for
American fishermen. The urge for
largei embargo on shipment of hali
but does not look lika a wis« more
to some at this time. In thfe mean
time the vessels are all returning
and being laid up for the winter and
the crews reporting a good season
*
this year.
The hailbut schooner Norco
punctured her bull v i.en she went
3U a rock while being beached for
repairs to her propeller at Ketchi
kan recently. Part of her cargo of
Srh wag damaged. Temporary re
p/.irs wv3 mad© and th ) w,.ssel tow
3d to Si fie fdr complete rpairs.
We take it that the different ma
i.'ae war and shipyards of Alaska
a.ie not competent to handle this
w*rk Else why should the repairs
h,« done in 5©attl%
The Portlock which was wrecked
ast year wag taken to Seattle for
repairs and no consideratin given
the Petersburg marine ways who
T.ade a bid for the Job. Th© Pe
tersburg Packing company which
pays the immense sum of $8,000
for doing business im Petersburg
spent $14,000 repairing: their boats
n Seattle last year. Every bit of
which work could have been done
last as wall im Petersburg as not.
The resident pays the greatest
part of the burden of government
tnd he pays it the year around. Vis
ting capitalists spending ‘‘$100,000
a Petersbar* to “Ishermen” pay a
:&x on a plant assessed at $60,000.
rhe company would not take that
mount for their fleet of boats let
ilone the equipment for operating
their cannery and manufacturing
»nd trad© eight.
Furthermore, the Petersburg Pack
ing company comes to town and
aa a special favor te the town offers
to tak© a certain amount of electri
city provided they are given prefer
fcrential rate over tk© citizens who
have put in the plant and are pay
ing the major shar* ©f interest on
bonds against the plant.
Hurrah for th© paeking company.
The bigger it gets the lower the
tax and the more favor must we
grant them. After awhile they will
wonder what right we have to ilve
at all in Alaska.
In the meantime the way to build
up Alaska in general and Petersburg
in particular, is to send all repair
work to Seattel; ordtr all groceries
and supplies from Seattle; do all
yonr banking in Seattle. In fact
invest in Sears, Roebuck bonds and
throw © few “bones” to local busi
ness and call it developing Alaska.
Freight, not handshaking, brings
Letter steamer service to our ports.
i
LEGIONNAIRES
ENTERTA
On Tuesday* evening the Peters
burg American Legion boys royally
entertained their wives, daughters,
s)*u*rg and sweethearts in the Sons
cf Norway Hall.
The #vening’s entertainment was
considerabyl diversified; everyone
enjoyed a couple of hours of cards,
aud then the boys served delicious
refreshments which they had pre
pared entirely by themselves. After
dinner speeches were then called for
aud a delightful birthday cake was
brought in and presented Mr. Ed.
I.ocken who was quite surprised to
find himself in the limelight. Mr.
Cornelius then called upon the De
partment Commander, Mr. Fred Nel
son, to explain the real reason for
the gathering, which was to obtain
th* sentiment of the iac’ies of Pe
tersburg who are associated with
the Legionnaires, in regard to their
desire to organize an Auxiliary.
The majority of the ladies pre
sent were so enthused that they de
cided to meet on Tuesday evening at
the home of Mrs. Fred Nelson and
formally petition for a charter. The
membership in the American Legion
is limjted to wives, sisters, daught
ers of members of the American
•'•an Legion, and - to the mothers,
v ives( sisters, and daughters of all
men and women who were in mili
tary or naval service of the United
Spates between April 6, 1917, and
November 11, 1918, and who died
iu line of duty or after honorable
discharge; and to those women who
of their own right are eligible to
membership in the American Le
gion.
After the ladies had decided Up
on the time and place of their meet
ing. the boys cleared out the tables
and the rest of the evening was
spent in dancing. Mr. Fred Nelson
ad Miss Ruby Peterson gave a solo
exhibition of the Scow Bay Waltz,
but everyone joined in heartily on
the Circle Two Step and the tag
dances. All ladies acclaimed the
party a most enjoyable affair and
the Legionnaires the most royal of
hosts.
EPUBLid
A recheck o# results of the past elec
tro* shows that the Dcmicrats gain
to seven seats in the senate. The
division of the Senate now stands:
Republican 5 4, Democrats 40,
Farmer-Labor 1, vacancy 1. Count
ing Progressive Republicans, the
old guard has 48, democrats 47,
farmer-labor 1.
Total membership of the House
is 431. The political division of
that body being 246, Democrats 182
farmer-labor 3, socialists 2, vacan
cies 2.
MEASLES AI
Tha schools tk Anchorage wefe
closed for a few days the first part
cl the month due to the fact that
the superintendent and two of the
ttaching force were sick with the
measles.
f
G
The petition to Congress protest
ing the wanton waste and destruc-!
tion of herring has received over
a thousand signatures from fisher
men, businessmen and residents of1
the Territory. The various Commer
cial have put their seal of approval
upon the protest and copies are be
ing returned to Dan Alstan, origin
ator of the protest. The local com
mercial Club has not yet taken
any positive action on this import
ant subject.
ri oo much credit cannot be given
“Dangerous Dan’’ for the part he
has taken in printing and circulat
ing this protest. A man without
means, backing or organization, he
has sucessfully engineered this pro
test and secured the approval of all
fishermen and every businessman
who has given the matter unbiased
thot has also put his sign of approv
al upon it. Glory to Dan. May his1
name go down in Alaska history as
one who without financial aid of any
kind has successfully preserved to
posterity one of Alaska’s greatest
assets—the herring.
Thursday evening, November the
18th, at a meeting at the home of
Mrs. Fred Nelson, a group of wo
men organized an American Legion
Auxiliary, and petitioned the Na
tional Executive Committee for a
charter. The purpose of this or
ganization is the same as that of
the American Legion.: “To uphold
and defend the Constitution of the
Cnited States of America; to main
tain law and order; to foster and
perpetuate a One Hundred Per Cent
Americanism; to preserve the mem
oiies and incidents of oilr associa
tion in the Great War; to inculcate
a sense of individual obligation to
the Community, State, and Nation;
to combat the Autocracy of both the
classes and the masses; to make
Pight the master of Might; to pro
mote good will and peace on earth;
to safeguard and transmit to posteri
t the principles of Justice, Freedom,
and Democracy; to consecrate and
sanctify our comradeship by our de
'lion to mutual helpfulness."
Those eligible to membership are
indicated on another column. If
there should be any women in Pe
tersburg who is eligible for mem
bership in the Auxiliary ^ who have
nit already been invittd ti join, pou'
are cordially urged to notify any
ntomber of the organization.
The officers elected for the en
suin gyear are: Mrs. J. A. Mtnden
hall, President; Mrs. J. E. Isom,
Vice-President; Miss Ruby Peterson
Secretary; Mrs. Dan Thompson,
Treasurer; Mrs. William Dunkel
berger, Historian; Mrs. Gabe Sath
tr, Sargeant-at-Arms; and Mrs. Ed
ward Locken, Chaplain.
-)
.< EDAR PLANT PLANNED _
. The Seattle . Chamber . of Com
merce recently announced that a
mill would be installed at Shrimp
Bay, near Ketchikan to handle yel
low cedar for export.
. 1 he new concern, will operate un
der the name of the Alaska Cypress
Assiciation, plans to develop a mar- j
ket for the manufactured lumber..
"Uncle Joe” Cannon, died on No
vember 12 after an illness of about
a year. He did not vote thi3 year
the first time since 1860 when he
cast his first ballot for Abraham
Lincoln. As a leader in the House
of Representatives he was without
equal. A strong parliamentarian, he
knew every trick of the game and
used it to advantage. Quick think
ing, good debater, he drove many
a measure through by tenacity of
purpose and skill.
He was buried Tuesday at Dan
viie, his home town.
1
'-.*/? r —
Those who have thought Nome a
dead cantp^re very much mistaken
according to the recent report of
the United States Deputy Collector
of Customs of that town. In his re
port he says that gold shipments up
to November had increased $400,
000 over the previous year.
It is being reported that new
can ps are being opened up and the
d strict getting on a more permanent
basis than ever before.
Three men on a plaine had a bat
tle of their lives when the plane
fell into the Kuskokwim river
with nearly $100,000 worth of gold.
The river was full of ice making
rescue work most difficult. Climb
ing onto the wings the men remain
there'for more than a nhour before
they were gotten off. The engine
of the plane stopped suddenly before
the plane had gotten high enough
to glide to safety.
AVIATORS WHO CIRCLED GLOBE
. TO BE DECORATED BY JAPAN
The six aviators who circled the
globe in 1924 have been awared de
corations by the Japanese govern
ent. They will receive the investi
ture and medals shortly.'
Two cases of smallpox have been
reported by Dr. E}. W. White, Supt.
f the Port Gibbon Hospital. Precau
tions are reported to havQ been tak
en to prevent spreading of the dis
ease.
Governor George Parks yester
issued the following Thanksgiving
Proclamation:
Annually the people of the Unit
ed States pause for a day and give
thanks to Almighty God for his
manifold blessings. In observing
this custom we express our grati
tude to God for his guidance which
has enabled us to continue for
another year as a nation blessed
with peace and prosptrity.
The President of the United
States, having designated Thursday
the twenty-fifth day of November,
nineteen hundred twenty-six as
Thanksgiving Day;
Tin refore, I. George A. Parks,
Governor of the Territory of Alas
ka, in conformity therewith, do
hereby summon all people of Alas
ka to the sincere observance of this
anniversary and recommend that
they cease their usual occupations
and assemble in their homes or
their accustomed places of worship
a ad there give thanks to God for
the many blessings which he has
bestowed upon us mindful that Alas
ka has prospered during the year
and that we* have not suffered from
the scourge of pestilence nor the vi
si tat ion of calamity.
Let this Thtfhksgiving Day be ob
served in a reverent spirit express
ive of the offlritual faith and pro
found gratitude to God.
Given under my hand and seal of
the Territory of Alaska in Juneau,
the capital, this eighteenth day of
November in the year of our Lord
One Thousand Nine Hundred Twen
ty &ix and of the Independence of
the United States of America, the
One Hundred Fifty First.
SIGNED - GEORGE A. PARKS,
Governor.
SIGNED - KARL THEILE,
Secretary of Alaska
4
i
fj
if
The Alaska Native Convention for
is now past history. “The
“political organization’’ fixed it up
to defeat ail future candidates of
«uwu Walker Troy. The gathering
of the Clans was reported as being
a successful one and meaning much
for the future.
The officers for the ensuing year
are Rev. Sam G. Davis, Kasaan,
president; George Haidant, Hyda
Lurg, Vice-President, James Gibson,
Plaines, Secretary; William H. Lew
is, W rangell, Treasurer.
A committee of three was ap
pointed to direct the affairs of their
printing plant and to audit the
hooks.
W'e call to the attention of the
Press of Alaska and to the Empire
in particular that the Brotherhood
is directing its own affairs without
the “Paul” family dictating the po
licies. The offiicers are all capable
men and wil lcontinue the platform
outlined in previous c onventions
and thet platform of this yeaij.
The policy of opposing the trap
and hatchery system remains un
changed and will continne to be
fought until the proper solution for
the conservation of fish and popula
tion is found. Human rights vs,
Vosted rights—which will win?