Finlander Slips Good New One
Over on Owners of Juneau Mine
Very little evidence of humor is
found in the operation of a mine,
whether it be in Alaska, Africa or
Missouri; but for a real clever slip
over the following which comes from
Juneau has few equals:
In one of the big mines of the Jun
eau district, recently, a Finlander had
a contract to drive three raises from
various points to the surface. The
work was started late last fall and
two raises were completed during the
winter. The last raise being 100 feet
or so longer than the others took
longer to drive. The rock was hard,
and as the raise neared the surface,
the flow of water increased until the
stream in the raise was like a small
waterfall—cold water too. The raise
was driven from an adit, to reach
which from the mine, a pack of per
haps 200 yards was necessary. And
the trail was through deep snow, gen
erally fresh fallen every day. Labor
was almost impossible to get, and to
send a man to the raise, was equiva
lent to giving him a time-check. The
Finn even put in some shifts himself,
packing steel, drilling, packing pow
der, and blasting, alone.
One morning the contractor met
the foreman and announced that “she
was in—snow on the bulkhead." The
measurement on the previous day
showed the raise up 253 feet, which
was about ten feet short of the calcu
lated length, but that was accounted
for by the fact that there could easily
have been six or eight feet of dirt on
bedrock at the surface. The fore
man went up the raise, found snow
on the bulkhead, and took no trouble
to go to the face, which would, he
judged, be loose and dangerous. The
raise was reported as finished and the
contractor was paid in full for the
work.
Two months passed, and on the sur
face no hole appeared in the fifteen
feet of snow that covered the raise.
This was considered so strange that
the raise was investigated and the
face was found to be in solid rock,
with not a sign of daylight. That Finn
had packed that snow up the raise.
After one trip up the raise to the
top, the foreman concluded that the
contractors wasn’t so crazy after all.
Activity Reported at Marshall
New Camp on Lower Yukon
Conditions at Marshall in the Yu- i
kon basin and in the Willow creek dig
gings near Marshall are graphically '
described in a recent issue of the Nome
Industrial Worker.
Marshall or Fortuna ledge post
office, says the Worker, is located on
what is known as Poltes Slough, a
i channel of the main Yukon, in Lat.
61.53 N. Long. 16.20 W., 107 miles in
an air line due south from St. Mich
aels.
It is the landing place for freight
for the Willow creek diggings, there i
being no mining in the immediate;
vicinity of Marshall. On Willow
creek, close to Marshall, where pay
was first found, the pay did not
prove continuous, and no active min
ing is carried on. At Marshall there
are two stores, two saloons, three res- j
taurants, three lodging houses and
a wireless station which can pick up
messages, but has not the privilege
of sending.
There are seventeen women and
eleven children, and they have peti
tioned for a territorial school which
is badly needed.
A telephone line connects the!
town with the landing and Widow !
creek. A fully equipped bank is be- \
ing installed with an assay office in
connection. It is a branch of the
Miners and Merchants Bank of Idi
tarod, with H. L. Hellwig in charge.
From Marshall launches run
through a tortuous slough about
ten miles from Marshall into a lake
at head of which is the Landing'
where all freight for Willow Creek j
is discharged and hauled by teams |
to the creek town, three miles dis-'
tant.
The route is over swampy tundra
where the teams mire to the hubs.
The Divisional Road Commission is
at present engaged in putting in a
corduroy road which is badly needed.
Pay is found at present on the j
upper part of Willow creek, from, j
one below to five below, and five out
fits are at work. In all about 120
1 mn are working. Waskey on one
below is ground-sluicing the t^p and
shoveling in the bottom and Pas
about twenty men working. M’Grath
and Co. are working the upper half
of one above and have about fourteen
men working. Smith, Nelson and
Nellemeyer on No. two above are
stripping the top with a s*eam
scraper and hoisting the bottom with
a self-dumper, employing about 30
men. Henderson and Cockburn on
No. three are ground-sluicing the top
and hoisting the bottom with a self
dumper, employing about twenty
eight men. Nelson and Nellmever on
No. 4 are scraping the top and
hoisting the bottom. Eleven men are
working stripping and about thirty1
when when they are sluicing.
The output for this season is esti
mated to be between $350,000 and
$400,000. The formation seems to
be of igneous origin, greenstone, ba
salt and porphyry predominating,
and there is no wash. Rich ground
it is, but difficult of working, as
most of it is rock. Some of the pits
resemble quarries rather than placer
mines. The work is eight hours per j
day, and $5.00 per day, but there is i
no lack of workingmen, and there are I
about fifty idle men at Willow. No j
rain had fallen for some time, and!
some of the mines would have to close!
down for lack of water. Work was j
late getting under way owing to the ,
deep frost. Little money is in
circulation, and everybody uses the
“slap-her-down” system (expressive
phrase, that) and everybody stands i
everybody else off. A clearing
house will be a necessity of the camp
when money and dust finally gets in
circulation.
SILVER STILL SOARS ALASKA GOLD YIELD
- lor AAA I1T lA1/>
NEW YORK, Aug. 31.—Bar silver
was quoted on the exchange here to
day at 90% cents an ounce, being the
highest price for the metal in many
years.
Complaints as to water shortage on
creeks at and near Nome, continue to
increase. Even the Pioneer Mining
Company with the facilities at its dis
posal has only two lifts running. And
recently there has been a remarkable
falling off in water supply in all
creeks and ditches. Arrivals from var
ious sections state that it will take a
good heavy rain to maintain a water
supply on account of the absence of
snow water in the ground among the
hills to keep the springs running. A
fact is mentioned by one operator that
springs which he has never before
seen run dry are now giving no water, <
and creeks where water on the bed j
rock formerly gave great trouble, arei
now dry.
$10,1£MWU 111 1310
WASHINGTON, Aug. 30.—Alas
ka’s gold production for 1916, accord
ing to official figures issued today by
the federal government, was $16,125,
000.00.
MOLYBDENUM PROPERTY
ATTRACTING ATTENTION
It is reported that the molybdenum
property belonging to Mrs. Court
land, roadhouse keeper at Mile 32%,
has recently been examined by parties
representing large capital, with a
view to purchase. This property is
in the Willow creek district and con
sists of seven claims. The vein is
3aid to be large, carrying good
values in gold and molybdenum.
Samples show an abundance of this
latter metal, which is worth about $2
per pound at present.
*********
******* ,1 ********************************************.^
^ MINING *
>********
Th^ shortage of labor in the'Jun
eau district is fast becoming a serious
matter. The Ready Bullion mill on
Douglas Island has been reduced to
day-shift operation only, to allow all
the available men to be sent under
ground, in an effort to rush develop
ment work on the 2400 and 2600-feet
levels and also to complete the filling
of the old slopes with waste rock,
which is being mined from the foot
wall on the 450 foot level. This filling
of old slopes will avert all possibility
of a disaster in the Ready Bullion
mine similar to that which occured at
the Treadwell mine. The Alaska Gati
neau Gold Mining company is finding
it difficult to keep up the tonnage of
the mine, owing to the shortage of
men. The mine is running with ap
proximately 100 men short. The Al
aska Juneau is suffering o.mil^rly,
though not to the same extent, as
their daily output at nrpspnt is aver
aging but 2000 tons.
Captain Alexander reports having
sold his mining intersts in the Atlin
country for a sum which reaches sev
en figures. This means that several
hundred men will be employed in de
velopment work, and that much trav
el will pass through Skagway and
Carcross. Large shipments of ore
will be sent through Skagway to the
outside for smelting purposes, which
means prosperity for the White Pass
route and increased business for
Skagway’s merchants.
Frank Skeen and Otis E. Harring
ton have returned to Seward after
doing annual assessment work on
their quartz claims at Nika bay. They
brought with them some very rich
samples of quartz from a vein aver
aging about twenty inches in width,
with a pay streak of about five in
ches that will sample $30,000 to $40,
000 a ton, they claim. During the ten
days they were on the ground they
panned out $50 from crushed and
oxidized outcroppings.
John Carlson, who was *jetter
known by his many friends as ‘‘Tom”
to distinguish him from a friend of
the same name, is dead at his home
at Newton, near Ketchikan, of valvul
ar leakage of the heart. He is sur
vived by his wife and four small chil
dren, aged 15 months to 11 years.
Bill Whittridge was in the city a
few days this week and left for his
home in Knik yesterday. Mr. Whit
tridge and his partner, Max Foster,
located claims on Harris creek this
summer that caused a small stam
pede from Talkeetna. The property
is located about sixty-five miles east
of the railroad camp and the discov
erers are enthusiastic over the strike.
They left Knik last February and at
the end of 114 days prospecting
found good prospects on Kid creek
which they traced to the head of the
creek. The locations were made on
the bench lands at the north end of
the Talkeetna mountains almost due
north of Anchorage. Mr. Whittridge
reports that twenty claims have been
located in the district which will be
further prospected next season.
Charles Ketehum filed on three claims
on the extension of discovery and
the ore which he brought to Anchor
age showed very good values.
Angus McDougall, manager of the
Chitina-Kuskalana Copper company,
is in town on business and reports con
siderable activity at the interior miner
tributary to Strelna, says the Cordova
Times. His company has recently in
stalled a complete power line on Kuck
alana river and with a force of about
25 men development is proceeding
satisfactorily.
The Alaska Copper corporation, A.
R. McLeod, superintendent, is con
structing a motor truck road from
Strelna to the camp on Nugget creek,
a distance of 17 miles. Three road
camps have been established and 50
men are employed.
Preparations are being made to
move the Hobon creek dredge to the
mouth of Dexter creek in the Nome
district.
Job printing at The Times office.
The steamer Cordova carried twen
ty-two tons of Alaska tin from the
York region when she departed for
the outside a few days ago. The Val
dez, which sailed some time back
from Y'ork also carried a total of
sixty tons of tin concentrates. To date
a total of one hundred and ten tons of
the crude ore has been forwarded to
the outside markets from York. Most
of the product was mined last year
but could not be forwarded on ac
count of the stormy weather during
the late fall. The consignments rep
resent a considerable value as tin is
quoted at seventy cents a pound in the
outside markets with excellent pros
pects for further advances owing to
the great war time demand.
Harold Wychkoff, the moving pic
ture photographer, who was in Nome
some years ago for one of the large
film producing companies, is at pres
ent in Russia and has been appoint
ed inspector of the American Red
Cross on Russian service. Wyckoff de
parted for Russia during the latter
days of June as head photographer of
the Red Cross mission to Russia and
received his official appointment aft
ci departure from the United States.
! Jafet Lindeberg, president and
-general manager of the Pioneer Min
’ ing company, has finished the usual
1 tour of inspection of the company
I operations near Nome. The trip in
| eluded an inspection of the whole
ditch system upon which considerable
labor has been done during last fall
and this spring.
i
The Alaska Copper Corporation is :
; building an auto truck road from
Strelna to its mine, in order to facili
; tate the transportation of ore to the
: railroad.
—
Earl Hirst, a prospector and trap
I per for several vears in the Slate
i
i creek country, is an arrival in Cor
j dova suffering from severe lacera
tions of the head, inflicted by a large
i brown bear which attacked him in the
interior country. That Mr. Hirst es
caped with his life is due solely to the
! fact of being accompanied by his part
| ner, and also because he himself is i
: an exceptionally good shot.
The Nome Worker states the recent
surf has caused an undertow in such
a way that for miles along the coast
concentrates of four and five inches of
black and ruby sand have been col- [
iected and bared by the back wash
plainly streaking the coast line up to
Sinrock and beyond. This fortunate
! condition has not been overlooked
| and many miners are getting their
j surf washers in position to get the
: gold.
i
The Worker’s informant stated that
some of the beach men were making
more than usually “good money,” es
pecially for the beach. Some miners j
are shovelling in and using gasoline |
engines for pumps. However, the
first storm that comes along may undo
| all the concentration work that the
j water has already effected along the
: beach line.
_
The liquor license of A1 Winkler,
operator of the only public thirst
parlor on Dime Crek has been revok
ed.
The Treadwell Company is push
ing development work in its Ready
Bullion mine, the mill operating only
in daylight now in order that more
men can be put to work under
ground. Men are greatly in demand
at Treadwell, says the Douglas News,
and lack of them is somewhat retard
ing operations. It is expected labor
conditions will slightly improve with
in a few weeks although it is highly
improbable that they will be wholly
satisfactory until there is a change
in conditions which is not expected
during the period of the war.
The Alaskan Gastineau mine for
the last three months has averaged
a daily output of 7200 tons.
The little mining town of Thane
near Juneau now has a first class
band.
Alaska Gold Rush Foretold by
Seattle Paper Fifty Years Ago
Recently, the Seattle Post-Intelli
gencer celebrated the fiftieth anni
versary of its existence as a news
paper. In commemoration of the
event it published a special edition,
and reproduced on the front page of
its modem issue of the present time
the front page of the issue that was
circulated fifty years ago. The paper
printed in 1867 copied an article from
the Oregon Herald that is of interest
to Alaskans of the present day. It
told of conditions then existing in
Russian America, as Alaska was
known at that time.
Under the head of “Russian Amer
ica,” the article follows:
“The Oregon Herald publishes the
following extract from a private let
ter, dated New Archangel, Sitka Is
land, June, 1867:
“I don’t know far to express the im
pressions and information I have re
ceived of this country, fearing the
same may prove erroneous after fur
ther investigation, as it is obtained
from limited opportunities. I shall
therefore be very brief.
“Of this harbor I need say very lit
tle, if you have ever been into that of
Acapulco, as the similarity is very r
great; but perhaps in point of gran
deur and sublimity of scenery this is
its superior. It has depth of water
sufficient for any class of vessels, and
is perfectly land locked from winds
from all quarters.
“Gold is found in nearly all of the
mines, and is also found on this is
land, within ten miles of this place.
The Fur Company have known of its
existence, and have received more or
less of it from the Indians for years,
but have prevented white people from
prospecting as much as possible—that
put an end to their trade. Copper ore
is found in abundance, and said to be
rich. Lead and iron are also said to
have been found. Pine and cedar are
abundant; and I am told there is ar
able land.
“The climate is not as severe as I
had supposed. The governor’s secre
tary tells me that during the nine
years he has been here the mercury
has not been lower than about 15 de
grees below zero. People from the
Webfoot nation will feel perfectly at
home in the humidity of this climate.
“From my standpoint I take in the
surroundings, and am forced to the
conclusion that with all its resources,
mineral, fisheries, lumber, etc., Rus
sian America bids fair to produce
within two years, another excitement
equal to the early days of California.
This opens a new field for enterprise,
and aside from the difference in cli
mate, it follows in a commercial view
close in importance to what California
has been.
“Flour, lard, bacon, hams, butter,
potatoes, eggs, etc., must be brought
here from Oregon and California, and
if the merchants of Portland are alive
to their interests, they will not allow
California to take the start of them in
supplying this country.”
Question of Assessment Suspension
Remains Unsettled at Washington
Miners and prospectors in the An- j
chorage district, as well as those in j
other parts of Alaska and in the min- |
eral states of the Union, are in a quan
dary as to whether congress will enact
legislation doing away with the re
quirement for assessment work on
miniftg claims this year. Because
many young miners come within the
provisions of the selective military
conscription act, a resolution suspend
ing assessment work this year was in
troduced in the senate some time ago
by Senator John F. Shafroth, demo
crat, of Colorado. It was adopted by
NEW PLACER DIGGINGS •
DISCOVERED NEAR SKAGWAY j
—
Rumors of a gold discovery of im- j
portance near Whitehorse have been |
in circulation at Skagway for several [
weeks, but not until the other day
was definite information obtained.
The Skagway Alaskan states that
placer diggings have been found on
Reddick creek, 15 miles southeast of
Whitehorse, and named after Robert i
Reddick. Thie creek is located on a
shoulder of the high mountain range j
east of Whitehorse and at an eleva
tion of between 1500 and 2000 feet
above the valley. Prospects were so
good that McIntosh, Reddick, Charles
Greime and Frank McPhee left White
horse the other morning bound for the
creek and represent a large number
of claim owners. Plans by these men
are to sink shafts to the bed rock and
if results prove satisfactory to op
erate on a large scale. From authen- ;
tee sources in Skagway it is learned ,
that the Pueblo mine, near Whitehorse,
|
is fast being pumped out and drained
of its water. Mining operations are
already in progress and it is expected j
that this copper producing mine will'
again soon be operating on a scale j
equal to that previous to the disaster, j
General Manager Berg is pushing the j
work of reclamation and has reached
the 400 foot level. The government
diamond drill was recovered almost
two weeks ago and is again ready for;
use.
Men are working on two levels in
the Copper King mine, the Mainard ,
drift on the surface and a 90 feet drift
in the tunnel. This mine is producing!
more than a car load of ore per day j
and it is expected it will do consider- j
ably better in the near future. The!
oil plant is in good working order and '
will be connected with a large com- 1
i
pressor.
The Grafter crew is again working
and is mining much rich ore from |
around the former main shaft.
the senate and sent to the house, on
the floor of which it has not yet been
brought up for consideraton.
To learn if the resolution was likely
to be acted on by the house at this
session, the Anchorage Daily Times
sent a cablegram Wednesday to
Charles A. Sulzer, Alaska’s delegate
in congress. The following reply has
been received from Mr. Sulzer:
Reply From Sulzer.
“Shafroth resolution suspending as
sessment work on mining claims pass
ed senate. House committee reported
it to house with amendment and it is
now on house calendar, but is not
likely to be taken up at this special
session unless house leaders permit
consideration of business not strictly
war business.”
Realizing that if the resolution
were not adopted by both branches of
congress at this special session it
would not, in all probability, be adopt- #
ed this year at all, as the regular ses
sion does not convene until next De
cember, the Daily Times immediately
sent messages to Representative
Will J. Fields, democrat, of Kentucky,
member of the house mines and min
ing committee, and Representative
Frank Park, democrat, of Georgia,
member of the house account commit
tee, calling their attention to the fact
that the resolution was necessitated
by war conditions and consequently
was a proper subject for consideration
at the special session. The text of the
Daily Times’ messages to Representa
tives Fields and Parks follow:
“Is it possible to get action in house
this session on resolution suspending
assessment work mining claims this
year? This is war legislation. It
protects the interests of many con
scripted miners and enables other
miners, who are not in the first draft,
to enlist without losing their property
Failure of adoption of resolution this
session might prevent many Alaskans
entering military service.”
Sam McCormick, a well-known
Dawson freighter, lost a favorite
mule recently when the animal rub
bed himself against a guy wire of the
Yukon Gold company’s power line,
during a heavy rain storm. The leak
age from the line to the guy wire was
sufficient to shock the mule to death.
Since the announcement of the pas
sage of the rivers and harbors bill
containing the appropriation for the
Nome harbor, private concerns at
Nome are again manifesting interest
in real estate property likely to abut
the new harbor. Who or what these
parties are acting for is not known.