Historial Sketches and Expert*
ences of Trail-Blazers Who Made
Alaska the Empire of the North
PIONEERS OF ALASKA
Edited by
A. G. THOMPSON,
Member of Anchorage Igloo No. 15
MARTIN MORAN OF NOME
PROBABLY FATALLY SHOT
\ Martin Moran, former member of
the territorial legislature, and candi
date for the senatorship of the Second
division, was shot and perhaps fatally
injured at Dahl creek, about 250 miiv.
north of Candle, Friday, April 6, his
\ assailant being Mike Tuohey, an old
time resident of the Kobuk section,
says the Nome Nugget of May 4.
According to the meager accounts
reaching Nome from Candle, the
shooting was done with a double-bar
reled shotgun, and was the result of
an argument between the two men
occuring the day before, but which
apparently had been amicably ad
justed. Candle reports that Moran
was shot in the back from a distance
of twenty feet, and but for the fact
that he was wearing a heavy, loose
fitting mackinaw coift at the time,
Moran undoubtedly would have been
T killed outright. Although the heavy
garment prevented the charge of No.
4 shot from taking full effect, a large
portion of the load penetrated his
body. The shooting was witnessed by
two persons whose names could not be
ascertained. Following the shooting
word was sent to the United States
marshal at Kiana and Moran was tak
en to Candle by dog sled. The wound
ed man and his attendants arrived
there at 7:30 in the evening and
Moran was placed in the Fairhaven
hospital, where he was resting easily
and Dr. Welch announced that Moran
had a fair chance of recovery, pro
vided no complications developed.
News of the unfortunate affair was
^ greeted with profound sorrow by the
many friends of Moran residing in
Nome, all of whom knevv, him as a
kindly, likeable man of sterling char
acter and sound integrity.
Mike Tuohey, his assailant, is an
old-time miner and prospector of the
Shugnak and Dahl sections, and is
about 65 years of age.
YUKON FOREVER.
(Dawson News.)
When the snow disappears, and the
bare earth becomes visible, frogs and
other croakers come to life. The pes
simist begins to flourish sometimes
under the cheeriest sun, just as a weed
breaks out in the best of gardens and
in the warm sunshine.
Some of these agents of gloom are
abroad in the Yukon. It is high time
to retire them.
^ The Yukon is not done for, and nev
er will be. As long as water runs
down hill and as long as the sun
shines, Yukon will be on the map. And
it will be peopled, and productive. The
occupation of this realm is perman
ent. The evidence is here to those who
will open half an optic.
No country is dead which produces
$4,700,000 in minerals in a single
year, as did Yukon last year. No
country is half scratched which pro
duces that wealth from three or four
little spots, called camps, each hun
dreds of miles from the other. No
placer field is dead which yet has
scores of miles of rich creek gravels,
and scores of years ahead for dredge
and hydraulic plants, as has this
camp. No territory need have fears
which can turn up a tremendous de
posit of copper such as has just been
unearthed by the Copper King at
Whitehorse, or huge rich galena
ledges like that now being opened on
the Twelve-mile and other rich gal
• mJ
ena such as is found in the Mayo dis
trict. No land is without resources
which has such rich coal, tungsten and
other mineral as this territory boasts.
Every country has its cycles of de
pression and inflation, and its periods
of average prosperity. The Yukon is
sustaining a fair population in this,
the most trying, period of its life, and
yet is sending hundreds of men to war
% and contributing vastly in war funds.
A few retrenchments and readjust
ments do not signal the demoraliza
tion of a land. Every country experi
ences such matters at some time. It is
better to take action to preserve the
land in healthy financial as well as
other conditions. Dawson will continue
this year to turn out her millions in
gold. The silver and copper mines will
yield their big tribute; tungsten and
coal will swell the figures, and farm
and fur products will add more to the
totals.
A number of hard-headed business
men of Dawson are putting the cold
cash into Dawson business proposi
tions. Others are investing in mining,
and others are making ventures in the
territory. They are the kind of men
who count. Home-making, job-build
ing, and general thrift are due to
them. Thank God, Yukon has a lot
of such virile, red-blooded men who
have faith in the country and in the
future. With such men in the land
Yukon cannot fail— Youkon is on the
map forever.
PIONEER PUBLICATION
BY THOMAS NEEDHAM
T. R. Needham will on July 15 be
! gin the publication of The Alaska
Pioneer, a publication in the interest
of the Alaska pioneer. The magazine
will be published at Ketchikan, where
a plant is being assembled.
Editor Needham is one of the pio
neer newspaper men of the noilh. He
edited the old Stikine River Journal
1 at Wrangell in 1898. Prior to that
time he published the Alaska Search
light at Juneau. Later he edited the
■ first paper established in the Cook in
i let country, moving to Anchorage
when the government established that
town. Editor Needham is fully com
petent to edit a magazine of the char
acter announced, and his newspaper!
friends north and sbuth all wish him |
success.
A NEW ARRIVAL.
Sam McNiece is wearing a smile!
nowadays, and the reason is not far to j
| seek. The stork has paid a visit to the j
McNiece household, and Sam is being!
initiated into the mysteries of the!
whims and humors of babyhood. The
baby’s mind is beyond the ken of man,
and. the workings thereof have been
pronounced by those most competent
to judge, as quite beyond the power of j
the human intellect to comprehend.
| But Sam does not know this yet. As j
historian he may be posted on the his-1
tory of Igloo No. 15 and as past pres
ident he may know a deal about lodge
: procedure and what not, but Sam has
a course of instruction ahead of him
that will be a revelation. However,:
Sam is quick at catching on, and we1
believe, if the traits of the parents are
passed along, that he will have a good
instructor. The baby girl and the
mother are both doing well, under the
care of the doctors at the government
hospital.
WILL USE POWER SLEDS
ON TRAIL TO FAIRBANKS
John Bower, who has the winter
contract for carrying the mail be
tween Chitina and Fairbanks the next
! four years, just returned from a trip
S to the interior. He says that his com -
pany intends to maintain a passenger
! stage line in connection with carrying
! the mail and will have all the neces
sary equipment by the time the snow
flies.
As a departure from the horse stage
his company has made a stage car on
sled runners propelled with an aerial
propellor, which is said to send the
vehicle along at a good rate of speed. !
The only drawback to the new inven-!
tion is that when it strikes a deep rut |
in the road it is apt to stick for want
of clearance. This can be remedied by
elevating the body of the coach so as
to clear obstacles and low places.
OLD-TIMER ACCEPTS
POSITION TO THE WEST
Among the passengers on the Vic
toria en route to Seattle are Cyril P.
Wood and family. Mr. Wood will r
turn almost immediately to take up
the duties of superintendent-of a pack
ing and commercial company at Ko
diak, and Mrs. Wood and her four
children will join him early in the fall.
For the past several years Mr.
Wood has been in charge of the
Northern Commercial company's in
terests in Iditarod, where he was a
leading spirit in all public enterprises
and activities. He was one of the
DOINGS OF IGLOO NO. 15
bix new members were initiated at
the meeting of the Igloo last Friday
evening, the names of the new mem
bers being Win. Baxter, W. A. Ford,
W. H. Lane', S. T. Kelly, Chas. Burre
clow and J. H. Evans.
One of the new members was taken
over the Great Divide, and acquited
himself so well that the other four
were admitted without serious ques
tion. Upon being called each of the
new members responded with a few
appreciative remarks.
Brother Thompson called attention
to the purpose of the office of, Histor
ian, and suggested that it was the
duty of each member to turn in a per
sonal sketch of his life, and especially
his Alaskan experience ,to the histor
ian, and thus make possible the com
pilation of a history of the members.
He offered to assist any of the mem
bers in the preparation of their mater
lal, and said ne would see tnat tnc
sketches were published, from time tc
time in the Pioneer Page of the
Weekly Times.
Brother Lynch spoke upon the salt
of bonds, and the fine record made in
the reduction of the debt on the build
ing.
Brother McNeice lock Brothel
Thompson to task as being responsible
for alleged improvements made by tht
city in the gravel sidewalk leading tc
the Pioneer hall, and stated that even
Brother Thompson had taken to walk
ing in the street, to which Brothel
Thompson replied by way of “confes
sion and avoidance,” admitting that
while there had been danger of the
sidewalk blowing away, that since the
sidewalk had been watered it was s
pleasure to walk upon.
The attendance was somewhat bet
ter, being between thirty and forty.
ALASKA’S PROSPECTS.
There is no question but that Alaska has been hard hit by the war.
Our resources, which were just beginning to receive the attention of
capital seeking profitable investment, have been deprived of that stim
ulant which is so necessary to their development—money. Alaska is
a vast country—equal to one-fifth of the area of the United States—
with a coast line equal to the distance around the world. It is hard tc
conceive of the magnificent and stupendous distances which exist in
Alaska. The Yukon river has 1,500 miles of navigable water in Alas
ka; the Tanana, a tributary of the Yukon, 200 miles; and the Kusko
lcwini 500 miles. It is 195 miles from Cordova to the Kennecott copper
mine by the Copper River and Northwestern railway; and it is 188
miles from the town of Seward, on Resurrection bay, to the Chickaloon
coal mirte, owned and being developed by the government of the United
States. From Anchorage to the Chickaloon mines, it is less than 75
miles. East and west, including the islands, the territory extends for
2,500 miles, and north and south for approximately 1,200 miles.
Superimposed on the map of the United States, the map of Alaska
extends from the Canadian border of Florida, and from the Atlantic to
the Pacific oceans. With these tremendous distances to overcome, it is
easy to see that Alaska needs transportatioi^-^t^ansportation by land
and transportation by water. Without transportation Alaska must re
main an undeveloped territory, and to provide transportation in Alaska
requires the expenditure of large sums of money. The capital which
had begun to flow to Alaska to develop its resources and to provide the
necessary transportation, has been diverted by the war into other chan
nels. Responding to the call of patriotic duty, and influenced by the
inducement of large profits, capital seeking investment has naturally
been attracted by the various industries which cofttribute, directly or
indirectly, to the support and maintenance of the war.
Practically the only industries as yet developed in Alaska, which
have derived any benefit from the war, are the fishing industry, and
the production of copper ore. The fishing industry has received a
tremendous impetus and now exceeds the production of gold by nearly
ten million of dollars. Owing to the high price of copper, and also to
the extensive deposits of high-grade copper ore already accessible to
+ /xV timnonnvfnlimi m Aloulro tlin
risen by leaps and bounds, until it now exceeds1 the production of gold
by nearly as much again.
While these industries have prospered and are responsible for in
ereascd activity in certain sections, they have not compensated for the
lack of development in other ways throughout the territory.
A duty rests with the pioneer to continue his prospecting and ex
ploring, with a view to making known to the world the wonderful re
sources of this great territory.
With the conclusion of peace, which now looks nearer than it did
a month ago, we may rest assured that Alaska will be looked to as a
great storehouse of fuels and metals, of which the world will stand ir
need. The capital necessary to develop these resources, and to provide
the means of transporting them to the markets of the Pacific coast
will be ready and willing to invest in the most potent field of virgin
resources left to the United States—Alaska.
The tremendous extension of credit of all the nations of the world
due to the financing of the war, will demand a more stable basis than
the promises of the various governments, and gold and silver, as the
basic money of the world, will be in greater demand than ever before.
It is certain that gold and silver mining will receive a great stimulus,
and the value of these metals, measured in other products, will be great
ly increased.
To replace the great destruction wrought by the war, it will require
a tremendous amount of iron, copper, lead, zinc, tin, and other metals,
so that it is practically certain that all kinds of mining will feel the
impulse of the greatest constructive period in the wrorld’s history.
For this reason it is incumbent upon Alaskans, who live and have
their homes in the territory, and who expect to profit by the develop
ment and prosperity of the territory, to continue the work of opening
up this great territory, which has been so nobly begun by the intrepid
pioneer.
oldest employes of the Northern Com
mercial company, having been with
that company almost since his boy
hood.
A Liberty loan meeting held at
Nome May 3, which was presided
over and addressed by Judge W. A.
Holzheimer, subscribed $41,800 in
liberty bonds. It was said to have been
the most enthusiastically patriotic
meeting ever held in the place. The
Nome papers gave unstinted praise
to the speech of Judge Holzheimer.
A. Wallace Owen, formerly of the
Iditarod country, w'here he located in
191(4 is now a major in the Canadian
forces.
The famous Pueblo mine in . the
Whitehorse district is being disman
tled. It has not been worked since
the ac ’:dent wjhich resulted in several
deaths. : !
The fur catch for the Eagle section
this season is reported generally light
on account of the heavy snows and
lack of rabbits.
THE MINING INDUSTRY.
No one realizes as well as the Pio
neer the importance of the mining in
dustry to the prosperity of Alaska,
and especially to this section of the
territory; It means the investment of
outside capital, so badly needed in
Alaska; the employment of a large
number of men in a kind of work that
is not in competition with any other
industry in Alaska, but which dpens a
market for all lines of supplies and
services; and, best of.all, the addition
to and the accumulation of wealth
in the hands of our Alaska people.
Very few people in Anchorage know
anything about the mining possibili
ties of this adjacent territory. Some
j are even skeptical about our having
j any promising indications of a pros
perous future in this pursuit. This
latter class are not people with min
ing experience, and they speak from
a lack of knowledge.
No one who has lived in a mining
country, but must be impressed with
the promising future, which, we may
say, is almost assured for mining in
the country traversed by the govcm
J ment railroad.
| Discoveries are abundant and the
I evidence of rich mineral-bearing areas
! near at hand is too plain to be
doubted.
The lack of interest, the pessimistic
influence, is due to the fact that these
prospective mines, and these mineral
bearing areas are not accessible at
the present time. Lack of transporta
tion, and mining facilities, is the great
handicap.
Almost at our very door, and a
; natural feeder and tributary of An-1
chorage, is a mining district, which,;
with proper development, is capable,!
in a considerable measure, of support-1
ing this town.
We refer to Willow creek. This dis
trict presents all the indications of a
heavily mineralized and wonderfully
productive mineral area. It is no j
stretch of the imagination to predict j
that within the next few years, the
i
tonnage of the mines of this district I
will be counted in the thousands, j
where it is now counted by the ;
hundred.
Transportation and power are all i
that is needed to put a dozen pay j
mines in operation. It is pertinent to
inquire of those who feel doubtful of;
the mining possibilities ot the Willow!
creek district. If they know of any
other mining district in Alaska, or
elsewhere, where lode claims can be!
worked for five months in the year
and pay a profit. This condition is un-!
usual, and the briefest consideration j
should be sufficient to convince even j
the merest tyro in the mining game, j
that it requires an unusually rich
mine to pay under these circum
stances.
The Willow creek district is on the '
eve of a period of extensive develop-1
ment. Unless all signs fail, the com
ing year will see both the installation
of a commercial power plant, and the
improvement of transportation facili
ties. Accompanying this will be the
development of some of the best mines
on a much more extensive scale, and
the installation of large milling facili
ties.
It will be the beginning of the open
ing of dozens of pay mines in this
district, which at he present time can
not operate on account of the prohibi
tive cost of supplies and equipment. If
the surface indications and the small
amount of development done, are jus
tified by further development of these
ore bodies, it will mean the employ
ment, directly and indirectly of pos
sibly a thousand men, in the extraction
and treatment of the ores of the Wil
low creek district.
This work will all be done here in
the district, the men will live here,
and the gold recovered from the re
markably rich veins of the district will
flow into the pockets, in many cases,
of men already identified with the
Willow creek district, who will con
tinue to make their homes in Anchor
age. Alaska for Alaskans.
A. Brunning recently resigned as
receiver for the American bank at
Fairbanks and Commissioner Reed W.
Heilig was apointed to succeed him.
PIONEER WOMAN
HAS HARROWING
TRIPjON TRAIL
(Fairbanks Citizen)
Ninety-six hours without food or
shelter, being out alone in the woods
in the' flooded section between Olnes
and the Snowshoe road house is the
harrowing experience related by Mrs.
J. M. Harris, of the Tatalina road
house.
Mrs. Harris left the Tatalina on the
morning of Thursday, May 23, for Ol
nes, intending to catch the train there
for Fairbanks in order to take passage
on the steamer Tanana for the out
side. The first day’s trip w'as without
incident, and she arrived at the Snow
shoe road house that evening.
On foot and alone she essayed the
trip from there to Olnes, and on her
arrival at Willow creek the water was
too high for her to cross. Being in a
very tired condition she stopped, hop
ing that someone would pass along
and assist her in crossing. In the
meantime the water had risen to such
a height that a retreat to the Snow
shoe road house was out of the ques
tion, and her stay at ’'Willow creek
was an enforced one. Far two days
and nights she stayed on- the banks of
the creek and finally succeeded in
making a passage of the fcreek. All
this period she .was without food, and
what sleep she had was - under the
shelter of trees and without fire.
After fording the creek further pro
gress was stopped at the Chatanika
iiver, whe^e the flood was raging ex
ceedingly high. Finding no way to
cross the intrepid woman took to the
high ground known as the “ridge,”
and along which the trail to the Tolo
vana from Olnes goes. Establishing
a camp there, she waited for someone
to come along to aid her in making the
crossing. For two nights and a day
she stayed in that place, and on the
28th a man came along to whom she
stated her condition. He at once pro
ceeded to the Snowshoe road house
and secured assistance to bring the
weakened woman to shelter. The pro
prietor at once set out on the return
trip with stimulants and food, and on
arriving at tut? piace wuere xviifc. nar*
ris was, at once prepared coffee and
food, the first morsel in 96 hours.
Much revived, Mrs. Harris was placed
in a rig that had been brought along
and taken to the road house, 'where she
was made comfortable.
It was necessary for Mrs. Harris to
i-emain at the road house for four
days before she had recovered suffi
ficiently to resume the trip.
On the morning of Saturday, June
1, another attempt to come to Fair
banks was undertaken. On her arriv
al at the Chatanika river the water
was too high for the man running the
ferry to take a chance on going
across. Two men, Merton Brown and
Emil Dorfner, volunteered to aid her
in making the crossing and the trip to
Olnes. It was necessary for them to
go three miles down stream before a
suitable place could be found to cross.
On effecting the crossing stil lfurther
barriers to a good trip were encoun
tered. The last three miles of the
trip to Olnes were made in water that
at times reached up to the armpits of
the travelers, through marshy and
soggy ground and woods, and on ar
rival at the creek town all were ex
hausted.
Mrs. Harris arrived in Fairbanks on
last night’s train, and at present is in
a shaken condition as the result of an
experience that few women have ever
sjone through, and which only the
Alaska fortitude and stamina could
have combatted. She will take pas
sage for the outside on the next
steamer. .
Paul Hopkins, a Fairbanks chemist,
and Marie Margaret Adams, also of
Fairbanks, were recently married at
the residence of Mr. and Mrs. R. L.
Bernard, of that city.
Fairbanks and Nenana are prepar
ing for a series of baseball games to
be played during the summer.