Historial Sketches and Experi
ences of Trail-Blazers Who Made
Alaska the Empire of the North
PIONEERS OF ALASKA
. «■ ' ' i i r, ; - }
EDITED BY
CHARLES L. KEMP,
Secretary Anchorage Igloo No. 15.
YUKON NAVIGATOR
WANTS TO SERVE
CAPT. H NNINGHAil, OF FAIR
BANKS DISTRICT, MAKES AP
PEAL FOR JOB IN NAVY.
(Seattle Times)
After nineteen years in the Fair
banks mining* district, Capt. J. W.
Cunningham, a master mariner of the
Klondike gold rush days of 1897-98,
is anxious to come out of the north
and do his best to help Uncle Sam
win the war. He says he is a sailor
man of the old school and although he
has never been in steam vessels he
is willing to take any position in
which his services will be of value to
his country.
In a letter to \Y. J. Grambs, section
chief of the recruiting service of the
United States Shipping Board for
Washington and Oregon, Captain Cun
ningham says:
"I, like a lot of other fool Ameri
cans, have been thinking that we
could starve Germany into defeat in
a year or so after we got into it and
so thought there was no place for a
man of my age in the game. I can
see now that it is going to take us
five years to kill them off. To my mind
there is no other way of ending the
war short of killing Germans.
“I want to know frankly if my age
is a bar to my getting a ship. Having
no one to speak for me, I will state
my qualifications. 1 am a native of
Massachusetts, fit years old Lincoln’s
birthday last.
**I am a sailor man with all that
that implies. I went aboard ship first
in 1S71, but have never been in steam
1 liilVt* IJfCil Ull Lilt. I tU
coast since 1ST!', worked alongshore
and engaged in stevedoring in Puget
sound in the late 80's and early !)0’s.
"1 am well known among the old
timers of Puget sound and have no
doubt can get recommendations from
some of them.
"I am physically sound, no rheu
matics or heart trouble; can do as
much of certain kinds of work as the
average man half my age. Am not
color blind, can readily distinguish
colors. Have to use glasses to read.
Height 5 feet 712 inches and we
165 pounds; used to weigh more, as
to alcohol, absolutely none; never was
a constant drinker. Tobacco, use it
moderately. Would banish that if it
was any bar.
“I have goon control of men; nev
er lose my head in an emergency. The
onlv command I ever had was in the
I
“Klondike boom. I took the hark Shir
ley, rigged her down to a barge and
ran her to Skagway during the gold
rush. I have been in here chasing the
elusive gold for the past nineteen
years now, and while it hasn’t been
very profitable it has given me a liv
ing. I wouldn’t care to go out just to
take a chance at whatever was of
fered unless it was absolutely essen
tial to the war. I feel I should at
least offer my services and let Uncle
Sam be judge of what is best for me.”
The natives of Alaska suffered in
tensely this winter from cold and
- mger, their supply of fish foods be
ing shut off by building canneries in
front of or on the streams to which
they look for their winter’s supply of
food. No baby in Belgium or France
has suffered more than these untu
tored sons of Uncle Sam, and none
have given to the war cause more pa
triotically than these. Steps should
te taken before next winter to pro
vide for the destitute or there will be
nany deaths.
Mrs. Samuel Blum, of Valdez, was
recently awarded judgment in the
federal court at Seattle against the
Penn Mutual and other companies,
the total amount of her late hus
band’s life insurance, 525,000, which
thf companies had refused to pay on
a technicality.
ANY OTHER NOMINATIONS?
O. Lord, of 1206 Marion Street,
Denver, Colo., has been nominated
Chaplain of the club.
I
Kantishna, J. C. Van Orsdel, who lo
cated there last summer, says the
Fairbanks Citizen, is very optimistic
regarding the outlook for the camp’s
future. In part he says:
“We have been out here almost six
months, and, while we have not got
ten a great deal done, we feel might
ily encouraged. We have a great
campaign mapped out for this sum
mer, and*we feel sure that we will
have a full report in what we have
here before the freeze-up next fall.
This is certainly a very rich country
and we feel that it will surely come
into its own very shortly. Of course,
it is impossible to operate and work
this ground successfully until we get
provisions and supplies in at a cheap
er figure. The cost of bringing in
supplies by the river is out of reason,
and we must work to get a wagon
road from the railroad, a distance of
some (50 miles. We hope you people
there in Xenana are all agitating the
matter.. We have had word from
Washington that they bad established
a post office here and appointed me
as postmaster, but as yet we have no
carrier service, and of course that is
really the most important part of all.
I'he post office means nothing with
out service, and when they commence
getting bids for carrying the mail—1
am sure the government will never
stand for it, under the present condi
tions. So the only thing for us to do
is to work and work hard for the wag
on road from Lignite, then by fall we
may hope for a mail route.
“We feel that our chance to put a
mg' uung inrougn is in mis i\muiMi
na country, and we expect to stay
with this proposition until the last.
We are sure there is a fortune in this
country for us, and we are working
to that end.
-A. L. and J. C. VAN ORSDEL.”
MRS. EMILY GLEASON DEAD.
(Valdez Miner.)
News of the death at Seattle of
Mrs. Sarah Emily Gleason, formerly
of this city and well Vnown to nearly
every inhabitant thereof, was received
on the last boat. Mrs. Gleason, who
had been ailing for some time, left
for the states on the steamship Mari
posa on her last trip last winter, and
was a passenger on that vessel when
it was wrecked in Sumner strait. The
exposure and excitement aggravated
her complaint, and she passed away
May 1, at her residence, 0103 Aurora
. avenue, Seattle. For many years Mrs,
Gleason conducted a millionery estab
lishment in Seattle. From that city
| she came to Valdez, where she engag
ed in business for about ten years. At
the time of her death she was plan
I ning to return to Valdez, and resumt
her business here. She was 58 years
of age. She leaves one son to survive
her.
VALDEZ MAN LOSES LIFE
IN CREVICE OF A GLACIER
Hjalmer Lundgren, a resident oi
Valdez, is believed to have lost his
life recently by falling down a crev
ice in Columbia glacier, while on a
hunting trip. In company with Frank
Gustafson and Edward Johnson, both
experienced hunters and mountair
climbers, young Lundgren left the
Gold King mine on the morning of
i May 20, to engage in a bear hunt, the
tracks of a number of these animals
j having been seen the day previous
1 while the party was hunting in the
! vicinity' of the glacier. The party
I left camp about 3 o’clock in the morn
ing, and proceeded up the glacier,
and about 6 o’clock a number of goat
tracks were seen in the snow. Lund
gren became very much enthused over
the near presence of big game anti
started after the goats, leaving Gus
tafson and Johnson to seek the bear,
Lundgren failed to return to camp
in the evening and a vigorous search
for him by his partners failed to find
him. It is believed that he fell into
a deep crevice and is lost.
ROBERT SHARTS IS
AT KELLY FIELD
Robert Sharts, one of the sixty
i
one volunteers who left Anchorage]
March 20 for Fort McDowell, Califor-1
nia, writes interestingly of his army I
| life as lived down at Kelly Field No.
; 3 in Texas. The letter was received
this week by his mother, Mrs. H.
Sharts, and reads in part as follows:
I am now at Kelly Field No. 3 and
have been here since April 2(5. I
started to write a letter when I first
arrived but have never had a chance
to finish it. I am having a hard time
with this hot weather here but will
soon be out of it as 1 leave this week
for New Jersey and will soon be in
| France.
T have not had a letter from Alaska
i as yet. 1 heard from Kickapooh who
is at the Presidio at San Francisco,
and from Red Nelson, who is located
! at Fort Meyers, Va. Skudis is at j
j the Washington, D. C., barracks and]
Harry Ober is down at San Diego,
] Calif. They moved the bunch of Alas
kans to the trade lines last Friday
and as a result we are all split up.
Some of us are at Kelly Field No. 3,
getting ready to leave while others
are at Kelly Field No. 1 still going to .
school.
There are Walter Blanton, Don
Easton, Joe Krause, Albert Dohr
mann, L. P. Anderson and myself over
here at Kelly Field No. 3 and we are
getting ready to go out. Walter Blan- j
ton is leaving tomorrow and the rest
of us will leave the latter part of
the week.
This is a great place here. There j
were about 30,000 men when we came I
UUl Lilt: \ ill fc: I1UW SfllUlll^ tiiiriu uuu
as fast as possible and are getting
the camp ready for an infantry
! camp for the drafted men. I saw my
; first flying machine when I came
down here and they sure have a bunch
of them in the air at all times.
They have some great sayings at
the camp; for instance when a bunch ;
j of recruits come in, all that you can
hear is “Say look at the ears on ’em.
Look at the feet on ’em.”
We had a tine trip coming down
from Frisco. I saw all kinds of or
ange groves and wonderful gardens,
and the sights to be seen in Califor- i
nia are wonderful beyond description.1
But in Arizona and New Mexico it is j
i all sand and cactus and hot as the
I hinges of the big black gates.
1 am in the 11th detachment of the
June Replacement and we will be sent
to France to fill up the depleted aero
squadrons over there.
Well, the next time I write I ear
nestly hope that the postmark will
be from some place over there. I am
i anxious to get there and like all of
the boys do their “big bit.” Tell the .
boys at home to drop a line to Robert
L. Sharts, 11th Detachment, Kelly
| Field, South San Antonio, Texas.
TAKING OUT INTERNATIONAL
DUMP IN FAIRBANKS CAMP
Miners at present at 12 Coldstream,
engaged in getting out a winter dump
together, eating at the same table
and sleeping peacefully in the same
cabin are two Austrians, one Italian,
one Bulgarian, one Serbian, and one
Montenegrin, says the Fairbanks
News-Miner of February 15.
“The Star Spangled Banner looks
good to all of ’em,’ says the man who
brought this report to town, “and all
of them refrain from talking of the
i war in the presence of the others.”
This international outfit is taking
: out a big dump, and already has 10,
| 000 buckets of pay dirt out, ready to
J sluice in the spring. They expect to
! have out as much more before the
water starts to run.
DR. BENEDICT TRANSFERRED.
Dr. C. C. Benedict, first lieu
tenant, M. R. C., received word
from headquarters yesterday that he
was to be transferred from Anchor
age to Portland where he will enter
the aeroplane service in what is known
as the “spruce division.” Dr Benedict
will leave upon the arrival of his suc
cessor who is expected on an early
boat.
KK BIRTHDAY
Tom Wilson, ora of the oldest resi
dents of Juneau, tocLy is celebrating
his ninety-eighth bir hday, and his
friends are calling on hi; 1 at St. Ann’s 1
hospital, where he resid Mr. Wil- i
son has been a resident of St. Ann’s
hospital for a number of years, al- i
though he is still as hale an i hearty
as ever and perfectly able to care for i
himself. His one ambition now is to (
live to be 100 years of age. »
Mr. Wilson is a real pioneer, having t
first come north to the Cassiar coun- 1
try in 1876, when still a young man.' 1
He arrived in Juneau in 1880 and has i
made his home here practically the ;
entire time since then. He is one of i
the two men who staked* the ground 1
where the St. Ann’s Hospital, Paroch- f
ial school, and Catholic cathedral now
stand and had been here many years | s
when Father Althrop, the first Cath- 1
olic priest, arrived here. t
ALASKA MAIDS OPERATE 1
MINE WITHOUT HELP :
JUNEAU.—At Pearl Harbor, forty j*■
miles from here, two young women ^
just out of their ’teens, have for the (
past four years, operated a paying *
mine. Their sole assistant has been '
their mother. The operate a two- ^
stamp mill and their present ambition j *
is to install a five-stamp equipment. ‘
These girls are the daughters of ;k
the late John G. Peterson, a pioneer |1
who, with Mrs. Peterson, acquired an ^
interest in some mining properties 26 1
years ago in the Pearl Harbor dis- *
trict. The girls’ names are Irma and I *
Margaret. Both were born in Juneau. '
There is nothing in the mining line
that the two young women are not '
capable of doing from sharpening a ■
steel to shoeing a mule. These things 1
are every-day affairs to them—a part
of the day’s work. They built a j
neat four-room cottage in which the\ i
live vettmir the timhpv nut. of the1
forest themselves.
An inspection of their library;
shows works on geology, mineralogy, '
petrology, mining and milling, and '
mine management by the best author
ities. A number of standard maga
zines come to them. The girls occa- :
sionally take trips. One of these ex- ‘
cursions took the proportions of a trip 1
to Europe. *
Juneau, the town of their nativity,;
frankly is proud of them. So is j
Alaska. (
THE “PIONEER.”
About the first of July the Pioneers
are promised the first issue of a new
magazine, “The Pioneer,” to be pub
lished monthly at Ketchikan.
T. R. Needham, formerly of An- i
chorage, a member of Igloo No. 15,
and D. Smith Harris, secretary of
Ketchikan Igloo No. 6, are to be the
publishers, Brother Needham being at
present in the states, securing the
plant.
The following is an excerpt from a
letter received from Bro. Harris: “If
we can get the liberal support of the j
Pioneers we can, and will, give you a j
magazine of which you will be proud.
The necessity of an organ in . Alaska,
through and by which Pioneers tan
express their views and get in touch
with each other is self-evident.”
This enterprise is certainly deserv
ing of just what is asked for: “Lib
eral support,” which primarily means j
subscriptions. The price is $3.00 per
year.
Notification will be made on this |
page of the first issue of the “Pio- j
neer,” after which subscriptions will
be solicited.
J. Nelson, an old-timer in Alaska,
and residing near Seldovia, recently
became despondent and took the short
cut to happiness by putting a .30-.30
bullet square through his heart. One
day last week Nelson went to Seldo
via from his fox ranch and engaging
a room in a hotel, shortly afterward
shot himself. The deceased was a
squaw-man and about 50 years of
age..
Miss ‘Marie Thompson, daughter of
>r. and Mrs. W. E. Thompson, of
his city, writing from Boulonge,
France, where she is stationed as a
lurse, stated that Jim Christie, of
fukon fame, had just received the
nilitary cross, says the Dayson News, i
Ihristie will be remembered as the j
nan who fought a hand-to-hand bat- |
le on the upper Stewart with a great j
tig grizzly bear. Jim’s jaw was bad-:
y fractured in that fight, and he was j
rightfully lacerated, but after long |
.nd careful nursing by Mr. and Mrs. j
' rrell at their post, he recovered, j
-,ater he came to Dawson and was j
urther treated here by Dr. W. E. I
Thompson. It was the same fearless
pirit which caused Jim to defy the
tear that prompted him also to defy
he kaiser, and to go overseas gun
ting for ti e Hohenzollern grizzly,
diss Thompson wrote to her parents \
darch 19, as follows:
“Do you remember an old timer, J
im Christie, who had property on j
Dublin gulch? He came up on Sun-!
lay to see one of the Sisters, and, in j
he course of conversation, my name ,
ras mentioned. When told 1 was
luiii tic vvuuiu nuu icm until
ie had talked to me, so I was pro-1
luced. He recalled your trip up the ;
Stewart with Charlie and others. He !
s with the Princess Patricia’s Light |
nfantrv. He has just received the j
nilitary cross. He also has the D.
Z. M. He must have done a few
»rave deeds to deserve both. He says
lack Suttles is well here somewhere.”
Mr. Christie is over 50 years old.
-Ie has been in France about three
rears and for a long time had charge
>f a sniping squad.
\LLEGEI) SLACKERS ARE
ARRESTED BY MARSHAL
Upon the arrival of the schooner
Port Angeles last night from the
Uanal Zone, Chas. Lidsten and Flor
larnston, were arrested for evading
he draft law. Deputy Marshals Har
•y Schultz and Kavanaugh made the
irrests and placed the men in jail
iwaiting advices from higher authori
ses.
JOINS SALVATION ARMY.
NEW YORK, June 11.—Mrs. Rob
;rt Fitzsimmons, the widow of the
'amous pugilist, has joined the Salva
tion Army. She will don the uniform
I'uesday.
FIRST GOLD FOUND
IN ALASKA IN 1866
CAPTAIN D. B. LIBBY, WHO MADE
DISCOVERY, NOW LOCATED IN
THE KASHWITNA COUNTRY.
The first gold discovered in Alaska
by a white man was found on the
shores of Arctic bay in November of
the year 1866, according to a state
ment made today by Captain D. S.
Libby, the discoverer • ,l>n arrived in
the territory of Alaska at that time,
in charge of a telegraph party sent
here by the Western Union Telegraph
company. Capt. Libby has been located
in the Kashwitna country during the
past year and a half, engaged in pros
pecting that country and arrived in
Anchorage yesterday on his way with
his son D. B. Libby, jr., to Seattle.
Captain Libby arrived at Port Clar
ence before the purchase of the ter
ritory by the United States govern
ment from the Russian government in
1867. The Western Union Telegraph
company secured a telegraph conces
sion from the Russian government and
in the year 1866 sent Captain Libby
north for the purpose of determining
a route across Alaska to connect with
Siberia and Europe.
In the meantime the cable was suc
cessfully laid across the Atlantic
ocean and made unnecessary the line
Wnrlf t.hpn nhnnflonpfl
by the Western Union and Captain
Libby returned to the states.
He came north again in 1807 and
has since that time been a member of
practically every stampede in the
northland. He was one of the discov
erers of Ophir creek and took out con
siderable money from his claims there
in 1807.
Captain Libby and his son will leave
Anchorage on one of the early boats
and will make his home in Seattle.
HARRY OBER AT SAN DIEGO.
(Valdez Miner.)
A letter was received on the last
boat from Harry Ober, who enlisted
from this place, stating that he was
now a member of the harbor patrol
at San Diego, and that his address is
Station Naval Base, San Diego. A re
port had gained circulation in and
about Valdez that Mr. Ober had been
sentenced to Alcatraz for some infrac
tion of military rules. Thi.s Mr. Ober
indignantly denies, stating that he is
in active service and that he likes sol
diering immensely. His many friends
here are pleased that the report is
untrue.
siissBasiisiiisissssss
BANK
WITH
THE
BANK OF
ALASKA