PIONEERS OF ALASKA
The Trail Blazers of the North
EDITED BY A. G. THOMPSON CD MEMBER OF IGLOO NO. 15
HAY MANUFACTURE
BARRELS IN ALASKA
The firm of W. A. Keller and Ralph
C. Dunning, who are operating a saw
mill near Seldovia on Ivachema!: bay,
Alaska, recently requested that they
>e advised by the commissioner of the
general land office if the shipping of
fish in barrels made from timber legal
ly cut from the public lands of Alaska
would be considered a violation of the
law prohibiting the export of timber
so cut. In other words, the fishermen
in that locality require barrels for sal
mon and herring shipment, and while
these barrels are not exported as a
manufactured product they are sent
out so packed.
The commissioner, in replying to the
inquiry of Keller and Dunning, stilt
ed that during the past season between
sj^ and seven thousand barrels were
used on Kachemak bay alone for pack
ing herring and many more barrels
are in demand now. Heretofore these
barrels have been shipped to Alaska
from Seattle at a cost delivered of
$2.25 each. The millmen now contem
plate going into the cooperage busi
ness to supply the demand for barrels
for fish shipping purposes, and the
question arises as to the possible lia
bility to the government for the tim
ber.
The commissioner in his decision
states that “the prohibition embodied
in the act of May 14, 1898 (30 Stat.,
414) against the export of timber cut
from the public lands of Alaska un
0* abtedly extends to the manufactured
product of such timber (if sold from
that district as a manufactured lum
ber product) but the further provision
that ’such sales shall at all times be
limited to actual necessities for con
sumption in the district suggests that
with the manufacture of the timber in
to barrels and their sale in the district
for a specific purpose, the 'requirement
of ‘consumption in the district’ is met
and their subsequent use as a carrier
for a commodity lawfully exported is
not a violation of the law. The export
is not of barrels as such but holders or
carriers necessarily required in the
shipment of fish. It would seem an
unreasonable restriction to compel the
importation of barrels at a high cost
for the purpose stated.”
** The decision further states that the
government will offer no objection to
$ use of timber cut in accordance
with the rules and regulations as em
bodied in the circular approved by the
secretary of the interior July 19, 1916
(45 L. D., 250) governing sales of
timber as provided by the act of May
14, 1898 (30 Stat., 414) for the manu
facture of barrels under the conditions
stated.
WAR INDUSTRIES BOARD
CLASSIFIES GOLD MINING
AS ESSENTIAL INDUSTRY
(Juneau Dispatch)
Word was received in Juneau yes
terday that the war board has placed
gold mines on the essential list of in
dustries and hereafter there would be
no discrimination against this indus
try. This ruling was secured through
the efforts of Bart Thane and other
gold miners who have spent the past
few weeks at Washington securing the
co-operation of Secretary McAdoo to
this end.
The message also said it is believed
j# government will take steps to pay
a royalty on gold production of at
least ten dollars an ounce. If this is
done the mines on Gastineau channel,
as well as the placer camps of Alaska,
will be able to meet the copper prop
erties wage scales. At the present
time the cost of producing gold has
advanced 100 per cent, as shown by
the records of the larger gold-produc
t Apg properties. It is believed Great
Britain will also pay a royalty on the
gold production of South Africa and
other sections where the war gold was
being mined at a profit but at present
is mined at a loss.
The message conveying the infor
’Jhation was sent E. V. Daveler by
Bart L. Thane.
REINDEER MEAT MAY
RELIEVE FOOD SHORTAGE
Reindeer steaks may some day take
the place of beef, if the meat shortage
becomes more serious. Under proper
management Alaska may become the
source of large food supplies, William
T. Lopp, chief of the Alaska division
of the United States bureau of educa
tion believes. Thousands of surplus
male reindeer are to be had in Alaska
every year, according to this authori
ty, and while small shipments have
been made from time to time there
has been no systematic exportation on
a large scale.
In a recent interview, Mr. Lopp, who
has been working with the native Es
kimos for 25 years, gave interesting
statistics showing the success of the
United States government in the work
of converting a nation of hunteis and
fishermen into a pastoral people. This
the government has done through the
I importation of reindeer into Alaska
from Sibaria and through the encour
; agement of the reindeer industry
^ through the Alaska division of the bu
i reau of education.
“Of the total of 98,5S2 reindeer now
in Alaska territory, 67,448 are now
owned by 1,568 native Eskimos, all of
whom are expert herders, trained
through the apprenticeship system in
stituted by the schools,” said Mr.
Lopp. “Reindeer of a total value of
$1,686,200 are now pok$essed by na
tives formerly destitute.
“Reindeer meat is said to be as
nourishing as beef, and it would con
tribute toward the conservation of
live stock, since the reindeer live on a
white lichen, which would otherwise be
useless, and there are no expenses at
tached to their maintenance beyond
the labor of herding and the cost of
shelter and butchering.”
RICH FLYER KILLED
BY POISONED BULLET
j
PARIS.—W. Vernon Booth, the
wealthy son-in-law of David R. For
gan, Chicago banker, died of wounds
received in an air fight with two Ger
man planes. He was hit by a poisoned
bullet.
Shortly after his arrival in France
Miss Ethel Forgan went to Paris to
engage in Y. M. C. A. work. The
young couple had known each other
casually in Chicago, but “over there”
their acquaintance soon ripened into
love, and they were married.
The bride was at her husband’s
bedside when death came. For two
weeks she had watched over him,
praying for his speedy recovery.
In his air duel he suffered a frac
ture of one wrist, and received wound?
in one leg from a poisoned bullel
which later necessitated its amputa
tion.
I
VVICKERSHAM THANKS
SOURDOUGH LADIES
The Pioneer women of Alaska sen!
James Wickersham the following tele
gram a few days ago:
We, the undersigned, pioneer wo
men of Alaska, hereby extend oui
hearty congratulations, firmly believ
ing that the will of the people shouk
rule, thus perpetuating a democracj
of the people, by the people and foi
the people.
(Signed) Mrs. Lipman Simpson
Mrs. J. C. Kellum
Mrs. Leon Kellum
Mrs. Camille Southworth
Mrs. Jim Lavin
Mrs. Adams
Mrs. Fowler
Mrs. Brooker
Mrs. Baatz
Mrs. Heimburger
Mrs. Cooney.
The following wire was received to
day by Mrs. Cooney from James Wick
ersham :
“Please thank the pioneer women ir
Nenana for their telegram in favor oi
honest elections and a fair count ir
Alaska. It is a victory for good gov
ernment against corrupt politics in th<
federal brigade in our territory.—Ne
nana Daily News.
DOINGS OF IGLOO NO. 15
There was a fair attendance at the
meeting of Igloo No. 15 last Fridaj
evening. It was one of the few meet
ings during the past year when there
were no new members to elect or initi
ate. The Question of giving some form
of entertainment for the benefit oi
the members and their friends was
discussed at some length, and it was
the concensus of opinion that it was
about time for the entertainment com
mittee to get busy and arrange some
thing in this line. It was decided tc
have a smoker at the next meeting
Friday, August 16, and that arrange
ments should be made for a good ok
get-together dance, in the near fu
ture. The entertainment committee
was authorized to make all arrange
ments for the smoker and to advertise
i the same, so that all members whe
i could find it possible to come might de
i so.
On account of the expected visit 01
| Brother Herschel Parker, who is ar
I riving on the next boat direct from
i New York, next Friday was thoughi
td be a favorable time for a little en
1 tertainment and a warm greeting foi
our life member.
Prof. Parker is one of the men of
note who are members of the Igloo,
and he is always prepared with an in
teresting talk when he visits the igloo,
It is not generally known, but
Brother Parker is conducting a line ol
exploration and investigation which, if
it proves as he has every reason to ex
pect it will prove, means perhaps as
much as any other one thing in the
way of development for Anchorage
The discovery of large areas of work
able platinum deposits on the tributar
ies of the Susitna river, would be ar
event of tremendous importance, no1
only to Anchorage, but to the govern
: ment, and to the prosecution of the
war. Platinum is necessary for a
; great many things that are used ir
i the war, and the metal is becoming sc
i scarce that its use in jewelry is for
bidden, and the price has risen fron:
about the price of gold to $110 pei
| ounce.
i Prof. Parker’s discoveries may re
; suit in the development of a fielc
which will furnish an unlimited supplj
■ of this necessary metal.
THE NEMESIS OF “KULTUR
* (Literary Digest)
The precious boon of kultur has
been possessed by the cultivated Ger- j
! man nation for forty years or more j
! in the flower of its beauty. We are!
told that this war is a disinterested!
attempt on the part of the charitable |
Germans to inflict this priceless gift
Upon nations who are so abysmally
stupid that they cannot recognize its
inestimable worth. In common with
the other stupid nations we in Amer
ica, have been a little chary about ac
cepting some of the fundamental doc
trines of kultur, and we were frankly
' shocked when the Apostle of the Sup
erman, Friedrich W. Nietzsche, laid it ;
down as a fundamental doctrine that
i
“Christian morality is the most ma-'
lignant form of all falsehoods; it is
that which has corrupted mankind.”
Somehow we Americans prefer to re
main “corrupted,” and we now have
an opportunity of seeing in Germany
how their superangelic doctrine works
out in actual facts. After four years
of a perfect orgy of kultur it is be
ginning to dawn upon the Geiman
mind that there was something per
haps a little odd, after all, in the Su
perman’s scathing contempt for Chris
tian morality. And, not to put too fine
* a point upon it, we can hardly wonder
that our super-kultured brothers in
S the “Fatherland” are getting a little
worried. Everything has gone by the
board, and first to go was cleanliness i
I and then godliness. We find the Per-j
lin Deutsche Tageszeitung in a per- ■
i feet frenzy of wrath because there are
I actually people in the Fatherland who
“in these iron times” have the audaci
ty to put on a clean boiled shirt and
collar every day—and some, or, hor
ror of horrors! insist on two clean col
lars a day. Right sounding they are
trounced by the Tageszeitung:
“If they want to ruin their linen by
overwashing, that is their affair, but
we say it is a valuable waste of starch
and it cheats others out of their just
• share, because laundries a,-e everv
' where apt to favor their best custom
ers.”
In his progress toward kultur, the
German next takes to petty pilfering.
Here is a sweet little description of the
advance the German is making in his
supermorality, culled from a dull re
port in the official Norddeutsche All-!
gemeine Zeitung, which remarks, with
a shake of its head:
“During the year 1917 the Prussian
State railways have paid 57,000,000
marks, ($14,250,000) in compensation
for property lost or stolen in transit
as compared with 4,000,000 marks
($1,000,000) in 1914.”
Perhaps the finest advance of all
has been made by the children. They
have really made colossal and com
mendable strides in their upward and
i onward path toward supermorality,
and they are becoming admirably kul
tured little Germans. The Social Dem
ocratic leader, Dr. Heine, writing ir
the Berliner Tageblatt, for some un
accountable reason, appears to b*
shocked. He says:
“The disastrous effects of the wai
are manifesting themselves among u.
and the youths are being corrupted bj
all the examples they have before
their eyes. The formidable propor
tions that juvenile crime has reachec
are becoming a monstrous blot on oui
entire social system.”
Another prominent leader, the Na
tional Liberal Deputy, Dr. Strack, it
unable to recognize the progress oJ
Kultur, for in the Kolnische Zeitu.np
he wails: “All authority is set at de
fiance, and the flood of crime is con
stantly rising. What can we say wher
we find children of twelve and four
teen years of age in the dock charge*
with offenses against decency?” Th<
deputy might have added that a brighl
boy of thirteen was so apt a pupil o:
the kultured habits of his elders tha1
he was tried in Berlin a week or tw<
ago for strangling a girl of eleven
Perhaps the most complete picture ol
the nemesis of kultur was painted ir
the Prussian house of deputies by on*
of the socialist members, Siegirier
Braun, who is thus reported by tin
Berlin Vonvarts:
“We are face to face with a terribh
condition of public morality. We heai
of numberless cases of thefts on rail
roads and alarming juvenile criminal
ity. According to official statistics
between October, 1916, and November
1917, there were 487,726 conviction:
for infractions of the food-regulations
and these were only a small percent
age of the actual transgressions com
mitted.
“As for that, we are all sinners
Profiteering exceeds all bounds. Us
ury is rampant among all classes
Fraudulent profiteering like that o
the Daimler works is in no wise an ex
ception. Even official bodies attemp
to extort illegal profits. But poo:
folks can only buy clothes at the of
ficial clothing department by bribing
the salesmen with tips or food.
“The increase of criminality dem
onstrates the demoralization brough
by the war, which is described by fool
as a rejuvenating bath. Self-sacrific<
and patriotism perhaps are found ii
the trenches, but in the invaded re
gions looting begins to rear its head
culminating at home in the most re
pulsive profit-snatching.
“Everybody cheats, steals, an*
grabs, from jailbird to court chamber
lain, who cheats the needy worker a
home out of his scanty earnings an*
pockets millions—and the longer th<
war lasts the worse it becomes.”
Meditating on the blessings of kul
tur, we can realize how foolish we al
lies were not to have accepted then
from the hands of the Germans wit!
open and grateful arms.
Job Printing at the Times office.
FOOD PRICES INCREASE 63
PER CENT IN FIVE YEARS
WASHINGTON—The retail price of
food for the United States on May 15,
1918, showed an increase of 3 per cent
over the price of April 15, 1918, ac
cording to a report of the bureau of
labor statistics to be published in the
forthcoming Monthly Labor Review.
A comparison of prices as between
May 15, 1918, and May 15, 1917,
shows that food as a whole increased
5 per cent. Seven of the 25 articles
recorded showed a decline in price.
Potatoes declined 64 per cent; onions
35 per cent; flour 25 per cent; sugar, £
per cent; beans, 7 per cent; cheese, 1
per cent; and coffee, less than 1 pei
cent.
Ten articles show an increase of 2C
per cent or more. Plate boiling beef
increased 32 per cent; corn meal, 36
per cent; hens, 29 per cent; milk, 26
per cent; and pork chops, 20 per cent
A comparison for the five year pe
riod shows that food was 63 per cent
higher in May, 1918, than in the same
month of 1913. Every article increas
ed 38 per cent or over. The least in
crease of 38 per cent was shown ir
potatoes. Three articles show an in
crease of 100 per cent or more.
WILL EXPLORE HOMES OF
ANCIENT CLIFF DWELLERS
SALT LAKE CITY—Two expedi
tions to the ancient cliff dwellings in
: southern Utah are being planned tc
start from here in the near future.
| One wilj be led by Professor Levi
Young, of the University of Utah, and
the other by Andrew Kerr, w-ho has
just completed a two-year course at
i Harvard in anthropological research
Professor Young has located a numbei
1 of mounds and ancient dwellings
which he plans to exploit before the
I opening oi tne nrst semester at tnt
, university this fall.
Utah is one of the best fields ir
America for the study of archaeology
according to Professor Young. Ir
most all the valleys extending from
Idaho to Arizona extensive remains oi
an ancient people are found.
SULPHUR IN ALASKA.
The known sulphur deposits of Alas
ka are of volcanic origin and in the
belt of active volcanoes that extent
through the Alentian islands and Alas
j ka peninsula. The deposits on Un
| alaska and Akun islands near Stepo
vak bay, on Alaska peninsula, were
examined in the summer of 1917 b\
! A. G. Maddern, of the United State:
i geological survey, department of the
’ | interior. The examinations showet
’ that though there is some sulphur a
each place examined there is little
’ hope that any of it can be profitably
mined at present or in the near future
: for the deposits are of small areal ex
| tent and are probably shallow; sup
• plies and labor are not at hand, tin
open season is short, the difficultie:
• of transporting the material from the
mines to ships would be great and the
' haul to the larger markets would be
‘ long. A brief summary of the more
important results of the investigatioi
' of these deposits has been publisher
> and will be sent on application to the
Director of the Geological Survey a
' Washington, D. C.
; ALASKA PIONEERS FIRST
; | ORGANIZED AT NOME, ALASKA
1: _
' j The first organization of the pio
' | neers was affected in Nome and wa:
’ i known as Igloo No. 1, Pioneers oi
! Alaska. There was a foi-mer organi
l zation which is known as the Yukor
' Order of Pioneers, but its member
: ship was made up of men who crosset
I the summit and prospected for golt
! prior to 1888. Many of the members
of that order are still living in Alaska
• but a majority of them have since be
■ come identified with the Pioneers oi
t Alaska. To be eligible to membershij
i in this order one must have been ir
Alaska prior to January, 1901. Seven
teen igloos have been formed through
out Alaska.
PARKER’S FAITH IN
PLATINUM DEPOSITS
Professor Herschel C. Parker re
turned to Anchorage Saturday night
on the steamer Alaska from New York
1 where he has been for the past two
j months on important business con
nected with the gold-platinum proper
ty he is exploiting. Professor Parker
is interested in three companies that
have extensive holdings on the Kah
litna, Susitna and tributary rivers.
The development and prospecting
work has been under way for about
two years, under the supervision of
Prof. Parker in a systematic and con
scientious manner.
j The prospecting originally was for
placer gold, but with the platinum in
dications, prominent throughout the
ground, additional and more thorough
work was done on the property, with
the result that Prof. Parker not only
interested eastern capitalists but
aroused the administration to the im
portance and possibilities of the field
Entirely through his efforts the
j field, which is quite extensive, has
! been brought to the attention of the
| mining world and syndicates formed
by Prof. Parker’s New York f. associ
j ates to finance the industry which will
i undoubtedly result to the distinct ad
I vantage of Anchorage.
The property that is being pros
j pected at the present time consists cf
eighty claims on the lower Kahlitna
river, in the vicinity of McDougal. A.
E. Clark, prominent in engineering
circles, has direct charge of this sea
son’s prospecting work and with a
force of eight men is making a thor
ough test of the ground. Prof. Parker
onxn one fliof rrvr\n n r] » c* c-V» oil
j cannot be worked with drills to ad
vantage.
This season Professor Parker
, states they will move about 15,000
yards of ground by the means of hy
draulic plants, ground sluicing and
shafts. He is interested in the lower
Kahlitna ground consisting of the Mc
Kay forty claims and forty claims
owned by Smith & Hewitt who have
been working the property for several
| years.
The ground controlled by the Kah
litna Gold Platinum Deposits Co., In
corporated, of which Prof. Parker is
president, consists of sixty claims on
the upper Kahlitna river and will be
worked in the same manner. This
company, Prof. Parker advises, has
control of the process recently per
fected to extract platinum which is
: considered a valuable asset.
‘ Prof. Parker is considered an au
thority and his statement that this
;! field has great future possibilities is
' particularly encouraging at this time.
The members of the syndicates be
> hind the movement have left the deci
sion entirely to his judgment and
• Prof. Parker stated this morning that
■ this year’s tests should decide the
: question, which would undoubtedly be
1 favorably. He states that the ground
‘1 carrying values of 25c per yard in gold
: j and platinum can be profitably work
ed and he is of the opinion that the
i values will average higher than this
i minimum amount. A favorable report
■ on the property means the expenditure
: of at least $250,000, which includes the
; installation of a laboratory and re
ducing plant at Anchorage to handle
the concentrates.
Naturally Prof. Parker has great
faith in the district, but ‘moreover he
is a consistent booster for Anchorage
1 and is ultra optimistic over the future
of this part o/ Alaska. He has been
instrumental in giving the country
: considerable merited publicity which
will unquestionably result in much
future good for Anchorage and this
resourceful section.
Professor Parker is a guest at the
, Crescent while in Anchorage and ex
pects to leave in the morning for Tal
' keetna where he has other interests in
i that vicinity. He will return to An
chorage about the first of September,
preparatory to making a final trip to
the Kahlitna district before the close
of the season.