RLY SKMUY
EHLER VISITS
OLD FRIENDS
P. W. SNYDER WAS MEMBER OF
ONE FIRST CITY COUNCILS
FOR TWO TERMS.
LEFT IN 1909 FOR OREGON.
Stampeder During Klondike Days
Made Success in Cattle Business of
Late Years But Recently Sold,
Out.
i P. W. Snyder, a pioneer of Skag
way, who now resides in Portland,
Oregon, is visiting old friends and
scenes in Skagway, says the Skagway
Alaskan.
Mr. Snyder arrived in Skagway in
the boom days of 1897, the year which
was made famous by the gold rush to
the Klondike. He was a prominent
figure in Skagway in the early days
and was a member of the city council
for two terms. He was the promoter
of the Home Power company, which
furnishes light and water to Skagway.
He left Skagway in December, 1909,
for Klamath Falls, Oregon, where he
purchased a 1920-acre ranch which he
stocked with pure bred and range
Hereford cattle. After raising a Hg
band and acquiring the best to !>o had
on the coast, he sold out this full.
Mr. Snyder, however, kept two of
his best cattle, one Hereford cow nam
ed “Rose Donnald,’ ’a prize winner
which cost $1800, and a bull which,
when a calf, cost $2500 and named
“Patrician the Fifth.” Mr. Snyder
says both these cattle are known to
be the very finest on the whole Pa
cific coast.
“Bill” Thompson, nephew of Mr.
Snyder, and well known in Skagway
where he resided in the early days, is
in Pendleton, Oregon. He is married
and the father of three “kiddies.”
BILL IS INTRODUCED BY ORE
GON SENATOR PROVIDING
FOR NEW SECRETARY.
WASHINGTON, D. C., Jan. 5.—
Senator Ceo'ge E. Chamberlain, dem
ocrat, of Oregon, introduced in the
senate a bill proposing a department
of munitions under a new cabinet head
to be known as the secretary of muni
tions. The bill is the result of inves
tigations conducted by the senate mil
itary committee and has the approval
of the committee.
LIVESTOCK DIES OF
ACID IN BEET TOPS
FORT LUPTON, Colo., Jan. 5.—;
Poisoning of horses and cattle by
oxalic acid contained in beet tops ts
responsible for the recent losses to
farmers in this section, according to
Dr. R. Duffy, veterinarian, who has
been investigating the mysterious i
deaths of cattle. Plots to kill the cat- j
tie and reduce the meat supply has I
been rumored.
The effect of the oxalic acid on cat
tle, according to Dr. Duffy is to par- j
alyze the muscles of the legs and ren-1
dei- the cattle unable to stand.
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NORTH POLE
BAKERY
AND COFFEE HOUSE
4til Ace., Bet. C and D.
Furrer and Taxidermist
W. D. WANDLING
Fifth St., Bet. C and D
Anchorage.
Write us for Information
GREAT EFFECT
GOVERNOR J. F. A. STRONG IN
REPORT REVIEWS GENERAL
CONDITIONS.
LABOR SHORTAGE IS ACUTE.
Executive Says That Conflict in Eur
ope Has Slowed Up Development of
Alaska in Certain Lines and Helped
in Others.
Alaskan conditions are reviewed in
a general, yet succinct, way by Gov
ernor J. F. A. Strong in his annual
report.
“To give a complete review,” /he
says, “of conditions prevailing in
Alaska and of matters connected
with the administration of the gover
nor’s office, affecting a territory near
ly 600,000 square miles in extent, en
tails a great deal of labor and care
ful research. Conditions vary in the
different sections, so each requires
special consideration, and there is no
hard and fast rule which can be ap
plied to all portions of the territory
in dealing with industrial and other
maters affecting its welfare and prog
ress.
In ome sections during the past
ye or there has been a slowing up of
!■• elopment and production; in oth
ers it has been accentuated. War
conditions in all cases is the principal
cause.
Retards Gold Mining.
‘‘In the first place, the European
'var. while stimulating copper pro
duction to a marked degree, as well
as the search for rarer metals de
manded by war conditions, had the
effect of retarding gold-lode mining.
The greatly increased cost of supplies
including provisions as well as those
materials necessary in the operation
of gold-lode mines, has had the effect
of discouraging the development of
mines of this character. Added to
this was the great shortage of labor,
affecting all kinds of mining opera
tions, both in coastal and interior
Alaska. This labor shortage is stead
ily becoming more acute. Miners,
prospectors, and other workingmen
have been lured by the higher wages
offered by the copper-mining camps
in the copper-producing states, where
wage scales are much higher than ev
er before known in the history of
copper mining.
Cannot Meet Wage Scales.
“The principal gold-lode mines of
Alaska are located in the southeastern
section. The ores mined are univer
sally low-grade, and the operators
claim that they are unable to meet
the wage scales paid by the copper op
erators and many of the gold-lode
mine operators elsewhere in the
United States. There is probably
truth in the contention.
“A similar condition exists in some
of the gold-placer areas, especially in
interior Alaska, where the richer pla
cers have been exhausted. Low
grade ground cannot be mined at a
profit under existing circumstances,
it is claimed; neither can a fuel sup
ply be procured at a price that will
enable mine operators to work their
ground at a profit and at the same
time pay increased wages, with short
er working hours. This has particu
lar reference to the placer mines of
the Tanana region, once noted for
their richness and prolific yield of al
luvial gold.
Cheap Fuel Needed.
“Little can be expected in the way
of an increase of the gold product in
that section until the problem of
cheaper fuel has been solved. The
timber that was once contiguous to
the placer mines has long since dis
appeared and wood (the only fuel
available) must now be brought long
distances at greatly advanced prices.
“The opening of the coal deposits
on the Nenana river, it is expected,
will solve the fuel question, at least
in part, if not wholly; but until cheap
er fuel and cheaper power are availa
ble, further substantial development
of placer and lode mines in the Tan
ana valley region cannot be expected.
CONTRACTOR PUTS DOWN SEV
ERAL THOUSAND FEET OF
STREET IMPROVEMENT.
WORKS DURING DARK HOURS.
Stove Mounted on Hand Sled is Moved
from Place and Enables Laborer to
Warm His Hands Wben He Gets
Too Cold.
It is not often that one hears of
sidewalks being built during the win
ter months in interior Alaska, yet that
is what is taking place in Nenana this
winter, says the Nenana News.
Several thousand feet of walk has
been laid in Nenana since the com
mence ment of winter and it will be
another week at least before all of
this work has been completed. Con
tractor Anderson repox-ts that he has
about three blocks of walk yet to lay
on Second sti'eet, and every day finds
him busily engaged at his task, re
gardless of weather conditions.
The means employed by Mr. Ander
son to enable him to stick to his work
in extreme weather and in the dark
hours of early morning and evening,
is somewhat in the nature of a nov
elty. He has a stove mounted on a
small hand sleigh, for instance, which
he moves about with him as the work
progx-esses. This enamles him to warm
his hands as occasion requii'es. And a
lantern furnishes light for the work,
when there is not sufficient light.
When this work is completed, the
town of Nenana will have substantial
walks on all of its principal sti’eets,
including A stieet, Market sti'eet and
Fii’st and Second streets, from A
street to F.
TRAVEL 3,000
MILES AFOOT
JACK MOULTON AND JOE ME1IE
REIN LEAVE JUNEAU FOR
SEWARD, THENCE TO INSIDE
TO BUY DOGS IN ANCHORAGE.
Mushers Will Call on Merchants at
Iditarod, Marshall, Nome, Fair
banks, Chitina and Other Camps of
Interior Before Spring.
Jack Moulton, representing the Se
1 attle Hardware company, and Joe
! Meherein have left Juneau aboard a
steamship for their long mush from
Seward to Marshall City and return.
The travelers with their samples have
just left Juneau for Seward, says the
Juneau Dispatch. At Seward seven
Moulton dogs will be ready for the
mush to Anchorage where they will
pick up eight more trained dogs, giv
ing them a team of fifteen dogs for
the long mush.
The first stop after leaving Anchor
j age on the 1,200-mile trip is Iditarod.
; After interviewing customers there
they will mush four days to Marshall
City. From there if time permits a
1 call will be made at Nome. Then
j will come the merry dash on the river
to Fairbanks, and a comfortable ride
over the stove-heated sled mail route
> to Chitina.
During many nights on this 3,000
mile mush the men will have to “si
wash” nights. This means that they
must make camp and sleep in the
open in sleeping bags. Both men are
veterans of the Alaska trails.
Game Warden R. S. McDonald seiz
i ed a large quantity of mountain sheep
! meat recently at Nenana and turned
I it over to Deputy Marshal Jim Ha
gen. The meat probably will be ship
ped to Fairbanks for use in the fed
eral jail. The party arrested appear
ed before the commissioner at Ne
nana and pleaded guilty to breaking
the game laws.
t
REV. J. WAGGONER SENDS IN
STRUCTIONS TO SOUTHEAST
ERN COAST NATIVES.
WHITES MUST BE CAREFUL.
j -
Federal Administrator Royal Gunni
son Says Licenses Will Be Issued in
Territory for Certain Kinds of
Business.
Rev. J. Waggoner, chairman of the
Juneau food savings committee, says
the Juneau Dispatch, is arranging to
spread cards and instructions relative
to food conservation among the na
tives in the villages of southeastern
Alaska.
In addition to ascertaining the
number of wheatless, meatless and
wasteless meals served by every
household in Alaska every week, Roy
al A. Gunnison, federal food adminis
! trator for Alaska, with headquarters
at Juneau, will endeavor to learn the
number of persons living in every
: household. This information is desir
! ed by Alaska’s food administrator
! that he may forward it to the nation
1 al headquarters to be used in appor
i tioning certain foods to the territory
and otherwise determining future ac
! tion with reference to food conserva
tion in the territory.
Quantity of Literature.
At Judge Gunnison’s office enor
mous quantities of press statements
and releases are daily being received
which will be distributed from time to
time to the various Alaska newspa
pers. Photographs, cuts, matrices, and
short, newsy stories are soon to be
forwarded. The publicity department
of the Alaska food administration’s
office is to be one of the most im
portant, and the aid of all newspapers
will be sought in the great movement.
Tentative plans looking to the crea
i tion of a permanent organization und
, ev the direction of the food adminis
| trator of Alaska have been made. Of
! fices will be procured in the Seward
building in Juneau. Appointments of
1 assistants throughout the territory
I will be made at an early date and va
: rious departments established and a
j systematic handling of the subject
' will be begun.
Licenses for Business.
“I hope to be in a position in a few
days to give out information with ref
! erence to issuing licenses for certain
business enterprises and other impor
tant matters pertaining to the work
; of the food administrator in Alaska,”
Judge Gunnison said.
“Every detail of the procedure to
be. followed will be made known and
the widest publicity given to every
move in this great undertaking which
is of such vast import at this time. I
hope soon to have developed my work
ing organization so that every wish
of the national food administration
may be intelligently spread before
Alaskans, and, together with my
force, will lend every possible assist
ance to every one coming within the
rulings of the administration. It is
most gratifying the amount of inter
j est being manifested throughout the
! territory.”
LEGAL ADVISERS NAMED.
1 Prominent Lawyers Will Serve Gov
ernment Without Any Pay.
WASHINGTON, D. 0., Jan. 4.—
j Secretary William G. McAdoo has an
' nounced the appointment of Samuel
Untermeyer, of New York; John Bar
ton Payne, of Chicago; and A. A. Bal
latine, of Boston, as legal advisers to
the commissioner of internal revenue
in connection with the war revenue
act and in the formulation of adminis
trative regulations under the act.
These prominent lawyers will serve
the government without compensa
tion, giving as much of their time as
may be demanded.
In addition to his work in the
buraey of internal revenue, Mr. Payne
is assisting, in an advisory capacity,
Ithe emergency fleet corporation.
ALASKA NEEDS
TERRITORIAL EXECUTIVE DE
CLARES CONSERVATION POL
ICY HAS STOPPED GROWTH.
RESFERS TO COAL AND OIL.
Terms Granted to Investors of Capital
Should be Generous Enough to
Guarantee Substantial Return on
Outlay.
Governor J. F. A. Strong, of Alas
ka, in his annual report, comments
vigorously on the conservation policy
pursued by the federal government.
It retards, he declares, the develop
ment of the resources of Alaska. He
says:
“Conservation, which is defined as
the act of preserving, maintaining,
supporting or protecting, is no doubt
sound in principle. Had the United
States at the begnining of its exist
ence as a nation adopted the policy
of conservation, so far as- its natural
resources are concerned, there would
not have been the vast development
that has been witnessed. But conser
vation, while it has preserved coal,
oil and timber, has largely estopped
development along various lines. The
coal lands of Alaska were reserved by
executive order in 1906 and the oil
lands some years later, and there has
been no general development of either
coal or oil resources.
Coal and Oil.
“Coal is mined today only on a small
scale and o:! development is at a
standstill. Even under government
control, if the lands could be leased
on reasonable terms (which is not the
case) immediate and comprehensive
development would follow.
“The need of coal such as is found
in Alaska is apparent all over the
Pacific coast. Yet the production is
limited and confined to but one sec
tion of the territory. The same is
true of oil; and it is submitted that
until more favorable laws and regu'ia
t'ons are enacted and promulgated
theie will be but sporadic development
of these resources. There is no doubt
that the coal areas of Alaska are
capable of supplying sufficient quan
tities of coal for all domestic and in
dustrial purposes of the Pacific coast
regions, and iij the oil lands of the ter
ritory could be properly developed
they would largely add to the supply
of gasoline, the demand for which is
constantly increasing, while the visi
ble supply is rapidly decreasing.
Timber and Water Power.
“What has been said of the coal
and oil land applies, but not with the
same force, to the timber and water
power. Alaska possesses within its
borders a number of the finest water
powers to be found on the Pacific coast
only a few of which have ever been
utilized in any way. There are bil
lions of feet of timber suitable only
for wood pulp purposes. Yet neither
the pulp timber nor the unharnessed
water powers may be used because ex
isting laws are either inadequate or
are such as will not permit the invest
ment of the necessary capital required
for development and manufacturing
purposes. And yet the world over
there is a shortage of paper and
prices have soared skyward during re
cent years.
Cold Facts of Situation.
“These are the cold facts of the sit
uation, and their presentation should
be such a^ to command the attention
of the federal government to the end
that this distressful state of affairs be
remedied as speedily as possible, and
that these resources, now going to
waste, be utilized for the benefit of
the present generation, due care be
ing taken, of course, that the title to
the water powers be retained in the
government. The terms granted to in
tending investors of capital for the
establishment of these enterprises
should be liberal enough to guarantee
a substantial return for the money
invested. A hidebound, narrow, con
tracted, illiberal policy in connection
with these resources of Alaska will
defer development indefinitely.”
CHIEF IS IDE
DR. CHARLES G. PERCIVAL WILL
SEE ACTIVE DUTY WITH
ORDNANCE DEPARTMENT.
FAMED AS NORTH EXPLORER
Well-Known Author and Traveler
Wa9 First Man to Mush Into ley
Latitudes With Automobile, Goins'
as Far as 64 Degrees.
Dr. Charles G. Percival, past grand
Arctic chief of the Arctic Brotherhood
of America and well known author
and Arctic explorer who is now a resi
dent of Teaneck Road, Teaneck, N. J.,
took his examinations before the ex
amining board at Washington recent
ly for a commission in the United
States army and has been commis
sioned a captain by President Wilson
and has received orders for the ord
! nance department.
Dr. Percival is well known, being
• president of the Light Car club of
! New Jersey, the Light Car association
■ of America, past Grand Arctic Chief
of the Arctic Brotherhood of America,
the famous secret society composed of
old time Alaskan mushers, a member
of the National Geographical society,
Elks and Masons.
He was the first man to tour Mex
ico by automobile and the first to drive
into the Arctic Circle by automobile
tarveiing as far as 64 degrees north
in the winter of 1011 after which he
crosed the continent from San Fran
cisco to New York city in the terrible
winter of 1911-12.
He has seen service in Cuba, Mex
ico and Central America in several in
serections and was in the Spanish
American war. He has lived in Tea
neck for the past ten years and has
been vice president of the Teaneck
Hose Co. No. 1 for two years and has
always been prominent in township
affairs.
Captain Percival expects soon to
leave for active duty.
GERMANY IS SHORT
OF SHOE LEATHER
SUPPLY IS ONLY ONE-SEVENTH
WHAT IS REALLY NEEDED
FOR KAISER’S SUBJECTS.
ZURICH, Switzerland, Jan. 5.—
Significant in part because a German
newspaper, the Constane Gazette,
publishes the information, comes word
that Germany today possesses less,
than one-seventh enough leather and
completed shoes to supply its popula
tion for the coming winter.
The figures, says the newspaper,
are the more alarming because they
are based on a population of fifty mil
lion which averages but one pair of
shoes, and three sets of soles, per
year. Since certain classes of work
ers, adds the Gazette, must absolute
ly have more shoes than this, the
gravity of the situation is increased,
and is not apt to be allayed by the
production, as planned at present, of
shoes of cloth with wooden soles.
The shoe factories throughout the
German empire are now overtaxing
their capacities and a shoe famine is
inevitable.
CHINA HAS 125,000
MEN IN WAR ZONES 1
PRACTICALLY ALL ORIENTALS
ARE CIVILIAN EMPLOYES OF
ENTENTE NATIONS.
WASHINGTON, D. C., Jan. 5.—
China has 125,000 of her citizens be
hind the firing lines in France and
Mesopotamia, and in the future dur
ing the war she will continue to send
more, said Vi Kyuin Wellington Koo,
Chinese ambassador to the United
States, in an address today in New
York city.
Practically all the Chinese in the
war zones are civilian employes of
either France or England.