MILLIONS FOR GOVERNMENT ALASKA RAILROAD
Four million dollars is the sum recommended for the Alaska railroad in the general deficiency bill, which was reported today by the ways and means committee to the house
of representatives. The measure, according to a cablegram received by the Anchorage Daily Times from Charles A. Sulzer, Alaska delegate in congress, is expected to pass the house
within the next few days. The message from Mr. Sulzer follows:
“General deficiency bill reported to house today contains $4,000,000 for Alaska railroad. Bill likely will pass within few days.”
LIVE IN CAVES
REMARKABLE COLONY OF 200
SOULS LIVES JUST SUOTH OF
CAPE PRINCE OF WALES.
ON CLIFF 1,000 FEET HIGH.
Men Go Lour Distances to Sea in
Frail Boats to Get Walrus and
Seal Meat Which Furnishes Their
Principle Food and Clothing.
Not many people are aware that
there is a race of cave dwellers in
Alaska, but such is the case, says the
Valdez Miner.
This hardy race lives on King
Island, just south of Cape Prince of
Wales, which is the extreme northern
cape closest to Siberia. The village
of cave dwellers numbering about 200
souls is one of the most remarkable
in the world considering their envi
ronments. The island is a great
mass of basalt rock, about a mile in
length, rising from the Bering
Strait with perpendicular sides from
700 to 1,000 feet above the water.
On the south side of the island
the wall is broken down by a ra
vine rising at an angle of 45 degdees
and is filled with broken rocks and
talus from the towering cliffs. A
great permanent snow bank fills the
ravine from the bottom to the top of
the mountain. On the west side of the
snow the village of Oukivak has been
built.
Village of Forty Dwelling
This village consists of about forty
houses or underground dwellings
partly excavated in the side of the
mountain and built up with stone
walls across the tops of which are
sticks and poles caught from the
ocean or long pieces of whale ribs,
or anything that can be secured which
will answer the purpose for roof
poles.
On one of these poles are placed
hides, which are covered with dried
grass, which in turn is covered thick
ly with dirt. A low, dirt-covered tun
nel 10 to 100 feet long leads directly
under the center of the dwellings.
This is so low that it is necessary
to creep in on hands and knees. The
entrance is covered by a skin of some
kind, and is generally full of half
savage dogs and half wild children.
At the end of the hall, and directly
overhead, is a circular hole about
eighteen inches in diameter. This is
the only entrance of the dwelling of
this northern aboriginee.
Too Damp Fot Habitation
In the summer the melting snow
and the drip from the rocks frequent
ly render these crude dwellings too
damp for habitation and the people
then erect a summer home upon top
of the winter house. The summer
home consists of walrus hides stretch
ed over a frame, making a room 25
feet square.
These homes are strongly guyed to
the rocks with thick rawhide throngs
to prevent them from being blown
into the sea by the fierce gales which
sweep nearly incessantly across the
strait. Outside the door of the igloo
or tent is a platform about two feet
wide, leading back to the base of the
hill. Some of these platforms are
from fifteen to twenty feet above the
roofs of the huts below them.
The entrance to the summer house
is a circular hole in the walrus skin
covered with a flap of walrus hide,
which can be tightly laced to prevent
marauding dogs from entering dur
ing the absence of the owners.
Surf Dashes in Cave
Across the ravine from the village
at the base of the upper perpendi
cular hill is a cave into the mouth
of which the surf dashes and roars.
At the back of the cave is a bank
of perpetual ice and snow. This
cave is the storehouse of the whole
village.
Walrus and seal meat is stowed
away in huge quantities in rooms
excavated in the rocks. As the
temperature is always below freez
ing, the meat so stored soon freezes
and keeps indefinitely.
It is a very dangerous thing for
one not accustomed to it, to attempt
to land at the island, and a much
more difficult task to leave it. At
the mouth of the cave where the
where the break in the perpendicular
wall occurs, is the only spot in the
whole island where the natives car
land their skin canoes or bidarkas
| through the boiling surf,
j But in leaving the island it is a dif
] ferent matter. They cannot get
: through the surf •which is nearly al
| ways high.
Taken to Top of Cliff.
So the bidarka in which they leave
is taken to the top of one of the
small cliffs, and the parties wishing
to embark are seated in the skin boat
clad in Camalinkas, a skin water
proof coat which fits very tighly
1 around the neck and is then tied over
j the hatch in the bidarka in which
I they sit, so as to render the boat ab
| solutely tight.
When all is ready four men pick up
1 the canoe and when the waves are
receding from the island they cast
it on top of a great breaker, and the
men in the boat, quickly righting it,
! go paddling away as if it all was in
a day’s work. It is a very dangerous
feat.
The natives go long distances over
the sea in their frail boats, hunting
the walrus and seal, and also watch
ing closely for any floating driftwood
I which they may chance upon. This
j is always towed to the island and
j carefully stowed away in case of fu
ture need. The natives are very hardy
and frugal and waste nothing that
they can use. The stomachs of the
walrus are carefully opened and ex
j amined for clams and other shell fish
upon which the huge animals feed,
and every bone and sinew is made
of use in some manner.
The natives are of a very cheeful
disposition and gather around their
; small stoves at night while some old
man or other person tells stories of
olden days, of the fights with the na
tives from the Siberian coast, of the
lie: ce forays upon other tribes to se
! cure spoils and young maidens, and
they are much more comfortable in
their air-tight huts than one could
imagine.
The stoves were formerly hollowed
out of hugh stones, with a receptable
for seal or whale oil. Into these cups
in the locks a quart or so of oil is
poured and a wick made of reindeer
moss is tightly twisted and stuck
down into the oil.
After it is saturated good it is
lighted and carefuly trimmed at in-1
tervals of a few minutes by some old
woman who is an expert at the art.
The children as well as the older
people have many curious games con
structed out of the tusks of the wal
rus, and they are tough and inured
to cold and exposure. These natives
are never idle, their hands being con
stantly occupied in sewing, carving,
decorating walrus tusks for sale at
the city of Nome several hundred
miles south, and the women and girls
employ their time in sewing on skin
garments for the winter.
FINAL DELIVERY MADE AT SE
ATTLE ON EQUIPMENT FOR
ENGINEERING COMMISSION.
SEATTLE, Sept. 8.—Final delivery
was made here today by a Seattle firm
on a large order of equipment that
was given it some time ago by the
Alaskan Engineering Commission. In
cluded in the equipment is a dredging
machine, the price of which was $25,
000. This machine, it is understood,
is to be used in work in the harbor at
Anchorage. The dredge will be trans
ported to Anchorage and put together
there next spring.
i
EASY.
“Joe,” said a newly married man to
j an old friend whom he met at the
| club, “what did you call your wife’s
j mother when you were first married ?
i I don’t like the idea of calling mine
by the endearing name of ‘Mother.’ ”
“Well,” said Joe, “it was like this
with me: For a while I addressed her
as ‘say,’ but before I was married a
year I called her ‘Grandma.’ ”
_£
Statisticians have figured it out
that it costs $37,000 to kill one sold
ier. Each one of the seven or eight
millions of men who have been slain
!n the European war have cost that
amount!
“Who gave you the black eye, Mur
phy?”
“Nobody gave it to me; I had to
fight for it.”
BBiBOliBB
| BRIEF NEWS OF
Mining activity in the Porcupine
district never was known to bring
so man encouraging results as this
season is doing, says a recent issue
of the Skagway Alaskan. This year
all the operators have been more than
pleased and up to date more gold
has been taken out with less expense
and under systematic management
than any time since the early days
when the district was operated by
| so many companies and private in
dividuals and had a population of
| several hundred miners and pros
pectors.
Th Alaska Corporation is operat
ing the claims formerly owned by
the Porcupine Gold Mining company
and has just completed their third
and best clean-up of the season. This
clean-up wTas from a small pit and
the gold taken out was several
thousand dollars more than expect
ed. It is safe to say these claims
will yield more gold with less ex
pense than any year since 1905.
Dr. Sewell reports having spent a
week on these creeks and talked
with the operators and men in
charge and says the work is going
on like a clock and that prospects
are that more than $100,000 will
be taken out by one company alone.
The whole camp is much excited
over the reports of the bornite ore
discoveries. It was not expected
that the tunnel being sunk would
reach the ledge until in late Septem
ber or October. The quantity and
grade of ore is far above all expec
tations.
A shipment of 60,000 feet of clear
spruce from a Juneau mill was re
cently made to England. The lum
ber is for airplane construction.
W. G. Atwood, formerly an engi
neer on the Alaska Northern under
the old regime, is now a major of
engineers with the American army
in France.
Knute Peterson, William Gillis
and Fannie Neimo, all Alaska insane
patients confined in the Morningside
asylum at Portland, were discharged
as cured recently.
Fishing in the Port Clarence dis
trict north of Nome, is fast becom
ing the principal industry, and a
large pack of salt fish is expected to
be put up this season.
Word comes from Vancouver of
the death of Alexander McGuire, for
years a member of the Dawson fire
department. He died at Salmon Arm,
about 50 miles above Vancouver,
where he had been working.
J. F. Gilbert, of the coast and geo
detic survey, is in Seward en route
to the westward to continue the coast
survey along the southwest coast,
and it is expected will bring the U.
S. steamer Yukon to Seward this fall,
where she will probably be wintered.
The Cordova Power company is
planning to give Cordova a greatly
improved electric service. It has ac
quired a piece of property from the
Copper River & Northwestern rail
way near the center of town, where
an auxiliary plant will be erected.
The first unit of the new equipment
has already been received, and the
remainder is expected in the near fu
ture.
With his throat cut from ear to
ear, both wrists cut, and blood spat
tered all over, Conrad Borjesson was
found in a stateroom on board the
steamship Alaska while the latter
was lying in port in Ketchikan It
is stated that the young man was
drafted and preferred death to fight
ing against the Fatherland. The de
ceased had a bank book on his per
son showing large deposits at the
Tacoma Bank.
Jens Olson, of the Green Tree Inn
at Dawson, feeling weary, retired to
| a room in his hostelry one afternoon
recently for a snooze. When he open
ed his eyes after a dreamy slumber
the first thing he saw was a huge
lynx in the room. Nothing daunted
I Jens seized a blanket and went to the
I attack, and for a few minutes the air
i was filled with a mixup of lynx and
Swede, but man and blanket were
1 too much for the unsophisticated
! denizon of the wild and Jens emerg
I ed from the conflict, somewhat the
j worse for wear but with the lynx se
curely tied up in the blanket. Inves
; tigated revealed that the lynx came
down the river on some driftwood,
and swam ashore in front of the ho
tel, where he took refuge in the room
occupied by Olson.
Every member of the Southeast
Alaska Fish and Game club, which
pointed as a deputy game warden and
will help to enforce the game laws
THE NORTHLAND, g
SHiiHilSiSiSffil
of that district.
Arsieni Romanoff, who has twice
escaped from jail at Seldoyia, has
again been recaptured. He is want
ed on a statutory charge. Arsienti is
described as a hyiu cultus Indian by
the other Indians.
J. Harmon Caskey, editor of the
Fairbanks Citizen, who recently re
turned from the states, has bumped
into a full-sized libel suit. Publisher
W. F. Thompson of the Fairbanks
News-Miner is the complainant. Cas
key’s friends claim it is a put-up job.
Judge Jennings recently granted
all the applications for liquor licenses
in the city of Douglas with one ex
ception. The Opera House bar, which
has been in business for years, was
protested against as being within the
prohibited distance of a church.
Nineteen traps were washed away
in the Seldovia and Cook Inlet dis
trict in recent storms, entailing a tre
i mendous loss on the cannerymen of
the district. Storms have been un
usually severe in the Cook Inlet re
gion this season and fishermen have
been unable to do much with their
traps.
According to a report received at
the marshal’s office at Fairbanks, a
number of natives at Fort Yukon
secured a supply of hootch and start
ed a celebration that brought them
to the attention of the federal auth
orities. Fourteen, of both sexes, were
arrested and one of the number is
held on the additional charge of sup
plying the hootch.
O. J. Klawitter, sub contractor on
the radio plant at Seward, has reach
ed that place and will commence the
erection of the steel towers. The
towers will be 200 feet high.
Peter Borken, a special deputy
marshal from Chichagoff, recently ar
rived in Juneau with W. A. Newton,
an insane man, committed to Morn
ingside by the U. S. commissioner
at Chichagoff. The prisoner was ex
tremely violent on several occasions
while being conveyed to Juneau, and
upon examination by a physician it
was found that he was suffering from
the “Willies” caused by an extensive
indulgence in hootch. He was re
leased.
Bob Sheldon, proprietor of the
Sheldon Stage Line from Valdez and
Chitina to Fairbanks, recently pur
chased another Ford, making the
number used on the trail eight. Mr.
Sheldon states that he has done one
of the best businesses in his career
as a stage driver this year.
The first tower of the big radio sta
tion at Seward has ben erected and
the work of riveting the structure
together will be commenced at once.
Erection of the second tower will
start at an early date. Seward will
have one of the best radio stations
in the north when completed.
John D. Davis, superintendent of
the bureau of mines experiment sta
tion to be established at Fairbanks
has arrived there. His wife and one
assistant, Mr. Purdy accompanied
him. He stated that he will be ready
for work in about a month. A quan
tity of supplies have also arrived.
Mrs. Brachen of Douglas was op
erated on recently at the St. Ann hos
pital in that city for a decayed bone
in one of her legs. A part of the tib
ia was removed, and the remainder
was cleaned and scraped and the pa
tient is doing well. It is one of the
most difficult operations yet perform
ed in the Territory.
The Hawk Inlet cannery near Ju
neau will make a record for handling
fish this year. The cannery has al
ready put up 126,000 cases, more
than have been put up at the can
nery any other season since it was
built. Every cannery in Alaaka will
put up a good pack with the excep
tion of the far western points, which
have made a poor pack.
Howard Rolston, a former resident
of Fairbanks, has written to his
cousin at the interior city that he
is now an officer in the American
j contingent in France. He was ap
j pointed to West Point by former
Delegate Wickersham several years
ago, and was later discharged on ac
count of a slight defect in his hear
ing. He was later allowed to re-en
list.
Trolling off the Seward dock for
I silver salmon is reported to be great
j sport these days. Many fish are be
! ing caught by citizens.
Commissioner Thos. J. Devam
brought a dead body from Kaltag t<
Ruby early this month but no on<
could identify it. The remains wen
interred at Ruby.
The office of the Pacific Steamship
company at Ketchikan is being re
decorated on the exterior in the green
and buff of the Admiral Line. Ralph
Bartholomew is in charge of the
work.
William Kenny and Joseph Barton
are being held at Tanana by the of
ficials on the charge of robbery and
will probably be tried at the Ruby
term of court. No details have been
received.
i A. M. Snodgrass, wife and five
children, recently went from Valdez
to Fairbanks in one Ford auto, prov
ing that the roads are in excellent
condition. The party carried 200
pounds of baggage.
Several more alien enemies are
liable to be interned at Fairbanks ac
cording to Marshal Erwin, because
of seditious utterances. Mr. Erwin
has made several arrests lately and
is keeping a sharp eye on suspicious
persons.
Nine out of twelve of the men
working on the fishing schooner Ko
diak were drafted, six from the San
Juan, and two out of three on the
small boat “We Three” and left im
mediately for the states taking the
boat at Ketchikan.
Many gardens are now flourishing
in the Tolovana district, enough vege
tables being grown to furnish the
camp. Howard Barnes, one of the pio
neer homesteaders had early vege
tables from his green house as soon
as the Fairbanks people were enjoy
ing theirs.
Several fishing boats arrived at
Douglas recently with light catches
of fish, and the captains state that
halibut has been unsually hard to
get, but state that his is the usual
condition at this season of the year.
They predict that fishing will be
much better later on in the season.
For several days the Signal Corps
in Alaska had great difficulty in
transmitting messages on account of
heavy electrical waves caused by the
northern lights which were unusually
brilliant. Electrical instruments all
over the territory have been affected*
TRANSPORT CARRIES
MANY PASSENGERS
| CROOK TAKES OUT NINETY
THREE CABIN AND FORTY
TWO STEERAGE.
Ninety-three first class passengers
' and forty-two steerage passengers
I took passage for Seattle early Fri
I day morning on the United States
j army transport Crook. The cabin
i passengers were as follows:
James Burner, Mr. and Mrs. F.
Muttersbach, Fred Muttersbach, jr.,
Mrs. C. H. Dech, Russell H. Dech,
Mr. and Mrs. C. E. Pierce, Mr. and
Mrs. Wm. Austin, Mrs. Bei’t Hallier,
Mr. and Mrs. J. B. Chappelear, Mrs.
H. F. Hallier, Mr. and Mrs. Wil
liam Morrison, Miss Marcia Morrison,
J. A. Franske, Esther Foster, Mrs.
D. B. Rose, George H. Rose, Carl A.
Knutson, Mrs. W. F. Kubach, Owen
Hayes, Andrew Strand, Mrs. A. H.
Schaefer, C. Anderson, Emmett Lem
en, Mrs. M. E. Russell, L. H. Owen
by, Miss Lora Hitchcock, R. L. Gould
in, R. E. Moorecroft, N. G. Ander
son, Mrs. O. Riffle, Miss Adeline Rif
fle, Miss Vera Riffle, Miss Vera Rif
fle, Martin Johnson, P. J. Wiler, Lee
Burns, Edward Olson, O. Hayworth,
Don Buckington, H. E. Rogers, Ed
ward Coppock, Frank Nelson, J. E.
Mansfield, G. Danovich, George Jos
eph, George Collot, M. H. Bolte, H.
Grelland, Austo Emizas, Savas Kirk
en, Halel Aptulis, Niel MacGreger,
M. Calabrese, A. Zarelli, L. F. Vaile,
Mrs. Anne Mettler, D. Robinson,
Walter Sahlstrom, Alma Sahlstrom,
Theidore Sahlstrom, Viola Sahl
strom, T. M. Ross, Carl R. Lofquist,
Arnold Beshund, Mike Hanes, T. P.
North, J. E. Hewitt, H. C. Larsen,
Thos. R. Loadman, Steve Savich,
Franw Diamond, Dan Raseta, George
Mann, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Boed
rick, C. Hansen, Pete Iverson, E. A.
Kies, Ed. C. Macy, Henry Frerick,
Gertrude Schaleben, Jack Bellows,
Pete Dukevich, W. H. Barnhill, Her
man Clark, J. F. Kruse, Mrs. H. O.
Schaleben, Mrs. E Grabbe, E. P. Hed
berg.
! Job printing at The Times office.
SEVERAL HUNTING PARTIES
ORGANIZED HERE AND WILL
LEAVE IN A FEW DAYS.
EXPECT TO BAG LEGAL LIMIT
Dali Species Is Kind of Animal That
Is Found in This Region and Its
Coat Is Described as Almost Pure
White in Color,
i _
Hunters and trappers report an un
usual number of mountain sheep in
the immediate vicinity of Anchorage
I and several parties have been formed
here and will go to the hills in a few
days to try their luck at bagging the
number permitted by law.
The species of mountain sheep pe
culiar to this section is described as
Alaska Dali mountain sheep (Ovis
dalli).
“The only variation in the pure
white coat of the Dali sheep,” says a
government report, “is a mixture of a
few black hairs on the rump, some
times becoming plentiful enough to
form a blackish spot on the tail and a
light brownish stain over the entire
body, due to the slight discoloration at
the tips of the hairs from contact with
the earth in their bedding-down places.
Their horns are usually dull amber
yellow and are notable for their slen
der proportions and the grace of their '' *
! sweeping coils, which sometimes curve
close to the head and again spread
wide, open spiral.
I “As their white coats indicate, the
Dali sheep are the northermost of
their kind in America. Their home lies
mainly in Alaska, where they were
formerly abundant in many mountain
ranges, from those bordering the Arc
tic coast south through the interior to
the cliffs on Ivenai pennsula, but are
now scarce or gone from some moun
tains. To the eastward they are num
erous across the border in much of
Yukon territory, nearly to the Mac
kenzie river. Their haunts lie amid a
; wilderness of peaks and ridges marked
in summer with scattered glaciers and
banks of perpetual snow and in winter
exposed to all the rigors of a severe
Arctic climate. They are extraord
inarily numerous in some districts, as
among the outlying ranges about the
base of Mount McKinley.”
V
CROOK WILL BRING
BIG FOOD CARGO •
SHIP ON ‘ NEXT TRIP TO HAVE
15,000 DOZEN EGGS AND
FORTY TONS OF BEEF.
SEATTLE, Sept. 7.—When the
United States transport Crook sails
from Seattle on her next voyage to
I Anchorage, she will carry one of the
largest cargoes of food supplies and
railroad material that ever went north
on any ship.
Among the various articles of food
will be 15,000 dozen eggs and forty
tons of fresh beef, which will be for
the workers engaged in the building
of the government railway.
Tammany, one of the most un-Am
erican yet powerful and corrupt po
litical organizations in the country,
must realize that its hold on New
York city and state is slipping, and
that it will lose its opportunities for
grafting on public treasuries unless it
does something desperate. A flat de
claration in favor of municipal owner
ship and operation of all public utili
ties, including traction, gas, electric
ity and telephones, Is the outstand
j ing feature of the Tammany platform
adopted by the democratic chief fusion
committee or the coming municipal
campaign. The platform says:
“It is the democratic purpose in
this campaign to strike a blow for
true reform, and we are proud to re
flect that it is the first time in the
history of municipal government in
this country that a great political par
ty has brought its organized strength
to the service and to the support of
this great principle of regenertaion.”
Job work at The Times office.