VOLUME ONE. NUMBER 271. PK1^h l hN ( ENTS'
BULGARIAN FRONT THREATENED
FRENCH MAKING HEROIC FIGHT
SALONIKI, Oct. 25—The French troops routed three divi
sions of Bulgarians in a battle in southeastern Serbia, the in
vaders being forced to retreat westward in the direction of'
Strumitza. The French forces are threatening the entire Bul
garian front in this section, and are in the ascendant, it being
likely that a strong offensive will be launch at once. 1 lie Bul
garians suffered heavily in the fighting, as they were poorly
equipped with artillery compared to the French three inch guns,
which swept the Bulgarians with a deadly hail forcing them to
retreat in disorder. The guns were so skillfully manipulated
by the French that the Bulgarians hardly got within rifle dis
tance of their lines, so that their losses were negligible the
total French casulaties being only ten killed and a score wound-!
ed. The French now firmly hold the line running from Barakle
to Rabrovo.
ATHENS, Oct. 25—The French troops in Serbia gained a
brilliant success Saturday by forcing their way through the
Bulgarians and effecting a junction with the Serbian troops at
Krivolak. The French charged with an intrepidty and valor
that could not be denied, and overwhelmed the Bulgarians with
fierceness of their attack. In Southern Serbia the allies are
forging slowly and steadily ahead, and have met with no re
verses so far.
LONDON, Oct. 25—It is persistently being rumored tlmt
the allies are preparing to greatly increase the number of troops [
that the French and English have already landed in Soloniki i
and transported to Serbia. In is stated that at least two hun
dred thousand troops will be sent here, and' probably more for
it is figured that if the allies can show Greece that they will put
enough men into Balkans to make sure ot ultimate \ ietor\ o\ej
the Bulgarians, that Greece will be compelled to throw her Tol
in with the entente powers. The victories already registered
by the allies in southern Serbia are having their effect on official ^
opinion in Athens, and the proponents of the allies cause are
becoming more numerous every day.
GRANDER, Serbia, Oct. 25—The double attempt of the
Bulgarians to cut the railroad at Veles and in the Volandovo
section has been completely defeated, and the invaders forced
to all back to the neighborhood of their own frontier. 1 he
Bulgarians attacked Veles furiously, and flung themselves
again and again at the French positions, but their new and un
tried troops failed to measure tip with the English and French
veterans who have been fighting on the Gallipoli peninsula and
in France. The invaders lost heavily while the French and
English losses were comparatively slight. The inferiority ol
the Bulgarians as a fighting force was marked as although they
greatly outnumbered the French and English, they were unable
to carry the hastily formed trenches along the railroad which
the allies had thrown up. The allies are now contemplating
taking the offensive in this region and military observers in
Saloniki are predicting that this offensive is imminent. The
success of the allied' troops is leaving a profound impression on
the people of Greece, and if continued will encourage the war
party in that country led by the ex-premier Venizelos.
ATHENS, Oct. 25—The French troops working up the
Nish railroad from Saloniki are having uniform success in
beating off the Bulgarian troops as they proceed. They have
now occupied tin* line as far north as fifty miles southeast ol
I skub, giving them practical control of the whole of southern
Serbia, and are gradually extending their zone of influence.
The French and English troops are showing their superioity
over the Bulgarians, and are inflicting heavy losses on the
enemy. The Bulgarians are in control of the railroad north
of Uskub and have also occupied the city of Uskub.
NISH, Oct. 25—The official Serbian statement issued to
day states that the Serbians have met with success on both
fighting fronts, and have captured several guns. The whole
tone of the statement is encouraging and symptomatic of the
optimistic feelings of Serbian people regarding the outcome of
the present Teutonic invasion.
NISH, Oct. 25—The Teuton offensive has been definitely
checked along the entire northern front simultaneously. At
Posarevac the Serbians retired' a few miles to take up stronger
positions in the mountains, and they are now firmly in position
there, and the German advance has been halted. All of the
Bulgarian attacks on the Timok and Pirot fronts have been
repulsed, and Nish is in no immediate danger from tho enemy
in that quarter. The Bulgarians seem to be making their prin
cipal efforts in the district comprising Serbian Macedonia, but
are being defeated in the southern portion by the allied French
and British troops.
XISH, Oct. 25—Tile Serbians have officially admitted that
tin- Bulgarians have captured the city of l skup.
German Cruiser Sunk By English Submarine.
PETROGKAI), Oct. 25—The war office announced offi
cially today that a British submarine had torpedoed and sunk
the German cruiser Prinz Adalbert in the Baltic Sea near the
port of Libau. The Prinz Adalbert was of eighty-nine hundred
tons burden, 393 feet long and carried a total crew of 560 men.
BERLIX, Oct. 25—The German admiralty admitted today
the loss of the cruiser Adelebert through a torpedo attack by a
British submarine in the Baltic Sea. The report states that
practically the entire crew of the Adalbert perished.
—-— :o:
England Pins Faith in New Commander.
LONDON, Oct. 23—The people of England are expecting
new military activity on the Gallipoli peninsula with the advent
of Sir diaries Monroe, the new British commander. Moore is
a virile, active commander with a tine fighting record, who en
joys the respect and confidence of his soldiers as well as of the
officials from Lord Kitchener down.
-: o:
Germans Close Traffic on Lake Constance
GENEVA, Oct. 23—The German military authorities have
again closed Lake Constance to travel by forbiddening all travel
through the cities in Germany to those in Switzerland. No
steamers have left Constance for Besel. and tin* purpose of the
embargo is evidently to conceal some military movements of a
great magnitude. No steamers are permitted to approach the
German steamboat landings, ami patrol boats keep all boats at
a safe distance from the wharves and docks.
Delegate Wickersham left Fairbanks
on Saturday for Cordova coming by
automobile over the trail as far as
Chitina. He is on his way to Wash
ington, but will visit all the towns
along the coast before he enters upon
his congressional duties. He has made
no announcement of his candidacy for
re-election it is generally believed that
, the Judge intends again entering the
7 race and that he would not be adverse
to receiving the Republican nomina-l
tion, if he can secure it.
While it is known that Judge Bun
nell is also seriously considering be
ing a Democratis aspirant for this
honor, it is said that at least one,
and possibly two regular Republicans
figure on throwing their hats m the
ring. The latter believe that next
year spells victory for the G. O. P.
and they want to get under the wire
at the finish.
Of course many things may happen
before the presidential election, at
which time Alaska selects its Dele
gate to Congress, but there ts every
indication that there wil be some poli
tics played in the territory within the
tweleve months.
PROMETHEUS WILL RETURN
TO CORDOVA TOMORROW
The 17. S. S Prometheus Is due in
Cordova tomorrow, having come-direct
from Bremerton to repair the damage
done to Whitshed radio station by the
recent explosion of an alcohol tank.
The length of the stay of this big ship.
here iB not known, but she is likely j
to be here several weeks.
--:o:
Farragut Here Tomorrow.
The steamer Admiral Farragut sail
ed from Juneau at 4 o’clock yesterday!
afternoon and is due in Cordova to
morrow afternoon.
-:o:
Thomas Riggs, Jr , Falcon Joslin j
and R. C. Wood, of Fairbanks, board-j
ed the steamer Alameda here yester-!
day for Seward and Anchorage.
-:o:
The cableship Burnside is this af
ternoon cutting out the fault in the
cable betwen here and Valdez.
Advices from Washington are to the
effect that when the U. S. S. Prome
theus returns here, to repair the dam
age done the naval radio station at
Whitshed. wireless phones are to be
installed, thus enabling Manager Gilia’
to talk direct from here to Arlington.
Virgina. with but one relay, which will
be at Seattle when the new wireless
plant there Is built.
The government officials believe the
success which has attended the experi
ments of wireless telephony across the
continent has solved the question of
rapid communication and will permit
of Alaskans keeping in closest touch
with the outside world at a greatly
reduced cost.
_■ -
MTS BIG UTKIN
AUTO HOAD TO INTERIOR
Col. W. P. Richardson, president of
the Alaska Road Commission, arrived
in town Sunday on the City Puebla
and left today for Juneau, where he
j expects to spend a few days before
! proceeding to Washington, where he
will submit his annua! report to the
i War Department and also endeavor to
i receive a much larger appropriation
j than usual for the purpose of compiet
ing the work on the government trail
from Chitina and Valdez to Fairbanks.
1 He estimates that it will take $1,000
per mile to put this road in condition
for automobile service.
-: o:
INJURED WHILE WORKING
ON TRESTLE AT MILE 49
Yesterday Fred Clausen, who was
i employed in the building of a “Y"
trestle at Miles Glacier, on the Cop
per River railway, met with a painful
and possibly serious injury. He was
j pushed off the trestle by a swinging
! timber and hurled to the ground with
considerable force- Clausen was
brought to the company hospital on
j the afternoon train, where he is rest
ing comfortably.
-:o:
Mrs. Alvah Eames, who spent the
past couple of months with friends in
Portland, returned home on the Ala
meda last night.
Geo. C. Hazelet, president of th«
local Chamber of Commerce, and
Falcou .Joslin, president of the Tanans
Valley railroad, have just returned
from a visit to the oil fields at KatalU
and the Bering river coal fields, wher*
they made an examination of the natu
ral resources. The trip was made t(
Katalla on the launch Prospector and
they mushed from the coal fields t<
Mile 38, on the Copper River railway
over the proposed route for transport
lng the coal from Bering river to Cor
dova, and are very enthusiastic ove>
the future of this section of the eoun
* try. To a Daily Times reporter Mr
Joslin said:
“Our trip into the Bering River coa
field and to Katalla was immensely in
teresting. What we saw tends to con
firm what I have long claimed, tha
Is, that Alaska is acre for acre as riel
in natural resources as any otlie
• equal area In the world.
-In the Tanana Valley the resource;
are gold and agriculture. In the ('op
| per River Valley it is copper; at Ratal
la the resources are coal and oil
What delights one is to find that botl
the coal and the oil is very fines
quality. In the time to come thi
i name ‘Alaska Coal’ and ‘Alaska Oil
will become trade names signlfylni
the very best
“We mined coal from a vein twent;
feet thick and burnt it in a coal stov;
we found In an abandoned camp 01
Carbon creek that was so high in fue
value it would probably have meltei
the stove if the draft had been lef
open The coal which analysis Bhow
■ lias between 70 and 80 per cent flxei
carbon burns white hot. We were In
-1 formed by those who have used th
• coal that It will melt the grates in an
ordinary stove if not used carefully.
i | We were reliably told of a case where
■ a 12 inch drill bit left in the forge to
• be heated while the blacksmith was
at lunch was foumj to melted when ne
i returned, and this without forced
l draft.
s “We also made coke of this coal by
• starting a fire with it and then cov
: erlng it with earth. It seems quite
probable, however, that the coal is of
r such high heating value it may be
) used for smelting as It comes from the
t mine, without coking it. If this
1 should prove to be true it will be a
1 great economy in the smelting of the
t copper ores adjacent to Cordova
t The coal field is more than 30 miles
1 long and several miles in width. In
- the upper end of the field, which we
i did not visit, there is said to be the
finest anthracite coal. The field at
its nearest available point is about 25
miles from the Copper River railroad
and about the same distanee from tide
water at Katalla. There in an excel
lent route for a branch line railroad
from the Copper River road from
about Mile 39 via Lake Charlotte. We
also went over part of this route and
over all the alternate route via Kattal
la and the sea shore. Either route Is
quite feasible. If the line should go
via Lake Charlotte to the coal it will
probably be found advantageous to
extend it on to Katalla. for the de
velopment of the oil field about there
will undoubtedly make sufficient traffic
to attract a railroad. ___
"Indeed it is entirely possible that
the oil field may become or more value
and importance than the coal- The
oil field as proved by seepages—ex
tends from the Copper River delta on
the west to Yakataga on the east, a
distance of more than a hundred
miles. It appears to skirt the shore
line and in width extends toward the
| interior 10 or 15 miles. It is not h
Ismail field as I had supposed, but a I
I very large field. We found gas bub
j bling up in many places in Bering
i Lake and found we could with a
! match light the bubbles as they came
[through the water.
"There are three or four producing
wells near Katalla and a small refin
ery There is about 45,000 gallons of
crude oil produced monthly from
which about 15,000 gallons of gaso
line is produced. The rest is wasted
It is a pity to see the fine paraflno
base oil thrown away from the lack
of means to refine and market it.
"In spite of these wonderfully fine
resources the whole district is dead
commercially. It is a sad example of
the conservation policy of the govern
ment. Now a revival seems in pros
pect. Whether these resources are to
be opened by private enterprise or un
der government ownership with prob
ably be decided within the next few
months. The government is making
an investigation of Controller Bay as a
harbor and railroad terminus for
the district. Itis evident that no
satisfactory harbor can be found or
made at Katalla.
"Since the government is already
building a line to the Matanuska coal
field for supplying the navy with coal
it seems hardly rational for it to build
a second line to the Bering River coal
to compete with itself. So that it is
probable that the Bering River coal
and the oil also will eventually bo
brought to market at Cordova. ”