RUSH FOLLOWS
DISCOVERIES
OF MURAL!
The first immigrant and explore
ol the great empire west of the MIt
siesippi river and the territory <>
Maska was the trapper, lie wa:
followed hy the miner and prospeetoi
and the latter by the settler, with hi;
family, his scanty stock of merchan
disc and his optimism, in the primi
live days the above hardy pioneer
rpaned the continent and presed 01
into the great white wastes of thi
uorthland, undaunted hy hardship
aud unafraid of the unknown dang
ers; ever in pursuit of the precioui
metals, and when found pushing ot
and on niter an ignis fatus, thi
search ending only with the death o
argonaut.
Alaska was no exception. And sc
with the west i»i general. In th<
fall of 1849-50 the world at large
was electrified with the discovery ol
gold in the mill tail of Sutter's mil
in the Sacramento valley. The char
aeter developed, the hardships en
dured. the many crimes committed in
the feverish search for treasure are
still matters of history. The old
time characters who played leading
roles In the gerat world-drama are
long since dead. Following with an
interval of fifteen years, we learn ot
the riehnes of Confederate and Ald
er gulches in the territory of Mon
tana. where later forts were estab
lished for the protection of the argo
nauts at Fort Shaw, Fort Kllis.
Fort Logan and Fort Magintiis and
also Fort Missoula. Another lapse
of a score of years and we hear of
grid being found in the Kootenai in
the Coeur d' Alette mountains, whi. h
jirecipated another w ild scramble.
About this time vast fortunes were
n : de and lost in the northwest terri
tor., tie- adventurers coming in by
v ay of tin- Fraser river and swarm
ing over the mountains and plains
by tie thuosands. Casslar, Lease
creek, and last Inn not least the fam
ous Klondike, where (leorge Carmack
iirearthed a fortune hy the stroke of
a [lick.
iii un ai H|n-u'uuiin uuilili r in ui
thousands of dollars have been spent
in taking gold from the earth, and
while fortune smiled on a few,
thousands were disappointed after
spending inilions in prospecting, ex
ploring and devloping prospects
into mines.
While at first it would seem that
tl.osi millions have been squandered
in a vain endeavor to better the finan
cial condition ot tile emigrant such
xvas not the ease, us the pioneers
who hunted v.iinh for gold wore the
homebuilders of an empire greater
then tin ; -e m Texas and a nlim
it* r of other states thrown in.
Town lining i:; > over til.. tri
•cry, main of which were abandoned
and mine with more advantageous
le : "or ur i v ing and bee lining
sna il cities in tin' milking, with
i hurt In ., schools and libraries, clubs,
lodges and other forerunners of a bet
tor ' ii ilization. hi tile wake of tile
si : peder always folowed the thrifty
lioim-builder. who by his judgment,
foil-sight and energy reaped a golden
ht.rve.-u from the efforts of the more
excitable and volatile prospector and
miner. Th ■ gold seekers blazed the
v ay lor greater things. Their labor
was never in vain. They were the
vt ii of the more prudent settlor, who
today has scarred the face of the
earth with his clearings, his cabins,
a id his villages. This is the manner
of all national development.
Following closely in the foo'ateps
ot the homebuilder came the capital
ist, ready to seize on points of com
mercial value, and struggling hard
in hand with the law to penetrate
tho home of the aTiorIgine with tho
steamship and locomotive.
In the rush to tin* (loldon West we
hud steamboats and bateaus plying
tho broad Missouri as far as Fort
lionton on the upper Missouri, supply
ing the gold seeker with a shorter
and more advantageous route to the
gold fields. Following in fhoir trend
ii.ino the great financier, Jay Cooke,
who projected, with the land given
him in land grunts, the groat trunk
lino known as the Northern Pacific.
The pioneer of the Atlantic and the
pioneer of the Pacific clasped hands
across thousands of miles ot* arid
plain and fertile woodlands. In the
north the* sailing ship was followed
by tlie steamship, and the steamship
of those days, such as the Bertha, the
| Excelsior, the Elihu Thompson and
k j tiie score of other smaller craft ply
I ing from Sound and San Francisco
ports with the palatial liners of the
P; rifle Steamship company—palatial
compared to the vessels designated
as steamers in the days of ninety
eight and ninety-nine.
When the great west was explored
and settled the true pioneer, hemmed
in by the waters of the mighty Paci
fic cast about for new lands to ex
plore and hardships to conquer. What
; more natural than that ho should cast
i his eyes to the* nortbland, where ru
* mor told him that untold weatlh was
» hidden in the bowels of the earth,
■ and fortunes in fur roamed the dense
forest sof spruce and cottonwood;
where tin* sea otter and its young
floated unmole.-.ted upon the bosom of
the deep, and where ermine, mink
and beaver were to bo had by the
countless thousands.
By reaching that far off and un
explored territory was the question
that confronted the* modern Jason.
The Holden Fleece was his for the
shearing, but how to get to the* harv
est. Many were the* fireside discus
sions before the decision was made.
Many were the plans adopted and
utnudonod and adopted again, before
! flu adventurer sailed on sloop or
! whaling vesel for the Eldorado ot
: li.'s hopes. The* mighty valleys ol
! the- Yukon, the Koyukuk, the White*
j river, the Hopper and the towering
mountains wore seductive possibili
ties for wealth that could not be
I overlooked.
Gate ill tile tall ol tstlti the mining
"a rid was electrilied by that same
magical influcnrc that carved deep
into the pages of history the name of
Carmack. 1.indeman and others. Gold
was discovered in Alaska. la the
! lonely cabins on the Sierras, in the
hamlets of the sleepy east, in the
busy lollies and corridors of the bo
nds of the great cities of the Atlantic
seaboard, and even in the commercial
<enters of Knrope the thriling Blo
ts, n. “Gold," appealed to all. and the
1h north began The wealth which
t leans case and comfort to the weary
toller, and the banishment of hunger
and cold from cabin and tenement
was to be had for the digging, and
all alike were thrilled with the tales
! of rich placer deposits.
When the rtisn of gold seekers and
their satellites struck the golden
north tint little was known of the to
pography of the country, and many
perished who might otherwise have
been sav -d had the trails been blazed
: ud the road made plain. Several
routes were feasible, hut the Cunad
Ian one repaired the American pros
pector and miner to pay tribute to
Canada, and this was extremely dls
tasteful to tin- intrepid adventurers
of those times Many explorations
were made The government sent
out several scientific parlies to look
cp an all-American route to the in
terior The most feasible one dls
•overde, and the one that shows the
wisdom of the early explorer was that
through the Gull of Alaska, and
I’rince William sound into Port Val
dez. a landlocked harbor sufficient in
size and depth of water to uromrno
dnte any number of vesels and with
a temperature and depth available as
a harbor the year round, but the far
{ tliest point north in which these con
j ditlons were found. From Valdez
I I I. I 11 tl J2,11 I \ « > MUllt UU1IJUU 1111
J Coastal range, through the valley of
j the ('tipper, crossing the main range
- at Mantasta pass; thence crossing
j the headwaters of tho Tanana to tho
Forty-mile country, to the headwaters
of American creek, and down this
stream to Fugle, on tile banks of the
mighty Yukon, was the route select
ed. The entire breadth of the terri
tory was thus traversed over this line
j on an all American route, which was
! the shortest through American terri
I tory by 250 miles, and extends
through a section of the country that
is self sustaining.
Over this route citizens of the Uni
ted States could travel at will without
taxation or the petty annoyances in
flicted upon the gold seekers by the
officious representatives of tho Cana
d’an government. Tho route today
for a great part is tho samo as that
traversed in 1898 and 1899, witii tho
exception of a branching oft to Fair
banks, from which city to the coast
at Cordova it is now possible to ride
in comfort in autos, requiring hours
where it formerly took days.
This is the reasons for Cordova and
this is the reason why this city will
hydrographlcally and geographically
always be recognised by the govern
men tas the most important route to
the interior, saving days in travel
over that of any other, and connect
in;; tlie Tatiana river valley and the
Yukon with the coast by one of tin*
greatest thoroughfares in the terri
tory stretching away over hil land
dale, over towering mountains,
through deep chasms and past mag
nificent forests of spruce and other
! timber.
The above route is sprinkled with
roadhouses, hamlets, the primitive
cabins of the pioneer, who with his
family is tilling the soil f(>r his sub
sidence, and eking out a Ko0d living
with Is stock, his gun and ills traps.
And to all this perfection Ib due the
courage and prcserverance of the pio
neers— the hardy goldseekors who
tell and moil for the yellow metal
through the sheer love of the excite
ment of finding it.
IMPERILED HIS
NECK TO KISS
SACRED STO®
BON DON. Jan. IS (by Associated
Press I. Peter McGuire. sometime of
San Frail. : a >, i. iv. of :be Fnitcd
States navy, imperiled his neck for
tile right to tell his admiring friends
at home, "I've kissed the Blarney
stone " McGuire was a member of a
party of American sailor conducted
bv the Young Men’s Christian Assocl- !
ation to Blarney castle.
"It's a bit of a drop,” said Pete after
lie bad climbed to the top of the castle
wall and looked down a sheer lid
feet. "It’s by way of adding a little
sport to the game."
Pete watched other Yankee blue
jackets kiss the Blarney stone. The
approved method is for a strong man
to grasp the candidate's left leg and
arm, while another grusps his right
log and arm; then they swing him out
over the abyss as far as- they can
reach and let the intrepid one bounce |
his nose egalnst the scares* attain-!
able rock, call it a kiss and let it go
at that.
Not so McGuire. He knew he could
reach out over the ledge and kiss the
Blarney stone across the way without
assistance. As he had almost at
tained his goal he lost his balance and
started down the 110 feet straight
through the air.
The keeper descended by a safer
route, intending to pick up the dead
American sailor. What lie saw was
McGuire rubbing himself and point
ing heavenward with a sort of sheep
ish grin.
The keeper saw where McGuire,
after falling sixty feet, hit well out
on a tree limb and broke it off. Be
low that was another hough to which
he had caromed, and below still an
other, also breaking the fall, so that
the last drop of fifteen feet was very
minor.
The custodian became very angry.
"What do you mean?" he said, "break
ing off the limbs of the trees. Don't
you see that sign 'Do not injure
shrubbery"?
_
DEATH PENALTY FOR
MUNICH PROFITEERS
MUNICH. Jan. IS (by Associated
Press). The discovery of a huge hid
den store of clothing, comprising 27.
Ollrt garments, illegally held since
April, 1915, prompted the magistrate
of Munich to appeal to the ministry
of foreign affairs for a new protective
law making profiteering punishable by
death. It was ascertained that from
time to time goods had been taken
from this supply and sold at from two
to six times their actual value. The
magistrate stated that unless oner
gottc steps were taken, the patience
of the people would soon be exhausted.
♦ -
The Daily Times job plant is
well equipped for all classe of com
mercial printing.
_—^..
I Job printing at Daily Times office
4
y. V
1 '••• A
Mr. Business
Man
I I
By the recent addition of many new |
type faces and other equipment we have
made of our JOB DEPARTMENT one
of the finest in Alaska. We are now in
| a position to handle your orders with |
even more neatness and dispatch than
before. How about that order for sta
tionery you were wanting right away? |
II I
Just step to the phone and call us—
we will do the rest.
Prices? Well—, you will find them
always RIGHT.
x.; •
..... *- ." .. .. ■ »■...
Rocks—Sulphurous Waters—Oils,
—just as they come “Ili
Press” takes them on and
heats them. There never
THE BF.tDDDRICN RUBBER CDHPAMY jfl \. jL
MaUcm of the Crlebmtrd Goodrich Automobile* Tire*
ifhJ•'('','-Lf "'Heat in the Long Hun'' \\ f J^’~WLj^ ^^B|||p|l§!|
/':■ wtogMsumlB^W^k *M,, /jp ljs ^_
III fcjj gA A4 ~~b H
MINING MACHINERY MARINE - HARDWARE CANNERY SUPPLIES
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CORDOVA. ALASKA