FOOTSTEPS OF
FATHER
D is a somewnat rare occurrence
l°r a father and son to attain distinc
tion in the same line of business. By
a strange coincidence such as the case
of Captain J. c. Hunter, of Seattle,
commanding the Alaska Steamship
t ompany's well known vessel North
western, who is probably the oldest
master on this coast, and his son, Cap
tain .\. T. Hunter, who is master of
the last turbiner Northern Pacific, of
the (.Sreat Northern Pacific Steamship
Co., who is the youngest mariner on
the Pacific having charge of so pala
tial a seagoing craft. This then is to
be a short story of these two well
known mariners, who are known by
many and whose joint history might
be termed a recital of shipping on this
coast from 1809.
Nearly every regular passenger to
and from Alaska knows and likes Cap
tain Hunter of the Northwestern, and
many there are who select that vessel
on account of her master. Bluff, hale I
and hearty, at the age of seventy-two j
ho is still as young as the rest of them
when on the bridge, and while ho is
always attending strictly to business,
children and women traveling back
and forth on his vessel are invariably
accorded most respectful and cour
teous attention and their safety and
comfort is his constant thought.
James Conrad Hunter was born at
Halmstad, Sweden, in 1843. At the age
of sixteen, after completing his course
in the Latin school, he shipped from
Halmstad in the year 1859, in a ship
of his native country, and remained in
her service until the fall of 1802.
Then he left his native town and
moved to Copenhagen, where he sailed
in Danish vessels from 1802 to 1864.
He left Copenhagen in 1805 in a Dutch
vessel, one of the ships that had been
seized in the Danish war. He went
to London as an ordinary seaman at
eleven Danish dollars per month, and
left the vessel while she was lying in
the Thames, and from a sailor’s board
ing house a few weeks later shipped
in an American sailing vessel bound
for the Last Indies, by way of Aden
and Calcutta, and eventually reaching
New York. The vessel having been j
dismasted and in need of repair, the |
crew was paid off and he shipped in !
a bark out of Boston for a roung trip !
to Cienfuego, returning to New York, I
"iien no resnippeu in tne same vessel
in which he hud sailed from London,
then making a round trip to England
and hack to New York via Bombay,
coming back to this country as third
mate in the year 1867.
In 1868 he sailed for the Pacific
coast, coming around the Horn to
Portland, Oregon, arriving there in
1869. The vessel was sold in Port
land and the crew paid off. In that
same year Captain Hunter began his
steamship career by accepting the
position of third officer on the S. S.
Continental, operating between San
Francisco and Portland, and has been
in the steamship service ever since.
lie was with the old Ben Holliday
Line. It was sold out to the Goodall
Nelson crowd and later became the
Pacific Coast Steamship Co. He was
with them from 1871 to 1898. In the
latter year he became master of the
City of Seattle, of the then Peabody
Line, and through all the various
changes in ownership remained with
that company or its successors up to
the present Maska Steamship Com
pany, having commanded such vessels
as the Dolphin, Dirigo, Farralone, La
touche. Northwestern and Cordova.
It was in 188n that Goodall. Perkins
ti Co. gave him command of his first
ship. It was the old Salinas and it
helped to make history on the coast.
While he was regularly employed
by Goodall, Perkins & Co., the Pacific
Mail requested the first mentioned
firm to “loan" them a third officer,
and temporarily Captain Hunter went
with the famous transpacific com
pany for three years, on the City ol
Panama and the well known side
wheelers China, Alaska and Dakota,
operating both on the Panama route
and the Japan-China mail route.
lie was one of the very earliest
navigators in the Alaska service, and
in 1888, at a time when there were
practically no charts and nothing al
all in the way of aids to navigation
he took the old Eureka to Alaska. Af
ter leavink Sitka, although there was
■t pilot "1)11 bl'illd. till, ie.mil 1 utrucli i
rock and the ship began to fill. The
vessel was successfully run ashore
and all passengers and crew were
saved. They were there six months
working to get the vessel in shape
and with the aid of a salvage crev
from San Francisco, the vessel wai
successfully taken back to her hone
port.
In a blinding snowstorm in Cook it
let in 1909 the old Farralone met he
fate, and the story of her wreck an
the rescue of the crew is one of th
romantic adventures of the difficul
navigation of the north. For thirt
days Captain Hunter and bis crew, i
the dead of winter, lived on the ice i
Illiamna bay. They had been give
up for lost, but Captain John O’Briei
of the Victoria, who had been set
out to look for them, happened to ru
across the survivors, who had su
fered untold hardships, und brougt
them safely back to Seattle.
Thus in the forty seven years t
1
has been steadily engaged on the Pa
cific const, Captain Hunter has be
come thoroughly familiar with the en
tire coast line from Panama to Point
Harrow and across the Pacific to Ja
pan and china and other parts of the
Orient.
His son, Captain Alfred T. Hunter,
in command of the Northern Pacific,
is but 15 years of age, and thus can
I be referred to as the "juvenile skip
per" of the Pacific coast. At the same
time has has already acquired a re
putation for efficiency in the handling
of that palatial liner. Like his father,
he started his seafaring earee when
he was but sixteen years old, ar\d his
first trip was as quartermaster on the
Umatilla.
In 1898 he joined the Dolphin
as second mate, in those days a li
cense for that rank not being neces
sary. With the advent of 1900 he
shipped on the Charles E. Moody,
eighteen months after joining the
Louisiana for a similar period. Dur
ing these three years of "windjam
mer" life he wus engaged in trading
with Australia, Hawaiian islands and
the west coast of Mexico.
Early in 1901 he signed on the S.
S. Tremont, a 10,000 ton cargo car
rier of the Iloston Steamship Com
pany Front Puget Sound the Tre
mont plied to China, Japan and the
Philippines under the command of
Captain Thomas Garlick, who at pre
sent is the genial skipper of the big
Hill liner Minnesota. Hunter was
fourth officer.
At the close of 1905 he was trans
ferred to the Hvades of the Iloston
Towboat Company, affiliated with the
Iloston Steamship Company. The
Hyades, now owned by the Matson
Navigation Company, was then run
ning from Seattle to Vladivostock and
in less than two years Hunter had
obtained his papers and was her first
omcer.
During 1907 he went to the Shaw
mut, sister to the Treniont, anil un
der Captain E. V. Roberts, he made
several trips from Tacoma and Seat
tle to the Orient. In 1908 she left Se
attle for New York via Cape Horn,
followed by the Treniont (steamed
through the Strait of Magellan), both
ships having been sold to the Isth
mian canal commission. The boats
were rechristened Ancon and Cristo
bal, respectively, and are now in the
fleet of the government owned Pana
ma Steamship Company. At the time
they first went east they were used
in carrying cement and government
employees to the canal zone. Hunter
was with this vessel for nine months
in this service, at the end of which
he was called to New York and ac
cepted the position of first officer of
the then building S. S. Beaver. This
was early in 1910 and just before the
close of the year saw the appearance
of this commodious steamer on the
Pacific coast, followed by the recent
ly ill-fated S. S- Bear. These two mag
nificent steamers were the property
of the San Francisco & Portland
Steamship Company.
When the Beaver arrived at San
Francisco under command of Captain
William Kidston, Hunter was trans
ferred to the Korea, then one of the
Pacific Mail liners. He served as sec
ond officer for one trip, rising to
chief officer and serving under such
well known skippers of that craft as
Sandberg, Saunders, Fischer and last
but not least, Nelson, better known
by his writings as ‘‘Yankee Swanson."
Hunter remained with the Korea un
til August 28, 1914, when he accepted
the position of chief officer of the
Great Northern, sister ship to the
Northern Pacific, and both of which
were building at Champ's in Phila
delphia.
Hunter left for his new post imme
diately and came out with Captain
A. Ahman through the Panama canal
in 1915, arriving at San Francisco,
then the Exposition City, on the early
morning of February 12. The ship of
which he is now commander followed
two months later and on June 14 last
year he took charge of her bridge.
In all these nineteen years of sea
life, a great deal of which was spent
in the waters through which his
father was guiding ships, he has only
worked a few months on one in which
his father was the captain, and that
was while on the Dolphin.
And now in 1917, the Northwestern
has been chartered by the Alaska
Steamship Company to the San Fran
I
cisco & Portland Steamship Company
to help out In the cargo rush between
San Francisco and Portland So fa
' (her and son will pass each other on
the same route and by aid of the j
modern wireless ran hall each other
as the vessels go by.
ANCHORAGE REAL
ESTATE GIVEN
i i
^_ !
Anchorage real estate rose in value |
upon the receipt of advices from the
outside to the effect that a large gov
ernment freighter would leave Italhoa,
Panama, the last of next month, load
ed with 5,000 tons of railroad supplies
for Anchorage. This shipment will
consist mainly of flat cars steam
shovels and heavy machinery for rail
road work ami is the first of several
shipments that will bring additional
.machinery to Anchorage.
The report was circulated that this
shipment included part of the heavy
dredge for immediate work on the
harbor early next spring. Confirma
tion of the shipment was obtained
from the headquarters of the Alaskan
engineering commission this morning
and further advice that very favor
able reports had been received in re
gard to the harbor appropriation and
that they would have some very im
portant news to give out to the public
in the near future in regard to the
status of the harbor and docking fa
cilities.
It is a well known fact that the
powers at Anchorage have advocated
shipping one of the dredges used on
the construction work in the build
ing of the Panama canal at this point
to be used in dredging for the Anchor
age harbor, and it is probable that
this will be the next move of the
Alaskan engineering commission.
Plans for active work at all points ■
on the government railroad have :
been devised, and with tho added
equipment coming from the govern
ment works at Panama the following
year should see wonderful progress in
the work of the government railroad.
There is no question even in the
mind of the most skeptical hut that
the large appropriation will be al
lowed. T is, with the additional ma
chinery and equipment to facilitate
the road work and the surety of the
harbor and docks will greatly enhance
Anchorage real estate and be wel
come news to the business man and
property owner of this city.—Anchor- t
age Times.
CENSUS SHOWS NENANA
HAS POPULATION OF 600.
The town of Nenana has a popula
tion at the present time of approxi
mately 600, including the employees
of the Alaskan engineering commis
sion and others who make the town
their headquarters. The census taken
by I. It. Ebert, of the local townsite
office, and the figures are to be for
warded by Townsite Manager ltyus
to the headquarters of the land and
industrial department at Anchorage.
-♦
PARTNERSHIP DISSOLVED.
Having dissolved partnership, I he
undersigned will not be responsible
for any debts contracted by Miss
Itussell.
MRS. BERTHA WILLIAMS.
---
Have your Job printing done at the
Times office.
-«
TOWN OF CORDOVA.
Municipal Taxes.
Town taxes are now due and pay
able to the town treasurer, H. I
O'Neill, at his office.
Said taxes will be delinquent on
the second Monday in February, 1917,
at the hour of 6 o’clock p. m. Upon
all unpaid taxes after that time a pen
alty of five per cent will ve collected.
H. 1. O’NEILL,
Town Treasurer.
-♦
If In need of job printing phone the
Daily Times office.
NOTICE.
All creditors of the Cordova Pack
ing Company, who have not hereto
fore presented their claims to M.
Urock, at the Ulum, O’Neill store, are
■equested to do so at once.
-♦
John Itawson has removed his bar
?aln store to the Northern block, op
posite the Cordova Mouse.
-♦
He a Dally Times rentier.
A Penny Saved
Is a Penny
Gained.
By BREEN.
The wise housewife
saves many a penny read
ing the newspapers.
If there is a bargain
advertised she’ll not miss
it. She constantly is
looking for it.
It is up to the mer
chant. Keep the house
wife posted. Let her |
know through the news- I
paper what you have to j
offer. Incidentally men !
today ransack the news
papers for bargains as
assiduously as do women.
If you want to sell
your wares advertise.
Advertise in the best
medium, the newspaper.
Also if you want to buy
successfully read the ad
vertisements.
~
Sheldon
AU10 STAGE LINE
Giving an all year auto Her
vice between Cliitina ami Fair
banka, Alaska.
Enquire about them at Cliitina
Hotel, Cliitina. Alaska, before
making r> ervations elsewhere.
M. C. Thompson H. C. Murphy
The MECCA
Thompson & Murphy, Props
Dealers >n
WINES, LIQUORS AND
CIGARS
Phono 107.
a-a
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SUBSCRIBE FOR THE
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DAILY TIMES.
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DELIVERED BY CARRIER. |
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$1.00 PER MONTH.
i
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e-a
MEET ME AT
The HORSESHOE
POPULAR RECREATION PLACE
Where We Can Always Find Our
Friends.
Finest Billiard and Pool Tables in
Alaska.
BEST GRADES OF STANDARD
BRANDS OF CIGARS.
I
20 Per Cent
IIS EASILY SAVED
l
By Paying in Advance for
•The Daily Times
Six Months, $5.00
■ One Year, $10.00
i Foos Gas Engines |
| 4 to 5C0 Horse Power |j
General Electric Motors §
Roebling Tramways I
Pelton Water Wheels |
Chicago Oil Engines and Compressors 55
Regal Boat Engines
| Harmon Machinery Co
i-;jj Oxy-Acetylene Welding.
CORDOVA, ALASKA
When Ordering Beer
Rainier Pale
S' ——
Sixty Steam Heated Rooms Eletric Lighted
Hot and Cold Water in Every Room
With or Without Bath.
Cordova House
H. C. ROSS, Proprietor.
Headquarters for Railroad and Mining Men
Satisfaction Guranteed
Rates Reasonable
i
—
How Dollars Will Grow
The following will give you an idea liow dollars will grow j
when deposited in our Savings Department.
2 years 4 years (> years X years in years
! $1.00 a week.$ 107.07 $ 224.82 $.*i51 $ 4**2;! $ 0:,i,
fi.no a week. .">:{!I.X2 1124.08 17f,(i.f,X 2441.10 :: 1*2.27.
10.00 a week. 10711.52 2248.7).') liltl::.21 4X82,1.': 0::ii4,V2
By depositing in a savings account you are free from all
care and worry about your money. It grows automatically. At j
the same time it is always at your command when needed. A I
savings account is always a dependable friend. \\
FORM THE SAVINGS HABIT. j I
THE FIRST BANK OF CORDOVA
RESOURCES OVER ONE HALF MILLION DOLLARS
United States Depository for Postal Savings Funds. j \
Territorial Depository. Government Inspected. j
Security—Service—Satisfaction
^——————— ■
Manhattan Hotel
R. W. FERRELL, Prop
Electric Lighted. Hot Water. Turkish ;md Tuh
Baths.
OPPOSITE CORDOVA GRILL, CORDOVA, ALASKA.
PHONE 99
W ' --
I Alaskan Hotel
g: the house of comfort
THE BEST EQUIPPED HOTEL
I N A L A S K A
BAR AND BARBER SHOP IN CONNECTION
Hot and Cold Water, Electric Bells, Electric
| Lights, Steam Heat, Suites With Bath.
:j:j Bar in Connection g;
ig ROBERT GOTTSCHALK Proprlteor* ART CLONINGEH :
| CORDOVA, .... ALASKA
ALL THE LIGHT ON THE BOOK.
and none in tho i*y*s i- what makes
tho oloctrif light so superior tor night
reading. And its brilliant y brings out
tho tvpo with tin* utmost distinctive
ness so that reading arcoinpaiiied
by no strain on the eyes whatever.
Have you electricity in vour home?
Cordova Power
Company
LIGHTS WATER PHONES POWER
Office: FIRST STREET.
| Copper River &
| Northwestern Ry.
EFFECTIVE MAY 1, 1916.
£ Three Trains Weekly Between Cordova and Chitina. £
■■£—pr,v~ •P*ajn« WnnVly Re»wpen Chitimi. and TCenneeolt £
1 Leave Cordova, Second Street Depot, on Mondays, Thurs- £
| days and Saturdays. £
| Leave Chitina for Cordova Sundays, Tuesdays ajid £
£ Fridays.
I £ Leave Chitina for Kennecott Sundays, Tuesdays, Thur*- £
§j days and Fridays. £
£ Leave Kennecott for Chitina Mondays, Wednesdays, £
|i Thursdays and Saturdays.
£ The above schedule subject to change without uotioe. £
Dining Car In Connection With all Regular Pessenger Train* It*- £
twean Cordova and Chitina. >.:•
Freight received from 9 A. M. to 5 P. M.
$: Tickets on sale at Depot or up town office, Alaska £
£ Steamship Companv building £
1 . - 1
I Caleb Corser W. E. Brown
|j Superintendent Cordova AgwU i
viv’.v.v.v.v.v.’.v.v.*.