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STOVES OF ANY KIND MADE TO ORDER
All Workmanship Guaranteed Pertaining to Heating or Plumbing.
The Nenana Sheet Metal Works street.
Prospectors
F armers
Trappers
Tourists
Hie Nenana district offers oppor
tunities for prospecting, farming, and
trapping that are unequaled in any
other section of Alaska.
Gold placers of known value, close
to Nenana, are producing annually sub
stantial amounts, and there are scores
of streams within the district on which
little or no prospecting has been done.
These streams, until a short time ago
almost inaccessible, are now easily
reached by means of the new Govern
ment Railroad, and undoubtedly soon
will be the scene of much mining ac
tivity.
Farming in the Nenana district has
the advantage of a growing season fully
ten days longer than that of any other
section of Interior Alaska. There Is
much desirable land in the district open
to homesteaders, and marketing possi
bilities are being expanded steadily.
Fur-bearing animals of the Nenana
and adjacent districts are noted for the
fine quality of their fur, and trappers
annually bring large numbers of pelts
to Nenana and receive for them higher
prices than are obtained for the average
furs of other districts.
Game of all kinds abounds in the
Nenana district, there are scores of
trout streams easy of access, and the
scenic wonders of the district are un
surpassed. The district is the natural
gateway to Mt. McKinley National
Park, and close to Nenana may be
viewed the largest coal ledges in the
world.
Detailed information regarding the
resources and possibilities of the Ne
nana district may be obtained from the
Nenana
Commercial
Club
of helpfulness to the commission,
employes and with a view to the
encouragement of Interior develop
ment through the payment of wages
sufficient to permit occasional pros
pecting trips into the hills.
W. H. Gilcher spoke of the ad
vance in the cost of supplies dur
ing the past year, and suggested
that that alone constituted a logical
reason for advancing the pay of
commission employes.
Charles Bergman and other mem-1
bers spoke along the same lines,'
everyone present, apparently, being
convinced of the need of higher
wages to hold men in the country!
to keep the railroad work going
and to assist in keeping the country
alive until the railroad is com
pleted.
The wage clause of the letter was
finally approved by the club, after
slight revision, at the suggestion of
M. A. Schaeffer, who proposed that
intermittent employment be added
as a reason for the exodus of
workers now in progress.
At the suggestion of Mr. Mc
Donald, the need of some means
to stimulate gold mining was in
cluded among the requests contain
ed in the letter, and in its revised
|
form, it was ordered forwarded to
! Mr. McPherson, with copies to the
[delegate from Alaska, to Engineer
in Charge Browne, and to Chair
man Mears.
Examiner of Accounts Bamdol
lar, when invited to address the
i
club, while the wage discussion was
>n progress, said that he was great
ly enjoying the meeting and that
|he had been enlightened on many
[points by the proceedings. He said
s.lso that he realized that higher
wages should be paid in this country
than in the States, because of the
higher cost of living.
The letter to Mr. McPherson fol
i lews
Nenana, Jan. 16, 1920.
[The Honorable J. L. McPherson,
[Washington, D. C.
Dear Sir: Immediately on receipt
of your wire from Seattle asking
the Nenana Commercial club to ad
dress yon on the needs of this re
gion, the club was called in special
session and the following letter
drafted, a copy of which is to go to
!the Alaskan delegate to Congress,
also a copy to Mr. Frederick D.
[Browne, of the Alaskan Engineering
i commission.
It is in no spirit of faultfinding
jor censoriousness that the following
j matters are set forth. We are J:s
| cussing conditions, not theories. And
; Ifeuiu, Where Btfli and River* Meet
rTwt swings rnjtfs
t>»U!D BY TUB
UNITED STATES
GOVERNMENT
I YOU
j CAN
; BUY
I WAR
»
: SAVINGS
STAMPS
NOW
it is our conviction that these con-!
ditions of which we speak are vital-1
ly linked with the present crisis in
Interior Alaskan affairs, and that
serious and active consideration of
said conditions should and must be
Riven by those having: the authority
to act, if this great Interior coun
try is to be saved from still worse
collapse than at present prevails.
Lest we seem presumptuous, seem
ing to presume to teach our teach
ers, let us assure you of our con
fidence in your own full and ac
curate knowledge of Alaskan af
fairs and conditions; also that we
are not assuming; that in our Na
tional capital there is not full and
minute detail of everything: herein
discussed, so that, if figures are'
sought in support of statements
given as facts, you will not have
far to travel in securing such fig
ures while in Washington.
I. FISH.
As the first commercial body in
Interior Alaska to lodge complaint
against permitting cannery opera
tions at the mouth of the Yukon
river, and consistently following that
first protest with later objections
and evidence addressed to the fish
eries committee of investigation, we
would assure you that the full mea
sure of injustice expected of said
cannery operations is now falling
upon this region. At no point on
either the Yukon or its tributaries i
can we find that a normal catch of
fish was made by either natives or
whites. Mercantile companies deal
ing in dried fish, the staple food for
work dog^i as well as natives and
t
many whites of the oldtimer type,
have not, in a single instance that
| we can learn of, been able to secure
anything like their accustomed
amount of dried fish. In many cases
the most they could obtain was less
.than a tenth of their normal sup
' ply, and in every case still greatly
below the local demands, notwith
standing the shrinkage of demand
!due to reduced population,
j It has been rumored that some
where on the Yukon, a white fish
erman was inspired to set his fish
wheel much farther out from shore
than usual during the last fishing
season, and that he made the record
catch of his whole career as a prac
tical fisherman; that when the high
water destroyed or carried away
,the native traps and wheels the na
tives did not restore them; that the
I
| fish travel quite differently during
;high water, and that if the natives
had but restored their gear and
set it farther from shore, they, too,
would have been overloaded with
_
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JEWELRY
Watch Repairing
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\ .— I ■■■■. /
fish, instead of having nothing and
facing grim hunger in winter.
The closer we get to such ex
planations, the stronger grows the
odor of a cannery. The hard facts
remain, that hundreds of work dogs
have been shot because there is no
feed for them; prospectors who have
always found it indispensable to
have at their heels a faithful pack
dog or two, have been driven to
like extremity. It is perfectly in
reason to say, that if the winter
becomes severe and so continues for
any considerable time, natives in
isolated districts will starve to
death—for lack of their staple food.
We would respectfully urge you
to help Uncle Sam to “can” that
cannery. Instead of a cannery to
clean our streams of fish, let us
have a fish hatchery to replenish
and keep in stock our Interior
streams. The time to do it is NOW.
Rivers teeming with food fish will
attract and assist settlers, and our
obligation to the natives has not
been discharged in full. “More fish
than ever” should be our slogan.
II. ROADS.
It may require much effort to
get some members of 0ongress to
consent to extensive road building
in Alaska, but the importance and
urgency of immediate development
in that line are apparent to any
body who knows anything about
Alaska and what her future devel
opment will demand. We heartily
endorse the effort of Major Waugh
to secure adequate appropriations.
The driblets Congress has been sat
isfied to offer would be immensely
funny, if it were not for the fact
that the matter is too serious even
to smile at. There should be roads
leading from every mining and agri
cultural district to the great main
highway of commerce now being
constructed from the Southern coast
to the heart of the country. The
expense of private construction of
roads and trails is so great that,
where distances are so vast and set
tlers so scattered, it is but sheet
folly to expect roads to develop
that way. “Roads wherever need
ed” should be our aim.
III. POWER PLANT AND MINING
The Mining Congress has ablj
set* forth the need and advantage;
of a central power plant. Wen
such a plant now in operation a!
the source of Interior Alaska’s fu
ture fuel supply, the tunneling op
erations of the Government, now
begun under old methods necessari
ly, in close proximity to the site
or sites so well adapted to sue!
plant, might he greatly facilitatec
and thereby reduced in cost. The
timber for fuql, adjacent to present
mining operations, will soon be con
sumed. A central power plan!
would make possible a variety of
lines essential to the country’s de
velopment that are otherwise, at
present, impossible of being under
taken. We also urge the early
adoption of some measure to stimu
late gold production. It is im
perative.
IV. NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL
LEGISLATION.
We note with deep regret that
| Alaska is still being excluded from
sharing in appropriations made for
the further development of institu
tions of education, both regular ap
' propriations and special appropria
tions. We are treated as aliens
and not as fellow heirs of the same
venerable Uncle. Cannot something
be done to help get recognition for
Alaskans on the basis of citizens?
Wo are always accorded our full
rights and privileges whenever any
thing is needed in support of Un
cle’s noble undertakings in world
affairs. But, in this matter, we find
ourselves less favored even than
Mr. Taft’s "yellow bellies," for
'which he said some years ago we
■were paying a pretty high price.
iW’e don’t like to be foreigners just
| because we made the mistake of
I locating in and loving Alaska we!'
'enough to make it our permanent
(dwelling place. If you can get
i hold of Uncle's ear. sometime when
I _
(Continued cn Page Four.)
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IN CONNECTION.
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MRS. JAMES LAVIN
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