OF 6ENERHL
_ i
‘‘When Alaska Is mentioned the
average citizen begins to conjure up
pictures of glaciers and snowbanks
and other Arctic scenes,” said Del
egate Wickersham recently before
the senate committee on territories,
and it is safe to say that the de
scription of Alaska’s wonderful ag
ricultural possibilities as pictured by
its representative in congress aston
ished the majority of hfs hearers.
Illustrating this feature of the north
country, Wickersham described to
the committee the Tanana valley, 50
miles wide, hundreds of miles long,
and as fertile aB the Mississippi val
ley.
He said: “There are no gla
ciers north of the Tanana valley;
the glaciers in Alaska are in the
southern part, along the seacoast.
The Tanana valley has no greater
precipitation than Arizona, and would
be an arid desert ljut for the fact
that every drop of water and every
snowflake that falls in that country
is conserved. It is maintained there
in cold storage, and when the warm
spring sun strikes the ground it
thaws the surface. When it thaws
deep enough we put in our gardens,
and then as the moisture is needed
it comes from below.
‘•We have 22 hours of sunshine
after we put our seeds in the ground,
22 hours of sunshine for the crops to
grow by, and they grow by leaps and
bounds. With thiB ever rising mois- j
ture just below the roots and this
incessant sunshine we raise as fine
crops in the Tanana valley as can be j
raised anywhere—potatoes, cabbages, j
carrots, beets, turnips and everything
of that kind, cauliflower, barley and
wheat.”
___A-_A-A
The Portland Oregonian prints the
following regarding the attack made
by James Wickersham on Senator
Chamberlain:
ANANIAS CLUB GROWING.
Wickersham Nominated by Cham
berlain for Member
Polite Intimation is Result of Con
troversy Over Bill Before Com
mittee on Territories
Oregonian News Bureau, Washing
ton, May 23—Senator Chamberlain,
rising to a question of personal priv
ilege in the Senate yesterday, po
litely nominated Delegate Wicker
sham for membership In the Anan
ias club. 'Delegate Wickersham,
before the Senate committee on ter
ritories said that Senator Chamber
lain had ‘‘inadvertantly" introduced
a bill which would have turned over
to the Guggenheims absolute control
of Cordova harbor and the entrance
to the Bering River coal fields.
Wickersham claimed credit for hav
ing killed the bill in the House after
it had passed the Senate. Reports
said that Senator Chamberlain en
tered no protest against Wicker
sham’s charge.
(Senator Chamberlain said in the
Senate that he had not introduced
any such bill as Wickersham de
scribed. The bill Wickersham had
in mind was introduced by senator
Clark, of Wyoming, marked ‘‘by re
quest," and because of this label the
Senate committee had refused even
to consider it. Furthermore, as the
bill had never been considere 1 or
passed by the Senate Wickers'iaui
did not kill ft in the House.
Senator Chamberlain said further
that he did deny W'ckersham’s
statement in committee, after W‘ck
ersham concluded his statement.
Among the measures passed by the
House are the following:
To permit a city council to fill va
cancies occurring in its body.
Joint memorial by Gray, asking
congress to enact a law that will per
mit a locator to locate 160 acres of
oil lands.
Providing punishment for anyone
found guilty of defrauding innkeep.
era.
Allowing clerks of the court to ad
journ court in the absence of the
court. Creating a juvenile court:
creating a board of medical exam,
iners; creating the office of territo
rial treasurer.
Mrs. 'Dominus Masceviclus, wife of
the immigration inspector for Alas
ka, is dead at Ketchikan, having
passed away last week. She ie
survived bv her husband and a two
year-old child. The dead woman
resided at 8kagwav for several years
Qiovlng to Ketchikan last year.
All fees for notaries public and
domestic corporations should be re
mitted and made payable to the Sec
retary of Alaska. Exchanges please
copy.
The appoinement of a territorial
treasurer, created by an act of the
first Alaska Legislature, has not been
made by Governor Strong and there
is still considerable speculation as to
who will land this $4,000 office. Ju
neau has three candidates. B. M.
Behrens, the pioneer banker and
Democratic warhorse would not be
averse to receiving the plum, while
Harry Bishop has abandoned his as
pirations for a U. S. marshalship of
the First division and would like
to receive his reward politically by
the appointment as treasurer.
Charles D. Garfield, of the Cus
toms service, is said to have shied
his hat into the ring, and to have a
lightning rod up for the appoint
ment.
Several members of the recent
legislature are said to be willing to
resign if the appointment came their
way.
The declaration of Governor
Strong that politics would not be
considered in the matter of the se
lection of officials for territorial of
fices made recently indicates ths
governor is now considering appoint
ments.
It is unofficially reported that the
trip of the cruiser Maryland to Alas
ka has been postponed until August.
The reason given is that the coal
mined on the Cunningham claims
in the Bering river field, last year,
has not yet been transported to Ka
talla, and that Dr. Downing and his
party will be unable to have the fuel
ready for delivery to the Maryland
for at least two months. The cruis
er is still reported at the Puget Sound
navy yard, where repairs will be
made on the ship in the interim.
The United States commissioner at
Juneau says that all games of chance
come under the code prohibiting
gambding in the territory, and that in
the future the complaints would be
drawn in his court so as to cover
all games of chance under the gamb
ling provisions of the code, even if
it is shown that the participants were
only engaged in a social game of
sards, where the prize of winning
calls for a cigar or other merchan
dise, thereby laying operators of slot
machines and other games of chance,
including five hundred, whist and
church raffles subject to prosecution
for running or participating in gamb
ling games.
Cordova, June 1
W. E. Dunklee, the Guggenheim
mining expert on Prince William
Sound, is spending a few days in
town.
Mr. Dunklee is in charge of the
work at the Latouche and also at
the Midas, the new property now un
der bond to the Guggeuheims and
located in Solomon basin, three miles
from Valdez. Under his manage
ment about $40,000 has been spent
on the Midas claims, and if the work
proves the worth of the claims $180,
000 is to be paid to a syndicate com
posed of Devinney, Wilson, Grigs
by and their associates, who did con
siderable work on the claims gefore
bonding to Steven Birch, acting for
for the Guggenheims. ^
Engineer Dunkle has driven four
tunnels and is also prospecting with
a diamond drill. He has a splen
did equipment, consisting of a 60
horse power Poos gasoline engine
and a compressor driving three drills
in the stopes and also operating the
diamond drill. He has also con
structed buildings to house tne men
and the machinery.
More than 1.500 feet of tunnel
ing has been driven and a depth of
about 600 feet has been secured on
the lead, which has increased and
improved with depth.
Before leaving Ketchikan for the
south, Judge Thomas R. Lyons said
that it was his intention to return
to Juneau and resume the practice
of law after a few w-eeks rest in Se
attle and Walla Walla, in both of
which towns he will visit with rela
tives.
The Ketchikan Miner, in commend
ing upon the decision of Judge Ly
ons to remain in Alaska, nominates
him for delegate to congress
Louie Lane has a crowd of sci
entists from the Smithsonian insti
tution on his schooner Polar Bear
for a trip to the Arctic.
The Port Wells district comprises
a large gold bearing area cituated on
the northwest arm of Prince William
■ound, writes our former townsman
R. J. McChesney, in an interesting
article published in the Valdez Min
er. It is one of the most acces
sible gold fields which have yet bben
discovered.
The transportation problem, which
has hindered the development of
many properties discovered far from
tidewater, is here completely elim-1
inated, as all the discoveries so far !
made are practically at the water’s
edge and can be worked as economi- I
eally as mines anywhere.
The district is also rich in a splen- ■
lid growth of spruce and hemlock,
which is readily available for all
ourposes required by the miner and
there is water power in abundance
hat can be easily harnessed and af
ford the cheapest power in the de
velopment and mining of the ores.
The original discoverers of this
section were Bede Little, Otto Elf
strom, A. Frodenburg, Charles An
derson and J. W. Little, who locat
ed the Golden Eagle and other claims
in the month of July, 1911, finding
a ledge of quartz that gave such fa
vorable returns as to excite atten
tion to that part of Prince William
sound, which had heretofore not been
prospected for gold quartz. The
find was made in the valley pack of
where the town of Golden is now lo
cated. Last year, while the assess
ment work was being done the prop
erty showed up so well that several
offers were made for a bond, result
ing in Ben Silverman, of Vaidez,
getting control of the property. They
immediately commenced active de
velopment work and during the past
Winter have driven a tunnel on the
ledge a distance of 150 feet. The
ledge is two feet wide and it is
claimed that the ore will average
$150 per ton.
tt,awaru unset, one of the pio
neers of the Port Wielis district, has
extensive holdings in the camp, be
ing the owner of the “Lily” group
(two claims), upon which the town
of Golden is located.
The ledge is from three to live
feet wide, extending back from tide
water and can be traced about 1.500
feet.
The development work done on
the property consists of an open cut
upon one ledge and a shaft is now
being sunk on the ore shoot on the
second ledge. The ore taken shows
good values in free gold.
Other property In which Mr. Gris
et is interested consists of the “Ma
jestic” group of four claims, with a
ledge showing five wide on the sur- j
face and carrying good values, and
the ‘‘Eureka” group of nine claims,
located on Point Pockenham on the
east side of Wells bay. This is a
rose quartz 12 feet wide. Several
assays have been made from the sur
face croppings showing an average
of -8.60 in gold and $7.10 in sil
ver. By reason of there being such
a large body of this ore it is consid
ered to be one of the best prospects
of the new camp.
Mr. Griset succeeded in interest
ing California capital in his property
last winter and is now on the ground
superintending the sinking of a 50 j
foot shaft on the ore of the “Majes
tic” group to ascertain the dip of
the ledge. As soon as this is de
termined a working tunnel 400 feet
below, will be driven. The general
formation is graywacke and slate.
The Seward peninsula country is
nw face to face with the most serious
coal shortage in the history of the
camp, and there is the probability
that no coal will be received there
until the arrival of a shipment which
local merchants are talking of im
porting from Australia.
Coal at Nome has been advanced
to $21 per ton and a further advance
is expected.
It is reported that the Brittania
Smelter Co. has taken over the Mt.
Andrew copper property near Ketch
ikan. The property has been bond
ed and a resumption of copper ac
tivities in the Ketchikan district is
looked for.
Kenneth C. Kerr, formerly in
dustrial agent for the Copper River
& Northwestern Railway and the
Alaska Steamship company, recent
ly purchased an interest in the Se
attle Railway and Marine News, of
which J. P. Parkinson is publisher,
Kerr will become editor of the pub
lication.
During his three years residence
in Seattle Kerr has been largely in
strumental in obtaining the publica
tion in eastern newspapers and mag
azines of a large amount of material
pertaining to Alaska.
TTnder the provisions of an execu
tive order signed by President Wood
row Wilson, the Kluckwan Indian
reservation is now established. The
reserve created involves 800 acres
of choice land lying north of and con
tiguous to the Chilkat river, twenty
two miles from Haines.
G. Herman Miller, auditor of the
W, P. & Y. R. R. is advocating a
smelter at Skagway to treat the
Whitehorse section ores.
ludge Shepard was granted a fran
chise to build and operate a stre-''
railway on the streets of Valdez.
Colonel Shank, inspecting officer
for the Department of the Columbia,
went to Valdez on the Alameda to
make the annual inspection of the
military post at Fort IAscum, the
Alaska Raod Commission and the
cable office.
Cordova, June 10
D. M. Lynch returned last evening
on the steamer Bancroft from a trip
to Katalla and furnishes us with the
following budget of news from the
coal and oil town:
Dr. Downing, paymaster of the
navy, who is in charge of the ex
pedition to bring out the government
mined coal from Stillwater to open
navigation, is still at the mouth of
Bering river with his $30,000 fleet
of specially built lighters. It is
said that the Doctor contemplates
dredging a channel as the boats re
fuse to run without water. Exper
ienced mining men at Katalla say
that if the navy department is re
ally in earnest about wanting to get
coal out for the cruiser Maryland to
to make a steam test of the qual
ity of the fuel that it could have been
delivered and now waiting for the
warship for less than half what the
worthless lighters cost Uncle Sam.
It is also stated that Dr. Downing’s
party stands about as much chance
of getting the coal down the river
this summer as a transportation man
would of taking the appendix from an
army mule without the assistance of
a vctinary surgeon. It is the won
der of all the people why the govern
ment allows this willful waste of
money, and also if there are not suf
ficient grounds for an investigation
for filling the sacks with rocks and
slate instead of coal.
Commodore Bowman’s fleet of
fishing steamers is busy operating
between Orca and Martin river. Many
large catches of salmon have been
made and some on the men employed
have as many as 4,000 fish to their
credit.
Representative Bob Gray has re
turned from the legislative session
at Juneau and sends his kindest re
gards to all Cordova friends.
Banker Smith has taken on an
other title. He has been appoint
»
ed United States Commissioner to
fill the vacancy during the absence
of C. G. Britton, who is on a trip to
the States.
.. “t ’
Deputy Marshal Brenneman has
established a restricted district for
black bear, which includes any area
outside of the city limits.
William O'Connor is still in Ka
talla, but says he expects to return
to Cordova within a day or two.
Dan Pendergast threatens to be
come a confirmed Katallalte.
Col. Barrett is so enthusiastic that
he says he cannot afford to sell any
more oil wells.
Merchant Harris shortly intends
moving to Cordova and make that
town his future home.
Postmaster Williams will leave in
a few days for Cordova and from
there will make a tour of the South
western coast of Alaska.
There is considerable mining ac
tivity in the Tiekel section, near
the government trail from Chitina
to interior Alaska. The Clarkson
Ross group of claims on the Glori
ous Fourth creek has been worked J
for some time, the owners driving a
tunnel into the mountain for 200
feet, when they located the ore shoot
and were themselves surprised to re
ceive returns indicating such great
values. The owners plan*to make
large shipments of ore during the
summer to the Tacoma smelter.
The Hurdle Creek Mining Com
pany h>ive a group of 23 claims on
Hurdle creek and no less than seven
lodes are plainly defined on the
group. The property was located
too late in the season to do much de
velopment work, but they did take
out three tons of average rock from
the lead which they shipped to the
Tacoma smelter, receiving $65 per
ton. This was so very encourag
ing that they have decided to open
up the property during the coming
season, and will drive a tunnel and
also sink a shaft on the ore to de
termine the value (jf the property.
This property is also very accessi
ble, being only about five miles
from the government wagon road. A
pack trail was cut last fall to en
able them to pack out the ore.
Another very promising property
is that owned by Fred Reis and Ray
Millard. This is a very large ledge
of low grade ore and its accessibility
will warrant further development.
Adolph Larson, Lars Holland and
Gus Johnson also have a very rich
lead on their property. Assays made
last year gave returns of over $1,000
to the ton, and if the ledge will
widen as they attain depth, they
have a veritable bonanza.
The Florence-Teikhell Mining Com
pany have a crew of men working
on their ground opening up their
property and 'if the result of the work
justifies, they intend to instal a mill
next fall. The company has money
enough in the treasury from the sale
of stock to allow of extensive de
velopment work.
There were also several other lo
cations made on the same creek by
Charles Hill, Sam Scarr, Slim Gray
and others, but the discoveries were
made too late in the season to en
able them to do any development
work. They announce that as soon
as the snow disappears they will open
up the property and determine its
value.
It is reported at Chitina that a j
ich placer strike was recently made !
on Johnson creek, about twenty
miles from Slate creek, and a stam
pede is on from Fairbanks to the
new diggings, as the result of two
men appearing in the Tanana val
ley with immense pokes of dust,
which they claim was taken from one
of the claims on Johnson creek.
Six prospectors from Chitina have
left for the new strike.
A tramway is being constructed
on the Mother Lode copper property
at Kennicott, and upon its comple
tion another mine will be shipping
ore.
This property is located on a sheer
zone or vein, 4 0 to 60 feet wide and
striking north and south, for a dis
tance of a little more than 7,000 feet.
It is situated in the Copper River
district near the line of the Copper
River & Northwestern railway.
The fracture occurs in an almost
verticle position through the lime
stone and greenstone, the limestone
being superimposed upon the green
stone to a depth ranging from 1,200
to 2,200 feet. The source of the
copper being in the greenstone, it
therefore follows that the croppings
on the surface extend down at least
to their source, the limestone acting
simply as a receptacle for the depos
ition of copper from below. The
croppings consist of chalcocite
(copper glance), which is the richest
commercial ore, and in this case av
erages above 65 per cent copper,
with a content of approximately 16
ounces in silver to the ton. They
are massive and extensive in char
acter and essentially pure.
Cross-cut tunnels and drifts have
been run 100 feet below the crop
pings. The vein is encountered 85
feet from the portal of the tunnel
and drifted on in a northerly direc
tion for a distance of 65 feet, the
drift penetrating through solid chal
cocite for the entire distance. A
winze was then sunk for the pur
pose of determining the dip of the
vein to assist in determining the lo
cation of the commercial tunnel to be
driven in below at a point just
above the greenstone.
Fresh from the pansy beds and
nightless days of Alaska,” is the way
Marshal Harvey T. Sullivan is de
scribed by a Portland reporter upon
his present visit to that city. The
scribe then dreams on as follows:
‘‘With him is deputy Marshal L.
G. Belter, of Cordova, a ‘sourdough’
of the romatnlc days of the early
gold rush. The government offic
ials came down to place an insane
Alaskan at Morningside.
“ ‘Alaska is Just beginning a new
era of development,’ said Marshal
Sullivan at the Perkins hotel last
night ‘You should see our flower
beds and rosebuds. You would think
you lived in Oregon to see the green
things and the smiling countryside.
The snow is almost all off the hills
and the gold miners are already tak
ing out their thousands and thous
ands.’
‘‘ ‘Yes, I think that for a federal
division that spreads over 17 de
grees of longitude, wfe are doing
very well.’
‘ However a degree of longitude
in the latitude of Valdez is rather
shorter than a decree on longitude
Portland but bar been in Alaska 18
years and absolutely refuses to live
anywhere else. He conducts a ho
tel in Cordova, which he asserts is as
up-to-date as any in Portland, with
steam heat, electric lights and all the
comforts of home.
•< ‘I’ve been all over Alaska and
'who is a former horse racer. fin
j the days of the rush to Nome I was
eastern Siberia. ’ declared Belter,
in the latitude of Portland.
■*Mr. Belter formerly lived in
right there on the ground floor. I
staked out one of the first lots and
sold it the next day for $10,000.
Then I worked the beach after the
big wind drove the sea back from
the shore and my partner and I
hauled the first gold out in wheel
barrows.
“ 'Then I worked through the
other big pay creeks—Anvil creek
and the rest. Money was the cheap
est thing we had, and a man with a
good broom could sell it for two
ounces of dust, or $82. Food was
high and labor was paid $1 and $2
an hour, but we all took out so
much dust that we didn’t care. Now
that the railroad has opened up new
fields we look for a bigger prosperity
than ever. They haven't even
scratched the country yet. It's the
land of plenty. When our coal and
oil are developed we will see great
things—the biggest things the Unit
ed States has ever known.’
Both Mr. Belter and Mr. Sullivan
spoke warmly of at least one cold
proposition—Child's glacier—which
they describe as the wonder spot of
the North American continent. One
may see great chunks of ice break
off before his eyes and as they splash
into the water, the force throws sal
mon high in the air along with the
spray and fragments of ice. The
glacier is 49 miles from Cordova and
is spanned by a $1,000,000 bridge.”
Malcom McKinnon and John Zac
arelli won $3,300 jointly on the ice
pool at Dawson. J. W. Boyle won
$1,200, Bob Ellis $1,200 and a bride,
Mrs. Harry Farr won $400.
in
ntpatncr
AUKMKHi
FLOUR
Lt35 per Loot
ET.^--• T—T—-»
-
FISHER’S
BLEND
'FLOUR
■ Best you can buy
For biscuit and pie;
Makes bread and cake
Without mistake.
A Perfect, All-Purpose Flour
has long been the miller’s aim
to produce.
It was not achieved until
we perfected
Fisher’s Blend
45 For tale by all Dealert
10 USE COPPER
IN RAILS
Tests of the service rendered by
steel railroad rails containing one
half of one per cent of copper have
been made by the Chicago. Milwau
kee & St. Paul railroad, and follow
ing the results shown by a year's
service of 5,000 tons of rails, double
that quantity has been ordered. It
is understood that if further tests
prove equally favorable, the company
will adopt this alloy as standard in
its rail specifications. Since over
3,000,000 tons of steel rails are made
annually in the United States, an im
portant avenue of consumption of
copper might result from the adop
tion of this style of rail alloy by the
larger railroads. Whether this
would be reflected directly in the
copper market or would merely open
the way to the use of iron ores in
the blast furnace that contain small
amounts of copper, is less certain.
There are many niines that could fur
nish copper contaminated copper ore.
-o—o—o
Deputy Marshal Delane will take
Dan Reeder, who has been bound
over to the grand jury for shooting
William Rowe, to the federal jail at
Valdez on the steamer Alameda to
CHITINA: BAKERY
AND |
Coffee House
HENRY tJESSNER, Prop.
FRESH BREAD, CAKES AND
PIES ALWAYS ON HAND
0. ADRIAN NELSON
l). S. Mineral Surveyor
ChITINA - - - ALASKA
Commercial Hotel
Just open under management of John Palmer
Everything New and Clean. Warm Rooms
CHITIXA. - ALASKA
ALASKA SAM?
Steamers via the INSIDE PASSAGE calling at Ketchikan, Juneau,
Yakut at, Katalla, Cordova, Ellamar. Valdez, Fort Liscum,
Latouchc. Seward, Cook Inlet Points and Kodiak.
From South from* Arrive at
Sailings Seattle Cordova Seattle
Yukon_Mar. 20...Apr. 5 ... Apr. 12
Sampson ..Mar. 27_Apr. 7. Apr. 12
Sampson ... Apr. 15.Apr. 25_Apr. 30 J
Yukon.Apr. 20_May 7...May 14
Sampson... May 5*.May 16_ May 21
Yukon_May 20—for Kuskokwim river, calling
at regular ports.
Sampson_May 25*.June 8...June 13
Sampson-June 15_June 26..July 1
—Subject to change without notice—
Steamer Yukon caHs
at KN1K anchorage
Monthly from May 1st
to November 1st in
clusive. Also calls
at llliamna, leaving
Seattle on the 20th of
April, June, August
and October.
'SAMPSON calls at KNIK ANCHORAGE.
California Connections—Alaska-Pacific Steamship Co.
B. F. WATSON, General Agent. ALASKA TRANSFER CO- Agent.
ALASKA
STEAMSHIP COMPANY
Fast and commodious steamers sailing between
Seattle, Ketchikan, Juneau , Cordova, Valdez and Sew
ard, via INSIDE PASSAGE.
Sails from Seattle— Sails from Cordova—
June (>.MARIPOSA.June 15
June 12.NORTHWESTERN.June 20
This company reserves the right to change schedule of steam
ers without notice.
Tickets on sale at up-town office Alaska Steamship Bldg.
Baggage or freight will not be received at dock later than one
hour before sailing time.
P. B. TRACY T. J. TALLENT,
General Agent. Ticket Agent.
kAA A A A A A A AAA AAA A A A A A A A A A A A A A A