-Cbe-|
Ktomc IRugget
Thk Alaska Piblishinc. Company
J. F- A. Strong President
AN INDEPENDENT NKWSI'APKH
PaWllabaA^Tuaaday, Thursday and JsaturUay,
PvauicATioa office: ncuobt uvii.dibm
12 Fhont Stkebt.
TELEPHONE No. ««
OFFICIAL PAPER OF NOME
The Nout Ncoqkt hereby guarantees a oir
culatlon double the combined circulation
ot all other papers published In North
western Alaska. Advertising con
tracts will be made subiect
to this guarantee.
NOME. ALASKA. APRIL 20, 1906.
SAM LRAMCISCO’S CALAMITY
The awful calamity that visited San
Francisco yesterday morning will
cause world-wide interest. A goodly
portion of a magnificent city has been
laid In ruins, and it will take years
to repair the material losses. These,
however, are hut as nothing compared
to the great loss of life. What the
earthquake failed to do was accom
plished by fire. This disaster is with
out parallel in seismic disturbances
in the United States (taken in con
junction with the damages caused by
fire), if we except the calamities that
overtook Charleston, S. C., in 1886, and
Galveston, in 1900, the latter being
caused by a tidal wave, due, however,
to seismic disturbances.
The details of the San Francisco
disaster that have been received in
Nome are by no means complete, but
the story is full enough to give an
Idea, at least, of the overwhelming
catastrophe that has befallen a fair
city. The sympathy of all civilized
people will go out to the unfortunate
of San Francisco. Such a calamity
comes closely home to many of the
residents of Nome and this section,
who have relatives and friends there.
These will spend anxious hours until
their fears are confirmed or allayed.
San Francisco is the home of many
well known Nome people who spend
their winters there, and the hope is
expressed that none have met death
or accident In this awful cataclysm.
The business loss to the city fill be
an enormous one, and it will be felt
outside of San Francisco as well, but
Its people have wonderful recuperative
powers, and the city by the Golden
Gate will speedily rise again.
AS TO MINE INSPECTION
The need of a law providing for the
appointment of mining inspectors in
Alaska becomes more and more appar
ent as mining development advances
In all sections of Alaska. There is no
law in Alaska that we know of that
makes the regular inspection of mines
compulsory. It is not so in Yukon
territory', where the Canadian govern
ment enforces mine Inspection, or in
the mining states and territories of
the Union. There mines are Inspected
regularly, and it Is to be presumed
thoroughly, and in case of accidents,
which will sometimes Inevitably occur,
no matter how great the care that is
taken to prevent them, the real cause
is more readily obtained, and the blame
may thus be placed almost unerringly
in the place where it belongs.
There is no doubt that sufficient
care is not taken In safeguarding
against accidents In mines where the
law does not compel the mine operator,
to take every precaution possible. It
is not that the lives and safety of the
workmen are not to be taken into ac
count, but rather that belief seems to
have become prevalent that the merest
makeshifts in the way of timbering are
all that Is necessary in a placer mine
which Is soon worked out. The ne
cessity of thorough timbering does not
appeal to many operators, because of
the expense entailed, and yet will It
not occur to the thoughtful person
that timber is much cheaper than
human life or limb? We are sure
that the mine operators of Alaska, as
a rule, are desirous that the lives of
I heir workmen are not placed In jeop
ardy—that they w'ould not wilfully im
peril their safety. It Is cheaper to keep
men alive than to kill or malm them,
and any Imputation that would lend
color to the belief that human life is
placed In Jeopardy because of a mere
sordid desire to save expense is not
tenable, nor should It have weight In
discussing an Important matter, such
as a systematic and adequate mine
Inspection system.
Throughout Alaska the same com
plaint is heard. In the quartz mines
of Southeastern Alaska accidents and
loss of life are of frequent occurrence,
and yet throughout all the years that
mines have been operated that we
know of no attempt that has been
made to procure a system of govern
mental mine Innpentien. It may be
that this has not been done owing to
the opposition <>f mine owners, as is
alleged, and if this be so an effort
should be made to secure the neces
sary legislation despite any and all
opposition.
So far as this section of Alaska is
concerned, fortunately, the number of
fatalities among mine workers has
been few. Hut with the more exten
sive mining developments, and the in
crease in the volume of deep-ground
mining, the number will undoubtedly
Increase. Even with every possible
precaution taken, accidents will occur,
but, as we huve pointed out, with
proper mining inspection, by honest
and competent inen, the danger will
be reduced to a minimum.
I ME REMEDY—A LAND OFFICE
For years The Nugget has advo
cated the establishment of a land office
In Nome, but. with the usual Indiffer
ence of most people in Alaska to give
no thought to any matter of public
importance unless it vitally affects
themselves, no concentrated effort has
been made to secure such office. It Is
usually only when a tnah is hurt that
he looks for the cause of his pain.
The operation of the law in relation
to securing patents to mineral lands
in this section of Alaska is well known,
and has been known for several years.
The isolated position of this part of
the territory is no revelation to any
person. The opportunity presented, by
reason of winter isolation, and the dis
tance from the only land office in
Alaska—Juneau—gives the applicant
for a mineral patent a decided advan
tage over the person who desires to
file adverse proceedings It is needless
to discuss the moral or ethical side of
the case. There is no sentiment in
law that we know of, and in these
grasping, overreaching days it seems
to be an unwritten code that the man
who can first reach the goal is the
most clever fellow. It is all wrong.
It Is pernicious; it is demoralizing and
degrading, and in the final round-up
it brings no real or lasting good. But
it is done, is being done every day.
The situation here as regards the
application for mineral patents is with
out parallel in the United States. The
law governing the issue of these pat
ents clearly embraces the right of any
person to file a protest if he have suf
ficient cause But the law does not
embrace the peculiar conditions found
here—those conditions being founded
solely on distance and Isolation.
The remedy is obvious: Either the
law must be changed, so as to give
more time for the person who desires
to file adverse proceedings, or a land
office must be provided by congress.
And we do not hesitate to say that
had the proper representations been
made to congress; had the actualities
of our situation been properly set
forth, and a fair presentation made
of the hardships imposed and the disa
bilities under which we labor, relief
of some kinil would have been afford
ed ere this. If the people of Alaska
do not ask congress for those things
which they need they may rest as
sured they will not receive. And mere
asking will not do. The people, if they
are to receive just recognition, must
be persistent In their demands.
A REINDEER QUESTION
A Washington dispatch, published
in Tuesday's Nugget, stated, in effect,
that the missions and Laplanders in
Northwestern Alaska who have re
ceived donations of reindeer through
the agency of Rev. Sheldon Jackson
will have to return them to the
original owner, the government of the
United States. We do not now recall
just how many of these donations
were made by Dr. Jackson .but there
were several, as shown by his annual
reindeer trilogy published in Washing
ton. The Nugget has become con
firmed in the opinion that the intro
duction of reindeer into Alaska was,
first and last, intended for the benefit
of the natives of Alaska. And if It
has criticised Dr. Jackson’s manage
ment of the industry, and pointed out
the fact that the natives were last In
receiving real benefits from the rein
deer industry, instead of the first, it
was done with this belief. And after
the lapse of several years there has
been no proof shown that this is not
the case. The reindeer herds have
multiplied, and yet how few deer are
really owned by the people they were
designed to benefit? We are glad to
note that Dr. Jackson’s reign over the
reindeer is ended. We do not exult,
hut rather rejoice that any change
that may be inaugurated must be an
improvement upon the methods fol
lowed for many years past. The rein
deer are neither for the Laplanders
nor the missions, but if the missions
choose to enter the reindeer-raising
business let them engage in it legiti
mately and practice it fairly. And
may they prosper In the undertaking.
But we do not see why they should
be the recipients of the bounty of a
government bureau, to the virtual ex
clusion of the natives of the North.
Carl M. Johansen, of Fairbanks, Is
engaged to marry Miss Tribe, of Col
orado Springs. And now, Carl, like
good Abou Ben Adhem. may your tribe
IncreaMl
REIGN OF JUDGE LYNCH
Lynchers in the South make mis
takes sometimes. Every now and then
they get hold of the wrong negro, and
either hang him, shoot him or burn
him. The trouble with lynch law is
that it is too strenuous—too impulsive.
It does not give its victim the benefit
of a reasonable doubt, hence it is that
sometimes innocent men are given a
"short shrift and a long rope." Little
sympathy need be wasted upon the
mob's victim, provided he be really
guilty; the pity is that the guilty
sometimes escape and the mob offers
up a vicarious sacrifice.
Lynch law has prevailed in the
South for many years. It has been
found hard to eradicate it, owing to
conditions peculiar to the South and
which are but illy understood in the
North. Hut Judge Lynch has presided
over courts in the less excitable North,
and time was when he was supreme
in the West Hut that was in the
“early days," when Civilization, with
a big C, was as yet crude—without
form and void, and the rough-hewn,
stalwart justice of the Western argo
naut sometimes cleared an atmosphere
reeking with crime.
But. no matter what the crime,
lynching is an anachronism. It is also
a product of our vaunted civilization.
The barbarians do not practice it; it
is unknown to the heathen. It flour
ishes only where “civilization” has ob
tained a foothold, and where the seed
of the Gospel of Peace has been sown,
at least. This may be an acrid reflec
tion upon civilization, but the state
ment is susceptible of truthful demon
stration.
The other day two negroes were
lynched in Springfield, Missouri, for a
•rime that Is all too common in the
South, and one which, happily, is rare
in the North. It turned out that the
men were not guilty of the crime
charged against them, and therein lies
the great objection to lynch law—
apart from the moral and legal ob
jections which may be justly urged.
Better that ten guilty men escape than
that one innocent man should suffer.
But the executors of lynch law are
not usually possessed with a fine sense
of discrimination. When a mob starts
out determined to execute a specific
mission, if it cannot find the person
■sought it can content itself with a
substitute with a great deal of ease.
For half a century at least the pulpit
and the press, particularly of the
Northern states, have been preaching
and denouncing the lynch law preva
lent in the South. That the fruits of
of their labors are not So Apparent as
they ought to be is a matter of regret.
But this fact should not discourage
further preachments. Judge Lynch
will resign from the bench of his im
provised court when assault of white
women by men of the negro race has
disappeared forever. And not until
then, regret it as much as we may—
and do.
UP-TO-DATE
The Nugget can modestly lay claim
to being a newspaper. It issued two
extra editions yesterlay, giving the
latest news of the San Francisco
earthquake and its attendant horrors.
The first edition was on the street at
12:55 p. m., and the second extra edi
tion was issued a couple of hours later.
Eleven hundred copies of the editions
were printed, and but few remained in
The Nugget office when night closed.
There has been no event in the history
of Nome that has created such wide
spread interest, and, as usual, The
Nugget, with its complete equipment
in every department, was enabled to
put the news on the street before most
of the people of Nome had even heard
of the awful calamity.
CLASS
The "rich and fashionable" are al
ways an admirable butt for satire, and'
it is a pleasure to see college presi
dents, clergymen and editors trying
their hands at it, although a trifle
painful to note how far short they
fall. One of these talked recently, and
his remarks are still reverberating, for
aught we know, on the “isolation from
humanity” of "lives pursued by
wealth," and he started up amateur
satirists all over the country. They
were true, of course. In a general non
essential way, including all sorts of
people they were not meant for and
making about as much Impression on
the mind as, say, “Birds of a feather
flock together.” Man is a subdividing
animal, given over to group-thinking,
sending his soul Into committee when
he can, splitting up according to creed,
clothes, profession, book knowledge,
wealth, the street he lives in, and the
poet he thinks he understands. Turn
his mind out to pasture, and the first
thing It does is to hunt up the “like
condtMoned” and build a fence; and
the more hen-minded he is the bigger
the fence seems to him. Soon he is
Judging his fellow-beings by heaven
knows what badges, buttons, doctor’s
degrees, family trees, bank deposits,
Biblical texts or sartorial criteria.
Humanity has a way of cutting Itself
off from humanity. If the sky rained
men, they would forthwith settle Into
puddles—cliques, sets, coteries and
inner circles, fashionable, academic.
literary, religious, scientific and crim
inal—with few In each of a sufficiently
human sympathy to penetrate their
little walls of mud. And of all classes
that to which some of the critics them
selves belong seems to suffer the most
from mental ill-breeding. Hence the’
surprising number of eyeless fishes
you find In these academic caves—men
prehensile of facts they are Impotent
to deal with, minds like deserted
spider webs dangling with dead files.
And they have their class hauteur, |
which is really the apathy of their
limitations. Why single out a par
ticular set for a quality so universal?
Every circle abounds in people who
think God made its silly circumfer
ence and who retain hardly a zoolog
ical curiosity as to the sort who live
outside.
It is easy to Inveigh against an evil.
It is a more difficult matter to suggest
a remedy—and remove the evil.
A round trip or two each winter be
tween Nome and Valdez seems to be
merely a Sort of pleasure Jaunt for
"Scotty" Allen.
The enterprise of the Seward Co
operative Telephone Company in
bringing telephones over a winter
trail, 1,300 miles long, in order to ac
commodate patrons, is commendable—
and it succeeds, which is more to the
point, perhaps.
ALASKA ROAD WORK
TO BEGIN IN APRIL
SEATTLE. Fob. 16 — Donald A. Mc
Kenzie, of the Alaska railroad project
ed from Cordova bay to Eagle, a dis
tance of 525 miles, is In the city from
Washington. He is to remain here a
few days on business connected with
the road, and then will return direct
to New York. This is the Alaska rail
road which has as its head William
L. Bull, of-New York, and with whom
are also associated E. C. Hawkins and
ex-Gov. John H. McGraw, of this city.
“We expect to start active construc
tion work by April." said Mr. McKen
zie. “We at first asked the government
to guarantee our four per cent bonds
on the basis of $30,000 per mile con
struction cost, but we withdrew this
bill, and are now merely asking the
government to grant us terminals and
land grants. We have every assurance
the bill will be passed this month.
This bill carries with it our charter
and right to do business, and allows
us eight years in which to complete
the road, which will cost approximate
ly $20,000,000.
• “We have strong backing, and our
people are ready to put up the funds
whenever congress permits us to do
business by passing the bill at present
now in committee. When I left Wash
ington this bill was about to be rec
ommended unanimously by both the
house and senate committees.”
THREE ATFER- DINNER STORIES.
A veteran of the Civil War used to
tell this story of war times:
A young Irismman named Thomas
Smith was in his company. They had
been several days without sighting the
enemy, but one morning the rebels
surprised them, and the bullets were
flying thick and fast.
Tom turned and started to run as
fast as his legs could carry him. The
raptain pf his company shouted, “Halt,
or I’ll shoot!”
“Shoot and be d—d!" cried Tom.
“What’s one bullet to a basketful?"
The late Bishop Mandell Creighton
was once asked if he could state the
difference between an Oxford man and
a . Cambridge man. The professor, as
he then was, immediately replied: "An
Oxford man looks as if the world be
longed to hirri, a Cambridge man as
if- he didn't care to whom the world
belonged ”
At a certain Scotch dinner it was
found that everyone had contributed
to the evening’s entertainment but a
certain Dr. MacDonald.
“Come, come, Dr. MacDonald," said
the chairman, "we cannot let you es
cape."
The doctor protested that he could
pot sing. “My voice is altogether un
musical, and resembles the sound
caused- by the act of rubbing a brick
along the panels of a door.”
The company attributed this to the
doctor’s modesty.
"Very well,” asserted the doctor, “if
you can sta:;J it I will sing.”
Long before rie had finished his au
dience was uneasy. There was a pain
ful silence as the doctor sat down,
broken at length by the voice of a
braw Scot at the end of the table.
“Mon,” he exclaimed, “your singin’s
no’ up to much, but your veracity’s
Just awfu’. You’re richt about that
brick!”
LITERARY SOCIETY.
At the meeting of the Nome Literary
Society next Saturday night, in the
Seward school building, Captain Peter
Bayne will read a paper on "The Great
Pyramids of Egypt.” There will also
be music and recitations, besides other
interesting features. Everybody Is in
vited.
If your watch is not giving satisfac
tion, take it to Zehner's to be repaired
SCOTCH MAYPOLE DANCE.
An old-time Scotch Maypole dance
by the merry children, and a tomcod
fishing scene, a burlesque, will .be
amongst the attractions in the Mayday
vaudeville and dance at Golden Gate
hall, May 1.
Go to the North Pole
Bakery for the best bread and pastry.
The only coffee house Id town.
T. J. NESTOR
Carries the largest and only exclusive
lines of wines, liquors, beers, mineral
waters and cigars In Alaska.
Caretaire fa alder than yeu are.
SOMETHING NEW
and UNIQUE
1 <*
^ Bring uh jour own pel negative or
picture, anti have us make a beautiful
enlarged sepiu picture by our new
electric.enlarging process. We have
the only electric enlarging plant in Alaska. We are
lives of the Kastman Co’s Kodaks in Northwestern Alaska. Which we ^
selling at Chicago and ;N. Y. prices. ,
New Kodak and Supply Studio, 4oJ FRONT STREET
^ ^Hit;best gold medal award Worlds' Fair. St. Louis.
ALASKA BANKING
....AND....
SAFE DEPOSIT CO.
_
Cabell Whitehead. Manager
F. H. THATOHKH, KlTOENR K. AII.KS.
Cashier. Assuyer.
Steadman Ave. and Front St.. Nome.
AUIHORI/f D CAPITAL. WOO.OOR
Transactsa General Banking Business
Gold Dust Purchased. Ores Examined
lire and Burqlar Proof Safe Deposit Boces
- f or Kent -
Prrsl.:
Eugene Chllbent
Cashier:
C. O. Cowden
Vice Prest.:
J. S. Kimball
Assayer:
A. VV. Kub
Miners and Merchants
........Bank of Alaska********
Nome, Alaska.
A general banking business
transacted.
Gold Dust Purchased and Assayed.
Carstens Bros.
& Dashley
Wholesale and Retail
BUTCHERS
FRESH KILLED Deer and
mutton on sale
Fresh Killed and Cold
Storage Meats of all kinds.
MARKETS:
Steadman Ave. & Front St.
and 126 Front Street
THE EAGLE
SALOON
Henry Burgh & Jerry Crowley
A Gentleman's Resort
Choice Liquors and Cigars
FRONT ST., NOME
D. GILCHRIST
!
Transfer and
Freighting
j Heavy Machinery a Specialty
| No. 6 B Street, Nome
Mei*CHANT5’ rre
4 PATROL
J. J. McQREAL
Prompt and Efficient Service
Private Business Attended
to Punctually
Residence: Second Street, oppo
site Golden Gate Hotel.
Nome Nugget
3 times a week
SI per month
When you wont a GOOD DRINK you go to
THE NEVADA
J. J. WILSON. Prop.
...Best Llauors and Cigars...
BILLIARDS AND POOI
15-year old Lacy Whisky 124c.
♦ *
KEXT A. B. HAIJ- NOBLE
(professional Cards.
JM. SLOAN, M.D., C.M.,
• L.R C.P. & L.R.C.S., Ed In,
L.F.P. & S., Glasgow.
Ex Professor of Chair of Surgery, Harvey
Medical Coll, and ex Instructor of Surgery of
Post Graduate Medical School and Hospital ol
Chicago.
Office.-Golpbn Gatk Hotbi,.
Office hours: 1 to 8 and 7 to 8:30 d. m.
I K. SOUTHWARD, M. D.,
Physiciau and Surgeon,
Phone black 41 Office in A. C. Sehow build
ing. Hours 11 to 12 a. m.: 3 to 5 p. m.
J H. MUSTARD, A B., M. D.
University of Kansas. A. 11., 1894; Kush Med
Icul college; (Medical department University
of Chicago) M. 1>., 1901: House Physician and
Surgeon, Cook County hospital. 1901-02; Lon
don. 1903; Paris, 1904.
Office ami residence, over Kelly's drug store.
Hours 1 to 4 und 7 to 8:30 p. rii. Telephone
Black I.
All calls attended promptly day or night.
WD’ARCY CHACB, M. D.
• Physician and Surgeon.
Office Sehow Building ndjolntng A. B. Hall.
Hours: i.00 to 3:00 p. rn . 7:00 to 8:30 p. m.
TELEPHONE BLACK 41.
Residence 2d and B streets. Phone
Biack 56.
ARUHII'HCT.
p B. F U L T O N,
—Architect—
Concrete work. Spec! Heat Ions drawn for build
ing and engineering work of any description
P. O. BOX, 261.
or \V INTERMANTLE BLDG.
8TRNOQRAPHER,
CORDELIA L. M. NOBLE
Court Reporting, Depositions, Netary
Public. General Stenographic Work.
Office Phone, Black 83. Residence
Phone Red 12.
Office: Telephone Bldg. Hours 9-12
a. m., 1-5 p. rn. ‘
MISS E. E. SILVER
STENOGRAPHER
office of J. W. Bell, Board of Trade
Building. 'Phone Main 79.
LAWYERS.
IRA I). ORTON,
* Attorney At Law.
Orton Building. Name.
p|'JY G. HUDSON,
ATTORNEY AT LAW.
Orton building, Front St.
RED j. daly
Attorney-At-Law
Office in A. C. Co’s Building
1LLIAM A. GILMORE
Lawyer
Steadman Avenue, Nome.
JOHN RUSTGARD,
Lawyer.
Office: Steadman Ave., back Postoffice
THE CODY DETECTIVE AGENCY—
i
901 First avenue, comer Marion,
Seattle, Wash. .
The McGrath
Scavenger
Co.= CITY LICENSE. No. 454
Order book at U. S. Mercantile
Co., 326 Front St
Stable and Call Book, rear of Archer.
Ewing & Co. ’s warehouse,Steadman At,
ALL ORDERS carefully attended to
P. H. FITZGERALD
Wall Paper, Paints,
Oils anil Plan. ..
Picture Frames Made to Ortfer
$50 REWARD f
!| To any person who can ]!
!| prove that our SODA !'
WATER is not made 1
! | from Moonlight
Springs Water
11 Bright and Sparkling 11
;! Nome Brewing & Bottling Co. ;