GASSITERITE VALUABLE
AS ORNAMENTAL STONE
Cassiterite, commonly known to pros
pectors as stream tin, is found in small
quantity in many placer creeks in inte
rior Alaska. In the Sullivan creek re
gion handsome specimens of it have
been procured and kept as highly prized
curios—Lynn Smith, the Hot Springs
jeweler, having exhibited a number of
very pretty stones a year ago. More
lock creek, entering the Yukon on the
right limit below The Rapids, carries so
much stream tin that prospectors be
lieve it justifies investigation for the
commercial value of the metal it con
tains. Many prospectors are not famil
iar with the mineral, and when they
find the little oval, nut-like pebbles in
the pan they not*e the weight and ofteu
throw them away with no further
thought than that they are something
out of the ordinary and rather pretty.
The present editor of the Leader did
this while prospecting on an upper
tributary of the Hosiana river in 1902
and 1903.
A new use is mentioned for the stones
in the following, taken from a Tacoma
paper, which is another reason why
they should not be inconsiderately
passed up by prospectors:
Dawson, July 19.—The unique hard
and heavy stones which have been found
in the gravels of the Yukon placer
COMMITTEE
TOREPORT
Sept. 5 on the Investigation In Re
Secretary Ballinger.
According to a special story in the
Chicago Tribune, under date of Wash
ington, July 18, the majority report of
the congressional committee which for
nearly six months has been making an
investigation of the conduct of the de
partment of the interior and of the bu
reau of forestry of the department of
agriculture, will submit a majority and
a minority report. The majority report
is said to find that Secretary Ballinger
acted within the record and displayed
proper judgment with respect to the
.Cunningham coal claims; that he was
wise, honest and conservative in his
actions, and that he was justified in his
.criticism of the reclamation service and
in his abandonment of the policy of
Secretary James R. Garfield. The ma
jority report, according to the story,
also carries a condemnation of the course
.of former Chief Forester Pinchot, J. R.
Garfield and Louis R. Glavis.
Jhe minority report, it is asserted,
will conflict almost in every particular
•with the finding of the majority of the
commission.
Those who concur in the majority re
port are named as Senators Nelson,
Flint, Sutherland and Root and Repre
camps ever since the first argonauts
began to wash up the golden wealth in
this region have just found their way to
the front as an article of value.
The stones are pronounced by assay
ers “stream tin.” At least that is what
some of the early a'ssayers of the camp
declared them to be, and that is the
name under which they are commonly
referred to in this country.
The new use for the stones is to con
vert them into articles for the jewelry
jewelry trade. Several attempts have
been made in pushing them to the
front for this purpose, but it has re
mained for J. 1*. Renzoni, one of the
pioneer Dawson jewelers, to bring out
the stone in a way that promises to es
tablish it in the Old World of ornamen
tal and valued charms.
Obtaining a large number of the speci
mens, Mr. Renzoni sent them to a fa
mous lapidarist in Europe, and has just
received them back in polished form.
They are cut in most any shape desired,
but the majority are oval, with a round
ing surface. They are used as settings
for brooches, watch charms, cuff links,
charms and stick pins.
It is expected they will become fully
as popular as the mastodon wear, and
in fact may have a run that will be
much greater. In color they are brown,
black and of various intermediate
shades.
They take on a bright luster which
does not fade. In hardness they seem
almost equal to a diamond, and in
weight are about half that of gold.
sentatives McCall, Denby and Olmstead. {
In the minority are Representative
Madison, of Kansas, and the Democrats,
who insist that Pinchot and Garfield ;
were justified in their fight. That re-!
port will bear the signature of Senators
Purcell and Fletcher and Representa
tives Madison, James and Graham. In j
addition Representative Madison has ’
written his own opinion of the affair. i
It is asserted that the majority report
was drafted by Senator Nelson and that
of the minority report by Representa
tive James.
Following the Tribune story Repre
sentative Madison stated in a message
from Dodge City that no conclusions
had been reached in the investigation.
The committee meets at Minneapolis
Sept. 5 to make its findings and con
clusions.
Soldiers Tamed Oyer
To Post Aatborities
The soldiers guilty of disorder around
town Wednesday night and Thursday
morning of last week were not and will
not be tried by the civil authorities.
They were voluntarily surrendered to
the officers at Fort Gibbon, there to l>e
dealt with as might be deemed proper.
It was possible to have lodged a felony
charge against the man who was guilty
of breaking in a door and frightening a
family on Second street; but it was con
cluded by the civil authorities that the
ends of justice might better be served
by the course finally taken.
Headquarters for the Traveling Public
Pioneer and Tower Houses
Two First-class Resorts
The Rooms just fitted up and furnished at the Tower House may cost a
little more—they are certain to afford a lot more comfort
than can he had at other places.
Joe Anicich, Prop. Tanana, Alaska
THE TANANA RESTAURANT
Best Meals in the Camp
Short Orders at All Hours
Best of everything on the Market. Service unexcelled in the .North
Fresh and Delicious Bread, Pies and Pastries Always on Hand
The Tanana Leader
and other papers
for sale at the
Postoffice Lobby
pARGAINS IN REAL ESTATE.— Houses
and caldiis for rent. All kinds of real
estate for sale.—GEORGE VAUTIER.
RAIN CAUSED ALLARD
TO ABANDON HIS TRIP
E. P. Allard, who started with a pack
horse over the winter trail to Arctic
City on the morning of July 29, came
back to tow’n last Saturday evening,
having covered little more than forty
miles of his intended journey. The con-!
stant downpour of rain swelled the
creeks and gulches and filled the holes
between the niggerheads, so it was a I
case of wade all the time except when
the water was deep enough to swim.
The letters and parcels intended for the
Koyukuk were carried on by natives
afoot.
Mr. Allard has the contract for carry
ing the winter mail between Tnnuna
and the Koyukuk. His object was to
put the cabins in readiness and blaze
and stake the trail, lie arranged with
natives who started out with him to
complete that work betweeif now and
snowfall.
Joe Shaw also started from Tatiana
with Mr. Allard, having 250 pounds of
provisions loaded on a horse destined
for a prospectors’ camp on the waters of
the Old Man. The first night after Mr.
Shaw branched off for.his camp to the
eastward the smoke of his campfire was
seen, indicating that he was making
very slow progress.
Go to Nusshaum’s Barbershop for first
class work._
The Tanana Commercial Company
yesterday put on sale four fine water
melons. They were sold in five minutes
and brought $2.50 each.
■ ■ ■ ■ —
The Leader is on sale at the Postotfice
Lobby.
CERVUS ROOSEVELTI
! VS. THE PROSPECTORS
President Taft is to be appealed to to
restore to outside prospectors 4bO.0M)
; acres of land withdrawn from their
reach by his predecessor in office.
Some time prior to the succession of
William H. Taft to the presidency of
the United States a committee consist
ing of Asahel Curtis and George E.
Wright, of Seattle, and W. F. Delabar.
of Port Angeles, began an agitation for
the establishment of “a national raonu
, ment” for the preservation of the »>lym
: pic elk, known to science as the Cervus
j roosevelti. How the beasts came to be
I known to science bv that particular
name is really another story, and is one
that the Leader cannot tell, because the
necessary data is lacking. The word
“cervus” is Latin for a genus of rumi
nating quadrupeds in which the elk in
question are included, and “roosevelti”
is just as plain as if it carried an affix of
| “teddy lor in m,” and that is the extent
of our knowledge of the scientific name
of the Olympic elk.
I
The Cervus roosevelti inhabit the
Olympic mountains in the State of
Washington, and two days prior to Ids
retirement from office—namely, March
2, 1909—President Roosevelt signed an
executive order creating the “Mount
Olympus national monument,” con
taining 460,000 acres upon which they
may feed.
| The executive order contained a para
j graph saying “That these are hereby
reserved from all forms of appropriation
under the public land laws, subject to
; all prior adverse claims, and set apart*
as a national monument.”
I It api*ears that everything was felici
tous till recently, when prospectors went
i to digging on the monument and were
! ordered off by the forest 'angers. There
; at the Seattle spirit became perturbed
and Gifford Pinehot was accused of
slipping a joker into the executive order
creating the monument. It is said the
j order was drafted by the former chief
! forester.
j Representative Humphrey has agreed
j to appeal to President Taft to modify
the order so as to permit prospecting
and mining on the reserve.
Jack Cavanaugh buy* and sells Secoml
; hand Good* of all kind*.