FIFTH YEAR
CHITINA, ALASKA, TUESDAY, JULY 20, 1915.
NUMBER 39
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SALE OF LOTS IS
' NOW ON AT
ANCHORAGE
From information received from
p southbound passengers who were in
Cordova on the Mariposa today, it was
learned that the sale of lots at the
Anchorage townsite, which was sched
uled for the ninth was postponed until
2 p. m. on the 10th. The purpose of
this was to allow the people on the
Mariposa to reach Anchorage in time
for the sale. The land office officials
had telegraphed to the states that
buyers coming on the Mariposa would
reach there in time for the sale, and
many speculators were on the boat.
The action of the officials in postpon
ing the sale was the cause of much
criticism at the westward city, as it
was suggested that it was unduly fav
oring the land speculators.
From the Cook Inlet paper, which
came in the mail today, the statement
is made that the postponement was
- made to give Chairman Edes of the
Railroad Commission an opportunity
to arrive from Seward. The article
* stated that a good crowd had collected
to attend the sale, and that the indica
tions were that the lots would be in
demand. Passengers on the boat to
day state that the lots were bought by
speculators and that the prices paid
were too high for them to purchase.
From a letter received today, written
by a Cordovan who attended the sale,
it is learned that the smallest price
paid for a lot was $380.00 and the high
est $1,150.00 The sale has not yet
been terminated.
It is said to be the intention of the
government to clear a number of the
streets in the new town. Fourth and
Fifth streets will be grubbed and
cleaned up from B to H; B, C and H
streets from Fourth to Fifth. A and
East B will be cleared from Third to
Seventh; Seventh Street will be
cleared from K to M, and Fifth through
its entire length.
L. O. Nyberg of Seattle bought the
first lot paying $825 for the privilege.
Lot No. 2 went for $500 and Lot No.
3, for $575. About 40 lots had been
sold when the Mariposa left.
STOWAWAY DN
BOARD THE
On board the Mariposa, westbound,
a stowaway out of the ordinary was
found by the steward of the steerage.
The stranger was a woman dressed
in men’s clothing and investigation
proved her to be Mrs. Rose Johnson
of Valdez who is well known as a pros
pector.
She was trying to get to Anchorage
and used her son’s steerage ticket and
disguised herself as a man for the
purpose of making the trip.
! When found she was placed In the
care of Mrs. Weston, the stewardess
and later, when the passengers heard
of her plight, they made up a nice
purse which was handed her by Chief
Steward Taylor when the vessel ar
rived at Anchorage.
ALASKA PRIEST GOES
TO FIGHT FOR FRANCE
Father Joseph Bernard, a young
Jesuit priest of Nome, is now on the
way to fight for his fatherland, La
Belle France, against the invading
ir Germans. One of the last issues of
the Nome Nugget publishes his arrival
in ^Jome from Mary’s Igloo to take
the first steamer out in answer to
the call of his country. Father Ber
nard is a cultured Frenchman who
has spent his years amongst the
natives and mushing over the trails
and ought to make a splendid soldier
notwithstanding his religious voca
Uon.-**. .L £'£!■■
ALASKA HAS LOW
PRICED COPPER
PRODUCER
Copper investors will 'doubtless be
astonished to learn that the world’s
lowest cost copper producer is located
in Alaska. They will be surprised
also to know that it is now shipping
at the rate of 60,000,000 pounds of
copper per annum, made at a cost
not far from 5 cents per pound. *
The general public would probably
recognize the proposition as the fam
ous Bonanza mine, in which, with the
railroad connection thereto, J. P. Mor
gan & Co. and the Messrs. Guggen
heim have invested many millions, but
today the Kennecott Copper Corpora
tion embraces not only the Bonanza,
but the Jumbo mine, a property
equally rich and equally important as
a copper producer, together with an
85 per cent, interest in the Beatson
Copper Company, a 10,000,000-pound
producer.
The recent purchase by J. P. Mor
gan & Co. of $10,000,000 6 per cent 10
year bonds of the Kennecott Company
make timely a presentation of what
the company owns, what it has
achieved to date, and what are its
prospects for the future.
Discovered by Stephen Birch
The property is to all intents and
purposes the discovery of Stephen
Birch. At all events, it was Mr. Birch
who acquired it in 1901 from the orig
inal discoverers and started in to de
velop it under most adverse condi
tions. In 1906 the Alaska Syndicate,
composed of J. P. Morgan & Co. and
M. Guggenheim Sons, took over the
property. It is generally understood
that Kuhn, Loeb & Co. participated
in the Guggenheim interest. At that
time it was still a prospect, but an
unusually attractive one.
Alaska Railroad Building
The confidence of the syndicate in
its ultimate value is best seen in their
willingness to invest $22,000,000 in the
construction of 196 miles of railroad
in order to reach the Bonanza mine.
The railroad runs from Cordova to
Kennecott, and its construction was
accomplished only after surmounting
great difficulties. Two steel bridges
alone cost the syndicate no less than
$2,000,000. While the railroad was
being constructed the property was
being developed, but the necessary ma
chinery had to be hauled in over the
mountains, a distance of over 200
miles, at enormous expense, in order
to have the mine opened up on a pro
ducing basis by the time the railroad
was completed.
The Bonanza mine started as a pro
ducer in April, 1911. It has been a
steady producer ever since, and has
paid out in dividends $7,500,000. While
the Bonanza was producing, develop
ment work was being carried on in
other properties, notably the Jumbo,
which is located within a mile of the
Bonanza, and carries the same char
acter of ore. It was not until this year
that the Jumbo began shipping ore.
Making Copper for 3.65 Cents,
Mr. Birch, who is now president of
the Kennecott Copper Company, fur
nished us with the following data
showing the production, cost per
pound and profits of the Bonanza mine
since 1911:
Production Cost per
Pounds Pound Profit.
1911 .21,007,096 4.19c $1,658,205
1912 .22,366,478 4.43 2,633,568
1913 .14,621,834 5.48 1,424,635
1914 .....13,988,273 5.78 1,104,645
1915 3 mo. 7,430,113 3.65 707.600
The average cost of producing this
copper was under 4% cents per
pound—to be exaact, 4.72 cents. The
average selling price was between 14
cents and 15 cents. The falling off In
production In 1913 was due to the
shutting down of mining operations
on account of the destruction of the
tramway by fire, while the relatively
small production in 1914 was due to
the curtailment by the European war.
The ore la the Bonanza and Jumbo
properties occurs in limestone, in ir
regular deposits, in places running as
high as 73 per cent, copper and aver
aging in excess of 13 per cent, copper.
In mines of this character and rich
ness, it is not possible to estipiate ore
reserves with exactness, but the for
mation in which this deposit occurs
is such that the company sees no rea
son why values will not continue to
very much greater depth. At pres
ent the mine is opened to a depth of
600 feet.
ORE RESERVES
In mines of this character it is not
usual to have more than two or three
years of ore blocked out, but the Ken
necott people are actually blocked out
six years ahead. Engineers claim that
the ore deposit is comparable with
that of the Copper Queen at Bisbfee,
Ariz.
In addition to the above, the com
pany owns over 85 per cent of the
stock of the Beatson Copper Company,
upon which a concentrator has beenj
lately completed, and it is estimated
that this property will yield about 10,
000,000 pounds of copper per annum.
It is located on La Touche island. The
ore and concentrates are loaded di
rectly upon steamers and shipped to
Tacoma, where they are smelted, re
fined and made into metallic copper.
During the summer months the Bo
nanza and Jumbo properties are mined
from the surface as well as under
ground, with plenty of water to oper
ate the concentrator. In consequence
there should be a higher production
during the summer months than dur
ing the winter period, when the
weather is severe and the water is
low, but including a steady output
from the Beatson property, it is offi
cially estimated that the average out
put should be very close to 5,000,000
pounds per month at a cost of not over
5% cents per pound. The properties
embraced in the Kennecott corpora
tion have to date produced between
90,000,000 and 100,000,000 pounds of
copper.—Boston News Bureau.
NEW MEMBER FOR
ALASKA ROAD COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, July 14.—Major
Peter W. Davidson, Twenty-sixth In
fantry, has been appointed a member
of the board of road commissioners
for Alaska, and designated as disburs
ing officer. He will report at Valdez
on September 15 and on October 1
will relieve First Lieut. Louis A.
Kunzig.
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STUDY WHILE
AMSTERDAM, July 16.—Probably
few people outside Holland have
heard of the “University of Amers
foort,” which although only a few
months old embraces on Its faculty
some of the most educational institu
tions in that its professors establish
their own “chairs” choose their own
subjects, and treat them as they wish.
They are bound by no official rules
and harrassed by no traditions. The
student enjoys similar freedom. He
undergoes no admission examination,
chooses his own courses of study and
completes them whenever he thinks
he has had enough.
Professors and students are mem
bers of the Belgian refuge colonies in
Holland. After the fall of Antwerp,
a large number of Belgian troops
crossed the Dutch frontier and were
interned at Amersfoort for the dura
tion of the war. The folly of keeping
together a large body of men with
nothing to occupy their time or to
break the monotony of their daily life
was at once realized. Professor
Shrljnen of the University of Utrecht
made an appeal to refugee Belgian
professors, and in January the first
term of the University of Amersfoort
was opened with a hundred students
enrolled. The first course offered was
In pedagogy, under Professor Collard
of the University of Louvain.
To the enterprise thus launched
both Belgian and Dutch professors
have offered their services generously.
The originality of the idea tempted
many of them, and gradually the
student body has been extended.
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SALOONS OPPOSED TO
12 O’CLOCK CLOSING
_/
On July 15 the saloons of Juneau
will close at 12 o’clock at night, to
comply with the ordinance which re
cently passed the city council. When
the ordinance was first proposed the
saloon men held a meeting and took
a vote on the question. Fifteen op
posed the 12 o’clock closing, four vot
ing for it.
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GOVERNMENT DOCTORS AND
TERRITORIAL LAW
It has been rumored, but the mem
bers of the Medical Board are silent
on the subject, that the doctors em
ployed by the , government on the
railroad work have declined to answer
the call to come before the board for
examination as provided by an act of
the territorial legislature. An inter
esting question may now have to be
solved as to whether the government
officials can ignore the territorial laws
or not.—Seward Gateway.
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WATER POWER SITE
Application has been made to the
forestry department bv J. D. Whitney
for a permit to develop a water
power project and provide a supply
for domestic purposes in Anchorage.
Tfce location is on Canyon Creek,
which empties into Ship Creek near
and below the site of the Markel
Robertson project, and is about 12
miles from the town. The flow is
estimated at 600 inches and with a
head of 300 feet in a short distance
will develop about 450 horsepower.
Springs below Crater lake are the
sources of a supply.
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VALDEZ BEGINS
PUNNING TO
REBUILD
VALDEZ, July 16—The work of
clearing away the ruins of the great
fire that swept through this city yes
terday has commenced. All the avail
able labor in town has been put on
the job of taking the charred rem
nants of the buildings, loading them
upon wagons and dumping them into
the bay. Lumber has been tele
graphed for, and as soon as it arrives
the work of rebuilding will commence.
Sam Blum arrived from Cordova on
the Evans yesterday and announced
that his store building and the build
ing of the First Bank of Valdez would
be rebuilt at once of cement, being
the first cement buildings to be
erected in Valdez. The Dally Pros
pector is issuing by means of a job
press and wrapping paper but a new
plant has been telegraphed for and
will leave Seattle on the next boat.
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WASHINGTON, D. C., July 16.—To
day will witness the first passage
through the Panama Canal of the big
battleships of the American navy. The
canal will be put to its first test as an
agency in making the Pacific and
Atlantic fleets one homogenous unit.
Tthe battleships Missouri and Ohio,
carrying the Annapolis cadets to the
Exposition at San Francisco, will
enter the canal today and cross into
the Pacific Ocean. The occasion will
be made a gala event by the canal
officials and the naval authorities on
the ships.
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CAIRO, July 16.—A heat wave has
added to the agonies of the wounded
arriving here from the Dardanelles.
Surprise is openly expressed that
Cairo should have been chosen as a
convalescent center for the summer
months, particularly in the case of
dysenteric patients, who would have
a much better chance of prompt re
covery in Alexandria on the sea.
VICTORIA BRINGS
NOME TOURISTS
TO CORDOVA
The steamer Victoria arrived in
Cordova on Wednesday morning at
6:30 o’clock coming from Nome via
Seward and Valdez. The tourists on
board went to the glaciers on an ex
cursion train at 8.15 this morning re
turning in time to sail south about
3:30 p .m. Governor and Mrs. Strong
came from Nome on the Victoria but
laid over at Seward and will come to
Cordova on the Alameda. The pas
sengers on the boat are:
W. H. Cox, Mrs. Lucy cox, E. E.
Cox, Mr. Aiken, Miss S. Williams,
Miss A. Joyce, Mr. Breckert and wife,
A. M. Hender, J. W. Hender, W. i
Metson, Miss Nellie Friend, Miss Alma
Walper, Walter Wright, Joe Makeme,
W. E. Curry, Miss Cora Hawk, Miss J.
S. Caldwell, Miss Maud Burroughs, P.
Smith, J. S. Barnes, Mrs. C. Kendall,
P. M. and O. T. Nitzchmen, Miss Cor
bett, Miss McIntosh, W. R. Turner
and wife, E. Endglert and wife, Mrs.
Geo. Geper, Mrs. J. H. McGuire, Mrs.
T. Coffin, M. S. Newcombe and wife,
C. M. Keller, and wife, E. E. Robbins,
J. T. Winter, J. Will, Master Will, Wm.
H. Gomen, John Deer, Miss Wilte,
Miss M. Kobie, Mrs. Schwartz, Geo.
Maynard and family, Miss L. Noho
woc, Miss G. Gould, Harold Bauer,
Philip E. Bauer and wife, Herman
Bauer, John J. Link, M. Bacroft, wife
and children, Miss Robbins, Miss
Green, M. Mantell, S. J. Steiner, W.
Grossman, J. W. McGuire, Thos.
Angen, Andrew Lawson, Mrs. H. S.
Webb and children, Geo Betts. Mrs.
F. H. Roust, Miss May Lewis, Dora
Blum, A. M. Minte, W. Hite, Andy
Keys, J. Kracower, I. Kracower,
Hugo Winter, wife and child, Clarence
Dease, Mrs. Dease, Emily Cox, H. L.
Stull, Lewis Stull, Mrs. C. J. Admonds,
Geo. Brown and Henry Schaefer.
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PROMINENT ATTORNEY
GOES TO VALDEZ
T. C. West, the well known attorney
from San Francisco, who represented
the defendant in the Barnette case,
was a passenger on the Alameda to
day bound for Valdez, where he will
confer with the firm of Donohoe &
Dlmond relative to the suit he has just
brought against Frank Ballaine and
the Seward Townsite Company.
IKE TRIP TO
ALASKA
SEATTLE, July 16.—The conven
tion of the Shriners held in this city
has closed in a blaze of glory. The
chief spectacular feature of the con
vention was the wonderfully beautiful
water carnival on Lake Washington.
The electrical display on the lake was
magnificent. Today a big party of
Shriners started on a tour ot Alaska,
and more will go north on the next
boats. The party that went today
went first to Vancouver, and will sail
from there to the north. Included in
this party are Imperial Potentate J.
Putnam Stevens and Imperial Treas
urer Brown.
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SEWARD TO HAVE NEW
DAILY NEWSPAPER
A-letter from Roy W. Schenck, of
Seattle, says he has arranged for the
establishment of another dally news
paper at Seward about August 1st, to
be known as “The Alaska Post.”
The last legislature passed a law
providing that municipalities might
tax itinerant merchants. This was
done as the present law on the subject
was entirely inadequate, city ordi
nances providing for such taxes being
void as not within the powers of the
cities in Alaska under the Code. The
matter was brought to the attention of
the legislature, and it needed no urg
ing to make the members see the
necessity of remedying the situation.
Accordingly H. B. 84 was infroduced
and passed, being signed by Governor
Strong April 28. The law is as fol
lows:
Section 1. That the Common Coun
cil of any incorporated town within
the Territory of Alaska, in addition to
the powers to impose taxes now
granted by law for the purpose of pro
viding revenue for municipal purposes,
is here"by granted the power to pro
vide, by ordinance, that any itinerant
merchant before doing business with
in such incorporated town, must first
procure a license in the manner pro
vided by the city ordinance, and pay
for such license such sum as the Coun
cil, by ordinance, may prescribe for
each month that such itinerant mer
chant does business within such in
corporated town.
Sec. 2. The Common Council of
any incorporated town requiring, by
ordinance, that the license mentioned
in Section 1 of this act, must first be
procured beofre any itinerant mer
chant is permitted to do business
within such incorporated town, may
also provide, by ordinance, that any
person violating any of the provisions
of this act, upon conviction, shall be
deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and
the Common Council may provide a
punishment for such misdemeanor by
fine or imprisonment or both.
Sec. 3. An itinerant merchant, in
the meaning of this act, is a person
who has no fixed place of business and
brings into incorporated towns of
Alaska, commodities, merchandise, or
agricultural products not maunfac
tured or produced by himself, or
bankrupt stock of goods, for the pur
pose of selling any of the above men
tioned articles, commodities, or prod
ucts, in competition with merchants
proper, engaged permanently in busi
ness and residents and taxpayers in
the town where their business is car
ried on.
The law becomes effective on July
29, and already the Common Council
of Cordova have had the matter under
consideration. There can be no doubt
about the passage of an ordinance by
the local council which will tax itiner
ant merchants, for all the members
are In favor of it. The present ordi
nance is void, but as soon as the law
becomes effective a new ordinance will
be introduced. The only delay will be
due to the fact that it takes five coun
cilmen to pass an ordinance, and
there are only three In town now.
Bartley Howard will return on the
next boat from the south, and Edgar
Davis will also return within a short
time from the Hot Springs at Sitka.
When he returns the matter will with
out question be put into law and
placed upon the city ordinance book.
The Juneau City Council is contem
plating a similar action, and like Cor
dova they are only waiting for July
29 to come round before introducing
the ordinance. It is more than likely
that all the other cities in Alaska will
take similar actions.
■ •
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SENATOR GAUSTAD MAY
BECOME JOURNALIST
—
Senator O. P. Gaustad, of Chatanlka,
Is negotiating for the purchase of the
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, the
evening paper of that city. W. F.
Thompson, the present owner, desires
to go outside.
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Send in your subscription now.