TANAftiA LEADER
1’uiiLiSHED Every Thursday at Tanaka, Alaska.
Vtl 2 SAM J. CALLAHAN, EDITOR No. 7
Goo. SI. Arbuokle. Maaajtr
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Statistics as a general thing make dry reading. When
they are promulgated with a purpose they are often put in
a shape to make them misleading. The gold Statistics re
printed in this paper were doubtless originally published
with the view of strengthening the contention that the
increased production of gold is solely responsible for the
high cost of living—the increased cost of commodities—
which has now reached a point that Is causing wide discus
sion and more or less serious consideration at the hands of
congress and the administration at Washington. Under
the circumstances, in printing the gold statistics this paper
considers them utterly valueless for the purpose indicated.
With more reason it might be said that the constant in
crease in living expenses has caused the enlarged produc
tion of gold: that productive energy has been forced out
of the factories and fields into the mines, where it is less
subject to the monopolistic tendency of the times. The
great production of gold is made possible by the improved
methods of mining. Improved methods in all other
branches of productive industry, including agriculture, has
fully kept pace with those of mining for gold. This being
so, it is illogical to conclude that gold, barring artificial
means of controlling value, would be cheapened and all
other commodities made dear by the same identical process.
One Year ...
Six Months
If Delegate Wickersliam succeeds in preventing tin*
passage of the Taft-Beveridge bill providing for the so
called legislative commission for Alaska, he will have ac
complished a good deal against heavy odds. Whether he
does so succeed or not, before the time for adjournment
comes congress will wake up to the fact that Alaska has a
real live representative on hand to look out for her inter
ests; and that if, as is said, he is only playing politics, he
is at least playing a pretty stiff game.
It seems worth while to do little more than remind
the citizens of Tanana that next Saturday afternoon is the
time set to meet at A. B. Hall and complete the reorgani
zation of the Chamber of Commerce, which was commenced
under such favorable auspices last week. An organization
of the kind is a necessity, and while some of the individ
uals composing it may not receive any direct benefit, the
town and the great country surrounding it will be helped.
The organization will be composed of and represent all
classes. _
Alaska is governed today like a conquered province
under a Roman proconsul. No wonder the Alaskans are
disgusted with government from Washington.—Represent
ative William Sulzer, of New York.
The meeting called for last Saturday afternoon fo the purpose < f
discussing the feasibility of reorganizing the Tatiana Chamber i f Cum
mer ce was well attended, and a vote taken to get the sentiment of the
assembled citizens resulted unanimously in favor of the ptoposi;ion.
Temporary organization was effected by selecting George M. Ar
buckle as chairman, and George H. Tiffany (secretary of the old cham
ber) acted as secretary.
Mr Tiffany produced the books of the old board and stated that
there was $54 in its treasury. It was also learned that several of ou ,
citizens had paid dues iu the organization for months in advai ce.
Considerable discussion was indulged and a goodie amount of in
formation was revealed to t. e newer citizens of the town as to the nu
merous good things accomplished for the town during the old board’s
short and useful career.
On motion of Mr. I)ehn. a committee of three was appointed to
canvass the city to secure inetnbeis lor the organization. The chair
appointed Messrs. Joseph Debit, George Vaulier and James Mulligan as
such committee.
The question of members’ fees and dues caused some discussion,
and the opinion prevailed that the monthly dues should be placed at
such a nominal sum that every person in the camp can become an active
worker for the town’s interests without annihilating his bank account
On motion, the temporary meeting adjourned to meet on Saturday
evening, February 19. at 8 o’clock, when the report of of the member
ship committee will be received and discussed, perm meat organization
effected, and transact such other business as may come before the meet
ing.
A large attendance is urged
BUCHAN ARRIVES
FROM KOYUKUK
Bob Buchan, the Koyukuk nuil
carrier, arrived in town Sunday
afternoon. Tiiis is the first time
be has got to this end of his route
•inoe the middle of December. Ou
his last south-hound trip he en
countered such severe weather that
it was necessary to send a party to
meet him with the tniil and psovi
sinus, and send him back on his
regular schedule.
Buchan met ' Deputy Marshal
Murphy and his malim.ute chari
oteer (“Ha ha" Cv Noble) at Arc
tic Ci'y. They were 13 days mak
ing that point.
Areas To Be Eliminated
in Prospecting for Gold
“I have just received a newspaper |
clipping from Dawson about gold on
the Firth river, up on the Arctic coast
of this continent, but it has been staked
ere this if it is wort it it.” writes H. H.
Edgerton in Mining and Scientitic
Dress. ‘‘Some eleven .vears ago a man
came to me with a tale of gold on this
same Firth river, when only he and
one other knew of it, and I have been
three times tiie tecipier.t of this before
hand information. One quiet tip took
me into tiie far-away country, where
we Tound ancient diggings and a brass
tuusket. but no gold. . . Long tramps
and wasted years have taught me to
discriminate. . . In general, grant
that every territory on tiie face of tiie
earlli t he size of a state has £ >!d in it.
provided it is mountainous and rocky.
In turn each portion of the earth of
that size lias had iis gold excitement -
California, Idaho, Montana, Colorado,
and others. Then eliminate all civ. 1 -
ized parts of the earth that have prob
ably been prospected, and see wii.it i
left. This will sweep away nearly >iie
whole of the United States proper,
Europe’and some more. I was in Oe <r
gia, North Carolina uni Tennessee in
the years 1887. 180) and in July of la .
year. Each time I was sarpr.se l ■.»
the shafts, holes and rein a us f wing
dams and hydraulic works ,11 sr S-m n
ern mountaineers had in ale in C.o ear
ly days, 183J to 18i0.
•‘Next, eliminate all the ivcein sedi
mentary regions, ih n is. the H t. coun
tries like the lower and middle Missis
sippi valley. The next factor is ucces
sioility and source of supplies. 1 label
us inaccessible regions tlio.se where one
is prohibited by governing.r or s up
lobe murdered by the n.u. .V' fins
will eliminate more of iii > ear.ii's.sur
face, and one begins to gv. down to
tolerably narrow coniines. Then comes
the most important elimination of u l.
Look tip the history of the remaining
territory carefully, going hick to the
days of the “ancients,” and yott may
learn some things that will sh >.v how
important it is to do some discarding.
For example, C. D. Campbell, of Chi
cage, told me that lie had lately been
working placer deposits in Som h Amer
ica with poor success. Now, Mr. Camp
bell is a good mining man, hut he faili-u
to read history. Tiie ground was over
grown with trees some three feet in
diameter, and had the appearance o
being virgin, but after instal ing ex
pensive machinery lie dug up i lie tv
mains of old Spanish sluiceboxes and
quit, tie says ho can now idem by the
remains of the ancient Spanish p’acer
work by the peculiar shape of the sui
face. whether it is covered with a later
growth of forest or not, and he has
concluded that the Spanish dons, each
with a handful of armed retainers and
a few hundred slaves, gave the whole j
of South America a good prospecting j
about tlie 17tli century. So far as
placer deposits arid. easy lode mining
are concerned, I should eliminate near
ly tiie whole of South An erica.
“I have in my home in Ohio seven
teen large volumes in Old English
type, and very hard to read. They
contain a history of gold mining in
Africa up to llie year 1750. and the in
formation in those ltas led me to elimi
nate two thirds of Africa. Further to
illustrate the process, let us consider
Asia: Siberia was to me the worst
disappointment. 1 was there a number
of years ago, before the years of the
concessionaires, when we were not
wanted and took chances. If I had in
vestigated the history of the region
before I went, I would have saved my
self tlie tramping. I will cite one pas
sage: In a book called ‘ 1’he Element j
of Metallurgy,’ by J. Arthur Phillips,
edition of 17587, it is said that ‘the re
mains of numerous mines have been
traced by Gmelin, Lepechin and Pallas
on the southern and eastern border of
the Urul mountains, and in ihpm were
found hammers and chisels of copper.
These excavations are inferred to have
been made by a nomadic popple, proba
bly by the Scythians; and fr>m the
fact that no iron tools were found in
any of them we may conclude that
these operations were before the con
quest of Siberia by the Tartars, who
eiTecled the subjugation of that part of
Asia about the year 150 II. C. . . . !
Smelting was effected by small fur
naces made of red bricks. Gmelin
found nearly a thmsanl such furnaces
in the eastern part of Siberia. In the
neighborhood- of these furnaces were
found large quantities of broken pot
tery, together with numerous heaps of
scoria, which indicates that former
operations toa considerable extent bad
been curried on at the same locality.’
And as for placer diggings, I will add
that since the cot cessions many an
American prospector has tramped for
miles in Siberia and faithfully panned
promising gravel that was probably
worked some lime II. C. This does not
apply to the whole of it, but there are
large areas to be eliminated.
It is a pity that some scientific so
ciety does not extract the information
buried in history and compile it for t he
benefit of modern seekers after the
kiDg oi uietals. For the present it is
best to keep out of the trail of the
Queen of Sheba prospectors, t lie Span
ish tlons and the Portuguese explorers.
What they with their hordes of black
slaves left behind them can only be
worked when we jn the help of rail
roads anil modern machinery.
‘‘On the other hand, even in seen -
indy hopeless countries, there are i~ -
lated tracts entirely tin ;n < sped ed,
where the ancient gold seekers were
held hack b hostile tribes. This ac
counts f ir some comparatively .rich
spots ill Asia, South America and
Africa, protitabie now on account ot
iransp nation and machinery, hut they
are not now and never have bet n bo
lt..n/.as for the pioneers, or the lust for
gold would have overcome l he obstacles
loiiy ago, and the right to work would
have been wrested uom the savage,
jus; as we forced the Sioux out of tilt
iliac t liil s, a ai as tiie Spaniards sub
due! lite Peruvians. A’.ten at tile aye
of Id 1 iirst started oat prospecting, 1
thought Si. nearly the whole wot id
needed exploring. nat i nave since
concluded tiiat our forelopers, black,
while and veil > V, liave e t .but few
corners tint• atc ie I.
"So we tin; eitbimtu:.- me possll.ie
places .or il • vi ses >1 . i e maynituae
lit Opii.r. i tru, list- vi■.iti i oust, Cali
fornia. Daw sou and Nano, down to „
ie > thousand squire allies. And yolu
is not f'oj <d by a drea u. When it is
disc ,vere t, it is beca ise so.ue man is
mere a.id dies ii up. ) those who li
Iu-1 u.jy;ng ami discjVeriuy —.[.at is,
tiie true pr ispector, liaise who can anu
will do nothing else -there are, in my
es an i ion. i.dy ih.i tt ' id in , ho
.'. j- itl. ae da l .vay prospec -
in'-, there aay .: p.-otiao y iiufa Ui.il
ion, :*\i 111ay bar \ upon farming be
t wee.) sea, ms. , .ley never yet far fr in
.tune a id d i.id e i i.it uiviiy. In this
connection ! admit that ii is not always
me experienced prospector who makes
tiie utsenvery, tor tt has often been
some green..urn drawn it.io the excite
ment for whom iliey blaze the way and
snow iiow if not exactly wneru.” —
Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Can
ada.—Ka. her ruri|ui-t il, iti charge of
tno North Saskatchewan Catholic mis
sion. -., brought the news io tills point ut
ilie supposed dialing <■! Andre's long
lost hair-on at a p./liii 0 id niies nortii
ii Prince Albert, near p.e;n..eer lake,
f Him Italian priests it is learned the
natives said: "Dig white house cov
ered with ropes came to Eskimo camp,
i'hree while men who hungry with
house, and men died few days alter
they artiveil."
Father i'urquetil eiu.er.-lands the
Fskimo language, at ii is convinced
that some.hirg which the. natives know
is concealed regarding the death of the
explorers, but he couid get no further
inforination from them.
The jungle fowls of Australia
construct their nests in "rent
mounds 15 feet hi.Ci and !5J fee
in diameter, composed of leaves
and twig .
The Leader is on sale al ihe Tananu
pmstottice lobby.
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Carrying tire lest Supplies on the Market
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