Sty* Qtyttina £l*afr*r
CHITINA, ALASKA.
Cordova Office: Dally Alaskan
Published every Saturday by
WTT.T. A. STEEL KABBT G. STEEL
Editors, Managers and Proprietors
O. E. BE a SETT, City Editor
ADVERTISING RATES:
Made know n upon application. They
will be found reasonable for the ser
vice given.
Application has been made tp the post
office department for the entry of this
newspaper as second-class matter at the
postoffice at Chitina, Alaska, under the
act of Congress of March 3, 1879.
CHITINA, SATURDAY, DEC. 10, ’10
LET US MINE
OUR OWN COAL
THE COPPER RIVER WAY.
History repeats itself more often
in the building and populating of
empires than it does in any other
way. There is a reason for this that
is as potential and unswerving as
the course of empire itself. Certain
conditions lead to the building of
cities whenever there is an immigra
tion into any unsettled territory, and
these conditions have resulted in
building the great cities of the North.
These are the conditions which have
combined to build at Cordova, the
terminal harbor of the Copper River
& Northwestern railway, the great
est mining and traffic center, and
which is proving itself today the most
substantial city of the great North.
Nature preordained that there
should be a city on the site of Cor
dova. It is the natural place for a
metropolis in southwestern Alaska
both from a topographical and geo
graphical standpoint. The city lies
on a natural bench overlooking the
harbor. Sne stands on the pedestal
of the virgin empire of which she is
mistress. The Copper River valley,
of which Cordova is the logical cen
ter, is 500 miles long, every bit ol
which is rich mining and farming
land, with scarcely a waste acre. Ad
joining the city are thousands upon
thousands of acres of the richest gold
quartz lands in the world. The fa
mous McKinley lake and Alaganik
gold mines lie contiguous to the main
line of the Copper River & North
western railway. The world-re
nowned Bonanza copper mines will
be tapped by the main ilne of the
railway before the closing of the year.
The vast wealth of these celebrated
copper mines is too well known to re
ceive any further mention here. It
will not, however, be out of place to
mention the fact that they were of
sufficient importance to justify the
expenditure of thirty millions of dol
lars in the construction of a railroad
to connect them with tide water.
The coming summer shall witness
the completion of a branch line from
Katalla junction at mile 39 to the
world-famed Katalla and Berink lake
coal and oil fields. Here lie a hun
dred thousand acres of the richest
coal and oil lands on the North
American continent. Wealthy cor
porations have been formed to de
velop these fields. But the silly prin
ciples of Plnchotism, which blinded
the people of the nation to their
true interests, has been the bane of
Alaska s greatest industry to be.
When the frigid blanket of conserv
atism, as exemplified by Pinchot
shall have been thrown aside, the
fires of industrial prosperity shall
flame In their wonted glory. This
one resource alone is enough to make
Cordova a city of over 20,000 peo
ple. but this is apparently only one
of the city building resources which
Cordova possesses. The gold, cop
per and coal mines, to be sure, will
develop a large industrial population
for the metropolis, and bring mil
lions of dollars in trade to its very
doors, but even without these advan
tages, Cordova would become a great
trade center. The fact that Cordova
is the logical center of this vast vir
gin empire is indicated by the com
pletion of a great railway system
from her doors to the great interior.
Industries are springing up and all
of the other marts of trade that in
dicate the development of a great
surrounding population. With the
completion of a great railroad and
the opening of a great empire, the
scores of settlers that are now com
ing in will change to hundreds, and
even to thousands, the great Copper
River way with its rich opportuni
ties, will become settled and pro
ductive, and Cordova will become be
fore another decade, a great metrop
oils with a permanent productive and
j prosperous tributary country paying
it commercial tribute.
The Copper River valley and the
territory immediately surrounding,
however, does not constitute the on
ly country that is naturally tributary
to Cordova. Look at the map of
Alaska and you will see that Cordova
is the only natural gateway and trad
ing center for the great interior, a
ditsance of many hundreds of miles.
It is 132 miles by the railroad to
Chitina, the north end of the Copper
River way.
The town of Chitina is located at
the confluence of the railroad and the
Chitina cut-off wagon road and trail
to the interior. This cut-off, which
has by now, become justly famed
throughout Alaska, taps the great in
terior trail to the Tanana and Yu
kon. This great trail has carried the
burden < f the interior traffic from
Fairbanks to Valdez at tide water for
the last decade. The Chitina cut-off
taps this trail at a point called Wil
low Creek a distance of 35 miles
from Chitina on the main line of the
Copper River & Northwestern rail
way. This cut-off deflects travel from
the Valdez trail to the new route,
which is now universally known as
“the Copper River way.” By this
means the worst portions of the over
land route are avoided for a dis
tance of 165 miles. This is no mean
consideration, especially in the win
ter time. The terrors of Thompson’s
Pass and Keystone canyon are ob
viated in traveling via the new route.
The luxuries of railway travel
down along the Copper River way
will appeal more effectively to tin
travelers of the future than weari
some contention with the inclemen
cies of the now discarded Valdez
trail.
The town of Chitina has already
given evidences of its coming vitality
and importance. The coming sum
mer will see the beginning of Chiti
na’s permanent and spectaculai
growth. Settlers are coming in and
the demand for building materials,
food supplies and necessities of liv
ing is expanding rapidly. During the
past summer hotel facilities have
been doubled what they were in the
spring, two mercantile establishments
have been built and the size of the
town has been trebled. Anticipating
the growth of this coming city many
people have and are now buying real
estate in this town, both with the
idea of settling there and the rapid
increase in value. The volume of in
quiry for town property and sur
rounding mining lands proves be
yond peradventure that the move
ment of immigration to Chitina will
be as great as that to any other por
tion of the Copper River way.
Undoubtedly this portion of Alas
ka, which the poet has aptly denomi
nated “the Copper River way,” will
enjoy one of the most spectacular
developments ever witnessed in a
country that has already opened the
eyes of the world for its empire
building records. And with the com
ing of the influx of the population
and the remarkable development of
the Copper River way, Chitina, like
unto Cordova, will blossom forth in
to a full fledged city of substantial
importance.
The Copper River way, like all em
pire building movements from time
immemorial, has her detractions. All
the great and grand things must be
besmirched. The muck-raker must
suck and blow a nauseous atmos
phere, must exhume from the cess
pools of human iniquity the filth with
which to glut the morbid appetite of
the degenerate rabble. His audience
is large. Attacking the good and
great things of the earth appeals with
magic force to the unsuccessfuls and
ne’er-do-wells of the world. The
dwellers on the heights of worldly
prominence must look down on the
remorseless envy and hatred of those
below. It is the fiat of Destiny. It
is the Kismetic law that permeates
the living world.
The Copper River way has plucked
the rose of success, a success which
has been heralded to the nethermost
lands of the earth. But with the
garland has come the inevitable
thorns. The thorns of hatred, envy,
jealousy; the thorns of the detract
or and the hamperer.
The knockers have not slept. They
have been working overtime. But in
spite of all that has been said and
done the great railway is built. An
empire is in the embryo of develop
ment, and the war whoops of the
knockers sound like the last weird
shrieks of drowning failures ere they
are consumed in the tidal wave of
prosperity.
Were we to remain silent would
be to acknowledge the assertions and
statements of the enemies of the
Copper River way, which have, with
out further comment, involved them
all in absurdities. Silence would be
concession. Therefore, we must re
fute the errors they would seek to
make popular.
Chiefest among these cavillers, is
one James Wickersham, delegate to
Congress from Alaska. Sitting ’way
■back in the rear of the House of rep
resentatives, out of harm’s way, in
company with a couple of niggers
from Hawaii, he is held in the scorn,
derision and contempt of his fellows.
Devoid of a vote, buried in some un
important committee, despised by all
of his political colleagues, he has be
come a joke at Washington, a non
entity. impotent, incapable of doing
any good for himself or Alaska. In
his person he has antagonized all the
powerful interests that would favor
Alaska by much-needed legislation.
Wickersham is the stormy petrel of
the. North. ’ His sporadic career has
been productive of nothing but dis
sension, silly bickering and unmerit
3d crimination. He has unjustly ma
ligned the fair name of the Copper
River way. In one of his speeches,
wherein he satiated the appetite of
the enemies of progress, he sneer
ingly referred to the Copper River &.
Northwestern railway enterprise as
‘two streaks of rust beribboning an
uninhabitable gorge cut through the
mountainous wilderness by some im
memorial glacier. Through this
chasm flows a muddy stream named
by some grandiloquent geographer,
possessing more eloquence than
sense, as the Copper river! Follow
ing the course of this stream the
Guggenheims have built their rail
oad to the Bonanza mines. The road
does absolutely nothing to develop
the country. The Guggenheims have
a wealthy copper mine at Bonanza
which to them is valueless without
means of connecting it with tide wa
ter. Hence, their railroad. They
have not built this road to develop
the country. It is one of the means
by which they shall exploit it. They
have now got control of all transpor
tation facilities, and their avowed
object is to create out of Alaska a
Guggenheim barony. They have the
country throttled. In unalterable op
position to them, I announce my can
didacy for Congress.”
The poor benighted fool! The ab
surdity of the above statements will
be apparent to the most ignorant.
Granting that they are building the
railroad for self and pelf, can it be
denied that their magnificent enter
prise is not developing, or helping
to develop, the great North? Are
not railroads the natural boosters of
a new country? The Guggenheims
in spite of themselves would have to
develop the country. Can the free
and open expenditure of millions and
millions of capital fail to accomplish
any thing in the line of far-reaching
development? If it is given to us to
question their motives, we shall con
cede that they are carrying on these
gigantic enterprizes for their own
emolument. But can we contend that
they have no ulterior effects on A’as
ka’s growth and development? Can
the charge that the country is be
ing robbed and the people are being
exploited, bear investigation? Can
growth, development and prosperity
being given to and maintained in a
country i.n hot air? Or does it take
money to make patent to mankind
the limitless resources of the virgin
empire of Alaska? Men of great
wealth have risked their fortunes in
Alaska’s development. They have
turned to this virgin field as thous
ands of others to better their condi
tions. Hy speculative investment
they have hope to Increase their for
tunes. Selfishness may have been
their motive at all times, but with ev
ery move they necessarily carried the
burden of a new country’s civilizing
development and growth. To men
of money the burden has fallen the
heaviest. To the penniless prospec
tor, the dauntless pioneer and all of
that noble van that went before must
be given due credit and honor. They
are the forerunners of a country’s
greatness, the capitalists are the cre
ators. They cause the lapping tide
of civilization to sweep her bounteous
beneficence over the land. The po
litical game would have possessed
no charms for them had it not as
sumed a mien hostile to their very
existence Self-preservation is ;thv
first law of nature, and men are con
doned when they fight for life.
The salvation of Alaska lies in the
defeat of Wickersham and his bane
ful principles. A thorn in the hand
of Destiny he has rendered impotent
any effort for betterment. He has
t.ccomplished absolutely nothing. In
charging these condition of affairs to
the average run of Wickershamites
their only answer is: “Well, maybe
he can’t get anything for us, but h»
will keep the corporations from get
ting anything.” This “dog in th»
manger ’ policy is reprehensible. Must
railroad building be hindered, must
the coal mines forever be closed,
must the enterprises of mountam
and stream be forestalled by reason
of a silly fear that in some hazy fu
ture the Persian hosts of an iniquit
ous plutocracy shall swoop down and
rob us of our arnered fruits? Con
servation as enunciated by Pinchot
and Wickersham in Alaska has reach
ed the stage of fanaticism. The peo
ple are apparently upholding the
same though it is proving their un
doing.
Sweeping into the limelight or
the waves of a transient popularity
James Wickersham won and defeat
ed Alaska in the war of the ballots.
He is the victor. To him belong the
spoils. This is the iron rule of the
political game. He has justified his
subsequent acts under this perfidious
principle. He has issued his fiat:
“Death to all corporate and vested
interests.” While we respect and
honor his office, the man himself
merits only our contempt and detesta
tion. He has invited the scorn ano
contempt of all good men. He has
planted the seeds of discontent al
home and abroad. The feitch of a
misguided popularity, he has main
tained his position by sophistry. He
is a parvenue of the most impudent
type. The greatest mistake James
Wickersham ever made was when hi
laid aside the judicial ermine to as
sume the despicable roll of a syco
phant and a political bean-eater. It
were impossible for him to become a
statesman. Nature made him o
lesser stuff. Whereupon, he sough
to become a politician. In this he
has become a lamentable failure. His
rudderless ship must of necessitj
founder on the rocks of the political
sea. Wickersham is the false ligh
on a darkled and troubled shore. Hi
has studiously endeavored to lure thi
youthful ship of state to destruction
which Alaskans have been endeavor
ing these many years to bring to thi
haven of supremacy. But it is always
the darkest before the dawn. Whet
the carcasses of Col. Hampton ani
James Wickersham and other ungen
erous detractors of the Copper Rivei
way shall have long since been con
sumed at the banquet of the worms
when the ways of Dyea, Skagway anc
Valdez shall live only in the roman
ces of Beach and London and thi
poems of Miller and Dunham, the
Copper River way shall blossom
forth in a splendor undiminishable
The star shall attain the zenith, but
shall never wane. It shall poise ser
ene and uneclipsable.
Ads in the Chitina Leader get re
ssults.
♦ ♦♦♦ ♦♦♦* ♦♦♦♦»♦♦ »-♦-»+ ♦ ♦♦♦♦♦♦
t 1
FRED M. SGHAUPP
Manufacturer in
Sheet Metal
STOVES,
RANGES
and
HEATERS
OSBORNE
THE
PRACTICAL
Jeweler
CORDOVA, - ALASKA
Watctessnd Jewelry at
Outside Prices
Leave Tour Work at the Leader
Office
Northern Meat Market
<r CHITINA BRANCH
Wholesale and Retail Butchers
HOTELS, RESTAURANTS, MINING CAMI»S, STATION CAMPS,
AND ROAD HOUSES SUP1* PLIED AT CORDOVA PRICES
PETER SHEARMAN, Manager.
ut course you want
DRUGS
In Chitina
You can get the best
at the
PIONEER
DRUG
STORE
In Cordova
Special attention paid to out*
of-iown orders
L. L. DODGE, Prop.
When in Cordova Stop in
and See
“DENVER MIKE”
at the
DENVER
BAR
THE WORKINGMAN’S
RESORT
Corner First Ave., and C
Street
FURNISHED
ROOMS IN
CONNECTION
Log
Cabin
Restaurant
GOOD COFFEE
OWL CAFE
FINEST MEALS IN TOWN
ROOMS FOR LADIES
NICE CLEAN BEDS IN CONNEC
TION.
Noodles and Chop Suey
CUM BOM HOUSE
Mile 133
C. M. F. COLE, Proprietor
Chitina Transfer
P. ACKLES, Proprietor.
Freighting and Teaming
of all kinds
BAGGAGE DELIVERED
Chi tin a Laundry
and Bath House
NICE HOT BATHS
Good Work
Guaranteed
i Branch Office and Barber
Shop at Stringer's.
JOHN RAWSON. Prop.
ED. S. Offi STAGE GO.
Leaves Chitir a
TUESDAYS,
FRIDAYS
and SUNDAYS
Carrying Passengers Express
and U. S. Mail
Office in Hotel Chitina
Chitina Bakery
& Coffee House
GESSNER & STANGNETH
Proprietors
FRESH BREAD
Cakes and Pastry
Always on Hand
Main Street, — Chitina.