THE IDITAROD PIONEER
AND WHAT IT HAD IN IT
From a friend arriving on the Sarah
last .Thursday evening were borrowed
copies of the Iditarod Pioneer dated
July 10 and 17. It is the most prosper
ous-looking paper in Alaska, contains
no less than seventy live advertisements,
big and little, and the copy of the 17tli
says the first issue was quickly ex
hausted and the demand was not nearly
supplied.
Competition.
The issue of July 10 announces the
arrival of Major J. F. A. Strong, the
noted pioneer newspaper man of Daw
son, Nome, Katalla and other northern
places, who was looking for a place to
set up his printing outfit. From the
look of the Pioneer there will be enough
business for two papers.
General Notes.
tion adjoining, and a half of the Red
Boy group on Indian Gulch.
A meeting was held July 16 to discuss
ways and means for improving naviga
j tion on the Iditarod river. Frank Man
! ley was chairman and $1,000 was sub
| scribed. By building a few wingdams
and dredging out a ’•unway it is believed
| possible to bring up to Iditarod City a
' large part of the tonnage that was
i thought tied up for good at Dikeman.
I A good coal mine has been discovered
i a mile and a quarter from Iditarod City.
; The Pioneer says it belongs to the Eu
reka Coal Company and a crew of men
will be put to work and furnish fuel for
the city the coming winter. [ Note: We
and the federal administration have our
doubts about the ownership and utility
clauses in this paragraph.]
The food supply will be ample.
The Iditarod district has been divided
into five voting precincts, as follows:
Otter Creek precinct, with polling place
on discovery claim, Otter creek. Flat
Creek precinct, with polling place at the
Town of Flat. Otter City precinct, with
polling place at the Town of Otter.
Dikeman precinct, with polling place at
the Town of Dikeman. Iditarod pre
cinct, with polling place at the Town of
Iditarod.
The Fourth was fittingly celebrated at
Otter and Iditarod cities.
Harry Rice and his partner Tom are
believed to have perished in a storm
somewhere in the hills between Iditarod
| City and the Yukon last winter. They
started for Holy Cross the last of De
cember or first of January and have not
bean heard from since. They were new
to the country, were poorly clad and
outfitted, and a bad storm came up a
few days after they left. Thev had a
launch and other personal effects at
Holy Cross, which are unclaimed.
Of the creeks there is much interest
| ing dope in the Pioneer. On the known
S creeks there is between seven and eight
I miles of demonstrated pay, which in
cludes some of the richest ground ever
found in Alaska. Says the paper: “The
general resume amounts to this: that
the camp looks good with what is al
ready in sight, and work—hard work—
alone will determine-the size of its justi
i fied existence.
The Pioneer was full of interesting
matter about the town and creeks.
Some of it is outlined below:
Following a mass meeting on July 2,
an election was held July 5 for five town
trustees. Eleven candidates were voted
for and 288 ballots were cast. The fol
lowing were elected : Frank Miller, with
252 votes; E. M. Sullivan, 184; Henry
Roden, 139; Fred Melius, 138, and T. J.
Nestor, 131. On July 7 the board or
ganized by electing Henry Roden chair
man. The board forms a provisional
city government pending the legal pro
cess of incorporation.
A mass meeting, called by the town
trustees, was held July 12 to discuss the
problem of fire protection. The meet
ing set a date on which decisive action
would be taken.
A subscription paper was meeting with
liberal response for improving streets
and building sidewalks.
Agitation was being carried on for the
making of a road from Iditarod City to
the creeks.
On the night of July 14 several enter
prising Iditared City-zens proceeded to
close Willow street against the encroach
ments of chechaco lot jumpers. To do
this they jumped it themselves, says the
Pioneer. At 11 o’clock a small, decrepit
tent appeared in the middle of Willow
street, adjoining Joe Green’s place, op
posite the Vienna Cafe and directly
across the roadway. A1 Hacks and Er
nest Niehoff thought they saw a chance
for a good location. Just after that John
King decided that the remaining space
wasn’t wide enough for a roadway any
how; so he jumped the remaining por
tion of 30 feet, closing Willow as effect
ually as one of these new-fangled rubber
stoppers. The comment on this busi
ness is obvious. The government offi
cials treated the matter calmly, knowing
they would be backed up by public sen
timent.
July 15 Manley & Price made the first,
payment of $15,000 on the option on the
Marietta association. James Orr, Wil
liam McLeod, Frank Stevens, George
Shirley and Hans Olson are on the re
ceiving side of the transaction. The
option entails the expenditure of another
$15 ,000 in September, with a final pay
ment of $45,000 on or before Oct. 1, 1911.
This $75,000 option is merged in ji $25,
000 privilege to purchase by Jack Price
in May, making a total of $100,000 for
the Marietta, a half of the Aylman frac
Clark Goes to Iditarod.
J. M. Clark, the well-known sheet
metal worker of Hot Springs, was on
the White Seal, which passed Tanana
early Monday morning bound for the
Iditarod. Mr. Clark was leaving a coun
try of great natural advantages to seek
better business opportunities where so
much energy and capital are now assem
bled. He is expert in his line of busi
ness, a good citizen, and we sincerely
wish him success. *
About the time the president with
drew the lands of Alaska from entry he
also withdrew lands aggregating 35,000,
000 acres in North Dakota, South Da
kota, Utah, Colorado, Washington and
Arizona. It is a tremendous power
that enables the president to do this,
and the exercise of that power carries
with it a grave responsibility. It could
almost be «aid that such huge transac
: tions are too much to be entrusted to
' any one man.
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 be had at other places.
Joe Anicich, Prop. Tanana, Alaska
THE TANANA RESTADRANT
\ Best Meals in the Camp
Short Orders at All Hours
( Best of everything on the Market. Service unexcelled in the North
s Fresh and Delicious Bread, Pies and Pastries Always on Hand
iThe Tanana Leader |
< and other papers >
< for sale at the >
Postoffice Lobby
OLD NEWS
OF KOYUKUK
BARGAINS IN REAL ESTATE.-Houses
J * and cabins for rent. All kinds of real
estate for sale.—GEORGE VAUTIER.
| mouth of Vermont was sold a few davs
ago by H. Griswell to Gus Miller. One
or two lays have also changed hands
! since the cleanup.
James Sellers, the Northern Commer
! cial Company agent here, with his wife
I and two children, expects to leave for
the outside on one of the first boats. A
fine piano owned by them was raffled off
here a few days ago and was won by an
Indian. There were ten tickets and
they were sold at $o0 each. Rig Char
ley was the winner and he probably
never saw a piano before.
A number of property owners here
will be glad to see Captain Donovan re
turn. The captain took a very decided
interest in this camp when here last
fall and his being recalled from this
place was a very great misfortune to the
Kovukuk The present deputy marshal
here, acting in Captain Donovan’s ab
sence, has financial interests in the
Iditarod. II.
Wiseman, Ko-yckuk River,
June 24, 1910.
The spring cleanup is about over in
this camp and a number of claim own
ers who have taken out money are pre
paring to leave for the outside. The
season’s cleanup was not nearly as large
as it should have been, owing to the
fact that many of the claim owners who
took out good money a year ago have
not yet returned from their trip outside
and during the first part of the past
winter nearly all of the Nolftn creek
claims were idle.
The coming season promises much
better from the fact that a number of
claims that heretofore have either been
idle or were worked only part of the
time have lately changed hands and
will no doubt be worked more exten
j sively. On Nolan creek Tom Edwards
has sold out his half interest in 6 below
to F. Gilbert, Newton Ellingston and
Joe Horton. The consideration is said
to have been $20,000. George Morry
also sold a half interest in 2 below on
Nolan to Gilbert, Ellingston and Horton.
Edwards and Morry are both leaving for
the outside and both have made large
fortunes in the Koyukuk. Edwards was
a partner of Oscar Johnson at the time
he made the famous cleanup on the No
lan creek fraction. Morry is a partner
of John Nolan, the discoverer of Nolan
creek.
On Vermont creek Ida Williams sold
a quarter interest in 6 below to E. Mc
Cloud [ possibly Ernest McLeod, son of
Kinney and brother of Roy McLeod.]
This interest was again sold to Joe Hor
ton and partners. A fraction at the
HUDSON OF
HUDSON GREEK
S. R. Hudson, of Hudson oreek, Gold
Mountain district, came into town in a
small boat last Monday. He procured
a load of supplies and started on the
return trip the next day.
This was his tirst visit to Tatiana in
nearly a year. He and uncle Allen Chis
holm have put in a splash dam this
summer and it is working perfectly. It
is a substantial structure and there is
no danger of high water carrying it out.
There is a large body of low-grade
.gravel on the creek and a large cut will
be put in readiness for shoveling in be
fore winter. However, very little dirt
will be put into the boxes this season,
j Sluicing will be commenced in earnest
i as soon as the weather permits next
| year.
M. S. Gill, associated with Mr. Hud
son in the mining property, is expected
to come in from the outside this fall.
-
Jack Cavanaugh buys aiul sells Second
hand Goods of all kinds.