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THIRD YEAR.
CHITINA, ALASKA, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2,1913
NUMBER 46.
Late Telegraph News
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WASHINGTON, Sept. 1—Representative William Cannon
Houston, of Tennessee, is a strong friend of Alaska and is
proving by his efforts that he is anxious to secure the early
start of development in that northern country that he believes
has been too long neglected. Representative Houston hk^ been
a member of the committee on territories for several yeai's and
at present is the chairman. On Friday last he had a lengthy
and most satisfactory conference with President Wilson. As
a result he now earnestly declares:
“We are going to report the Alaska railroad bill favorably
to the House at this session, without any doubt whatever. And
the government will undoubtedly build a system of railroads
in Alaska. President Wilson is for the project. While I do
not feel justified in quoting the President, will state that I am
greatly pleased over the attitude he took when I called upon
him, and one can fairly well guess what that was when I can;
give expression to the satisfaction that I feel because of his i
views on a subject in which I am so intensely interested. While
there is little probability that the bill can be considered at this
special session there is an understanding that everybody will
get behind it and push it through early in the next session. The j
committee favors the bill conforming closely to the measure I
favorably reported by the Senate committee.. I predict that J
Congress will let the President go ahead and build railroads j
in Alaska at a comparatively early date.”
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WASHINGTON, Sept. 2.—The deficiency appropriation
bill was reported to the House late this afternoon. It carries
an appropriation of $125,000 for a lighthouse and fog signal at
Capt St. Elias. It is believed that this amount will prevail as i
recent wrecks in Alaska have called attention to the great
necessity for additional aids to navigation. The lighthouse at
St. Elias has been recommended for several years and has been
urged by the department. It was included in the last bill that
passed but was finally stricken. There is every reason to
believe that the administration will insist upon it passing this
time, for the announced policy is to favor necessary improve
ments of this kind.
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WASHINGTON, Aug. 30.—Late yesterday afternoon the
Fresident sent to the Senate the nomination of F. R.
Brenneman, as United States marshal for the Third Division
of Alaska. The matter was referred to the judiciary committee
and it is not expected that there will he any particular opposi
tion to confirmation. Mr. Brenneman has been a strong
candidate for the position since the first applications were
filed. He has had the warm support of Vice President Marshal,
who enlisted in the cause the favor of senators and represen
tatives from his state of Indiana, where Mr. Brenneman was
raised. Although several candidates for this office had strong
support, every other consideration gave way when Senator
John Sharp Williams made a request of the President and
attorney general that E. W. Exum, of Chitina, be appointed.
When the name of Mr. Exum was later withdrawn through a
misapprehension upon the part of the President the friends of
other candidates immediately got busy. Vice President
Marshal followed the method of Senator Williams and made
the appointment of M. Brenneman a personal matter. A few
days ago he was given assurance that his friend would be named
after an inquiry regarding his character and efficiency had
been made.
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WASHINGTON, Aug. 27.—At 1 o’clock President Wilson
appeared before a joint session of Congress and delivered his
message on the Mexican situation. He stated that he felt it his
duty to lay before Congress the facts as he saw them, although
it was unnecessary to describe the deplorable posture as a
result of Mexican affairs. He recited his peace overtures which
were made public yesterday and then continuing he said, “We
should urge all Americans to leave Mexico immediately and to
assist them as far as possible. I say this not because we mean
to slacken our efforts to safeguard their lives and protect their
interests, but because it is imperative that we take no greater
risks than necessary. We should advise everybody exercising
any authority in Mexico in the most unequivocal fashion, that
we are watching vigilantly the fortunes of those who are unable
to leave the country, and that we intend to hold to a reckoning
any one who causes them suffering or loss.”
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FAIRBANKS, Sept. 2.—Frank Albani, who was formerly
from Cordova and later conducted a restaurant at Chitina, was
bound over for murder in the first degree. He stabbed Steve
Boroseo through the heart at the suburban camp of Chatanika,
in a bunk house. He immediately sought flight, but was appre
hended in a few hours. An inquest was held and the jury
returned a verdict that the deceased came to his death at the
hands of Albani. He was then given a preliminary hearing
and bound over. Albani urges in his defense that he feared
for his own life, as Boroseo made a start to pull a gun and that
if he had not killed him that his own life would have been the
forfeit.
The court party that has been holding a short session at
Ruby have finished the session there aid will return to Fair
banks in a few days, where court will convene on the 13th.
Albani \s case will likely be considered.
NEWS SUSMANNA STRIKE
The steamer Northwestern arrived this afternoon with
about fifty more stampeders, who are anxious to get started for
the new gold fields at the earliest possible moment. They have
with them 111 horses. It has been arranged to run a special
train to McCarthy’s tomorrow morning, leaving at 8 o’clock,
and reaching that camp about 7 o’clock in the eveniug. The
regular local train will leave Thursday morning, so that if any
of the gold seekers are delayed in leaving Wednesday they wiil
have an opportunity to get away the following morning. On
the steamer today there were 28 second-class passengers and
the following first-class passengers for the interior:
C. Hansen, N. G. Nelson, G. B. Whitehead, L. Larsen. F.
Baxter, P. M. Long, Mrs. J. H. Selleu, Miss Ruth Milroie, 0.1
Jensen, F. E. Taylor, J. Soule, W. W. Soule, Ned Hale, Ned
Williams and wife, J. H Scott, N. N. Hilton, R. G. Baxter A. J.!
Elliott, W. G. Witte, C. B. Gayer, J. H. McFarland, J. T. Baxter,
C. Labelle, and J. M. Morrison.
Reports from Engineer Forester, who is in charge of the
crew who are repairing the trail around Sourdough hill and
up the Chittistone are most encouraging. They have already
repaired the worst parts of the trail and so widened it that it
can now be used as a wagon road. The mucky places where
horses used to sink deep have disappeared and instead there
exists a good corduroy road. A wire today states that a light
wagon holding 1,000 pounds of supplies had been drawn by
two horses over the road from McCarthy’s to the Nizina rivei\
across the river and up to the foot of the Nizina glacier. A
request was sent to the railroad company to send a heavier
wagon so that a greater quantity of supplies can be handled
with a team.
Cordova, September 1
Trains arriving at Cordova on Saturday and Sunday even
ings brought quite a few stampeders back from the Chisana
gold diggings. And almost with one accord they declare their
absolute faith in the belief that a permanent and rich gold
placer camp is about to be unfolded. Many of these prospectors
came out for the purpose of securing additional supplies and
thawing machines, expecting to return to the interior over the
winter trail. They are largely men of experience in mining
and they saw sufficient gold taken from bed rock and from
surface work in various sections of the country to satisfy them
that with systematic development a second Klondike will be
uncovered. Their reports of the present trail from McCarthy’s
is very gratifying for it indicates that the returning men
experience but few of the hardships that they endured when
they went into the country. Gangs of men are industriously at
work making a good wagon road around Sourdough hill while
the difficulties in the neighborhood of the Chittistone are being
easily surmounted. But with one accord they all declare that
the shortage of provisions is the one great obstacle to develop
ment at the present time. Men are too busy foraging for food
to give much attention to mining or prospecting. Then again
everything in the known region where rich pay has been found
has been located. Some of the creeks have been blanketed
illegally while other claims have been located upon which
assessment work will not be done and which will be open to
relocation at least after January 1st. There is also much
complaint of the manner in which the office of the United States
commissioner and recorder is managed. There is no semblance
of real authority in the district, and there is a general demand
for courageous, honest and competent officials to fill the offices
of commissioner and deputy maslial. The six or seven hundred
men now permanently in the country make their headquarters
largely at “Siwash Camp,” at the mouth of the Bonanza, and
at Wilson creek, where many predict a townsite will soon be
established.
Tomorrow morning the steamer Northwestern will arrive
bringing nearly fifty more stampeders from Seattle. They have
with them 15 horses. It has been arranged for a special train
to run to McCarthy’s, leaving here on Wednesday morning, so
as to accommodate the men to arrive Tuesday. On that train
will also go the expedition to start work on locating a winter
road over the Nizina and Chisana glaciers. It will be in charge
of George C. Hazelet, who will have six men and the requisite
number of horses to aid in the work and transport the neces
sary provisions.
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Cordova, August 30.
The special train for McCarthy’s left this morning at 7
p’clock, carrying 8 stampeders, 48 horses, 18 steers and
considerable freight. Twenty-two of the horses will go to
Oscar Breedman, who will add them to his pack train and
immediately start with food supplies for sale to the new
diggings. Twenty more will also be used by Otto Lubey and
M. Baldwin as part of a big train that they will keep going
from now through the winter transporting supplies for sale.
The special emissary of the Alaska Road Commission,
Ross J. Kenney, who is making a trip into the Chisana country
in order to determine the best route and the need of improve
ment to the most desirable trail, is being accompanied by A. C.
Baldwin. Mr. Baldwin has been in charge of triangulation for
the Alaska Boundary Survey party, and returned to
McCarthy’s the fore part of the week. There he met Mr.
Kenney and agreed to make the trip with him, expecting to
return within a couple of weeks.
Cordova, August 20
A special committee of the Cordova Chamber of Commerce
decided today to send out an expedition on the first train to
endeavor to locate and stake a winter trail over the Xizina and
Ghisana glaciers to the headwaters of the Chisana river and
into the new diggings. Geox*ge C. Hazelet volunteered his
services free to head the party and was authorized to employ
six men to accompany him, the expense to be paid by contribu
tions from the business men of the town. Colonel Richards :.
president of the Alaska Road Commission, agreed to put tv >
of the men on his pay roll. Horses will be secured to par
the necessary supplies for the party. The glaciers referred
to are practically continuous and about 35 miles long, and the
northern end is at the headwaters of the Chisana river. From
there to the mouth of Wilson creek or up Johnson creek to
Bonanza the distance is from 8 to 10 miles. From McCarthy’s
to the southern end of the glacier it is 30 miles according to
the route surveyed by the railroad. That would make the
entire distance from McCarthy’s to the heart of the present
diggings only about 75 miles. It is known that for 10 miles
on either side of the glaciers a good road is available, and if
the middle section develops no unusual obstacles, then the
winter road to the Chisana will have been established. The
grade is easy and a horse would have no difficulty in hauling
a ton or more.
i Here is considerable talk about the Canadian government
arranging to send mail from "W lute Horse to the new Cliisana
gold diggings. While it takes three weeks to get mail in by
the route followed from White Horse it must not be forgotten
that mail has been going and coming for a month past, by
private carriers, between Cordova and the Cliisana. And now
Alvah Eames, who is in charge of the government mail serivce
in this section of Alaska, has just sent in a batch of mail from
McCarthy’s. It is in charge of Jack Lawrence, the old-time
mail carrier. He started this morning with a big pack train
of supplies. It is reported that measures are being taken
to establish a post office at Cliisana and to arrange for a
regular delivery and carrier service to and from the new
diggings.
Another expedition that left McCarthy’s the fore part of
the week was in charge of Jim Bryson and Lester Summerlin,
both experienced packers formerly in the employ of the Alaska
Boundary survey party. They took 23 horses and -*.200 pounds
of grub to sell to the stampeders who are now so short of
supplies. They expect to be out again next week and take in
another supply.
Cordova, August 27.
This morning another special train left on the C. R. &
X. W. Railway for the interior. It took 35 stampeders, 30
horses and considerable freight and will reach McCarthy’s
this evening before 8 o’clock. Most of the men going to the
new gold diggings were well equipped with horses and
provisions and will be able to remain several weeks or months.
Oscar Breedman took in seven horses and two mules, to add
to the number that he already has at McCarthy’s. He was
unable to get the horses that have been in quarantine here, but
he will at once start his pack train for Cliisana, to take in grub
lor sale. The special train will return tomorrow evening and
bring Mr. Hazelet and a few other returning stampeders who
are now at McCarthy’s.
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Cordova, August 28
In a letter received last night by E. L. Harwood from one
of the men he was interested in having go to the new gold
diggings, the information is conveyed that another rich claim
has undoubtedly been demonstrated.. Ed Wood writes that
on the fraction of No. 3 above on Bonanza, Joe McClellan took
out $5,000 in two days clean up, with five men shoveling in.
Among the many large nuggets taken out was one that weighed
about six ounces and is valued at $100. Previous reports
indicated that Me Clellan was taking out good pay but this
latest report is evidence that he is working a piece of ground
that may be richer than the Discovery claim.
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D. C. Sargeant, familiarly known
among his old friends as “Bud,” re
turned from the interior on Satur
day evening. For years past he has
been engaged in mining in the
Nebesna and Chisana sections. But
he has been working Tor copper, and
recently has been driving a tunnel
on a copper vein near the Nebesna.
He has a cabin there and also one
8 miles from the present placer
diggings. Mr. Sargeant is satisfied
that the work done up to the present
time has already demonstrated that
a ricli camp has been established. He
located a couple of claims himself
while some of his men have done
likewise. He brought out several
ounces of gold, some of which was
taken from a claim of his own on
Sargeant gulch.
Mr. Sargeant will return to the
camp in November or December and
take in thawing machinery. In the
meantime he will go to the states
and take a trip to Washington.
While there he will call the atten
tion of the attorney general to the
necessity for an honest and compe
tent United States commissioner and
a deputy marshal in the Chisana.
While at Seattle he will also take
the matter up with Judge Brown
and tell him of a few of the acts of
the federal official who is now in
that country. He will tell how Mr.
Morgan is standing in with James
and others who have tried to blanket
the country and then sell their loca
tions to others who may go and
make legal locations, of the disap
pearance of pages 24 to 68 in the
recorders’ book of records, of the
driving off by the recorder of locat
ors who were on their own property,
and other irregularities.
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