Keep Your Friends In
formed by Sending Them
The Chitina Leader
THE CHITINA LEADER
Opening of Bering Coal
Means Smelters for
Cordova
FIFTH YEAR
CHITINA, ALASKA, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1915.
NUMBER 49.
Ore Shipments From Copper River Valley Are Over $2,000,000 Each Month
FEARED DEMPSEY
Postmaster Melvin Dempsey, of
Gulkana, who started for Slate creek
on August 24 and since which time
nothing has been seen or heard of him,
has undoubtedly been drowned. Every
effort has been made to find the miss
ing man and the following telegram
received today by Chief Clerk Alvah
Earaes from Fred Nicholls, postmaster
at Paxsons, would indicate that his
friends have given up all hope of even
recovering the body of Dempsey:
Search party has returned. Found
no trace of Dempsey. It is feared that
he met his death fording the Gokona
river on his way home from here.
JAPAN TO BUILD
RUSSIA
TOKIO, Sept. 25—Special advices
from Petrograd give importance to the
announcement that the Russian Trade
and Navigation Company of Odessa
has decided to give Japanese ship
building yards its first big order for
the construction of several large pas
senger steamers. The Russian min
istry of trade and industry throughly
approves the decision of the company
as the beginning of an economical ap
proachment between Russia and Japan
which promises to have a great future
At the outset there will be ordered
eight first class ships for the Crimea
Caucausus line, after which the com
pany has in view an order for a second
group of steamers for its foreign ser
vice on lines which before the war
were in the hands of the Germans.
Heretofore there have been no steam
ers of Japanese construction among
the vessels of the Russian merchant
marine.
viluTcaptures
BUTTLE
WASHINGTON, Sept. 25—The gov
ernment, through the State Depart
ment officially announced this after
noon that the forces of General Carran
za had evacuated the city of Cananea
Thursday night. The popular feeling
in this city has been in favor of Villa,
and the near approach of the advanc
ing Villa troops caused the Carranza
commander to fear an outbreak. Be
fore evacuation took place, on Thurs
day afternoon, thousands of shots
were fired in the streets of the city
from concealed persons, against the
Carranza soldiers. Thirty persons
were killed. A detachment from Vil
la’s army is expected soon to garrison
the city.
MADRID, Sept. 25—The indications
are that the subscriptions to the 150,
000,000 peseta loan, which failed once
and which the Spanish government is
again trying to float, though slow are
coming along satisfactorily. Last
week $1,709,980 worth of these treas
ury bonds were subscribed, making a
total subscription so far of $9,902,444,
leaving $18,082,556 of the issue still
left unsubscribed.
CORDOVA BEING ADVERTISED
BY ARTICLES IN LESLIE'S
Col. Sleicher’s second article on
Alaska in Leslie's Weekly has result
ed in considerable publicity for Cor
dova as evidenced from the fact that
President Geo. C. Hazelet, of the local
Chamber of Commerce, received forty
five requests in the last mail for in
formation about Cordova. Mayor
Slater and Secretary Edward F. Med
ley also received a number of letters
asking' for information about this town
and adjoining country.
-:o
Suit has been filed by A. C. Will
iams, as trustee of the Katalla Pro
duce Company, against W. G. Smith
and Charles Rosenberg as trustees of
the Morrison Fish Company, Gorman
& Company and the First National
Bank of Katalla. The plaintiff
charges that he gave a chattel mort
gage to secure a consideration of $1536
and that upon the payment of this
mortgage the defendant trustees re
fused to cancel the mortgage and the
plaintiff alleges that it has cost $80 to
defray attorney's expenses to enforce
this cancellation.
Later it seems that the holdings of
the various interests making up the
Morrison Fish Company were pooled,
and that the total valuation of he pool
amounted to $10,00. Smith and
Rosenberg were appointed trustees.
The plaintiff further charges, that as
trustees of this pool, the defendants
collected the sum of $5000, and out of
that fund have satisfied only the
claims of the Katalla bank as creditor,
completely ignoring the claims of
other creditors to their serious and ir
repairable damages. Williams alleges
that there is due him the amount of
$368.33 plus $58.92 interest, and an
other amount of $255.24.
The complaint asks that the Court
restrain the defendant* trustees from
further disbursements to the Katalla
bank, that the trustees be obliged to
furnish the plaintifT a full and com
plete statement of the accounts of the
pooled company, and for the judg
ments in the two amounts alleged to
be due and unpaid.
O. A. Tucker will represent the
plaintiff. No answer has been filed
and the case will probably not be
heard until late in the next term of
court.
COROOVA IS FACING
II GOAL FAMINE
There is a scarcity of coal in Cor
dova and in fact has been for the past
couple of weeks. The railroad com
pany has supplied the town with four
cars of fuel, from out the line, in order
to bridge over the shortage. It is
reported that at most but one more
car can be spared for local consump
tion, which will not last very long.
The freighter Seward leaves Seat
tle next Tuesday, but so far as known
she will bring north only explosives
and umber. The Latouche was also
schedule to sail from the states next
week, but she was delayed in going
south, the exact date of her departure
is problematical, and a coal famine is
likely to result before she reaches
Cordova.
-:o:
TOKIO, Sept. 25—The bribery
scandal which caused the downfall of
Viscount Oura, the home minister, and
forced a reconstruction of the Okuma
ministry has extended to others. Four
more former members of the Diet
have been arrested.
Thirteen men are now in jail await
ing trial on charges connected with
parliamentary corruption. These in
clude four members of the present
Diet and seven ex-members of the
Diet. The others are Mr. Kametaro
Hyashida who was chief secretary of
the House of Representatives and the
manager of a Japanese firm at Dairen.
The reconstructed Okuma Cabinet
has announced that it will pursue the
policy of the old, and as Mr. Y. Ozaki
contiues to be minister of justice the
bribery affair may be expected to be
probed to the bottom.
CHEWS GOLD
CHISAN’S GOLD OUT PUT— 48
W. A. Johnson and N. P. Nelson re
turned on yesterday’s train from
Chisana and will leave on the steamer
Alameda for Seattle, where they will
spend the winter. They report that
the mining at Chisana is about over
for this season, and the output from
thet camp will be in the neighborhood
of $150,000. Between fifty and sixty
people will winter there. Some good
prospects have been found on the
Beaver side.
Jack Crow had a narrow escape
from drowning in the Nizina river.He
attempted to cross It with a horse,
but the current was swift and the
animal got away from him. Crow
was in the cold water for about an
hour and it was only through the time
ly assistance rendered by A1 Jackson
that his life was spared.
Ikey Meehan and Old Man Johnson
started down the Suhana river in a
small boat for Fairbanks. They had
four live foxes with them when their
boat was wrecked, the foxes making
their escape.
“The trail over the Sour Dough hill
is in a most deplorable condition,” said
Mr. Johnson, “and I would not think
of taking a string of unloaded horses
over that trail. In fact it is almost
impossible to cross it, without wal
lowing in the mire. The miners in
the interior feel that they are not be
ing treatd right by the Alaska Road
Commission, against whom much
crticism is heard from the neglect to
do any trail work where it would be
appreciated by the prospectors."
-:o:
ir CALL EXTRA
- I
WASHINGTON, Sept. 22—The
president is considering the calling of
an extra session of the Senate for the
purpose of revising the rules of that
body which make it the only legisla
tive forum in the world, whose mem
bers have the privelege of unlimited
debate. This rule has been abused in
the past by members who have availed
themselves of their prerogatives to
talk measures to death in the last days
of the session, and Wilson feels that
the practice has long outlived its use
fulness. If the extra session is held it
will be called for some time next
month, Congress not meeting in regu
lar session until December.
-:o:
No Ball Game Yesterday.
On account of the inclement wea
ther the ball game between the Pro
themus team and the Olympia Slug
gers, scheduled for yesterday after
noon, had to be postponed.
BROWNSVILLE, Sept. 25—Another
fight occurred between U. S. soldiers
and Mexicans across the Rio Grande
yesterday. A brisk fire between the
parties was indulged in and two Mexi
cans, who crossed to the Texas side
were killed. Four to eight otherk
'were slain while crossing the river,
or scrambling up the Mexican bank of
the stream. None of the Americans
were hurt in the fray. Disorders on
the border are occurring with increas
ing frequency and the military au
thorities have re-enforced the guards
of troops at the more Important points.
AH Mexicans crossing into the Ameri
can side side except through the regu
lar customs offices are dealt harshly
with.
SNOWS SAYS EVERYBODY
TALKS WILSON IN EAST
Representative C. K. Snow, in a
column interview# given in the Ruby
Record-Citizen, given upon his arriv
al from an Eastern trip, says, speak
ing of the Middle West:
“Throughout these sections no one
talks ‘hard times,’ no one talks des
pondency; a few talk war and every
one talks Wilson”
LANESPLAN FOR
. ALASKA IS
At a special meeting of the Chamber
of Commerce, held Saturday evening,
Secretary Lane’s Alaska Development
Board was nuanimously endorsed by
the adoption of the following resolu
tions:
Whereas, Alaska is on the eve of
wonderful development due to the con
struction of the government railroad
and the promised opening of the coal
fields within the Territory;
And Whereas, this development
should be fostered in every possible
way by the national government in
order that the people of the United
States and the pioneers of Alaska may
develop the latent resources of the
Territory under proper guidance and
without undue and unnecessary hin
drance;
And Whereas, the lack of co-ordina
tion among the various government
departments having duties to perform
In Alaska, and the distance of the
Territory from the seat of the national
government has resulted in vexatious
delays often of years’ duration so that
the normal industrial and economic
development of Alaska has actually
retrograded within the past decade;
Now Therefore. Be It Resolved, that
the Chamber of Commerce of Cordova,
Alaska, heartily endorses the proposal
of the Honorable Franklin K. Lane,
Secretary of the Interior, for an Alas
kan Development Board, and urges
upon Congress the necessity for the
passage of such a measure, believing
that a centralization of bureaus with
headquaters in Alaska, will solve the
Alaskan question.
And Be It Further Resolved that
we request the Honorable James
Wickersham, Delegate to Congress
from the Territory of Alaska, to use
his best efforts to secure the enact
ment of such a law.
And Be It Further Resolved, that
copies of this resolution be sent to the
Chamber of Commerce of the United
States of America requesting the sup
port of that organization in further
ance of this Alaskan Development
Board proposal.
STEAMER ATENA
IS BURNED
ATSEA
HALIFAX, Sept. 20—Steamers ar
riving here today brought news of the
destruction of the Greek steamer
Atena, by fire at sea. The Atena was
a passenger vessel bound from New
York to Greece and had 4G9 passen
gers on board. Wireless calls for
help were sent out, and two steamers
responding succeeding in savin* &'! of
the passengers and all of the crew
with one exception.
•-o:
Left For Port Wells.
Dr. W. H. Chase, president of the
Cordova Mining and Development
Company, left on the launch North
Star this afternoon for Port Wells,
taking with a cook and supplies for
the crew of men he has working on
their quartz property.
-:o:
Electric Light For Old Town.
The Cordova Power Company is ex
tending its electric light line to the
old town, in order to supply the resi
dens of that place with light.
-:o:
This afternoon's train brought six
teen cars of copper ore from Kenne
citt.
BIG STRIKE OF
SI. F. Rowland the orignal discov
erer of the Nizina placer gold fields,
has just returned from that section
where he staked a large ledge of anti
mony. This metal was discovered fif
teen years ago, but its commericial
value was not known at that time,
but since a market has been establish
ed for antimony the uncovering of a
body of this ore is of considerable
importance.
Mr. Rowland brought samples of the
antimony to Cordova and will leave on
the steamer Northwestern for the
states where he expects to interest
capial in his latest find. He thinks
that he has one of the largest de
posits of antimony to be found any
where. There is a four foot solid
ledge of antimony and also forty feet
containing a stringer of from two to
four inches wide in a zone of porphy.
This ore runs 60 per cent in anti
mony and Mr. Rowland, who is a
practical miner and thoroughly un
derstands the game, is taking to the
states a large quantity of samples and
if the assay value is anything near
what he thinks it is he has one of the
biggest and best propositions in this
section.
:o:
JOHN D. SAYS
HIS MLS
TRINIDAD, Sept. 21—Rockefeller
fraternized with the miners today
when he decended into the tunnels
and pits, and told them that he con
sidered they were his partners in the
enterprise and not merely his em
ployees. He wished them to under
stand that as regards himself he did
not desire the miners to look upon him
as an enemy and offered to meet them
on an equal gropnd at any time, and
discuss working conditions with
them.
TRINIDAD, Sept. 21—John D.
Rockefeller, Jr., is still here investi
i
gating conditions at the mines of the
Colorado Fuel and Iron Co., and today
descended into the pits and tunnels
and examined the workings at close
range, associating with the men, and
finding out exactly the nature of the
work being done by the employees,
and the conditions under which they
labor.
-:o -—
DR. S. HALL YOUNG
WRITING ANOTHER BOOK
Word is received that Dr. S. Hall
Young, formerly superintendent of
Presbyterian Missions in Alaska, is
writing another book on Alaska, which
will appear with “The Mushing Par
son” as its title. Dr. Young’s book,
“Alaska Days With John Muir,” just
recently came from the press.
-:o:
GRAND JURY INDICTS
M’CARTHY HOTEL MAN
Peter Johnson, of McCarthy, has
been indicted by the grand jury for
illegal liquor selling. Johnson former
ly conducted a saloon at Blackburn
and later moved to McCarthy, where
he ereceted a fine building, but was re
fused a liquor license by the district
court.
-:o:
MANY PASSENGERS
COMING ON ALAMEDA
SEATTLE, Sept. 25—The steamer
Alameda sailed last night for South
western Alaska. Passengers booked
for Cordova were: C. Welch, Fred
Davies, C. McFarland, J. Harper, C.
Quinn, Geo. Bartlett, Jas. Robinson,
Mrs. W. McFadden, Max Webber and
wife, Mrs. Martin Lier and baby, Miss
A. White and D. McDonald.
CLAM FACTORY TO BE
ESTABLISHED AT CORDOVA
H. A. Sprague, president of the
Lighthouse Packing Company, of War
ren. Oregon, who recently visited this
section and inspected the clam beds,
has about decided to establish a clam
factory here. He will need two i
buildings 40x100 feet each and give
employment to about 100 people.
OFiVS PLAN BIG
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 18—It was
announced at the Methodist Confer
ence which is now being held in this
city, that available funds had been se
cured to finance a prohibition cam
paign before the next Congress and
also in Alaska. The Conference hailed
with gratification the addition of
Washington, Oregon, Arizona and
South Carolina to the dry column, and
enthusiastically promised to use all its
resources in swinging Alaska into the
same column at the election next year.
The proceedings before the last Alas
ka legislature were discussed, and the
bill passed providing for a vote on pro
hibition at the next election were fully
considered.
-: o:
ARCTIC
NEW YORK, Sept. 18—The scientists
here received with a great deal of
interest the report of the discovery of
new land in the Arctic by Explorer
Stefannson, and were overjoyed to
learn that he was not lost as had been
feared. They give the intrepid
Scandinavian unstinted praise for his
discoveries, and declare that they are
of extreme importance. The news
papers are giving a great of space to
the matter and it is focussing a lot of
attention upon Alaska, which has not
been so much in the limelight since
the passage of the government rail
road bill by the last Congress.
-;0;
WASN1NGTIN, Sept. 23—The State
Department officially announced this
afternoon that a message had been re
ceived from the American consul at
Stuttgat in Germany with the news
that in a recent attack on that city by
a flotilla of French airships, the
American consulate had been struck
by a fragment of a French air bomb.
Nobody connected with the consulate
was injured, and the damage to the
building was slight.
SUM DOGS OF
NOME, Sept. 25—A representative
of the French government is in this
city and has been purchasing Alaska
sled dogs for the use of the French
army. The famous racing dogs of
Allan-Darling have been sold to the
foreigner at a top price and many
other well known dogs have been pur
chased. The Frenchmen haB bought
about one hundred dogs altogether,
and they will be shipped south on the
first boat leaving here.
Beginning Monday, October 4 the
mail for interior Alaska will be dis
patched from the Cordova postofflce.
Two mails of eight hundred pounds
each will leave here every Monday
and Thursday mornings until Novem
ber 24. From that date there will be
three mails dispatched on Monday,
Thursday and Saturday mornings of
ItiOO pounds each. The interior mail
will arrive at Cordova the day follow
ing the departure of trains.
The Northern Commercial Company,
which has the contract for handling
the mail between Chitina and Fair
banks will try the experiment of re
placing the stages with automobiles
on the trail. Two Jeffrey Quad trucks
will be used. The first trip leaving
Fairbanks they will be run all the
way through to Chitina. Later when
the snow in the passes becomes deep,
they will be operated on either end of
the trail, while the stages and double
enders pulled by horses, will handle
the travel on the central part of the
trail.
Just who will handle the trucks for
the company has not yet been decided
upon. However, it is understood that
nearly all of the old boys who former
ly handled the ribbons over the big
four and six-hors teams, are practic
ing up.
The trucks are to beused in con
nection with Dodge cars, the latter
having also been brought in for ex
perimental purposes.
Since 1903, when the first stage ran
over the rough trail between Fair
banks and Valdez, and several years
past to Chitina, the stage drivers have
been among the most picturesque fig
ures of Alaskan winter life. In all
kinds of weather across the mountain
ranges and through overflows, they
have taken the mails, express and pas
sengers. Sometimes they have saved
the lives of marooned mushers on the
trails.
:o:
ANTIMONY Ml HE
DISCOVERED AT
POUT ILLS
Our former townsman, Capt. C. L.
Peabody, has traced a vein a ledge of
antimony at Port Wells for a distance
of three thousand feet, the vein vary
ing from there to twelve inches with
the ore body gradually gaining in size
with depth. Numerous open cuts
have been made to demonstrate that
the ledge is in place and miners will
be kept developing the property with
a view of puttting a mill on the ground
for the reduction of the ore.
Samples of the ore analyzed by C.
L. Constant, of New York, shows 66
per cent antimony, a trace of gold and
silver, but no other metals are pres
ent. Captain Peabody secured sev
eral splendid pictures of the vien with
miners doing development work.
A ledge carrying antimony in com
mercial values was discovered near
Fairbanks last year and a consider
able shipment of ore was made to
the Tacoma smelter during the past
summer. The owner of the Fair
banks mine is reported to be investi
gating the possibility of bringing his
ore to the coast by using large auto
trucks.
Capt. Peabody is fortunate in hav
ing his transportation problems solv
ed by nature as his mine is right on
the coast, surrounded by good timber,
and at an altitude of less than 2000
reet
Dr. Brooks, chief of the Alaskan
Geological department, is credited
with having made the statement that
when Alaska has been developed she
would be found to contain every me
tal known in the world, and then
some yet to be recognized. We now
have mines producing gold, silver,
copper. Iron for fluxing purposes,
and Capt. Peabody promises that soon
we will have an antimony produce*