Tanana
Leader
. One Dollar Per Month.
TANANA, ALASKA, THURSDAY, MAY 12, 1910.
Two Bits Per Copy
KING EDWARD VII. PIES SUDDENLY
King Edward VII. of England died at noon last
Friday, April 6, 1910.
It is an old saying, “Le roi est mort; vive le roi,"
and being freely translated means that the king never
dies, and that there is no interregnum because of the
death of the reigning monarch.
So, Edward VII. is dead and George, his son, reigns
in his stead, and it is left to us, a people whom he held
in high regard and preference, to testify our regret and
sympathy for a kindred people, who are sorrowing
greatly at their loss.
The late King, Albert Edward, was the eldest son
of Queen Victoria and Albert, Prince of Saxe-Gotha,
better known as the Prince Consort. Born in 1841, he
married in 1861 Princess Alexandra of Denmark, and
had issue two sons and three daughters—Clarence, the
eldest son, dying, George, born in 1865, succeeds to
the throne, and gives promise of worthily following in
the footsteps of his two truly great constitutional prede
cessors.
.... — ■ 1 ■■ —
“I pledge myself to follow in the footsteps of my
beloved mother, and to reign strictly as a constitutional
monarch.” Such was the pledge given by the late King
on his accession and faithfully and loyally has he kept
it.
With all the vast and growing progressive forces
of the empire arrayed against the hereditary principle
as exemplified in the house of lords, it is safe to say,
paradoxical as it may appear, that never before was the
crown so trongly intrenched in the hearts of the Brit
ish people. Many and lurid were the stories told of
the late King while he was Prince of Wales. Doubtless
those very qualities, errant and human as they were,
which his people so much deprecated, nevertheless
made stronger his hold upon them when he showed,
after his accession, that he would have no man play
Falstaff to his Prince Hal.
Gifted with that consummate tact and bonhomme,
which gained for him the soubriquet of “first gentleman
of Europe,” he oftimes by the exercise of those quali
ties smoothed down ugly and acute phases of relations
with continental powers, while always strictly avoiding
any interference in the policies or plans of his minis
ters.
In 1860 Edward visited the United States and then
created an iinpression and regard that has never been
eradicated, and his ever openly displayed partiality for
the American people gained for him a large army of
staunch friends on this side of the Atlantic.
George, his son, who will doubtless be known as
George V., has ever been a steady home-loving man
and without doubt at his formal accession the people of
the British empire will again listen to the earnest
pledge, which will be equally earnestly and faithfully
intended and kept.
Further than that the King succumbed to an attack
of double pneumonia on the 6th of the present month
(last Friday) has not yet been learned. It had been
hoped that he was on the high road to recovery from
his illness at Biarritz, so the end came as a surprise
and shock to the world at large.
Mr. Pierce Favors Exploitation of Alaska
Washington, May 2.—Frank Pierce, the assistant
secretary of the interior, who has gained wide publicity
owing to his decisions in support of the stand taken by
Secretary Ballinger in regard to the Alaska coal lands,
appeared before the house committee on territories and
opposed the bill introduced by Delegate Wickersham
for regulating the location of placer claims in Alaska.
Mr. Pierce declared that the provision which makes
it necessary for every man to locate a claim in person
would work a great hardship upon capitalists and men
with, money, and would greatly retard the development
of the mining industry in Alaska. The provision in
question is section 2 and reads: “That no placer mining
claim in Alaska shall hereafter be located by an attor
ney or agent for another, but only by the locator in
person.”
Mr. Pierce stated that he understood that most
prospectors simply located placer ground to sell to per
sons with money and that it would work a hardship on
both the capitalist and the prospector if the bill became
a law.
The appearance of the assistant secretary before
the committee in opposition to the measure has caused
considerable comment among the supporters of the
measure now in Washington. There is a great deal
of speculation as to the motive unlying the action of
Mr. Pierce.
RAMPART OOODLEDOQS
ARE SWARMING NOW
C. A. ("Dad”) Davidson, now a mer
chant at Hot Springs, at Rampart a
few years ago c mposed a song called
"The Rampart Doodledoos.” It made
a great bit, and if the author will have
it copyrighted and produced in the
Iditarod it may turn out good business.
A good many of the “Doodledoos” will
undoubtedly be there to welcome it.
Enough men from the old Rampart
district are already at the new dig
dings to form the nucleus of a pretty
good camp, and they continue to go,
until one wonders if the old camp will
be forsaken altogether.
E. T. Hall is an old resident of the
Rampart-Hot Springs region who came
into Tanana Tuesday in order to be a
little nearer the Iditarod. •
." George Shirley, one of the best
,knowh Rampart pioneers, has crossed
over to Hot Springs, where he will
take the earliest Iditarod boat.
C. A. Brown, the oldest Ramparter
of them all, who farmed the Charles J.
Smith homestead last year, gets letters
from the Iditarod. From what he has
learned he believes the Iditarod is
spotted and overrated—but he may go.
Nels Johnson, an old river man long
resident at Rampart, came down Tues
day. However, he will compromise by
sailing on the U. S. A. transport Gov
ernor Jacobs.
Wprk is progressing favorably
• on the Williams-Van Horn steam
boat, and boat men say it is going
to be a hummer. A demonstra
tion of the efficacy of the ground*
sluicing process is being given
in the ravine below the boat,
which attracts almost as much
notice as the craft itself.
'KOYUKUK Will BE BUSY CAMP
1 « — 1 —— ■■ —
Wiseman, May i.—Preparations
are being made on the different
■ claims tor the cleanup, which will
! probably commence in about an
other week. There has been a
heavy fall of snow here during the
winter and a high stage of water is
looked for during th^ breakup.
Owing to the fact that some of
the claim owners on Nolan creek
have returned from the Outside,
that creek is now taking on a new
spurt. Nellie Cashman, who is
down from Nolan, says that the
creek is looking much better than
it was a month or two ago. Pete
Dow has uncovered pay on No. i
below; Tom Hill is moving his 20
borsepower boiler up to Discovery;
William Glenn is moving his plant
from Wiseman back to No. 4 below,
where the pay has again been lo
cated. Nellie says there will be
more thou two hundred men work
ii:g on Nolan this summer, without
counting woodchoppers, etc. She
says there will be a big sum of
money taken out of the benches
along this creek during the early
sutrmer. Peterson on No. 6 below
has struck good pay in a new shaft
and it is said he is contemplating
sinking another shaft and working
from two holes during the summer.
On Gold creek they are prepar
ing for the summer cleanup.
On Vermont creek Hailey &
Shook aie said la be hoisting out
very rich pay from a new hole on
their claim.
A good summer is looked for
here. A number of the cheechar
kOs who have been arriving here
lately have gone over to the Cbau
dlar side where Capt. Haynes has
beer, hiring a tew men to work on
his quartz proposition.
These Kovukuk towns are not
keening pace with the creeks.
About 95 per cent, of the people:
iu the district are located on the
different creeks and only come into
town for provisions, a dance, or for
a drink.
It now seems quite probable that
the deepchannel 011 Wiseman creek
will never be located until they get
to prospecting with a drill. Tobin,
who thought he was on bedrock,
drifted 65 feet and then discovered
that he was on a rim. It is said
that the Tobin outfit will now stop
operations on Wiseman in order to
work out a grub stake.
Hammond river is expected to
come to the front, and tho Pickett
brothers, prospecting on the Middle
fork, are also in a very likely loca
tion. Something sensational may
be reported from these two sections
at any time.
Small prospecting outfits are al
most an absolute necessity in this
section as nearly all of the likely
looking ground is deep. **
NATIVES POTLATCH
ON SNOWY SWANS
Paul Williams, a well-known native
hunter, reports ail kinds of feathered
game—ducks, geese, swan, crane—very
plentiful. About a dozen native fami
lies are camped at Hooligan, six or
seven miles from town on a Xanana
river slough. They had a big swan
potlatch there last Sunday. Swans are
said to be very good eating when they
are'young. As they live for more than
200 years some of them get to be pretty
tough, so that in choosing one for din
ner it is essential.to know how to judge
their age._
Estate of Mrs. Cooper
The executors of the estate of the
late Mrs. M. E. Cooper—Messrs.
J. Russell Walle and J. Coulson
Dehn—wiil offer the will of the de
ceased for probate in the court of
Commissioner Philander Gallaher
tomorrow (Friday) afternoou at 2
o’clock. _
Robert McMullen, proprietor of
the Long Lake roadhouse, arrived
in town yesterday morning, having
closed his wayside iun for the sum
mer mouths.
An Expression of Feeling
A scrap of paper bearing the follow
ing inscription was found pinned on a
tree in the Northern wilds and was
handed to a newspaper reporter by a
mining man visiting New York:
Damn the liver and damn the lake
And damn the trails we have to take.
Damn the mosquitees and damn the
flies,
Damn the mountains and damn the
skies.
Damn the rain and damn the weather—
And damn prospecting altogether.
THE PLACE TO EAT
Kentucky Restaurant
BEST OF EVERYTHING SERVED
BenJ. Green and J. A. Frederickson, Props.
THE GIBBON BAR
IS jLIMINATED
The license having expired, the Gib
bon Bar went out of business the first
of the week. Proprietor Jack Cava
naugh thought the business outlook
did not justify a renewal of the license;
so he just quit.
Thus the law of supply and demand
has started the work that a Fairbanks
newspaper recently suggested should
be done through a different process.
When the saloon men themselves real
ize that there are too many saloons
to admits of business being done at a
profit the number will be reduced.
FOR 8ALE—For cash—Pdol table in
good condition, cues, rack, etc., bar
ber chair, vaulting horse, Indian
clubs and other gymnasium appli
ances. Apply to Company D, Fort
Gibbon.
The Leader is delivered by carrier to
all parts of the city *1 per month.
*
SEASONABLE GOODS!
House Lining,
Windows,
Dressed “Outside”
Lumber,
Corrugated Iron,
FISH NET AND
FISH-WHEEL WIRE NETTING
NORTHERN COMMERCIALS.