r
Governor Strong stated recently that
he is considering the advisability of
appointing an attorney general for
the territory temporarily, and will
make' ho1 permanent appointment
“I shall feed legal counsel fdr 'a
time this year, but after the matters
which ife Comihg Up have been set
tled the attorney WOuld have nothing
to do fbr tte ne'ttyfercxeept draw a
salary, Us far as 1 can see,”'said the
governor. Continuing, he said. "I
shall engage counsel temporarily but I
shall not make any permanent ap
pointment, if I'carry out my present
plans, as I think it is a useless waste
of the people's money.
“The1 territory has no use for a per
manent attorney at the present time,
the principal need for one being dur
ing the sessions of the legislature,
which occur every two years. The
rest of the time I can engage consel
from tithe to time as needed and pay
for; the actual time engaged by the
territory.”
-:o:‘
big MWinG 6em. is
£3pORTBO PROM WRANGELL
The Wrangell Sentinel nays:
‘‘One of'thetfiggest fields that has
ever been turned in Wrangell carhe to
a close last Tuesday evening when a
company of Seattle capitalists repre
ented by J. G. Galvin and Sam Silver
man, purchased the property of the
Stikine Mining Company at Devils
Elbow, about 100 miles up the Stikene
river from Wrangell. The owners of
the property were L. Dixon and John
Boderl, of Telegraph.
This is the property which was in
spected last month by Mr. Galvin and
Mr. Silverman, who retuauerd to Seat
tle and made favorable report on the
claims and which resulted in the ac
quiring of the property. The sate
price was not made public but it is
known to be several thousand dollars.
The property is not bonded to the new
company but is an outright sale.
The property was located some three
years ago by the former owners who
have only partly prospected the large
body of ore. Three claims are in the
group. The property is situated on
the mountain side just above Klutch
man's Canyon at Devils Elbow, about
100 miles from Wrangell. Assays of
the ore runs $193 in silver, lead and a
trace of gold; also there is consider
able zinc on the property hut the ex
tent is unknown.
:o:
VALDIjZ CITY ATTORNEY
Meed by council
VALDEZ, June 21.—Charles G.
Ganty, city attorney tor Valdez, was
notified by the council at its last meet
ing that that his services would be
dspensed with. The council gave as
the reason tor its action that the
finances of the citfir demanded re
trenchment, and they saw an oppor
tunity to save $25 per month, by firing
their legal adviser.
Friends of Ganty contend he was
discharged for political reasons con
nected with his refusal as clerk of the
school board to accept city warrants
for the teachers’ salaries. Attorneys
in Valdez say that the action of the
council is illegal and that Ganty can
collect his salary for the year, even
though the Council gets along with
out his services.
Rumors of other changes by the
council among the city employees, are
current, and it is freely predicted
that Chief of Police 'Willard Scott
will soon have his official head cut
off.
-:o:
Preliminary work on the survey of
the Nenana coal fields has been
started by E. C. Guerin, the engineer
representing the general land office at
Washington. He has two small crews
between Fairbanks and Nenana river
building signal stations, in order that
he may begin the work of triangula
> tion.
---
Over 25,000 war horses have been
bought for export within the ;past
year, and they are now going' abroad
at the rate of 85,000 a-zn6nth. Eng
land and France-are: getting* the larg
est number. i
(ft , a! - . vffrHh*
HEW TOWNSITE
1 liRKET
ANCHORAGE, June 19—It now
seems certain that the new townsite
will be open to the public by the 1st
of July. J. Frank Warner, in charge
of the surrey, will complete the field
woiIe today. The townsite will con
tain 121 blocks and fractional blocks,
for those that front on Ship Creek are
hot full sized, as they are governed
by the contour of the country. Each
full block will contain 12 lots, 50x140
feet. The fractional blocks will, of
course, contain whatever number of
lots the area permits. The streets
running north and south are named in
alphabetical order from A to P, save
:hat there will be East B street and
ilast C street. This is because the
area of the townsite was increased
after the surtey work, which began
at A street, had been started. The
[streets running east and west are
: numbered from 1 to 9. The blocks
are staked with posts 3 inches square,
the number of the'block being on the
respective posts. The lots are' staked
with-stakes 1% inches square.
HOw'lots will be disposed of has not
been made public, nor wHl-imy firf&r
mation be available until the land
office men now here get advices from
Washington. The general talk around
town is to the effect that the lots will
be sold at auction, and Mr. Christen
sen admitted that this would probably
be the manner of disposal. Public
sentiment here favors the drawing
plan, but investigation of the bill pass
ed by congress which provides for the
building of the government railway
system, the reservation of townsites
along the proposed line, etc., says that
the lots shall be “sold” and the funds
derived therefrom shall go toward the
building of the railway project. This,
of course, is not the express language
of the act, but is the substance of the
matter. On this situation, therefore,
it would appear that both the drawing
and leasing plans are not applicable
to the case. People here urgently ad
vocated the drawing because it would
give the man with small means an
equal opportunity with the more for
tunate ones. An argument agafpst
the auction plan is that it would give
the man with money the best of the
situation. And so it would, unless
there were certain restrictions which
would prevent an attempt by an indi
vidual, or group of individuals, to bid
in the better lots, to the exclusion ot
the poor classes. While nobody knows
what restrictions will govern the dis
posal of the lots, it has been reliably
informed that there will be certain re
strictions which will prevent any un
due advantage to any certain class
and that there will be no “hogging”
of the townsite on the part of any man
or set of men.
The government cable between Val
dez and Sitka often works very poorly
because of “earth currents” which
cause the instrument that records the
messages to jump about in such a
manner that it is next to impossible to
read the tape, and the messages have
to be repeated back and forth.
Cable experts have tried for years
to locate the causes for the “earth
currents,” which are similiar to “stat
ic” disturbances in the air interfer
ing with wireless operations. The
cause of static troubles are said to
be electrical currents in the air, which
interfere with the wireless currents
and it is presumed that currents of
electricity in the earth are the cause
of the trouble on the cable lines. The
certainty of this, however, has never
yet been fathomed.
-:o:
Judge Bunnell is having a floating
court of his own in the Fourth Divi
sion. He is holding terms of court at
all down the river points.
The first 6teamer to reach Fairbanks
from the outside this year was the
Reliance on May 25. After reaching
Fairbanks, the Reliance sailed for
Betties on the Koyukuk river and will
be the first boat to ascend that stream
this season.
--—:o: ■ ■ ...
The French military authorities have
arranged for real'war films to be taken
at the front by the big Paris moving
picture firms, Some of the ■ pictures
will' be sold -for- exhibition abroad as a
counter to- the German Kinema propa
ganda, whHe bthert will be^ shown to
the public.
era ROUTE
FASTEST WIIT
TQOOTSffiE
Again It hats been demonstrated that
the Cordova, Chltina, Fairbanks route
to the interior of Alaska is the quick
est way to travel. Mrs. Ringwald
Bill, wife of the commissioner et
Copper Center on the Fairbanks trail,
left her home last night in an auto,
and left on this morning’s train from
Chitina, reaching Cordova this after
noon. She will be a passenger on the
Mariposa tonight for Seattle, and will
therefore reach Seattle in a trifle over
fire day’s from the time she left
Copper Center. Mrs. Blix is going to
visit relativh^ in Montana and Idaho,
and will be joined later by her hus
band.
-——:o':-—
JUNEAU, June 22.—W. W. Short
hill, third assistant governor of
Alaska, is now experiencing all the
thrills that go with the position.
Since Governor J. F. A. Strong and
Secretary Charles E. Davidson are
both out of the territory temporarily
and as no provision has been made for
the succession to the position, the
duties devolve upon the secretary to
the governor, namely Mr. Shorthill.
Governor Strong left for his trip
down the Yukon on the Mariposa and
was planning to leave Skagway _at
once for Whitehorse and Dawson. If
he caught the train out of Skagway
he reached the international boundary
line June 18th, and the mantle of gov
ernor protem automatically fell on on
the broad shoulders of the secretary.
The governor will make connections
with a steamer at Dawson, leaving
there for down river today and until
the steamer reaches Eagle, two days
run, the territory will be governed by
Mr. Shorthill.
As soon as the steamer reaches
Eagle with the governor and party
aboard Mr. Shorthill will be relieved
of the burden.
This is the first time in the history
of Alaska that the territory has been
without both the governor and sur
veyor general at the same time, leav
ing the office vacant, but for the secre
tary to the governor.
:o:
NEW SECRETARY FOR
PIONEER’S HOME
Professor C. C. Georgensen, superin
tendent of government agricultural
stations in Alaska, and a resident of
Sitka, was appointed as a member of
the board of trustees for the Pion
eers’ Home at Sitka, and affirmed as
secretary of the board by Governor
Strong. The appointment was made
to fill the vacancy on the board made
by the death of George Kostrometinoff
recently.
-:o:
WASHINGTON, D. C., June 23.—!
Consul Canada, the American repre
sentative at Vera Cruz, has wired the
state department that a passenger
train running on the railroad between
Mexico City, and Vera Cruz, was fired
upon last Monday. Nineteen are re
ported killed. The railroad has beem
cut once more so the refugees ffc>m
the capital are prevented from reach
ing safety at the coast cities. The
cutting of the railroad line has seri
ously interfered with the movement
of troop trainB, and will hamper the
operations of the soldiers under Car
ranza and Obregon.
All the funds -that have been sent
to Vera Cruz from the United States
to furnish food to the famine stricken
people have been exhausted, and the
need is as great as ever. Another
appeal has been sent broadcast
througbuot America to aid the starv>
ing people. At Guerrerro 20,000 men,
women and children-are reported to
be in a pitiable condition.
Send in year subscription now.
JUNEAU, June 22—Notice has-been
received by the Juneau land office of
a decision of the commissioner of the
general land ofllce affirming their
decision in the case of the United
States vs. the Alaska Smokeless Coal
Company’s application for a group of
coal claims in the Bering River dis
trict, known as the “Feed Group,”
which aggregate about 1,000 acres.
The government charged that in the
original locations eight coal claims
were involved and that the locators
had failed to open up a coal mine on
eaCh claim. The Juneau officers found
that the government had failed to sus
tain its charge of fraud as to all of
the locators except one, and this one
had admitted the fraud.
The findings of the Juneau land
office brought out the fact that a clear
statement of the facts of the case was
not possible for the reason that the
locators were natives of Norway and
Sweden and unfamiliar with the Eng
lish language. the Commissioner
recognizes this difficulty and concedes
thht it should be given coniderable
weight in connection with the fraud
charged'by the government. Further
investigation showed that the affida
vits of the several locators secured ii)
1968, and which constituted the grave
men of the fraud charges, were made
under the handicap of want of knowl
edge of English.
Rejection of the applications, how
ever, was chiefly due to the fact that
the locators failed to comply with the
law by opening up the required mine
on each claim. None of the locators
had spent more than $10.50 on his
claim.
-:o:
POSTOFFICE WILL
BE IN NEW TOWN
When the new townsite at Anchor
age is opened, the postoffice will join
the stampede and take up permanent
quarters there. The office was moved
from the Commission building to an
other structure built for postoffice pur
poses last Wednesday. This building
is built on skids so as to permit its
removal to the new’ townsite. When
taken across the river, an addition will
be built so as to provide larger quart
ers. Boxes, etc., for the accommoda
tion of the public, will be installed.
-;;0:
There is a strong possiblity that a
new paper wijl be started in Seward
in a short* time. The Gateway has
got in bad with some of the local
people there, and arrangements have
been made to start an opposition
journal. A representative went out
side on one of the last boats to pur
chase a printing plant.
-:o:
The Panama Pacific Dental Con
gress will be held in San Francisco i
August 30 to September 9, and the
transportation committee of the Na
tional Dental Association has made
arrangements with the Burlington
route for a special train to leave Chi
cago at 6:10 p. m. Saturday, August
21.
-:o:
W. Cameron Forbes, former Gov
ernor-General of the Philippines will
head a bird collecting expedition in
Central and South America for Har
vard University.
II
VALDEZ, June -23.—Thomas C.
'Price, of Cordova, was examined for
admission to the bar by the examining
board, composed of attorneys T. J.
Donohoe, John Lyons and O. ■ P. Hub
bard yesterday, and was passed by
the board. The board made a favor
able report to the court, and Mr.
Pried was sworn in as a practicing
attorney at 10 o’clock this morning.
Mr. Price is a member of the Com
mon Council of Cordova, and last fall
was the Democratic candidate for Ter
ritorial Senate, being defeated by
Senator Hubbard by a close margin.
He has been a resident of Alaska for
almost a score of years, having for
merly been in business in Juneau,
Dougias and Ketehikan.
He is well known throughout the
territory, being of a genial disposi
tion, making friends easily and hav
ing the happy faculty of keeping them.
He has long been interested in poli
tics, and has been one of the most
consistent and loyal Democrats in the
whole territory. His friends predict a
successful future for him as a lawyer.
-:o:
EXPERIMENTAL FARM
IN THE MATANTJSKA
Two hundred and forty acres of
land located in the townsite reserve
at what is known as the junction has
been selected for the government agri
cultural experiment station to be es
tablished along the line of the govern
ment railroad. The choice was made
by M. D. Snodgrass, of the government
agricultural service, assigned to the
work, after an investigation of the
various sites proposed.
The area is located in the north
west corner of Section 15, township
17, range 1 east, in the Matanuska
valley.
-:o:
China now has 23 foreign advisers
to the government, of whom Germany
has the largest number, five represen
tatives.
-;o:_
One of the latest rumors in connec
tion with the political future of Secre
tary of State Bryan is to the effect
that he will be a candidate for Presi
dent in 1916 on the Prohibition ticket.
-:o:
Inclusive of all ranks, 68,000 men
are serving in the navy of the United
States of America.,
BASEBALL SHOW
IT
1
A baseball game and show for the
benefit-of the ball team was scheduled
in Chitina last Saturday, but owing to
the rain the outdoor festivities were
cancelled. The ball game between the
railroad team and the town team was
called off after the first Inning with
the score 3 to 0 in favor of the rail
road boys.
In the evening the big show was
pulled off-in A. B. Hall, and everybody
voted the affair one of the best that
was ever staged in Chitina. The pro
gram follows:
1. Music on pianola.
2. Tenbr solo, "When the Sunset
Turns the Ocean Bine to'Gold,” Tom
Hnntdr.
3. Three-round boxing contest be
tween the 8-year-old twins Dick and
Dave Smith. Dec^ion a draw.
4. Mdnologoe, o. A. Nelson.
5. Solo. Song in native tongue, by
Miss’Hannbh Himanka, accompanist,
Mrs. Bates.
6. Recitation, "Spell of the Yukon,”
Mrs. J. W. Forrester.
7. Piaflo Solo, "Sabbath Chimes,”
Mrs. Will'Brbwn.
8. Story, C. C. Hull.
9. Monologue, J. A. Rowe.
10. "Legerdemain,” Billy Tibbs.
11. "Shoe Pace,” C. C. Hull.
12. Recitation by Judge William
O’Connor.
13. Jig dance, Tex Reeves.
After the show the hall was cleared
and everybody remained to enjoy the
dancing which lasted until a late hour
and all voted that Chitina had done
herself proud by the affair, and
turned out a show that would have
been a credit to a much larger town.
-:o:
NO WIRELESS WILL BE
BUILT AT DILLINGHAM
In a letter received by Secretary
Davidson, signed by Joseph M. Daniels,
secretary of the navy, the information
is conveyed that no wireless plant can
be constructed at Dillingham, on Bris
tol bay, as requested by Senate Joint
Memorial No. 12.
No funds are available at preent,
though the hope is held out that the
navy department will build the plant
if congress sees fit to appropriate the
money.
-:o:
Send in your subscription now.
ALASKA
STEAMSHIP CO.
Fast and commodious steamers salting between Seattle, Ketch
ikan, Wrangell, Juneau, Skagway, Cordova, Valdez, Seward and
SHIP CREEK, via INSIDE PASSAGE
Sails from Seattle— Sails from Cordova—
June 18.ALAMEDA..June 28
June 24.NORTHWESTERN.July 4
Regular freight service for Ketchikan, Juneau, Sheep Creek,
Treadwell, Douglas, Cordova, Ellamar, Valdez ard Latouche. Explos
ives, S. S. Seward. S. S. Seward, 5th; S. S. Latouche, 15th; S. S.
Cordova, 25th of each month.
This company reserves the right to change schedule of steamers
without notice.
Tickets on sale at up-town office Alaska Steamship Bldg. Baggage
or freight will not b« received at the dock later than one hour before
sailing time.
F. B. TRACY, T. J. TALLENT,
General Agent Ticket Agent
i COPPER RIVER & NORTHWESTERN RAILWAY I
:*
Good Passenger and Freight
Service to Interior Alaska
f
£
For Rates and Other Information Apply
DEPOT OFFICE
pi
1