I s Peterson, who came from
e on the Corwin iast fall and
;ft in to Chisana via Gulkana re
:nrned on the train last night, hav
ing come out over the Hazelet trail.
He is an oldtimer in the north and
says that if he should ever enter
freighting business to the new
igings he would certainly operate
Jfer the Hazelet route in prefer
ice to any other.
Mr. Peterson says a report was in
irculation that a strike had been
made on Colder, a tributary of Trail
creek. He did not verify the report
but met a man who had seen the
gold panned. The ground is said
to be rich. He believes there are a
greater number of miners in the dis
trict than people are aware of as
more were coming up the White
river route than any other. The
miners had failed to reach the Chi
sana earlier owing to the difficulty
of packing their supplies and had
waited for sleighing. Fairbanks
men predominate in the district.
The Nome man is convinced that
the district will receive a thorough
prospecting this winter as the min
ers are scattered over a wide area
extending far down the Tanana
river. Some of them have drills
and will soon get to work sinking
holes. Prospecting has been delayed
owing to the scarcity of supplies
and through necessity of having to
build cabins before the cold weather
set in. Supplies are more reason
able now and the miners are getting
busy in earnest and discoveries will
soon be reported from many parts
of the district.
-o—o—o
Dr. E. F. Montgomery writes from
Shushana Junction that he has re
turned to the end of the track for
another load of supplies. He was
accompanied on the trip over the
glacier by Mr. Greenwood and an
other man. They had one horse, a
double-ender with 300 pounds of
freight and made the trip from
Shushana over the glacier to Shu
shana Junction in two days. The
first night they spent at Clark’s
roadhouse and the next day were in
town. The doctor believes the party
holds the record for quick winter
:.aveling from the diggings to the
railroad.
-o—o—o
I)r. Hale, the dentist, has gone on
ijis regular professional trip to
*$:ennecott and other points along
the railroad.
The coroner s jury in the case of
Mrs. Soby Sexton, who was found
dead in bed in her cabin this morn
ing failed to reach a conclusion and
it is probable that an autopsy will
be held. There are circumstances
attending the death of the woman
which incline to the belief that
death was due to poisoning. Com
missioner Adams has wired to Val
dez for permission to order an
autopsy *o ascertain the cause of
death. The members of the coron
er’s jury were: E. W. Exum, M.
Finkelstein, J. Costello, A. M. Mar
tin, J. Austin and D. M. Lynch.
-o—o—o
Grant Reed has written to a Cor
dova friend under date of December
30 in which he states that the ship
ment of goods for Donald Scott and
Warren,, which wdre sent to Shu
shana via the Hazelet trail, had ar
rived on December 28th. There was
6,500 pounds in the shipment. Four
horses were used in transporting
the goods.
The report that good pay had been
found on Powell creek was causing
excitement. The report had not
been verified when the letter was
written but the miners were known
to have been working for sometime
and had a deep hole down.
The W. P. & Y Route are very
active in the camp. They have
spent a large amount of money cut
ting and building trail, building
roadhouses, etc.
The hills are black with prospec
tors looking up ground for New
Year’s day. The recorder’s office
has been a busy place for the past
two weeks as the miners were look
ing up different claims to ascertain
if the ground staked had been
recorded.
-o—o—o
No longer will the station on the
C. R. & N. W. Railroad from which
the stampeders to Shushana take
their departure from the railroad To
the diggings be known as McCarthy.
The name of the place has been
changed and is now officially known
by employes of the road as Shu
shana Junction. The new name will
be less confusing to stampeders and
Alaskans generally as there is a
place on the Tanana river known as
“McCarty.” The name “Shushana
Junction” identifies the place with
the mining district as no other name
would.
LOCAL NEWS
The Chitina Townsite Company,
through Vice President Baxter, has
kindly donated a town lot to
Chitina Camp, No. 31, Arctic
Brotherhood, upon which to build a
hall and clubhouse. Chitina Camp,
in token of their appreciation, of Mr.
Baxter’s action have elected him a
life honorary member of the order,
and it is the intention of the camp
to initiate Mr. Baxter in the mys
teries of the order, upon his first
visit to Chitina. Bids have already
been called for the logs with which
to erect the building, the first unit
of which will be 30x60 feet, one
story in height.
The Hubbard-Elliot people will
resume work on their properties on
Elliot Creek, within a month, it
being the desire of the company to
push development work as rapidly
as possible. Within the present
month fifty tons of supplies will be
sledded to the properties from this
point.
Supt. Jack Ingram, of the Alaska
Road commission, with a force of
16 mechanics left for McCarthy on
Thursday to begin construction
work on the Nizina bridge; It is
expected that it will take about 90
days to complete the bridge, it de
pending somewhat on the stability
i of the ice in the river, upon which
*S|it is intended to lay the false work.
The new federal jail at this place,
being built by Deputy Marshal Wm.
E. Wood is about completed, and
will be dedicated on Saturday even
ing with a barn dance, given by the
deputy marshal to his friends.
The Mother Lode people have be
gun hauling ore from the foot of
their tramway, to the railroad, at
McCarthy. In all they have about
six hundred tons sacked, which is
destined for the Tacoma smelter.
l iC. C. Hull, well and favorably
^nown here, has purchased the
Instore of Kinney & MacCormac, at
^this place. It i9 Mr. Hull’s inten
tion to put in a full stock and make
a good race for a share of the trade
/otkihis section.
BUSINESS IS GOOD
IN WRANGELL, TOWN
Wrangell, one of the oldest towns
in Southeastern Alaska, is growing
more prosperous yearly and its mer
chants report a satisfactory volume
of business during the year just
closed. Wrangell is the gateway to
the mining sections of Cassiar and
Dease Lake in British Columbia, up
the Stikine river, and mining in that
section is developing rapidly. There
are many local industries and a
growing halibut fishing business.
-o—o—o
JUNEAU PAPERS REFLECT
PROSPERITY OF TOWN
The Juneau papers reflect the
prosperity resulting from the de
velopment of the mines in that sec
tion and the establishment of big
payrolls. A recent copy of the
Alaska Dispatch, out of a total of
602 inches of space, carried 529
inches of advertising matter. The
Dispatch is entitled to its liberal
patronage as it stayed by the people
of Juneau during many lean years.
Every community in Alaska will
enjoy prosperity to a greater degree
if the government decides to open
its resources by providing cheaper
transportation.
--o—o—o
HOW OUTPUT OF
COAL MINES INCREASED
Despite the fact that many trans
portation companies > and other
consumers of power are turning to
oil as a fuel the production of coal
in the United States during 1913
exceeded 35,000,000 over any previ
ous year in the history of the
industry. The 1913 production was
between 565,000,000 and 575,000,
000 tons. The production of anthra
cite was increased about 4,500,000
tons and the balance of the increase
was from bituminous coal mines.
Owing to labor disturbances the
output of the Colorado coal mines
produced only about one-half of
their normal utput. The floods in
Ohio last spring also kept the out
put of the coal mines of that state
below normal. Prices of all grades
of coal have been slightly advanced
in all parts of the country. The
total coal production of the United
States for 1900 was 269,684,000
tons.
Almost every mineral found in
any part of tue world is known to
ixist in Alaska but few people are
aware that there are mineral
springs which may in time prove of
gi eater value than any placer gold
rrine ever discovered.
In the interior there are numer
ous hot springs, the waters of
' are of a health-giving nature,
and they are attracting many
Alaskans who Have not the time
and means to visit the well known
health resorts in the states. It is
quite possible that when Alaska has
been opened up and transportation
made easier, that thousands will be
coming to Alaska to drink and
bathe in the mineralized waters of
her springs.
Henry Bratnober, the well known
mine owner and capitalist, who is
now' a guest at the Windsor, believes
that the mineralized waters of
Alaska have great possibilities. He
discovered and located two miner
alized springs on the Nabesna river.
An analysis of the waters from the
springs show that in percentage of
lithia they are surpassed by only
three wells in the world. He has
had the waters tested at the Hen
rich Technical Laboratories, at
Tacoma, which reported as follows:
Mineral Analysis:
? 2
Suspended matter 156.0
a. m
Solids in solution 8,471.2
Colloidal Matter—
Silica . S.8
Iron and Alumina 2.22
Dissolved Gases—
Carbon Dioxide.. 10.0
Dissolved Radicles—
Calcium . 303.1
Magnesium . 167.8
Sodium . 2,636.0
Potassium . 241.43
Lithium . 6.3
Carbonate . None
Bicarbonate . 8,100.7
Sulphate . 110.3
Chlorine . 498.0
Nitrate . Trace
496.00 70.60
0.51
0.13
0.04
0.02
0.58 0.08
17.71 2.52
9.81 1.40
154.01 21.95
14.11 2.05
0.368 0.052
None None
473.50 67.50
6.45 0.09
29.17 4.16
Trace Trace
The water is heavily mineralized,
the combination present represent
ing a mineral water of high med
icinal value. Further, it is a highly
carbonated water. Under certain
conditions it may be bottled and the
refreshing quality given to it by the
carbonic acid gas present retained.
Medicinally the water is to be
classed as a lithia water. Technic
ally we classify it as “Sodic bicar
bonated, alkaline muriated saline
(potassic, iithic), carbondioxated.”
The salts present are in hypo
thetical combination as lithium,
potassium, sodium chlorides;
sodium, magnesium, and calcium oi
carbonates; sodium and magnesium
sulphates.
In our judgment the medicinal
action of this water would be anti
acid, anti-dyspeptic, and somewhat
laxative, plus the special and pecu
liar value of lithia as a uric acid
correctant.
With regard to the quantity of
lithia present, this is exceeded by
not more than three of the well
! known waters now marketed and
greatly exceeds the quantity found
ir the remainder of the well known
brands. This is particularly true in
comparison with the well known
waters of the Saratoga district in
New York.
o—o—o
FUEL OIL TAKING
PLACE OF COAL
Residents of the towns along the
coast of Alaska who have to depend
on the coal mines of British Colum
bia for fuel are not the only ones
affected by the curtailment of the
output of the mines by the strike.
On the Pacific coast coal is now used
for household purposes only. Fuel
oil for generating steam has dis
placed coal and at present there
are only two steamship lines operat
ing out of San Francisco which use
coal. These are in the Orient trade
and secure cheaper coal In Japan
and China. The same condition ap
plies to Puget Sound. Even the
railroads of Oregon and Washing
ton use fuel oil almost exclusively.
The production of the petroleum
fields of California during 1913
amounted to 97,000,000 barrels,
which sells in San Francisco from
60 to 70 cents per barrel. This
would be equal to Pocahontas coal
at ?2.50 per ton.
-o—o—o
Holeproof Hosiery for men,
women and children, in Xmas boxes
at Finkelstein & Sapiro.
During the summer of 1913 con
siderable local excitement was
caused by the discovery of aurifer
ous gravels in the region adjacent
to the upper Matanuska basin. As
a consequence, 75 to 100 prospec
tors were attracted to this region.
Placer gold was found on Albert
Creek, a branch of Crooked Creek,
tributary to the Nelchina River.
The Nelchina River is one of the
forks of the Tazlina, which joins
the Copper River from the west
about eight miles aoove Copper
Center. The bedrock, according to
G. C. Martin, consists of sand
stone and shale underlain in places
by volcanic rocks. This series is
only gently folded and is cut by
small dikes, but shows little or no
evidence of mineralization. Min
ing was confined to one claim and
about $1,000 worth of gold was re
covered. There has been a little
gold won annually for several years
from the gravels of Alfred and
other tributaries of Carbon Creek,
which lies on the west or Matanuska
side of the divide, from which Al
bert Creek flows easterly. The
discoveries thus far made in this
district are not extensive, and what
is known of the geology of this
particular locality gives little hope
of extensive mineralization. On the
other hand, particles of gola have
long been known to be widely dis
tributed in this general region,
especially in the streams crossing
granite contacts. It appears there
fore that further prospecting in
this general field is fully justified.
Albert Creek can be reached from
tidewater at Knik by a journey of
about 110 miles. There is a fairly
good trail as far as Chickaloon, 60
miles from tidewater, and the entire
route affords no obstacles for a pack
train. Albert Creek is probably
about 70 miles from Copper Center.
Though this route has not been sur
veyed, it has been traversed by
horses and is said to offer no seri
ous difficulties.
Mining in the Willow Creek lode
district continued on about the
same scale as last year. Three
mills—Gold Bullion, Alaska Free
Gold and Gold Quartz—were in
more or less continuous operation,
and about 70 men were employed in
mining and milling. Several prom
ising discoveries of quartz veins
were made during the year, and
plans were under way to install
mills at three additional localities
next spring.
Placer mining operations were
conducted in the Yentna district on
most of the claims which were pro
ductive last year. An unusually
dry season cut down the produc
tion and one important plant was
tied up by litigation. No new dis
coveries have been reported.
The most important development
during the year on Valdez Creek, a
tributary of the upper Susitna, was
the installation of a large hydraulic
plant for the recovery of gold in a
buried channel. This plant was
completed before the close of the
summer, and some sluicing was
done. There were also some
smaller operations on Valdez Creek
and its tributaries.
-o—o—o
STREET SPEAKING IS
BARRED IN JUNEAU
Juneau is making war on street
speaking by the members of the I.
W. W. Two of them were recently
arrested and fined $25 each. They
did not have the change as neither
of them had worked for several
years. They are being allowed to
work out the fine at the rate of $2
per.
•o—o—o
NEW STEAMSHIP LINE
TO ANNOUNCE DATES
W. F. Swan, who is at the head of
the Swan Navigation company which
is soon to place a line of steamers
on the Portland-Alaska run, was
formerly connected with the Pacific
Steamship Co. and the Pacific Coast
Steamship Company. The sailing
dates of the new line will shortly
be announced.
-o—o—o
START ON LONG TRIP
TO HERSCHEL ISLAND
Sargent Dempster and Corporal
Hocking, of the Northwest Mounted
police, and four Indians, recently
left Dawson for Fort MacPherson,
and Herschel Island on the Arctic
coat, on the annual expedition. They
carried official advices and mail for
the Stefansson party, which the
Canadian government is backing.
They had four teams of native husky
dogs.
TO FUR SHIPPERS
“QTfje Hubert Ripper*’
KilM Absolutely Free to For Shippers—Send "Shobert"
yonr name on ■ postal today
You want this valuable publication—it is worth hundreds of
dollars to you, issued at every change of the Fur Market,
giving you an accurate and reliable report of what is doing u,
all the Markets of the World in American Raw Furs.
Writ* for it—now—it's froo
AD c K line D T Ins* JS-i7 WEST AUSTIH ATEKTH
. p. JlHJPtKI, U1C., DEPT. >1 CHICA6Q. U. S. A.
ALASKA S&fA?
Steamers via the INSIDE PASSAGE calling at Ketchikan, Junean,
Katalla, Cordova, Ellamar, Valdez, Fort Liscum,
Latouche, Seward, and Kodiak.
STEAMER ADMIRAL SAMPSON
SAILING FROM SEATTLE ON
THURSDAY, JANUARY 15
California connections at Seattle with Alaska-Pacific S. S. Co.
Right is reserved to change this schedule without notice.
B. F. WATSON, General Agent. ALASKA TRANSFER CO., Agent.
V V V V V V V
vvvvvvv’v v v v v v v v
i era without notice.
, Tickets on sale at up-town office Alaska Steamship Bldg.
> Baggage op freight will not be received at dock later than one
i hour before sailing time.
F. B. TRACY T. J. TALLENT,
General Agent. Ticket Agent.
WHEN YOU ARE IN CHITINA
Why Don’t Yon Stop at the
OYERLAND HOTJCL
The Best Hotel on the Copper River
A large reading room and lobby on the second floor for the
comfort of the traveler.
If you stop with us, you are sure to meet all your friends.
First-class Bar and Cafe in connection
H. T. STAFSHOLT and JAMES HYLAND, Proprietors.
HORACE LEACH, Manager.
The. Only Modern Hotel in Chitina
Steam Heated Rooms Parlor and Bath
Commercial Hotel
John Palmer, Propr.
FIRST CLASS BAR AND DINING ROOM
CHITINA
ALASKA
R. I*. H. M A R! S H A L T>
FREIGHTING
.—..I ."-I."
From McCarthy to Chisana
CONTRACTS WANTED
We Deliver the Goods
COLORS OF THE
PANAMA-PACIFIC FAIR
SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 13—Blue,
gold and orange have been chosen
as the official colors of the Panama
Pacific International Exposition and
will be employed on the exposition
flags and banners. < The diagonals
of the flag are blue and the body
orange. In the center is the setting
sun of gold with a battleship in
outline passing through the Panama
Canal.
WHITE PASS AFTER
PORTLAND LINE BUSINESS
The White Pass & Yukon Route
has established an office in Portland
in order to take care of passengers
and freight from that point to
Alaska and Yukon territory. The
company guarantees the Portland
shippers to land freight in the
Yukon basin two weeks earlier if
sent via their line than via the
mouth of the Yukon river.