The Chitina Leader
CHITIXA, ALASKA.
Entered as second class matter, November 12, 1910, at the postoffice
mt Chitina, Alaska, under the Act of Congress of March 3, 1879.
Published every Saturday by
WlLl A. STEEL—Editors, Managers and Proprietors—Harry G. STEEL
Office: Hote IChitina Building. Cordova Office: Dally Alaskan
ADVERTISING RATES
Made known upon application. They will be found reasonable for the
service given.
SUBSCRIPTION RATES:
One Month. 9 .50
Six Months.. 2.00
One Year.•.. 3.50
CHITINA, ALASKA, SATURDAY, NOV- 11, 1911.
THE JOY OF MINING.
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There is something fascinating connected with the mining
industry that is puzzling to those in no way interested in this
occupation and pursuit. In no other line of activity are there
so many hardships and disappointments encountered; and yet,
few there are who can entirely retire from the field. In many
pursuits success seems more certain, and with labor and care.
And yet the average man will suffer privations without number
and will continue to face discouragement time after time rather
than abandon his prospects, his mines.
It is not really the lust for gold that attracts the miner
and the prospector; the expectation of suddenly acquiring great
wealth. Oh, no, not by any means. But it is the joy experienced
in actually opening up a new bonanza; in giving to the world
new money, fresh from the vaults of mother earth- The small
mine owner hauls a few tons of ore to the custom mill. It is
not necessary for him to do so, but he stays to see the stamps
dropping, to see the pulp flowing over the plates, to watch the
millman clean up the amalgam, to hang over the furnace while
the retort is being made. He is entranced, fascinated. And yet
the mere money value of the clain-up is not what really in
terests him. With him this is a secondary consideration, for
his soul has been in the work he lias been doing in taking out
the ore, in hauling it to the mill, and in watching the sep
aration of the metallic values from the waste rock.
-UUUO
SEATTLE TO RENDER REAL SERVICE.
It would seem as though Seattle, were at last becoming
thoroughly aroused to the importance of doing something to
relieve the distressing conditions that exist in Alaska. During
the winter season men from all sections of the territory flock
to Seattle, where many of them have established their per
manent homes- They contribute to the material welfare of
that city throughout the year, and their interests are identi
cal with those of the permanent residents. Spasmodic efforts
have frequently been made in the effort to assist in the relief of
Alaskan conditions, but heretofore they have availed but
little. Now it is intended to exert an influence through con
centrated and persistent effort. To that end a subscription of
$50,000 is being raised, and if it be used in the proper channels
to secure publicity and present actual facts concerning Alaska,
the adverse sentiment, that is already on the wane, will be
quickened to its deserved death and the awakened conscience
of the American people will compel Congress to do justice to
long neglected Alaska.
It is presumed that the new organization in Seattle will
not permit itself to fall into the hands of politicians. The men
who are willing to advance their thousands of dollars so that
some actual good may be accomplished for Alaska, will likely
see that the proper kind of timber is pressed into service to
accomplish the desired ends. A strong delegation from the
coast states will be sent to Washington, and in that connection
it might be well to include men from the northland who are
thoroughly familiar with conditions and who are vitally in
terested in securing reforms and relief. A publicity bureau
intelligently directed from Seattle and Washington will mater
ially assist in creating the sentiment that is necessary to induce
Congress to take action- And when finally there is activity
and prosperity in Alaska, a mutual benefit will be enjoyed by
the business men of Seattle and the entire Pacific coast.
-oooo
The grand jury that will soon go into session will be ex
pected to make some worthy and valuable suggestions, tend
ing to the betterment and convenience of public matters in
this section of the territory.
-oooo
Dr. Wiley’s declaration that soap is one of civilization’s
great votaries will array all the tramps against him.
-oooo
Court officials, jurors, witnesses and litigants are now in
Cordova, in readiness for the opening of a session of the dis
trict court which convenes on Monday.
-oooo
Chicago is now designing a belt line of street cars to reach
all railroad stations, with cars every three minutes and univer
sal transfers.
-oooo
Chicago announces tthat with the arrival of President Taft
that city “resembles the national capital.” This is the worst
thing ever said about Washington.
N --oooo
A suffragette car is to make the tour of the south. Now we
shall learn what there is in that much vaunted Southern
chivalry.
-oooo
The statement that the automobile crank has disappeared
refers to a mechanical device and not thenew driver who has
a mania for speed.
-OOOO-:
The stock theory that the cost of living is high because of
the cost of high living fails utterly t<raccotmt for the jump in
coffee and several other articles not necessarily concommit
ants of high living.
v o ;, ...
WANTS ALASKA TO ENRICH THE NATION.
Under the caption of “Is Alaska Fit to Live I” William E.
Smytke, the United Press representative who accompanied
Secretary of Interior Fisher on his recent trip to Alaska,
contributes an illustrated article to the Cleveland Press, in
which he states many truths, but in a veiled way advocates
government ownership and operation of the resources of this
territory- Here is the way he describes our conditions:
Most emphatically is Alaska a fit country to live in
As a matter of fact, if reduced to primitive conditions, a man
could get a livlihood easier there than enywhere else, because
of the abundance of fish and game.
At least 10,000,000 people are living in Europe undei
agriculture and fisheries. Doubtless the same will be the ease
in Alaska at some future time.
It must not be inferred that Alaska is yet ready to re
ceive the millions—far from it. It has the resources but the>
are undeveloped. It has the sure promise of agriculture, but
it is yet experimental. It has the potentiality of thrivine
towns an dof one or two great cities, but they remain to be
awakened into life.
Remember, Alaska is only about a dozen years old as a
reality, of the American frontier. Before the sensational gold
discoveries on the Yukon it was known only for its seal and
salmon and for one or two quartz gold mines.
Moreover, the politics of the last two national adminis
trations have been distinctly discouraging to development.
Time will show the wisdom and necessity of these policies, but
that they operated as a temporary drawback on the develop
ment of the country cannot be denied.
Is Alaska fit for men to live in ? Or is it simply an iceberg
embroidered with gold nuggets?
Alaska lies mostly north of 55 degrees. So does Denmark,
Norway, Sweden, Finland and half of Russia.
All these are countries of heavy rainfall, of long, cold
winters, of long days in summer and short, dark days in the
winter. So is Alaska.
The northern portion of all those countries except Den
mark see the midnight sun in summer and almost no sun
at all in winter. So also, does the most northerly portion of
Alaska
But you should know that Alaska is not only a land of
stupendous size, and, hence, of widely varying climatic con4
ditions, but that there are other considerations that throw
much of it well within the north temperate zone.
Alaska stretches west as much as north. There are points
in Alaska that are more than half way to the Orient from San
Francisco.
• Alaska also reaches an attenuated arm away down the
coast, cutting off great portions of British Columbia from the
sea. Much of the country lies actually further north than you
have probably imagined. Finally, the warm Japanese current
laps the coast for over 1000 miles and greatly modifies the
cold. The heavy rainfall and long summers enhance the
growth of vegetation.
If six years ago the coal fields had been handed over to
the claimants, and if they had promptly sold them to the
millionaire operators, there would have been railroads, coal
bunkers, ships, smelters and booming towns where such things
are not.
There would have been hard-and-fast monopoly of fuel
supply and transportation and a budding coal industry as
cruel to labor as that of'Pennsylvania, too. But—there would
have been development.
The point is that the country is not yet ready to receive
and sustain a large influx of population, but for no fault ol
its own.
The time is coming when the call of Alaska will be heard
throughout the country and the world, and a young man. gifted
with pluck, ambition, stout heart and sturdy legs (and the legs
Many a family of hard-working farmers will go there and
acquire property of value and lay solid foundations of pros
perity.
But the time is not yet. .
The point should be driven hard in order that no one
shall be misled. It would be easy to get up a stampede to
Alaska. It would be infinitely cruel to do so in advance
of conditions which remain to be created by wise, far-reaching
public policies.
Today Alaska is neither the rich man’s nor the poor man’s
opportunity—not the rich man’s because the nation has closed
the door on land grabbing so far as it is possible to do so under
present lawS; not the poor manrs because this land of titantic
dimensions calls for the expenditure of vast sums of capital
to prepare the way for development
Whose opportunity then?
The nation’s!
The same power that is cutting the isthmus can open this
wilderness to the labor and the enterprise of thousands on
terms that shall yield them abundant reward and at the same
time enrich the nation itself.
-oooo
The Connecticut woman who can’t eat enough is better off
than a whole lot of women who can’t get enough to eat.
The Italian aeroplane instead of scaring the Arabs and
Turks to death was riddled with bullets. They possibly thought
the aviator was a bird. He must have been to sail down so
close
Chicago reports that the small steak has wholly disappear4
ed. Lots of observers have Been predicting it from the rapidly
diminishing size of the specimens they have seen of late
years.
Chinese everywhere are cutting off their queues, in sym
pathy with the revolt against the Manchu dynasty. This will
bring down the price of hair, to the great advantage of the
American women.
In commenting on the declarations of President Taft and
Secretary Fisher in favor of a local territorial government, thq
Juneau Dispatch says “Alaskans will, on Thanksgiving Day,
have much to give thanks for.”
When Canada pursues her scare to the degree of forbid
ding the exhibition of the American flag in moving pictures, we
c«»n only hope that time and repose will eventually work out a
cure.
MAKING THE BEST OF IT.
The Fairbanks Times tries to be optimistic over the de
clared policy of the government with reference to the opening
of the coal fields of Alaska and the operation of railroads
thereto. Speaking on this subject it says:
“It is certain that the administration proposal to retain
ownership of the Alaska coal fields and to operate them as a
government business will not stir the average Alaskan to a
pitch of enthusiasm. The pioneer and the socialist are as a
rule widely seperated. However, there are worse things than
Socialism, which demands that all mines and railroads be own
ed by the people collectively, and that the evils of private
ownership and monopoly be abolished in that way. While the
average Alaskan will be apt to regard the new policy as closing
the door to individual energy and enterprise, we need not con
sider that the government is entering upon an untried and
dangerous experiment. Coal mines are owned collectively by
nations on the continent of Europe, and the United States is
already in the railway business. The United States govern
ment today owns and operates the railway across the Isthmus
of Panama.
“In fact, it has already been proposed to pick up this
Panama railway and transfer it to Alaska. After the opening •
of the canal, the railway will be useless there. The equipment
consists of 1,000 miles of rails, over 200 powerful locomotives,
thousands of freight and dump cars, a splendid equipment of
cranes, piledrivers, steam shovels, machine shops and every
other requisite for the construction and maintenance of a first
class railway. This equipment, worth several million dollars,
would have to be sold by the government as junk, because it
is larger than standard guage and would not fit any other rail
way in the country. The proposal to move it all to Alaska seems*
sensible, and comes at an appropriate time to fit with the
policy which the administration will endeavor to establish/'
--oooo
Some one proposes that chestnuts be labeled with the date
of their production. More important wiuld be a provision to
have the worms in them subjected to bacteriological tests and
stamped free of specific infection.
-oooo
Chicken is eliminated from the official army bill of fare:
but it is understood that the soldiers, whether of African or
European ancestry, have means of obtaining its presence on
purely private means.
-oooo
A number of section men came in from the interior last
night and today are more than surprised to find what mild
weather the people of Cordova are enjoying. Yesterday morn*
ing at Chitina the thermometer registered twenty degrees be
low zero, while further out the line it was thirty below.
ALASKA COAST CO.
“The Inside Route”
To Juneau and Puget Sound Ports and Southwestern Alaska.
Steamer Sampson leaves Seat tie November 3tli.
Steamer Iiertlia leaves Seattle Xoveinoer 20th.
Steamers connecting at Seattle with the Alasi.a-FacIRc Steam,
ship Company’s steamers sailing from Seattle Monday and Thura
day of each week for California points. Through service. Low
rates.
Right reserved to change steamers and sailing dates without
notice. ALASKA TRANSFER CO.. Local Agents
B. F. WATSON, General Agent.
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ALASKA STEAMSHIP COMPANY i
Fast and Commodious steamers sailing between Cordova and <
Seattle via “THE INSIDE ROUTE.” stopping at KETCHIKAN. <
Sails from Seattle— Sails from Cordova— <
Oct- 28 .ALAMEDA.Nov. 3 <
Nov 1 .NORTHWESTERN .Nov. 8 <
Nov. 8.ALAMEDA.Nov. 16 <
Nov. 16.NORTHWESTERN.Nov. 24 <
This company reserves the right to change schedule of steam* <
ers without notice. 4
Tickets on sale at up-town office Alaska Steamship Bldg. <
Baggage or freight will not be received at dock later than one 4
hour before sailing time. 4
R. J. BARRY, THOMAS TALLENT, <
General Agent. Ticket Agent.’ <
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■i PROFESSIONAL GUIDE FOR HUNTING HHfflfcS f
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Guaiantee to secure game or no pay. |
PACK THAIN HORSES FURNISHED J
At Reasonable Rates t
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i! Address J. LAWRENCE, Chitina,Alaska |
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