The Mining News
, Published by
The Ketchikan Printing Co.
A. P. SWINEFORD. Editor.
RICHARD BUSHELL Mgr.
SUBSCRIPTION RATES:
One year, in advance.$3.00
Single copies.10
FEBRUARY 22, 1907
ERROR OR IGNORANCE—WHICH.
Though scarcely deserving of so
much consideration, because of its
unthruthfulnes and utter lack of can
dor. The Mining News, in pursuance
of a rule laid down in the beignning
of its career, copies the following
-s,, from the Juneau Record-Miner, ir.
order that it may not be a 'used of
misquoting statements purporting to
bo, true, and upon which it desires
to offer some comments of its own :
The average man would indignantly
deny his willingness to permit any
loly but himself to pay his living ex
penses. On the other hand the aver
age man who advocates territorial
government for Alaska does so on
the plea that the national government
will have to pay all the expenses.
The cases seem parallel, and it is
difficult to understand how any man
can acknowledge the inability of the
territory to pay for its government
and persist in demanding that it be
made self-governing. Advocates of
territorial government are continually
comparing Alaska to territories
organized in the states and using the
comparison as an argument for oslf
government for this territory; but
the comparison never extends farther
than as it relates to population and
wealth.
None of the territories below were
organized when the only communica
tion between towns was by water:
nor when a railroad in actual opera
tion for any distance was practically
unknown. Transportation facilities in
the western territories were meagre
but they were not confined to dog
teams in the winter and boats in the
summer.- Roads were common, trans
continental railroads were bringing
in settlers free of charge. Persons
were able to move in any direction
without restraint and with rapidity.
How different is the situation here.
It takes six days to go 350 miles from
Valdez to Fairbanks under the most
favorable conditions. At this season
of the year it would take a month to
go from Juneau to Nome. All other
distances are covered in corresponding
time.
Thirty-nine miles of railroad have
been built out of Seward. A short
^ line is in operation out of Fairbanks.
Another short road is in operation ■'on
the Seward Peninsula. The White
Pass road operates less than 20 miles
in Alaska. All told there are not in
all Alaska 100 miles of railroad in
actual operation. It is folly for a
people in a country so devoid of trans
portation facilities and so rich in
magnificent distances to attempt the
formation of a government that will
entail sessions of a legislature whose
memSers come from counties thous
ands of miles apart.
It is scarcely possible that the young
editor who penned the foregoing, was
in earnest, or if so, that he really ex
pected any considerable number of
his readers to accept as truo, state
ments so utterly at variance with the
history of territorial oragniaztion in
the United States. Not only does
. he do violence to the truth of history,
but whether he so intended or not, he
likewiso does those of his editorial
brethren who differ with him on the
question of home government an in
justice in the very first paragraph, for
most certainly not one among them
all has make the claim or statement
that the national government will
have to pay “all the expenses” of
territorial government, should such
a form of government be accorded to
the people of Alaska. Neither have
any of them “acknowledged” the in
ability of the people to pay for such a
government; on the contrary, all have
insisted, and do insist, that not only
are the people of Alaska abundantly
able to pay all the expenses of such a
government as has heretofore obtain
ed in the other territories, but they
themsevles said as much by their votes
on the very first opportunity offered
them. Therefore, the young gentle
man’s effort to be factious at their ex
pense is neither timely nor in keep
ing with the spirit of fairness which
should prevail in the discussion of a
subject of such vital importance.
And, as to the probable expense of
a territorial form of government,
economically administered, to which he
makes vague allusion as a burden to
bo seriously apprehended, would it
not be better, more to the point and
at the same time more considerate of
.the intelligence of his readers, if he
wouldtell them just what, in hisoplnion,
those expenses would probably amount
to in good round dollars’/ What is
claimed by the home government
press is that in addition to the sal
aries of governor, judges, marshals,
district attorneys, and other officials
hers, and all necessary expenses, of
the legislature would, as in other
territories, he provided hv congress.
Of course there would be other ex
penses which the territory would have
to pay. There would necessarily have
to be some territorial officials, to be
appointed by the governor, “by and
with tlie advice and consent” of the
territorial council (senate) and to
whom salaries would have to be paid.
Jan the young gentleman of the
Record-Miner tell his readers how
many sucli officials would be necessary,
and in addition to their salaries what
other expenses there would be
sufficient to make taxation burden
some? Would it necessarily amount
to as much, or even half as much,
annually, ns a comparatively few are
now paying for being governed from
Washington? Until lie elects to give
his readers an estimate in that regard,
supported by something in the way of
facts and figures, a modest stillness
and humility would be mofe to his
credit.
It does not seem posssible that the
young gentleman can everr have even
casually) inquired into the history of
the territories heretofore organized
by act of congress; otherwise lie would
have hesitated long before putting
in cold print statements so utterly
at variance with that which history
records, and which displays either a
most lamentable degree of ignorance
or else a still more lamentable disre
gard for the truth on his part. The
truth is that, with two exceptions, not
one of the territories had, at the
time of their organization, a fraction
of tlie developed resources of which
Alaska truthfully boasts today; not
one of them a population as large and
intelligent, nor had any one of them
witli the two exceptions noted, as ad
equate means of communication and
travel. Not one of them had a single
-mile of rail or telegraph line, and
some were even without wagon roads.
All were practically without devel
oped resources-and in two of them,
at least there were not half a dozen
owners of real estate. The Dakotas
when organized as a territory had a
population of less than 4000 people
tlie whole of its great expanse was a
treeless, trackless prairie waste, with
out permanent homes, without known
resources of any kind, and that there
were no individual titles to lands may
be inferred from the fact that no sur
veys had been made, and that it was
not till ten years later that the first
land office was established in the ter
ritory. Except that furnished by the
ever shifting Missouri river, there
were no means of travel and commun
ication, and the territorial capital was
more remote from the northern and
western boundaries of the territory
than is Juneau from tlie remote sec
tions of Alaska, both as to time and
distance.
The young gentleman can find sim
ilar cases in tlie history of almost
every territory at the time of its or
ganization—Michigan, with capital at
Detroit, and its territory embracing
all the present states of Michigan,
Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, botli
the Dakotas, and a part of Nebraska
and Montana,—Wisconsin, covering
all the territory named except Michi
gan, with her first capital at
Burlington, Iowa,—Oregon, without
railroads, telegraph and six months
remote from the national capital, a
section of country half as large of
Alaska, its two parts separated by a
practically impassible range of moun
tains—Washington: but then he will
find all the objections he raises
against territorial government in
Alaska to have prevailed in larger
degree in all- the new territories,
with the exception of Oklahoma and
Hawaii only.
The young gentleman must find
some more plausible argument than
physical impracticability, and alleged
burdensome taxation, before he can
hope to succeed in convincing the
people that Alaskans are not in all re
pects prepare! to take upon themselves
the duties and rsponsibilities of self
government.
NOTE AND COMMENT.
Former President Cleveland has
been elected president of the Associa
tion of Life Insurance Presidents.
The object is to cooperate for all
kinds of reform for the purpose of
increasing dividends and the conse
quent reduction of the cost of life in
surance.
The law recently passed raising the.
pay of senators and representatives
from $5,000 to $7,500 a year will not
go into effect until March 4, 1910. By
that time the term of every senator
and every senator-eleot, and ev ery
representative and representative
elect will have expired. There can
bo no charge of salary grabbing about
that.
That $12,000 surplus that has been
permitted to accumulate in the Cfiena
city treasury is a very striking testi
monial of the honesty of the municipal
idministration. The money has been
■ollected because it had to be. The
icense money gones to the city and
.here being no legitimate manner of
(pending it the council has permitted
it to grow into a surplus. No one
can say the people of C'hena are not
capable of self-government and speak
truth.
The Nome Nuggett pertinently
remarks that there is nothing for the
Alaskan to do but help in every way
to encourage and uphold the men
elected by the people to fight the
battles of the common people of
Alaska, and to fight where alone it
does any good to fight them—at the
national capital. What else can an
Alaskan do, and be honest with him
self and true to the best interests of
the district. There were those who
did not favor clelegate representation
in advance of territorial organization,
or some other form of home govern
ment, but they were overruled and
cheerfully acquiesced in what appears
to be the will and wishes of a very
large majority of the Alaskan people.
That they were right in their views
on the delegate question—that it
would be placing the cart before the
horse—must now he apparent to all
the friends of territorial organiaztion
who will give the matter just a litte
serious reflection. We have the dele
gate, who is in Washington like a
ship at sea without rudder or compass,
where he is subjected to the buffets
of a well drilled contingent of lob
byists who have special interests to
subserve, and who assume the right to
speak for Alaska to the exclusion of
Alaksa’s chosen representative.
This would not be so were the people
of Alaska in a position to support and
sustain their delegate through the
medium of a legislative assembly,
though which their wants and wishes
could be so forcibly made known as to
preclude any question of doubt in
the minds of senators and representa
tives. In that case there could be
no question of veracity between a
delegate so fortified and the repre
sentatives of special interests who
seem to have the ear of the powers
that be. In the meantime, as their
chosen representative the delegate
should have the earnest and united
support of the people, through a dozen
governors not of their own choosing
seek to block his every effort to secure
the legislation they so earnestly
desire.
HELPING INDIAN’S WISELY.
Under the above coption the Skag
way Alaskan printed in a recent issue
the following well considered article :
They have a woman’s society at
Nome that is doing more to solve the
Indian question in Alaska than all
the Washington appointed govern
ment officials in the district. This
society is teaching a community of
Eskimos how to earn a living and care
for themselves under civilized con
ditions. The Indians are being
taught to work, -to +oe© tbwitv
judiciously and to keep their bbdfes
warm and clean. They are taught
that these are the first necessities to
their existence. They are instructed
in the “Three R’s, ” and to use the
English language correctly, but that
is made a matter of secondary im
portance.
These Nome women have helped
the Indians to build a hospital, bath
house, laundry and school house com
bined. They help the Indians to get
employment and teach them ho\^to
do their work so they can hold their
jobs. Then they advise them as to
what to do with their money.
Until this policy shall have been
adopted with all the Indians of
Alaska there will he more or less
money wasted by the federal govern
ment and missionary societies. Too
much energy is being used in trying
to impress upon the Indians the
necessity of accepting a particular
scheme of salvation and to fill their
heads with chaotic ideas of science
and “book learning” while their
greatest need is to know how to use
their hands and to care for their
bodies. A clean, healthy, well cloth
ed Indian, in a clean warm house,
who knows how to do something well,
is worth hundreds of these dissolute
things with a smattering of education,
living from hand to mouth, profess
ing religion when broke and rioting
in debauchery when flush With money.
A DANGEROUS DERELICT.
The recent loss of the barge
Richard III, and the fact that she
may now be drifting on the broad
bosom of the Pacific a meanace of the
worst kind to navigation, has caused
much conjecture among sea faring
men and others, as to length of time
which might elapse liefore she is
again heard of, how far will she travel
etc.
The following will give an idea of
how eccentric a ship becomes when
she follows her own lead (and as in
the case of the Richard III with noth
ing to sink her) she may drift around
for years before being destroyed by
the elements.
The British steamer Castleventry,
some three years ago, when 51 days
out from Huehar, Spain, fell in with
a vessel 200 feet long, without masts,
swept of all deck fittings and evi
dently formerly a bark, in latitude
32.51, and longitude 30.53. The hulk
was awash and her canter deck was
filled with barnacles and sea grass
Her hatches were off) and she must
have been loaded with lumber at
some Southern Atlantic port to have
floated so long, and to reach her then
present position must have been
adrift about the Atlantic Ocean for
two years. This craft was picked up
by the Gulf stream and carried up the
coast past Newfoundland. Then it
was swept 3000 miles across' the
Atlantic to the vicinity of the English
Channel, -
Then take the case of the famous
ierlict Fannie E. Holston, which was
adrift nearly four years and travelled
4,115 miles. She was 1,100 days
crossing and recrossing her tracks,
according to wind and weather, and
wandering around in circles. She
was sighted 44 times and crossed her
own track 12 times. The Haltson was
abandoned off the Virginia coast. Siie
first shaped her coure for the middle
of the ocean, when she circled the
ghostly Sargossa Sea. She spent two
years in this region. Next, she
drifted down towards Florida, and
spent some time drifting around in
two great circles off the Southern
coast. Then she travelled north, and
when last seen was 000 miles off the
coast of New Jersey, where it is sup
posed she went down to “‘Davy Jones”
Locker.
JAMES J. DOYLE.
PENCIL AND SCISSORS.
L. Lindley Green, until recently
U. S. Commissioner at Rampart, has
resigned.
Juneau is to have a new and better
water supply about the first of next
July. The town needs it.
Pete Andrews, manager of the Lief
hotel at Fairbanks creek, blew the
top of his head off with a rille. He
had been drinking.
Fairbanks has paid off its municipal
debt. It had risen to $34,000 before
the first of the year, but tax pay
ments were such that it went fast
after the first; The treasury has a
large cash balance.
Skagway has long distance tele
phonic connection with Whitehorse.
The telephone takes the place in
large measure, of the telegraph in
the operation of the W. P. & Y'.
railway.
Thirty Yukon sleds loaded with
furs arrived in Knik in one train
about the middle of last month,
brought by Indians from the Mat
anuska river region and beyond the
range toward the Copper river.
Capt. Abbot, of the tug Katahoon
was washed overboard from his boat
recently and drowned. The tug was
going from Juneau to Teo habor. It
was very rough and the captain was
at the wheel when test seen. A mem
iter of the crew discovered the pilot
house empty and a searcli of the
vessel failed to reveal the captain.
He had been carried out by a sea.
Mr. and Mrs. Heeter’s hens have
been breaking the record in the pro
duction of eggs lately, the thirty fowls
reaching the high average of a dozen
a day. Last week an egg of enormous
size was found. It measured 1%
inches around one way and 0% the
other. The shell will be sent to the
Alaska- Yukon- Pacific Exposition.—
Yukon Valley News
A snow slide oceured near Glacier,
on the line of the White P ass & Yu
kon railway, on the 13th inst which
more, aMLfingvik.away more than a
mile of UxSfcph line. The Alaskan
says that sySpe who S3W the occurance
say that tjje snow came down with a
roar gr<$$er titan the heaviest
thunder, tarrying with it everything
with whicp it came in contact, and
stripping the mountain side bare to
its rock mpde ribs.
Indeed from the material stand
point, I know not what to call Alaska,
save it he our billion-dollnr territory.
We paid ' for it $7,200,(8)0. It lias
paid back In revenue, more than $10,
000,000. Out of fifty-seven millions in
seal skins the government has receiv
ed a royalty of $!), (88), 000. Its furs
have brought us $80,0(H),000.: its fish,
$1)0,000,000: its gold $120,000,(88). In
a single year it has sent out $20,000,
(88) of the precious metal.—Senator
Piles of Washington.
If the bill of Mr. Jenkins becomes
a law, the Governor of Alaska will
have the power to appoint and at
pleasure reiuove the commissioners in
and for the^Iistrict. The bill further
provides that such commissioners
shall, during, their term of office, each
reside at the. place in the district
designated in the respective orders of
appointment More one man power!
Of course, the peoplo .of Alaska have
no interest in the matter of who shall
hold the office of recorder, justice, of
the peace, 8jtc—if indeed they are
competent til select them!
' w
The Skagway Alaskan says that:
M. Thomson and others connected
with the company that secured an
option on the Rainy Hollow copper
properties are expected to arrive in
Skagway at* any time. Letters have
been received from Mr. Thomson
saying that he will be here before
March 1st, to begin active work.
Prof. Anderson, one of the mining
engineers wIjo got Mr. Thomson and
associates iaterested in the Rainy
Hollow couidfy, writing to Martin
Conway, say# they will be here some
time in February and that they will
beign work large scale at once.
He says 30Q|| .i400 men will be em
ployed. 5 x
Ever}' assurance is held out that the
payments for the property will be
made as provfabd for in the options.
The Seward! #|teway very truthfully
remarks: “jwhen a man lives in
Seattle a few years he thinks Alaska
is a suburb of t£at mushroom village.
Hence it is thAS Alaska cable news is
loaded down with Seattle news, in
eluding the gjjhmiastics 0f the kinder
garten polljbie^ahs in the legislature
at Olympia.Ify She Gateway is emi
nently correct! ibe news service of
the Alasku^tlKSies would probably
not be toler4&&|bj f their owners and
publishers .yj'Mj they in a position to
better it. It Jl jnade up from the dis
patches printM-^ti the Seattle morning
and evening jMriM*, from which their
?orre»p9ndfprwut cull that whivt
'■ ■* 'Sfapwfajjife; v
le thinks would be most interesting I
:o their readers. He would be a more
;han ordinary discerning person
?ould he fill the bill at all times under
:he circumstances. But his report
>uch as “The Brownsville Mystery.”
“Printers on Strike in Butte,” etc.,
lisplayed in poster type, helps to till
ap space, and if the general reader is
satisfied with that kind of telergaphic
rot no one else has a right to com
plain.
The output of the Tanana camp for
the present winter and coming sum- ■
mer will aggregate $12,000,000 accord
ing to the estimate of J. L. Sale, who
is in Skagway having arrived from
Fairbanks by way of Dawson. Mr.
Sale says that the several new streams
in the Tanana are mostly deep, but
that the extent of pay is being follow
ed more successfully than ever, and
the aggreagte output will swell larger
this year than ever. Last year the
output of the Tanana readied a total
of $1), 175,000. “The pay this year,”
says Mr. Sale, “is being traced
largely down into new regions.
Notable in this respect is the exten
sion of the paystreak into the
Chatinika river. Cleary (lows into
the Chatinika, and the pay is being
traced right down Cleary into the
Chatinika valley with such success
that I believe the future great returns
of the camp will be found in the
Chatinika proper. The favorable
point there seems to be that the
Chatinika pay is confined to definite
paystreak, ’ ’—Skagway Alaskan.
ALWAYS THE SAME.
Whenever the question of home
rule comes up for discussion, some
wild-eyed fellow jumps up and makes
a fuss about taxes. If we have a
glimmer of intelligence, that is the
weakest argument ever presented.
When the town of Douglas had the
question of incorporation under dis
cussion, it was the same kind of
men who argued that Douglas should
not incorporate because of the taxes,
which would be so burdensome that
no one could live here. But incor
poration carried, and we now ask
the question, have the taxes hurt you?
Has anyone been forced to sell his
property because he could’t pay his
taxes.
You answer no, because the greatest
levy during the five years of incor
porate life of the city had been five
mills, one half of one per cent., and
the“present year there is no levy.
Some few towns in the district have
allowed the tax bug-a-booers to scare
them out and hnve not taken upon
themselves the dignity of home rule.
What is the result. The most strik
ing examples are Sitka and Ram
part Do our “anti” friends hold these
towns up as models when they make
their argument against home rule?
Again, along the same line of argu
ment is the statement that home
rule and the high taxes that must
surely follow will drive out capital;
fSSKUan?' eife
in the territories already organized,
or in the states?
Thousands of Alaskans are investing
their surplus cash in the thriving
city of Seattle. Is it because taxes
are low there? Ask them.
We are told that all the corpora
tions and men of money—the solid men
of Alaska—are arrayed against home
rule because of the taxes, hut we
have never heard any one say so ex
cept some poor devil of a newspaper
man who was probably wearing his
only shirt when he made tho break.
If the rich men, —the moneyed men
of Alaska are afraid of the takes
under a territorial from of govern
ment, why don’t they say so, and tell
us why?—Douglas News.
O R BE R
In the District Court for ttie District
of Alaska, Division No. 1, at
Juneau.
In the matter of the fixing of the
erms of Court for the year 1907.
Now on this day, this being the
time required by law, for the fixing
by order of the terms of this Court for
and within Division No. I , for the
District of Alaska, for the year 1907 :
and it further appearing that public
business and the business of this Court
repuires a continuance of the Term of
tins Court now in session known as
the November, 1900, Juneau Term,
and that the said term should be con
tinued in lieu of adjournmen thereof
and the calling of another Term at
a later date with Terms of Court at
other places intervening, now there
fore upon consideration,
It is herehv Ordered that the Terms
of Court within Division No. 1 of the
District of Alaska for the year 1007,
be held at the following places, as
hereinafer set forth, towitt:—
At Juneau, commencing on Mon
day, Nov. 25th, 1907;
At Skagway, commencing on Mon
day, June 3rd, 1907;
At Skagway, commencing on Mon
day Nov. lltn, 1907;
At Ketchikan,“commencing on Mon
day, October 14th, 1907.
And it is Further Ordered that
the Clerk of this Court have notices
in accordance with this Order duly
published at least once in a newspaper
published in eacli of the said above
named cities.
Done in open Court this 2nd day of
January, 1007.
ROYAL A. GUNNISON,
District J udge.
District of Alaska,
Division No. 1, 8S
I, C. C. Page, Clerk of the District
Court for the District of Alaska, Div
ision No. 1, do hereby certify that the
above is a true and correct copy of an
order made and entered of record in
this Court on the 2nd day of January,
1007.
Dated this 15th dav of January, 1907
C. C. I4AGE, Clerk.
Job Printing
At this Office
Ready as Promised
3ur Motto:
Home Patronage
Keep the Money Among Us. We all need it.
We solicit your patronage, you are entitled
to ours.
dome to our
MEAT MARKET
For Choicest
Fresh and Cured Meats, Fish, Fresh Rrnch Eggs, Butter,
Apples, Vegetables, etc., etc.
Fry our
GROCERY AND BAZAAR
For the hest of
Groceries, Notions, Stationery, etc., and
That Velvet Flour
Once tried you WILL always have it.
Hunt - Lathro
HENRY GOEMAERE Promp Attention given j
Prop. to Mail Orders f'
The Seattle Bar |
First Class Liquors, Cigars ■
and Tobaccos
NEWTOWN
KETCHIKAN .... ALASKA
W. H. GILMOUR TOM JOHNSON j
Proprietor Mann get'
8
,
ADMIRAL SALOON I
]
The place where the good
fellows hang out and where
you get what you call for.
• , ...
Ketchikan - - Alaska
v . ’ n
; The Budweiser Theater f
I HIGH CLASS VAUDEVILLE
; Y°u are invited to bring your friends and j
* ti
■ spend a jolly evening at the only theater in
I . •$
■ Ketechikan. The fine moving pictures wrill be j
* T
; exhibited again as soon as the lighting system 1
; is repaired.
i KETCHIKAN - - - ALASKA |;
■ L
’HNHHMHMHMMHHHMMHI l1I »;•*
Nice Clean Rooms Electric Lighted
50c and Up Steam Heated
The Emerald Saloon
P. F. GILMORE, Proprietor
Domestic and Imported Wines, Liquors and Cigars
Genuine Irish Whiskey a Specialty
Ketchikan - - Alaska
| MOUNTAINEER SALOON
I Newtown
I SAM GOWAN
| Proprietor
1 THE MIDWAY SALOON
% Opposite Frye Bruhu's
I A tidy first class place.
I Nothing but the best of goods.
I FURNISHED ROOMS
*
C!)c fetoeboarti
M. E. MARTIN, Proprietor
The Best of Wines Liquors and Cigars. Fine assortment of
High Grade Bottle Goods
———
Water Front, Corner Front and Dock Streets
Ketchikan * - Alaska
»