IDITAROD PIONEER
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Puulished Every Saturday Evening at Iditarod, Alaska.
—
FRANK E. BECKER, EDITOR
2 Coo. M. Arbuokle. Publisher No. 20
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KEEP YOUR EAR TO THE GROUND
Last week we published a story regarding the rumored
attempt to tie up Flat creek. It caused some consternation,
as well it might, and has been the cause of vast speculation
since then.
The story did not say that Flat creek was “in the
hands of the octopus,” but it is merely begging the ques
tion to say that it is not. The vital part of the whole
proposition lays in the practical certainty that Flat creek is
very apt to be in the hands of one group of persons, and
that before another year has rolled around. Although the
deal is still progressing there is little likelihood that the
outlook of the camp for the summer will be materially
changed, and no apprehension need be felt about the num
ber of men employed and the gold harvested.
News is news wherever it grows, and to boost is the
duty of every well-regulated paper. But the bum steer in
journalism never got anybody anything and never will.
If Flat creek is to go into the hands of a syndicate or a
single group of persons, the sooner the people of the dis
trict know about it the better, for it can do no business nor
no interest good to ignore it.
.
A SLIGHT DISCREPANCY
Every now and then we encounter something in the
excellent laws that govern this territory, or rather the lack
of laws that govern, some things which show up with start
ling vividness the fact that we are a long ways from Wash
ington,—yes, a very long ways.
W e have been thinking seriously of running a series of
living pictures in this great family journal, pointing out
some of the many holes in our laws, holes so numerous that
they make the code look like a piece of Mexican drawn
work.
Take, for instance, that provision which provides for
inquests to be held by the commissioner acting as coroner.
Whenever a death occurs in any portion of the precinct
under unusual circumstances, the coroner is supposed to go
to the spot and hold an inquest over the remains to deter
mine the cause of death. For these sei vices he is allowed
the munificent sum of $8.
Last summer word was received here that a corpse had
been tied to a tree down the Iditarod river and the com
missioner and marshal went down to hold an inquest. The
trip cost $150 which they paid out of their own pockets.
They received $S, but are still whistling for the rest.
Then again, a man was found frozen to death on the
Ditna last winter. The commissioner and marshal went
thence to get him. They were out about $50 on the trip
but they got the $8.
If we were a commissioner we would feel very much
like letting the unfortunate ones rot right where they
dropped instead of going out to gather them in at our own
expense. The Department of Justice says that these extra
ordinary expenses must lie paid out of Fund “C,” but the
unfortunate thing about it is,—there ain’t nothin’ in Fund
“C.” _
SO MUCH GOOD IN THE WORST OF US
For a free and enlightened country where the brother
hood of man is supposed to flourish like the green bay tree.
Alaska is the hottest little gossip board of trade this side of
the equator. It is the neatest place for character tailoring
that we know of, and the only spot between Kamchatka and
the river Styx where a man gets credit for more than he
really does.
Despite the fact that our frames are cleaned and filtered
by as sweet a wind as blows, our souls become peculiarly
warped and twisted, and our minds become the unclean
storage battery of much bitter philosophy. We are chari
table in material ways, and we give freely of sordid wealth,
hut when it comes to the clean currency of honest opinion
or frank, honest admiration or compassion for unfortunate
man or woman, we are curiously close and stingy.
Schooled in the ways of the frontier where morality be
comes relative in its classification, we have carelessly accepted
the free and easy code of do as you please, as long as the
bank account remains corpulent. Each man follows his
bent, recking little of what his neighbor thinks, but let
WHEN IN FLAT WHEN IN IDITAROD
EAT AT THE
Merchants Cafe
The Only Restaurant that L
Did Not Raise Prices Dur
ing the Winter Months.
Open-Cut Headlights
TO DO YOUR MINING
Three thousand and five thousand candle power, throwing a shaft of light
1500 feet.
Call at the Iditarod headquarters for information concerning the J R
COLT’S ACETYLENE LIGHT MACHINE.
Pioneer Sheet Metal Works
Ladies, We Have Coming via, Lake Lebarge
The Latest Styles in
Before purchasing1 see our Importations from Paris, London and New York
'iTaoEBs^rLTN'-^o
City Drug Store
Z. J. LOUSSAC, Puop.
Special ^OW Prices
ON ROBBER GOODS, GOTLERY AND STATIONERY
Telephone 36 First Ave., Iditarod
C. J. Hurley, President J. P. Gleason, Vice President A. Bruning, Cashier
Corner First Ave, and Richmond St., Iditarod
CAPITAL $50,000,00, FOLLY PASO IN GASH
General Banking Business Transacted Upon Liberal, But Conservative Lines
GOLD DUST PURCHASED UPON ASSAY VALUE
And we guarantee our assays against any of the government assay offices.
Clippings from your gold furnished you for the purpose
of obtaining check assays if desired.
We solicit your business, and assure you of our courteous, prompt and
careful attention combined with fair treatment, whether
your account may be large or small.
CAP’S PLACE
Cigar
Store....
Just received larjre stock Peterson
and Calabash Pipes
NEWLY BUILT PRIVATE CARD ROOMS
To enjoy an evening call and see us.
WILLOW ST., IDITAROD
_Beautify Your Home!
WE HAVE A LARGE STOCK OK
FURNITUR
WHICH MUST BE SOLD. GET OUR PRICES
——— Ring Up =====
MARTIN SICKINGER •
Willow Street, Iditarod Phone 46
him get out of breath for a moment while he sits on the
sidelines he will straightway pick out a likely spot where
he can land a swift kick.
We are shut oil’ from the world here, to a certain ex
tent, and we live within ourselves,—yet that is no good
reason why we should always carry a hammer. Engaged
as we are, in the opening up of a vast country, it would
seem puerile and insignificant to be indulging in the petty
concern of ripping somebody else up the back, but when it
comes to gossiping about trivial scandal we have any old
ladies’ sewing bee beaten to a stiff froth.
This is not intended as one of Ruth Ashmore’s side
talks with girls, neither does it come under the head of the
weekly Sabbath school lesson,—it’s just a gentle reminder
that wdien you have something mean you wish to say about
somebody, go take a drink or a cough drop and forget it.
A state exchange says that a "Texas man has invented
an automobile that is bound to make a hit.” The paper
should wake up. That’s no invention : it’s an infringe
ment of a patent.—Philadelphia Inquirer.
Texas boasts of "more lawyers in Congress than any
other state in the Union,” says the Washington Times.
She may have them. But why* boast ?—Atlanta Georgian.
Le Gallienne says a poet laureate in America would be
impossible. There is one in England who seems nearly so.
—Philadelphia Public Ledger.
Citizen Roosevelt has bought a straw hat so the tele
graph tells ns. What will this astonishing person do next.
—Oakland Tribune.
Senator Lorimer of Illinois, had best hurry up and put
that senatorship in his wife’s name.—Muskogee Times.
Democrat.
Let Them Down Little Easier
Believing that they were working an
unwarranted hardship on the city treas
urer and the city clerk in fixing their
bonds at $25,000 and $10,000 respect
ively. the council reconsidered the mat
ter last Wednesday night and reduced
both bonds.
Since there is little likelihood of
either official holding any large sum of
money at aDV time, Treasurer Lind
berg’s bond was cut to $15,000, and
Magistrate Hunt was requested to fur
nish a bond of $1,000 as magistrate and
$1,000 as clerk.
Desiring to take a whirl at the danc
ing game, that does not receive'the sup
port it should here, Donohue & Draper
will scatter the harmony at Ansley’s
hall tonight. They will have charge
of the regular Saturday night hop
hereafter.
WHAT A HEADACHE
Cure it at the Elite Steam and
Turkish Baths, Caribou street.
Block Four Alley
Opened One End
Having looked the matter squarely in the eye, the council con
cluded that an alley open at one end was just like half a loaf, or
better than no loaf, or better than an alley with no ends. In other
words they have a half solution of that burning question that has
been agitating the minds of the residents of Block Four of the
city of Iditarod during the past winter, and which is, “ What is
an alley?
They conferred politely with Mrs. Garken and assured that
lady that if she would take her building off the Richmond end of
the alley in Block Four they would certainly keep everybody else
off, if it took seventeen policemen to do it. They thanked her
kindly for her consideration in conferring this benefit upon the
public, and were in turn assured that the way would be cleared'
by the first of the month, so that the large accumulation of refuse
that now graces the interior of Block Four may be speedily
removed.
The council achieved a diplomatic victory by making absolute
ly no reference to the other end of the alley, occupied by the
Mutchler blacksmith shop, but then they have many things to
attend to just at present, and it is uncomfortable to start any rows
just as the hot weather is coming on, and ice last summer at nine
cents a pound.
They Want Fire Hail
Location Changed
Declaring that the fireball in its present location in the
middle of First street is in the way, about 40 citizens of Iditarod
presented a petition to the city council last Wednesday night, and
asked that the building be moved as soon as possible.
It was apparent at once that the council is just as much wor
ried about the firehall as anybody else. They want to move it, but
don’t know where to put it, which, when you come to think of it,
is a euzzling proposition.
\ou see it is this way: The council wants a new fire depart
ment, but has decided on no definite plan. They don’t want to
move the firehall right off the bat, because they must use it until
some other apparatus is secured, and if they do move it there is no
place to put it, unless they move it away from the center of the
town. Then again, they may build a bigger firehall and sell the
present building for a store or residence and let the purchaser
moye it where he desires.
In view of all these considerations, Councilman Bayles moved
that the petitioners be notified that the council would move the
building as soon as they could decide what to do with it, but that
in any event they would try to have the building out of the way
by the first of June.
NOT MORE THAN iO
GALLONS AROUND
It is now unlawful for any person to
keep more than 10 gallons of gasoline
on his premises within the city fire
limits, unless he keeps it for sale, and
in a manner prescribed by ordinance,
or in such manner as to meet with the
approval of the authorities.
The council passed the fire ordinance
last Wednesday night, and it is now in
full force and effect. It would be well
for anyone contemplating building to
look into the matter as viewed by the
city, for there are certain regulations
to be observed in regard to materials,
balloon ceilings and the placing of
lights. Balloon ceilings are tabooed
altogether, and the lights must not be
placed closer than 18 inches to the
ceiling, and must have an asbestos pro
tection besides. Stove pipes must be
put in in the proper manner, and looked
after carefully, and walls and roofs
shall not be made of celluloid.
One may have his tank full of gaso
line and a case iD the house besides,
but that is as far as you can go.
The fire limits, as fixed by the or
dinance, lay within Otter street on the
west, Third street on the south,jBlack
on the east, and the Iditarod river on
the north. A slight change was made
in the limits at first fixed, to include
the north side of Caribou street.
CHANGE TO WHEELS
CHANGES SCHEDULE
With the obliteration of the winter
trails the freighting companies have
found in necessary to relegate the bobs
to the stable loft and to put out the
heavy wheels that so valiantly bumped
the nigger heads last summer.
Both Keys & Mavhan. and the Mutch
ler Bios, have adopted new rates both
for freight and passengers for the time
has come when it is no longer a pleasure
to skim lightly from Iditarod to Flat or
vice versa.
Passenger rates are now $5 both
ways or $10 for tbe round trip, and they
are sorely tempted to charge any per
son weighing over 150 pounds according
to the freight rate. Three and a half
cents a pound will be charged from
Iditarod to Flat, and lie to Discovery
Otter or up Flat crefek. .
The Keyd & Mayhan stage will now
leave this city at 8 o’clock in the morn
ing and leave Flat at 2 in the after
noon. The Mutchler stage will con
tinue on the old schedule.
Clerk Will Order Seal
With a Niggerhead rampant, sur
rounded by moss and flowers, the new
seal for the city of Iditarod will be very
bazmaraz. City Magistrate Hunt has
been instructed to order a seal from
the Outside and this will be done at
the earliest opportunity.
FOR SALK — lti-h.p. tubular boiler,
$100. Cascade Steam Laundry.
DR. B. F. BROOKS.
Physician and Surgeon
Office: Discovery Otter.
Dr. Heinrich Wortmann,
Physician and Surgeon
Office at City Drug Store, Tel. 36
First Ave., Bet. Willow and .Richmond
DR. E. T. BRADBURY.
Dentist
Over Merchants Cafe, First Avenue
Telephone 30-B
CHAS. D. CARTER,
Dentist
Offices, Pioneer Drug Stores,
• Flat Creek
McGowan, Clark & Albrecht
ATTORNEYS AT LAW
Iditarod, Alaska Phone No. 7
The Pioneer Attorneys of This Camp
ALFRED E. MALTBY,
fU. S. Commissioner]
Attorney at Law
Notary Public
Practice only in District Court. IDiTAROI)
J. 5. HARDING,
Attorney at Law
Room 1, Iditarod Hotel
Iditarod, Alaska
CHAS. E. TAYLOR,
Attorney at Law,
Notary Public, Conveyancing’,
Abstracts of Titles
_ Iditarod City_
A. J. DALY,
Attorney at Law
will arrive on the first boat
919-923 Leary Builiiiug, Seattle, Wash
All Commissions Given Personal Attention
Wlckersham & Roden,
ATTORNEYS AT LAW
Iditarod, Alaska