Valdez Daily Prospector
PUBLISHED BY THE
Prospector Publishing Co.
TERMS.
Daily Prospector.
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The Weekly Miner.
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month .$1.25
The Dally Prospector and Weekly Min
er by mall to one address only, per
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Business Office and Editorial Room*,
'Phone 152.
Advertising Rates on Application.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 10, 1914.
THE RIGHT SPIRIT.
Valdez has again shown the right,
spirit in proposing a benefit dance to
secure for Jack Surry line a new set of
instruments and music to take the
place of those lost in the recent fire.
The loss was not only a personal one
to Mr. Surryhne, but to the commun
ity, because the work of this artist
was an asset to the community and
the loss will be felt more by the
people of the town than by the own
er. The Prospector need not urge on
the community a liberal patronage, as
that is assured by the true Valdez
spirit, which has made this town what
it is in spite of the many hard knocks
it has received in times past.
THE ALASKA RAILROAD.
The Chamberlain railroad bill now
before the Senate provides for the
building of some 700 miles of track
at a cost of $35,000,000 to run from
the ports of Valdez or Cordova to
Fairbanks, Alaska. Its advocates
paint in glowing terms the vast bene
fits that will accrue from the opening
up of a great country rich in natural
resources, unlimited in agricultural
and industrial possibilities. It needs,
they say, but the quickening touch
of this government enterprise to
spring into life, to throb with the
blows of the settlers' axe and the
whir of manufacturing machinery.
Excepting the comparatively small
strip of land warmed by the Japan
•current, geographically really a part
of Canada, and not in any way affect
ed by the proposed railroad construc
tion, Alaska represents a desolate
country, the attempt to resuscitate
which is as hopeless as pouring gold
dollars into the shaft of one of its
abandoned gold mines. The country
owes whatever prosperity it once en -
joyed to the gold fever. Today it re
mains the barren waste of yore, with
its sparse settlements falling into de- i
cay and disuse, a country looted of |
i's only possession and abandoned.
Fairbanks, the largest and most j
imposing city of northern Alaska, and
the terminal of the proposed railroad, I
fifteen years ago had 18,000 inhabi- i
tants. Last summer there were but |
5,000, and their number will be halv
ed during the winter. Hut six mines
are now- working, where hundreds
were active. The total amount of
freight brought into the town last
year was but 16,000 tons. It wouldn’t
pay the railroad’s cost of coal! Oth
er Alaska "towns” are but names on
the map, groups of abandoned shan
ties w-ith a trader's store—real com
munities. only, ‘o the unknowing pa
trioi 5,000 miles away. Nome, in the j
period of its glory, had 36,000 inhabi -
tants; but 3,000 now remain, and the
steamers that! once plied between St.
Michael and other coas'wise settle
ments, and up the Yukon nitty now
be seen drawn up on the shore fall
ing to pieces. As one follows the trail
of the Yukon, made famous by Jack
London, and the basis of more pic
turesque liction by the local trans
portation company, one passes Kotlik,
of one building, a United States wire
less station, mauned by two men.
one hundred miles up the riv r is
Pimute—log cabins, ■'nd a trader's
store. Beyond, Holy Cross, a mis
sion, a store and a dozen shanties.
The town of Kaltag '■ another gov
ernment, building with two employes.
Ruby, which had 8,000 inhabitant in
'97, has now a scant 800, who are
making plans to leave as soon as pos
sible. Two mines, almost worn out,
represent the industries of this once
flourishing community. And so the
story goes. Prosperous indeed is the
town where half the wooden build
ings once in use are now occupied.
And the reason is on the surface.
Alaska presents no agricultural pos
sibilities whatever. The frost is out
of the ground but two months and
may oe found at a deptji of two feet
the year round, which even compels
the propping of telegraph poles. The
only successful vegetable growing In
northern Alaska has been accomplish
ed in hothouses by a Fairbanks man,
who disposes of cantaloupes at $1.2G
a pound and tomatoes at 25 cents
more. Even potatoes grown out of
doors are soggy and unfit for con
sumption, according to our ideas. Last
summer a frost on August 12 Killed
all garden "crops.”
The "natural resources” are u joke.
Since the gold productively began to
decline, prospectors have vainly ex
plored every valley. Soft coal is
there, to be sure, but of wretched
quality and useless through its inac
cessibility, which even the railroad
would but slightly alleviate.
Manufacturing is out of the ques
tion. Obviously, there would be no
local market—nor operatives, for that
matter—while the cost of transpor
tation would make exporting fantas
tic. As well establish a chewing
gum factory at the north pole.
The railroad is a forlorn hope and
but the despairing attempt of a few
land and mine owners to create ap
parent values before the bottom drops
out publicly. The only other govern
ment enterprise in Alaska, the mili
tary telegraph, teUs a significant
story. Its consistent losses have in
creased tremendously, due, of course,
to the falling off of business. Re
cently an attempt has been made to
transfer this service to the postoffice,
in the hope of concealing the glaring
deficit under the larger volume of
postal activity. The military outposts
are fully in .accordance with the gen
eral decadence. Insanity is on the
increase. There are no white women
in tire country, and the loose living
and consequent disease are beyond
description. The Chamberlain bill is
merely another attempt to mulct poor
old Uncle Sam, who is ever prodigal
wita the public money when the ap
peal is made on the basis of patriot
ism, development of "new countries,”
"untold natural resources” and other
high-sounding phrases, which usual
ly have no basis, else private capital
would probably have “seen them
first.” In the case of Alaska, how
ever, we need not fall back on em
piricism. We have before us a pic
ture of a barren waste, rotting, de
cadent, and abandoned now by those
who must stay and by the few who
still hope, in one final coup, to snatch
some measure of loot from the crumb
ling ruins. And those who unselfishly
support the measure do it only
through ignorance based on maudlin
patriotism and misguided sentimen
tality.—Boston Herald, of Dec. lfi.
Report of the Department of Ag
riculture that commercial bullion
cubes cost more in money and less in
food values than home-made broths
and meat extracts is not likely to
have much effect on the up-to-date
housekeeper. The isue in the apart
ment kitchenette is not so much one
of cost or of nourishment as of con
venience and easy work.
Colonel Roosevelt and Senator Root
have each won the Nobel peace prize,
but cannot agree on peace terms be
tween themselves.
In the District Court for the Terri
tory of Alaska, Third Division.
In the Matter of the Annexation of
Certain Territory to the Incorpor
ated Town of Valdez.—Order Set
ting Time for Hearing Petition and
Giving Notice.
A petition having been this day
presented to the court for the pur
pose of instituting the proceedings
required by law for the annexation
of territory to an incorporated town,
said petition praying for the annex
ation of certain described territory to
the incorporated town of Valdez, in
the Territory Of Alaska, Third divis
ion; and it appearing to the court
that said petition is signed by forty
eight qualified electors of said incor
porated town, the same being more
than one-lift h of the number of votes
cast at the last municipal election in
said town, and by live actual resi
dents and owners of substantial prop
erty interests in land in the territory
proposed to be annexed and verified
by two of the signers of said peti
tion: said petition setting forth the
boundaries of the territory so pro
posed to be annexed to said town, an
having attached thereto a plat based
upon an actual survey by a compe
tent surveyor, setting forth the lim
its and boundaries thereof by metes
and bounds, and stating the number
of inhabitants therein:
Therefore, it appearing to the court
that said petition is in the form re
quired by law; it is ordered that said
petition be heard and considered by
the court on the 18th day of Febru
ary, 1914, at 10 o’clock h. m. of said
day, at the court room of this court
in Valdez, Alaska, if said day be a day
of jurisdiction in said court, or if the
same be not a day of jurisdiction,
then said hearing shall be held on the
first day of jurisdiction thereafter. It
is further ordered that notice of such
hearing be given by posting printed
or typewritten copies of this order
in three conspicuoous places within
the limits of said incorporated town
of Valdez, and by posting .such cop
ies in three conspicuous places with
in the limits of the territory so pro
posed to be annexed to and included
within the limits of said incorporated
town, and by publishing a copy of
this order once a week in the Valdez
Prospector, a newspaper of genera*
circulation published nearest to said
incorporated town.
Done in open court at Valdez,
Alaska, this 7th day of January, 1914.
FRED. M. BROWN, Judge.
First publication January 10, 1914.
Last publio&Uon February 14, 191:.
SCENE ALMOST
COST MAN’S LIFE
It Was Wanted For a Moving
Picture Play.
BONAVITA WAS THE HERO.
—
| Famous Lion Tamer Did Hia Best to
Make Act Realistic, but Lion Waan’t
Trained For the Stage—Beast Nearly
"Got” Him—And Picture Was Loatl
THE recent close escape at Sul
phur Springs, Fla., of Captain
Bonavlta. the famous lion tam
er, occurred during the enact
ment of a motion picture drama called
"The Child of the Jungle.” The actors
were Bonavita and a lion named Bru
tus. Bonavita was supposed to be a
man who In his childhood had been
trained by an old lion tamer to the
ways of the wild. A shipwreck had
thrown him hack in the jungle.
The operator was stationed just out
side the cage, with the lenses of his
camera poking through. Bonavlta had
to manipulate things so that the most
dramatic part of the episode—the mo
ment when he proved that he had not
forgotten his childhood mastery of ani
mals—would take place directly in
front of the camera.
Lion Didn’t Want to Act.
It was a risky business. Brutus, tbe
lion in tbe act. had been ugly for two
or three days. Tho tllra began to un
roll. First there appeared from tbe
thick foliage on the far side of the cage
the lion tamer. He was supposed to be
lost, half starved and seriously crip
pled. His forward progress was a se
ries of falls and tierce straggles to new
footing, says the New York World.
It was time for the lion to appear in
the picture. Brutus did not respond
The tamer called him twice. Then he
threw a pebble. Bratus flashed iuto
the air, made a ten foot bound across
tbe stage and landed directly In front
of the camera.
Every animal trainer bolds mastery
over Ids charges by sheer power of
personality. Bonavlta In adding to the
realism of the picture was compelled
for a moment to abandon bis owu per
sonality and assume that of another.
He did it too well. The lion was de
ceived.
Outside the camera man turned
monotonously at the crank. Bonavlta
■‘wait!" TUI! FALLEN MAN CHILD.
stumbled. "Xhnt's Hiil*!’’ called the
operator. The man hud fallen on Ills
right side. Both he and the operator
knew that at this point there was a
hidden club Bonavita reached for it
hastily. The lion, after hesitating a
second. Imd sprung forward. The club
struck him sharply on the nose. He
shrank hack
Bonavita still lay on his shle. his left
hand upraised. (The right was the one
taken off by a lion in lUOo.i He wanted
to hold off the lion long enough to
make the battle a part of the film
Then the Lion Jumped.
“Great!" called the operator. Bona
vita said nothing. He had seen that In
about two seconds “The Child of the
Jungle" was going to he registered
among the realistic dramas
The lion sprang. For a moment the
eamern operator saw a struggle which
would have made a unique and absorb
ing picture. Bounvlta was down with
the lion clawing at his chest. Helpers
armed with long Iron poles were enter
ing the cage
“Walt!" the fallen man ertcd to
them. His eyes were dxed on the lion.
The club was again poised In the air.
It came down Brutus shivered, drop
perl his head and seemed about to give
up. He was almost mastered.
"Turn, turn!’’ Bonavita called to the
operator. Then he saw that the crank
had been Idle duriug the entire Hght.
That ended It. Bonavita quietly faint
ed from loss of blood By the time the
helpers had the big cat backed into a
corner the wounds on the tamer’s
chest had heen supplemented by others
on his leg anil thigh. His Injnrle* were,
serious hnt tits vitality pulled him
through.
‘The Home of
Hart SchafPner
(Sr Marx
g Clothes g
TWENTY-FIVE dollars isn’t much
money to spend for a suit of
clothes; when you come to know what
first-class quality of materials and
tailoring, and what restfulness of
mind as to style that price commands,
you will almost think it isn’t enough
to pay. We carry a large line.
Schedule of the Donaldson.
The following schedule for the
launch "Lieut. C. V. Donaldson" will
take effect today. All orders 10 the
contrary are revoked.
Daily, Saturday and Sunday except
ed:
Leave Fort L.scunf, Alaska, 8:15 a.
m. and 1:15 p. m.
Leave Valdez, Alaska, 9:45 a. in., 2
n. m. and 5:30 p. m.
Tuesdays:
Leave Fort Liscuin, Alaska, 8:15 a.
m., 1:15 p. m. and 5 p. m.
Leave Valdez, Alaska, 9:45 a. in..
2 p. ni. and 5:30 p. m.
Leave Valdez, Alaska. 4:00 p. in.
and 10:30 p. m.
Leave Fort Liscuin, Alaska, 1:15 p.
m. and 7 p. ni
There will be no trips for the
launch on the 2nd and 4 th Fridays
of each month, these days being us
ed to clean boilers.
Special trips or cancelling of the
above will be made without notice
only to meet exigencies of the ser
vice.
Hy order of Lieut. Col. O’Neil.
R. G. SHERRAUD.
Second Lieut. 30th Infantry, Quar
termaster.
Geo. f. white
The Assayer
Assaying and Ore Testing
CORRECT RESULTS
No More, No Less
VALDEZ, ALASKA
Valdez Lodge j
No 168.
Free and Acc■> pi•••! Masons
Ucn'i-.ai I'oniniuuiculions llrst Wednesday in
each toon lit in McKinley Hall Visitors always
welcome.
A. K. UKHISBV. W. M.
(’. (.*. KevrinUis. Sec
I
_i
VALDEZ LODGE NO. 6,1.0. 0. F
Mf»*is»*very Moin ay at >» p. m- m
*)l)D FKLLOWS HALL
Visiting Brothers especially invited
Wm. Thomas, n. I*, s Hrr' i*. < Sec
11 p A Real Comforter |
Almost any kind of pain can be quickly relieved by means
of hot appliances, yet many people employ less effective
methods such as liniments, plasters, etc., on account of
the trouble and mess incidental to the use of hot water.
The G-E Electric
Heating Pad
saves all this trouble. It is ready for use. in an instant,
. and will furnish you with the necess&y lieat continuously,
day and night, without causin#thet^taMLbit of bother.
The Domestic Size mak^-^jflBp|ellent Electrical
Christmas Gift. Come in 'nicely it works, j
■ i
!
i
1148
PROFESSIONAL
Dr. H. COCKERILLE
Graduate of National University
Washington, D. C.
DENTIST
Phone 92 IFeurteen yearslia
Office in Whaling building VALDEZ
Next to cable office
DR. GERMAN
Phonc J THE DENTIST
Office rooms over Owi Drug store. Office hours
9 si. in., to 6 i>. o).. 7 p. in., to 9 p. iu. Sundays
by appointment All work'guaranteed
DR. C. H. VANCE
THE
OSTEOPATH
Graduate American School of
Osteopathy* Kikrsville. Mo.
OFFICE HOURS--9 to 12 1 to 5 p. m., or by
’A/-I appointmert.
Treat” build inf. WalCTtreet. PHONE 203
E. E. RITCHIE
I. A W V K !i
phoniOm Valdez, Alaska
C. E. BUNNELL
ATTORN K Y- A T-1 - A VV
Offices WhII Street
Phone 31 VALDEZ
F. BUTTERWORTH
’Civil Engineer and
U. S. Deputy Land and
Mineral Surveyor
Blue Printing Ups. Phone. 199
L. W. STORM. E. M.
* S/ALDXX, ALASKA
Rspohts on Mints
PatshtSu hv tvs
Bmhssal Minima E namt tmna
Pmohs No. >oa
CAMP VALDEZ No. 10
Meet every Tuesday evening at '3 ueiot.lt la
Eagle Hall. All members arc retijested to
attend. T. O. QUINN. Arctic Chief
S. Me NIECE. Seeretary
If you want all the news all the
time read the Dally Prospector.