USE
SWIFTS PREMIUM
HAMS AND BACON
SHIPPED IN COLD STORAGE
No Waste, and Guaranteed to be the Best in the Market
WE SHIP SUCH GOODS ONLY AS ARE
OF THE HIGHEST POSSIBLE QUALITY
Your Orders Will Receive Our Careful and Prompt
Attention
Sam’l Applebaum
PERFECTION
Chocolates
None So Delicious
KODAKS AND SUPPLIES
Men’s Furnishings
AT THE BALL
THAT’S ALL
MASKS
Try Our Drug Department for—
Honey and Almond Cream
Witch Hazel
Cold Cream
Face Powders
Cough Syrup
Colgate’s Shaving Articles
Etc., Etc., Etc.
AT INSIDE PRICES
Ansleys
Store
IDITAROD, ALArXA
Watches and Diamonds
At
STRICTLY OUTSIDE PRICES
J. L. SALE
DEPUTY MARSHAL VAWTER
RELATES HIS EXPERIENCES
Seventeen years as a guardian of the pub
lic peace on the edge of Western civiliza
tion has been a period crammed full of ad
venture and romance and interest for C.
L. Vawter, former United States marshal
at Nome, says the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
During these seventeen years Mr. Vawter
ha; witnessed every big gold rush in Alaska,
he has seen poverty-stricken prospectors be
come flushed with wealth in a fortnight, he
has seen others become crazed because of
the privation and hardship, he has seen the
territory awaken from a sleep of ages to
stretch its arms and rub its eyes in wonder.
When the discovery of the Klondike first
drew the attention of the world to Alaska
Mr. Vawter left Montana to take the office
of deputy marshal under John M. Shoup,
marshal for the whole district of Alaska.
Marshal Shoup's office was at Sitka; Deputy
Marshal Vawter was stationed at St. Michael.
Between the two of them the entire terri
tory of Alaska was guarded. Vawter’s ter
ritory included the Yukon valley from the
Canadian boundary, including that part of
Alaska which drains into Bering sea and
! I he Arctic ocean. He also had supervi
| sion over the Aleutian islands. And in all
! his domain was 4,000 miles lung from one
| end to the other.
i In 1S08 many gold-seekers attempted to
! reach Dawson by going up the Yukon river
| from its mouth. his led them to St.
Michael, where Marshal Vawter was sta
tioned. Winter overtook many of them on
the trail; they camped wherever they hap
pened to be when the river froze up.
It was there, in the fall of 1808, that
word came to the St. Michael office (hat a
prospector had murdered his two partners.
Marshal Vawter took a dog team and started
out for Anvik, near where the murder took
place. A man named Homer Bird was held
by the citizens of a trading post, fifteen
miles away, charged with the crime. The
citizens were determined to hang Bird if
the marshal didn’t show up within two
weeks. The appearance of Deputy Marshal
Vawter saved Bird’s life, temporarily, at
least. Bird escaped from the St. Michael
jail the morning he was to be taken to
Sitka to stand trial. With a pocketknife
he carved out a piece, of four-inch flooring
! and tied toward the mainland.
Mrashal Vawter offered a reward of $500
for his capture, and had the meaning of the
proclamation translated to the natives. The
result was that within three days the Es
kimos brought Bird back to St. Michael.
He was taken to Sitka, tried, convicted, re
tried, again convicted, and finally hanged
in 11101. the second official hanging to take
j place in Alaska.
In 1901, when Marshal Vawter was in
Washington, when President McKinley
signed an order appointing him United
States marshal at Nome, then in the hey
day of opulence. The notorious Judge Noyes
gang was appointed at the same time, and
i their failure to influence Marshal Vawter
! in their favor during the days of thievery,
crookedness and scandal at Nome forms one
! of the most stirring themes in Rex Beach's
novel, “The Spoilers,” which was built up
around the incidents of this period. In the
i novel Marshal Vawter is Vorhees. It was
the testiomny of Marshal Vawter, offered
at the circuit court of appeals at San Fran
cisco, that convicted Judge Noyes, the prose
cuting attorney and the special representa
tives of the department of justice, and sent
! them all to prison.
In his trips to the Outside during the last
i seventeen years Marshal Vawter has brought
out thirty-five insane persons.
In the spring of 1899, when Mr. Vawter
was still at St. Michael, over: 1,500 persons
came down the Yukon, destitute. They
managed to make their way to Nome, where
where the rich beach placers had just been
discovered, and nearly every one of the
1.500 made fortunes within a few months.
Mr. Vawter is nowr deputy United States
marshal, stationed at Fort Gibbon, at the
confluence of the Tanana and Yukon rivers.
He has the distinction of having been in
the service of the government in Alaska
for a longer period than anv other employe.
| --♦
Alex Weir, foreman for the Tukon Gold
Company, was a visitor in the city early
in the week.
C. R. PECK, FLAT
General Merchandise
CANDY
Society Chocolate Creams, per lb - 75
Imperial Chocolate Creams, per lb . 100
GASOLINE FLAT IRONS 2m0,prnicfpaF,alf Vat ,ron’ *acr 7 50
American Flat Irons, each. 7.50
Tents, Tarpaulins, Nome Dog Harness, Webbing, Gasoline Lamps, Guns Am
munition, Hardware, 8tovee, Heaters, Furniture and Bedding, Rugs.
SMITH’S CUN STORE
IDITAROD, ALASKA PHONE 6 8ECOND AND WILLOW
LOCAL AND PERSONAL
Grant Murdock was a visitor in the city
yesterday from Mat.
George Kay and Arnold Dellaus arrived
from tlie Tolstoi on Tuesday last, being the
first arrivals from that camp since the
recent severe weather commenced.
Nelson Brigham, the government timber
nspector. who has been in the district for
onte months past, left yesterday for the
Tolstoi, accompanied by C. II. McCord and
VV. II. Duffy. Mr. Brigham will continue
his journey to Long creek and Ruby, and
| i hence will proceed to the Tolovana and
Fairbanks.
—
Mr---. Elinor of Dikeman has been in the
city during the past few weeks. Mrs. Eli
nor, who is a professional nurse, has had a
j most interesting experience, having been an
army nurse during the Spanish-American
war, serving in the Philippines, and later
I was with the hospital service in Panama.
She is a recent arrival in Alaska, and likes
the country.
KATALLA IS TERRORIZED
BY SAVAGE TIMBER WOLVES
•>
Driven north by the bounty hunters of
Southeastern Alaska, a large pack of tim
ber wolves has put in its appearance at
Katalla, where they are making life dis
agreeable for everybody concerned, accord
ing to the Times of Cordova.
A number of bounty hunters has started
out to try and clean up the hand, hut will
probably only succeed in driving them off.
It is feared that because of the heavy
snows the wolves will not attempt to cross
the Coast range to the caribou country,
north of the Yukon, and on the Mackenzie
river delta, but will continue northward
along the coast until they strike the domes
ticated reindeer herds on the Kuskokwim
and along the shores of Bering sea.
ff the wolves once get -into the reindeer
country the herders doubtless will suffer
considerable loss. The reindeer herds are
valued at more than $2,000,000, and a few
| [lacks of the wolves would soon wipe them
I out.
The wolves circled Katalla not three
blocks from the main street, and made the
| night hideous with their howls; they have
j looted every chicken house in the camp,
| and several dogs have been rounded up and
| killed by the invaders.
Mrs. Charles Naughton, going to her
woodpile, encountered a big timber wolf in
! the yard, ishe drove the animal off with
a club.
The Indians say they have no traditions
! of a visitation of this kind. They never
| have heard of such a thing, and like the
I white people, who escort their children to
I school under arms, the natives are applying
“safety first'’ principles. An Indian funeral
I was held at Katalla recently. The ceme
! tery is about a mil ■ from town, and each
| of the large crowd of mourners who at
j tended carried either a rifle or shotgun in
( the procession.
_ a. __ _
LOSES FAITHFUL ANIMAL
There is scarcely a person in the whole
of the Innoko end Iditarod valleys who
is not acquainted with Leo Clifford, the
genial young man who for many moons, in
winter’s snow and summer's glow, regu
larly delivered The Iditarod Pioneer to its
hundreds of readers along the creeks. Dur
ing the past five years, in the sledding sea
son, Leo was always accompanied on his
rambles by his famous two-dog team, com
posed of sturdy “Prince.” the malamute
leader, and the faithful “Jack,” large-boned,
of rangy architecture, red of complexion
and of no particular breed or boast of an
cestry. Over hundreds and hundreds of
miles in this valley, besides a couple of
trips to Seward, these team-mates cheer
fully hiked with Leo, as he hung onto the
handlebars of his light sled. They were
willing animals, and their team work was
all that could be expected of any two dogs,
consequently they were much prized by
their owner.
But alas and alack! on Thursday night
last Jack put an end to all future runs and
journeys bv jumping over the partition of
his box-stall in George Adams' kennel and
strangling himself to death by the stric
tures of the choke collar about bis neck.
Leo found his dog yesterday morning in a
suspended position, and although there were
faint signs of life, he was unable to resus
citate the faithful animal, and “Jack” has !
gone where all good dogs go.
-*—
SOCIAL POSTPONED
The social that was to have been given
by the local lodge of Moose on January 20
in honor of the ladies of the district has
been postponed until January 27. This
was deemed advisable because of the fact
that the Pioneers’ mask ball and the meeting
of the Pioneers at Flat on Wednesday next
might interfere in a measure with the at
tendance. The original plans will be ad
hered to in regard to the entertainment, and
a splendid time is. assured the guests of the
Moose at Flat on the evening of January 27.
ADVERTISED LETTERS
The following is a list of letters remaining
uncalled for at the Iditarod postoffice for the
week ending January 13, 1917. When call
ing for these, please ask for advertised let
ters. ' WILLIAM ANSLEY,
Postmaster.
Anderson, Jas. Rufus Ohlson, Nels
McGrath, John Pettebour, Paulena
Gaudreau, Romeo Shields, Geo. Wm.
Hughes, Bill • Talmi, Charles
Hill, Jka. Telton, Angues M.
Karjala, Kalle Zerbas, Jim
Niles, Teddy
HOW “INTERNATIONAL” SOUP
CAME TO BE THUS NAMED
When the thermometer indicates any
where between 50 and 60 degrees below
zero, and travel is at a standstill, and “skin
ners," mushers and prospectors congregate
around stoves awaiting a “break” in the
weather, everything seems conducive to
story-telling, and some good ones are occa
sionally “pulled off." The following, re
lated by a well-known miner, relates to a
cook named Louis, a Frenchman who is
not troubled with extreme modesty, and
the facts of whose story are not vouched
for. Louis, who was cooking at a placer
camp, unbosomed himself thus to the
miners assembled in the mess house one
evening:
“Did you ever hear how my ‘Interna
tional’ soup happened to be so named? And
not waiting for an answer, he resumed:
“In 187 I was chef on the steamship
Zante, running between Liverpool and New
York. The berth was a good one, and as I
was allowed full sway, I was in the height
if my glory. Taking a-pride in my culinary
efforts, and always having a discriminating
and appreciative clientele, never was a man
happier in his chosen profession than I. It
was my privilege to evolve a soup which
became at once the favorite of the captain.
He was an epicure of some note, and his
r ble always was one of the strong cards in
attracting pa.sengers to the vessel. The
recipe for this soup I have aKvays carefully
guarded, and even to this day none knows
its ingredients except myself. But my secret
w'as in such danger at once time that it be
came the subject of a diplomatic crisis in
which three nations were involved, and at
one time it looked as though hostilitie
might grow out of the incident. It hap
pened in this manner:
“We had left Liverpool with a full pas
senger list. The weather was glorious and
the table was we 1 patronized throughout
the voyage. I excelled myself in preparing
the menus, and my favorite soup gained
new laureh. The captain was radiant and
the passengers were full of praise for the
gallant captain, his ship and his chef.
“But there was a cloud on the horizon.
I had intended to lay off at New York for a
couple of trips by way of vacation. The
captain had not been apprised of this until
the day before we sighted Sandy Hook.
Then he came to me and reproached me
for leaving him in the middle of the season.
1 was obdurate, however, my preparations
ail being made and my substitute hired,
finally, when be found he could not dis
suade me from my course, he insisted that
I leave the recipe for my famous soup with
him for use by my successor during my ab
sence. This I declined to do, and after a
heated argument the captain placed me in
irons, keeping me in confinement until we
reached New York. I refused to capitulate
to him. and he refused to grant me my
liberty until I had given him the wished-for
recipe.
“After reaching port, I succeeded through
a shipmate who was a fellow-countryman
in interesting the French consul in my case,
and he immediately busied himself with the
United States authorities. Proceedings were
brought against the captain for my release,
and after much difficulty I was haled into
court and my discharge was ordered. This
did not end the matter, however, for the
French government had taken the matter
up in the meantime, and an apology had
been demanded from Great Britain (the
Zante was a British ship I for the affront to
a French citizen. The United States gov
ernment backed up the demands of the
French, and finally the apology was deliv
ered, thus averting bloodshed.
“I never went back to the Zante, and
the captain reproached himself freely for
his loss of my services, as I learned after
ward. That is how it came to he called
‘International’ soup.”
Roughnecks know that it is not wise to
doubt the word of the cook, and the story
was received in silence.
-A_
WEATHER DURING WEEK
OF VARIABLE CHARACTER
This section of Alaska has been treated
to a medley of weather conditions during
the past week. Starting with a temperature
as low as 63 degrees below zero on Saturday
morning last, the thermometers on Thursday
afternoon last showed as high as 32 degrees
above zero, which may be considered as
a somewhat remarkable range. The low
temperatures of la-t week were followed on
Saturday last by high winds, with a rise of
many degrees in the temperature. The wind
was from the north and was extremely cold
and disagreeable. Sunday was milder, and
many teamsters took advantage of the break
to make the trip from the creek towns,
which were beginning to feel the effects of
the long cessation of travel. On Wednesday
there was another change in temperature.
During the night the thermometer registered
54 degrees below zero, but in the morning
a severe southerly gale sprang up, which
carried the temperature almost above the
freezing point. The gale increased in fury
cnd raged all night and all day Thursday.
As far as could be learned no serious dam
age was done by the storm.
The following are the week’s tempera
tures, from readings taken daily by E. J.
Smith, compared with the readings of the
same dates a year ago:
Date— 7 a.m. Min. 1916.
Jan. 6. —62 —63 4
7 . —40 —63 22
8 . —34 34 26
9 . -18 —48 30
10 . -30 —54 16
11 . 28 22 24
12 . 30 30 28
-—«-—
Frank Dawson, Jack Folsom and Jack
Keller were in town on Thursday and Friday
last from Discoverv.
--♦
For steam baths, go to the Snvder House,
Flat.
-♦—
Fresh Olympia and Eastern Oysters, $1.50
per can. Iditarod Meat Co.
A. J.WEISS,
The
Clothier
THE HOME OF HART, SCHAFFNER & MARX
IS WORTH MANY MILLIONS
BUT DRIVES AN ICE WAGON
A great many Northerners know I.croy
Stevens. He used to be a well-known base
ball player in Dawson, and later was a city
patr< lman in Fairbanks in the early days of
hat camp. The following story relating to
him it from the New York World, which
[.resents it on the sole authority of the nar
rator. Leroy Stevens. Facts to authenticate
it independently must be sought in Alaska,
continues that journal, and refuses to vouch
for the accuracy of Mr. Stevens’ statements:
Stevens is an iceman, who must be worth
(according to himself) considerably more
than $70,000,000! He is not the controlling
member of the big ice distributing company,
either. He just drives one of a big com
pany's ice wagons!
You can see him any morning coming
down the smooth white road that borders
Van Cortland Park lane on the east. He
sits on the yellow ice wagon. His body is
bent forward, his elbows rent on his knees,
and the driving reins hang at about the
ame level as the elbows.
Before telling why a man of Stevens'
affluence is driving rn ice wagon for next
to-nothing a week, we shall first describe
Mr. Stevens.
He has these things in common with all
other icemen—bigness and affability. But
there the resemblance ceases. He is broad
across the shoulders and through the chest,
and narrow in the flank. He has a thick,
1 muscular neck and a face like a lion,
; crowned by a thick, brindled mane.
Now for the why and wherefore of Leroy
; Stevens’ affluence and his present menial
occupation. The wealth is represented by
more than 69,000,000 cubic yards of land
! about eighty-four miles from Fairbanks.
Alaska. Stevens acquired this land by
staking it about seven years ago. He pros
pected it himself, and estimates from what
pay dirt he has taken out of the 3,200 holes
he sunk that it is worth $1.09 in gold
a cubic yard.
These statements, and all others relative
to his land, money and history, were made
by Steven? and are here set down.
While Stevens was prospecting his land
he “went broke.” Now, he could have re
mained there and prospected the land and,
with no one helping him, could have worked
about three cubic yards a day. Such a
return would never pay him. for his serv
ices as an employe in any mine in Alaska
were worth $1.3 a day. With a capital of
from $90,000 to $100,000, however, he could
hire twelve men, working three shifts to
twenty-four hours, four men to a shift, buy
V hat machinery was needed, pay his men
as high as $19 a day each, anil work more
than 300,000 cubic yards a day. So, as
you rnsy reckon for yourself, at an expense
of $120 a day for men, and perhaps as
much more for incidentals, he could take
nit of the ground more than $300,000 every
twenty-four hours!
He tried by every legitimate way—to
arise money, and failed. But that did not
discourage Stevens. He remained on his
holdings, and himself dug a trench twenty
six miles long in order to bring water to
his land with which to work it when he
hould collect the money to buy machinery
and hire men. Twenty-six miles of trench,
one lone man, and the frozen, steel like
ground amidst the forbidding, lonely sur
roundings of Alaska!
Adjoining the land of Stevens is a large
'ract of land owned and worked by the
Guggenheims. When the Guggenheim.
heard that Stevens had no money with
which to work his claim they had one of
their experts prospect his holdings; then
they offered him a cash purchase price for
the land in excess of $100,000, so he say.-.
Stevens knew that this price was noth
ing like what the land was worth, and not
being a man easily cajoled or intimidated,
he flatly refused the offer. No half loaves
for Stevens!
Unable to raise the money in Ala-ka, ho
nulled up stakes and started for home.
Now. the word “home,” hero, requires a
little explanation. Away back in ’88 St0- j
vens lived with his parents on a farm in
Maine. But in that year he got together
his few belongings, took affectionate leave
of his parents, and told them ho would
return when he had $5,000, end then set his
footsteps toward the West. In 1898 he
drifted to Alaska.
When the strike of '97 was made, Stevens,
together with other prospectors, hit the
trail northward.
You see, the excitement at that time was
so high that a great deal of gold, all at
once, was the only thing that could satisfy
its seekers. To stop and pick it up, little
by little, never entered their heads, li
was very much like an impetuous boy and
a painstaking little girl going blackberry
picking. The urchin rushes by the smaller
clumps of berries, hardly giving them a
glance in his hurry to find the bush where
they grow most thickly. The little girl,
on the contrary, stops and picks every berry
that falls in her way. no matter how scat
tered them may he. The result is, of course,
that by the time the sun has gone down
the boy is still hunting for the plenitude
of berries he set out to seek, and the little
girl has her apron filled with them.
Stevens made his strike eventually, and
-n a short time he took $68,000 in gold
out of the ground. Here was more than
the $5,000 he had promised to return home
with. But di<l he do it? Not he' IF
admits that the more money he got ihe
more he wanted. He mined a great deal
of money, but it went again in prospc ; mu
other claims that (.roved worthies*. lie
years his life was a see-saw. There were
times when he bought strawberries and eu
cumbers for a dollar apiece, and there wen
other times when he was hard put to it for
i crust of bread.
Finally he found himself with a large
tract of rich land on his hands, and >
money to work it. Unable to raise thr
money up there, and unwilling to abandon
his projects, ho returned to Maine with a
few thousand dollar*.
He placed his parent beyond want f.-r
the rest of their lives. Then he came to
New York, accompanied by his daughters.
Hi* wife remains in Alaska.
In New York Stevens interviewed likely
millionaires, hut they all seemed chary of
taking a chince. He was never too proud
to work, so when he found his funds run
ning low he took his job on the ice wagon.
And there he is today, playing Apollo. I.ut
a very willing one, to the ice company's
Admen t us.
New York is somewhat of a mystery :
Stevens.
“It is the biggest city in the cr-tt.'.r
said lie, “and I’m doggoned if it ain't the
lonesomest. Back in Fairbanks, ami that's
considerable of a town, I know everybody
in it, and I've been living in this apart
ment here for months, and I don't know
a soul.
“ ‘If you ain't got the money, you needn’t
come around,' seems to be the motto here
The people of this city have sure got me
buffaloed. I don’t get them nohow. There
are some I know of that get about fourteen
bucks a week, pay thirty for rent, wear
swell clothes, and if you was to see ’em
on the street you’d swear they was worth a
million. Are they? Ask the butcher or
the baker or the grocer. But they’re get
ting away with it just the same, while 1.
with seventy millions in gold tied up, am
driving an ice wagon for a living,
“Yes, sir. New York’s over my head.
I don’t get it, and 1 don't get its people.
Some day pretty soon, with or without
money, I'm going to pull up stakes and hit
for the land I know.”
- -—
For steam baths, go to the Snyder House,
Flat.
FOR SALE
Two Yukon stoves, In good
condition.
Ladies' Furnishing Store
MRS. L. C. THORNTON. Prop.
FOR
GOOD POTATOES AND CIGARS:
CALL UP :
I
nrannEm PI SALOON 11
We Still Have Some to Wholesale
. ... . . *->*•*-* • A-^A-A-A-A-iA,-A,*AA'A’,\WAWAV»,AAW<». A A
RING US UP ANY SERVICE WE CAN DO YOU - RING US UP
Marquette AA Rye National Club Bourbon
GEORGE MARSH BUDWEISER ID1TAROD FLAT CITY THE BRANCH A. D. CURRIE