VOLUME 1 VALDEZ, ALASKA, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1902. NO. 3.
FISH BROS.
General
Merchants
/
Staple and Fancy Groceries,
Hardware, Stoves,
; Tile Pipe, Lumber, Shingles,
j Doors and Windows,
Paints, Oils and Glass,
I
Boots and Shoes,
Men’s Furnishing Goods.
nun
tl1 photo \
F"ms,etc‘ «.* 900^. \
j\AQA1^ sta«onerV \
c,:£^peHum \
' jbsobw*5"
H. T. WHITLEy, GEO. J. LOVE.
Merchants Cafe
AND
Bakery.
MEALS AT ALL «OUn£.
Valdez Jewelry
and Optical House.
W. C. STULL
EXPERT WATCHMAKER,
REFRACTING OPTICIAN,
MANUFACTURING JEWELER.
A COMPLETE STOCK of Wotrheo.
Clocks, Jewelry, Diamonds and Sil
verware. Nugget Jewelry of Every
Description Made to Order. Your
Patronage RosjHi-tfidly Solicited.
Iklhlq M Ikit to lo; (akin lata.
I
I
rHAT THE TRAIL IS OP NO
FURTHER USE |
Ubercrombie is Crazy
ro See Valdex Abandoned—He is
Probably Originator of this
Erroneous Report.
_
Washington, I). C., Her. 9. 1901
riu* Adjutaut (iencr.il.
United States Army,
Washingtyn, 1). C.
<ir:—
I have the honor to submit the'
Following in regard to the ‘Trans
Alaskan Military” road, from Val
le* to the interior of Alaska, strik
ing tin* V'ukon River at Fort Eg
l*ert (Eagle City):
Major Ala-rcronihic, of the In
fantry. has lieen in charge of this'
work, as Engineer Officer Depart
ment of Alaska,for the past two
years, and for the two summer sea
sons preceding, in command of spe- j
rial expeditions exploring the re
gion. establishing bases of supply.!
and doing other work preliminary'
to the building of sueh a ro.nl.
The work of actual construction
has mostly been done since the 1k
giiining of last year. The ]iresent
condition of the road is briefly as
follows:
From Valdez, two miles out. trail.]
not passable for wagons; thencej
twelve miles, wagon road, passable
except iii midsummer; tlieiu-e six
ty-six miles, trail, not ]eissable for
wagons; tlience one hundred and]
fifty miles, open, passable for wag-;
on*; tbciicc thirty miles to Taiuma
River, trail; from tlie Taiuma to
Fort Egbert on the Yukon the
route has liccn blazed. Where;
practicable the streams have liecn
bridged, some ten or twelve side
stuntial bri<Igts iiaving l«en con
st nut ed. ranging in length from
400 feet down. The total cost of
exploration and construction in
this work, up to date, approximates
as nearly as can be made out from
tlie figures in my jiosscssion, $200,
000.00. embracing the expenditures
from laith quartermaster’s and sub
sistence departments, and from the
S{>cciul appropriation for “Rami*
and Bridges in Alaska.” Of this
latter appropriation there remains
unexiieiided, at tlie close of this
season, aliout $20,000.00.
This work of exploration and
construction of a military road in
to the interior of Alaska was un
dertaken as I understand it. with
a view, first; to opening up for the
licnctit of miners and prospectors
the upjierCopper River and Taiuma
districts, which were rejHirUxl to la*
rich in deposit* of copper and other
minerals, and, second; to enable
our citizens to reach the interior of
Alaska and theupper Yukon with
out crossing Canadian territory.
1 lie existence ot copper in con
siderable quantities and of other
minerals in tluit region, seems well
established, hut from the Imst in
formation I have liecii able to
gather of late, I do not believe any
considerable developments will !*•
made or attempted there in tlie
near future, and a further exjiendt
ture, therefore, at jwesont, upon tlie
military road, except to maintain
it in repair for a time, at legist un.
til tlie military telegraph line, non
lacing constructed along tlie same
route, is completed, does not seem
to uie advisable.
The unexpended lialanoe of the
appropriation "Roads and Bridges
ill Alaska” lieforc rclcrrcd to cniihl
I
lie applied to advantage for rc|«iir
and maintenance, provided tlw 21 |s
proprlatioti could l<c continued
over and made available for such
pur|>oscs. Hie region is no longer !
unknown; tiie line of the telegraph j
will l>c a guide to travelers, and1
tin* station* cam afford them shelter ,
in eases af sickness 21 ml distress.
I have, tlierefore, pending dicis
ion of the Honorable secretary of J
War U|nin tlw subject, sus]wn<lcd J
furtlwr work on tlw road j Toper.1
and luivc directed Major Aln-rcroiu
hie to turn over all the trans|Nirt2i
tion under his charge to Captain
Burnell, of the Signal Corps. to
enable the latter to push the work
of the telegraph construction 21s j
rapidly as possible. Major Alwr- I
croiuhic lias I wen ordered to the j
Headquarters Department of the
Columbia.
The residents of the town of
Valdez, and of tlw 2idjueent coun
try, are naturally dcsirousof seeing
this work continued with the dis
bursements of public finals incident
" x
thereto, and they have jetitinned j
to that ond. and should the War]
Dejiartmeiit decide that 21 further)
effort and ejtjicinLiuirc in this di-j
rift ion, lieyoiul wliat l have indi
cated, is warranted, then l would
recommend tliat the work lie un
dertaken by tlw Corps of Engineers;
under such appropriations and lini- j
itutions as may in: made hv Con-1
•rress.
Very respect fully,
(signed) lieu. H. Randall.
Rrig. lieu. U. S. Army,1
Commanding Department
of Columbia.
The aliure rejwrt is so erron
eous and misleading and shows
such an ignorance of tiw real eon-'
dition of the all-American trail,
and the conditions uf the country
adjacent thereto and its bright fu
ture, tliat any person who had ever
been in Valdez for six hours, would
know at once that lieu. Randall
has lioen grossly mislead, misiu
foruied and prejudice*!, not only
in regard to tlie work on the trail,
its value, and greater value if com
pleted, hut also in regard to the
citizens of Valdez, and die town it
self. It is upjiurcnt to all that
the false and misleading rejmrts
made to lien. RamlaJJ, upon which
lie liases his report to the Adjutant
General could only emenatc from
tlie mind of some individual who
is antagonistic to the welfare and
future development of Vahlez.
We only wish we had the space
to go into the details of this re
|Mirt, hut tan only mention a few of
its inconsistencies. The statement
"the ruad from Vahlez, two
miles out, trail, not passable lor
wagons” is entirely untrue. And
“second, to enable our citizens to
reach the up]icr Yukon, without
i crossing Canadian territory.” He
knows that this was the sole rea
son for starting the road, and tliat
when it was first contemplated and
started, it was not known that
tliere was an ounce of gold or rojs
per in the whole Copper river val
ley. So gold or eopjK-r liad been
|lUmivmtl anil tin* roau was start
l'd solely to give the American
jieoplea road of their own into tlw
j Yukon country,
Further he says, and his limited
: information could not have lieen
j obtained through reading the great
' daily papers, that he docs**uot lie
| lieve any considerable development
will !«• 4lone in the near future.”
Tliere never has been as inurh am
1 tivity in tlie develiipiiu-nt of tlw
: great gold and copper mines in
this sei'tion as at the present time,
land there never were such exjien
ditliris uuule fur development, 01
as much mining machinery anil
outfits brought into the country a.
will lie the <wsc this muson.
The people arc desirous of linv-i
ing this iv««rk completed. in order
that the country ninv lie developed
and ojK'iati to settlement, and lie
lieve tile government should assist
in every way jsissihle in this work,
and not hinder the advancement of
this great mineral and agricultural
section. The greater part of tlie
appropriation for the work, would
lie s|H-nt in the States for provisions
stock and machinery. Several
thousand dollars would he paid for
lalsir. which would l>e a great help
to the country. The general says
that $2(X),(XX) has lieen sjient on
the trail, hut docs not mention tliat
as a partial result of such cxjieiidi
tures, that over $2."i(),tXXJ in gold
dust alone was brought out of the
country last rear, and lluit the
greatest cupjicr fields in the world
have bccu discovered and o|H-ncd
up.
lien. Kamlall should make an
other investigation of the matter
now and either take a look at the
trail himself or ;u-ccpt tin- evidence
of someone who is not prejudiced
against the town and its people.
CANDLES FOR LUNCH.;
Fritz Voges Returns from Klu- j
tena-Good Prospects—Hard
Trip Back.
A nicely decorated dining room,
comfortably warmed, the table
spread with clean, white linen, a j
juicy tenderloin, good bread, plenty
of hot coffee and some kind relative '
to entertain yon while you eat,and
a warm lied awaiting you when you |
retire.
A Wdc, dug in tin- snow with
a rudely cnm-tructud jeiir of snow
shoes; for a roof a jjeev of sacking
and a enat. Sujijier? Yes. two
candles and a cup of coffee, and
poor candies at t!«t. Itad theylieeni
pure tallow what a luxury, hut >
they were partly jiaraitin and con
tained hut little nourishment. A
lied indeed,a sleeping leg. and a,
glacier for lied springs ami mat
tress and for comjMny, tlie roar of
the howling glacier wimL
He who is exjwriencing tlie first j
situation, would W‘ liable to rtgard
tin* last as fiction, hut Fritz Voges.
who arrived here Simdav assuriil
• ]
,us tlmt such had been his ex per-j
ienee. j
Fritz started for the interior late'
last Ajiril, when he arrived on the
jotlier side of the glacier, lie found
i it was too late to make thcTazlina.
where he intended to prosjiect. So
he left his cache at 1'2-mile eamji.
ami started for Klutena lake.
Around St. Anne river he sjient
tlie summer. living on what the
country ]«odneed in the way of
game, fish and lierries. In Sop
tendier he retnrued to his cache,
which he found had liccn partly
inmbK^Uxl vy the natives. Me
| s|**nt the remainder of the season
I prosjtccting in tliat neighliorhood,
finding a good showing, lie sank a
i hole on a stream aUive timber line.
I
wliere lie found jirospects encour
aging enough to justify him in re
turning njsiin tiiis season.
Ten days ago he started for town,
with enough grub to last aeross the
glacier, hut was twice compelled to
turn hack, owing to storms. Five
liars ago lie again started, hut was
then out of provisions, having only
coffee ami some candles, it was
still storming ami it took liim two
| days to reach tla* summit. Oti the
; third night, la* eaiu|o<d near the
> new relied station, where* la* ate ids
last light supjer. consisting of the
, two rciiiuiniiig caudles and some
I coffee*. Good as the* travelling was,
; he was too weak to get further than
, the old relief cabin the following
| Continued on Fourth Page.
TRIES TO GO OVERLAND, BUT
VAILS.
(jtjo is dotal loss
Runs Ashore In Pltihngh Chan
nel—No Lives Lost—Hull
May be Saved.
On Saturday evening, the S. 8.
Nome City arrived with sixty-five
passengers and almut 200 tons id
freight for tlie town. The passen
gers were mostly old timers, some
bringing tla-ir wives with them.
Shortly after her arrival the
news was spread that the Itertlia
was lost in Kit/hugli Sunni on her
way to this ]<ort. She left Seattle
on Feh. 7, under command of Cap
tain Johanson. taking as usual, tlie
inside passage. Tin- captain left
the Itriilge after getting safely aerose
Queen Clmrlottc Sanul. leaving tlie
pilot and seeond mate in charge.
Tln-y were not Jong on duty when
the pilot, according to his own
statement, went In-low fora cup of
coffee. While lie was absent tlie
steamer struck on a point of ruck
jutting out from a small island
near tlu- mainland almut 18 mile*
from Qut-t-n Charlotte Suiud, in
what is known as Fitzhugh channel.
The island, as shown in photo
graphs of the disaster, stands out
clear and Udd, with heavy timW-r
upon it. The channel at this (mint
is at least two and a half mile*
wide, the night was clear anil bright
though the moon was not up. At
the time of the aeeident, the opi><»>
site shore could lie clearly seen.
The steamer was at least a mile out
oi her course. <
It was 12:20 Sunday morning,
Foh.'y, when the W*at struck. The
shock threw some of the passenger*
out of their lierths. She seemed to
rcliound and struck three times W«
fore settling down on the rucks
There was no excitement among
the passengers, the Inst of order
prevailed, and the captain was im
mediately on the scene. Finding
that the lx>at held fast, gangway*
were laid to the hank and the pas
sengers. with their i>ersonaI hag
gage. walked ashore, where they re
mained around camp-fires for the
night. The ship’s stores, mail, dog*
and horses were taken off for safety,
and a large part of the cargo was
thrown off to lighten the vessel. If
a storm liad come up. it would have
hecn fatal for the steamer where
she was Ivin*, so when the tide
raised, every preparation Wing
math*, she was slid off the rocks,
and quickly run to a l*each on the
north sale of the island, aliout two
hundred feet from where she struck.
During this move the water raised
aliout eight feet in her hold.
A small ]art of the cargo was
saved, hut the out tits of the return
ing mim-rs were all ruined hy the
water.
me muownig uaiy me collage
! City stopjmd at the scene of the
1 wreck and took all hut five of tint
passenger* hack to Seattle. These
| rive, one of whom was a woman,
| remained on the island for a week,
when they were picked up hv the
Cottage City, on her return trip,
and taken to Sitka, where they
found the \ome City waiting for
tliein. This steamer had brought
the remainder of the Bertha’s pas
sengers.
i The wreck oee ured in British
waters, and in uniformity witii the
! laws of tliat country none hut Can*
. adian wreclurs ooirid !«• employed,
so a wrecking concern from Van
couver was engaged and is now at -
work under the direction of Cap
tain Carrol of the A. C. Co,