y *
VOLUME 3, NO. 4 VALDEZ, ALASKA. THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 1904.* * OFFICIAL CITY PAPER.
' —“
No Shortage
In Our Stock
We are told some of the miners and prospectors
now outfitting are kicking. They say they can’t
get what they want. The real trouble is they
started wrong. They unfortunately got in the
wrong place.
WE HAVE GOT THE GOODS.
and lots of them too. If you want a complete
outfit COME TO US.
A. L. LEVY & CO.
Good Goods.
<- I
Medicine for the trail.
i
Snow glasses.
.
Location Notices.
P. O. DRUG STORE.;
P. E. Kern,
Gold and Silver Smith.
Diamonds, Watches, Clocks, Jewelry, Optical
Goods, Sterling Silverware, Fine Watch Re
pairing and Nugget Jewelry a Specialty. Cut
Glass and Lamps.
SKAGWAY and VALDEZ ALASKA
City Market
NEXT TO MERCHANT’S CAFE.
PRICES ARE
RIGHT
r ■'1 ■
Wholesale and
Retail Dealers
GIVE US A
CALL
Beef, Mutton, Pork
Poultry and Game.
Nelson Working Hard.
Washington dispatches say that
although some minor advocates of
federal wagon road building in Al
aska have weakened in view of the
prospect of a railroad from Resur
rection bay to the Tanana, Sena
tor Nelson is as keen as ever to se
cure an appropriation of $250,000
for this road, the route to be deter
mined by a survey under the di
rection of the secretary of war in
co-operation with the board of road
commissioners of Alaska.
The Olympic Club if the distrib
uting jKjint for The Oitimo.
Early Closing.
The following agreement was enter
ed into this week by the merchants
of town:
We the undersigned do hereby
agree to close our places of business
at 7 o’clock p.m. ou and after Mon
day March 7, and only in cases of
extreme emergency, such as people
coming off the trail after that hour
or transients on steamers leaving
at night will we sell goods after
that hour, and we further agree not
to sell to town trade after 7 p.m.
A. L. Levy & Co.
Brown & Hawkins.
D. C. Brownell.
, J. G. Snyder.
Hrari.K .V Dorr.HF.RTY.
I
Back Prom Shusbitna.
Sunday night Jack Carrol and
Win. Hertzberger returned to town
after a quick round trip to the Shu
shit na. They are two of a party
of eight who left here December 8
with dog teams and small outfits.
They went in over the usual trail
till they reached a point on Coppei
river within a mile and a half ol
the Gulkana river, w’here they di
verged, and taking a northwesterly
direction cut across country, reach
ing their destination by this route
much quicker than would have
been possible over the other trails
They were very favorably im
pressed with the appearance and
likely character of the ground. The
valleys were deep in snow and
prospecting was carried on undei
great disadvantages. On several
small tributaries they prospected
along the rims, being unable to get
at the beds of the streams, but
wherever work was done, gold was
found. A number of elaims were
staked and some of the party* took
the return trail for town, while a
few remained to sink prospect
holes.
They will all return to the dig
gings, having come to town to se
cure an outfit for the summer sea
son. It has been a cold season on
the interior and consequently the
riven are in good shape for sledding
and will remain so until late in the
spring.
Copper Center Items.
Copper Center, Mar. 2.—Bishop
Rowe, Rev. Chilson and Capt. Gei
ger arrived to-day for Fairbanks
The Captain will return to Fair
banks with his family when navi
gation opens. Fairbanks mail ar
rived to-day. The first bunch ol
mashers of the second rush for tht
Shushitna gold field is expected ir
this evening — Edwards, Neely
Carlson, Wells Brothers, and sev
cral others.
For Rent—The best storemon
in Valdes, cheap to permanen
tenant. Inquire at Bank of Valdez
New comers buy your harness a
the Brownell Hurdwaro Store.
i
TOVd HIM
PARTY NOW HERE TO WORK
BENCHES
Will Work Ground Recently Pur
chased Prom Canrey and
McNeer.
Mr. Hazclctt, with 11 force of
men, 10 horses and GO t:ns of
stores, arrived on the James Dollar.
start
on the trail, and push forward
speedily to the Nizina, where they
propose to open up the property
this season purchased hy Mr. Win
chell from Carvey and McNeer.
The property consists of thirteen
bench claims on Hex gulch. An
adjoining creek claim. No. 1 Rex
gulch has also haen purchased hy
the same party and will l>e used as
a dump. J. A. Hazclctt will have
the management of the work.
These claims were worked hy the
locators last season on a small
scale and proved to be rich.
Opposes Territorial Government.
During Judge Wickersham’s
hearing before the committee on
territories, lie hud the following to
say regarding territorial govern
ment:
"My judgment is that the popu
lation of Alaska is so widely scat
tered, and is of such a flouting
character, the business interests
are so undeveloped, that a territor
ial form of government, any further
than we now have it, would he a
doubtful experiment. * * * Nor
do I think that the conditions are
such there that the people are
agreed that they need any further
extension of the present form, ex
cept a delegate in congress.” .
He strongly favored the wagon
road bill, hut thinks a special ap
propriation should lie made, as the
license receipts are not large enough
to pay for road building without
crippling the schools.
Prom Shaahitna.
Copper Center, Feb. 29.—Henry
Deyo, Hawkins, and Dick Dougher
ty arrived from Shushitna Satur
day and left this morning for Val
dez. They report the Shushitna
very promising. Geo. Hooper,
Brown and James McConnell also
left here Saturday for Valdez from
Shushitna. They will return with
a more complete outfit for operation
in the new district. A heavy storm
from the north prevailed through
the valley Saturday and Sunday.
To-day fine weather.
Spongberg Nominated.
The president on Feb. 18 sent G.
Spongberg’s name to the Senate as
post master for Valdez.
What can have become of our
special representative at Washing
ton? His name doesn’t appear in
any Alaska news scare heads in
the papers. About the only peo
ple that seem to he making a stir
outside of Judge Wickersham are
Ballaine and Dickinson, of the
Alaska Central.
I he steamer Queen, from Ivrisco
to Seattle, caught tire off the Co
lumbia river bar and 14 lives were
lost in attempting to take to the
boats. The tire was finally got
under control and the boat made
Seattle.
A meeting of the Chamber of
Commerce will be held at the dis
trict court room tomorrow night,
when the election of officers will be
in order. All members are re
quested to be present.
The surveys of the scrip locations
’ ou what is known as the reserva
tion, have been approved by the
; department at Washington, and
'ordered published.
Chicken Creek Items.
Chicken, Feb. 15.—Scott Hol
brook’s store, hotel and saloon was
destroy«-d by fire on the morning
of the 4th. James Rumcl was
burned to death in thchuiding; all
attempts to rescue him failed. Hol
brook was seriously hurt, but is
doing well under the circustnnees.
Berch and McTavisli were badly
burned, but they are around again
on duty. Approximate loss to
Holbrook is $15,000. Holbrook
has many friends among the min
ers, who have donated their labor,
and he now has another fine build
ing, 26x42, well under way and
will l»e ready for business about
the 20th.
Chicken creek is showing up
well. Many large dumps arc loom
ing up. McIntosh Brothers’output
will be $35,000 to $40,000 on No. 9
below; Struck Brothers on No. 8
l>elow. $20,000 to $30,000; Rothen
berg Brothers on discovery have
out two large dumps of rich gravel;
Doyle Brothers and Arthur Lan
in ack arc taking out lich dirt on
Stone House Fork; Robert Match
son on No. 4, Stone House, and
Billy Forsland have rich ground,
getting as high as $4 to the pan.
James Munroe and partner on No.
6 below discovery, Chicken, have
out a good dump. Geo. Moore on
Holbrook’s claim, No. tt below, is
getting started up in good style;
he will put in larger machinery.
George is a successful miner and
he feels at home when he gets to
work on Chicken creek. Grant
Dineen and Sandy Marshall have
a thawing plant and are opening
up Dineen’s claim, opposite 9 and
10 Inflow on Chicken. Boh Lathrop
and partner have a thawing plant
and are also at work on Dineen’s
claim. The Layman, on Lost
Chicken have out large dumpa-the
ground is rich.
Ingle crepk is coming to the front
with the y llow nuggets. Ingle is
a small creek but a steady pro
ducer.
We have a jiostoffice open here
now known as Chicken, Alaska, L.
R. Raddiff, postmaster, Imt our
mail service is wrong. Our mail is
carried hy our own doors ami tak
en sixty miles below to Jackwade
postoffice, and there distributed
and brought hack to us when the
mail comes from Eagle ubout ten
days later, and having to he carried
an extra distance of 120 miles.
Heretofore we have been getting
most of our mail at Franklin. We
had no post office then. Now the
mail carriers have side tracked
Franklin, so they have to get their
mail catch-as-catch-can. But we
have an office and hay to see our
mail go by and wait ten days for
it come back. It seems to us that
the Chicken and Franklin mail
could he aud should he assorted in
Valdez, and dropped where it be
longs on their way down. Our
registered packages are held in
Seattle, which means a great deal
to the people in this part of the
interior. People do not register
anything to come in here unless it
is something they need. Many
people have medicine on the way
which might save one’s life if they
had it. There is no physician
short of Dawson or Eagle, and if a
pei son gets seriously hurt or ill be
fore aid can be had they have pass
ed away. We have several sad
memories of this kind in the past
two years.
Dirigo May Be Wrecked.
Dispatches from Skagway 6tate
that the steamer Dirigo, left Juneau
for that place on the 27th, and has
not been heard from since. A
storm was raging, and when it
abated a relief party was seut to
look for the boat.
Off I lf
TWO MEN START OVERLAND
FOR NOME
Over The Valdez Trail
They Find That This Is The
Easiest Route To
Nome.
On the 10th of March two years
ago two men left Illiamna hay,
with dog team to go over the snow
and ice to Nome. Disaster and
suffering was their lot. Death by
starvation they narrowly escaped,
and after struggling for 75 days
they reached Nome destitute of
nearly everything with which they
started. These men were interest
ed in mining and wanted to reach
Nome for the early spring clean-up
which is made before the steam
ships arrive the last of May.
This vein these men again need
to go to Nome for the same object.
But after tw o years more experience
and studying the record of the mail
route, they decided to start on that
long overland journey from Valdes,
and get the benefit of an established
route and tine trail.
im- numa s&iiii mnuuill
H. Hawkins and Geo Wagner, who
quietly arranged their outfit and
last Sunday started out on tlie big
mush. They had probably the a
finest dog team that ever left Val
dez-eight magnificent brutes. They
will travel very light, and replen
ish food supplies frequently. Their
heaviest loads will he from Valdez
to Fairbanks.
They confidently expect to make
the trip within 30 days, provided
they encounter no severe weather
and the dogs keep in good condi
tion. The itinerary is, Valdez to
Fairbanks, 14 days; Fairbanks to
mouth of Tanana or Ft. Gihlun, 3
days; Ft. Gibbon to Anvik. 4 days;
Anvik to St. Michael, 3 days; St.
Michael to Nome, 3 days; this main
tained will take them to Nome in
27 days. Following the mail route
the distance from Valdez to Ft.
Gibbon is 618 miles; thence to Nome
579 miles-1197 miles in all. An
average of 44 miles a day will carry
out the schedule arranged A year
or two ago, on a wager, two mail
carriers raced against time from
Nome to Dawson. The wager was
to make the trip within 30 days.
One man covered the distance in
28 days. By the mail route from
Ft. Giblmn to Dawson the distance
is 667 miles-49 miles further than
from Ft. Gibl>on to Valdez. Con
sequently Hawkins and Wagner
have not planned to accomplish
anything unreasonahle-not calcu
lating to make any better time than
the mail carrier referred to. That
they will arrive at Nome within 30
days is to lie expected.
In gathering these figures we
noted that the average time during
December and Januarv this winter
for the mails from Seattle to Ft.
Gibbon via Skagway was 47 days,
while the same via Valdez was only
38 days. Hereafter the runuing
time via Valdez will be 29 days.
The foregoing, well studied, might
serve as a basis for an editorial dis
quisition in the Seattle P.-I.
To-day is the date set for consid
ering Alaska bills in Washington,
and everyone is anxiously waiting
for news of the wagon road. It ia
not likely, however, that final ac
tion will be taken on these bills for
several days, as there will be a
number of i>eople who will wish to
be heard concerning them.