IDITAROD PIONEER
Published Every Saturday Morning
at Iditarod, Alaska,
KY GEORUE M. AREOCREE
Subscription Rates:
' hie Year *10.00
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Yol. 10 No. 1
HERE AGAIN
Well, well I Here's tilt old
l.ditarod Pioneer on deck again,
a Iter a long suspension. It makes
its reappearance in a somewhat
shriveled up form, with a kick
that noticably lack’s its former
ohanic.teristh - but at that, it is
seemingly in accord at the pres
eiit time with many worthy en
terprises throughout the length
and breadth of this “inland em
pire that arose among the moss
tnd niggerheads.”
The publisher of The Pioneer
■ a- no prospectus to offer of
chimerical glitterings relative to
the. Territory's future develop
tnents. We only hope that our
fondest, dreams in that regard
may be realized;
The Pioneer, like all true Alas
"nans, has enduring faith in the
greatness of the broad North
land, and at, this time- when al
most everything, with the excep
tion of gold, has a fictitious value
-when all lines of activity seems
to have reached a point border
ing stagnation, vve only ask tin
splendid privilege of doing ail
that a "oue-hoss printshop” can
do with a pair of willing hands
and failing eyesight to keep
within flagging distance oi a
promising luture.
Thank you I
THE “SKINFLINT”
Those of ns who live in ti e country
enow the skinflint, best, says Youth’s
(Jompanion. Jn the country our few
neighbors are always under our eyes,
and in default, of other amusements we
H>end much of our leisure—perhaps too
much of our leisure—-m observing their
•in 1 e ways. If there is a skinflint,
among them we, watch—perhaps with
amusement, perhaps with wrath, hut
with unfailing ini eresi—t he number
less ingenious ways in which he skins
i he flints that come his way. in no
case do we like him, and oddly enough,
what, we chiefly dislike in him is his
refusal to give himself any of the com
forts. not to speak of the pleasures, of
life. With any amount of good securi
ties in the bank, lie lives in a mean
house, in mean ciothes, and on mean
food. Never in his life has he spent
four bits to gs to the circus, and in the
country self-denial can go no further
than that. We who think that an in
nocent good time is worth spending a
little money lor dislike and despise him.
The fee ling is not reasonable. We
should rather regard the skinflint as a
public benefactor, and prize him ac
cordingly. If any oilier man made the
sacrifices he makes for the public good,
he would be serenaded bv the local
ukelele club, and tendered a banquet..
Every single deprivation that he in
flicts upon himself means that he puts
just so much more money into the gen
eral wage fund out of which you and 1
and all the rest of us get our honest
pay for our honest work. As a matter j
of fact, he cannot help himself, for the:
only way in which he can increase his
hoard is by buying tools and materials I
and by let i mg Us use them m making ;
something valuable to the world and!
profitable to ourselves. We get much
out of his money a living and perhaps
some honest, happiness; but he gets
nothing- excepts an empty sense of own
ers!) ip. If there were enough skin
flints, the rate of interest would fall to
1 percent per annum at tlm highest; if
there were fewer skinflints or near
skiuiiints, tile rate would rise -well, no
one knows where. And yet we dishk<
those useiul persons !
Onco the Russian pul riot's ambition
was to bond) all the rulers. Now he
faces the task of finding a way io rule
all the bmnhers -Indianapolis Times.
These are times when you cannot
keep a good price dowm.- Boston Her
aid.
The new skirts are tight, but the
women can’t kick —Arkansas Gazette.
The Salvation Army never signed an
armistice. - Co I u m b i a 1 lect»rd.
Caesar's "] came, i saw, I con
quered,’ lias been considered some war
wire, lint ii hasn't, anything on this
telegram an Arkansas boy sent liis
folks the other day from Camp Mills:
"Deioused. demobilized end delighted."
Kx.
♦
Card from a local station agent to a
studious citizen: “Sir — I “lease send,
without delay, for the case of books
directed to you, which is lying at this
station and is leaking badl\."- Kx
--•
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Moore left re
cently for tile States, after king resi
dence in this vicinity. Mr. Moore was
in tlie employ of the Y. G. Co. for sev
eral years.
}. W. Farrell,
GENERAL MERCHANDISE
Discovery, Otter
Pioneer Sheet Metal Works
GENERAL HARDWARE
Stoves and Graniteware Gasoline, Coal Oil, Etc,
The Only First-Class Dog Harness in Alaska
OUR OLD-TIMERS
(Contribnted by a Sourdough.)
Corneal) you Ninety-Eighters and listen
to my song,
It’s not very touching and it won’t take
locg.
It’s about a few old-timers around this
town,
Some of them are up, and some of them
are down.
There’s Musselshell Frank and Stag
hound Bill,
And Stratified Pete are with us still;
Omaha Bih still sticks around,
And Spirit Mountain and Limber
B 'o vv n.
Gum Boot Sam is here to stay,
Guggie and Hats won’t ieave, they say:
The Day light Kid has gone away,
And Klondike Dan ha* left to stay.
High Grade Charley and Go Gel 'Em
.1 ack
And Fiddler Bob will soon come back:
Centipede Jack has passed beyond,
Swift water Bill to Peru has gone'
Two-Step Jack has gone over the hill
With Tenas Smithie and Gasoline Bill;
Hot Cake Johnson i* looking fine.
Ten a* Pontius is down at h is mine.
1'here's Sqaar«-Faced Sam. whom we
can’t forget.
And Coyote Jack at Cook’s Inlet;
Eat ’Em Up Johnson and C. 8. Louie
Used to he here, hut have gone Hooey.
The Holler Skate Kid and Hard Hock
Hen
Will belli come back when they get |
thin.
The Gila Monster's too old to dig,
There’s Alganik Bill and Paddy the!
Pig;
There’s Liu le Charley and Little llank,
And Pea Soup Charley and Yakima
Frank.
There’s Old Man Prunes whom all the
boys know.
And Joe the Turk and Zither Joe.
There’s Tonopah Andy, he* 11 show us
how to ride,
And Big Louie who wants a bride.
Little Lang long Ole, you all know him,
Fatty Hu mil Lou and Ham Grease Jim.
Snap Smith's at Teikhell, Mukluk Dick
is gone,
Friday got a blue ticket, just for doing
w roug.
1 here’s Old Slop Jake amt the Gam
blers’ Ghost,
And Daddy Beck, over at the Pont.
One-Man Harvey has a one-man drill.
Frying Pan Smith is out on the hill.
Deep Hole Charley is making his pack
With lied Headed Chris and Dynamite
«J ack.
There’s Old Red Kllis, whom all of us
Know,
And Formation .Jack and Powerful .Joe.
Smiling .Jim Brennan has nothing to do,
The Sandspit Kid and Blackir, too.
One Round Hogan and Snag Tooth ike,
Sourdough Charley and Peter the Pike;
Bald Headed Chris with no hair on his
nead,
, Smokehouse Charlie and Denver Ed
Some are teetotalers, some will take a
drink.
They’re all good fellows, l dou't think.
Some are hard workers, some liv« with
ease.
But they’re all old timers around
i Valdez. —Valdez Miner.
-+
George F. Marsh, formerly of Idita
rod camp, and a resident of Fortuna
Ledge since the fall of 1916, has been
appointed U. S. commissioner at the
last-named place. Mr. Marsh took
| charge of the office on Julv 1.
-♦-:
I
| Alf Hall, the sheet metal worker,
I who has been in charge of the branch
j store of Hamilton's sheet metal works
I at Jungle City, in the Marshall dig
' gings, returned to this town recently,
I and will stick around a while.
THE BUCKET
The day is approaching when
booze will be banished, the lights
will go out. in the gilded saloons; the
bartenders all from their posts will
have vanished, along wit h the jugs
and the brazen spittoons. Alas, for
the soak and the bum and the
drifter! The tale of their anguish
no poet can tell; they’ll hit, when
they long for a four-lingered snifter,
the old oaken bucket that hangs in
he well. The old oaken bucket has
been a back number. [t slept with
the has-beens for long weary years.
Rut now it comes back from its cob
webby slumber, consoling the boys
in the absence of beers. Doom faces
Old Booze, he. can’t dodge it or duck
it, the sexton’s preparing to ring
out his knell; and so we get back to
the trusty old bucket, the moss cov
ered bucket that hangs in the well.
I stand with the poet who boosted
the bucket, who said that it struck
him as finer than silk: we’ve long
clung to whisky but now we will
chuck it. and sample such liquids as
water and milk. Oh. then we'll he
chipper and blithe in the morning,
as gay as a kitten, as sound as a bell:
(lie wiles of the bootlegger manfully
scorning, we will hit the old bucket
that hangs in the well. Walt-Mason.
Owners of reindeer herds in sur
rounding country report, that eagle,
killed quite u number of the newly
born calves last, spring, and that many
bears lurked hungrily ill the neighbui
hood of the herds, but the herdsmen
in nearly every instance succeeded in
killing or driving them awav.
-*-1.
Mrs. Fred Smith left for the Outside
ou Wednesday. July 9
F5 rofess ion, a 1
Vtichitran. I8SI Kentucky. 18UI
Alaska. t»te
George Woodruff Albreoit
COUNSELOR AND LAWYER
IDITAROD, ALASKA
Tli* Pioneer Attorney or Iditarod
CHAS. E. TAYLOR
Attorney at Law
BANK BLOCK
First Avenue Iditarad
PR. MOORE
PHYSICIAN AND SURGEON
DRUG STORE
DR.H.BEHLA
Physician AND
Surgeon
Dentistry in Connection
RES1DENT PH YSICIAN
Behla Hospital
Flat, Alaska
Big Slocks of Fresti Goods
i -
Everything for the Miner and
Prospector
MAX SI MEL
8tor« at Mouth of Tolatoi