~ 1 ■ i . vdete i II 1= |
and Alaska Evening Post___
Volume II. Number 66 SEWARD, ALASKA, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 1917 Ten Cents the Copy
OVER 7,000 MEN TO
BE EMPLOYED ON THE
RAILROAD THIS YEAR
Estimates based on the proposed construction work
to be accomplished during 1D17 indicate that between (>,
000 and 7.0(H) men will be at work on the government rail
road between here and Indian river during the coming
season.
In addition to the active work at this end of the line,
plans have been formulated for an active season on the
Fairbanks end and it is probable that another 1,000 men
will be at work there which will bring the total number of
men employed on the government railroad during the
coming season to more than 7,000.
It is probable that from 1,000 to 1,200 will be at work
on the Seward division between the terminal and Giid
wood.
Work for which funds have been asked on lurnagain
arm calls lor between 1,500 and 2,000 men between Gird
wood and Potter creek.
The others will be needed between Anchorage and In
dian river and on the branch line at Matanuska.
Indication now are that the line to Chickaloon in the
Matanuska coal fields will be completed by August 1st.
Station work on the 14 miles from King’s river to Chicka
loon was let this winter ahead of schedule and the work is
being rushed to completion as fast as possible.
With the coal road to the best fuel supply open in
August it is becoming more and more e\ident that eveij
possible effort must be made to get the line connected up
’ between Seward and the inlet so that this fuel ma\ be
immediately available for the navy.
Plans covering work m* the Sew
ard division provide for the recon
struction of al! bridges so that by
next fall the old line between here
and. Mile 71 will be ready foe heavy
traffic.
Important conferences have been
held recently by the construction en
gineers on the various divisions. 'I he
first of these conferences *.vas hold
here and the second at Anchorage.
The decisions arrived at have not
been announce*! but it is evident that
1917 is to be marked by the greatest
activity on the part of the Alaskan
Engineering commission.
It is probable that among the ques
tions taken up was the problem of
securing the necessary labor, as the
bringing of several thousand men in
to the territory is quite a proposition
in itself.
Sixty thousand applications tor
work arc on file with the commission
at Anchorage but many of these are
from different points and a large
majority are from men seeking other
than construction gang employment.
The transport Crook will be in ser
vice for the commission again this
year.
BOATS AND TRAINS
The Alaska will leave Cordova at
6 o^lock this evening.
The Admiral Evans is ilue^in Cor
dova at 3 o’clock this afternoon.
The Northwestern is due in Juneau
tomorrow.
The train will leave tomorrow
morning for Mile 40.
-———
THIRTEEN SHIPS LOST
* IN SUB CAMPAIGN
LONDON. Friday. Feb. 2.—German submarines sank
10 vessels, four large and six small on the first day of her i
unrestricted sub warfare. Eight lives were lost.
Three Norwegian steamers endeavoring to reach port j
were submarined today and several more lives lost.
Officials of the admiralty assert that German sub-1
marines are ebing sunk at the rate of two a day.j
BULLETINS
26 MISSING IN BIG FIRE I
CHICAGO, Friday, Feb. 2. — At noon today, eleven !
hours after an explosion and fire which wrecked a west j
side tenement, the police announced that 26 people were'
missing and had probably been burned.
_
BANK RUNS ALL OVER
SEATTLE, Friday, Feb. 2—An amusing feature dur
ing the recent panic was that one bank had to put on live
extra tellers to open new accounts. All is quiet today. !
CLARENCE GERALD DEAD
SEATTLE, Friday, Feb. 2—Clarence Gerald, former
cafe owner, ,who gained noteriety in the first Gill recall
died todav.
OLE RATHER MAKE MONEY THAN COUNT IT
SEATTLE, Friday, Feb. 2—Ole Hanson has declined
tl e appointment to the assa^ commission, saying he ;
would rather make money for himself than count it for
others.
WICKERSHAM IS
SHOWN TO LEAD
! BY ONLY NINE
.
Delegate Contest Close,
Murray Wins in Third
Over Holland .
JUNEAU, Friday. Feb. 2. — With
the official canvass as near completed
| as possible until missing returns are
j in the result to date show Wicker
sham leading in the race for delegate
by 23 votes.
The missing precincts on unofficial
count gave Sulzer 1)4 and Wickersham
74. while in Utica which has not been
counted, Wickersham leads by 6 so
that if the official count verifies these
figures the delegate lead will be cut
to 1) votes, making it one of the
closest elections in the country.
The canvassing board have given
the following figures: First division,
complete, Sulzer 2,395, Wickersham
1,906.
Second division without Utica
where Wickersham leads by six, gives
Sulzer 673, Wickersham 886.
Third divison complete except Port
Wells and Sanak where no elections i
were held, Sulzer 1,698, Wickersham j
2,007.
Fourth division, without Flat,
Kantishna, Dikeman, Otter and Rein
deer, gives Sulzer 1,595 and Wicker
sham 1,600.
Nothing has been heard from
R< indeer, while other missing pre
cincts of the Fourth division give Sul
zer 94 votes and Wickersham 74, on
the unofficial count.
In the Thira division the final count
shows that Murray, Republican has
defeated Holland by eight votes, due
to the Bristol bay votes being receiv
! o<l in time to be counted.
It is conceded that when Utica is
' counted in the Second division that
1 Corrigan, Democrat will have defeat
ed Reed for representative.
The legislature now stands as fol
lows:
Senate—Five Republicans and three
Democrats.
House—Seven Republicans and
seven Democrats with one independ
ent and one seat vacant until a speci
al election is held in March to elect a
successor to Heid, Republican.
SHARK HIDE
DECLARED TO
BEjCARIBOU’S
One of Seward’s infant industries
has received a severe blow, according
to word just received from Seattle,
which states that a tanned shark hide
is being held by the officials as a cari
bou skin.
Otto Poehlmann, city clerk, knows
something about leather and the tan
ning of hides and when the govern
ment sent out a circular recently
about shark hide leather, he decided
to send a tanned hide of a shark to
his father w’ho is in the leather busi
ness. Shark hides have been tanned
successfully before by Carl Stagnath
but decision was desired as to the
quality of the leather.
The hide was sent by express and
all was believed 0. K. until the local
agent was informed that the shipment
had been seized. Resurrection bay
mud sharks are of considerable size
but that the hide would be taken to be
that of a caribou never occurred to
Poehlmann which is forbidden to ship.
It is possible that shark and caribou
smell alike to the customs officials.
I). M. Snodgrass says that the call
for a farmer to work for the govern
ment has developed the fact that a
large number of ex-agriculturists live
hereabouts. He suggests that all who
can get a piece of land up the valley ,
and raise potatoes. )
GROUND HOG’S
DAY COLDEST
KNOWN HERE
Sun Shines Bright and Six
More Weeks of Win
ter Promised
This is the coldest day in Seward's
history, or since records have been
kept of the weather here.
It is also “ground hog" day, and
the ground hog could have seen his
shadow had be been foolish enough to
come out of his hole at the risk of
freezing his toes and nose.
Thermometers supplied by the U.
S. weather bureau in service at the
station near the Seward hotel indicat
ed a minimum of 1412 degrees below
zero during the hours between mid
night and morning. The instrument
on the second floor of the railroad
building showed 14 below.
At points nearer the bay the higher
temperatures were noted but nothing
above 10 belo#.
Records kept at the Seward Ligni
& Power company show the coldest
temperature recorded at the plant to
be 1212 below at 4:30 this morning.
The coldest prior record was 12 below
Records from along the line of the
railroad show the following minimum
temperatures this morning—48 at
Mile 34, -20 at Mile 71 and -31 at An
chorage.
Frank Youngs reported last night
that it was 52 below at Mile 29 yes
terday which surpasses the record at
Mile 34, heretofore considered the
coldest spot on the line.
Advance warning of this cold wave
was given two days ago by the con
tinued cold at Mile 34.
Temperatures noted at Mile 3,4 for
the past four days ranged from -3.7
to minus -41.
According to the old “ground hog
theory there will be six move weeks
of winter because the sun shone to
day, enabling the hog to see his
shadow.
Outlook for an early break up, is
not good, according to weather sharps
who to back up their contention point
to the thaw at the first of the winter
and again in January, the old adage
being that a winter severe at the
start, followed by thaws will be long
THREE GRADES
OE MATANUSKA
COALSHOWN
On his return from Anchorage, K.
J. Weir, engineer in charge of this di
vision of the railroad, brought with
him samples of three grades of coal
from the Matanuska fields, two ot
which are available for delivery on
the inlet now, and the third irom
CVickaloon, which will be reached by
the railroad early in August. These
samples are on display at the com
mission office.
The samples of coal now being de
livered come from Eska creek and the
Dougherty mine on Moose creek.
From Chickaloon will come the ^oai
which has made the Matanuska fields
the most talked of in America as this
is the high grade bituminous or so
called blacksmith coal which was test
ed by the navy department and found
to surpass any other coal in the j
United States.
[l THE WEATHER
■ i —
Yesterday.
Maximum . 6
Minimum .*.-11
Current . -7
Weather .Clear
Wind .North
WEATHER TOMORROW
Fair and warmer.
WORLD WAITS WHILE
WASHINGTON DECIDES
! COURSE OF ACTION
l
—
WASHINGTON, Friday, Feb. 2.-With the adminis
tration facing one of the gravest problems in the nation’s
history, Washington is unusually calm today, but there is
an under current of tense feeling as there is no doubt any
where in official circles but that the United States will
break diplomatic relations, not only with Germany, but all
her allies, as a rebuke to “unrestricted submarine wai
rare.
j Decisive action is believed to be only a question of
! days, or possibly hours. What will follow cannot be pre
dieted. - ~ mA
Sec. Lansing authorized the statement this morning
that so far no communication had been sent to Germany.
On being questioned he refused to say whether any
instructions bad been sent to Ambassador Gerard at Ber
j lin. He also declined to make any statement explaining
! the reason for deiay in announcing the course of the
i United States.
President Wilson played goif for an hour with Dr.
Grayson this morning, after which lie returned to the
Y\ mtehouse and tins afternoon met with his cabinet.
All was quiet at the German and Austro-Hungarian
embassies, m iact it was unusually quiet. The officials of
both powers remained secluded and stated frankly that
■ cney were awaiting action of this government on their de
! le/mination to conduct unrestricted submarine warfare
against the allies.
ALL EUROPE WATCHFULLY WAITING
j LONDON, Friday, Feb. 2.—The eyes of all Britian,
a id in fact all of Europe are focused on Washington to
day for it is felt that the question of whether or not the
United States will enter the war is now being decided.
|%
HUGHES SPEAKS ON CRISIS
NEW YORK, Friday, Fell. 2.—Charles Hughes in a
speech last night declared himself as standing behind the
man who defeated him for highest honors in the recent
election, ready to support him in his hour of trial. Ke
mid in part:
“We are all Americans, tonight, standing behind our
president on whom this great responsibility rests. It is
:io time to embarrass. It is an hour of test that jvill show
what America is made of."
FOUR POW IS BOW TO
KAISER, BUT NOT U.S.
4 _________.
AMSTERDAM, Friday, Feb. 2—Denmark, Norway,
Sweden and Holland have discontinued sailings of all
ships as a result of the kaiser’s threat to conduct unre
stricted submarine warfare within the areas of ocean sur
rounding the British isles and allied powers.
Having lost heavily already through the sinking of
ships carrying contraband, and not being able to resist
the edict, ships are to be detained pending further de
velopments.
SHIPS CLEAR FROM NEW YORK
NEW YORK, Friday, Feb. 2.—Vessels were permit
ted to pass out last night, clearing for ports in the allied
nations. Each ship was stopped by the destroyers at the
entrance of the harbor and inspected to make sure that
none carried mounted guns without a permit.
ARMED SHIPS MUST HAVE PERMIT
WASHINGTON, Friday, Feb. 2.—Customs collectors
at all ports in the United States, Hawaii, and Porte Rico
were instructed today to exercise the utmost vigilance to
see that neutrality regulations were enforced to the letter.
No armed ships will be permitted to leave without permit.
By this means ihe officials will be able to ascertain
whether or not unarmed ships are destroyed without
warning. •
Owners of American vessels plying between New
York and London have asked Sec. Lansing for special in
structions as to movements and unless forbidden will con
tinue to operate. .....