Yukon Valley News
Issued every Wednesday.
S. E. HEKTKR.Proprietor
Sam J. Cali.ahan.Manager
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EXCHANGES IN THE S TA TES
Are requested to pay second-class postage
from Nov. i to June i.
WEDNESDAY, OCT. 26, 1904.
Present prices ought to prove
a temptation to Alaska prospectors
to hunt for coal. At Nome anthra
cite is $32 and Wellington $18 a
toil. __
Two more weeks and the presi
dential election in the States will
be a thing cf the past. It seems
that Uncle Sam’s Alaskan waifs
have not lost much in the way of
high-class campaign performance
this time.
In view of the fact that so many
Alaskan fakes—from mythological
Midas creeks to old fashioned gold
bricks—have separated numbers of
oulside people from their money,
it is not unreasonable to suppose
that the legitimate enterprises of
the territory will get the necessary
financial backing when proper
showing is made.
Gov. Odell of New York cm
control his feelings remarkably well.
He lias been known to receive the
most terrific blows with an expres
sionless face. “When 1 wasaboy,”
said he to a friend who asked him
how he did it, “my father once
picked up a setter dog by the nape
of the neck and held him aloft. The
d ig did not whimper. Then he
picked up a cur, and the dog howl
ed. 'That, my boy,’ said my father,
'is the difference between a cur and
a thoroughbred.' I have never for
gotten the lesson."
So WELL recognized is the im
portance of carrying New York that
the managers of lioth national cam
paigns have established their main
heath (darters in that state. Much
side knows that the pms( ect of
winning New York would give
hope and confidence to their party
throughout the entire country. The
state will cast a vote of 1500,000
in a probable total of 15,000,000 It
wilt supply jy electoral votes in a
total i*f 476. S>> evenly is if bal
anced hetweeu the two gicat par
ties that a change of two or three
votes in each of its 4,4* u election
district* is usually aifkwnt to turn
the scale. It ta made up of widely
diverse elements of voting popula
tion, ranging trum the bankers ami
! brokers ol Wall street and the rulers
! of great corporations to the farmers
in the scattered hamlets on the
■ fringe of the Adirondacks.
I ——
Three Important Matters
For Congress to Consider
With Respect to Alaska
—
It is not doubted that the gentle
men composing the senatorial sub
committee which made an investi
gating tour of Alaska in 1903 will
continue to manifest a lively inter
est in the welfare of the territory.
[Three of the committee’s most im
| portant recommendations are given
below:
DELEGATE.
I he universal opinion among all
classes in Alaska is that the district i
should he represented by a delegate 1
in congress. Owing to their great
distance from the seat of govern
ment, tjie people feel that their
conditions socially, industrially and
politically are little understood, and
that special reasons exist why they !
should be represented by one who
understands and can speak authori-'
tatively concerning their interests. |
In this feeling the committee hearti-;
ly sympathize, and the only ques-1
tion connected with the subject that j
has given them embariassraent re-'
la*es to the method of selecting J
such delegate. It is undoubtedly!
desired by a majority of the people
that the delegates shall be elected
by the people, but this method is
objected to by many. The reasons!
urged against it are of the same
nature and differ only in degree as I
those urged against the establish- j
rnent of a territorial legislature.
If this method of selection does
not commend itself to congress and
the position is to be made appoint
ive, all agree that Ihe appointment
should come from the president of
the United States, by and with the
consent of the senate.
MINING KKGl’LATIONS.
"After conference with prospect
ors, miners, lawyers and officials, 1
and after mature consideration of
the subject." the committee recom
mends amendments to the mining
laws as indicated below. It is tint
believable that any prospector could
l>e touud who would favor a tegti
lation forcing him to produce wit
Desses to his performance of the
required labor. Instances arc not
at all uncommon where the scene of
the prospector's ctforts is more than
a bundled miles from the nearest
recording office, and sometimes the
jourrev Mih or hack takes a month
or m re. It sill readily be seen
that Ihe proposed rules would pre
clude prospecting by poor men in
remote placet. Following are Ihe
amendments recommended
I kequiiiug a certain amount of
assessment work upon each claim
; staked out as a prerequisite to the
right to have the claim recorded,
and that proof of such work be re
j quired before such record can be
made.
2. That the assessment work to
be done upon each claim during
each subsequent calendar year shall
be largely increased in amount.
That it should represent at least
thirty days of actual work upon the
claim, none to be deducted for
travel going to and returning from
it.
3. That proof of such work be
filed with the commissioner of the
precinct on or before the last day of
the calendar year, and that it con
sist of affidavits of the claimant and
of two attending witnesses, stating
when and bv whom, and what labor
was performed.
4. That no person shall be al
lowed to stake out, or locate, or
hold, except by purchase, more than ,
one mining claim upon the same
creek.
FOURTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT.
The third judicial district is so
extensive in area and its business
so large in volume that the commit
tee does not hesitate to recommend 1
that a portion of it be set off to |
form a fourth judicial district to'
which an additional judge should
be appointed. \\ hen asked his
opinion of sueh a proposition, Judge
James Wickersham said to the com-1
mittee:
It will have to he ilone soon. This is
a very large judicial division. It extends
from the British line to the outer Aleutian
Islands—from the Pacific to the Arctic
ocean. The judge is compelled to travel
all the time when he is on the coast It
is almost impossible for the business of
the court in the interior of the district to
receive attention. Heretofore it has re
ceived fair attention, but the business is
rapidly increasing, and I recommend the
creation of anotlu r judicial division by
dividing the third judicial division along
the line of the sixtieth parallel to Lake
Clark, from thence to Mount McKinley,
and from that magnificent glacier-capped
dome aloug the summit of the Alaskan
range to Mount St. Elias. All north of
that line should be one district, and all
south another.
The foregoing statement of Judge
Wickersbatn is emphasized by the
fact that during the season of open
navigation be is compelled to travel
the whole length of the American
Yukon, a distance of 1,500 miles,
holding courts at Kagle and Ram
part. If he goes to the Koytiktrk
country it adds over 1,100 miles of
river navigation anil 120 miles of
trail to hts annual journey in the
interior. At St Michael the gov
ernment places at his disposal a
revenue cutter, by means of which
lie is carried to Hristol Hay, Hutch
Harbor, and thence along the south
I'vMt of Alaska as tar as Valdes,
making a journey by «ea of from
1 ,tn*i to 1 ,*00 miles \\ ith a pop
ulation in this district so largely
scattered, with distances between
settlements so vast, the e sl of hti
GKORGK A. SALISBURY,
Attorney and Counsellor,
Rampart. Alaska
LOUIS K. FJBATT,
Attorney at Law,
X?airbanks, Alaska
j. lindley green,
Lawyer.
Office at the Courthouse.
OFFICE OF
Commissioner and Recorder
Rooms i and 2, Courthouse
THE
HEETER
TANANA, ALASKA
S. E. HEETER, ED FERGUSON,
PROPRIETOR MANAGER
FIRST-CLASS
Wines, Liquors and Cigars
Leaves for Glen Every
Five Days.
Freighting and Packing
To anti From All
tlie Creeks.
Good Teams. Good Service
D. M. MCQUESTEN
READY FOR
RUSH ORDERS
DRV WOOD and FREIGHTING
gation becomes prohibitive. The
man of ordinary means not only
hesitates to embark in it, but abso
lutely abandons his rights, however
valuable they may seem to be, and
in his discouragement leaves the
country. Any judge having the
whole Yukon basin for a district
will have no time for idleness: and
one who has a district extending
from Hristol Hay to Valdes will find
work to occupy all his time.
iHiring recent excavations near
Thebes, Egypt, there was uncov
ered a copper chisel with hardened
edge, another instance of the tem
pering «>f coj |>er carried on by the
metallurgists ot old, but a process
wholly unknown to we of the pres
cut day
The highest worked mines in the
world are in Colorado, where mini ig
is carried on at an elevation of from
•i.ooo to 141KJ0 feet.