NOTES FROM THE
! \.\UKLKKT SECTION
("nalakleet. Alaska. .Ian. 1.19 2:!
Rev. Out and Mis- Carlson of Elini
Mission are paying I'nalakleet a visit
at preseti’ They arrived here from
Sbaktolik. where th»*y attended the
meeting of the missions.
John Tilly recently arrived from
th*. Harding Creek diggings after a
fr«sh supply of grub He reported,
sinking four holes from six to six-'
teen feet in depth through from two
to four feet of muck and the remain
der through a granite and porphy
formation He found light "colors'*
and lots of magnetic iron, coal has
been found several miles north of j
where he was working but no work
had been done to ascertain its ex
tent. for the reason that coal is rai
nless to the prospector without
means of transportation and a mar
A V Cordovado. Ininachuk min
ing operator, passed through here on
th» 6th ult.. on his way to the Out-;
side coming by way of Dime Creek I
Christmas Day was heralded on!
Christmas eve with general rejoic
ing. many Christmas trees and gen
erous excange of presents Christ
mas morning, before dawn of day.
th*- children, singing Christmas
carols, awakened sleepers with the
music of their voices, praising »o
song the Child of Bethlehem. Barlv
services were held at the Mission
church and in the evening the child
ren recited their Christmas pieces
before an appreciative audience and
amidst vcepo* th«?t brn- -v‘ before
the mind's eye in vivid manner that
great event of two thousand years
ago. Rev. Almquist delivered a
sermon on the life of the Saviour
and the children were presented
with gifts from the Mission.
The bellB which rung the old year
out and the New Year in, also rang
out the old Northern Commercial
Company and rung in *he new N C
of Alaska .
NEW MANAGER ON WAY
Among those to leave for the In
terW this pnom***' says *he Anch-,
orage Times of December 4th. wis j
Frank C. Wiseman, who is going to j
St. Michael to assume the duties as
manager of the old N. C. store which J
MNVERG
Where Quality Reigns
Complete Outfitters
for Ladies, Men’s and
Children’s in ready
to-wear or yard goods
Out of town buyers
will kindly drop us a
line and your needs
will be attended to
promptly
CHEAP JOHN STORE
WHOLESALE ft RETAIL
was taken over when the new organ
ization purchased the interests of
the company in Alaska. Mr. Wise
man is an old-time resident of the
interior and for many years served
as chief of police in Fairbanks. For
the past two years ho has been !•:
the Iditarod. going out last summer.
I.. I.. II.\IUJ1XG NAMED
PRIVATE SEt' RET A It V
L. L. Harding, former city editor
of the Alaska Dispatch has been
named private secretary to Governor
Bone, and has assumed his duties.
N roinmentin,; upon the app’>iut
inent. the governor said: “Mr.Hard
ing has been connected with the of
fice for some months and is thor-'
oughly familiar with its work. I re
gard him as especially qualified fori
the position and feel fortunate in
finding his services available.
♦ Communication: +
♦ ♦
EDITOR N’UGGET:
A few words regarding the fur tax
law passed by the last Legislature.
Owing to the revenues derived
from the fisheries having fallen ofT
nearly one half, a treasury deficit
amounting to $350,000 confronted
the territory at the beginning of the
last legislative session. Taxes had
to be levied in other direction to
make up the deficiency. A special
committee composed of members
from both houses introduced the fur
tax bill in an effort to secure the
revenues needed The House of
Representatives voted unanimously
in favor of the bill as first presented
but the Senate amended it to the
form in which it now stands. The
House did not concur in the changes
made by the Senate and the bill went
to free conference. After a debate
of four hours, the House finally
agreed to the Senate amendments,
after the license tax had been re
duced $100 and the tax on red fox
pelts to 50 cents by way of compro
Under the teems of the law the
buyer of furs ostensibly pays the
taxes imposed but they are actually
paid by the native hunter and small
trapper, for the reason that the
buyers deduct th<* amount of the tax
from the price offered for skins.
The license provisions apply only to
dealers in furs and anyone.# *■ Juijr
furs for tholi* own use wTiblkit a
license. I understand the natives
have been told they must have a
license to trap fur bearing animals
but this is not so. I also wish to
make it plain to the public that the
new regulations providing that fur
bearing animals may be trapped but
not shot were not promulgated by
the Legislature but were imposed by
the federal government at Washing
ton. I). C. In my opinion they are
I was not a member of the com
mittee which drafted the Alaska fur
tax law and do not know the reasons
aminating its provisions but I be
lieve the next legislature should
amend it. as it tends to create a
monopoly and decrease competition
in the fur business, in addition to
preventing stores from buying cr
trading merchandise for skins. a8
was formerly the case, unless they
pay a buyer’s tax of $25.00. At the
same time Siberian furs can be
handled and shipped without pay
ment of taxes, as the legislature has
no authority to tax imports or ex
1
Yours Very Truly.
E. L. HOLT.
NO AW 1U)V WHITES
FROM GREAT LAKES
TRAINING STATION
George F Laiblin, former Nome
school boy, writing to Ivan Schetke
from the Great Lakes Naval train
ing station at Great Lakes, Illinois,
where he is a student, reports that
he was making excellent progress in
his work at the time the letter was
written (November 10th) and ex
pected to graduate about December
24. George then expected to be
sent to the Pacific naval base at San
Diego. California and later assigned
to the Pacific fleet.
The letter is written on the back
page of the Great Lakes Bulletin,
a breezy little four page paper is
sued semi-weekly, the third page of
which is reserved for writing letters
to the “home folks.” George also
encloses a picture of his company,
Co. 84, 15th P.egt., at work in the
naval station machine shop.
Ifow do you line the Weekly Nug
get? If it suits you, pass It on or
mail it to somebody who might be
come interested in tills part of Alaska,
i The mineral is hero but it takes
| men and capital to get It out. In
terest your best friends by subscrib
ing to the paper for them. We will
TRANSPORTATION SITUATION
ON THE LOWER YUKON RIVER
I'nalakleet. Alaska. Jan. 1. 1922
The old N. C. Co. occupied an im
portant place in the history of Al
aska from the days of the gold ru.d?
to Dawson. The company stores
were established all through Alaska
and in the Yukon Territory, while
its steamers navigated the Yukon
and all her uavigable tributaries,
supplying the people with the com
modities of life. The N'. C. was
born of a union of the old Alaska
Commercial. Seattle-Yukon Trans
portation Co., the Alaska Explora
tion Co., and the Empire Trading Sc
Transportation companies. The
latter companies were competitors or
the old A C. Co. in 1918 but later,
to avoid competition, they combined
under the title of the Norther Com
mercial Company, whose only real
competitor was the N. A. T. Sc T.
Co., the former competitor of the
A C. Co. Following the consolida
tion there was sharp rivalry between
the two companies for several years,
with the X. A. T. Sc T. Co. gradually
withdrawing from the field. Then
the White Pass railroad became a
factor in the river trade and the
Alaska-Yukon Navigation Co. came
into existence and began active com
petition with the X. C. Co. for the
trade of the Yukon. An agreement!
was finally reached between the two1
whereby the N. C. would receive $10 J
for every ton of freight that would ;
come in over the White Pass and;
agreed not to run its boats above j
Tanana This gave the Alaska-Yu-i
kon Navigation Company a strangle
hold on the trade of the upper Yukon
and gave the N. C. Co. a grape vine
twist on the lower Yukon. It was
a nice ‘‘gentleman’s agreement*’—
with the miner, prospector, etc.,
dancing to the music of the gentle
men's fiddle. The agreement con
tinued for several years with the
somewhat paradoxial effect that the
more business the N. C. Co. diverted
from themselves to the A. Y. N. Co.,
the more money they made. The
latter concern finally tired of having
the X. C. clip the coupons and
! bought the transportation end of
that concern. If rumor is correct,
they had not the best of the deal,
as they acquired along with other
things a bunch of stern wheel steam
ers which are gradually sinking into
that state known as "innocuous des
uetude."
The Alaska-Yukon Navigation Co.
thus became the arbiter of transpor
tat ion destinies along the Yukon
and its tributaries through the con-j
tvol—with one exception, of the
means of traffic. The company
then began a sweeping curtailment
of expenses, including the dismant
ilng of St. ichae) in favor of White
Horse as the main A. Y. X. station.
Now St. Michael is but a shadow e»‘
its former self and next summer
promises further curtailment, as the
little freight that is due to come for
up river points will be loaded di
rectly onto the barges and will be
headed up the river without touch
ing St. ichael at all.
The government railroad is about
completed and that, besides making
the A. Y. N. Co. do some hard think
ing. develops another angle in the
transportation problem. As the
road ends at Nenana. it solves the
problem for that section of the coun
try but leaves the Yukon situation
very much unsettled.
The writer has long advocated a
i road across the portage from Kal
i tag to Unalakleet as an important
:aid_to Alaska's commercial and in
dustrial progress. A glance nt
the map will reveal how close Nome
is to the Yukon by way of UnaUk
leet and also disclose how close Kal
tag it to Nenana. with water trans
portation possible all the way. The
ice is usually out of here before the
first of June, and generally does not
form before the middle of November.
The ice leaves the Yukon around
and above Kaltag in ay. ThuH a
road across the portage w'ould mean
a longer season for transportation
than at present. Freight landed at
Kaltag could be handled by the
traders with their own gasoline
boats, as it does not require a great
amount of power to run an empty
barge up the river, while in going
down stream with a load the current
does the work at a less cost than
steam. Under such system, refrig
erating cars could take from a cold
storage plant located at Unalakleet
the reindeer that are now dying of
old age for want of a muket. and
land them in Seattle in better time
and at less cost than can be done
under the crude and wasteful
method the shippers are now com
pelled to employ for lack of a better
way. In short, the merchants of
the Yukon valley could shake hands
across the portage with the mer
chants of Nome; bring to eacl: other
their surplus products; and work to
gether for Alaska's future, and to
gether the transportation monopoly
gether untangle the transportation
monopaly that is holding the Terri
tory in swaddling clothes.
—THOMAS POWERS
Washington—Lincoln
mnen
AMERICAN HI LEGION
Saturday Feb. 18
Roulette
Faro
Black Jack
Craps
Music
Dancing
Vaudeville
Sketches
Big Eats
Fancy Drinks!
Tiger Milk
Snake Juice
Shooting Gallery
and the most unique collection of Prizes
ever offered in Nome
1000 BUCKS WITH THE $1.00 ADMISSION
Come on in you old timers who broke the bank
in ’98—'The roof’s the limit—and we can
take that off
THE ME HIE TIME OF THE YEAH
DON’T MISS IT
(The Observation Post)
Those on the firing* line at our
nation's capital say there is a pros
pect of the bill for Adjusted Com
pensation being put through short
ly. This bill provides several
methods of remunerating the war
time soldier and sailor, notably;
land grants, paid-up insurance, anti
cash payments made on the basis cf
$1. per day for service in America,
and $1.25 for overseas service.
The ever dwindling objectors to
this bill howl and rave of the terrible
blow this will give our treasury—bat
they do not tell us of other lssuea
coming up all the time involving
similar outlays of money over which
these close-fisted ones register not a
murmur of disapproval. This is
what might be termed. "straagNy
interesting."
Aliuioor »TuriK inriuo w*
well fed politicians Is that the sold
ier is a "natural hobo and always
Mrofce." Let's apply a little simple
arithmetic in defence of this charge:
The average pay rate of service men
during the war hovered close to 130
per month. Out of this princely
sum came a compulsory allotment
of $15 to dependants at home; an
other $6 went for War Risk Insur
ance. Jttst these two items alone
reduced the pay check to $9
and how far will $9 per month or
30c a day go in buying the hundred
and one little necessities and com
forts that the service does not sup
ply-smokes, candles, extra cloth
ing. carfares, etc.
Who wouldn’t be as they so nasti
ly express it, “always broke.”
Solemn Oath.
There was a mix-up over Private
Buck's pay. Somebody had drawn
It_at least the Quartermaster had
records to show someone had—but
Private Buck was insistent that it
wasn’t himself.
"All right, “said the officer. "Hold
up your right hand and swear."
Private Buck complied. Holding
his right hand in the air he stated
positively: "Well, this blinkety—
blank * * * ! ! Army never was
any blinkety-blank ***** good
anyway."
New Motto for Coin.
Along with the new Peace dollar
being sent out from the mints, we
suggest another coin bearing the
sterling motto: "Abide With Me.”
With Apologies to AB’s
In days of old when mammal*
Raged up and down the earth.
The mastodon kept on the run
A mortal from his birth;
When lizards big as Murphy’s pig
And turtles like a tub
A-mucking ran—then primal man
Found safety in his club.
These later days, when brown eyes
Beneath a feathered brow.
When things In fur are deadlier,
Or seem so anyhow.
When wide dear gets on her ear
And calls her hub a dub—
Like primal men, the wise man then
Finds safety in his club.
—Douglas Malloch.
Mechanical Research.
"Where is the universal joint?*’
asked teacher.
"In the bootleg," replied the ob
servant pupil.
Don’t fail to show up at that next
Legion meeting, comrades; and
bring a sack of ideas for the big
time in February.
Weather Observation.
The barometer hangs pretty dan
gerously low at that Disarmament
Conference. Looks like a yellow
cloud was bound to cause trouble.
A persistent downpour of complaint
from Europeans' hasn’t helped any
Unless conditions, demands, and de
sires are modified within a few days
there may be violent outbreaks of
the elements.
OBSERVER—Frank Dufresne
Subscribe NOW for the Nome Nugget
INFORMATION WANTED
Mary E. Owen of Lower Arglyla,
Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia, de
sires news of her brother, Charles
B. Owen. Any information thank
fully received.