Yukon Valley News
Issued every Wednesday.
S. E. Heetkr.Proprietor
Sam J. Callahan.Manager
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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 1904.
The Congressional Record makes
Senator Kuute Nelson say that in
certain Alaska valleys there are im
mense quantities of wild grapes.
The senator was not deceived by
the fields of native blueberries, as
people might infer; he intended the
Record to say “grasses.”
Koyukuk is said to be dull. On
the whole the operations the past
season were not satisfactory. This
is a disappointment. When the
time comes that supplies can be
had there at reasonable prices the
result, it is hoped, will fully justify
ioimer expectations.
Rampart district is getting a
prospecting now that can but re
sult in success. The only question
is one of degree. In several in
stances men are already at work
on new creeks taking out their
winter grubstakes, and in every
part of the distiict prospectors are
at work with an enthusiasm not
heretofore manifested. There is
scarcely an idler in the district.
Fairbanks district and Fair
banks town are going ahead: in
the judgment of the best informed
men in the country they are al
ready beyond the experimental
stage and well into the realm of
actuality. And yet until some time
after the liuotu had been fairly
launched in not a single instance
had what could justly be termed
••pay” been located. Surroundings
denoted that the money was there
and when men could get supplies
they soon found it.
Loots K. I’RATT. an ardent re
publican, during bis stopover in
kampart last week, was induced
to speak of his impressions regard
ing the political campaign in the
States. *‘Ot course it was too early
in the campaign when I irlt to form
a settled opinion." be said, "but it
looks like 1’arker might l«e elet ted
Indeed, if there is not a change in
sentiment l»etween now and elec
tion 1 am afraid that is what will
happen. The great business inter*
esls lavor him and organized labor
will probably be hit him or waste
tt» votes a third parly There
are really no issues, and the cam
patgu wiU probably degenerate into
a huge mud-throwing contest. At
the St. Louis convention, although
his policy was defeated in every
move, Bryan was 'the whole thing,’
and during periods of uproar he
was the only one who could re
store order. They simply would
not listen to any one else.” Should
the democrats win it will be the
clearest case of whipping the devil
by coinciding with him that has
been recorded in some time.
Tiik tenth census, taken in 1880,
gives the number of white inhab
itants of Alaska as 430. In the
decade from 1S80 to 1890 this num
ber had increased to 4,798, and in
the following decade, that between
| 1890 and 1900, a further increase to
30,493 is recorded. The director of
the mint in his report for 1891 gives
the value of the yield of the terri
tory in precious metals as $772,197.
By 1900 these figures were increased
to $8,265,772. Considering the re
markable influx of population which
is now taking place and the vast
amount of energy being applied to
the goldfields of the interior, who
would dare to estimate the popula
tion and the output of the mines
for 1910?
I
Pacific Coast and Puget Sound
'cities are doing quite a lot of
Alaska business, so to speak. Their
newspapers regularly chronicle the
arrival of steamers from the north,
and omit not to mention the amount
of treasure with which they are
laden; they even go so far as to
make personal mention of people
who go out there to spend their
money. Business men of the cities
alluded to are not jostling each
other, however, in order to improve
the orchard w hence comes the gol
den fruit. The Alaska Central
railroad, when it finally secures
the necessary capital to complete
its lire, may cause them to realize
a little late, per'aps—that there is
something doing both in the inte
rior and on th: coast of Alaska.
TO BRIDGE GRANITE.
Granite creek is to be bridged.
Recently Messrs. Thumm and Bel
sea were discussing the need of a
.bridge where the tiail crosses that
stream a mile and a half from 106
roadhouse. S. E. Heeler joined
in the conversation, and naming a
certain amount said if the gentlemen
would raise the money he would
build the bridge They took the
cue. headed a subscription, passed
it around, and the money was
qnicklv raised.
Mr. Heeler will build the bridge
and make it wide enough for a
double team and substantialem ugh
for any ordinary load.
Glaciers have interfered seriously
with traffic at that point in the
past and the movement inaugurated
by Mesars. Tkunn anil HeUea will
result in a great eouvenmme to the
public
ALASKA CENTRAL
IS PROGRESSING
Road to be Completed to the
Yukon in Three Years.
A Nome dispatch printed in the
Dawson Daily News of Aug. io
says:
Advices from Seward, on Resur
rection bay, Ceok inlet, the starting
point of the Alaska Central rail
! road, are to the effect that work on
the road is actively under way and
that it will be continued during the
entire winter.
Those who assume to know some
thing concerning the plan of the
, company state that the road will be
| certainly pushed through to the
i Yukon and that it will be com
| pleted within three years.
A letter received recently in
[ Nome from Seward says that a con
| siderable number of men are em
ployed in construction work and
railroad supplies are being received
on nearly every steamer reaching
that port.
The town of Seward, however, is
not at all a pretentious one, and the
writer of the letter thinks that con
siderable railroad building will have
to be actually accomplished before
the town assumes anything like an
air of prosperity.
The harbor is said to be a very
good one, and in the event of the
railroad being completed, Seward,
and not Valdez, will be the metrop
olis of southwestern Alaska
The following clipping from a
Spokane paper was giver, us by a
friend. The paper’s date is un-!
known:
John E. Ballaii e, of Seattle, pres
ident of the Tanana Construction
Co., which is building the Alaska
Central railroad, has been in Spo
kane two days, conferring with
capitalists here who are interested
>n the Alaska Central enterprise.
I He returned to the coast last night.
Mr. Hallaine was a former resident
of Spokane, an<l his boyhood was
passed in Whitman county.
woik on tne Alaska Central ts
I progressing rapidly,” said Mr. Bal
latne. "Twelve miles are completed
and in operation, and we shall have
21 miles in operation l>eloreSept. i.
W e count on having not less than
40 miles of grading finished and
ready for the rails before winter.
We shall push construction through
to the Tanana river, summer and
winter, and complete the whole
load within about three years. The
toad will be nearly 500 miles long
and will represent an investment of
about fH ueo.MN).
"One hundred and thutyftve
miles inland from the coast termi
nus at Seward we tap the richest
and most extensive coalfields west
IOCI8 K. PRATT,
Attorney- at L,aw,
Fairbanks, Alaska
J. LINULRT GRJSKN, "'***""
Lawyer.
Office at the Courthouse.
OFPICE OF
Commissioner and Recorder
Rooms 1 and i. Courthouse
The Boston Store
Our Mr. P. KAFFENBURGH is
now in the States selecting the
season’s stock.
It will be complete, as it has
always been.
I. KAFFENBURGH & CO.
Heeter’s Pack Train
Leaves for Glen Every
Five Days.
Freighting and Packing
To and From All
the Creeks.
Good Teams.
Good Service
of the Mississippi river. Much of
it is a true anthracite. The seams
in Chieoloon creek, as they stand
ju the bluffs, measure a total of 264
feet. That coalfield will supply the
coal markets of the Pacific ocean,
for it is the highest grade of coal
known on either the American or
Asiatic side. It runs from 69 to 80
per cent, fixed carbon, as against
50 to 54 for Washington coal.
“The road also opens the placer
gold districts of interior Alaska, and
will have copper properties in three
districts with ore as high as 24 per
cent. pure. The northern terminus
is the Tanana goldfields.
“The southern harbor is as open
every day in winter as Puget sound
and has terminal facilities for a city
of auy size.
The money for the building of
the road is supplied by a syndicate
of Chicago capitalists headed by the
Sbedd brothers.’’
!>awson News, Aug. IJ: One o(
the finest ami largest nuggets ever
found i»n Ktdorado creek pro|>er has
; heen taken of late from Clarence
Berry’* famous claim. No. 6. The
' nugget weigh* 13 tanen and i*
pure gold This nuggel, like the
seven-pound nugget taken from the
mouth of French gulch a few weeks
ago. t» flit in shape, with the cor
ner* worn smooth, this indicating
abrasion and attrition in age* pn»l.