Discovery
Miner Believes Law Makers Con
templated the Equivalent of the
Annual Labor Now Exacted in
Order to Hold a Claim.
Rampart, Alaska, Jan. 28, 1907.
Editor Yukon Valley News:
On the 10th day of May next it will
he 35 years since our general mining
laws went into effect. Poes it not seem
strange that something should not have
been established in that time whereby
the prospector might know whether or
not he had performed the necessary
amount of labor to constitute a legal
discovery? for be it known that on this
point hangs the individual's right to
sever a piece of mineral land from the
public domain, namely, a discovery. It
is evident that the law was intended to
make a man dig in the earth for miner
als, for it says “In order to develop the
mineral resources of the l nited States,
be it enacted”—then follows the law
requiring a discovery. No doubt the
most of us will agree that a piece of wild
land can not be develojied into a mine
without doing some digging. That being
a fact, the question is, How much dig
ging did the law makers intend to entitle
a man to a piece of ground—say twenty
acres—as a reward for his development?
That many minds differ as to what
amount of digging is necessary is evi
denced by a long line of court decisions
on the subject, one of recent date being
handed down by the judge of the Third
Judicial division to the effect that 13
cents was not necessarily a discovery. It
seems to me to be a correct statement in
some instances, but not in all. As an
illustration: one man places some gold
in a muck bank ami another takes a
pan and washes it out: has there been
any development of the mineral re
sources? I would say not. Again: two
men sink holes to bedrock; one discov
ers pay, the other colors; are they not
both entitled to a reward? Roth have
developed the mineral resources, and be
the results of their efforts much or little
they are equally deserving their piece of
ground. As I look at the law, it was
not intended to reward a man for what
we term his good luck and punish him
for Ins misfortune, but rather to reward
him for his honest efforts.
Rut to return to the subject of what is
a legal discovery: l,et me introduce
another subject to answer this question.
We all know that the law provides that
in order to le>ld an unpatented piece of
ground there must !*■ at least one Inin
Mike Engels
(Sourdough Mike)
FREIGHTING
and PACKING
To all the Creeks
TrrroxowrrroiTimroTroTroTrroTrinnr'ff
HOT SPRINGS TRADING POST
HOT SPRINGS, ALASKA.
Full line of General Merchandise. Our stock is fresh and of the very best
quality. We carry no inferior goods in any line. Prices right. We are
after your business. LET US FIGURE WITH YOU.
F. C. MANLEY, PROPRIETOR
drod dollars' worth of improvements
done each year, and when that is done
that legally holds the claim until one
year from the following January, when
another assessment would he due.
Now, this is also the ease when a discov
ery and new location is made. Then, a
discovery is-equal to an assessment, or
vice versa. Then, sir, what was in
tended as a legal discovery was an effort
of at least one hundred dollars in devel
oping the mineral on the new claim, and
trying to swipe twenty acres of the
public property for a less effort pro-,
duces law suits. S. K. Ill'DSON.
Far North
Land of Flowers — Great Numbers
Reindeer and Caribou Provide
Food and Clothing for Natives.
Eskimos Do Not Cook.
“The Eskimo* that I met in King
William Kami have no facilities for
cooking, and live entirely on raw meat
and fish, not being at all particular
about having them fresh,” said Captain
Uoald Amundsen, successful navigator
of the northwest passage, in New York
a couple of months ago. “I saw about
a thousand Eskimos in all. Several of
the tribes had never seen any white men
before our arrival. Tin y were generally
inclined to 1h* timid at the start but
they soon grew friendly.
■*! have read somewhere that the lan
guage they *|>enk is very simple and
easy to learn. That is not my impres
sion. It seems very eomplicated and
unusually dittieult. We were only able
to communicate by signs,ami we learned
very few words. In the seetion of the
north where I *|wnt most of the time
the natives use deerskins almost exclu
sively for clothing—not sealskins, as the
Eskimo* do in t * recti land One reason
for this, probably, is lieeatise they ilu
not get the big seal* that are eaught in
tireetdaml. but a very -mall sjaides, and
they require all the -kins they get for
making their tent'* and canoes
“Tla-re are lots of reindeer ami curtlsm
in that -ection, and with ordinary suc
cess in their hunting the trilws procure
what they need without much difficulty.
On my s|«m>|». the li)*m, we always had
plenty of fresh meat ami tWh, »*f c*atr*e
there Were no vegetables We K\o|
comf«.itahlv ami all kept well, with the
exception of oi*e man. who die*I
I have taken a great tin in her of ph»»
tographs,” continued the captain, “and
I shall he able to show the exact scenes
that I witnessed. The land almost
everywhere is low and barren, with
plenty of deer moss. There were vast
fields of little flowers—yellow, white and
red—often extending as far as the eye
could reach.”
Miscellaneous Items.
liockefellow gave the Chicago Uni
versity 13,000,000 for a New Year’s
present, making liis total benefactions
to the institution 110,426,109.
W. \V. 1!. Mclnnis, commissioner for
Yukon territory, lias resigned in order
to stand for election to parliament,
either from Victoria or Ksquimault, 1!. C.
“Why are you late for breakfast, sir?”
asked Bobby’s father, as the boy slid
quietly into his chair. “Well, you see,”
explained Bobby, “when you called me
I was having a mighty funny dream,
and 1 just slept a few minutes longer to
finish it.”
The minds of prominent men in Fargo,
N. !>., were nundi relieved by the find
ing of the coroner that Calvin (rood, a
colored pugilist who was killed by a 1
knockout blow by James Gaines before
a social meeting of the F.lks’ lodge,
would soon have died anyhow.
Frank G. Manley, the big placer op
erator, was on the hig ocean liner Penn
sylvania, which arrived at Seattle Dec.
2S nine days overdue from Valdez. The
steamer’s boilers began to leak and she
was unable to make time. A heavy
storm aggravated her troubles. She
was almost given up for lost by people
of Seattle.
In a recent study on juvenile crime
Charles Kiehniond Henderson, professor
of sociology, told a story of a youngster
who was asked if lie knew the meaning
of “regenerate.” "It means to lie I torn
again.” “And would you like to lie
born again?" “No sir-reel” exclaimed
the I~>y ; “I ni 11to much afraid of Is-iug
Itorn a girl.”
Here is an effective piece of dramatic
criticism suid t<> have (teen printed in a
rural |m|»-r in Indium. A raw coni|a»ny
mi the “kerosene circuit" played ” llani
Ict," ami the next day the editor wrote ;
“Mr. St .a nt l*o ami his cttnqtany played
'Hamlet' in the town hall last night It
was a great sts-ial event anti all the elite
ttf our fair village attended. There has
laen a It'iig tli-cuasion as to whether
Huron or Shakespeure wrote the play,
commonly altritaiteil to >hake*|t*are.
It ran eustlv !«• settled now lari the
graves •>( the two writers la* ola-ncd.
The one who Hinted over laat night is
the author."
The Temiskaming & Northern Ontario
railroad, a government-owned line in
Ontario, Canada, has netted the prov
ince about $180,000 for the year just
ended. Unaided capital would have
passed up the road as a nonpaying in
vestment, and therefore the benefit to
the communities served is one of the
things emphasized by advocates of gov
ernment ownership.
('apt. John .1. Healy, who was con
nected with a project to exploit the
Kuskokwim hut which resulted in the
company going into the hands of a
receiver last fall, still looks on that
section as a second Yukon valley and
predicts that the Kuskokwim will be
opened some day and proven a rich re
gion. a great producer, and a marvel to
many who now little dream of it.
Major ,1. F. A. Strong, editor of the
Dawson News in the flush times of the
Canadian camp and founder of the
Nugget at Nome, lias started a paper at
(ireenwater, Cal., where the (luggen
heims have a big copper mine. He says
(Ireenwater will lie a second Butte, and
that as soon as possible the (iuggen
heims will add to the plant already
there, which will make the production
of the camp run far into the millions.
Mattienzo Cintron, sjieaker for the
delegates and leader of the unionist
party in Porto Kico, sharply criticised
President BoosevelUs message to con
gress where it has reference to Porto
Biro. He said that to grant to the Porto
Bicans United States citizenship with
out self government is impossible of
acceptance. But should it become a
fact it would lie the hour to say to the
jieople of Porto Kico, “Prepare your
selves to win your liberty" with sword
and gun.” The sentiment is indorsed
ipiite largely and is clearly meant for
what it ap]a>ars,a threat of revolt under
certain circumstances. Pending the
granting of citizenship such talk can not
be treated as sedition ; but it has lieen
plainly intimated to the unionist leader
that a re|H tition of his statements will
subject him to arrest and incarceration
for stirring up revolt.
The
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lim*
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