VOL. II.
RAMPART, ALASKA, \VKDXKSDAY, NOVEMBER 8, l!KO.
N'o. 11
VALDEZ^ ROAD
To Be Put Through to Ram
part This Winter.
Lieutenant Pillsbury of the Road
Commission Forwarding
the Work.
Uev. J. K. llulm, who returned from
a trill across the divide Sunday night,
brought tlic good news that active work
is iieing prosecuted on the road from
Valdez to ltanipart.
Mr. llulm spent Saturday night at
the signal corps’ telegraph construction
camp a mile beyond the divide, and
there learned from Lieutenant Whipple
that it is a certainty the Alaska Road
Commission will open up the Valdez
road to its terminus at Rampart the
present winter.
In order to get this work under way
with the least ixissible delay, the com
mission set apart 110,000 of the meager
road fund then available and Lieutenant
Pillsbury started out from the Valdez
end of the road some time ago to direct
the work in jierson.
The road is to lie made available for
winter service, at least, clear through to
the Yukon lie fore the beginning of next
summer.
In tin* matter of mails alone the o|>en
ing of this route will prove of immense
advantage to interior Alaska. The six
to eight weeks of isolation at the freeze
up and the breakup will lie reduced to
an interruption scarcely jierceptihle,and
nearly all the mail from the I’nited
States will l>e delivered without passing
through foreign territory or !>eing sub
jected to a long and hazardous journey
over remote regions where telegraphic
communication is out of the «piestion.
It is said that the sj»eci locations in the
V call for bids for carrying the mails next
year will Ik* changed from “from Valdez
toTanana” to “from Valdez to Itnin
l*urt.M
Kampart will Ik* made the terminus
of the Valdez mail route. The Taunna,
St. Michael and Nome and the t * 1 lfo..t
services will start here; and of course
the mail from Kagle w ill *1101 the Yukon
at t ircle and come hy KairUihk- to
Kauipart, thereby avoiding the trouble
some Yukon Klats aval keeping to a line
of fro|H**nt travel. It is not tbougbt,
however, tin- riv ♦ r service between I irde
and lCaiup.il t w dl U- di<HO«itifiile»l alto
gether. I.*sal river n.ail will doubtless
Ik* distributed as 111 the |M«t.
The Ojielilllg of tilts r>Hid will also Ik*
of great advantage to the miners in the
matter of lran*|'orting their supplies.
It will leave the Tatiana river At F*4»»
vaua, and will strike all tlii’ im|»*rtant
creeks *> far opened up 111 the K«uiipirt
^ dlatrn t.
Telegraph Line Down.
For several days past the telegraph line was down
somewhere between Fairbanks and the States. It was
reported to have come up late last night.
This morning the line was down somewhere between
Rampart and Glen. Private ('avanaugh started out to
locate and repair the break. The line had not come up
at 3 o’clock this afternoon.
We are unable to give anv outside news.
KUSKOKWIM PARTY
Found No Ground Worth
Locating—Drawbacks
to Prospecting.
('apt. I>. L!. Libby and Chris. dowdy,
who left Nome in July last year for the
Kuskokwim country, returned Monday
morning from that section, says the
Nome Nugget of Sept. 1’7. Chris. Krev
denthal, one of the party, remained on
the upper Kuskokwim to continue pros
pecting.
('apt. Lihhy says that the party found
nothing on the Kuskokwim which they
considered worth staking. Their o|ieru
tions were contimil principally to the
south fork of the river. The men ex
perienced bad luck almost from the
start. They lost their vessel at Kolma
kofskv, and thence they proceeded up
the river in a canvas boat.
One of the greatest drawbacks to pros
jiecting in the Kuskokwim country,
( apt. Lihhy says, is the scarcity of sup
plies. In order to prospect thoroughly
a base of supplies must he established.
This would necessitate placing a regular
steamer on the river and the establish
ment of a trading (post on the upper wa
ters of the Kuskokwim. I'nder present
conditions the prosjiector is kept busy
hustling for grub, and has little time
h it to prospect for gold. ( apt. Libby
thinks that the up|ier Kuskokwim offers
an excellent held (or pros|seting for
placer gold ami ipiart/. as s«sui as it shall
Is* (possible to get ill supplies so that men
can Is- kept steadily at work.
Ia»st June I liris ttowdy bud the mis
fortune to break his leg. and pio-|* ding
wr> rk was greatly hindcr<sI by this fact.
I'apt. I.ibbv saw nothing of Tout
Muekte and the |*urty on Isard the
steamer Ue-earcli, which left t*t. Michael
early in >« pt. uiler for the kuskokwim.
I apt. I.ihhy ami -w.lv. however, c.tine
• nit by way tin ttussian Mission on
the Yukon._
Tliaiiksgii mg -lave pines -.n t be hist
rtiurs<tu\ in >ove>ut«9 This year It
falls *eii the last -lay of Novirfttthvr.
CARIBOU STAMPEDE
Hundreds Crossed Below
Mike Hess Going
South.
Hundreds of caribou have crossed the
\ ukon a few miles below the mouth of
Mike Hess river within the past three
days, and are now stampeding to the
southward.
Branches of Hunter creek have l>een
invaded by the scurrying host, and the
Rampart Indians have gone there in
force to lay in a winter’s stock of meat.
Many of the Indians who were prepar
ing to go to the Ray River country have
faced about and gone up Hunter creek.
Rev. .1. K. Hultn, of St. Andrew’s
Mission, set out accompanied by a lot
of natives last Thursday to visit the
Indian settlement at Minto Lake. When
across the divide the natives met some
of their jK-ople with tin* news of the
passing cariboo, and the whole partv
hastened away to try and intercept the
main herd, with what success has net
been learned. Mr. Huhn returned to
Rampart alone, arriving Sunday night.
John Mi nook yesterday saw four cari
Imiu on t he river ice below ( Ideago er« ek,
four miles above Rampart. He bad but
a .'Jl'-i aliU r gun. and the game, at one
time not more than yards distant,
went their way unmolested.
ott and Mann, of Hunter creek, killed
f*mr on Troublesome, and natives over
there killed sixteen. White hunter* are
going out ill ritiinlier*.
It has not U»en stated whether the
animal* are fat or not, hut e\* r\ <»* e
seems to lit* willing to take them »*n ap
proval, so to >*|«-ak
The eanU'ii will |*»ss to the eastward
of )*airl«tnk», l»ut it is likely lmnf« r« f
that district will thin »mt the l«ai d *«*»ne
what while it is in striking distance.
The cariU’ti in varying iiumU rn vr<*«
U U»w I lie mouth «d Mike lle**s nfi t It* i r
way *»«nh and again hm their return
north in tile lirst and la*t |*arts «»| eu« h
winter This tun*’ then are said to U
n*ore numerous than for several yearw
pat.
NO MAIL YET
Mail Left Eagle Nov. 2 in
Small Boat.
It Will Get Here When It Comes,
That’s All—Its Arrival Can Not
Be Foretold.
Carrier John Palm started from Tan
ana Xov. 1 with twenty pounds of local,
lower river and Nome mail, and arrived
at Kampart Nov. 3, making excellent
time, conditions considertd. He started
n|i river Xov. 5, to meet farrier l'aul
Schultz, who is supposed to he headed
this way with mail which left Eagle (Jet.
14 in a small tioat. When Mr. Schultz
left here Oct. Ill to meet the Eagle mail,
he believed it had been aide to reach
Kort Yukon, at least, by water.
Manager Duncan of the N. ('. Co. has
received notification that mail again left
Eagle Nov. in a small boat, with clear
water ahead. It is not likely this batch
made much distance by water.
Carrier Palm was supposed to turn
back on meeting ('airier Schultz and of
course they are expected any moment.
In fact the river has been scanned con
stantly for a week past in expectancy of
Mr. Schultz’s appearance around the
l end. Weather has been stormy, how
ever, and there is no way of knowing
what difficulties have been met w ith on
the way.
Nov. Id, l'.N>4, Alvin I’axson and Fred
Harper arrived in Kampart with the
lirst down-hound winter mail of that
year. They had been absent something
like twenty days without anything being
heard from them; and when it is re
membered that tin* mail had been hourlv
expected for more than a week before
they proceeded up river on Oct. -S, some
idea may he had of the uncertainty of
mail matters at this season of the year.
It is 11He- that an up-river carrier had
blundered that time in a manner not
likely tola1 repeatisl; hut even an, acci
dents may happen and progress at U -t
is uncertain.
I'axsou and llar|sr were row-nimbly
careful men, but they went through the
ice and narrowly cscu|>«a| drowning.
Weather Conditions
NnvrinU r I «t 1*,*;
2ft; “ — *1
— 2; “ — iW
— 4; •• —17
U; •• — S
tf; • — *
— 1; *•
>lH*«iull, H 75 |IH'hr«.
NilmUr *l*iw—4 U*tt*lv \ |*iitU
rh iiily I. t W «ir I.
Uku I: %»*«,
\ "luhlary Iftwrvvv.
\i»\»mU r 2—
N«*vfinU r .1
Novemlirr 1—
\«»Vr|»iU‘f *V—
NovniiUt iV—
NnvrmUr 7—