The Alaska prospector. [volume], May 15, 1902, Image 1

About The Alaska prospector. [volume] (Valdez, Alaska) 1902-1908

Image provided by: Alaska State Library Historical Collections

                
FI SOI] CHIOS.
(H R PRESENT ASSORTMENT OK
Choice Groceries
INCLUDES THE FAMOUS
HOLLY Flour, MONOPOLE Brand Canned Fruits and Vegetables, HEINZ’
Celebrated Pickles and Preserves, CROSSE & BLACKWELL’S Chow
Chow. GOLD SHIELD Coffee, SCHILLING’S BEST Tea, WALDORF’S
Canned Vegetables and SILVER SHIELD Dried Fruits.
We Recognize
that the day
of
LARGE
PERCENTAGE
has passed.
Ami that the SI ('( K'SKl I, MKBCIIAXT is the one who does a large volume of business on
a small margin of profit.
Acting upon this prin-iple we have marked our entire stock to show a less advance on cost
than would lie possible with i smaller volume of trade.
Buyers, therefore, who would consult their interests will understand the importance of in
specting our stock and comparing prices before purchasing elsewhere.
[ Merit will tell
I The truth of this saying has been proven
1 by the wonderful success of
CRARY’S COMPOUND COUGH SYRUP
In all eases of Cough’s Colds, etc. It is our ab
solutely genuine preparation that
Has merit.
Buy a bottle of it now. Try it.and if not absolute
ly satisfactory to you. the money will lx* refunded.
THE VALDEZ PHARMACY
H.T. WHITLEy, GEO. J. LOVE
Merchants Cafe
AND
13a ke ry.
MEALS AT ALL HOURS. OPE/M ALL NIGHT
NOWHERE
1
Between the
Rising
and
Setting Sun.
i. 1 >'l,lH*rior >*Kill. No work too intricate; no watch
too coinpli* at- d for us to repair. Nugget jewelry made to
order. Nml in your nu^eth ami watches by mail or carrier.
If your eyesight gets dim.
Wisely at Stull’s step in.
His glasses will make your sight bright,
I1 it and Prices ton, will l>e right.
"(•uard Well Your Kves, Sight is Priceless”
W. C 5TULL,
Jeweler, Optician, Kxjurt Watelunaker ami Diamond Setter.
_ VALDEZ
NEWS FROM KENAI.
_
Redoubt Again Spouting. Super
intendents of Canneries
Arrive.
Kenai. May t>—Mount. Redoubt
lias been spouting forth tire and
brimstone, as I suppose you know,
for the past two months, but the!
heaviest blow-out oeeured on the
evening of the .‘ird inst., almut ti
p. in., and the whole of the oppo
site side of the inlet was hidden
from our view by smoke. About 7
p. m. we notiecd a dense streak of
smoke coining toward us and ashes
liegan to fall. They fell as thick
and fast as snow and continued to
do so for over two hours. The
houses and ground were a dirty
gray in the morning, Since then,
what with snow and fog, i have
not lieen able to see the mountains
sufficiently even with my glasses,
to remark any change in appear
ance of the mountain. Mt. Re
doubt is about oO miles distant
and i> a Uautinil sight when in
eruption.
We have succeeded in interest
ing the postal authorities to ask
for bids for a w inter mail service
from Homer, ami the advertising
bulletins have lieen posted for the
past month, so the bills leave on
this mail, to In* in Washington by
June dt). for a four years contrae'.
We hope to have communication
with tin* outside world the year
around hereafter.
Mining industries here seem to
In* picking up a great deal. Quite
a numlier of prosjiectors have al
ready arrived and all the compan
ies on Kusiloff and Kenai lakes
and rivers are bringing in new men
and machinery.
We have had a very mild winter
and a jdeasant sjiripg, whether in
fluenced by old Redoubt ‘'spouting”
tire and brimstone, it is bard to
tell.
From present indications fishing
((Viifluutti «»u Foilrili I'ngt*.)
MADE BY THREE MUSHERS
PROM NOME
Over a Dum Hail Trail
_ i
And One Man Looses His Life. A
Sad Story of Death and
Hardships.
A story of hardships, misfortune
and death, which happened on the
"horse trail” and proposed railwav
line from Illiatnna to Nome, was
told to a Pkosi’kctoh reporter on
the arrival of the steamer Excelsior
from the westward last Tuesday,
that was caused hy the misrepre
sentation of the Trans-Alaska
company, and it is a wondir that
more people have not lost their
lives on the trail, through the mis
leading advertisements of that
company and its managers.
Mr. ('lias. E. Lowe, of Paso
Koliles. Cal., an old time Yukoner,
wlio is well known in Dawson and
Nome; Dr. H. B. Miller, of What
com, Wash., and J. M. Griswold,of
Louisville, Kv., also well known
prospectors of the North, are the
victims. Dr. Miller died on the
trail and is huricd in that bleak,
barren country, and the two others,
after living for twenty-seven days
on dog meat, were picked up by a
party who was mushing through
the country, and with the assist
ance of two natives were taken to
Illiamna hay, where they secured
passage on the steamer Excelsior
for Seattle.
These men claim that their suf
fering and hardships and thedeath
of their partner, Dr. Miller, is due
solely to the Trans-Alaska com
pany. the manager of which had
assured them, at Nome, that there
was a good trail, with men travel
ing over it at all times, and road
houses every thirty miles, with
plenty of provisions for accomoda
ting all travelers.
On this information the men
started from Nome on Fell. 23, with
hut enough bedding and provisions
to do them in case of emcrgencv,
depending on the road-houses for
food and shelter.
For twenty days they had fine
traveling and good weather and
made exceedingly fast time. On
March 14th, the weather changed,
however, and it commenced to blow
and snow, and it became exceed
ingly cold For four days they en
deavored to travel through the
snow looking for a road-house, hut
could not find one. At the end of
the four days they were compelled
to crawl into their sleeping hags,
and with no tire and just a little
dried fish to eat, they lay on the
snow for three days, not daring to
face the storm.
Their troubles now commenced.
The provisions gave out entirely,
and in order to he able to reach a
roadhouse or Indian camp, they
hud to throw away all their cloth
ing, bedding, sleds and a pouch of
private mail, much of which was of
considerable value. It was then a
case of life and death with these
mushers and they could carry no
thing.
For twenty-eight days they jour
neyed on toward the timber for
shelter, all the time looking for the
advertised roadhouses, or for In
dians’ caches which they had heard
aland. On March 24th they com
menced to kill and eat their dogs
ami for the next twenty-two days
lived on dog meat entirely, the re
maining dogs eating the hides and
offal.
On Marrli 2Xth |)r. Miller nave
nut entirely and fell in an exhaust
ed condition, and they went into
camp under a spruce tree on *eight
feet of snow. Here their axe hlade i
slipped off the handle and was lost
in the deep snow. After this it j
was with jrrent difficulty that they
obtained wood.
Mr. I .owe left histwoconipaninns
here and started alone to hunt for j
the natives’caches, where he had i
been told by the Illiainna com-,
puny that there was tish cached, to j
Ik- used in eases of emergency. lie!
traveled for four days and found
several cabins, hut not a hit of fish
or provisions of any kind. At one
time lie fell and bruised his shoul
der so severely that he could hardlv
travel on account of the pain. lint
still he went on. and finally, find
ing nothing, returned to camp. Dr.
Miller was rapidly growing weaker
from hunger and exposure, and on
April the 2nd he died verv pen*
fully, and his companions buried
him the next day. as best they
could.
April t In* llth the two remaining
men. Lowe ami (iriswold reached
1 ikehik lake, ami here they fro/e
their feel quite severely. Thcv re
mained at this place several davs
and at last one of the employees of
the 1 rans-Alaskan company came
along and gave them all the pro
visions he had, which was on!v a
small amount, ami then started to
Mnlchatna river. Ho miles a wav.
for help. He secured a sled team,
horse and two natives. Mr. (iris
wold was so weak that he had to
he tied to the horse, ami to add to
his other injuries, the horse fell
once with him. crushing his frozen
foot. He fainted several times and
was finally carried into Illiamna
completely exhausted.
1 hey had to pay the company
*150 for taking them the do miles,
hut were glad to get out at anv
cost. They were mere skeletons
when they reached Illiamna. ami
parties who saw them say it was a
pitiable sight. They weighed 75
pounds each, less than half their
usual weight. Their clothes were
in tatters and burned full of holes
from hugging camp tires. Mr.
(irisWohl will lose eight toes and
possibly part of both foot. Mr.
Lowe froze his feet quite badly, hut
may save them.
Mr. Lowe is well known by a
number of people in ibis place ami
at Slate creek. He and his com
panions are old time mushers. and
would not have started from Nome
with such a small outfit, had it not
been represented to them hv the
manager of tin-company.that there
were roadhouses every thirty miles
on the trail with good accomoda
tions and plenty of provisions.
Alaska License Money.
Incorporated towns in Alaska
may secure all taxes collected with
in their limits for municipal pur
poses. As flu- law now stands only
half tin- taxes collected arc avail
able, and this sum must be used
for school purposes.
Word has been received that tin
house committee has favorable re
ported the bill to give all license
money collected to the municipali
ties.
Alaska has seven incorporated
towns. Valdez. Nome, Skagway,
Juneau. Douglas (’itv, Ketchi
kan and Treat 1 well.
Uneven Exchange.
Send us three dollars ami we
will semi you the Prospector for
one year. This is not an even ex
change. You get much more than
your money’s worth, yet we lose
nothing.
i
fUffi ffilfi
TO PACKING COMPANY TO
BUILD
Old Whaling Co's Claim to Part of
Townsite is Now With
drawn.
The eitv council met in regular
session at the city hall last Mon
day evening. Mayor .1. L. Steels
was in the chair.
Several hills were ordered paid
for street work, ami the committee
on streets reported that they had
several men and teams at work
repairing the streets in different lo
calities.
At! ordinance granting the Pa
cific Packing >V Navigation Co. a
franchise to build a wharf at the
foot of Broadway, was passed with
only one dissenting vote. Council
man Me I lie voting in the negative,
’•'he wharf is to occupy one half of
Broadway hehnv Front street.
I'he proposition of the I’. 1*. it N.
Co., made to the eitv throng)) May
or Steele to relinquish any claim
of theirs to blocks Sand !l, providing
the town would give them twenty
unoccupied lots as near McKinley
street and the property they claim,
as possible, was discussed, and on
motion was accepted, Councilman
Mi llie voting in the negative.
This agreement of the company
has been signed by Vice-President
I'. B. Mettovert), for the company,
and by Mayor Steele on In-half of
tin-eitv. The elaini of the com
pany to this property is now re
linquished in writing and all that
now remains to be done is for their
agent. Mr. J. C. Martin, and Mayor
Steele, to select the lots.
This is certainly the In st way in
which tile town could settle the ad
verse claim of the Packing Co. to a
portion of ihr town-site. The lota
to he selected could he taken up by
the company anyhow, and they are
all in locations when* other parties
would not care for property. They
are now lying idle and it.e town is
receiving no henetit from them.
The company will have to improve
the lots in order to hold them, the
-anie as anv individual would, and
will have to pay taxes on the hits
and improvements.
This was a good stroke of policy
on tlie part of Mayor Steele. It
was through his efforts that the
company 1 is relinquished their
claim to some of the best property
in Valdez, and the mayor certainly
deserves the thanks and apprecia
tion of our citizens.
%
Pound Two Bodies.
The natives of Kvak while on a
hunting expedition during the win
ier. at the head-of Hraxiita bay,
discovered a small sail boat thrown
up on the lieach, containing two
dead men and a mattress.
The natives claim that the men
were soldiers, but all the soldiers
who have deserted from this jmst
are known to have succeeded in
getting out of the country. Two
years ago two soldiers tttok Adam
Swan’s Isiat, but left it at House
island and got out on a revenue
cutter. It is imjiossible to ascer
tain who the men fviund by the In
dians could have been, as the infor
mation given by them is very
meagre.
If you are in the market to buy
I real estate, mines or business ol
any kind call on A. Holman,