Seward weekly gateway., September 22, 1906, Image 1

About Seward weekly gateway. (Seward, Alaska) 1905-1914

Image provided by: Alaska State Library Historical Collections

                
VOL. Ill, NO. <>.
STATION MEN
GET CONTRACTS
Easy Grading for Several Miles
Through Placer Valley Sub
let This Week.
WILL REQUIRE LITTLE TIME
Officials Hope to Extend Track to
Tornagain Arm This fall if
Good Weather Continues.
Contracts have been let to station
men for part of the railroad grade in
Placer valley, and if enough sub-con
tractors can be found the entire dis
tance will Ik* lot from mile 57 to tilt ex
cept some portions that are already
done. Contractor Welch was out in
the valley this week with station
men who have just completed con
tracts on miles 51-52 near “the loop.
Several contracts were made anti
others will l>o arranged within a day
or two.
Kail road otlleials are still hopeful
that it a small additional number of
men can be secured immediately am
they are favored with a late fall
the rail terminus can he pushed j
through to Turnugain arm by the end
of the year. Very little heavy grading
is incomplete thi- side of mile **7.
where the rock work begins on the
Arm. Much of that is already done
hut pvogre— will be slow after is
reached, until summer, when two
>hift> can be worked.
Fast Work on Trestle
It is now calculated that the high
1400-foot tre-':e ju-t beyond the hrst
tunnel on mile 4!* will be finished by
October 15. A railroad man said a
day or two ago that Watson and Snow
were surprising themselves by the
speed of the work. On mile 50 is the
heavy rock cut which has been a
menace for many weeks and on which
progrt" ha- been very -low but Mr.
Welch state- that two shift- will be i
worked -oon if nece—ary to finish the j
cut in time to avoid delay to tracklay
ing after the big tr'-tie is built. 1 wo 1
trestle- on the loop and a bridge
across the Placer river at the entrance
to tunnel 2 can 1k* con-troctet 1 ir. short i
order, so that track can belaid through !
all the tunnels na !e\v weeks after
got - through the rock cut on mile 50.
On mile 54 a ll«k)-foot trestle will!
lit s :i stretch of gravel over which :
grade wa- made la.-' fall but washed;
out by summer tlooe- this year. The
pilt-tlriver i- now driving |■'!< - ft*r a
dike to div« : the -tv* in.- whit-it loot
the valley in h; •» water. A ‘ i'** tim
bers for the tre-tl were sledded to
the ground last winter and the pile
driver will have them in place by the
time the track can reach tie- in-tie.
so that only the decking will remain
to Ik* done, just ahead of the rails.
Station Work Easy
Beyond this gravel land on miles
*>4-55 b« giii> the station work on mile
*>ti. It is all dirt work and can be done
rapidly. The line runs for several
mile- on a tangent through a tundra
which is often covered with water.
Trenches have been dug to drain thi
and the ground is uow dry enough to
work. Some portions of the grade art'
already .ion. and the piles across
stream-, sloughs and swamps are all
driven. A dirt grade will be thrown
up by the station men and next year a
gravel train will make a solid roadbed.
From Twenty-mile river, on mile til*,
to t*7 a first-cla-s dirt grade has l*een
ready for the rails since last fall.
LIGHT SHINES THROUGH
TUNNEL NUMBER SEVEN
The rock wall between daylight and
the breast of the heading in tunnel
number 7 of the railroad, on mile •>•!,
was blown out yesterday afternoon.
The bench, or lower half, will be out
in two week-., or a little later. Tun
nels 1 and ti will be finished in about
the same time, justifying the predic
tion made months ago by the men in
charge that tunnel boring would not
delay tracklaying. The rails will not
reach the six tunnels on for a
month and perhaps two months after
they art1 completed.
Tunnel numl>er 1. on mile 49, is
practically complete and the track is
already laid nearly to the south portal.
Numerous cases of negro peonage
have been discovered lately among the
planters of Louisiana.
IBANK TO HAVE
FINE QUARTERS
Seward’s Financial Institution
Will Soon Occupy New
Structure.
HAS ALL MODERN EQUIPMENTS
Buildinq Is Fireproof and Said To
Have Most txpensive Interior
in Alaska Territory.
Within a few weeks the Hank of
Seward will be settled in its new build
ing at tiie northwest corner of Fourth
avenue and Adams street, a structure
which is said to be the finest in its in
terior equipment in Alaska.
Had not the steamer Oregon been
wrecked with the steam heating plant
of the bank building aboard the bank
would have been able to begin business
in its new quarters by October 1. A
j duplicate of the shipwrecked plant was
promptly ordered, by wire by the con
tractor. .1. \V. Spencer, and is ex
' pee ted to be sent on the steamer Santa
Clara, sailing from Seattle next Mor.
: day.
The new bank building is of cement
blocks, and was erected by the Seward
Construction *V Development Company.
It is 2*»xtH) feet, two stories high, with
basement under the whole structure
partly above ground with windows
giving perfect light. The building is
tire proof, containing very little wood
work. The roof is of tar and gravel.
A large vault is on the first floor and
! in the basement, each to be lighted by
| electricity, ;t> the whole building will
be.
The fixtures are very expensive.
President Hale personally selected
them and they are a> handsome as can
j be found in any city. The railings are
! of oak. with mottled marble tablets in
j the tellers'windows and on the man-j
T*-l.s. Bach floor has a modern lava- j
: tory and washbowls are in the office ^
i rooms upstairs. Hot and cold water
I will be supplied to the entire building.
In the front of the bank room, at the
right of the entrance is the presi
dent's office. Back of the bank room
l is the vault and directors' room. In
: the rear of the building is the office of
! the Seward Townsite Company and of
! Frank L. Ballaine. < >n the second
floor are -ix office rooms.
Tin steam heating plant will be
located in the rear of the basement.
; Aside from that no present use has
j b* > n n-signed,to the basement room.
Having a large vault it is well adapted
for a public office which has extensive
! records requiring safe keeping.
TRY JEWS BY
COURT MARTIAL
(Survivors of Massacre Arraigned
Before Officers Vv ho
Incited Slaughter.
B7 Cable to The Dally Gateway.
London. Sept. Is Advices received j
from Warsaw state that 2(H) Jews ar
1 rested during the massacre at Siedice
i are being tried by a field court martial
i composed of the army officers who in*
j stigated the slaughter. It is the evident
j intention to convict and execute them
j upon the charge that they incited the
I terrorist attack on the police which
| led to the massacre.
Eminent Jews of this city today is
sued an appeal to the world to save
i their compatriots by appeal to the
J Russian government.
SUNK IN MUD UNTIL
ONLY HEAD WAS FREE
By Cable to The Daily Gateway.
j Seattle. Sept. 19— Mrs. Richard
j Doubleday in crossing a tide flat bridge
j last night fell through a rotten plank
| and stuck fast in the muck. No help
I was near and she sank slowly for two
hours until all but her head was buried
jin the ooze, when a pedestrian heard
! her cries and rescued her.
Judge Alton B. Parker in an address
before the American Bar Association,
stated that congress and the various
legislatures of the country enact 25,
000 laws each year and he insisted that
the number is too large.
OREGON GROUNDED ON
HINCHINBROOK REEF
All Passengers and Mail Taken to Valdez on
Tenders but Steamer Thought To Be
a Total Loss.
Revenue Cutters Rush and McCulloch Standing by but Little Hope
Is Entertained of Saving Wrecked Vessel-Struck Rocks
While Groping Her Way at Night in Dense l og and
in Particularly Dangerons Place.
By Cable to Tbe Dally Gateway
i Valdez. Sept. 15—The steamer Ore
1 gon struck a reef at 11 o’clock Thurs
day night three milesoff Hinchinbrook
island at the entrance to Prince
| William sound. All passengers and
mail were taken safely to Valdez in
; the lighthouse tender ('olumbine, which
! was surveying for the proposed light
house on Hinchinbrook island.
I A dense fog prevailed at tin* time
l and the steamer was groping her way
slowly. Capt. Clunk was in charge of
i her this trip instead of Capt. O’Urien.
The news was brought here last
night by the tender, and the revenue
cutters McCulloch and Hush went
! at once to assist. The Oregon s
engine rooms filled soon after she
struck and it was seen that she could
I not float. The Rush and McCulloch
are standing by to try to save her but
the last report indicates that she will
soon go to pieces. Part of her cargo.
I may be taken off before she goes down.
The Oregon sailed from Seattle on
I her present trip last Saturday night.
; September 8.
High and Dry at Low Tide *
Valdez. Sept. 17 The steamer Ore-1
j gon was high and dry at low tide yes- ,
| terduy morning, according to the re-j
! port brought here by the revenue cut- i
Iter Rush, which' arrived in the even-1
j ing. The vessel may not be badly j
j damaged.
The Rush brought all the second!
I class mail, it is dry and undamaged1
except ten sacks for the trail to the
interior, which got wet.
Tho Oregon was one of the fastest
passenger steamers on the North Pa
cific coast. Of late years she has been
one of the unluckiest. Less than two
years ago she caught fire ofV Gray’s
Harbor and bad to be grounded. In
September idol she lost her rudder on
the way down from Nome and drifted
for many days until the passengers
sutTered great hardships. More than
600 uf them libeled her for damages
j and after the litigation bad gone to
i the court of last resort judgments ag
gregating about $45,000 were entered
i against the White Star Steamship
j Company, which then had her char
j tered.
For several years the Oregon was on
the Nome run and during most of that
time she was owned by Charles 1).
Lane and Sol G. Simpson and char
tered by the White Star line. Last
fall she was purchased by the North
j western Steamship Company and
placed on the outside run from Seattle
to Seward and Valdez. Since Novem
ber she has been running here except
j that she made one run in June to
Nome.
The Oregon was built at Chester,
i Pennsylvania, in 1878. Her gross ton
| nage is 2225, net tonnage 1042, length
2S> feet, indicated horse power 1700.
She has been a favorite passenger boat
because of her speed anti comfortable
i equipment. Her master since she has
! been on the Seward run was l’apt.
' John A. <)’J3rien.
HURLED SHIPS
INTO STREETS
Typhoon Lifted Two Gunboats
and IOO Small Craft Far
Into Hong Kong.
By Cablo to Tlio Dally Gateway.
I Long Yong, Sept. 1!» In the ty-j
{phoon and tidal wave Monday two
j French gunboats and more than 100 j
j sanpans and other small boats were
{thrown into the streets of this city,
i some of them a long distance from the |
(ordinary water line.
Two 'British war ships are leaking j
j from a collision and several American ;
j vessels were stranded or recked.1
Thousands of natives were drowned i
and twenty French sailors were killed j
on the gunboats which were hurledj
into the city by the force of the in-,
coming wall of water.
- |
Typhoon Drowned 5000 Chinese
Hong Kong, Sept. 20—The loss of
( hinese life in the typhoon is now eotn
i puted at 5000. The damage to shipping
I continues to be estimated higher each
day.
Typhoon on Chinese Coast
Manila, Sept. 18—A terrific typhoon
yesterday in China sea off Hong Kong
with an accompanying tidal wave
caused great damage. Numerous lives
were lost and vast property loss was
entailed for many miles along the
coast. Business in Ilong Kong is at a
standstill today.
More than a dozen vessels are known
to have been lost with their crews, and
the number of missing is much larger.
Steamer Shelikof Calls
The steamer Shelikof, a cannery
tender of the Northwestern Fisheries
Company, came in Friday morning
shortly after midnight and by blowing
a hoarse whistle scared a lot of people
out of bed to see the Portland. She
came in to cable a few lines to Seattle
and sailed again yesterday morning.
CARS GO DOWN
WITH 150 LIVES
Rock Island Train Drops Through
Cimmaron River Bridge and
is Submerged.
By Cable to The Dally Gateway.
Oklahoma City, Sept. 19 Two day
coaches filled with passengers, the
mail and baggage cars and engine of a
Kock Island passenger train went down
! through the bridge across Ciramar
I on river near Dover yesterday evening
and in a short time all were entirely
j submerged. No person came out alive
j from the submerged cars so far as
known and no bodies have been recov
ered. It is believed that at least 150
: were drowned.
Investigation shows that the piers of
I the bridge were undermined by a
j cloudburst which passed over the re
i gion a short time before the wreck.
The river, in which the water is us
ually shallow, was running high, and
as the bed is of light sand, with some
quicksand, the heavy cars sank quickly.
Kills Big Moose at mie 37
Louis Selsness killed a moose which
weighed 111" pounds near the railroad
track at mile 37 yesterday. The ani
mal was brought in last night on the
train. The head is enormous and is on
exhibition at Frye-Bruhn's store.
The horns are not as much above the
ordinary size as the animal. One
antler has thirteen prongs and the
other eleven. Another moose and
several mountain sheep also came in on
the train.
Prospectors Sailed on Portland
Another installment of prospectors
for the Yentna sailed westward on
the Portland with large outfits. 3’. D.
Corlew stacked six outfits in front of
his store yesterday afternoon and pho
tographed them with some of the men
D. McCormick arrived on the Toledo
from a trip to the headwaters of the
Susitna for prospecting purposes.
WORKING ONLY
SURFACE GRAVEL
No Deep Holes Sunk on Yentna
Creeks and Few Expert
Miners There.
PAY FOUND OVER WIDE AREA
—
Prospectors Believe That at Bedrock
far Richer Dirt Will Be Struck
Than Now Known.
—
One of the facts upon which exper
ienced miners in the Yentna region
base their belief that the district will
prove extremely rich us well as vastly
extensive is that only surface mining
has been done so far. The claims
which have been worked with great
profit on the upper Kahiltna this sum- j
met* have been merely scratched on '
the surface. N'o definite attempt to
find bedrock has been made. In all
these claims good pay has been found
near the surface and the prospectors
I worked upon that.
It, is said also that few trained
miners are in the region. That much I
is admitted by the men themselves, j
Most of them had little experience in |
placer mining before, and some of J
those who are taking out big pay went
into the district at the beginning of
the present season as tender feet, at j
least in the mining business.
Daniel W. Smith, an old Dawson
miner, who came down from Cache
creek a few days ago. said this week, I
1 do not believe there is a hole ten
feet deep on the Kahiltna river or any
of the creeks.” He expresses the be
lief also that Cache creek will prove
as rich as the bonanza creeks of the
Klondike. He puts Nugget and Poor
Man's in the same category.
Already some very rich pockets have
been found on these creeks. Pans on
Poor Man’s, Smith says, have run as
high as $:1U, and on both Poor Man's
and Nugget single days' work have
I yielded as high as five and six ounces
per man.
As it is an invariable rule in exten
sive placer districts that the deep dig
gings are the richest the sourdoughs
who have studied the Yentna unite in
the opinion that since the surface pro
duction of the district has been so re
markable the deposits at bedrock are
likely to equal anything ever known in
the history of gold mining.
TACOMA HAS
COSTLY BLAZE
Two Lives Lost in Fire Which
Destroys Depot and Big
Livery Stable.
By Cable to The Dolly Gateway.
Tacoma, Sept. 'J1 George Kussell’s
livery stable, two restaurants and the
Tacoma & Eastern depot, were burned
last night, and Mrs. Peterson, proprie
tress of one of the restaurants, and an
unknown man were fatally burned
The property loss includes 150 horses,
one of them a French stallion worth
$40,000.
The scene of the fire is on the out
skirts of the business district. The
depot and livery stable stood on qj>po
site corners of A street and Twenty
fourth avenue, or Puyallup avenue, as
it is better known. At one time it ap
peared as if the fire would spread and
reach the densely built sections to the
northward but it was brought under
control and put out by vigorous work.
ZION ELECTS VOLIVA
SUCCESSOR TO DOWIE
■ 1 ' —
By Cable to Tbe Dally Gateway.
Chicago, Sept. 19—Voli va was chosen
leader of Zion in the election held yes
terday under the direction of court.
Dowie wept when he heard the result
and said, “This is the bitterest hour of
my life.” He collapsed utterly and is
believed to be dying.
Capt. Swift in Town
Capt. Swift of the Susitna and Yent
na river steamer Caswell came to
Seward on the Toledo to go to the
states. He has tied up the Caswell for
the winter. Capt. Swift is very san
guine of the future of the Yentna dis
trict.
%
LATEST REPORT
i FROM KAMA
* D. W. Smith Says Yield Will Be
at Least $50,(XX) and Men
Are Coming Out.
SOME WILL HAVE BIG POKES
Every Miner at Work on Upper
Creeks Will Bring at least a
few Hundred Hollars.
Before this time the men who have
been working on the creeks of the up
per Kahiltna are on their way down
with the dust they have taken out.
They will bring at least an*'
the amount is likely to run mu
higher.
This report was brought in today by
Daniel W. Smith, who left Cache
creek September I. He »av.x some <>1
the men will come to Seward. < Hhci •
will stop at Susitna Station. »ect -<
outfits for next season and take 'i- •
goods tip the river before it free/*
Herndon and Jacobson are going <>- '
to the states, and will probably -
from Seldovia. William Morris a:
others will come to Seward. M .
Smith was reluctant to do any gues>'
as to the output but when urged lit ■
ly set the minimum at fuO.ow. !i •
said:
“Herndon and Jacobson wiil bri
out at least $12,000 and Mon-i- m< ■
than half as much, from Nug”' '
creek. Other men will bring o
smaller amounts. Nearly fifty nr
have been taking out pay on severe,
creeks and the smallest amount any <
them will bring will ’no several hu •
dred dollars. A man named Hudt
ston and his partner came as far as i!
station with me. The\ had over -<'*>
ounces they took out on Poor Man'*,
creek. Other men came down w 1
considerable dust but I dor.*’ kr.u'x
much."
When Mr. Smith came out all tl
miners on the creeks were >• \pect.
I to start for the outside about Septt
I her 10. Nearly all wet e about out e
I supplies and figured that t n.e co
; not work to good advantage muc
j longer than that. Therefor*' the**
• who expect to get next >e:ixon * -
I plies up the Ventna tid*> tail w*
| nearly ready to quit work and tl
others expected to leave ior -an
j reasons.
• Mr. Smith said he would i." und
take to give the total output of tl
i Kahiltna creeks wit hots: tig o-ing
j separate claims and us Ik was
I familiar with some of the operation
he did not care to make tiny poso
statements, but be left the impre-si
that the total yield is apt to run n i '
higher than earlier estimates.
Brings $1500 in Dust
Among the arrivals on the Tole >
was H. Marsh of Kenni, who brougl .
with him $lo00 in gold tins* which i *>
and liis partner, William Brisburr,
took out on Willow creek in twent; •
eight days. Mr. Marsh is going bat c
soon as lie believes tin* country is a
right. He and others who came in on
the boat say that William Morris re
cently struck a pocket on Nugget
creek where he and his men took out
$100 per day for several days.
Brings Gold from Clear Creek
P. R. Strong is in from Clear creek,
a branch of the Talkeetna, with a
small quantity of dust from placet
ground. He brought a sample of sand
with the gravel screened out, which
Harry Ellsworth assayed, getting $11"
in gold and nearly three ouuees of sil
ver per ton. Mr. Strong panned live
ounces in four days on his claim. He
thinks Clear creek and other tributar
ies of the Talkeetna will soon be rich
producers. A dozen or more prospect
ors have been in that vicinity during
the season.
SPECIAL TERM OF COURT
AT VALDEZ IN NOVEMBER
By Cable to The Dally Gateway.
Washington, D. C., Sept. 18—pur
suant to a petition headed by George
Esterly of Valdez the attorney-general
today ordered Judge Gunnison to go
to Valdez in November and hold
another special term of the U. S.
district court to dispose of urgent
cases. The business of Fairbanks will
hold Judge Wickorsham there many
months.
Chicago is now struggling with one
of its intermittent police scandals.