Seward weekly gateway., March 02, 1907, Image 1

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

Image provided by: Alaska State Library Historical Collections

                
NEW COMPANY
TO BUILD ROAD
Seattle Men Or ganize to Construct
Line Prom Carbon Mountain
to Controller Bay.
LIPPY AT HEAD OP SCHEME
Chief Stockholders Own Coal Lands
Which Are to Be Opened Up.
$1,000,000 Capital.
By Cabl« to Tde Daily Qatsway.
Seattle, March l The Katalla-l’ar
bnn Mountain Railway Company has
beeu incorporated in this city, its capi
tal stock being $1,000,000. At the
head of the new company is Thomas S.
Lippy, tin* Klondike millionaire. It is
associates Ik* ins,' John Schram, \\ . M.
French and t'lark Davis, l’hc propos
ed road w ill run from Carbon mount
ain to Controller bay, its terminus be
ing near the mouth of Bering river.
The organizers of the company are
largely interested in coal lands in the
vicinity of Carlton mountain, and it is
to open up these properties that the
»oitd will Ik* built. The promoters
expect to begin operations soon.
HOGGATT AND
PILES OPPOSE
In Conference With Roosevelt
Object to Creation of New
District for Alaska.
By Cable to The Dally Oatoway.
Washington. I), t’., Feb. 2H Govern
or Hoggatt of Alaska and Senator
Piles of Washington have had a long
conference with President Roosevelt
in regard to l’ile>’ bill which provides
two additional circuit court judges for
the Ninth district.
The governor and senator are urg
ing an amendment to the bill extend
ing the jurisdiction of tho two judges
to Alaska. Hoggatt favors the amend
ment because it will do away with the
necessity for a fourth judicial district
in Alaska and thus prevent its crea
tion. He is opposed to the new district
bill. Piles informed the president
that be objects to the formation of
another district in Alaska because the
new judge thereof would probably be
a special representative of the Gug
genheim - Morgan people, who have
large interests in the section which
would compose the new district.
Noth withstanding the objections of
Hoggatt and Piles, President Roose
velt is inclined to favor the bill for a
fourth district. He realizes that
Alaska is growing rapidly and that
the federal government should furnish
enough courts and officials to expedite
business in the territory.
TYONOK MAIL ARRIVES
Alfred Lowell Comes In and Reports
Mushers Making Slow Progress
Alfred Lowell arrived Sunday af
ternoon with the mail from Tyonok,
Susitna station and Knik. He left
Seward February l and reached Tyon
ok February 9, making the trip in
eight and one-half days. Returning
he traveled through a snow storm al
most continuously for five days and
nights. He had to break trail steadily
to Girdwood and did not find much of a
trail this side of that place. He re
ports that the mushers who started
from Seward early in the month had
just reached Girdwood when he was
there. He met others on the trail.
Harry Ellsworth received a letter
from Fred Stoll at Girdwood, stating
that his party had a hard time getting
through. W. S. Starkey froze both
hands and both feet, and Stoll had to
pull his sied for him toward the end
of the journey. A1 Barton had his
toes nipped. Going through Placer
valley the tuen had to break trail
through from three to four feet of
snow.
\V. A. Milligan, an expert account
ant, came to Seward on the North
western to audit the accounts of the
Alaska Central. He is a partner of
George Wilkinson, who did the work
last year.
PROPOSE NAVAL
BASE IN ALASKA|
—
Resolution Before House Asks
for Commission to Inves
tigate Matter.
_
By C«blo to Tbs Dally Gateway.
Washinsrton, D. C., Feb. 28-A reso
lution was presented to tho house to
day authorizing the appointment of n
commission composed of ten members
to go to Alaska and select a suitable
harbor for a naval base.
The resolution also authorizes the
commission to investigate the railroad
situation in Alaska; to form an esti
mateof the cost of a railroad from the j
i Gulf of Alaska to the Yukon; to look |
| into the matter of freight charges
from the coast to interior points, and
determine the saving if the railroads
were constructed.
WOULD ASSIST
ALL RAILROADS
Senator Newlands Wants Govern-j
ment to Aid Alaska Lines to
Open Ip Country.
—
By Cable to The Dally Gateway.
Washington, P. (A. March 1 Sena-1
lor Newlands of Nevada, of the Alaska
road commission, in voicing the senti
ment of the commission, said that all
legitimate railroads in Alaska should
receive government aid and encourge
inent. giving uniform assistance to
each.
The senator said Live railroads were
i essentia! in opening up the great nut- j
J ural resources of the northern territory j
j and he warmly advocated that mater
! ial aid be given by the federal govern
ment, citing the fact that the Philip
I pines had been assisted, and that Alas
• ka was entitled to equal consideration. |
ALLEGED THAT ST. PAUL
AND U. P. HAVE MERGED
St. Paul, Feb. 28—Officials of the
Northern Pacific railroad announce
that they have discovered that the St.
Paul and Union Pacific railroads are
secretly working together on exten
sions of the roads to Puget Sound.
They charge that a merger of the two
roads has been secretly effected.
FERTILE ALASKA ISLAND
niddleton Farmers Raise Vegetables
With Remarkable Success.
Middleton island, a short distance
south of Prince William sound, is ad
vertised by the farmers who live upon
it as almost an Eden, considering its
northern location. Vegetables are
raised there with remarkable success.
A resident writes to Prof. C. C. George
geson, chief of the agricultural experi
ment stations of Alaska, the following
description:
“Middleton island is the finest in
Alaska. We are past experimenting
and can raise anything they can raise
in the temperate zone. Last summer
we gathered four pounds of rutabaga
seeds from volunteers we left in the
garden all winter, and our cabbage
has grown all winter in the garden.
The coldest weather we have had was
20 degrees above zero, the warmest 71.
The deepest snow was fourteen inches,
lasting only twenty days. Last winter
we had no snow, and grass was green
all winter. Middleton is the finest
stock island in Alaska, but unfortu
nately is forty-five to sixty miles from
the nearest land, thirty-five miles out
of the steamer course, and we have no
harbor to keep a boat. With trans
; pollution we could furnish this part of
Alaska with potatoes.”
Sewardites Secure Claims
Frank 1*. Skeen and Eugene Bartholf
I who have been prospecting together in
Nevada during the past winter, have
located several claims contiguous to a
rich gold strike at Hercules, one of the
newest camps in that state. This in
formation comes in a letter from
Skeen to a triend in Seward. Living
is rather high in the new camp.
Wood is 830 per coni, water 85 a bar
rel, aud every thing else in proportion.
George Eberhardj, R. L. Bixby, W.
A. Best and O. B. Helmer pulled out
for the Yentna this morning.
RECENT STORM !
DELAYS WORK
Contractor Snow Tells of Plan of
Mis firm to Push Operations
on Alaska Central.
MEN BEING LISTED IN SEATTLE
frank Kelly Secured as fmployment
Agent-Cameron and Watson
Leave Seattle 16th.
By Cable to Tho Dally Gateway.
Seattle, March 2 - A. L. Snow of
Watson & Snow, railroad contractors,
and .T. B. Cameron, engineer of con
struction of the Alaska Central, ar
rived here last nignt, the former from
Spokane, tho latter from tho Hast.
Watson is expected here next week.
Cameron and Watson will leave for
Seward on the 10th. Snow may go
then, but will probably remain hero
until the 24th, arranging for men and
supplies.
In an interview Mr. Snow said: "It
had been our intention to begin ship
ping men on the Saratoga which sailed
yesterday to commence bridge work
immediately, but the recent severe
snow storm on the road has caused a
postponement until next boat and pos
sibly until the 16th. I have cabled to j
Mr. Stewart at Seward for particulars
of snow fall and condition of weather,
and his reply will determine how soon
we begin operations. We have em
ployed Frank Kelly to spend all his
time this summer in engaging men for
us. lie has been listing them for the
past two weeks. We shall try to com
plete the road to mile 75 by middle of
the summer, and expect in May or
June to he awarded the contract to
build to 105. Work will be carried on .
steadily with all iTie force
possible.”
FIRST BLOOD
FOR NICARAGUA
Troops Fight Four Battles With
Honduran Army and Re
ported Victorious.
8y Cable to Tbe Dally Gateway.
City of Mexico, Feb. 25—Advices
received today state that the troops of
Honduras and Nicaragua have fought
four battles on the international fron
tier and that the Nicaraguans have
been victorious.
No details have come in but it is
stated that the Honduran army has
fallen back and is awaiting reinforce
ments before renewing the attack.
Big Battle Raging
City of Mexico, March 2—An import
ant battle is on between the Horduran
and Nicaraguan troops. Details are
unobtainable.
TEMPERATURE IN FEBRUARY
Month was Coldest of Winter and
Nearly Broke tne Record
February was the coldest month of
the winter and almost as chilly as Jan
uary 1906, which holds the mean low
record, as well as the low record for
mean weather. Last month, however,
distinguished itself by dropping the
mercury to the lowest point known
since Seward was a town—11 degrees
below zero. The lowest in January;
1906 was 9 below.
The average temperature in Febuary |
was 17.05 degrees. In January 1906 it
was 11 degrees. The minimum in Feb
ruary was ll below on the 19th. The
j maximum was 41, on the 11th and 26th. i
j Snow fell on twelve days. There were
; fifteen clear days. The average tem
perature of February 1906 was 31.64
I degrees.
It may be worthy of note that the
! last cold day of the month was on the I
23rd and that the maximum that day
was 23. The minimum was 1. Then
the skidoo began for a higher altitude
^ in the mercury tube.
In Nevada, near the California line,
: a gold strike has been made which far
I transcends anything yet found at other
i camps in that state.
RAILROAD WILL
USE 2000 MEN
F. H. Stewart Returns and Says
Construction Will Start
Next Month.
—
TRACK TO BE OPENED AT ONCE
Watson to Arrive With Bridge Car
penters on Early Boat and
Graders Coming Steadily.
Railroad work will be renewed not
later than the middle of March under
the contract of Snow & Watson and
pushed steadily with all the men who
can he obtained. Mr. Watson will
sail from Seattle either March I or N,
bringing witb him a crew of about
seventy-five bridge carpenters. Mr.
Snow will remain in Seattle until
April, purchasing supplies and employ
ing labor agents. The total number of
employes will run up to probably 2000
before fall and these will be steadily
employed throughout next winter.
This statement is authorized by F.
H. Stewart, treasurer of the railroad,
who returned last night on tho North
western. The work of clearing the
track for the operation of trains will
begin March 1 or within a day or two
after that date.
Mr. Stewart also states that the dilli
culty of securing men for railroad
construction has been much exaggerat
ed and that 2000 or more can without
doubt be obtained withinafew months.
This task of course is the concern of
the contractors, who “will build the
road,” to employ Mr. Stewart’s own
language. Snow & Watson will take
over the commissary of the railway
company.
.7. R. Cameron remains chief engin
of cofistfuciibii'anU Will return to
Seward next month.
CORONA 1$ A
TOTAL LOSS
All Passengers Taken Off Last
Midnight and Landed
on Shore.
Bj C*bl* to Tba Dally Gateway.
Seattle, March 2 — The steamer
Corona lies a total wreck on Humboldt
bar. Last midnight the passengers,
fifty in number, were safely taken
ashore. One sailor was drowned.
Faulty steering geer is assigned as the
cause of the running of the steamer
upon the bar.
Corona on Humboldt Bar
Seattle, March 1, 1 p. ra. -- News
has just been received that the steamer
Corona, plying between San Francisco
and Puget Sound, is aground on Hum
boldt bar, on the coast of California.
Huge waves are sweeping her decks
from stem to stern, and her position is
dangerous. Fifty passengers are
aboard and are panic stricken. Relief
has been dispatched to the scene.
The Corona is the property of the
Pacific Coast Steamship Company.
| NORTHWESTERN SAILS SOUTH
Steamer Brings Thirty Passengers
and Qeneral Cargo.
Steamer Northwestern arrived in
1 port Tuesday night and sailed for Se
attle at 8:30 o’clock Wednesday even
ing. She brought twenty-three pas
1 sengers from Seattle and seven from
Valdez. Her freightcargo was twenty
eight tons of merchandise and forty
two tons for the railroad, which in
j eludes ten tons of hay and most of the
remainder bridge iron.
This is the Northwestern’s first visit
to Seward since early in December.
Since then she has been in a shipyard,
where she accumulated additional
passenger accommodations and was
otherwise refitted. Capt. Truebridge
is still her master and W. H. Triggs
purser. Capt. Soule is pilot and C. H.
Hayden freight clerk.
D. M. Delmas, chief counsel for
Harry Thaw, will receive the largest
fee ever paid in a criminal case for his
services in this notorious criminal
triah Delmas is a California lawyer.
STEVENS QUITS
PANAMA CANAL
Chief Engineer Becomes Dissatis*1
fied and Resignation
Is Accepted.
By Cable to Tlie Dally Gateway.
Washington, D. C., Fob. 27—John F.
Stevens resigned the position of chief
engineer of the Panama canal yester
day. The reasons which led to his
resignation are subject of dispute and
otlicials are reticent.
The president announced today in i
accepting the resignation of Mr.
Stevens that the work will be directed
by army * engineers. No further at
tempt will be made to let the con
struction out to contractors. Friction
over the Oliver hid is believed to have
been the cause of Stevens’ resignation.
Maj. Goethals will be chairman of
the canal commission.
SEVEN VICTIMS
OF SMALL POX
Missouri Legislators Stricken
With Contagion One by One
and Governor III.
i
By Cable to The Dally Gateway.
Jefferson City. Mo., Feb. 29—Seven
members of the legislature are now
down with small pox and Gov, Folk is
indisposed today. A few hours will
show w hether he is suffering from the
contagion.
All the members of the house whoi
were exposed are kept in quarantine
and new cases are breaking out every !
day. A gom*r:il panto exists among
people who have been exposed.
WANTS CHANGE IN CARING
FOR INSANE OF ALASKA;
Washington D. C., Feb. 2H—On ac- I
count of the increase in the number'
of insane persons in Alaska, the secre- i
tary of the interior has sent to the I
house a bill authorizing him to con- j
tract for the care of the iusane and ;
repealing the law giving five per cent
of the license money for the care of the
insane and placing it in the school fund.
The insane from Alaska now num
ber eighty-two, and the patients are
confined in the Mt. Tabor asylum in
Oregon, through an arrangement with
that state to care for Alaska’s insane.
NATIVES AS PROSPECTORS
Numerous Rich Discoveries Must Be
Placed to Their Credit.
The quartz strike on Chicagoff isl
and, near Sitka, is assuming propor
tions as development work on the
ledges advances. The original discov
ery was made by natives in September,
1905. A party of these aborigines set
out from Sitka bound for Chicagoff isl
and on a fishing expedition. Arriving
at their destination one of the number,
in quenching his thirst from a small
stream, saw a piece of white quartz
studded with golden grains lying in
the creek. Being familiar with gold
the natives began a search for and soon
found the ledge from whence the rich
float came. The discovery was kept a
secret for some time, as the natives
were not certain whether they had a
right to stake mineral ground. Event
ually they took into their confidence
several white men whom they trusted,
the claims were staked in the white
men’s names, a company was organized,
half of the stock going to the natives
who made the find.
The original inhabitants are respon
sible for many of the important miner
al discoveries in Alaska through
knowledge imparted to the white
prospector. Natives were with George
Carmack when he found the famous
Klondike placers. The missionary at
Golovin bay, Hultberg, discovered the
Nome goldfields through information
received from a native woman—Mary,
“the reindeer queen.’’ The now noted
Beatson copper mine on Latouche isl
and was first found by aborigines.
Natives first saw the coal fields of the
Matanuska.' In fact, practically every
important find may be traced to inform
ation given by the natives.
The conservatives catried British
Columbia by an increased majority in
the provincial election this month.
WICKERSHAM TO
BE RE-APPOINTED
Department of Justice Announces
That President Will Uphold
Tanana Judge
PENDING FURTHER INUU!R\
Will Send Another Special Repre
sentative to Fairbanks to In
vestigate Charges.
Cy Cabl* to Tli* Dally Gateway.
Washington, I). Fob. L'8 The ue
partment of justice announces that Pres
ident Roosevelt has deiuitely decided
to give James Wickersham, judge of
the Third judicial district, a recess
appointment as soon as circumstance*
permit.
The president lias also decided U>
send a special representative to Fair
banks to investigate Wickersham’s
record for the third time. The report
of District Attorney Hoyt of Nome who
made the last report on the Tanaoa
judge, and which was adverse to Wick
ersham, has not convinced Roosevelt,
and he has determined to send another
man to look into the matter.
STEAMER FOR
SUSITNA RIVER
Stem-wheel Craft Capable of
Steaming Fourteen Knots
Per Hour.
•w*-—. .
F. C. Woolsey writes to the Gateway
further details concerning his plan«
for Susitna river transportation next
summer. From Bremertion he write'
that a great deal of interest is taken
in the upper Susitna region as well a*
I the Yentna and a large number of pros
pee tors may be expected to explore
the Susitna tributaries this season.
The boat which Mr. Woolsey and his
partner, G. H. Thayer, will put on
the Susitna will be a stern-wheeler.
U foot beam, 65 feet long over all. It
will have a 40-horse power gasolin*
engine and will be a 14 knot boat.
Woolsey and Thayer have constructed
the frames and timbers for the boat at
Bremerton. Both are experienced
boat builders from the Puget Sound
navy yard, where Thayer was a design
er and Woolsey a foreman of construc
tion for several years.
The plan is to run the Susitna steam
er as far as Indian river, or near the
mouth of the big canyon, where rapids
forbid the operation of any kind of
boats.
Woolsey and Thayer will also run
the launch Bat on the Yentna as they
did last year. Both boats will start a*
soon as the ice is out of the rivers.
The Bat was built by the ownors od
the Inlet and had a successful career
on the Yentna all last season.
NO SYMPTOMS OF HURRY
Guggenheims Act As If Bluffing Out
Opposition Railroads.
A letter from Seattle says it is gen
erally accepted there, as stated in the
Seattle papers, that the Guggenheims
j have definitely selected Katalla as the
, sea terminus of their Alaska railroad,
but that they will do only enough
work this year to serve as a pretense.
The letter says:
; “The impression is gaining that
they want to postpone and prevent
railroad construction into the Copper
river valley until they can purchase
all the copper claims they want at
their own figures. The Guggenheims
are spreading many big stories in
Seattle about having eight locomo
tives and five steam shovels on the
way, but those same stories started
last fall and yet the locomotives and
steam shovels are not in sight. It
looks very much like a grand bluff to
keep out opposition.”
Railroad Hospital
Carpenters are now at work trans
forming the building formerly occupied
by Dr. Burns as iT residence into a
hospital for use of employes of the
Alaska Central. The building is a
roomy structure, and is the property
of the railroad company.