THE ALASKA PROSPECTOR
V dez, Alaska, May 14, 1908. NO 18
ALASKA ROADS TO
BE INVESTIGATED
Congressional Commission
Coming to Look Into the
Railway Situation.
EXPECTED TO ARRIVE IN JULY
Testimony to Be Taken Regarding
Finances, Routes and Busi
ness in Sight.
Washington, May 11—The railroad
situation in Alaska will be given a
thorough investigation this summer
if the preent plans of the president
and the house territorial committee
having under consideration the Lov
ering bill providing for government
aid to the railroads projected for the
Northland, are carried out. The com
mittee, after finding out that there
are forty-odd railroad applications on
tile in Washington, postponed action
on the bill until December, and sug
gested that a committee be appointed
to find out the standing of the rail
road projectors.
The president has announced that
he is agreeable to the suggestion and
such a eommission will, under pre
sent plans, go to Alaska in July. This
commission will investigate the con
dition of the roads now under process
of const ruction and the practicability
of the proposed routes with regard to
engineering difficulties and also with
regard to the amount of business to
be expected from the country tra
versed.
The financial responsibility of those
who have tiled applications for right
of-way, but who have done nothing
toward actual work of construction
will also be looked into. The com
mission will report direct to congress.
FOX FARM KING
BRINGS 105 SKINS
/
Middleton Smith in Town
From Lonely Island With
Pelts Worth $3,000.
Bringing with him blue fox polts
worth about $3,000, Middleton Smith,
solo resident of Middleton island,
where he runs a fox farm, reached
Valdoz Tuesday. Smith rowed over
from his inland principality in a small
boat and this is the first. time he has
encountered civilization, or spoken
to a human being in many months.
Despite his lonesome existance,
Smith i» in the best of health and thin
morning waxed emphatic in denying
the report of lant winter to tins effect
that he had been drowned. He
furthermore pointed to his great pilo
of beautiful pelts as evidence that his
winter spent in solitude has not been
without roHUlts. All told, during tho
winter Smith ban taken 115 blue fox
pelts but ho only brought 105 with
him and the average valuo of these is
|S0 each. Tho skins ard now on ex
hibition at the Valdoz Hank & Mer
cantile Company's store.
Middleton island is about flvo acros
in area and is located out at sea a few
miles off (Jape Hinchinbrook. Thero
is no harbor and consequently no ves
sel of any description stops* there.
Smith travels between the island and
Vaide71 in a row boat. He says that
the island is a garden spot, with a fine
climate and that ho has many sae.ks
of the finest potatoes in tho world
wliieh ho raised last, summer. Had it
not been that it was too rough ho
would have brought some with him
on this trip. Ho also raises other
vegetables and all kinds of garden
truck.
Survey Party OfF For Alaska
Vancouver, H. UM May 14- The
Dominion survey party leaves tonight
for a point at tho mouth of tho Ohil
kat river, where the work of fnrthoi
locating the Alaska boundary will Ire
gin.
CORDOVA CANNOT
BE INCORPORATED
Judge Reid Denies Applica
tion of Residents of Eyak
Inlet Village.
Judge Silas H. Reid, by a decision
handed down Saturday, placed a
quietus on the hopes of certain resi
dents of the village of Cordova, said
hopes being directed toward the in
corporation of that place. According
to a telegram received today by At
torney Donohoe of the firm of Ostran
der and Donohoe, Judge Ileid denied
the application of the Cordovites on
the grounds of lack of jurisdiction.
The plan to incorporate Cordova
was started by W. T. Love, an attor
ney of that place, and it was opposed
by Ostrander and Donohoe on their
own behalf and also on behalf of the
Copper River and Northwestern. The
petition took in the wharf, the land
desired by the railroad for terminal
purposes and the new townsite laid
out by Messrs. Ostrander, Donohoe,
George Hazlett and Judge Lyons.
There was no objection to the incor
poration of what is properly the vil
lage of Cordova as it stands at pre
sent, but when the petition was
finally presented it lacked the num
ber of signatures requisite to give the
court authority to sanction incorpo
ration.
BABY OWES LIFE
TO BABY-BUGGY
Boy 3 Years Old Falls Four
Stories and Escapes
Without a Scratch.
Now York, May 13—A chubby 3
year old boy was the principal and
an open window in the fourth story
of a house and a baby carriage on tho
sidewalk were the properties in one of
the most miraculous and thrilling ac
cidents of record in this city. The
chubby boy is now the center upon
which is focused the attention of an
entire neighborhood, tho baby- carri
age is only a little the worse for its
part in tho affair and the open win
dow is made safe by a barricade, for
the playful three-year-old fell from
the window, landed in the baby car
riage and suffered not so much as a
scratch.
Robort, Preiulelbitt is the name of
the chubby one, and this morning ho
was playing about on the floor in the
front room of the littlo Hat occupied
by his parents. It was warm and the
window was open. The mother loft
the room for a moment and returned
just in time to see her hopeful trying
to balance himself on the ledge. With
a prayer on her lips she launched her
solf toward tho danger in an effort, to
seize tho child but she was too late
for just as her flngors were about to
close on his little garments he lost
his balance and lurched into space.
Bolow, fearing to cry out for fear of
disconcerting tho little one a dozen
or moro porsons watched young Rob
ert as he triod to up-rear himself on
tho narrow ledge of the window; then
they saw him fall ami heard the cry
of agony uttered by the mother as she
swooned.
Fascinated by their horror the
watchers glimpsed the descent of the
baby; then eamo a sob of relief from
a dozen pent-up breasts as the watch
ers saw tho baby, with a look of sur
prise on his face, but still smiling try
ing to crawl from the capsized baby
buggy.
Investigation showed that the little
one was unharmed. One of the wheel*
of tho vehicle which had saved Ids
life was dished but. the strong springn
had broken the fall.
Marveling neighbors took tho baby
upstairs, brought the mother back t<
consciousness and finally convinced
her that what she had seen was real
and that in spite of Its roalit.y her ba
by was safe.
A stampede from Dawson wat
eansed by now disnovories along tin
loft limit of tho Klondike river, be
tween Leota and Two Mueh Clok1
creeks.
BIG FIGHT nR
HARLAN'b PLACE!
President's Act in Naming
an Iowa Man Brings on a
Storm of Protest.
ALASKANS ARE IP IN ARMS
Present Indications Are Senate
Will Refuse to Confirm In
tended Appointment.
j Washington, May 8 — President
Roosevelt's announcement of his in
tention to appoint James J. Crossley
as district attorney of the Third judi
cial district of Alaska to succeed
Judge Nathan Harlan, resigned, has
created a storm of protest-. The most
noise in opposition to Crossley emi
nates from the lungs of the Alaskans
in Washington, but swelling into a
well-defined afterbeat rises the wail
of objection from various senators
who have had and st ill do have de
signs upon the position in question.
Several candidates from Alaska
; have been urged for the position and
Pacific Coast senators have cham
pioned the cause of one or the other
| of these men. Delegate Cale and
(lov. lloggatt of the Northland have
also urged upon the president the ad
visability of naming an Alaskan for
the place and are proportionately
disappointed at the present state of
I affairs.
It is declared here that the naming
j of Crossley is in t he nature of a sup
i thrown by the president to Senator
Allison and Representative Hull of
i Iowa, to reward them for past, favors,
| and also as a compromise.
| The Alaskans declare that the ap
pointment is an outrage and assert
(Continued on i»age 11
LIGHTHOUSES
GIVEN ALASKA
Nome, Cordova and Ketchi
ikan Favored in Civil
Sundry Appropriations.
Washington, May 13—Three light
houses, to cost $15,000 oacli, and to
he erected, one at. Nome, «»ne at Cor
dova and one at Ketehikan, are pro
vided for in the sundry civil appropri
ation hill. This much, at least, will lx;
done hy the present congress to re
lieve the conditions on the Alaska
coast , which is declared to he great
ly in need of aids to navigation.
It. i» probable that the work of con
structing the light-houses will he be
| gun in the near future.
I
ATWOOD TO INSPECT
ALASKA COAL FIELDS
1'rofcHHor Wallace W. Atwood of
Chicago i» now in Howard with IiIh
j family. I'rofofwor Atwood Ih under
t.ho direction of the United HtatcH
geological Hurvoy. I In will make
Seward IiIh hoadqtiartci-H for tlio hiiiii
mer. With thonext run of tho Hteamer
Dora ho will mako a trip to the wont
ward for the ptirpoHO of making a gen
oral Hurvor of the mineral proHpccta
on Unga inland and of the Herendeen
hay coal floldn, and later will do work
at Uhignik. While I'rofoHHor Atwood
Ih devoting IiIh attention eHpccially t<»
the coal depowita, he will report al«o
to the U. H. geological wurvey on tho
! gold am' copper of theregionHvlHited.
i Ho may alflo vlnil. the Homer coal
! fleldfl.
About two month h will he Hpont hy
ProfeHHor Atwood at placet) along
AlaHka penlnmda. In July he will go
Into the interior and expecta to npend
the latter part of .Inly and the month
of Augunt in the Matanunka coal
lleldw, where he will make a very
careful xtudy of tho coal dcpoHltHj
their (|nality and t heir extent.
Hoggatt Faction Nominates Corson, Cale Is the Choice of Antis, and Bach
Side Will Send Six Delegates to National Assemblage as Outcome of .
the Action of the Committee 011 Credentials.
Ketchikan, May I I—(Special to tlu*
Prospector i—Two sets ot delegates to
the national convention, six men in
each, John Corson opposed to Tho
mas Cale for territorial delegate and
the warring factions ot republican
ism in Alaska showing evidences of
the contest not yet finished are the
principal results of the convention to
date. The hird of peace that was be
ing so gently nursed by the anli-llog
gatt faction long since took wing and
•from the fastness of some mountain
crag sent an eagle too take its place.
The eagle is doing his work and there
may yet be political cadavers to fur
nish sustenance for buzzards.
It became apparent yesterday after
noon that it would lie impossible to
reach any agreement whereby the
convention could acl as a whole; last
night the action of the credentials
committee ignited the bomb that
scattered the delegates from any sem
blance of cohesion and in a minute
two con vent ions were doing business
under the same roof. The creden
tials committee decided nearly all the
contests in lavor of the lloggatl fac
tion and the antis, realizing thai Mil
ranc would rule against them on
every point taken on the lluor, with
drew to a side hall.
Mui'une, as chef of the lloggatt
faction, made 110 attempt to disguise
the charaetor of the dish In- was
cooking uy but set it in all its raw
ness, before the antis and then stood
by to see how they relished it. Par
ticularly offensive was tIn* determi
nation to seat the lloggatt delegation
from Fairbanks and from Ketchikan.
And then to rub it in iMurane went so
far lis to accept the proxy from Mod
uli's own seat which was being eon
tested.
The amis, after organizing into
separate convention progressed tilings
smoothly and were nearly through
when Shackelford entered the hall
and seizing Delegate Perkins of Nome
tried to drag the latter from the hall.
In a minute there \)r'as ageneial mix
up, the antis surging to the doorway
of their citadel to repcll any further
attempts at invasion. in this they
were successful and completing their
business for the day, retired
Delegate Ritchie, of Yaldez, lias all
along been the chief custodian of the
peace dove, and just before it absent
ed itself from the scene of turmoil he
nearly effected a compromise with
Shackelford, on a basis of three dele
gates each. Shackelford, however,
objected to the antis naming llcid ot
Juneau and Perkins of Nome and al
though IMtchic agreed t<> this his fol
lowers would not ami then and ther»
the eagle a|>|m>:ir«•<I on tin' scene ajul
tin* fun hcgan.
Tin■ antis blame Shakelford for this
failure, ;is I he\ made 110 objection to
an\ person lie might name for dele
gate.
As the slates now stand, Perkins,
Kyan and .lolinston of Nome, Held of
Juneau, White of Katalla and Wulff
ot Yaldez are tlie antis' selections for
national delegates, and Sliakelford
and Kurkhart of Juneau, Shea and
Johnston of Nome, and Judge Reid
and liion Dodge of Fairbanks the
lloggntt faction delegates. The Hog
gall faction nominated John Corson
tor territorial delegate and the antis
nominated ('ale, the south end of the
Third division voting for Corson.
The platform adopted at the Juneau
convention was adopted by both fac
tions, with some small additions, one
ot these being the demand of the an
tis that Alaska men, and Alaska men
only, he appointed to ofllce in the
territory
There yet remains to be made the
select ion of a national committeeman.
The lloggatt faction will name Shack
lel'ord and il is probable t hat the antis
will name J. (j. Ilcid, of Juneau, who
is holding the position at present.
I
Tidal Wave in Yang-tse-j
Kiang River Blots Out
Hundreds of Villages.
Hankow, China, May 115—Ten thous
and lives paid sacrifice yesterday to a
I tidal wave in tin* Yang-tse-Kiang riv
er. 11 is the greatest disaster China
has ever known.
For miles along the river and ex
tending hack for a half mile beyond
t he normal hanks bodies ol the drown-j
ed lie in windrows. The Yang-tse
Kiang is, or was a floating village,
thousands of persons living in junks
on its broad surface. There was lit
tle warning of the impending eatas
trophy and none had opportunity to
llee to the interior. Swept before the
advancing wall of water hundreds of
junks were hurled ashore, their inhab
itants being swept from the wreckage
to be mangled and drowned.
As it was with the junks so it was
with the buildings that thronged the
river side and whole villiagcs were
swept away only silt covered barrens
remaining to mark the one lime home
of hundreds of families,
TWO MEN LOSE LIVES
IN TANANA RIVER
FairbankH, May !) Doc. Mason and
J. F. Heehlor, hotli recently from
Valdez, wore drowned in tin* 'I'anana
river yenterday afternoon while
floating down hIrenin in a polinj{hoat.
Heehlor iH known in Valdez where
ho worked for (leer^e Meal* for Home
time laat nunimer. I In wan formerly
a Holdieraml waHdiHeharjjod from Fort
f/iHcum. No one eonld i>e found who
knew Matton.
Vroelnnd Hill Phhhch
Washington, May II 'I'hr Vrenland
currency hill passed thin afternoon.
Hon a tor Aldrleh several daya ago
gave up the light lo have bin hill he
come a law for he realized that pop
ular Hon Union t, led hy many of the
hankers of (he country, wan too
strong against hin hill to leave any
hope of Ith ever helng panned hy the
! senate.
MOM TO BE
TRIED IN VALDEZ
J. I). McGovern, wanted here for i
swindling A. I,. Levy it Co. out of
$2,000 will be brought buck for trial j
on the steamship Portland. McGovern
war arrested in Seattle last Wednes
day and is in the custody of Deputy j
Marshal Bowers, who today cabled j
Assistant District Attorney b. V. Kay
that (he prisoner will be brought here, j
McGovern, resisted requisition but '
the habeas corpus proceeding he
brought failed of its purpose, lie first
expressed a willingness to accompany
the ollicer if he could be taken into'
Fairbanks by the way of Skagway. j
but this request was refused.
McGovern was indicted by the
grand jury a year ago last March.
APPROPRIATIONS FOR
ALASKA ARE INCREASED
Washington, May 11—The senate
appropriations committee today made
two increases in the house appropria
tions for Alaska institutions. In the
school appropriation the senate com
mittee suggested an increase of $2.r»,-l
(MM) and iu the reindeer service an in
crease of from $5,000 to $H,000.
President Addresses Governors
Washington, May 11—President
Roosevelt last night addressed an as
semblage of forty-four governors re
presenting as many states or terri
tories of fhe Union. The president
made a strong address the keynote of
which was the emphasis placed on
the necessity for every state to do all I
in its power toward conserving itsi
natural resources.
Washington Solid For Tnft
Hpokano, May H—All indicationH
point to the fact that the ntato of
Washington Ih Holidly for Tnft for
president. Tho state republican con
vention Ih Hiiro to endorse tho war
secretary and tho dolegntes to tho
national convention will go hiHtrnetod
for him all down the lino,
Tho petroleum Hold of Alaska is
located on tho north shore of Con
troller hay. Known indications of
petroleum nro confined to n holt about
twenty-five miloH long from east to
went, and from four to eight miles
north and nouth. The belt Ih ad
joined on the north In pari by the
Horlng Klvor conl fleld.
WOMAN MISLAYS
PUBSE AND $6,800
Physician and Marshal Fi
nally Allay Tumult^SSil^^
by Supposed Loss.
"I have lost my purse and £(>,800!"
screamed Mrs. .lulia Mrosinan, a few
hour* before 'In Yucatan sailed for
Seattle. Then t he wom^u went into
hysterics.
Mrs. Hresman has been /i resident
of Valde/. for many years, during
which she has been a popular inhabi
tant of the restricted district. Re
cently she decided to depart this
country and she converted all her be
longings into cash, said cash to the
amount stated and in the form of
currency being placed in her pocket
book.
Having done this, Mrs. Brcsman
started out to bid farewell to lief
friends and to spend a little loose
change she had in tilling divers and
sundry loving cups. She was well
along with this pleasant duty when
she missed her fortune and lost her
reason.
There was a wild alarm sent out by
her friends, some of whom wanted
a doctor and some of whom wanted
an olHcer. Dr. K. ('. Dalton respond
ed in the one ease and City MaMthal
Hoffman in the other. The physician
bent his best efforts to bringing the
woman back to some semblance of
sanity and the marshal tried his bent
to get some sort of coherance from
t he claininerings of t he woman's com
panions.
At last <>i\c of (lie (lod-apced party
remembered that Mrs. II remit an had
placed ln r purse behind a mirror in
one of ilie places they had viHit-od and
mire enough I here it w«b found by
Marshal Hoffman. The wight of her
purse did more for the patient ihat
diil file n(lentioiiH of Dr. Dnltoli; the
money wiim counted and found intact
and ainid great rejoicing the owner
of the plethoric wad departed for the
Yucatan.
More Tornndo Victims
Omaha, May II -Three more vie*
limn have heen added to the Hat of
thorn* killed hy the tornado whleh
HWept over Sarpy county night before
last. Thin makes fifteen dead. The
property loss will amounl to $(">00,04)0
at leaHt,