Valdez Daily Prospector
1'UUL.ISHKD »Y THE
Prospector Publishing Co.
A TEKVS
One Dollar per Month: Two'~ Dollar* per Year
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1912.
A FAIR PROPOSITION.
The mass meeting tonight
should be attended by every per
son who lias the best interests of
Alaska as a whole at heart. Tin;
meeting is called for tin* purpose
of petitioning (lie government to
appoint a board of competent en
gineers to investigate I he dif
ferent routes in order that the
one which presents the most ad
vantages for I he proposed gov
ernment railroad lo the interior
may be selected. If the enterprise
proposed by the government was
undertaken by private parties this
would assuredly be their llrst
move. In I he past there has al
ways been some powerful side is
sue which has induced railroad
promoters to select tidewater
terminals which offered the
greatest heucfll to themselves
personally. Willi Ihe proposed
Kovernmenl railroad it should be
different. The road should be
huill for tile purpose of opening
up Ihe.coal fields of lh<> interior
and l<> encourage development by
providing Ihe cheapest Iranspor
lation possible lo and from in
terior Alaska.
Tin* railroad should lie built for
I In* benefit of Alaska as a who!.,
and not for any particuhir sec
fion. Tin* I'ouli* which alTords I In*
shortest dislanco In Fairbanks
via I lie coal fields should he se
lected. Tin* eosl of construelnig,
and thi' annual expense of main
tenance on exlra miles of railroad,
as well as I lie daily expense of
operating trains over lliein will
prevent the residents of I he in
terior from gelling full advan
tage of the minimum eosl of
t ransporlal ion larilVs. If is the
duly of the government lo inves
tigate the different routes and af
ter an investigation by eonipelenl
engineers, who are absolutely im
partial. to adopt the route select-'
ed by them. To select llie route
!■» be followed by Hie railroad in-I
In the interior without lirslj
knowing all llie facts might be a
blunder on the pari of the g:ov- j
eriimeiil which would stand as a
perpetual monument to the ignor-I
ance uf llie adminislralion under j
which il was hi i i 11. If llie ease is i
properly presented lo the mem-!
hers nf congress the fairness of I
llie altitude of the people of
this district must impress itself
upon Ihrm. We do not ask for llie
adoption of any parlicular route.
We ask that the government ap-1
point a board of competent en
gineers lo select the route which
will prove of greatest benefit, not
for the present alone, bul for gen
eral ions yet. lo conn*.
HOLDING HANDS.
Ponce should In* declared in j
Alaska and Alaskan* should at
once begin I he search for list s
which will III inlo I hose of Pres
ident Taft and Secretary Fish
er. tWe would suggest, by way of
showing our appreciation, that
Secretary Fisher lie extended the
right hand, whiL* President Taft
be permitted to hold the led; al
so that the Hertillon system be
employed as a precaution against,
mistakes. Mi. Shackl.'ford would
no doubt lie pleased to submit the
anthropological exhibits for their
selection. Pence, be still.
COMMUNICATION.
To I hi* Editor:
Heing an old resident of How
ard— th<* future const terminal for
all central Alaska--! wish to say
to the people of Valdez through
your valuable paper, that while
visiting in your village during the
last few days, I have been con
siderably non-plused to under
stand I tie tremendous tight cer
tain citizens of your place are
waging to have Valdey. made the
terminal* of the proposed gov
ernment railroad to the interior.
I attended a meeting of your
Chamber of Commerce and ascer
tained that that body has been and
still is extremely active and has
left no stone unturned to eall the
attention of congress to the fact
that the shortest and most prac
tical route for the road is from
this point, and, apparently, the
efforts of the chamber has
brought forth results, if the cor
respondence there read irvlirales
anything.
Hut the thing that amazed me
most was to observe that the ac
live workers at the chamber
meeting in behalf of the town are
men who have no financial en
tanglements that necessarily tie
them to one town more than an
other. I observed that aside from
two or three of the heavy prop
erty holders of the town, the ac
tivity manifested at the Chamber
of Commerce meeting was due al
most wholly to men who could
pack their personal belongings in
their war bags, figuratively
speaking, and go to the railroad
wherever it might be. This would
be so much easier for them than
to wage the war they are to have
the railroad come to them. We
admire the local patriotism of
these men but we cannot praise
their judgment for the property
holders of the town—the men who
will be the heavy losers when
Valdez is no more—who sit quiet
ly by and seem- to be wholly in
different to what is going on
aroumi tneni. No (Joubl llicse
property holders have long since
given up the fi^rliI to make a place
for Yaldez on the map. They
prohably realize that I be effort is
futile, while llu> more ambitious
ones slill continue the struggle.
While rejoicing in (he success
of Seward, I really feel sorry for
those who have their all lied up
in really' in Yaldez which, of
course, cannot be removed.
II is for this reason thai I think
such men as John Frame, Paul
d'lleiry, Frank Foster and a num
ber of others, will lind a much
more prolific soil, and a wider
Held for their enterprising efforls,
than on I he glacial drill at the
head of Yaldez bay, and at. the
same time in their capacity as
"boosters'* they will lind a com
munity of citizens who will lend
lliem their moral and material aid
in such active efforls for the bet
terment of the community in
which they live. I say to all those
who are not tied down here, that
they will lind a warm welcome in
Seward. Stop your resolulin' " in
the Chamber of Commerce and
leave that work In those whose
properly interests lin here, hut
who have apparently given up the
ghost ami are willing lo turn I lie
old town over In I he owl, I he ra
ven and I he sea gull.
r.ome lo a live place, where I he
business man, I he properly own
er ami llie professional man—
I hose* usually responsible for tlx*
'weal or woe of I lie rommii n i I v
<|o mil shirk Iheir civic duties.
To continue the tight for those
who apparently have given up the
hattle and lost all heart in Iheir
cause, is a waste of energy, es
pecially is this so concerning
those who can so easily pal her up
Iheir etTects and ship Iheiil to llie
future railroad terminal without
any loss whatever, over and above
a ticket from the glacier to the
landlocked harhor on Rcsurrec
I ion hay. The sooner you come
the heller. Those who come tirst
will ge| corner lots while those
who continue, to he foolish will
have to he satisfied with a sub
urban lo| on Ihirly-second street.
The "substantial citizens" of
Yalde/., by their indifference in
the railroad question, would seem
111. mink thai the enormous
amount of correspondence thai
has he. n done through your
cliamher of commerce with con
gressmen and the civic bodies of
tin? roast, is of no force and ef
fect, hut I lie people of Seward and
her workers at. Washington are
confronted with the facts and llg
ures from this source at every
turn of the road. While il is
easy enough for us to answer all
of them, they, nevertheless, cause
all reasonable and fair-minded
men to pause and investigate he
fore reaching conclusions. Of
course all this only delays the
game, for Seward already has the
indorsement of the administra
tion. True enough, the adminis
tration does not have the say as
to where this road is to he built,
or as to whether it. is to he built
at all or not, and right here is
where the Valdez workers ore
gettuig in their political diplom
acy, for all Alaska questions are
rapidly becoming national issues.
• Hut why the exercise of all this
opposition to building the road
from Seward by men who can pick
up what they have and be wel
comed to that city by their host
of enterprising friends, is some
thing Ihnt we cannot understand.
It is evident from the lethargy
of nearly all the heavy property
holders here that I hoy have at
last "quit" and are ready to let
old Valdez die. Why cannot the
men owning no realty here, who
have every congressman and ev
ery civic body on the coast now
silling up and taking notice thai
Valdez is still on the map, see,
as the property holders do, that
the cause is lost and hang up
their "whereas" fiddle and "reso
lution" bow? A WEWARDITE.
M
'ajestic
C. N. JONES, Mgr.
Complete change of program:
Sundays, Tuesdays, Thursday
and Saturday.
Saturday Matinee at 2:30 p. m.
Children under 14, 10 c.
If Wm're Pleased Tell Others.
K not. ten US
pictures WORTH WHILE
TWO SHOWS NIGHTLY S and 9:18
MISS O'MALLEY. Pianist
MINING ENGINEER
L. W. STORM. E. M.
VALDKZ. ALASKA
ftmronra oit Minks
Ratknt Sunymyb
Qbnkbai. Mining Enoinbbrino
Phonb No. iob
f. butterworth;
Civil Engineer and]
U. S. Deputy Land and
Mineral Surveyor
Onicc in Harrington HIiIk.
on Water I*'ront Ues. I' 189
MISCELLANEOUS
CAMP VALDEZ No. 10
Meet every Tuesday evening ut K o'clock in
Hade Hull-. AH members requested t'> in
tend T* G. QUlNN. Artie Chief
Valdez I/Odge No. 168
Free and Accepted Masons
Regular Communications tirst Wednesday in
each month in McKinley Hall. Visitors always
welcome.
.lames M. Patterson..W. M
C. C- Reynolds. Sec
LOA
O.F.
Visiting and locul Odd Fellows fire re
quested to register their name with the
Vuldez Odd Fellows* Club. Kciculur
meetings, first and third Monday.
Call on P. K. HP NT. Secretary.
FOE
VALDKZ AKKIE No. ism
Mci't every Friday. 8 »». in. Kuu'le Hull
BUY YOUR BREAD at
VALDEZ BAKERY
Nothing but boat materials used.
FRESH BREAD DAILTr
All kinds of Cakes, Pies, etc.
made to order
WOOD & HENRICH, Prop..
Fagerberg Bros.
NIZINA, ALASKA
General Merchandise
Miners & Prospector® Supplies
Freah Good (--Reasonable Prices
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THE CUFF
P. S. HUNT
Proprietor.
THE CMFE
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Clothes That Become You
No matter who you are or where you are going—
to business or to a ball
How few there are in this world.
When found, seize upon them.
They are unusual.
STEIN-BLOCH
are the past masters of clothes
making. The w olid pays them
the tribute of its admiration. We
are fortunate in being able to of
fer you the opportunity of exam
ining these clothes and of trying
m on.
STEIN-MjOCH
SMART CLOTHES
These clothes are Tailor Made. Prices from $10 to $25 less than your tailor
will charge you.\
r
Copper River
Draying Co.
Preichlin* uml iiussi'mrrrs to all paris
ofj tin; imeriir. licncriil Triickioy
bid. Wood, • Proprietor
MclCinlcy Si. VuUlcx
|I««p Hon
1 SEATTLE
CffAs. Perry, mop.
THE BIST Or EVERYTHING
IN THE HEART Or THE (STY ,
135RooKsWiTtiBATTi-505umiI)ooHS
When In Seward |Stop at the
COLEMAN HOUSE
GEORGE 6EXTON, Prop.
STRICTLY FIRST CLASS
Fourth lAvt Seward, Alaska
FISHER'S BLEND
FLOUR
AT
DOUGHERTY & FERGUSON;
PHONE 2.
Valdez Undertaking Co.
Undertaker, Embalmers
Funeral Directors
R^:-148 GEO. ROBB1NS, Mfr.
Steam Heat Electric Lights
THE COPPER BLOCK
Finely Furnished Room* All Modern Conveniences
Good Tiir niirrrr Good
Goods f flL DUrrtl Goods
Copper River Lumber Co., Inc.
ALL, KINDS OP
Native and ¥ ¥ Tli^DITD ant^ Building
Puget Sound JLi Material
CONSTANTLY ON HAND
Prices Right W. M. FINICAL, Mgr. Phone IS.
Patronize a Home Industry
Zbe
Tairbanks Bar
George Krau, Proprietor
Pool, Cigars, Liquors'
CourteoutlTreatment Phone 100
Ingram & Bush Dealers
Just Arrived Direct from the]
Factories a Large] {Shipment of
INTEGRIDAD, Rex, Regnla EL SIDELO, Senators, Millionaire*
SMOKECRAFT, Rein* Victoria, Delmonico BELMONT, Monarch
REPRESENTA, Medio, Full Value, Madrid
Box Trade Solicited at Seattle Prices
Special Price To The Trade
We do a
general
Banking
Business
S* B LU M & ®
— INCOPPOP/VT^C) —
BANKERS
CAPITAL $ 2 0 0.00O.n0
Bank in
rear of
mercantile
department
We Pay 4 Per Cent Interest on Time Certificates of Deposit