THE KUSKO TIMES
A. X. Oram, Publisher, r*3oie
Owner and Editor.
Published Every Saturday
$1 Per Month
ADVERTISING BATES.
Heading: Notions, per line, per
issue .25
£.eg:al Advertising, per line, per
iaane*. .20
TranBteDt Display, per inch, per
issue (minimum charge $1) .50
Kntered as second-class matter August
JUth, 1923, at the Post Office at
Tokotna, Alaska, under the
Act of March 3, 1879.
TOKOTNA, ALASKA. JUNE 14, 1924
Ulmer Tells of Winter
Trip to Kobuk Region
Seward Gateway.
Joe Ulmer, who has bean ou a recon
caiasaneo survey for the Alaska Road
Commission, arrived in Seward May 21
irom a trip through the district from
Hetties to the mouth of the Kobuk
irieer on Kotzebue Sound. Mr. Ulmer
■came to Seward for the purpose of se
curing a team of horses, and will re
turn to Nenana. from wnich point he
■will leave for Tokotna, in the Kuako
liwim section.
Mr. Ulmer stated that the recent trip
was one of the hardest he had ever
made, no roadhouses existing in the
•district traveled, and the party, com
g>osed of Mr. Ulmer and an Indian
jfuide, being compelled to camp out in
bitterly cold weather. At Shugnak
Mr. Ulmer ran into weather register
ing 10 degrees helow^zero and was com
pelled to lay up ten days with Mr. end
Mrs. Frank Ferguson before the
weather moderated sufficiently to
(travel.
With Tokotna as a base camp, the
troad commission have quite aD elab
orate road program mapped out for this
season, Joe said. Under the supervi
sion of Ross Kinney, of the road com
mission, the roads in the Kuskukwim
district will be joined with one another
*and a few new trails constructed.
Ulmer left 'Wiseman, in the Koyukuk
■district, March W, and mushed into
;Nscans with dogs in XG days.
At Kobuk, Uimer ran into a number
■of oldtimers well known ia Alaska.
Among those were Mr. and Mrs. Louis
PIONEER
SHOP
Machine, Black
smith and
Sheet Metal Work
All Rind* of Repairs
Stoves Built
and Repaired
Robt E. Lowrie
Tokotna, Alaska
Lloyd, who are placer mining on Dan
creak. Frank Ferguson is installing: a
hydraulic plant on California creek and
will operate this summer. Lots of work
is under wav on Squirrel creek on tha
old diggings.
There appears to be more activity in
the Koyukuk than there has been for
many years past. U'hat the country
needs, says Joe, is more prospectors,
for it is a big mineralized belt extend
ing: for a distance of 300 miles from
Squirrel river to the Chandler.
The first snow of the winter fell at
Alatna January i, and shortly after,
Ulmer and a Kobuk guide went up the
Alatna for 40 miles, then cut across on
an Indian trail to the Kobuk river,
crossing Lake Cot wals. In blazing this
trail Ulmer had to work with a eom
pass on account of the diiving anew
which fell every day while he was in
that section. When he reached the
Kobuk he was forced to double back to
Alatna, 63 miles, in order to replenish
the supply of dog feed and food sup
plies. At Kobuk it was 56 below, and
when he reached Alatna it was 63 be
low. Going straight down the Kobuk
river to Shugnak village, he ran into
still colder weather, for here it regis
tered 71 degree* below.
Ulmer said that there were five dog
teams behind him on this trail and not
one of the drivers reached the Indian
village with a dqg, for a wave of dis
temper was rampant throughout the
district and dogs by the scores died
from the scourge. Two dogs in Jou’s
outfit died of distemper while on that
trip.
Ulmer met the Arctic geodetic sur
vey party in charge of Dr. Smith at
Alatna. They were all io fine health
and anxious to reach their destination.
Upon their departure from Alatna they
followed Ulmer’s trail, which he had
broken for 40 miles. From Alatna Joe
went to Hetties, then to Wiseman, and
then to Nolan. Here he met a few
miners, all of whom are getting- along
all right. Most of them were busy all
winter taking out winter dumps.
On the Kobuk he met quite a num
ber of friends. C. R. Patterson pros
pected and trapped all last winter. II.
Brown is running a store there, aud
Fred Johnson is prospecting in the dis
trict. At Wiseman he met Pingle,
Sam Dow. John Weoll, Jack Holzer,
Oarl Frank. Fred Swift, Ben Sirr, Jim
Stevens and Joe Matthews. All of
these men are mining and prospecting
on the old placer grounds and doing
fair. No new ground is being worked
any place.
The last winter was a poor winter for
trappers throughout the entire district
and very few good catches are report
ed. No reason is given for the scarcity
of fur excepting that it just happened
to be one of the lean years.
Since Ulmer departed last fall be baa
traveled 1360 mile6, of which ovor 700
miles was mushed on snowshoes.
Tradition bas it that Mount McKin
ley, the loftiest peak on the American
continent, sink* about two feet a year
from its official altitude of 20,300 feet.
Residents of the region are convinced
that this happens. They point out that
there is an average of four earthquake
ebooks per year, and contend that the
mountain settles about six inches with
each tremor. By way of attempted
confirmation they refer to the Aleutian
islands. According to recent reports
from scientific sources, .no one can state
the location or altitude of many of the
small islands in she Aleutian archi
pelago. One day an island may appear
PROFESSIONAL
Alhrecht and Taylor
Idiutrod, Alaska,*
LAWYERS
.’’’'•antic* in all Court#
I
well above the water, and the next daj
it mat have vanished. Numerous small
islands, including4Sogoslov, are report*
edjto have disappeared without a trace.
Bogoslov is recalled as the island which
suddenly appeared while the crew of
the coast guard cutter Bear looked on
in 1906. For these topographical freaks
the blatne is placed on Mount McKmlev
and Pavlof volcano, which intermit
tently sends out clouds of smoke and
flames.—Valdez Miner.
A little of Everything.
The wedding ring of plain gold,
which is a survival of Saxon times, has
outlived several attempts at change of g
fashion. For instance, at the marriage
of Queea Marv of .England to Philip of |
Spain, the Knglish statesmen debated
the question of the ring and wished to
have it jeweled, but Mary herself in
tervened by declaring that she would
not have it set with gems, for she
chose to be wedded with a plain hoop
of gold like other, maidens.
The word “lasf’.as used in the shoe
maker’s trade has nothing to do with
"last” in the sense of latest, but is de
rived from an old Saxon root, a "last”
meaning a footprint, or shape of a foot.
Though the wond dropped out of gen
eral speech centuriea ago, it has, by
some freak of language, been retained
as a technical word, meaning the foot ®
shape onjwhich the shoemaker) builds I
up his boot. _
me majority or .people, except those
who are residents * io Australia, have
never heard of Mrs-iEUr-abeth Mabony,
vet she is one of the most wooderful
women in the .-world. Trader, engi
neer. builder, stock . breeder, ship
owner and mine owner, she is the un
crowned queen of an Island known as
Sudest, near New Guinea, where she
has lived for the past 33 years.
Woodstone is she name of a material
made of sawdust mixed with magnesia 11
cement and compressed under enor
mous pressure. This wood is very like
ordinary wood, save that it has no
grain. It is made in planks which can
be cut with a saw and planed, and has
the advantage of not being inflam
mable.
What is believed to be the tomb of a
Viking queen has been unearthed in
Southern Norway. The burial cham
ber was found supplied with a complete
equipment for that future life antici*
pa tod by northern paganism, including
a furnished kitchen, beds and looms.
Although a college graduate, Lewis
W. Baldwin, the uew president of the
Missouri Pacific railroad,- began his (
career as chainman with a construction
K»DK- _
Scientists have found that children
grow tittle from the end of .November
to the end of March.
A machine exists with which it is
possible to rule 30,000 lines, within the
space ixf an inch.
M. W. Breed lone, ef Need more, N.
C., has six sobs in the United States
army. _ _
The Rev. Harold Speight, of Boston,
whose receot attack upon the .modern
dance on the ground of ita uooeftUhi
ness excited much comment, said at a
recentlunoheoo:
“Modern dancing is bad, but 8ome<of
these modern conversions are worse—
conversions, I mean, like the bootleg
ger’s.
•*A bootlegger, you know, got con-i
verted, and his pastor said to him:
•* ‘And now. Bill, we’ll burn up all;
your lists, eb? Yea, those immense
folios which tell you where you can buy
the vile staff and where you can sell*
it—we'll make a bon ire and burn them
all upi.*
•-‘Nix,’ said Bootlegger Bill. *1
tpight backslid*.am* need them lists !1 ^ 4
I
Rough and Dressed Lum
her of All Kinds
INNOKO LUMBER CO.
J. H. McLEAN - TOKOTNA
We Hare the Best
Swift’s Premium Hams and Bacon
Golden State Butter
Miners and Trappers' Supplies
Ladies' and Gents’ Furnishings
Tokotna Pool Hall
Best of Everything in '
Fruits Candies Cigars Tobaccos
All Fresh Goods
Jack Mutchler - - Proprietor
Larson Roadhouse
(Formerly The McLean, Tacotna.)
Best of Home Cooked Meals. Prompt Attention
New Dog Houses . . ?
Mrs. Frank Larson - Proprietor
Geo. W. Hoffman
Pioneer Trader of the Kuskokwim Valley
Napamute, Alaska
M
GENERAL MERCHANDISE
Good Prices for Your Fur
'1
i
ALASKA RIVERS NAVIGATION
COMPANY
&
Operating Light Draught Steamers
* On the Kuskokwim.
CapL Wallace Langley, Manager.