fHE KUSKO TIMES
A. I. Grant, Publisher, Sole
Owner and- Editor.
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Entered as second-dams-matter Au
goaf 20th, 192S, at the postoAce at
Tokotua, Alaska, under the Act. sf
Hatch 3. 1879.
Takotna, Alaska,- February 19, 1927.
WILKINS SAYS HE WILL ;.
TAKE CHANCE ON ICEvIF .
PLANE BECOMES DISABLED
DETROIT.—Captain. . George H.
Wilkins, who is to make.another at
tempt this spring .to. seek the an
swer to the Arctic’a last great rid
dle, left for. Alaska os Saturday and
plans to hop off from .airbanks early
in March for., an invasion of the
“blind spot” of the polar crypt. The
Captain, says he is going prepared
for a. few weeks’ flight or a stay of
two os three, years on the polar ice.
Captain . Wilkins is shipping two
new planes to. Fairbanks, and the big
plane..used last spring will be press
ed into .service agin. The three
planes wilt hop, off from Fairbanks
together for Barrow, by way of the
Brooks: range. .Upon arrival at Bar
row... Wilkins and Ben Eielson will
start, for the “blind spot,” so desig
nated by explorers because none
knOws f pr t certain whether its mil
lions of acres are land or ice.
“Such operations «s we contem
plate,” said Captain Wilkins, “are ex
ceedingly precarious. Consequently
we are going fully prepared to foot
it out or go with the ice flows across
the polar basin, to Siberia or wher
ever we strike land. We will live
chiefly on tfte game we find, on the
way.. Two. of the planes will be left
at Point Barlow and be prepared to
bring aid .tjo; if we can keep our
radio .sending outfit in operation. It
will be . utterly-foolish for a relief
party to sejtt out, if we are unable to
radio our position.” He explained
further1:: that* should contact be lost
for mere than., two days, the party
remaining at .Point Barrow will re
turn to Fairbanks and. leave him and
Eielson. to .foot it out.
Wilkins will be joined at Fairbanks
by Eielson, who will be his chief pilot,
and by Radio Operator Howard
Mason, Mechanic Orval H. Porter and
an assistant radio operator. A. 31.
Smith will accompany the party as
correspondent for the Detroit News.
The second pilot, Alger Graham, will
leave for Seattle next week. A sec
ond mechanic will be engaged at
Fairbanks.
The Wilkins party will land on the
ice north of Barrow,. and soundings
j will be taken of the ocean depth, in
j an effort to determine if there is
: land near by, and its direction. An
] attempt also will be made to deter
mine the direction of the currents.
The.Captain, was given a farewell
reception last night, and the Detroit
Aviation Cubl presented him with an
American flag, with which he will
claim any land found on his northern
flight.
THE PROPOSED NEW CALENDAR
There are 52 weeks and one day in
the ordinary year of 365 days. One
of the proposals for change is that
there be, first, three months of four
weeks each; then a week not belong
ing to any month; then another
three months of four week seach, and
another extra week, and the same re
i peated twice more. This makes in
all 12 months of four weeks each and
*vu* MUM n^wui. v«c uaj awui ic
mains to fill out the year. . It has
been suggested that Christmas be
this day, and that it be regarded as
belonging neither to any month nor
to. the last extra week. In leap years
I a second extra day would have to be
added.
i This system has some important.
: advantages. If the first day of the
first month were Monday,, the first
day of every month in the year
would also be Monday. . In fact, any
! date in the month would .fall, on the
same week-day for all months and for
all years. All holidays would occur
on specific dates in the mopth and
would always fall on the same day
of the week. For example, the
Fourth of July would alvfays come
on Thursday. If the system were
adopted,, its uniformity and ‘simplicity
woud probably make, men more effi
cient in business and other enter
prises than they are now, |or they
woud nlot be disturbed by so many
interruptions.—Ex..
DOES MINING PAX? •
A mining enterprise that repre
sents a profit , of over thirty-three
thousand per • cent has paid over
sixty-two times its capital in {divi
dends, is now quoted on & ^public
stock exchange, at seventy-two tines
its par value and commands a s^ljing
price one hundred and eighty tuqes
the figure at. which, it was. originally
offered, thirty-five yea^s- ago, may
not be an every-day occurrence, but
Tl
the fact that one exists shows how
generously mining ventures some
times' return the capital put into
them, where great ore bodies, good
business methods and some luck are
judiciously mixed.
, The original "innocent investor,’*
protected in California from such dis
tressing fate by corporation commis
sioners, better business bureaus, in
vestment brokers (who, by. the by,
are no more bankers than you are)
and other what-not busybody savjors
of imbecility, has already received
15,500 per cent in dividends from his
investment and can sell out at, a mo
ment’s notice for another 18,000 per
cent, making a total of 33,5,00 per
cent as a reward for his aasininity in
ilstening to the siren song oi the pro
moter.
It is an undeniable fact: thjtt '‘un
scrupulous promoters,”, represented
in Spokane owners who believed they
were reasonably hopest, "unloaded”
their stock in early days upon “inno
cent investors of the - East,” princi
pally from Milwaukee, and thus re
ceived for their great patrimony a
veritable mess of pottage. Many a
millionaire has been made b yHecla
stock, and many another Easterner is
enjoying a fine income from a few
hundred dollars invested in 10-cent
stock thirty-five years ago. Now and
then some of them pass through Spo
kane :r. Fuilman cars to glance with
pity at the Spokaneite who thought
he was “handing them something,”
years ago.
Hecla has just paid its third quar
terly dividend of $500,000, bringing
disbursements for this year to $1,
500,000, or six times its total capi
talization. The grand total ,of divi
dends is now $16,605,000, or 62.42
times its .capitalisation. Present quo
tation on the New . York curb is
around $lfy,per share. Thirty-five
years ago it was dragged and hawked
around thq streets of Spokane, Wal
lace, and other Northwest cities at 10
cents per share, at which it was a
drug qpon the market.
Altogether, Hecla is, from many
angles, one of the outstanding mining
enterprises of the world. If it were
starting development in these days,
instead of thirty-five years ago, it
wouia. pouDtiess De aeniea a .permit
to seek capital in California and its
promoters would be ^classed as unde
sirables. ltts history shows that
none m^ look into the ground, al
though some political creatures arro
gate to themselves that gift, ft also
proves that corporation commission-!
qrs and other statutory monstrosities
may as often prevent their wards
from becoming independent as . frpm
being robbed.—Ex.
Are yap a Kusho Times subscribe*:?.
Why not?.
.FUR WEARERS INCREASE
i FASTER -THAN FUR BEARERS
‘ _
1
The “ftr wearer” in the United
State* is ^increasing faster than the
“fur bearer,” declares the U. S. Bio
logical Survey, in a recently issued
statement. While more people are
falling into the custom of wearing
furs, there are fewer and fewer fur- .
bearing animals to supply them. The
state ment of the Biological, Survey :
said:
“The steadily diminishing supply of
fur animals in the United States
tends to prove that the “fur wearer”
is increasing faster than the ‘fur .
bearer.’ Collectors of raw furs esti
mate that the catch .during the past
season (1925-1926) f was approxi
mately 20 per cetn less than in the
previous season.”
Formerly the decrease has been in
the more valuable P^lt^such as mar- 1
ten, fisher and bepvp r, cfcmt now the I
decrease is affecting such staples as
Takotna |
Cigar Store |
Tobaccos I
Cigars, j
Soft Drinks J
—-"5—————
FredDubois
Proprietor
muskrats and raccoon. The value of •
the annual ratch of fur 25 yeara age .
is roughly estimated at $25,000,000;
!he catch today is estimated atijaaore
than $60,000,000. Even this figure ■
vouldhave been exceeded ifthftsup
ply had been maintained.
The, steamship Panama, sister^ship ,
) fthe. Yukon, which v^as recently
Purchased by the Aaska Steamship
Company for service on the Alaska .
•un, has been renamed the Aleutian,
fhe new vessel, after a complete
overhauling", will make its initial run ,
to Alaska on June 4. The Aleutian t
s a double-bottom oil burner of 5,863
>ross tons register,, and 8,250, tons
iisplacement. She is 375 feet is ,
length and 50 in breadth. On a ton
nage basis, the Yukon and Aleutian j
vill be the largest passenger steam- ■,
:rs operating in Alaska.
Max Simel
The Pioneer . Trader
Furs Bought and.,
Sold
Miners’, Prospectors!
and Trappers’,
Supplies
Steamer Service On the Jnaha
River.
Aslt Poople Ophir about us.
1,111'
i
STATION
Fairview. Innoko River
r'l
General Transportation
How About Wood Hauling?.
Joer Ferris.; - Takotna