VACHON TELLS OF BIG POT
CATCH AT TANANA—NATIVES
MAKE MERRY FOR 2 WEEKS
(Fairbanks News-Miner.)
Tanana was the gathering place
last month for natures from many
points along the- Tanana and Yukon
rivers, who came together to hold a
Mg potlatch, according to Peter Va
chon, who roturned to Fairbanks a|
few days ago after making a trip to;
Tinana.
Led by their tribal chieftains, about |
250 Indians congregated at Tanana,!
he says, and for two weeks the an
«ent ceremonies of Alaska natives j
were re-enacted. Some of the lead1
ers were Chief Peter Henry of Cross
jacket and his wife; Chief Albert of
Tanana and his wife; former Chief
Jestin, an important medicine- man;
f6rmer Chief Matthews of Tanana
and his wife; Chief Johnny Smoke
and his wife from Stevens Village;
Chief Pitka, a bachelor,, of Kokrines,
and Chief Jimmy Charley and his
wife Tiny, from Mints,.
Thousands of dollars’ worth of
pesents were given away during the
festivities, Mr. Vacfton declared, and
the potlatch was one of the biggest
held along the river for many years.
Shortly before it opened C^iief Mat
thews was married’ to Jenny Evan,
wife of Chief Andrew Eva”, of the
Crossjacket Indians, who died about
three years ago after a-, Ion*; rule.
All Chief Andrews’ heirlooms and
prized possessions were given away
during- the- potlatch to relatives and
friends. Among the- heirlooms was
an old spear handed down to him by
his father, who ruled'over the Gross- !
jacket tribe all His life: The spear |
came first, it is believed, from Chief
great-gret-great-grandfather and was
used in early day1® before the advent
of firearms to- kill brown bear and;
other big game.
A fine- moosefiide coat, beaded and’
fur-trimmed, which had heen prized!1
by the-chief,-was presented to a rela
tive, in accordance- with native cus
tom. There were also valuable neck
laces and other articles which were
distributed..
The potlatch was given in honor of
Chief Andrew Evan and'other notable
dead of the Tanuria and Yukon valr
leys.
In two weeks*' time Chief Henry
and his wife gave away $4,000 worth
of Hudson Bay blankets, leather suit
•rases, and hags, guns and clothing.
Presents distr.Duted ny former
Chief Jestiti and his wife were worth
about $2,000, and. Albert (Pilot) gave
away blankets and clothing to the
value of $1,50U. Beaded moccasins,
blankets and ether valuable, gifts,
worth at least $2,500, came from
. Chief Jimmy Charley and filly Char
ley.
Harry Sa mand Theodora: Sam,
from Stevens Village, bro.ght $3,000
worth of high-priced gun:,, .oather ar
ticles, clothing and Hudson, Bay blan
kets to Tin.ana as gift: ...
Every day a dilierent thief would
have charge of feeding the gotlatch
•rs, who 'ived in ents. ,hey ate in
the open, oil doth hein... spread on
the grass..
Henry, Chief Albert (pilot), former
Talks were made hy Chief Peter
Chief Jestin and forme; Chief Jacob
Star. The last evening of the cele
bration was one of gre.,. rejoicing. It
was then that preseiu- were given
away. The ceremony, . ..arte at,. 0, at
night and was not. finished until 4:30
o’clock the next. mom. g.
Tribal dances were odd in a dance
hall, and there song- composed in
honor of. the dead were sung.
All tire natives re red [/resents,
hut Mr.. Vachon anu. a s brother An
drew were the only -v. ,s men sa hon
ored. Each was giver. ; pair of beau
tiful beaded moecas a* in recognition
aS their friendship (with with. Chief
Andrew Evan..
The Indians cam.'.- to Tanana from
Minto, Tolovana, Hot Springs and!
GtossjacKet on the nana, and from
Kokrines, Ruby, Mo se Point, Ram
pgrt and Stevens on the Yukon. All
h4ve no. wreturned. In,chair fish.camps
to spend the remainder of tile sum
mer.
Democratic ideals are changing1 the
ancient customs of the Indians re
garding choice of leaders, Mr. Vachon
said. Formerly the position of'chief
was hereditary, but now has become
elective. The old chiefs are not rer
moved, but upon their death the new
leader is chosen by ballot of the tribe
for a speeded length of time, and if
he does not fiillll his post satisfac
torily his recall by majority vote is
possible.
TOMMY LOUGHRAN GOING
UP INTO THE HEAVIES
Mr. Tommy Loughran, having suc
cessfully defended his title against
Mr. James J. Braddock , has an
nounced that he is no longer alight
heavyweight, but has become a
heavyweight- And it will be inter
esting to see what b.-c-'nies of this.
On the bais of the records, in spite
of the belief, that a- good; little man
cannot beat a good big man, the odds
are in his favor.
One of the fist light heavyweights
to decide that he would become a
heavyweight was Robert Fitzsim
mons. And Fitzsimmons demonstrat
ed that if the good little man be g.ood
enough, he can lick, all the good big
men in sight. - He became champion.
Passing over Jack Root, who seems
to have been a sort of light heavy
weight champion and - who later
claimed the heavyweight title on the
basis of Jeffries-1 “giving'’ it to him,
the next important light heavyweight
was Gene Tunney. He was never
credited with being light heavy
weight champion, but he fought as-a
light heavyweight for . some years
and defeated some of the-best men in
the class. When he became a heavy
weight he gave a pretty good'account
of himself and, like Fitzsimmons, be
came champion. The last to make
the chung was Jack. Delaney., But
here something went wrong. In spite
of his skill as a boxer and a very bad
punch, ne never did much after he
began to meet the big fellows. Poe
sibly he did not have the strength to
fight heavyweights; possibly he. was
past his prime. At any rate he gave
a most indifferent account of himseli
and lately has almost completely
dropped out. of sight..
What is in store for Laughran
then, remains to he seen. It is; cer
tain, though that he greatly compli
cates a situation that hud. begun tc
clear. Schmelling, after a year oi
eliminations, has emerged., as' th<
leading contender for the eitle. Bui
whether he can heat Laughran few
would eare to say. They are not faj
apart in. the matter of size,.and whiU
Schmelling undoubtedly has the
i harder punch, Laughran is probably
by far the bettor hoxer. It is quite
■possible that the. title, when. it. is
: finally awarded, will remain in., the
United States--—New York War Id.
FIGURES INDICATE ALASKA
SALMON PACK IS.LARM
CQRDO . - , Aug- 21).—Apparently
vindicating the poiity of the:.Unite*
States Bureau of Fisheries undei
Gommissicr.er Henry G51VI alley, to es
tablieh .n: '.ska fisheries on a.cansist
uni production basis,, a- final tabula
; i.oii sit tvs 844,e95. eases of. salmor
, weie pac e; in this district, or t
| yain of nearly 200,000 cases over. Iasi
I oar and.a larger p... ....-.n ; y yeai
sine; 1925.
i This gain was made despite the
that the season, was an. off yeai
. ad that several days were cut- ofi
he season by bureau, orders-.
JUNEAU, Aug.; 21.—At. the. ciusf
f. operations Augu-rt. 10 salmon can
ers in Southeaster® Alaska.-. bar
packed 1,541,00ft csces of ail varieties
of salmon. A feat irotof !he pack is
the unusual proportion of r :d' salmon
Commissioner (TM^lley said there
would be over- 150',000 cases- of this
variety packed in She-two weeks be
fore the reason e.'ds.
Are you a Kvnko Times; subscriber ‘i
Why not.?!
i
! OTTO HUTTULA, FAIRBANKS,
ENDS HIS LIFE WITH RIFLE
(Fairbanks News-Miner.)
A suicide motive that resulted in
the death this morning of Otto Hut
tula, pioneer resident of the Interior,
nearly orphaned three children. The
| lethal weapon over which Huttula
and his wife struggled for an agoniz
! ing few moments discharged acci
dentally, wounding her in the arm
and freeing her husband to carry out
his desig». With the rifle free in his
hands he injected : a fresh cartridge
I into the chamber and placing the
muzzle under his right jawbone
pulled the trigger. The bullet tow
through his head, emerging through
I the left ear, with death instantane
ous.
The suicide was committed in a
small garage directly behind the Hut
tula cabin home on Fourth and Kel
lum, at 10:30 o’clock. Despondency,!
induced by ill health and consequent
unemployment over a period of more
than a year, is said to have led to the'
! act which had been anticipated by
: members of his family and friends
■ for several days. A constant watch
i had been maintained for several days,
! although it had not hcan known that
| he was making preparations in the
j garage, where he had concealed a
! loaded Mauser carbine, He had rc-1
: mal l id ir bed lata-this morning after
a restless night and shortly after i
breakfast turned to his wife ard said j
j “Good-bfe, Mary.” As he spoke he I
and, turning, sped out to the garage.1
J. Mrs. Huttula sensed his plan and fol
■ lowed immediately after him. When .
j she arriveJ at the garage he had
: taken up the gun. The struggle oc-!
; curred in a narrow space behind a •
touring car which a'most filled the:
.building.
i Otto Huttula had been employed.
ha3 a riveter for the F. E. Company, j
Last fall his hand had become in-j
jured, and this injury had become1
complicated by blood poisoning, thus
j impairing hi mat his trade. He had
been, incapacitated virtually continu
v occasional employ merit- It
had been intended that his brother,
| Joe Huttula, would take him to the
States for medical treatment, leaving
here next Friday morning.
An early resident of Fairbanks,
Huttula.had mined on the adjacent
. creeks for several years. He was
married to Miss Mary. Erickson, while
mining on Goldstream in 19.13. Sur
viving. hi, mbeside .ins widow are his
! children, William, aged 15, Vv'i ....a,
' 14, and Hilda, 12, and a brother, Joe,
resident here,- arid brothers and sis
ters in Finalnd and the tj niter, States.
He was aged about 42 years.
For ch*. biemiium 1927-1329 the
ij averse cost per capita to the Terri
, ritory per year for each student en
rolled at the Alaska Agricultural Col
lege. and School of Mines was 823,1.61.
Are you a Ksisko Time, subscriber?
Why not?
TABLE OF DISTANCES BE
TWEEN NEM AN A AND FLAT
Miles
Nenaim . 90
Tavern Roadhouse . 1714
Knight’s Roadhouse . 2314
Nineteen-Mile Roadhouse . 53
"i Diamond Roadhouse. 70
1 Roosevelt ._. S3
| Lake Minchumina . 115
,! Trappers’ Cabin . 132
‘ i Lone Star Roadhouse. 150
; Te£d'». Roadhouse . 16914
Sr*w Fork Roadhouse . 187
j East Fork Roadhouse .) 206
Berry’s Landing Roadhouse. 22714
Big River Roadhouse . 241
McGrath . 263
Takotna . 280
■> Bill Goss’ uuad&ouse . 301
Ophir . 300
McCafferty . 306
Brown Creek shelter cabin . 318
Fritr shelter cabin . 33#
First Chance shelter cabin . 346
• Bchermeyer K. II. 3.60
Iditarod .. 376
Flat . 384
Bonanzza she'.er cabin, 12 miles'
from Flat.
Crooked Creek shelter cabin, 19
miles from lionamza...
9
Babeesch Moosehide Mitts and Boots
Furs Bought and Sold Clothing
All Kinds of Nice Fresh Groceries and Fruits
Canned Goods of All Kinds Beds and Bedding
A. R. Eldridge - McGrath
TAKQTNA ROADHOUSE
Best of Meats and Rooms
Where Everythin* Is Homelike nod
Where Yon Are Cordially Wdeemed.
GOOD DOG HOUSES BATHS
Ivar Chilstrom - Prop.
Rough and Dressed Lum
ber of All Kinds
INNOKO LUMBER CO.
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