Delegate Sutherland
Fakes Radio Audience
Over Tiait to Nome
Following :s the »•;■»<!ir»- -speech deliv
ered bv Delegate from Alaska Dan
Sutherland ai Wasb+ngtnn receot.lv. It
is stated he received many compli
ments. one being fror.i President Con]
idge:
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Radio
Audience:
l would like to -have you visualize
the map of Alaska, ami particularly
that, great peninsula at the northwest
ern extremity of the North American
Continent which juts westward until
• it almost counsels, with Russian do
minions.
On the south side of this peninsula,
on the shores of Berio? sea, 2d years
ago. placer gold was discovered, and
from all over the earth came adventur
ers to this bonanza in search of fortune
—-twenty thousand of them. A city
sprang up, almost in the Dight—the
• city of Nome, located in a barien, tree
. less waste. Here a cosmopolitan peo
ple for many years toiled in the mines
(through the continuous daylight of
Bummer, aal danced the long, dark
•viniers out.. Here the heroic and ro
mantle features of the lives they led
appealed to the authors of fiction, and
here Rex Beach laid the scene of his
Samous story of .“The Spoilers.”
Gradually, through the years, the
population of Nome decreased as the
bonanza placers were worked out and
modern labor saving devices in miniDg
came into use, until the present popu
lation-census of 1920— is 852.
On Monday of last week the country
was startled by the news that the iso
lated town of Noma, shut out from the
world by the great winter ice barrier
. of Bering , sea, was a stricken city.
The dread epidemic of diphLheria bad
broken out, four victims had died and
Swentv more were infected. The in
stdeouate supply of anti toxin on hand,
four and six years old, had lost much of
its potency through age. The nearest
supply was at Aueburage, almost 1,000
miles distant, and m> means of trans
portasion except the slow overland
snethod of mail transportation, prin
cipally by dog teams.
The people of Nome appealed for
relief by air transportation of anti
toxin, but the three airplanes that op
erate in interior Alaska during tbe
summer months were in winter storage
send the aviators were spending the
winter out in the States To attempt
the flight from Seattle up the stormy
J. H. McLean
Tokotna
Ladies’, Furnishings
Arctics 1 Felt Slippers
King Island Mukluks
Mild-Cured Ham
and Bacon
Star Ham 45c Bacon 50d
Oregon City
Mackinaw Coats
Hood Rubber Pacs
Leather Vests
Coal Oil Plenty of Gas
V
coast ho(3 across the great Alaskan
gulf in midwinter would be extremely
hazardous and io fact almost impossi
ble of accomplishment.
A veteran aviator of the world war,
now a government employe io Alaska,
volunteered to make the flight from
the Alaska governmr.it railroad to
Nome, but the | ssibility of an air
plane engine, unused for several
mouths, failing to operate properly in
the extremely cold weather that pre
vailed at the time, deterred those in
Charge of the relief project from per
mitting the at'empt, and so resort was
had to the somewhat slow, but always
dependable, method of transportation
bv dog team.
WheQ it was announced from the
radio and telegraph stations along the
Tanana and Yukon rivers and on the
Bering sea coast that the effort for
relief of the sufferers at Nome would
be made by dog team relays, every dog
team owner along the route volun
teered his services. Throughout this
northern section of Alaska winter
transportation is carried oq by dog
team; in this manner the mails are
transported, supplies are moved from
town to mine, and passengers are car
ried from one locality to another. The
men who maintain dog teams for these
purposes are inured to the climatic
conditions of the country and to the
hardships incident to their vocation.
Upon learning of the epidemic at,
Nome the U. S. Bureau of Health, at
Washington, D. C.. immediately re
quested the Department of the Interior
to dispatch the 300,000 imits of anti
toxin in the government hospital at
Anchorage to a northern point on the
railroad for delivery to the first relay
dog team. The bureau of public health
also ordered a follow-up shipment of
120,000 units of anti-toxin aDd 200
Schick tests from Seattle by steamship
to Soward, Alaska, the ocean terminus
of the government railroad. The rail
road is projected for a distance of 480
miles into the interior of Alaska to
Fairbanks, a town in the approximate
geographical center of the Territory.
The anti-toxin is carried north to a
station called Dunbars, about four
miles south of Fairbanks. At Duubars
the mail trail to Nome begins, and
from this point 1 would have you follow
the course of 040 miles traversed in five
aud one-half davs for the relief of the
Nome sufferers.
The distance by air line is less than
500 miles, hut we must follow the sinu
osity of the river valleys and coastal
indentations, thus adding about 150
miles to the journey.J
The dog team is ready upon the ar
rival of ihe train.
The sled is a long, narrow affair, 12
feet long by 20 inches wide, built of
hickory aod lashed at every joint with
moose sinew, which makes it supple.
There are niDe dogs !u the team, some
pure blood maiamuta with sharp point
ed ears and bushy tails curled over
their backs; others show some outside
strain, perhaps setter, perhaps Aire
dale.
I be anti-toxin is in the sled wrapped
in blankets and robes, and they are off.
It is 9 o’clock in the evening, and the
thermometer stands at 48 below. There
are compensating features connected
with the extreme cold weather in the
North. There is no wind, nor is
there any snow falling in very cold
weather. The dogs are moving at a
seven-mile gait over a level country,
the broad Tanana valley. The trail is
quite heavy, and by midnight the dogs
haue slowed up considerably. The skv
is absolutely cloudless, and the moon
and stars shining on the great white
ness make it comparatively light. Day
light is coming on uow, and the driver
urges his lagging dogs, on over lake
and tundra, until at 11:25 in the fore
noon we arrive at Tolovana. a fur trad
ing station on the bank of the Tanana
river, 52 miles from Dunbars; time. 14
hours and 25 minutes. A relay team is
ready, and in 10 minutes the anti toxin
is transferred, and they are of?.
A dash of 20 miles is made to' Hot
j Springs, a village of 29 white people.
| The distance is made la 4^ hours: mors
I rapid traveling; the reason, fresh dogs,
| shorter distance and better trail. , Fif
teen minutes’ delay aud the new relay
departs from Hot Springs. The trail
is back from the river and o7er polling
hills to Pish Lake, 28 miles, in 4,hours
and 10 minutes.
Another 15 minutes for transfer and
another relay is started through a
wooded country oo an excellent trail.
At midnight of the second day we
emerge from the forest upon the
mighty Yukon river. It is a mile and
a half in width at this point, and we
cross it to the village of Taoaoa, on the
Dorth bank. Distance, 26 miles; time,
(Continued on Page 4.)
m
THE
BYSGOLLY
Tokotna.
Candies
Cigars
Soft Drinks
Lunches
John lieino
Proprietor
Are You Going to Build?
We have in stock lumber of all kinds, rough and
dressed. Lately we have added a few lines, such
as Rustic and Shipiap, 4 and 6-inch Flooring', Win
dow^and Doer Casing, Window and Door Stopping.
Boat Lumber of all kinds.
And if you are jfoing to build a sled, call on u». We have the
best hickory 10 Alaska.
0 LUMBER
I
A Dredging or Hydraulicing
3
Proposition, Yankee Creek
I
I am the principal owner ®f a block of grouou
on Yankee creek, about seven nines Ion*, extend
ing from No. 1 Below Discovery down to the mouth
of the creek.
Pay has been located all aloog'for a distance of
about three miles from the upper end, and .pretty
well prospected aud cross-cut.
The average depth of the ground Is from seven
to twenty feet. The top is all black muck, that can
be moved freelv. No rock bigger’tfcan one's fist.
The width of the pay. for & distance of about
three miles, ;is from 100 to 200 feet. CrosscutiQg
work indicates that the ground will go from 15
cents to $1 per square foot; ofMbedrock. My belief
is that the pay will average .00 cents per foot.
I have a ditch on the ground, three miles long,
together with waterirights. Tbe ground is prettv
well cleared. There is also a drain, three miles j
long, with the water right, i also have a water
right on Ready Bullion creek, from whieh water
caD be brought to Yankee creek with h ditc*. 1 -s
than a mile long (4,900 feet), which will •
sluiceheads of water, with a pressure or .'a *
feet, being 1600 feet to tbe work from the a ”
After doing away with tbe muck, there will be
from four t« six feec of dirt to ©andle. Tha pay
raDs mostly ia the bedrock of porphyry and slate.
Tbe ground is virgin, only about $11,000 havicg
been taken out sy windlass in prospecting.
Prospecting work during tbe present w.oter cns
resulted in finding values tbet run up to SI per
square foot of bedrock.
Tbe Flume Dredge Company has a dredge above
this ground, which has been in operation for the
last three seasons.
The Government road crosses Yankee creek. I
also have a road down the creek that connects with
tbe Government road.
• I am si60 the agent for owners e? ground other
than that held by myself.
Toe ground can be worked either with dre<ge,
drag-line scraper,|for by hydratilicing.
1 will either sell the grouad or give a lease ©a
it. If th* prospect is satisfactory to the buyer, a
cash payment will be expected. A good bargain
will be given to tbe right party.
For tfurther information, terms, etc., «*U <m
ground, or write or telegraph me.
p:r kollittr,
Tokewaa, Alaska,.
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