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"ffekehn, Aknfca, undur the Act of
March 3, 1STO.
Tab etna, Alaska, March 28, 193L
TTHAT PROPOSED SALE
OF ALASKA CABLE SR8TEM
(( United States Daily, Washing
ton, D. C.)
Conversations having as their ob
u'jctive the sale by the United States
tto private communication interests
.of its Alaskan combined cable-radio
metwork, for the past thirty years
.operated by the Army Signal Corps,
:are being held by several federal
.agencies, according to oral announce
ments ebruary 14 in behalf of the
Department of War and the Federal
Radio Commission.
.me oniy general pumic service
■ commuications system now operated
by the Federal Government, the sys
tem handles the bulk of commercial
traffic from the United States to the
Territory, and is manned and oper
ated entirely by the chief signal offi
cer, Maj. Gen. George S. Gibbs. Vir
tually the entire cable and land-line
.service in Alaska now is paralleled
iby radio circuits.
It was explained orally at the radio
(Commission that a report of the inter
departmental board appointed to in
vestigate the matter, now is in the
hands of President Hoover, and con
tains a plan for the proposed sale.
.Since the service was created by spe
cial act of Congress, another enabling
.act, authorizing the invitation of bids
Jooking toward the sale sale of the
properties, must he passed by Con
gress.
Drafting of such proposed legisla
tion was the basis of a confefrence
(of February 15 held att he Bureau of
the Budget with Col. J. Clawson
Roop, director of the bureau, R. O.
.Kloeber, assistant director, and offi
cials of other federal agencies identi
.
Dorbandt
and
Cope
nr to c—ifeet to IS points in
II An to ear f—r-pasaeager
eabto pie— Large baggage
eempartmeat separate froa the
eabto. E|ulpmcnt fan water
towflngn.
Slgi -seeing tripi a— time,
$5.00 pe. passenger.
Far Hat— to Alaska Patoto
WIRE
Robdrt H. Romig
AGENT
Anchor age. Atonic*
fied with communications. Among
those who attended were Maj. Gen.
j Gibbs, William R. Vallance, assistant
I solicitor, Department of State, and
chairman of the interdepartmental
board; Dr. J. H. Dellinger, chief, ra
dio section, Bureau of Standards;
Commissioner William B. L. Star
buck; Assistant General Counsel
Duke M. Patrick, of the Radio Com
mission, and Captain S. C. Hooper,
director of naval communications.
The bureau will submit to the Pres
ident, it was explained, a proposed
draft of such enabling legislation for
submission to Congress. This prob
ably will be done within the next few
days, it was added.
The following additional informa
tion contvrning the proposal was
made available at the Departments
of War and State, and the Federal
Radio Commission:
A method of assuring prospective
! bidders for the property that the fre
i quencies now employed in the radio
j links will be turned over to them was
! one of the problems around which the
interdepart mental conversations re
volved. This, however, has been sat
isfactorily met, by complying with
the terms of the law, and .through jl
cooperative arrangement with the
Radio Commission.
The frequencies, for the most part
; by executive order, are vested in the
i Department of War, although under
j a recent arrangement the Signal
! Corps supervises the general use of
commercial radio facilities in Alaska
allocated to fish canneries, mining
| camps, and other commercial enter
1 prises, so the;, would be employed
j economically, and will not duplicate
| Signal Corps circuits.
| necoras oi tn-j department of War
j show that since th eintroduction of
j radio the busi . ss of the combined
I cable-radio sei v ice has increased
steadily. The continental terminal of
the cable and of the radio circuits are
at Seattle, Wash. In the Iscal year
1930 the business had amounted to
$660,000, of which $300,000 was for
! the Government. Altogether there
were 695,000 messages transmitted.
A radio link now is being installed
! to parallel the main Alaska cable
running from Sealxie into the Terri
tory, it was explained. More than
| 1.600 miles of wire telegraph system
installed in the Territory has been
' abandoned for radio-telegraph ser
j vices.
Four officers and 175 enlisted men
| operate the Signal Corps communi
I cations activities in Alaska. This sys
| lem includes the submarine cable
■ front Seattle to Ketchikan and Sew
j ard. Cable stations also are located
: in Cordova, Juneau and Petersburg,
each of these points also having .a
radio circuit to the interior. There
! are 31 radio-telegraph stations in the
; system.
In the view of Delegate Dan Suth
erland, Alaskans need have no alarm
about the transfer of the Alaskan
cable from government to private
ownership, declares the Anchorage
i Times.
Replying to the cablegram sent by
the Anchorage Chamber of Com
merce protesting against the pro
posed sale of the Alaska-Washington
military and telegraph system to pri
vate interests, the Delegate sent the
following message:
“Bill authorizing sale of Alaska
cable system was given no considera
tion by House committee and noth
ing will be done with it at this ses
sion, although it may be re-introduced
in next Congress. War Department
has no desire to dispose of Alaska
system unless under guarantee of
just as good service for future as has
been given in past, and do pot believe
any private purchaser could give such
guarantee. My opinion Alaska people
need have no alarm about transfer of
cable system."
35-YEAR-OLD MINING CAMP
LOCATED ON LAKE DOROTHY
Prospecting bred real men in Alas
ka as well as in other early-day, min
ins countries, and “Sheep Creek. Bat” .
and his partner Leiqy, who explored
the hills adjacent to Lake Dorothy,
were of thata tribe, in the opinion of
Wendell Dawson, hydro-electric en
gineer who is in charge of stream in
vestigation for the Zellerbach and
Cameron pulp interests. Mr. Daw
son, who recently returned to Juneau
from a wee kat Speel river and Dor
othy creek, studying stream gauging
records, revealed for the first time
the discovery of a 35-year-old camp
on the shore of Lake Dorothy, which
he made last summer. It had been
made under a shelving rock, looae
rock gathered from nearby shaping
the walls. In it was the boat the
men had used. On it were the names
“Sheep Creek Bart” and "Leiuy” and '
two dates, “June, 1894,” and "Sep
tember, 1894.” Under another boul
der close by were found two finely
carved .paddles, and two others not so
well finished. Exceptfor the stem of
the boat, hewed out of native jack
pine, exposed to the weather, had
rotted, but the boat and oars were in
a remarkable state of preservation,
and the boat floated nicely when
launched by Mr. Dawson. A soap
stone, used in tool sharpening, a few
boards for stretching skints, a cook
pan and a few other articles were
found in the camp. The prospectors
had cut a trail from the beach to the
lake, built a lean-to for storing sup
pies, and had packed in not only their
tools and supplies, but boards and
lumber forthe ribs of the boat. The
boat was built of surfaced spruce
boards, 12 feet long. and 18 inches
wide. They had to lie. packed over a
pass 3,600 feet in elevation and then
(lroppeddown 1,200 .feet to the lake
itself. This apparently was done
early in the summer of 1894. The i
date “June, 1894,’’ probably was when ;
the boat was completed, and the Sep
tember date may have marked the
caching of the boat under the rock.
Bith dates were written with the lead
of a rifle cartridge. It showed but
faintly when the boat was first dis- <
covered, but after it had been hauled
out and dried the writing loomed up
distinctly. The names were carved
on the keel of the boat. No trace of
any prospecting operations were ob
served near the lake, but that, .appar
ently, was the mission of the two old
timers, Mr. Dawson said. He dis
cussed his find last fall with George
Bach, Taku Harbor rancher and old
timer, who recalled that two men
visited him about the summer of 1894
and invited .him to come over to their
camp and “see our lake.” He did not
know either of them personally, and
so far no other local resident has re
called them, although it is possible
that both are known to some of Ju
neau’s other residents.
TakotnaiEool Hall
FVesh Fruits Caddies Soft Drinks
Tobaccos Cigars Cigarets
Apples (Oranges
' ~1 ;;v
Charlie O’Halloran - - Prop.!
TAKOTHA ROADHOUSE
Best of Meals and Rooms
Where Everything* I*>(Homelike and
Where Yee Are Cordially Welcomed , f,
«OOD DOG HOUSES BATHS
• — - ..
Ivar Chilstrom - - Prop.
1
Pioneer
Trader
ATION: »■’ itUWBIV* I NNOKORI'BR.
Miners’, Prospectors* and |
Trappers* Supplies
t