| Show ALASKA AS IT IS 18 interesting FACTS ABOUT THE northwestern TERRITORY J B hammond of douglass island A alaska I 1 1 aska arrived la ita st louis yesterday and 0 d is a guest at the southern mr hammond has just jus returned from his fourth trip to uncle sams frozen possessions 1 and gives given some interesting and valuable a ble 1 n with relation to that country its prospects and developments mr hammond left douglass island november and came through by way of san francisco he is a mining engineer and states that the mining interest in alaska and notably on douglass Dou Klass island Is in a highly prosperous i condition ondi tion gold yields the best returns and there is little effort made to secure silver and copper of which there are very fair deposits the mining interests now lead alaskan industries said mr lar hammond next come the fisheries and then furs douglass Dou elass island is really the great mining district at present containing the only mines in the territory worked by machinery there are exceedingly large veins of pay ore the largest in the surface mines of the world in fact and there is great great promise in ia them for the f future there is a misapprehension in many quarters as to the climate of alaska along the seacoast it is mild very rarely cold and I 1 have never seen the thermometer register more than 16 degrees below zero in the interior it is very cold how about tile the natives we have worked from fifty to of them in the mines and have bound them excellent laborers in surface mining while they are no good when placed in the bowels of the earth they are sturdy and withstand any sort of hardship as is evinced by their journeys from the coast to the interior with many 04 0 them willingly carrying pounds ace A great deal of this sort ot of work devolves upon them as there are no pack animals in the territory and there are not three miles of w wagon on road in alaska is Is the territory teri tory filling up rapidly no I 1 presume there are not more thin than 2500 whites in the territory and native indians what is the present population of sitka much less than is generally presumed by the mast mass of the people it is between and 11 how about the fisheries if f might tell you some truths about the salmon fisheries which would seem incredible there are a gre freaa many salmon canneries in the territory and they are prosperous because they nave have so little trouble la in securing the fish in the streams they are found in vast num bers some weighing between forty and fifty pounds and are captured without effort either with spear hook book or net whaling has been more successful the present season than ever before Is the territory improving rapid lyev yes it is destined to become a great mining centre and everything is in its favor for instance during the present pi ag year I 1 have shipped over mk pounds of raining mining machinery from new york to alaska at the rate of per pounds 11 4 now how were your shipments matle made by the canadian pacific to victoria B BC C and from there by pacific coast steamer to douglass island mr hammond carries a cane which is a marvelous piece ot of workmanship considering that it was done by an all alaskan native with a punch and block of wood as his only tools it is s mounted with a miniature idol in copper the design being a large head with glaring eyes and wide open mouth containing contain dg two perfect rows of teeth and on either side a long tusk between the teeth is a smaller figure with the visage of a demon arms akimbo the head bead decorated with a pair of Sata laic horns it is a miniature imitation of the eitam pole which the babides worship said mr hammond and was presented to me by one of my indian employed emp loyes in the mines they are quite adept ia this line of artistic work and turn out some queer designs in gold and silver jewelry are the indians friendly or erous friendly they are not per rAked ed by the government to have whisky and the same caution is exercised in fur bishing them with firearms the government prohibiting the sale of im P proved breech loading weapons but allowing them to have the old muzzle loaders they are very apt and soon become good shots 11 11 when do yon return to alaska ila I la in the early X part art of the coming year I 1 am bound boun east on mining matters I 1 glob 3 democrat |
