The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1885-04-18

grows to height of $50 and 175 feet and
is from to feet in diameter, is the COM
mon tree in all these forests, and Menzies
and Merton spruce, red and yellow cedar,
pinus contorta, fir, cottonwood, ash, alder,
small maple and small birch are the other
trees most frequently met with. The red
and yellow cedar are the most valuable
woods, and the latter, more particularly, is
the only good ship-building timber on the
Pacific coasts. Its value arises chiefly from
the fact that it is impervious to the teredo
or boring worm, which eats up the pine
piles under the Puget Sound wharves every
two or three years. 1t has fine grain
and certain fragrance, and when made
into chests it affords certain protection
from moths to anything placed within.
This yellow cedar is rarely found South of
the Alaska boundary, and the largest tracts
of it are on Kupreanof, Kon, and the
Prince of Wales Island. 1t was once
urged upon Congress to declare the Prince
of Wales Island Government reservation
for the purpose of preserving this valuable
ship timber and piling for its own use, but
like all a laska bills, it was laughed at and
voted down. As the Government would
neither sell nor lease these timber lands,
establish land offices, make surveys, nor
allow settlers to pre-empt their acres, there
are few sawmilIs in the Territory, and their
owners are guilty of taking Government
timber and liable to prosecution if the new
officials press things to the finest point
Want of lumber has been serious hind
rance to settlers, miners, and the owners of
canneries.
MINERAL DEPOSITS.
The density of the forest growth, the
tangle Of underbrush, and the thick carpet
of moss that covers every inch of ground
has made mineral prospecting very slow
and difficult. The men who discovered
ledge of quartz near Sitka worked for ten
days to clear off small patch of ground
over the outcroppings, and the more one
sees of these dense tangled forests the more
one marvels at the extensive mining region
that has been opened up near Juneau and
across on Douglass Island. As they have
had neither land Offices, surveyors nor re-
corders, the ownership of mining claims
has been rather uncertain. While they
could get no title to their claims nor pro-
lection for themselves, mine owners have
been contented to do only yearly assess
ment work, wash or pound out enough
gold to pay expenses, and keep very still
while they held their mines by suferance,
luck or shotguns only. The fear of invit-
ing more Adventures to come and Jump
their claims and increase mob rule has
made the miners very reticent about the
value of their properties, and Boosting in
that line is unknown in the mining camps
Of the archipelago. The first quartz lodges
were found near Sitka in 1871, but bad
management and bad luck have prevented
their becoming profitable claims. A mill
was erected on one of the lodges and was
successfully worked for while, but litiga-
ton and the vicissitudes of mining life
have kept it at standstill for several
years. The great mining region is at
Juneau, $50 miles southeast of Sitka. |
Three small creeks on the shore of the |
mainland lead to the basins back in the |
mountains, where rich placers have been
worked for four seasons. Quartz lodes
have been found and traced, and every
foot of this mineral land is staked off and |
claimed by two, three and four first owners.
Law suits are impending over every claim,
although the courts have not yet been es-
tablished no one has a title to mine, and
only assessment work has been done on any
of them. On Douglass Island, opposite
Juneau, the Paris. or Treadwell, mine is
the great mine of Alaska. The gold bear
ing ledge there is 500 feet wide, cropping
out upon the surface and fronting ike a
stone quarry to the open air. 1t has been
by four tunnels and small
fve-stamp mill has been at work for two
seasons. The ore is not rich, averaging
from SO to $50 per ton, but the decomposed
quartz is easily milled and the supply is
The of this property
are Messrs. Treadwell, Hill, Frye and Free
born, of San Francisco, and Senator j. P.
Jones, of Nevada. A large mill is to be
built by force of mechanics, who will ar
rive by the August steamer, and the owners
being now assured of government title
and protection, are prepared to invest over
100000 in these works The success of
the Treadwell mine has done much to give
confidence to other mine owners, and when
once sure of their titles there will be a
boom for these Alaska mines that will quite
Guido the Tombstone, Leadyille and Cgur
d. Alene excitements.
AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES.
OF the agricultural possibilities of the
country almost nothing is known, and the
are about like Western ranchmen
who use condensed milk and imported but
ter, while they count their cattle around
them by thousands At each town and
settlement there are thifty little garden
patches about some of the houses that prove
that potatoes, cabbage, lettuce, and vegeta-
bles can be grown. Wild timothy grows
six feet high in any clearing, and white
clovers, with tops as large and full as
double carnation pinks, sway on stems II
and Is inches long. For several years hay
was cut and cured at Fort Wrangell and
shipped up the Stickeen River for the pack
horses at the Cassiar mines A venerable
mule was left here at Sitka by the military
seven years ago, and since then he has
"rustled" for himself through the winters,
and each spring comes out in better con-
dition than the Montana cattle. Although
A aska may never become State, and
agriculture and stock raising may not be
the great industries, this southeastern part
Of the Territory is undoubtedly able to sup
port the population that will engage in the
mines, fisheries and lumber camps. With
Government neglect and indifference so
the residents have had no in
centive to enterprise, and this most valuable
part of Alaska has laid dormant since the
Russians left it.
T GEISELMAN & SON, Manufac-