The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-04-15
PEOPLE OF ALASKA Do NOT LIKE
THE TREATMENT OF CON-
GRESS.
PRACTICALLY WITHOUT LAWS.
NO MAN IN THAT COUNTRY OWNS
THE LAND HE OCCU-
PIES.
A Former United States Attorney
Talks EntertainingIy of the
Immense Territory.

G. B. Johnson, formerly United States
attorney for the territory of Alaska,
! and for four years a resident of Sitka
was registered at the Ryan yesterday.
Mr.. Johnson is now interested in the
great gold mining industries of Alaska,
and is at present national committee
man for the territory.
Alaska needs and demands home
rule remarked Mr.. johnson to a re-
porter for the G b yesterday after
noon. "She not only demands home
rule. but she demands homesteaders'
laws and land laws. These two things
have been promised US for many years
by all the political parties which have
! bad power in the United States, but
the promises have never been kept.
! The time is coming when we in Alaska
| will have to impress our demands upon
! congress in some forcible way. 1t is
no longer possible to govern Alaska
! from Washington, for the seat Of gov
| eminent is 1900 miles from Sitka.
There are conditions in the territory
! which only a local government can
| cope with, and fifty rule. 1t is a pc
! culiar fact that there is not a man in
! Alaska today who owns the LANDS he
! occupies, and who is taking gold out of
| the soil. This is because the govern
ment, for period of twenty-five years,
has positively refused to grant us land
| laws. 1t is not legal in Alaska for a
man to chop down a tree for fuel.
| When l was government attorney there
| was compelled to prosecute dozens of
! poor men for cutting timber which be-
longs to the United States 1 think
| it is all wrong. There is timber enough
in Alaska to supply the country for
years and years."
/ why does the government continue
to refuse you land laws?"
THAT is a question which has never
| been answered" replied Mr.. Johnson.
II have just come out from Washing
ton, where L had a long talk with
Speaker Reed on this very question.
| asked him that very question, but IL
was not answered to my satisfaction.
During the tWenty-three years we have
| been seeking to have Alaskan land
laws passed, that question has never
been answered"
Mr.. Johnson was asked if he has
| gone to Washington to seek a terri
| torial appointment from the new ad-
ministratiOn, but said he had not any
| ambitions in that direction. Il am
interested in gold mining in the Juneau
country, and am greatly encouraged
at the outlook. l believe that Alaska
| will send no less than Sc, 600 in gold
TO the mlntS of the United States the
coming year Last year we were rated
as the fifth gold producing state in the
continent. and believe that this year.
when the placer mines on the Yukon
and the Kliembyke rivers are placed
in full operation, Alaska will rank
! third. The deposits are phenomenal
The rush of prospectors continues "a
the same rate as it did last year, not.
Withstanding the fact that the KOotenai
fields are catching hundreds of seekers
after wealth. The mines of Juneau
are very extensive. The city of Juneau
is the largest community in Alaska
and has about 5000 people. The Alas
kan Treadwell Gold Mining company az
Juneau has the largest mill in the
world, operating 240 stamps. The Alas
ka-MeXican company has a 120-stamp
mill, the NOVEL; mill has fifty stamps
and the Juneau mill has thirty stamps.
Great excitement is now being
caused by the wonderful placer de-
pOsits along the bed of the Kliembyke
river. During the winter the water is
frozen solid, and there is only very
scant f1owage. There is a strata of
gravel under the bed of the river which
/
rock. Tunnels are dug and carried out
under the river, and the gravel is mined
much after the manner of quartz
mines. In the summer the gravel disin-
tegrateS and lis washed for gold You
may gain some idea of the output by
the statement that the miners are paid
an ounce of gold per day as wages.
This is equivalent to $16.50 day. Life
in such a country, however, is hard,
and access rather difficult
Speaking generally of Alaska, Mr.
Johnson said the people OF the United
States had very little idea of its
size. 1t is further, he said, from San
Francisco to .Sitka than it is from San
Francisco to Portland, Maine. A per-
son can travel for 1900 miles in Alaska
in three different directions from a
common point and still be in Alaska.
Mr.. Johnson believes the government
of the United States showed great wis
dom when it purchased Alaska from
the Russian government. Last year
over So 900 600 worth of fish were i'm
ported into the United States from the
territory.
What is the condition Of the seal
ing Industry" was asked.
Very discouraglng," replied the ex-
| United States attorney. 1T is my can
did belief that the seals are doomed.
and that arbitration, as the outcome of
i the Paris tribunal, killed them more
effectually than the poachers There
is no such thing as protecting them
under the present conditions. l made
several trips to the Pribiloff islands
and other sealing islands for the gov
eminent, and while there came to the
conclusion that the industry was a
dead one.
First Lieut. Guy c. NJ. Godfrey, as
sistant surgeon at the FIT Sheridan
barracks, Chicago, arrived in the city
yesterday and registered at the Mer-
chants. Lieut.. Godfrey has been de-
tailed on temporary duty in the de-
partment of the Dakotas, with head
quarters at ST. Paul. The change was
made necessary by the granting of a
leave of absence to Capt E. G. Carter
from Ft. Harrison, necessitating a