Douglas Island news., 1902-03-19


 full blast at the opening of navigation, unless in the meantime their represent atives should be impelled to meet and patch up their differences. Heretofore all the companies have com bined," said Mir. L. c. Branson, at the Fifth Avenue, ito keep up the rates" to Skagway Alaskan reporter. "Both freight rates and provisions will therefore come down very low. The war will be strict ly for traffic and commercial suprem- acy, and though it will affect the small concerns, it will not be directed against them. If the war comes ou as antici- pated, it will probably be fight to a finish and leave one or the other of the companies nearly alone in the northern field. In the meantime vast tracts of gold bearing country that cannot now be operated on account of high prices of transportation and prices of provis- ions, will spring into activity and pay wonderfully for their development. Henderson, Eureka, Upper Stewart, all of Forty Mile, Sixty Mile, Big Salmon, Jack Wade and Glacier will swell the gold output as it has never swelled be- fore. This rate and commercial war will be a great boon to the whole Yu- kon.
 The Seattle News letter quotes the following story from Paddy Smith, of Skagway fame: "Me father wuz a great pigeon fancier," said Paddy Smith, ian he lad some of tn best burrds in tn city. Is homers wuz of tn wather. Wan day I mind, wen l wuz lad, e took some young burrds out to try lem. He 'ad them out once or twice before an this time he took lem out about b miles to let lem fly 'ome. Wen we got back all tn burrds wuz 'ome except one black an white fellow. Tn old man wondered wat lad come of i'm an in two or three days said e fought hawk 'ad eat i'm. Wen Sunday, about 10 days afterwards. we wuz sittin' on tn back stoop smokin' an thinkin' wen tn old man says: Paddy, there's tbat bloomin. burrdl Get tn ladder an ketch 'imr l gets tn ladder an wen tn pigeon sees me comin' he runs into tn cote. I reaches in an pulls i'm out an gives i'm to tn old man; e ketches tn burrd by tn back an begins feelih' of is feet. Then says; What ye doin' dad?' An tn old man, widout smilin' says, Paddy, is feet be not sore, but e must haze walked itr"
 Jerry Monroe, at one time Skag- wayan, says the News, writes from Chenoa river in the Panama district, and gives an encouraging report of the prospects there. Excerpts from the letter are as follows: "We have pros pected some creeks on the Saltjacket river, which is tributary of the Tana na and situated between Good Pasture river and Chenoa, and we found some good prospects. We ran drain six feet to bedrock, going through two feet of muck and four feet of gravel that would average 20 cents to the pan. The best pan we got in this cut was SIP. On bedrock we got lots of four and five dollar pans. This may sound big but it is true. There is plenty of grub this winter, for there is another store about 9 miles below here. Things are quite reasonable; flour is 86.5O a sack, bacon 35c and beans 15c."
 Fish Brothers, the Alaskan mail con- tractors, will experiment in wheat and barley growing in Alaska next season. They have decided to make several ex- perimental plants along the line of the Valdez Eagle mail route for the purpose of feeding the horses employed in car rying the mails. From many expert ments with agriculture in this part of Alaska, it has been shown that grain can be easily grown. They have decid- ed to give the plan practical trial, and, if it proves successful, will un- doubtedly enter the industry on a larger scale. They were persuaded to try grain cultivation along the route because of the high freight rates. It cost on an average 40 cents a pound, or about $500 ton for feed. It will not be so expensive to raise feed.
 WANTED
 Bids on 50 cords spruce wood, oft. cut, NOT SPLIT, delivered at boiler room,