The Alaska prospector., 1904-09-01
Correspondence.
Special to the ProSrECroR.

Sunrise, Aug. 3.-Among the arrivals a; this port on the st cam Tyonic las; Sunday was 0. H. Sleeper of Boston, president of the Ready Bullion Copper Co.,, N. P. White of this city, who is superin- ,endcnt of the company, and Capt. B. Frank Hand, the we'll known mining engineer, who i. consulting engineer for the Ready Bullion. Captain Hand is we'll known to Alaska peop.e, as he was one of the Argonauts of 96, and has travelled extensively over the greater part of the territory. He probably knows more of the resources of Alaska than any other man living.
 In an interview with him this morning he said We came on the Santa Ana from Seattle to Seward, thence on the Dora to Scldovia and thence on the Tyonic. The trip up was a pleasant one all the way through.
 l had the pleasure of stopping a whole day in Valdez. where wa, shown much courtesy by the lead- business men, particularly by Mir. Bourke, editor of the PRospEcToR, who took particular pains to give me much valuable information con corning the mineral development of the country around Valdez. am impressed with the idea that the near future will show up some splendid mines, particularly in copper. l saw some of the best samples of copper ore that ever saw in any country, and as soon as the existence of paying deposits tbecomes known to the outside world Valdez will get all the capi- tai she needs for development pur- poses, railroads or anything else. Valdez is nice situation for a town, and seems to be doing Il good business, at least 1 heard no kicking. One thing struck me as peculiar, however. and that was the fact that number of the peo- pie seemed to have their little ham, mers out for Seward, and the com ments l heard were not flattering to say the least. Personally I think the condemnation of Seward and the Alaska Central by the people of Valdez or anybody else is both unwise and detrimental to Alaskan interests.
 Seward as terminal point of the Kenai peninsula has a distinct i've field of it's own. and does not in the slightest degree conflict with Valdez, which, as terminal point, also has distinct field. One thing l do know, and that is that the Kenai peninsula is veritable storehouse of mineral wealth. I speak from personal knowledge Seward is nicely situated and Res urrection bay is one of the finest bodies of water on the Pacific cOas, The railroad is being pushed ahead very rapidly and is being built right. It is good piece of work, all reports to the contrary not withstanding.
 The Ready Bullion Copper Co.,, of which l am consulting engineer owns a fine property about 36 miles north of Seward, and near the route of the railway.
 | We are here to push the develop ment of the ledge, and expect to be ready to ship ore by the time the railway is ready to handle it. Generally speaking l am pleased with the outlook for Ala ska, and if our people would drop their petty jealousies and pull together the country would improve much fast CT.
 Il One thing we must stop and that is petty litigation. If grand juriss would ignore some of the trivial cases that come before them. there would be more money spent for development work. Personally l know that eastern capital is rather skittish about investing in coun- tru whara a man i. Eahlo to ha