Seward weekly gateway., 1906-04-28
HOW TOWNSHIP
 WAS OBTAINED
Shows that PrOmOt CTS Who Were Afraid to Risk
 Money now Regret it.

wick'S illustrated paper, has been
 hearing things about Seward. In its issue of March 24 it published story
 on the ownership of the Seward town
 site. which discloSeS some interesting
 history. The story in full follows:
 By the way, did you know that Major John G. Ballaine has been the subject of an investigation? Well, its & fact. and at the same time consider able of a joke.
 "Therc k fellow from Spokane, named Laberee, who is known as a purveyor of mining stock. Laberee blew into town about a year ago with the story that he was to be elected president of the Alaska Central road. Among the men who got a whitT of his tropical air were W. D. HotiuS and Moritz Thomsen. Now when a fellow wants Co be president he wants the job badly. If you don't believe it, ask Bryan. But, in some manner Lab cree. who owned a few shares of stock and a burning 'ambish, failed to con- meet. He seemed to harbor the belief that Ballaine put a spoke in his wheel Anyhow. a few months ago it began to be whispered about that Major Bal laine was not really entitled to the townSite of Seward Alaska, for the reason that it was understood to have been purchased with money belonging to the railroad company, and therefore it should be distributed among all of the stockholders, Laberee among them. These stories were traced to Lsberee, and among the persons to whom he confided his understanding were ex-Senator Turner, President Frost and F. Aug. Heinze, all interes- ted in the road. While Ballaine was absent in Washington recently an in- vestigation was put on foot, and then the facts came out.
 Ut is well known in Seattle that Major Ballaine is the man who pro- noted the Alaska Central, and is res pousible for it's success. Soon after the Alaska Central company was or ganized, and long before it had cash, credit or standing, Ballaine took steps to file soldiers script on wilderness where SewarJ now hOuriSheS. It would cost several thousand dollars. He invited various members of the board of directors to join him in the enterprise, and incidentally the eX pense, but they asked to be excused. It looked too much like gamble to them. So Major Ballaine and his brother borrowed the money at the Trust Company, on their own securities, made the townsite safe, and in the course of time received a patent from the government.
 'You have heard of long shots on horses? We'll, that townsite today IS worth a couple of million dollars and is still going. And Major Ballaine deserves every cent that he has made, or will make, out of it. There are in Alaska today just such chances as this, waiting for men with energy, common sense, business integrity and pluck to walk away with them.
 But the sensational part of the in- vestigation, based on Laberee'S 'un- derstanding, was the discovery that of all the original promoters of the Alaska Central, Major Ballaine and F. Aug. Heinze are the only ones who risked their cash in the early days when it was a gamble, and that for one period of nine months Ballaine alone carried the company by paying its bills
 out of his own purse. Laberee, it
 turns out from the investigation,
 never invested a dollar in the railway,
 and has not invested dollar in it tc
 this day"
 Men from the whaling fleet at Her.