Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1907-09-27
OLD TIN CANS.
The Great Variety Of Uses to Which
They Are Put In Alaska.

They Are Put In Alaska.
While there is but one camp in Alas
| kas 900 square miles designated on
the map Tin City-because of its loca-
ton in the tin-producing district-there
| Is scarcely n settlement that has not
more than obvious claim to the name,
| so tangible a part does tin play In the
warp and wool Of the Northland says a
writer in Leslie's Weekly But It is not
| OF the tin that goes to waste on the sur
face of Americas most northerly pos
session. nor the tin that mining experts
tells US lies in untold quantities in the
| regions of York and Cape Prince OF
Wales / would sing, but rather of the
humblest gulse this most useful, prosaic
! of metals Is wont to assume in the Arc
| tics-the tin can! Far more tin in the
| form of receptacles for preserved foods,
! Illuminating, lubricating and fuel oils
has been brought into Alaska than there
has yet been taken out of its mines.
Wherever in Alaska the intrepid white
man ventures the tin can keeps pace.
What the earthen jar is to the water
| carrier of fair Capri, the nve-g gallon
Standard Oil tin can is to the water ven
der or Nome. Fresh water Is one of
Seward peninsula's scarcest commodities.
For drinking and all domestic use water
| IS piped In summer across four or more
miles into Nome from Moonlight springs,
! which bubble, pure and sparkling all the
|
| out OF the heart OF n neignbOring noun
tain. At supply station the camp ven
ders fill their carts daily and deliver the
! fluid from door TO door The water
| wagons of Nome are one Of this most
northerly seaports picturesque features
In summer they are two-wheeled carts
with sheet iron cylinder swaying on an
axle. A trough runs on either side, in
! which stand shining rows of five gallon
tin cans The drivers seat projects from
| the left side. and as the cart joys along
! Ike an Irish jaunting car the drivers
effort TO hold on suggests a side-saddle
! equestrian at the mercy of a hard trotter
/ Where formerly water retailed at the
| uniform price of one dollar for twelve
! buckets the five-gallon tin can at two
bits or twenty-five cents Is the standard
measure of value No habitation, from
! Uncle Sans caricature Of a courthouse
| or MS barnike official structures on Bar
rack square to the humblest miners
| shack or Eskimo igloo, is without the
! hve-g gallon water can.
As roof or house covering the tin can
is equally invaluable Many stores and
| houses are constructed entirely Of tin oil
! cans. Impervious to rain or snow and
| proof against wind, they were a godsend
when the only other available material
| was earth, canvas ortar paper. The origi-
| nator OF the first tin can house In Seward
| peninsula was Col Charles Sheaf the
] present superintendent OF construction Of
| the Nome Arctic railroad. Il was en-
| ployed my first Alaskan winter in
! the courthouse" said Col Sheaf recall
| Ing the incident. Every night on nv
| way home, picked up on the beach or in
! the tundra one or more five gallon tin
cans and carried them to the shack l
| called home. l beat out each can TO n
| level. and when l had a goodly number
set up the frame work OF a cabin
! Lumber was scarce that winter at $50
a thousand feet. l made my cabin
| frame OF driftwood gathered from the
peach' AS a woman sews blocks for a
! log cabin guilt continued to collect cans
| and tack them on to the frame one nj
"A time. Often weeks would go by with
OUT my hnding a can, then unexpectedly
! would stumble upon n half dozen That
was my busy day and the cabin made
rapid strides kept at 1t until the
| whole was made doubly weather proof
by an inside lining of tin cans. When
| my can house was completed banked II
! with snow and tundra and was snug as
Il Dug In rug and the envy Of the
! whole camp" The cabin still stands and
Is occupied, but has ceased TO be novel
~ so largely have tin-can houses null
| tiplied.
When paint is available tin-can houses
and roofs are thickly coated, often giving
a refreshing dash of color TO the bleak
| landscape. Paint is no longer the luxury
! - "'hS NhNS III lut NOTInldn0, and so
| hungry for verdant trees are the denizens
| OF Nome's treeless waste that all kinds
| OF habitation are liable to break out In
Veritable F1nnegan green. The increased
use OF paint has not tended TO decrease
| the tin can wastage, since II Is in cans
II reaches the consumer. Despite the
coming of corrugated iron sheeting as
a building protector Cthere is no fire In
surance in the peninsula) its costliness
debars its general use. Even those who
| nave struck pay are content. to datten
out the discarded cans
cut In two the cans are converted into
all sorts OF toilet receptacles, serving as
washbowl in almost every mining camp
| OF the Arctics. Notwithstanding granite
and porcelain ware are now to be bought
| In the shops, and many homes possess
! them, no kitchen, however well eduipped
| Is without one or more fve-gallon tin
cans standing on dresser or bench or
hanging outside the door. The Eskimo.
with the imitativeness of their Japanese
progenitors, have not been slow to recog-
| nlze their usefulness and the white mans
| preference for them. In berry and fish
! ing seasons they are wont now TO dis
card their vessels OF wood, sealsixin or
walrus hide for the tin can, whose utility
| they first learned aboard American
| whaling vessels. Indeed, so broadcast
so varied Is the role of the tin can in the
| Northland that no Alaskan would be sur
pTised should the final discoverer Of the
north pole find one dangling from that
long sought pinnacle.