The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-07-12
Lida Rose Mccabe in Leslie's Weekly.

WY Aiaska's sOo,ooO square miles des-
 w ignated on the map, Tin City because of its location in the tin produc- ing district-there is scarcely a settlement that has not more obvious claim to the name, so tangible a part does tin play In the warp and wool of the Northland. But it is not of the tin that goes to waste on the surface of Americas most northerly possession, nor the tin that mining ex- perts tell us lies in untold quantities in the regions of York and Cape Prince of Wales. I would sing but, rather of the humblest guise 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, iubricating and fuel oils has been bought into Alaska than has yet been taken out of It's 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 f1ve-gallon Standard oil tin can Is to the water ven- der of Nome. Fresh water is one of Sew ard peninsula's scarest commodities. For drinking and all domestic use water Is piped in summer across four or more miles of tundra into Nome from Moon- light springs. which bubble pure and sparkling all the year round, in defiance of Jack Frost, out of the heart of neighboring mountain. At a supply sta tion in the camp vendors fill their carts daily and deliver the fluid from door to door. The water wagons of Nome are one of this most northerly seaports pictur- esque 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 jogs along like an Irish jaunting car the drveFs effort to hold on suggests a side-saddle equestrian at the mercy of a hard trotter. Where formerly water re- tained at the uniform price of s1 for twelve buckets, the fve-gallon tin can at two bits or 25 cents is the standard measure of value No habitation, from Uncle Sans caricature of a court house or his barn-like official structures on Bar rack square to the humblest miners shack of Esquimau igloo, is without the five 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 godsend when the only other available material was earth canvas or tar paper. The orig inator of the first tn-can house in Seward peninsula was Colonel Charles lSheaf, the present superintendent of construction of the Nome-Arctic railroad. q was em- ployed my first Alaskan winter in the court house. said Colonel Sheaf, recalling the incident. Every night. on my way home, 1 picked up on the beach or in the tundra one or more fve-gallon tin cans and carried them to the shack 1 called home. I beat out each can to a level, and when I had goodly number I set up the frame work of cabin. Lumber was scarce that winter at s150 thousand feet. I made my cabin frame of drftwood gath cred from the beach. As a woman sews blocks for log cabin quilt I continued to collect cans and tack them on to the frame one at a time. Often weeks would go by without my finding can then un- expectedly I would stumble upon a half dozen. That was my busy day, and the cabin made rapid strides. I kept at it until the whole was made doubly weather proof by an inside lining of tin cans When my can house was compl sted I banked it with snow and tundra and was snug as a bug in rug, and the envy of the whole camp The cabin still stands and is occupied, but has ceased to be novelty, so largely have tin-can houses multiplied.
 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 it once was in the northland, and so hum gry for verdant hues are the denizens of Nome's treeless waste, that all kinds of habitation are liable to break out in yer itable Finnegan greens. The increased use of paint has not tended to decrease the tin can wastage, since 1t Is in cans t reaches the consumer. Despite the com ing of corrugated iron sheeting as building protector (there is no fire insur- ance in the peninsula). Its costliness de- bars it's general use. Even those who