Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-08-16
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OLD TIN CANS.
Variety of Uses to Which They Are
Put In Alaska.

Variety of Uses to Which They Are
Put In Alaska.
While there Is but one camp In
Alaska's 100000 square miles designa-
ted on the map Tin City-because Of
its location in the tin producing dis
trict-there is scarcely a settlement
that has not more obvious claim to
the name, so tangible part does tin
play in the warp and woof Of the
goes to waste on the surface Of Amer
ica's northerly possession. nor the tin
that mining. experts tell US lies in un-
told quantities in the region of York
and Cape Prince Of Wales I would sing
but rather Of the humblest guise this
useful, prosaic Of metals Is wont to as
sumo in the Arctic-the tin can! Far
more tin in the form Of receptacles for
preserved foods, illuminating, lubricat-
ing and fuel oils has been brought into
Alaska than has yet been taken out
Of its mines. Wherever in Alaska the
intrepid white man ventures the tin
can keeps pace.
What the earthern jar is to the wa
ter carrier Of fair Capri, the five gal
Ion Standard Oil tin is to the water
vender Of Nome. Fresh water is one
Of Seward Peninsula's scarcest COM
modities. For drinking and all domes-
tic use water Is piped In summer
across four or more miles Of tundra in
to Nome from Moonlight Springs,
which bubble pure and sparkling all
the year around, In defiance Of Jack
Frost, out Of the heart Of a neighbor-
ing mountain. At supply station in
the camp venders fill their carts daily
and deliver the fluid from door to door.
The water wagons Of Nome are one Of
this most northerly seaport's pictur-
esque features. In summer there are
two-wheeled carts with a sheet iron
cylindr 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 Irishman's jaunting car the drivers
effort to hold on suggests side-saddie
equestrian at the mercy Of hard trot-
ter. Where formerly water retailed at
the uniform price Of 81 for twelve
buckets, the five gallon tin can at two
bits, or rs cents, is the standard meas
ure Of value. No habitation, from I'm
Gle Sans caricature of a court house
or his barnlike official structures on
Barrack Square to the humblest mi
ner's shack or Eskimo 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 a godsend when the only other
available material was earth, canvas
or tar paper The originator Of the
first tin-can house in Seward Penin-
sula was Colonel Charles. Sheaf, the
present superintendent Of construction
Of the Nome-Arctic railroad. II was
employed my first Alaskan winter In
the court house." said Colonel Sheaf,
recalling the incident. Every night,
on my way home, I picked up on the
beach or in the tundra one or more
five gallon tin cans and carried them
| to the shack called home. I beat out
each can to level, and when / got
of a cabin. Lumber was scarce that
winter at $3.50 thousand feet. 1made
my cabin frame Of driftwood gathered
goodly number set up the framework
| from the beach. AS a woman seWs
blocks for a log-cabin quilt, I contin-
ued TO collect cans and tack them on
to the frame one at time. OFTEN
weeks would go by without my finding
can, and then Unexpectedly I would
stumble upon half a dozen. That was
my busy day and the cabin made rap
i'd strides. kept at 1t until the whole
was made doubly water proof by an
inside lining Of tin can. When my can
house was completed banked 1t with
snow and tundra and was as snug as
bug in a 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 col
or to the bleak landscape. Paint Is no
longer the luxury 1t once was In the
northland, and so hungry for verdant
hues are the denizens Of Nome's tree
| less waste that all kinds Of habita-
tions are liable to break out in verfta-
BILE Finnegan colors. The Increased
use of paint has not tended to decrease
the tin can wastage, since 1t Is In cans
that 1t reaches the consumer. Despite
the coming Of corrugated iron sheet
ing as building protector (there Is no
fire insurance in the peninsula), It's
costliness debars its general use. Even
those who have struck "pay" are con-
tent to fiatten out the discarded cans.
Cut I'm two the cans are converted
into all sorts Of toilet receptacles,
serving as WASH DOWlS III dliiosl cFeiy
mining camp of the Arctics. Notwith-
standing granite and porcelain ware
are now to be bought in the shops and
many homes possess them, no kitchen.
however we'll equipped, is without one
or more five gallon tin-cans, stand
| ing on dresser or bench or hanging
outside the door. The Eskimo, with
the imitativeness Of their Japanese pro-
genitors, have not been slow to recog-
nize their usefulness and the white
mans preference for them. In berry
and fishing seasons they are wont now
To discard their vessels Of wood, seai--
skin or walrus hide for the tin cans
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 Alas
kan would be surprised should the final
discoverer Of the North Pole find one
dangling from that long sought pima
Il