Valdez daily prospector., 1913-02-24

| pie in this community which is all pOppycock and their knOwl- edge of conditions in other parts of Alaska may be compared to that little dangerous learning which is so apt to lead one into dangerous errOrS.'
 We take pleasure, therefore. in very respectfully pointing out some errors in that article. and although our experience of the Alaskan interior, as well as the
 coast line, was acquired more than seven or eight years ago, we will say that we have endeav- pred to keep in touch with local conditions throughout as best We could.
 "The most glaring piece of nonsense has been the suggeS- tinn that when slide occurs the mail should be sent over the Val dez trail. This would mean mo- thing less than the making of a new cOntracf,' etc.
 For he information of he writ CT in he Nugget it will be stated that the contract calls for dircc- tion over the Valdez trail Me Manus is authority for the state mcnt hat it is with the consent of the department and the con- tractor it was diverted over the Copper River railroad via Chit ina. And in any event. what is he purpose of a mail service but to accommodate the people. and the more the needs of the people .,,, I,ni in h hn InI l,p will be the service.
 "ln the first place, the boats run to Cordova much more ire qucntly than to Valdez, owing to the railroads presence.
 We would very much like to learn when this happened. We make every allowance for the Nugget correspondents superior knowledge, but would be pleased to be informed what passenger boat carrying mail ever stops at Cordova and passes up Valdez, a busier, more thickly populated and more important city.
 "If the mail were to wait at Seattle for a Valdez bound boat it would probably have to wait Illucu lOllStl llitIi tilt tIIliS '' '' crcome the difficulty created by the Sliue.'
 So? Well, for the informatiun of the man with an ONerplus of knowledge of local conditions, he Industrial Worker will recite the fact that the Northwestern and Mariposa, of the Alaska steam ship Company, keep up a four times a month service throughout the winter between Valdez, via Cordova, to Seattle. Any man ac- quainted with coast conditions knows that Valdez is the better harbor, and storms not infre- quently have compelled steamers to give Cordova the go-by in to- to its land-locked harbor withal.
 The mail maintains a regular five-day schedule with Valdez and CordOva between the Pacific Coast OF the Alaska Steamship Com- pany.
 Says the writer in the Nugget: "A blockade on the railroad for two weeks and a fraction would therefore mean that at the out most that one outside mail had been delayed. .-
 According to he CnrdoNa Alas kan the mail arriving at Cnrdova on December , never vet reach ed Chitina: the mail which arrlN- ed on December 26 was also stall ed. another consignment of 3,aoO pounds which had been lying in Curdova since December 3I. is al- so stalled: yesterday another mail of still larger dimensions was
 sent forward, representing the mail for January I and 9. and is now en route to Chitina to be duly preserved in cold storage.
 We waive all desire to learn the mental alchemy employed by the Nuggets writer or cores nnndent in reaching the interest