The Alaska citizen., 1914-02-23
.OF INTEREST
 ID ALASKANS
SYNDICATE TO INVEST,

SYNDICATE TO INVEST. l SEATTLE. Feb. Is. - The Alaska 1 syndicate is planning the invest ment of a considerable sum of mon ey In Alaska as son as the pend ing railroad bill is approved b. congress. according to an announce ment made today by President Bax- ter. Additional steamships will be placed on the Alaska run as soon as the traffic increases sufficiently. and considerable mileage will be added to the Copper River & North 1 western railroad in the form of branches
 DIMoND IS WRECKED.
 VALDEZ, Feb 16. According to advices received today from Unga. i the fishing schooner Dimond was wrecked on Bird island on February and is total loss. The dispatch es, which were received by Marshal Brenneman from Commissioner Drift field, of Unga, state that the D- storm, and when last heard from. was going 10 pieces rapidly. The members of the crew reached shore safely and were picked up later and taken to Unga, where they reported ! he disaster.
 The Dimond was a three-masted ! schooner engaged In coast fishing. | and when wrecked had a cargo of considerable value, all Cf which is lost. Bird island, upon which the schooner was wrecked, is about 40 miles south of Unga
 REPORT CONFIRMED,
 SAN FRANCISCO, Feb, it. - The Alaska Goldfish copany is in re- ceipt Of adyices from Unga telling
 the wreck of the schoone.' Di mond. which went ashore on Bird island early in the month.
 LEASING BILL DISCUSSED
 WASHINGTON; D. C., Feb. IT, The Ferris coal land leasing bill, which was introduced by Represen- tative Scott Ferris of Oklahoma. was taken up for consideration by the house committee on public lands this afternoon. Prominent among tn Sc present at the hearing was Secretary of the Interior Lane, under whose direction the bill was prepared Addressing the committeeman, Sec retary Lane declared that the devel Opment of Alaska had been hamper ed long enough, He pointed out that, while theorists had discussed the ques ion of what should be ne with the resources of the territory the population had dwindled and many had been ruined.
 The Ferris bill provides for sur Of thN Bering and the Matanuska fields and for the reservation by the gv- ernment of 1,120 acres in the former district and 7600 acres in the lat ter field. The remainder of the land n both fields Is to be leased, the acreage charges to range from 9 cents an acre to $1.25, according to the locality and the quality of he coal The bill also provides for an additional charge of two cents ton on all coal mined
 The reserved tracts are to be devel oped by the government and operat- ed, if advisable, for the benefit of the proposed government railroad and he navy.
 FAMILY IN SNOW SLIDE.
 WORTMANS, Alaska, Feb. 1S.- A snowslide at the north end of Keystone canyon, which occurred 1 shortly after 2 o'clock today, buried Mir. and Mrs Berglund and their son and a man named Colloday, with tive ! horses, who were on their way over l the trail to the Interior. Corporal Charles Simmons and party of four signal corps men narrowly escaped the slide, but the h1rse driven by the party was injured so seriously that it will probably be necessary to kill the animal. After escaping with their lives, the soldiers set to work to locate the other unfortun- ates, and up to 9 o'clock last night had succeeded in rescuing all but Mrs. Berglund.
 As son as the news of the catas- trophe reached Valdez, Lieutenant Doughterty. officer in charge of the First section of the military tele- graph system, together with 50 men. left for the scene of the snoWslde to prosecute the rescue work. An army surgeon from Fort Liscum ac- companied the party. and after the injured were taken from under the ons of snow the Wortmans telegraph station was converted into hospital. The men of the rescue party are to work all night, or until they succeed in finding Mrs. Berglund, who is supposed to be near where | her husband was found. as they were | together when they were entombed. | The horses used by MT. and Mrs. Berglund were mt secured up to o'clock tonight
 One of the signal corps men, named Wilkenson, was injured some what, but his injuries are not con- sidered serious and he will be able be about within few days.
 During the time that the men were rescuing the injured, they were in constant danger of their lives, as the snow continued to slide down the mountain at different times dur ing the afternoon.
 If the rescuers do not succeed ir finding Mrs. Berglund tonight, the search will be continued tomorrow and other workmen from Valdez will bo rushed to the scene of the slide