The Alaska citizen., 1915-04-19
BILLY BURNS
 DESCRIBED IN
 JUNEAU PAPER
BIOGRAPHY GIVEN OF ONE OF THE POPULAR MINERS OF CREEKS.

Representative Billy" Burns oi | Chatham creek, has had his life's history told in the Juneau Empire
 which has undertaken to tell the | history of each of the members oi ] the legislature. Here is how MT ! Burns is described in the Empire Father calls him William
 Mother calls him Will The girls all call him Willie But the bunch say Hello Bill '
 Agreeable Billie" Burns, who was christened William Thomas Burns when he was born in Carthage
 Missouri. July 16, 1876, is for the sec ond time representing the Fourth division as member of the house | in the legislature. He has been un qualifiedly successful in Alaska since he dipped into the northern mining game in 1904 and is one ot the most universally liked men in tut territory.
 When ne was an infant in arms MT Burns was moved from Missouri. to Astoria Oregon, and after his kindergarten days were over he en- tered the public schools of Port land. Like many young boy, MT. Burns had cultivated an ambltioI to become railroad engineer, St when the time came for him to put on full speed ahead on his own en- deavor, he became a throttle man ipulator in Idaho and Eastern WasL. ington on the old Oregon Railway X Navigation company, which is now the 'O-W" The Casey lone. life appealed to MT Burns so strong ly that he continued as an enginet until 1900 when he bought farm near Cottonwood, Idaho, and tillel the soil for season or two. He then became a logger, taking a con tract with the Larson Lumber com pany of Bellingham. He had his innings with branding, dogging, snip ing, hook-tending and experimenting before he decided to quit reducing Washington forests and come to Alaska.
 In the spring of 1904 Representa- tive Burns reached Valdez and went into the NizIna country After brief examination of that district Ee went into Dawson over the White River trail. He spent the summer, of that year as a placer miner oA Hunker creek, and a red-ink nota- tion in his bank book assured him that he had made good He then went to Cleary creek, Fairbanks dis trict, arriving there on November l, 1904. Since that time he has resided there. In addition to his placers on Cleary and Eldorado, he has a quartz property on Chatham creek and is one of the few who have made money by mining low grade quartz in the interior. He and his associates were also the first to find pay on Lower Little Fl dorado, striking it in punches, in the summer of 1908. In that year MT. Burns was president of the Far banks Miners union, and served as executives head of the organization through 1909.
 Representative Burns is a dyed-in- tically rendered the unanimous nom ination of the party for delegate to congress, at the Skagway con vention last August, but declined the honor, for business reasons.
 Before he came to this country he was in politics in Eastern Wash inston, having at one time been sec retary of the Democratic club al Tekoa. When he came to the legis lature two years ago it was on a non npartisan ticket. He received the highest vote of any candidate in the territory. Last November he was re elected on the Democratic ticket. He is a member of Juneau Lodge No 420 B. F. o. Elks.
 Representative Burns was married to Miss Blanche l.. Miller, of Bell ingham, Wash, January l, 1910 They have two sons.
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