The Cordova daily times., 1916-08-07
MAY SELL GOAL TO CONSUMERS
 ANYWHERE
(From Anchorage Times.D

means much to the city of Anchorage the coal fields and the railroad pro. ject.
 This permit comes from the secre
 tary of the interior, authorizing Do herty to sell his coal locally or shlp to any part of Alaska. Nor is this free lease permit confined to the Do herty coal mine, but is open to the public. and without doubt will stimu' late interest and promote development in the Matanuska coal fields.
 From the day of his arrival in An. chorage. Andrew Christensen has worked consistently to get the ruling governing coal leases in this district changed and make 1t possible to han dle the coal from this field from a commercial basis.
 The report that has been common on the street for several days relative to coal leases was confirmed yester. day in advices from Washington in which the granting of the free lease permit was substantiated.
 This permit is confined to ten acres of coal land, and the operation period is limited to two years. The time limit will no doubt be changed to conform with the development of ;he property, and will in no way retard the activity that this new ruling is bound to create.
 The Doherty coal vein was found on Moose creek last fall and the mine has been worked in a systematic manner. with splendid results; the Alaskan engineering commission has lent every possible aid to promote the further development of the Doherty mine, and have a contract with MT. Doherty to furnish them 5000 tons of coal. This coal Is a semi-bitumin- ous and is equal, If not superior, to the British Columbia and western Wash ington, for which Anchorage. Seward and the coast towns are paying from SIT to $20 per ton. The Moose creek coal can be mined and brought to An chorage for one-haif the price and ar are being made with the steamship companies to ship the Moose creek coal to Seward, Valdez and coats towns.
 The officials are gratified in being able to ship coal from Moose creek to tidewater within year from the date of starting construction on the gov ernment railroad, and the officials feel certain that the free lease permit will be the cause of much actual develop ment and renewed activity on the other coal leases in this field.
 TO SEEK REGULAR PAYDAY.
 The mass-meeting called for last night at the labor hall was largely at tended, and Messrs. Cole, Ringstad and Peters were appointed commit. tee of three to confer with Commits sioner Mears relative to the matters under discussion.
 The present bone of contention is the important one of pay day; and the mass.meeting was called to see if some arrangements could not be made whereby the workmen on the line would be guaranteed a regular pay day, and the difficulty of having to appear personally for their checks overcome.
 Also there appears to be consider able complaint in regard to overtime, the men claiming they are not fully for the time they work over the schedule. Tn talking to Charlie Peters this morning. he said that the committee had an appoint ment with Commissioner Mears for tomorrow, and that the matters would be speedily adjusted, and that the men would be satisfied with the result of the meeting.
 cALiFoRNIANs LIKE NEW TOWN.
 A party of southern California peo- pie, consisting of MT. and Mrs. Geo. W. Seay, Mrs. Forsyth. Mrs. Grau and Mrs. Lee, were Anchorage passengers on the steamer Alameda, and are guests of the Crescent. MT. Seay is a prominent real estate man of Cali fornia and handles large amount of California real estate, making spec ialty of selling acre tracts to Alaskans.
 This is MT. Seay's sixth summer trip to Alaska, and he says that he has heen very successful in this work.