Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1916-04-09


tor $4,000 lots which cost him $3.50 TherA-
were 50 lots in the tract. He thought h.
made good bargain, but the purchaser re-
SOLD tile lots at 5000 lot, or about $4,000
IN all. The prices of land are now high. and
IT will be long before the city will come up
to the expectations of its owners. AS it is
now, the town has not over 1900 inhabi-
tants. and its real boom will not come until
the active building of the railway across the
kenai peninsula begins. Just now all the
construction IS from Anchorage northward
and this is distance. OF more than 100 miles
from Seward
The present additions to the town site are
al the head OF Resurrection bay, where tents
have been erected, frame buildings are goinS
up and families are locating. For 10 miles
up the valley OF the Resurrection river men
have taken out homesteads. and farms the
size OF garden patches are being cultivated
here and there. Some of the homesteads
were applied for 10 years ago but. owing to
the poor arrangement of the government as
to titles the applicants have not been abb,
to complete their ownership They have
been prevented from using the timber near
by on account Of the complications as to the
government reservations and as result th,
greater part Of the lumber Of Seward has r.
De brought IN from Seattle, Notwithstanding
there are forests right at its doors. undei
stand that ordinary lumber now costs S
per thousand and that cord wood is high If
IS the same with coal The people here have
been paying SlS per ton for that fuel and
that Notwithstanding they are within short
railway haul of some of the best coal fields
IN the world This has been largely due to
misplaced conservation. 1t will be changed
now that the railroad has come.
here has been town at Seward since
l9oo' and there was white settlement Oh
resurrection bay when the first public build
1ngs OF the new city OF Washington began TO
go up on the banks OF the Potomac. The
hrst residents were Russians who had a
colony on Kodiak island. about 200 miles
distant They came here to build ships.
choosing the place on account Of the harbt1
and the timber nearby. The first ships built
on tn. western shores OF North America
were constructed here, and one OF them was
launched while George Washington vas
Still serving his first term as president.
The Russians discovered the harbor one
Easter Sunday, and called it Resurrection
bay, in honor OF the Ascension. Later the
seat OF the Russian administration was
transferred from Kodiak to Stka and tie
shipyards we're given up.
After the Russians left Resurrection bay
was frequented by the indians. who came
here for the hunting and fishing. and then.
perhaps a hundred years later. a White ma
Frank Lowell a sailor from Maine sc,tle1|
where Seward nov stands He had vie
who hat more or.less Indian and Russian
blood III herNeins, and he was one OF III.
class popularity known as .sauaw men
Lowell lived here for 10 or II wears. and III
that time had five children Along about
1870 he deserted his family and emigratcd 10
Kodiak. Mrs. Lowell remained. and She
was on the ground and claimed ownership
at the time that the Alaska Northern Rail
way company selected Resurrection bay as
the southern terminus OF It's route.
The Alaska Northern Railway was origi1
mated and promoted by John +. Ballaine
from whom | have the foregoing informa-
ton as to the Lowels. He located the town
site at Seward and filed~government script
TO acquire the land. He first bought out
Mrs. Lowell. however, by paving her S4ool
III cash and giving her 81 lots in the noa
settlement
Mr.. Ballaine tells me an interesting story
as to how Seward secured its right to that
name. Said he:
Il wanted the town called Seward after
the great secretary of state who brought