Valdez daily prospector. (Valdez, Alaska) 1905-1918, 1917-09-18
To the Citizens Of v1ldez


" There is being q petition circulat-d
ed In the town for the sale of the City
dock to the Valdez Packing Company
which has far reaching effect on the
welfare and progress of the city. Some
will sign 1t through selfish personal
others through their not
having taken time to consider the eff
feet such sale will have on the future !
of the town which is of vital impor-
lance to every citizen in the town.
| am in a position to know that it
is the aim and desire of the Packing
to gain absolute control eth
er by purchase or lease of the dock
and $50 feet of the approach which
leaves the balance of the approach for
the city to keep up at their own ex-
pense as a street, and with a gate
across the approach at the ESQ feet,
it bars the public from the use of the
dock at the discretion of the Packing
company no matter what the terms of
the sale are. What benefit is the rest
of the approach to any one If you
cannot get to deep water? 1t also has
the effect of barring other individu-
ais or corporations of the privilege
of building on the front and tying to
the City dock without going to the
expense of building 400 feet of ap-
proach to connect to the city approach
outside of the Packing company gate.
Is it fair to yourselves or the future
of the town to deed away your heri-
tage and power to- one corporation
to the exclusion of all other future
enterprises?
In the past there has been a float
at the wharf for the accommodation of
small boats which has always been
we'll patronized? Did the Packing
company live up to its agreement and
keep it up this summer? No they took
advantage of the public's good will
and confidence and tore it out and
landed it high and dry-it is still
there.
They say that they will build a
float between the two docks and con-
meet it with the city approach with
walk. What good is a walk to small
boats If they have to carry their
freight four or FIVE hundred feet to
get it to a wagon?
Every one that was living in VAL
DEE before the city bought the dock
knows what brought down the price
of coal. They also know that 1t was
the custom of the Dock Company to
charge regular dockage rates for
freight from the outside then theJ
taxed you two dollars more for the
same freight to put it on small boat
for sound or bay ports.
Is it policy to sell the wharf for
five thousand dollars when that would
not pay for the creosoted piling in it
just to pay off a few debts, and then
in year or two spend fifteen thous-
and to get the same whip back that
you sold for FIVE?
Some people will say that l am
working for my own selfish interests
in opposing the sale of the dock. 1t is
not all together selfish, it is life and
death with me.
When l came to Valdez l picked
up machine ship that had been oper-
otad Ny four no rtioS hoforo mo and
they all went out of town skating on
their socks as far as any benefits they
had derived from the machine shop.
I am still here, but not through the
philanthropy of the people of the
town, l think 1t was through my own
ability and foresight and necessity of
the public's sick machinery.
My rents amounted to forty-five
dollars month which was more than
the business would stand, I had to
build. I could not build on the other
dock without paying the Dock COM
pany for the privilege Of connecting
to the dock. Could they give me a
IAdI tuOy "Ouiu oy
keep up the approach to my place
Of business? No. Of course not; then
what did they have to sell? A gold
brick, nothing more.
i located on the City dock, figur-
ing the city would protect their local
industries by keeping up what they
already had. I didn't ask the city to-
build my plant or the dock for my
special use. have kicked my own
way through, and damn the business
that can't.
Every other year the small boats
have been laying at the city float wait
ing for their repairs. But this year
they could not do so. Boats can not
st:gt'Fs. -