Douglas Island news., 1918-08-09


 and tho Kotchlkan folks say tho "gobs" are good entertainers.
 The KIondiko country has been having a very dry summer Grain and vegetable crops are suffering and berries are drying up and hay and grasses aro stunted. For weeks no rain has fallen In the Klondiko country and many hydraulic and in- dividual placer miners are having great difficulty to secure sufficient water for their operations.
 In Che forest fires that have been raging for the past two weeks along the Little Auin Lake in northern lB. C.. Che poles of the Dominion tel- egraph have been destroyed for a distance Of over Rvo miles, leaving the wire lying on the ground. Five men are now engaged in repairing tho line. The fro ls stin burning lin the Little Atlin lake region, Che heavy rainfall in whltehorse and Co tho northward of the past few days not having extended that far south.
 Two men attached to the govern mcnt service named Frantz and Cod frey. the former a signal corps man and the latter an infantryman, met with mysterious accident at Nu- lato recently. They went out in a canoe during the high water along the Yukon. Godfrey was found ln Che water up Co his neck In an un- conscious condition and Frantz's body was found after Q search God frey has been unable to talk and no account has been given of tho par tlculars of tho accident.
 Tho Midas mine, across tho bay from Valdcz.ha the longest aerial tram in the world Tho tram is five and a half miles long. The hauling cable is of nve-cighth inch extra hard blow steel. Tho highest olova- tion reached by the tram is S5S feet above sea level. There arc over 22 miles Of cable In the tram and Iit is supported by 77 towers.
 Alois Huber. charged with the murder on September 10 last of one schernetheur in the Aniak district, was tried before Judge Bunnell at IIditarod and found guilty Of man slaughter. He has not been sen fenced yet.
 Tho Amak Rock, which lies be- tween Found island and tho south eastern end Of wrangoll island. is now marked by a barrel buoy. Red" IClark. skipper of tho Santa Ana con- Inery tender Siren. located tho sunk cn rock at extreme low tide Next How tide found him at the same place with a heavy anchor, cable and a barrel. of which the buoy was con- structcd and set in place. Amak rock. SO designated because Of the prominent part it played in separ- Iatlng the canncry tender "Amok' from her keel two years ago, has been a source Of anxiety to navi- gators in these parts, as its exact location has never been marked be- fore. Capt. Clark reports it to be pile of rocks about 100 feet square and says. also, that boats will be in no danger 1T they allow a hundred foot clearance in passing on either side of the buoy.
 Frank Nixon arrived at Discovery from Nixon Fork last Wednesday. He reports that Smiling Albert" has found pay that goes SC to tho foot. and Wholan's ground on No. G Pup. a tributary of Hidden creek. went IS1.4O tothe foot. Cooper says thoro is no grub i'm tho country and many have been forced to leave on that account. Mir. Cooper also reports that Mail Carriers Nichols and Mar tella arrived at McGrath on May 20 with batch of second-class mail, after hazardous trip. They had travelled without eating for three days. had not fed thcir dogs for five days. and had five Of the animals drowned For long stretches they were compelled to wade in water Co their waists. A few days later "Whlte Dog" Smith arrived at Me Grath. who stated that he could not come with Che mail, but had left 500 pounds of hrst-class mail at Roman river. Smith sent two men Co that place with equipment to build a boat and bring the consignment by water. The mail is not expected at Takotna before June 20. High water did considerable damage at McGrath. Both mosts Of the wire less station are down, and some Of tho houses Of the town had three feet of water on the lower floors. For time the whole population lived on boats and rafts.