Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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What A' Settler Will find By THOMAS Every Alaskan knows what a set tler would find here, and every Alas kan would be glad to tell-up to a certain point. When the agrepable things have been told; such as our unequaled scenic wonders, whose glories din the splendors of the New Jerusalem; and our fishing and hunt ing, the equal of which old Nimrod himself never knew; and our free dom from empty conventions and ar tificial distinctions and shams that cheapen men and do women no good; when these agreeable things have been told about Alaska, then arises that old bugbear of writers and poli ticians-a decision betwixt love and duty. But as this is an assignment to write what a settler finds in Alas ka, and not what i loyal Alaskan would like to be able to say a settler find in Alaska, it will be necessary to eliminate the love feature entirely and present facts precisely as they would be found by a newcomer on his arrival. le would already have found that it costs an amazing jag of money to get here, especially if he have a family of any size, and that the esti mates made in advance by the trans portation people prove them to be con servatives after Judge Elbert Gary's own heart. Alaska is no proper place for weak lings. In at least one respect they are like transplanted tropical flowers "-they never do well, even when carefully tended; and they can rely on careful, or rather excessive, attention in Alaska if they have a reasonable bank roll on arrival. Sickness is rare among seasoned Alaskans, and almost rare among any type of people anywhere in Alaska. en an old-timer gets sick they be gin to discuss the funeral arrange ments, and would be considerably dis appointed should the tentative ar rangements turn out to have been premature. Any man outside of the weakling class can get along in Alaska, pro vided he is reasonably honest. If his character be all shot to pieces so he cannot :esist the temptation to do crooked things, he had better stay away; and this is particularly true of persons given to stealing, killing, forging, and such like serious mat ters. These real crimes Alaskans do not tolerate. True, some person, gen erally a sti -anger, loses his head oc casionally and perpetrates a felony; but capture and punishment are so certain that no sane criminal-if there is such a thing-would ever take the risks involved. Even in the more settled communi ties the presence of a stranger is in stantly noted, and the comings and goings of residents are so well known to everybody else, that any variation from usual custom or any suspicious circumstence, would have to be satis factorily explained. The only prac Abraham Lincoln once said: tianity, and a firm reliance o Him, who has never yet forsake this favoredl land, arc still con petent to ad~just, in the best wa: all our presenlt difliculty." Nowhe for guich son of pi mnankind.l tive land1 offer inls] In hon First. W. C. DAVIS, iPresidlent A. Whcn H Goes to Alaska B. DRAVTON tical way, to get out of Alaska is by boat, and no possible criminal could procure passage. Should an offender make for the hills or escape to the brush, he would soon be faced by the alternative of starvation or surrend or. Men can, and miny. do, live on the country largoly, but no man', rifle will supply him with food per manently unless he have ammunition; and permanent' shelter against Alask an wabther is immposoiblo without an axe and other necessary tools. Besides, the;-o are many men living back in the sticks who have the curios ity of a panther on noticing a strange track, and almost a panther's skill in following such a track. These men would all know of the crime's com mission, and would be on the lookout for the perpetrator. Singularly they are the most voracious readers au d news swappers imaginable. Nothing escapes them fro mtrivinl local hap penings to diplomatic matters of in ternational importance. And they have an abundance of time to devote to such odd jobs as, aside from a lit tle trapping to supply themselves with money for tobacco, ammunition, printed matter, and other indispensa ble, they never by any chance do a lick of regular work. From all of which circumstances it will appear to the proposed settler that he will find his Alaskan neghbors to be as honest and law-abiding a lot as could be found anywhere on earth. Unless he CYPRESS SASH DOORS BLINDS O MOULDINGS AND MILLWORK re today an we tur moe oc/hnt hei mra >ratoyn wetrnoe the confronting this nation. >r of Lincoln's Birthday-I4 N.a tiontal C. RRADH AM Vie-.Presoi conclusion during h e as -the first inanii he' migh. ' het would dwell at length ar i il upon the rascality of his neighbors and their general: worthlessness as citizens. This inorm nt would By de dcribed in ientically the same way 6iy the next neighbor . and so on throughout thie community. . In time the settler himself would acquire the same habit of villifying his neigh bors, but woul4 never dream of re fusing them a ..favor or of lending any of them money, and would never doubt for a second that it would be promptly repaid when due; Although he himself, and everybody else in the neighborhood, -except the borrower, would pretend to believe the loan ir retrievably lost. The Alaskan of long standing is not only a great 'fault-finder, but is. pugnacious and contentious to the nth degree. It was this identical cir cumstance that resulted in ,the ap pointment of a carpet-bagger, Scott C. Bone, as governor. President Hard ing ha dexpressly agreed to appoint any Alaskan the Alaskans themselves would agree on. Although any loyal Alaskan would prefer a local Mephis to as governor rather than the great est and most engaging carpet-bagger extant, yet everybody. knew the jig was up whqn fhe President imposed that condition of the Alaskans' agree ment. We never agree. This spirit of contrariness on the part of the men is fully equaled by thetendency to vindictive gossip among the weaker vessels; to employ a humorous metaphor. to illumine a serious subject. We have many noble exceptions presumably, but the rule will hold' good. Every Alaskan wo man knows just what every neighbor had for dinner today; the price to a cent paid. for the new hat, and how utterly horried it is; the exact trouble with the new'baby across the way, and ow stupid te mother is; and the indiscretion of the parents down the street in permitting the attentions of the young man .who is sparking their daughter, and how the nice things said of hiin by his employer is pure bunk; andkall other intimate details of our several Alaskan lives. Then, too, in addition to the isolation and seclusion of their lives, our women come from many social rata. / Our society is much mixed. There are great num bers of women who were once inmates of dance halls of a decade or so ago, now married and leading exemplary lives. Singularly, these women are more remorseless in the pursuit and more pitiless in the crucifixion of wo men who have erred, or whom they hope or suspect or insinuate have er red, than any other member of our population. We have a way of taming the man who poisons social currents but the person protected by a skirt is beyond our power. Men of particular classes are much alike in character and habits after a few years of Alaskan life. The re cluse back in the sticks is about the same man wherever found; the pro fcssicnal trappers come to look and -fib inon eied o maitby, '1). 12th. Bank J. T. STUKES, Cashier lnnt Blac Oxfrds ..'. t" Y \.- t r ,"1. $5t.5 andp 54"} Brown Oxffrds, . . . $650 and $7.95 Brown Oxfods, " $.50 ' ,d$79 Black Satin, one stra . $7.00 OTHER MAKES Brown, 2-strap !Pump Special, $5.00 Black Patent Leather 2-strap Pu p Special, $5.00 Brown Oxfords, . . $ $3.50 HOLEPROOF HOSE Brown and Black Siln, Ribbed 'op, $1.59 Brown and Black Silk-faced Ribbed Top, $1.00 Brown, Black and White Lisle,-Rib. Top, 95c. McCollumBros. Sumter, S. C. ive and dispute very much the same. would be just as difficult to give a de- - t a larkan miners are almost invariably finition of Alaska weather applicable but it (ey n not state enough. Wheat, >f the same hopeful, adve4turous, to all parts of the territory as to give for example, can be grown in Alaska, :ake-a-chance type; while it is per- a definition of climate applicable to but there is no man who has tried it iaps superfluous ot say that fisher- both Italy and, Sweden. but will admit it coat him at leas nen show but little variation from The great Tanana valley ,the fain- three times as much to produce a ,ype- ed "agricultural" region of the Fair- bushel as he could get for it in the The ()ief amusements in Ahaka are banks district, never thaws out below market-even as a curiosity. Muinting and fishing. 'Dancing is much three feet from the surface. On the "'Oats, n vogue in the larger settler.ie'i:- the other hand the equally great Susi- favorable caonditions, mature uior' ard playing, particularly bridge, is tna valley was unfukzen to a depth of annot beat tAlaskan poatoe tes word :verywhere in evidence. Skating and eight feet. last July. This was proved berries, radishes an celere,. a ce sports are confined to children al- by various excavations. It probably place on thishe ande celery,. and o nost exclusively, excepting in two never freezes very deep. Moreover, equal on Alskan can Bgin >r three settlements. Sleighing is the Susitna valley is soil on top, not equal our Alaskan rhubarb. But tof ilmost unknown, due to the absence moss. brief sketch includes the story uf if suitable roads. Dog-team races are Topographically, the lowver or south hs atieether wa i in hetion Tuite common all over the territory; ern part of Alaska, rather more than with wat lher as med--h conetrn me or two annual events having be- a third p~art, is mountanious, with a born Independent.sra.-TeD ocme famous. The Nome-Candle an- number of valleys and many glaciers. wal race is an especially important It produces' much timber, some of it vent,- and perhap~s more money merchantable outside,'and practically Suscribe to The Times ~hanges hands on the issue of this all suitable for rough lumber-. The ___________________________ *ace than even on that other famous western -aiid northern p)art of Alaska - innual evenat, the break-up of the ice is largely a treeless tundra, except o a m thle 3Yukon in the spring. near the waters. The remainder of PrdCi SSI n lCards If there is any illiteracy in Alaska the territory may be (designated_____________________ t has escaped notice. Indeed, it is roughly as the Yukon country, and probable that the average of intelli- the island districts: The Yukon di- - N.G IKN e~nce is rather higher than in any vision largely rises to the altitude ofJN.GDIK S 7ther community under American hills and lowv mountains, but is other- Attorney-at-Lawv urisdliction, except alone the most Avise a tundra countryr, except in uni.. h1ighlIy favored educational centers. mportant spots. This tundra region MANNING, S. C. '1he piercentage of educated nien is is expected to be the home of an im :-ertainly surprising to str~ahgers. mense reindeer indlustry of the future. Seaircely a great school in the world The Aleutian archipelago consists b~ut has its graduates here habited in of about '75 islands5 of map-size, andl DuRANT & ELLERBE the rough (dress of the pioneer;- and ~innumerable smaller islands in var- Atresa~a Yale, Prince'ton, Havardl, Columbia- ious grloup~s. The islands extend soAtony--La 'indr other, distingulishedl schools, par.. far west that the tip is within the ' MANNING, S. C. tieularly in Calif'ornia and Washing.. eastern hemisphere to the extent that Lon, are rep~resenited by a considerable the setting sun in summer in that'. lnumber in the aggregate. section of Alaska is viewved as the Climate conditions ar~e. quite dliff rising sun on the New England coast. R. 0. Purdy S. Oliver O'.Bryan ar'ent from what the average settler 'hese Aleutians are barren, treeless, expe(cts to finid. The coastal region of and mostly uninhabited. -The whlole PURDY & O'BRYAN Alaska for 2,000 miles is mild, due sou thiera coast of Alaska, as it ex- At to the influence of the .Japanese' Cu - tendls westerly, is diotted with islands torneys and Counselors at Law r'ent. In the initerior, andl north of a iious Koit. size, the _largest being MANNING. S. 0. thie Enidicott Mountains, the winters -- ire long and severe, although the ex- All the towns, have public schools,. tremie temperature of 60 to 80 below perha'ps equal in all important re (F'ahreiiheit) are exceptional. They spects to the public school in the, ire fine to give color to the hardships States, It is an interesting fact that F RED L~ESES'N,E >f explorers and other adventurers, Alaskan children removed to ouitsidel. Attorney..at-Law vho all stay ind~oor? at such times, bu school almost invariably pass into a, 'therwise are miostl y of the character higher grade, an dailmost. invariably MANNING, S. C. af children's tales of goblins-and bogy head their classes in whatever grade e. .they find thenjselves placed. - The mean. teprtre'fP int he s ettler ,would find the chief in B~arrowv, 300 miles inside the Arctic dustry to be fishing. This industry MONEY TO LOAN irele, for the coldest wvinter month has p~rodu~cedl a business of, nearly hais stoodl it 21 below zero since the $475,000,000 since ,the succession of On Real Estate-Small and Large whr-ports were first recorded at, Amria jurisdliction in 1807. It is Loans. ogTrs ~t - .,tioii. This is the extreme practically monopolized by non.-resi- .Li~Trs riiorar tip of Alaska on the Arctie donit corporations. ' J. W. WIDEMAN . :ceain. It in true that Fort Yukon .The next industry of importance is Attorney-at--Law ias shown a mean (on a 'hadly broken ining, with an output to (late of recordl) (If 1.0 (degreecs coldIer; but no more than $400,000,000, nearly three- MANNING, S. C. >)tlher point in Alaska has been so fourths of which was gold, andl the old. Different sections ouf the inter-- remai,nder chieflly copper. - ior~ are greatly 'aff'ectedl by mountah(i Thelifuir trade comes next, with a ranges, and varyv gireatly in tempera.. recoulded, total of tnore than $90,000,.. H. C. CURTIS ture both wvinter aiid sumnmer It 000. ' : - Attorney-at--Law .______________.______ Agriculture, to which the proposed settler- would liresumablv devote him- MANNING, S. C. CHICHETER "y''''' n'''"e'exper mental stage. -- L . Only a fool or knave would advise w I,^MonD JDNn any man to sell out in the States and ' hIw5. .a:7.',l".m7 r coia'e te Alaska to farni before-look- J. A. Wibr TaorI.Stnkes. .... oi",seit iu OI . ing into - the situation thoroughly. $ 'ake n. Vr gAndl the ofilcial re ort issued by tei WEINBERG & STUKIS DIAMODhI unBIaAn rid government's a r cul dAI4,,deAton --L SOLD BY DRUGGISTS EVERYWHERE wveight. Ooubtless tIs absolutely - MAkNINO, S.C