Digital Bob Archive

14 April 1980

APRIL 16, 1887-The mail steamer Ancon is back in service and brought passengers and cargo to Juneau this week. One of the passengers was W. A. Sanders, former superintendent of the reduction works at the Treadwell mine. This year he will have charge of two mining operations. The Mineral King group of claims on Douglas Island has been sold by Sanders and George Garside to London capitalists. The Ancon brought up a 40 horsepower air compressor, Burleigh drills and other machinery for this property and Sanders will supervise the work. He has also organized the Gold Hill Mining Company to work claims owned by himself and Mr. Garside above Silver Bow Basin. A tunnel will be driven there with hand drilling and the richest ore will be conveyed to the wharf on pack burros and shipped to San Francisco for reduction. The burros also came on the Ancon. They are the first of these creatures to be seen here and drew a large crowd of both whites and Indians.

APRIL 30, 1887-There are now 26 houses being built in Juneau, ranging in cost from $100 to $1,000. Property is also changing hands. W. F. Reed has bought Dick Willoughby?s half interest in the property at the corner of Seward and Front Streets for $1,000 and Peter Wyborg bought the lot at the northwest corner of Second and Seward from Mike Gibbon for $1,200 cash.

An old established Sitka firm, the Sitka Trading Company, is opening a branch in Juneau. The steam schooner Leo this week brought in a stock of goods in charge of Mr. King, who will run the branch. The firm is owned by John G. Brady and A. T. Whitford, who also own the Leo. She started life as the Revenue Cutter Reliance and saw some Alaska duty in that service. After the government sold her, she was seized in the Bering Sea with a cargo of illegal liquor. Brady and Whitford bought her at a Marshal?s sale and operated her under sail for some time before fitting her with a steam engine last year. Mr. Brady has bought C. W. Young?s property on the waterfront for $1,200 and also bought the adjoining lot from Joe Juneau. Each lot is 25 by 100 feet. Mr. Young owns another piece of waterfront property near this and will erect a 28 by 70 foot building on it to be used as a carpenter shop and warehouse for building supplies.

Last week the Berners Bay mining property owned by John G. Heid, A. T. Ellis and Jim Smith was sold to Nowell & Company of Boston for $30,000. This is the same firm that plans to build a big stamp mill on Douglas Island.