Digital Bob Archive

MAY 3, 1888-The schooner Charlie, Captain John J. Healy, which took 12 miners to Yakutat in March, has returned here. The men were very disappointed in what they found there, the richest of the black sands deposits having already been staked by Sitka men who went there last year. While they were at Yakutat, Luke Nolan, Preston Cloudman, Frank Corwin and Billy Meehan arrived by the overland route, having crossed from Haines Mission to Dry Bay, then traveled up the coast. Several men, including Sam Wheelock, Dick Price, Neil McCuah and Billy Northup, returned on the Charlie as far as Lituya Bay where they found some promising ground and staked claims.

Three houses in Silver Bow Basin were swept away by snowslides during the winter. All were unoccupied at the time. Two of them belonged to Mike Connolly and Sol Cadman.

The snow is rapidly melting in the Basin and the miners are starting to work. Messrs. Grear, Faulkner and Heppner are starting work on their placers, as are Campbell and Coon, George Harkrader, William Dunn, the Bulger Hill Company, the Ice Gulch Company and the Bed Rock Flume Company.

JUNE 1, 1888-At an executioner?s sale, the interest of the Johnson Mill & Mining Company in the Taku Union mining claims was sold to J. D. Sagemiller, one of the main creditors, for $1,300. Two years ago Sagemiller sold a third interest in claims to the company for $7,000 but it failed to meet the payments.

Timmins & Low have refitted their sample room and now have a cozy club with the latest newspapers on file.

An Act of Congress dated March 3, 1885, appropriated $4,000 for a log or frame court house and jail at Juneau. Nothing has yet been done about it.

JULY 5, 1888-There were many sporting and other events yesterday in celebration of the Fourth of July. A horse race on the beach from the Auk village to the mouth of Gold Creek had three entries and was won by ?Pigeon Toe? entered by Charles Salley. Six canoes entered that race, each with 12 paddlers. The entry by the Taku tribe came in first, followed by the Metlakatla entry. Most local business houses were decorated with flags and bunting, as was the ferry Marion. The Alaska Mill & Mining Company at Treadwell closed for the day and many of the men came to Juneau. In the evening Mrs. George Snow gave an entertainment at the Opera House, assisted by Paddy Doyle, a brilliant star in Juneau drama circles. A large crowd attended.