Digital Bob Archive

1 July 1980

MAY 14, 1891-Lt. Schwatka, the explorer who made a notable voyage down the Yukon River in 1883, has been a Juneau visitor for several days and is enroute to the Interior via the Takou River route.

The Juneau Wharf Company received a new piledriver on the last boat and Ed Webster is superintending the repair of the wharf.

Last Sunday, Miss Ida M. Haines walked to the lower end of the Silver Bow Basin Company tunnel, then through the long dark tunnel itself for some 3,000 feet with nothing to light her way but a flickering lantern. She then ascended ladders nearly 100 feet to come out into the bright sunshine of the Basin itself. She is the first lady to enter the Basin through the tunnel and shaft. The flume has now been completed in the tunnel. It is 4 feet wide and three feet high. The first 1,500 feet of the flume is bedded on granite blocks and the upper section on wooden blocks.

MAY 21, 1891-The building of a mill at the Mexican mine on Douglas Island has been postponed until next year. At the Alaska Treadwell Gold Mining Company, next to the Mexican, a new shaft is being sunk and ores will be mined at deeper levels. A hoisting works is now being installed. The company is milling about 700 tons of ore a day.

Last week a huge snow slide came crashing down Snowslide Gulch and into the basin below, carrying all before it. A miner named Van Buren was asleep in his cabin at the time and it was picked up and carried about 100 feet by the slide. He escaped with only a few scratches.

The ferry Julia now makes regular trips to Sheep Creek as well as to Douglas City and Treadwell.

MAY 28, 1891-Before he left for the Interior, Lt. Schwatka gave a lecture on his search for records of the Sir John Franklin expedition in the Arctic. It was well attended and proceeds will go to the benefit of the cemetery fund.

Basin Road is now clear of snow so that teams can go all the way to Silver Bow Basin. The Coulter mill at the first falls on Gold Creek has been running full time for the past 10 days.

The U. S. District Court, Judge John Bugbee, is now in session in Juneau with many mining cases, as well as criminal cases, on the docket.