The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, December 21, 1930, Page 3

THE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE SUNDAY, DEC 2I I930 WOMAN OF 70- RECALLSEARLY SKACWAY DAYS Mrs. George R Dedman of | Golden North Hotel Knows Famous Men KETCHIKAN.—Few women iiving or dead have crammed so much of life-into a span of 70 years as has Mzs. George D. Dedman, ow thg, Golden North hotel in Sk wayy and one of Alaska’s pior whg, was in Ketchikan rec vigting at the home of F M T. Carpenter, writes Kenne Me@llaskey in the Ketchikan Chron- ic km the time that her husband was'in the real estate and banking bl@css in Portland and b (‘rlf*hundred thousand doll gd in various holdings, thxoughf fortune | (h’épamc of '93 when t. of ‘the gold rush in '98 when Skag-|ia, and riff raff from the shims of way was a booming city of more|[the world, eager to get the gold or than 15,000 persons, and even up to|prey upon those who did get it. the present time when at the age|Most of them passed through Skag- of 70 she still manages a 6€0-room|way for the interior, or else settled |5, of the | nearly hotel and is active in women’s ciubs and civic affairs, there have been few dull moments in her eventful life. Landed With 60 Cenis “My husband landed in Skagway |in February, 1898, with only 60 |cents in his pocket and a grub- 5!'\){(‘ I followed him, arriving July same ye she said in relating h ‘Having lost our fortune during the panic and being penniless, George started a business and I went to the old Pacific hotel.” Later on, in 1899, they bought a interest in the old Golden North hotel and here entertained many of the northland’s colorful characters. Skagway in those days, being a pert of entry, sprang up over night a sprawling and brawling tent city when that magic word “gold” was shouted to the four corners of the earth. In answer to that call came thousands upon thousands of fortune hunters, miners from Cali- fornia, the Couer d' Alenes, Austral- part there to swell her population. Eleven Marrled Men “When I arrived,” Mrs, Dedman said, “there were only 11 married womer, , 350 professional women and more than 10,000 men in the city. The daytime was given owr to hard, grinding toil, and the nights nutura)ly enough ta wine, women and song. The life was a hard one and those who brived it suffered many hardships. Anybody who go: gold in the north certainly earned it. “But before I go any farther I must tell my bathtub story,” and here she chuckled reminiscently. “There was no bathtyb in the city. paying proposition, so I proposed tc my employer, the owner of the Pacific Hotel, that we install one. He agreed to furnish the water and wash the tub if I would furnish the tub and towels, and we werc to go 50-50 on the proceeds. 50 Cents For Bath the first month my share of the and one day the thought occurred | to me that a bathtub should be a | “We charged 50 cents a bath and | wag'swept away to the sti ; T profits amounted to $157. For four months this kept up and the profits never went below $150 a month, but soon competitors entered the field and cut the price to 25 cents. Howeevr, I still believe -that clean- liness is next to Godliness. There !are 27 bathtubs in my hotel at the [ present time. “Many people think that the novels written by Jack London, Rex Beach and others and the poetry of Robert Service are all gross ex- aggerations. Such is not the case. None of them is too overdrawn. Many of the characters living in the pages of their bocks were real- y flesh and blood characters, and many of them stayed at our ho- tel. For instance, the original Cher- ry Malott, who is the chief woman HERE WE ARE AGAIN! = A Merry Christmas to You character in one of Rex Beach's novels, often stopped at the Golden North, as did the girl with the belt made of $20 goldpieces from one of Service's poems,” Londen, Beach and Service Mrs. Dedman knew Jack London from the time he was 17 years of | age. His real name was not Lon- don, but John Cheney. She also knew Beach and Service Mrs. Dedman tells of seeipg more than $3,000,000 worth of gold dust piled in the street in front of the Masonic Hall. According to her story, the dust was in five-gallon cans which were bound with cop- per bands. Many of the miners would leave their pokes of dust with her when they went on a drunk and would come back. from | time to time for fixed amoun’s which they had agreed upon be- fore. One fellow blew his entire stake of $6,000 in three days. Seapy Smith Days “Soapy” | days after I arrived in Skagway and 40 of his band of desperaddes | were blueticketed out of the city | with threats of death if they ever returned, They were deported by the | citizens after committing many lawless acts. “Speaking of Soapy Smith re- minds me of an incident that oc- curred at the hotel a summer or two ago. A middle-aged man who |had been stopping at the hotel a | day of two came up to me just as |he was leaving and said, ‘Mrs. Dedman, I'll bet you don't know |who I am. I told him that I did not recognize him, whereupon he said that he was one of the 40 | of Soapy Smith’s gang who was presented with the blue ticket on, | that memorable occasion. This | | was the first time that he had been | back and even then he had a heavy | beardy’ During all the years that have passed since the days of '98, Mrs. Dedman has remained in Skagway in the hotel business. She has seen that city dwindle from the 15,000 Grateful for your hearty co-operation and Good Will we extend to you and yours a real honest-to-goodness Merry Christmas and a Happy, Prosperous New Year GASTINEAU GROCERY =PAUL BROS Telephone 37 e , Props. ers, whom we counter and Wishing you A, MERRY CHRISTMAS! A HAPPY NEW YEAR! BORGHILD’S “Ladies Ready to Wear” Seward Street Smith was killed a few| pnnplv that it had at the height i)' its to its present population y 350, but her faith in the future of Alaska is undimmed Y. S Y Movie Fans of Russia Pay Way With Golashes LENINGRAD, Dec. 20, — Movie fans in Russia, who are short on currency, now obtain admission to some cinemas by tendering old| clothing, potatoes, eggs, flowersand | whatnot at the box office. Particularly welcome in this land | of heavy snows and long winters is the prospective patron who brings a pair of old galoshes, The Krasnaya Gazeta says it h for the box office cashier to judge whether the drticles presented are suff mvm.]y valuahle to justify ad- Sugar Cane Is New Crop For Florida Everglades PALM BEACH, Fla, Dec. 20— Tall sugar cane stalks have form- ed a waving sea of green over the Everglades this year. More than 23,000 acres of the is experimenting with a new type cane, attempting to cutlivate it for American production. The cane | was brought to America from New | Guinea. ——————— | HUNT SEA ELEPHANTS ON i ISLAND OF DESOLATION HAVRE, France, Dec. 20.— a- elephant hunting on the Island of Desolation” was the destination en- | tered on the charter of the steamer | Austral, which cleared from this port recently. The Austral, a 700-ton ship, | overhauled here and among the | material taken aboard were two | motorboats and one gross of spear: "md lances. The Island of Desolatio nis onc of a group in the Indian Ocean, known in French geography as Kerguelens. PREFREDTE S LY was | WANT LOWER RENTS | SYDNEY, Australia, Dec. | Combined offensive against lords is planned by rent payers T | Who have formed a gigantic Lower Rents League to force rents down- | ward. - e | DULUTH, Minn., Dec. 20.—Ele- vators at Duluth and Superior this If We Could Meet You and Greet You in Person! We would surely appreciate the crop, a new industry for the sec-| tion, have been successfully culti- vated in the muck lands, giving with 40,000,000 bushels expected to Florida farmers another crop. be in storage by the close of lake At Canal Point the Government ' navigation winter will be stocked with the opportuni o meet you all— largest amount of grain in history PROCIESN b £ Our Customers—Our Patrons— Our Friends, and tell you face to face how glad we are to know you and work with you in this living, but this being impossible we can think of better way in which extend the Season’s Greetings than in the same which tell you of other things — by advertising. [ SO game of no to in manner we MERRY CHRIS B oA e ROX & MOODY GENERAL CONTRACTORS TO ALL OUR FRIENDS and A HAPPY NEW YEAR BUILDING ~and— WRECK ALASKA MEAT CO. FROM ALL OF US TO ALL OF YOU Our Frlends and Our Custom- serve over the greet on. the street goes a sincere wish for GREETINGS May Good Old St. Nick not forget you And may Happy Thought Caress You Is our Wish for Vou on Merry Christmas Day PACKARD TAXI PHONE 444 SERLEAE R ] R LR Eiid A MERRY, MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A BRIGHT, HAPPY NEW YEAR GARNIEK’S PHONE 174 SUGGESTIONS FOR YOUR CHRISTMAS TABLE ONLY THE CHOICEST Fresh Fruits & Vegetables Place Your Orders Early --- 3 MORE SHOPPING DAYS ONLY Apples, Oranges, Jap Oranges, Grapefruit, Bananas, Grapes, Celery, Lettuce; Cauliflower, Squash, Carrots, Turnips, Parsley, Cranberries, Brussel Sprouts, Mixed Nuts, Candy, Dates, Cluster Raisins, Package Figs, Layer Figs, Shelled Almonds and Walnuts, Cigars, Cigarettes, Minced Meat, Plum and Fig Pudding, Pumpkin, Dundee Marmalade, Crosse & Blackwell Jams THE BEST FOR LESS ‘ Your Ordei‘ Will Be Delivered Promptly