i
The ALASKA
SOV'RVOVGH
IS!
Vol. I. No. 17
Douglas, Alaska, Tuesday, December 26, 1911
10c a Copy
THE SILENCE OF PINCHOT IS BROKEN
At last Gifford Pinehot has broken
the shell which held him, and has spok
en up like a man.
It is now three months since he
“saw” Alaska, but at last he knows
what he knows, and where he stands.
It will be remembered that Gifford
Pinehot was here in September on his
way out. He had come to Alaska with
the avowed purpose of investigating,
and getting new proofs of infamy in re
gard to the Cordova bay scandal. But
when he was in Juneau, after his trip to
the Westward, he refused to say wheth
er the shores of the Cordova bay had
been gobbled, whether Cordova bay was
a safe harbor, whether there was a tree
on the tract which the president had
released from the Chugak forest res
erve.
The Pinehot silence was broken on
December 16, by an article in the Sat
urday Evening Post.
Now he says that Cordova bay is a
good harbor, and all that he said
against the president’s action is releas
ing the ten thousand acres of barren
land tide flats from the forest reserve,
was true, and true now. He favors the
opening of the Bering river claims rath
er than the Matanuska claims. The
faet that the Bering river coal is more
friable makes no difference, he thinks
—it could be made up into biquettes.
Perhaps his most astonishing propo
sition is that the one great cause of
holding back development of Alaska
is not that the government has held it
back by reservations, not because we
have so few railroads and those so short
but that the tailroad freight rates are
so high. The fact that Alaska is a
country of ingnificent differences, the
fact that all three railroads are short
as to be insignificant, makes no differ
ence. 'the high freight rates are, ap
parently, very far reafehing in theif
effects.
Nobody in Alaska has any sympa
thy with the high freight rates, howev
er, and while the average Alaskan will
not be willing to let him get away with
the idea that the freight rates can suc
cessfuly made a scapegoat for the in
iquities of the government’s ice box
policy and the neglect of congress, his
objection to the freight rates will be
generally regarded as alright in its
way.
He says:
“Let me repeat this statement: It is
not the withdrawal of the coal lands
that has retarded the development of
Alaska, for every valid coal claim was
excepted from the withdrawal. What
is holding Alaska back more than all
other causes is the excessive rates for
transportation.
“Some actual examples will make
this clar. On the Alaska Northern
Bailway I paid $1.30 to be carried 3%
miles to a point between stations, al
though it is right to add that the regu
lar fare is twenty cents a mile. At this
point I found homesteaders actually
packing their produce to market in
the town of Seward, because the wagon
road bridge was down and the railroad
was charging them at the rate of $20
a ton for.a mile haul, The rate for
lumber from Seattle to New York is
$17 a ton. Potatoes are carried from
Northern Maine to New York 'Tty, a
distance -of about 700 miles, for $11.50
a* ton in less than carload lots, or $6.10
by the carload. The contrast is suffici
ently striking.
“Senator Poindexter and I saw men
walking and carrying heavy packs
along the right-of-way of the railroad,
because, as they said, they could make
day wages walking the seventy-odd
miles of its length as against what they
would have to pay to ride.
“On the Copper River and North
western Railroad—the Syndicate line
—the situation was found to be much
the same. I ata informed that last year
the Golconda Hydraulic Mining compa
ny was obliged to pay in advance
$1000 before the railroad wouM move
a car, containing twenty-three tons cf
mining machinery and supplies, a dis
tance of a little more than a hundred
and thirty miles. After considerable
pressure had been brought to bear upon
the traffic manager at Cordova the rail
road finally refunded $235. In anoth
er instance it is related that the freight
rate for blasting powder over a run of
a hundred and twenty-seven miles was
three cents a pound, or at the rate of
$60 a ton, which brought the total
transportation charge on powder from
Seattle to the mine up to $100 a ton.
The rate on powder from Chicago to
San Francisco is $46.
Rates such as these are calculated to
restrict both business and income.
Railroads in other new countries es
tablish rates that tend to develop the
regions through which they run. This
is not true in Alaska.
“Such freight rates charged to the
owners of mines not controlled by the
Syndicate would be less significant if
they stood alone. Unfortunately they
do not. Another case in point is the
use of violence by employes of the Syn
dicate to carry their tracks not simply
across the tracks of a competing road,
the Alaska Pacific Railway, at Mar
tin ’s Point, hear Katalla, as the apolo
gists of the Syndicate allege, but at
right angle! through the iniddle o ftheir
terminal grounds, as the records of the
land office disclose. This was in 1907.
The effect of such a crossing upon the
practical value of a terminal it is need
less to describe. It is asserted, and ob
servation on the ground appears to
sustain the claim, that a perfectly
feasible route round the terminal was,
and was know nto be, available.”
The canneries of Alaska come in for
an interesting sideswipe. What he says
about the fact that the canneries spend
not a dollar in Alaska, will meet with
a responsive chord in the hearts of most
Alaskans, The cannery has no friends
to speak of, and nobody has a word to
say in its defense. Some idea of the
influence of politics on Mr. Pinehot
may be disclosed by what he says about
the hatcheries, and how the canneries
‘‘swear off” their taxes by merely ma
king affidavits that they have released
so many salmon fry. He does not say
that the canneries are inspected by the
fish agents of the government. He
leaves the inferencer that the canneries
of Alaska pretty generally get rid of
their taxes that way. The fact of the
matter is that the canneries have al
ways contended that the maniteenance
of the hatcheries cost more than they
come to in remitted taxes. There are
twenty-seven canneries in Southeastern
Alaska and there are Only five hatch
eries. Of these the Alaska Packers’
Association maintains one at Loring
and one at Wrangell; the North Pacific
Packing and Trading company at Kla
wack and the Northwestern Fisheries
company one at Quadra and one at Het
ty Lake.
A prominent Alaskan who is not in
terested in either Alaska coal or Alas
ka railroads, but who is familiar witl
Controller Bay, says that as a des
criber of Controller Bay, the only wort
which will apply to Pinchot is th<
“short and ugly” one so often on the
tongue of Roosevelt. But this is wha
Mr. Pinchot says:
“The facts about Controller Bay ai
I see them, are briefly as follows:
‘Controller jtJay is by nature an ex
cellent harbor. In its present condi
tion, without lights, marks or buoys, 1
is far more safely accessible to ship
ping in all weathers than New York o
Boston harbors would be under eimila:
conditions. On al sides it is complete
Jy protected from the sea except fron
the channel opening to the west, whenc<
in this region no storms blow. The
sole valid criticism of it lies in the
fact that it is windswept at times b^
heavy offshore gales. So is every har
bor in Southeastern Alaska, and, I be
lieve, in nearly every region of similai
topography and similar latitude on th.
globe.
“Ice is not dangerous to the wharves
trestles in Controller Bay. Single pile!
to test this matter have remained stand
ing for several years. When sintabh
wharves have been built vessels tie<
up to them will be protected from the
wind and should be able to load cop,l ev
ery day in the year.
“Ships threatened with heavy weath
er at Katalla commonly run for refuge
behind Wingham Island at the entrance
to Controller Bay. The channel here i:
nearly three-quarters df a mile wide
and can easily be entered in the heav
i iest sea. At first straight, the chan
nel curves slightly and regularly to
[ the region opposite the last of the By
i an claims, with a width of but little
» less than half a mile at its narrowest
; part, or about the same as that of Am
brose Channel, the newly made en
i trance to New York harbor. The mater
ial o fthe bottom is easily dredged if
any changes were required.
“In my judgment Controller Bay of
- fers the best harbor for the develop
ment of the Bering river coal fields. Es
• timates that should be reliable indi
■ cate that a road can be built from Con
troller Bay to the Cunningham claims
i and equipped with terminals and roll
> ing stock for less than $2,000,000 in all.
s A total of thirty-two miles of road
s would tap about three-fourths of the
' field. Of the thirty-two miles there
would be but four miles of curves.
The average grade would be on-fourth
1 of one pfer cent in favor of the loaded
rains, with a maximum grade of less
than two per cent up which to pull the
i empty cars. The construction would be
s of the simplest, with only one bridge.
Gravel ballast is everywhere at hand,
* and the neighborhood supplies good
1 cross-ties and piling in abundance. Lt
s should not be forgotten that Controller
Bay is the harbor through which the
products of the Yakataga coal and oil
fields, still officially unexplored, will
! undoubtedly reach the sea. The Yaka
s taga eoal measures are said to lie much
i more regularly than those of the Ber
s ing river field, and to consist of equal
ly good coal.
ALASKAN GOATS
“I do not think,” said Mr. Ira U.
Tucker, a Montana sheep and goat
rancher who is here on the Gastineau
channel, looking for a location, ‘^that
this country will ever make a sheep
country, but it will be ideal for goats.”
There are two reasons why sheep
would not pay. In the long winters,
with the snow on the ground, the sheep
would have to be fed. The one thing,
however, which would make the sheep
business absolutely impossible here is
the wet weather. A sheep’s wool soaks
with the rain and it is impossible to
shear sheep when the wool is wet.
“With goat’s wool, however, it Is
altogether different. Goats will feed
on the bark of trees and on twigs, and
the wool is so thiek, and lies so on a
goat's back, that the water runs off
readily, and no matter how much it
rains, very little of the wool gets wet.
“Goat’s wool brings more on the
market than sheep’s wool, apd while
sheep’s wool is down now to fourteen
cents a pond, goat's wool runs as high
as thirty-eight cents, depending on the
quality.
For some time, until recent years, the
raising of goats has been a growing in
dustry in Montana, but lately conditions
have been growing worse there for the
goat and sheep raisers, and it is said
that a number of goat and sheep raisers
have been lokking for locations in Al
aska. It is said that i fthe forest res
ervation obstacles can be overcome,
several herds of goats may be brought
from Montana to Southeastern Alaska
this coming summer.
COAST LIGHTS
Regarding the estimate of appropri
ations for aids to navigation in Alas
ka, sent to Congres this month by the
secretary of the treasury, this explan
ation was made by Governor Clark to
day:
“The amount this year is $115,009,
and although this is larger than the
amount submitted last year by $55,
000, it provides for only one light. This
is to be a first order light house of the
most modern type, with fog signal, at
Cape St. Elias. A larger apropriation,
to cover other projects in addition to
this was not recommended, for the rea
son that the light house bill this year
will be very large, and there did not
seem to be a prospect of getting a larg
er amount. It seemed best this year
to turn attention from the matter of
small aids to the larger ones—that is
to the big light houses that are badly
needed.
"Three of these are of great im
portance—Cape St. Elias, Cape Decis
ion, and Cape Spencer. If some pro
jects must wait, it would better be
the smaller ones, for great progress
has been made in the installation of the
smaller lights (which are just as good
and even better for certain local onii)
in the last two years.
‘Since April, 1910—twenty months
ago—58 aids to navigation, including
a number of acetylene gas light 1 bea
cons, have been install 7 n VI > V' wa
ters. This is several es a* lany
lights as has been pu‘ place ring
the entire prior history of th «rri
tory. ’1