COMPLETION OF GOVERNMENT
RAILWAY WILL LEAD TO REAL
DEVELOPMENT OF COUNTRY.
WILL EXCEL SCANDINAVIA.
Mines and Agriculture of Region To
gether With Inexhaustible Fisher
ies of Adjacent Waters Will Make
Metropolis Here.
By I)R. K. A. KYVIG.
To those of us who have lived in
Alaska for some years and learned to
love and appreciate her and her mag
nificent resources, it is inconceivable
that all activity and prosperity
should vanish as soon as railroad con
struction ceases. May we not rather
expect a rebirth of activity, and a
beneficial influx, both of capital and
- labor and of permanent settlers now
that we actually possess our long
wished-for transportation facilities .'
The writer has lived around Cook
inlet for the last twelve years and has
therefore, had opportunities of ac
quainting himself with the great, lat
ent resources hereabouts.
The latitude of Alaska, its climatic
condition and geological formation
correspond with the Scandinavian
peninsula and the Baltic. If history j
repeats itself, then <ve may confident- j
ly expect similar developments here j
as have, in time past, taken place in
the countries bordering on the North
sea, which is one of the busiest re
gions on earth.
Even Greater Developments.
Indeed, not only similar develop
ments, but even greater ones will
take place here, because we possess,
unquestionably, greater resources.
From Alaska’s position in the Pa
cific she is destined to become a tre
mendous factor in the world trade
now being inaugurated on this ocean.
With the vast resources at our very
door in both anthracite and bitumin
ous eoa1, which, when fully develop
ed will as surely insure supremacy
to the Cook inlet region as the vast
coal beds heretofore have served Eng
land in the same way; with our pro
ducing gold quartz mines at Willow
creek, copper, iron and placer gold
fieVls at Cache creek, with our Tal
keetna copper and iron ore, and Broad
pass ledges of Galena, gold and silver
of almost unbelievable extent, with
our farming lands at Matanuska be
ing at last recognized and its prod
ucts forging to the front, with virgin
valleys on either side of Cook inlet,
where cattle and sheep raising before
many summers have passed will be
profitably engaged in; with our un
touched fishing grounds near the en
trance of Cook inlet, and along the
Aleutian islands where abound cod
fish and halibut banks in bewildering
profusion and where storage plants
and canneries to preserve these fish
as well as herring, salmon and other
valuable fish products could be built
by the dozen and kept busy night and
day, so tremendous is the demand at
fabulous prices, with such great re
sources, would it not be the height of,
jfolly to leave such a generous land i
and hunt elsewhere for golden op- j
portunities, which mostly, it is safe to !
•ay, have already passed into private
hands ?
Will Be Much Better.
As soon as Anchorage is connected
by rail with Seward, so far from An
chorage becoming a mere whistling
station, this connection will in fact
help Anchorage all the better be
cause one feeder more is added to her.
Nature has once for. all decreed
that all roads shall converge and cen
ter at Anchorage; little, selfish men
may for a while try to detain and
thwart Anchorage in her husky
strides toward her destiny, but it will
avail them nothing. The easiest way
in and out of Cook inlet will finally
It may not be amiss here to com
pare the location of Anchorage with
Christiania, Norway's capital. Chris
tiania fcas nearly 300,000 inhabitants
and is locate^ at the bottom of Chris
tiania fjord, exactly as is Anchorage
prevail.
h
located at the bottom of Cook inlet.
Different railroads drain Norway to
Christiania.
The one from the north may be
compared to ours here, when it
reaches the Yukon, the second from
the west, only finished the last ten
years, connects up the city of Bergen,
on the coast, or the Seward branch
of our system, and this westward
branch has helped both cities, as our
Seward branch, when finished, will
help both Anchorage and Seward.
If it is true that “Alaska is an Em
pire in the Making,” which the writ
er firmly believes, then Anchorage
will become its pulsating heart and
Cook inlet its main artery.
EARLYSETTLER
IN FAIRBANKS
B. W. DUNKEL, AFTER WHOM
STREET IS NAMED, LOSES
LIFE ON FRENCH FRONT.
JOINED CANADIAN FORCES
Young Man’s Father Was Lieutenant
in Prussian Army Before He Came
to America and Located at Yrcka,
California, in 1862.
B. W. Dunkel, formerly of Fair
banks, after whom Dunkel street in
Fairbanks, was named was recently
killed while fighting with the Canad
ian forces in France according to the
Fairbanks News-Miner. The report of
Dunkel’s death was sent to Fairbanks
by Mrs. Dora M. Dick, formerly post
mistress at Olnes. She was formerly
Mrs. Dora Anderson. Mr. Dick also
resides at Olnes. Mrs. Dick’s message
follows:
“Mrs. William A. Dunkel, 1531 Bel
mont avenue, Seattle, Wash., has just
received word of the death of her son,
B. W. Dunkel, ‘in action’ somewhere in
France.
“Although an American citizen,
Dunkel was eager to join the allied
forces, and in 1916, enlisted in Seattle
in Regiment 131, Westminster Battal
ion.
“The news of her son’s death reach
ed Mrs. Dunke! through a letter ad
dressed to her son, and returned with
the inscription ‘Killed in action.’
“In one of his last letter’s home,
Dunkel had written: ‘I do not fear
death in the least. Why should I fear
what is merely a transition from one
sphere to another?’
“An unusual sidelight on his career
is the fact that his father was a lieu
tenant in the Prussian army many
years ago before leaving Germany for
Yreka, Cal., where he settled in 1862.
Yreka became the birth place of B. W.
Dunkel.
“In Alaska, Dunkel was very well
known, having been one of the first
settlers in Fairbanks.”
MR. BRYAN’S PATRIOTISM.
There is no better rule of patriotism
for the guidance of all pacifists, con
scientious objectors and sticklers for
the rights of free speech than that laid
down by William J. Bryan in an ad
dress in Chicago:
After asserting that the citizen who
insists upon criticising the war poli
cies of the government is “a promoter
of anarchy,” Mr. Bryan said:
“I don’t know how long the war will
last, but I know that the quickest way
out is straight throught. Any division
or discusion now would simply pro
long the war and make it more costly
in lives and treasure.”
No man hates war more bitterly
than Mr. Bryan but the war has come
in spite of everything that was clone
to avoid it, and Mr. 'Bryan’s way of
ending it is to beat Germany as soon
as possible. That is the way of all
men who see straight, and Mr. Bryan
is doing a great public service in
bringing the issue into the open—New
York World.
RAISES BLACK FACED LAMBS.
ROSWELL, New Mexico, Oct. 25.—
While Captain Charles De Bi'emund,
commander of the first artillery bat
tery, New Mexico national guard, is on
active service, his wife is raising and
selling black faced lambs at record
prices.
1
THE RANGH
CENTRAL SELLING AGENCY
FORMED IN FAIRBANKS
The Fairbanks Citizen says:
The establishing of a central sell
ing agency, to which all of the farm
ers of the community, or those who
belong to the association, would bring
their produce, was planned at a meet
ing of the Tanana Valley Agricultural
association held recently at the Loyal
league armory. It was pointed out
that this plan would be the most eco
nomical means by which the farmers
could dispose of their produce. It now
remains for the executive board of the
organization to consult with the vari
ous produce houses here for the pur
pose of ascertaining just how they feel
toward such a move.
The central selling agency would
| not be a “corner” in any sense of the
| word. It would simply mean that all
j of the farmers would dispose of ther.
j produce through the agency, each to
j share in proportion to the amount of
! produce raised. The plan would ne
cessitate the establishing of a ware
I house where all of the produce could •
be stored, particularly in the winter, I
and the appointing of an agent.
This plan is not new in the Tanana
valley. It was first broached when an
1 attempt at organizing the farmers
was made some years ago, but nothing
was done about it at that time.
THE ANCHORAGE EXAMPLE.
Forty-one firms and merchants of!
Anchorage have pledged themselves to
buy at home and to use Anchorage
vegetables. This means that Anchor- j
age will keep her money at home this j
winter and will in time grow into a j
large and flourishing city. Valdez!
needs an organization of this kind the j
worst way. The first of October the :
Prospector received bills from five
! firms which were printed out of town,
notwithstanding that the Prospector
does a large business with the afore
i said merchants. Look at your bills
I and receipts the first of next month j
| and you can see who is guilty of boost
! ing Tacoma and Seattle at the expense
i of Valdez. If their merchants them
! selves will not trade at home they j
' cannot expect others to do so. An- j
; chorage is setting a good example to
■ other cities who have not yet realiz
; ed the peril of sending their money
j away from home.—Valdez Prospector, j
HOGS HAVE CONSUMPTION.
; SACRAMENTO, Cal., Oct. 25.—The
| attention of Professor Gordon H. True
; of the state university farm at Davis
has been called to the fact that an un
1 usually high percentage of tubercu
losis in hogs has been noted by packers
j in recent killings. F. L. Washburn
' of the Western Meat company, San
; Francisco, declared that the percent
age of condemnationof hogs for tuber- '
culosis has nan between eight and nine
per cent in one week and sever per
cent in another.
Regarding this condition and efforts
to check the spread of the disease
amoung swine, Professor True, who is
head of the animal husbandry division
at the university farm, said:
“This conditon would seem to be due
to the feeding of raw skim milk from
tuberculous cows. At a time like this
when pork products are so high and
milk products so valuable it seems the
utmost folly for dairymen to take the
chance of feeding raw milk from ques
tionable herds to their hogs.
“I would suggest that a special ef
fort be made to secure the practice of
pasteurizing or boiling milk that is
fed to hogs. The freedom of Califor
nia hogs from tuberculosis would au
tomatically raise the price of hogs for
all sellers.”
DAIRYMEN WASTE CALVES.
EL PASO, Texas, Oct. 27. — City
food inspectors have discovered a new
form of wastage of food among dairy
men of the city. Because of the high
prices for milk, many dairymen have
been killing young calves rather
than allow them to feed from the
mother cows. As calves under four
weeks cannot be sold for meat, the
hides are taken and the meat destroy
ed. This practice has been stopped
by the authorities.
ONE DAY’S COLLECTION
OF PICTURES
In a day’s ride recently along the
U. S. railroad out of Anchorage, a
tourist returned with the following
photographs:
A canery on Knik Arm where the
finest salmon in the world are canned.
Six mountain sheep high on a rocky
buttress.
A brown bear browsing in the
alders.
A lynx, watching a pair of eag^
circling overhead.
Half a dozen queer waddling por
cupines.
Magnificent foot-long trout in r
crystal lake.
A thousand ducks and geese.
A big-horned moose, drinking in a
mountain stream.
A water-fall of a thousand horse
power.
Farm after farm of cleared land,
ready for cultivation.
A lime bed, enough to lime all the
farms along the railroad.
Coal, enough to last the navy for
century.
Oil seeping from the earth in a score
of places.
A mountain of iron.
In the distance, the highest moun
tain on the American continent.
A score of erhbryo gold mines, the
quartz running $100 and up per ton.
Copper ledges of enormous size and
rich in value.
A prospector with an ounce of plati
num taken from a near-by creek.
Fields of barley, oats, rye, and po
tatoes galore.
A new government-built wagon
road.
Enough timber to make ten million
tons of pulp.
And the U. S. railroad makes it pos
sible to develop all these industries.
New Farming Methods in Greece.
American agricultural machinery i
to be used or. a huge scale to develop
the rich agricultural resources oi
Macedonia and Thessalay, which have
lain for ages in an undeveloped state.
One of the largest orders ever given
by Greece has just been placed with
the United States concerns, and the
first shipments of 200 farm tractors,
1500 auto rakes and a whole shipload
of other large implements left New
York on the first of the Greek liners to
sail since the entente blockade was
raised.
TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES.
After an investigation extending
over several weeks into the traffic
conditions, railroad construction and
coal deposits of Alaska, Herbert Mey
ers, assistanst secretary of the inter
ior, says that the railroad from Sew
ard northward to the Matanuska coal
fields should be completed with all
possible haste.
The especial need emphasized is
that the building of the missing links
will make available a great supply oi
fuel at pi'esent required for our indus
tries. The road will, besides, furnish
transportation into the interior that
is so necessary to the development of
the territory. The resources of Alas
ka are furnishing some great surpris
es as the country is “discovered,” and
with improved traffic facilities its
great wealth of production could be
distributed over the ten-itory and sent
south to the Pacific states.
We are so familiar with the reports
of Alaska’s stores of gold and copper
that we have overlooked its agricul
tural possibilities. The history of the
development of the Rocky mountain
states is being repeated in Alaska.
California is one of the great agricul
tural states of the Union. The day of
Klondike rushes is past in Alaska and
the territory is now turning to the de
velopment of the riches of its soil.
The farming area of Alaska is as
large as the combined total area of
Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hamp
shire, Conecticut, New Jersey, Dela
ware, Maryland and Pennsylvania.
They raise lettuce and strawberies in
Alaska as fine as are grown in the
states. Potatoes of the Matanuska
valley weigh a pound and a half and
turnips and rutabagas twelve to four
teen pounds apiece. The weather con
ditions were milder last winter in Sew
ard than they were in New York
Though the winters are cold the sum
mers in most of Alaska are warm
In fact, one can no more speak of
Alaska as a whole than of the United
States as a whole.
Now that we are taking stock oi
what is economical and essential ii
diet the agricultural development ci
fruits and hardy vegetables have al
ready been made in the Pacific states.
The great difficulty in the past has
been lack of transportation. When this
is remedied, as the department of the
interior hopes that it soon will be, we
shall have still further i;eason to be
proud of Seward’s Arctic Polar Bear
Reserve.—New York Sun.
SERVICE BETWEEN SEATTLE
AND SOUTHWESTERN PORTS
WILL BE CURTAILED.
FEWER CRAFTS TO SEWARD.
Farragut and Watson Will be Put on
Southern Route and Northwestern
Will Operate As Relief Boat for
Other Ships.
Agents here of the Pacific Steam
ship company and of the Alaska
Steamship company have been noti
fied of several important changes in
the steamship service this winter be
tween Seattle and Seward.
During the winter months the
service to southwestern Alaska will
be considerably curtailed, on account
of the vast proportions of the Cali
fornia trade.
The steamers Admiral Farragut
and Admiral Watson of the Pacific
Steamship company, will be with
drawn from the Alaska nm during
the winter and will be operated on
the California run while the steamer
Spokane will be operated to the west
ward in connection with the Admiral
Evans.
;
The large amount of traffic be
tween California and Seattle since
the withdrawal of the Northern Pa
cific and Great Northern, and also
the vast amount of tonnage needed
to handle the California potato crop,
are responsible for the changes.
rlhe Admiral Farragut and the Ad
miral Watson are scheduled to sail
from Seattle for California early in
November.
The steamer Northwestern, of the
Alaska Steamship company has been
temporarily withdrawn from the
Alaska service. She will be over
hauled and will be used as a relief
boat for the Alameda, Mariposa and
Alaska, while they receive their an
nual overhauling during the winter.
COLLEGETEACHES
ECONOMY !N FOOD
—
EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION IN
HAWAII GIVES COURSE TO
PREVENT WASTE.
HONOLULU, T. H., Oct. 27.~In line
with the food conservation program of
the government, the College of Hawaii
has this fall added a new course to its
curriculum, that of food economics
which will embrace food preparation
and dietetics, covering all phases of
the food problem. For the purpose the
college has brought to Honolulu an ex
pert in household science, Miss Eliza
beth Matthews, who holds a bachelor’s
degree from Ohio State university and
a master’s degree from Columbia.
The instructions will range all the
way from the fundamentals of cook
ing to the scientific planning of
dietetics.
Jack Frost is no respector of per
sons. He puts the same crimson hues
in the leaves of the maple, the cheeks
of the princes and the toes of the bare
foot boy. — (Seattle Post- Inteligen
cer.)
of sms
OUTPUT THIS YEAR IS 5,367,04*
CASES, WHICH IS INCREASE
OF 447,460 OVER 1916.
HEAVY SOUTHEASTERN YIELD.
Western and Central Parts of Terri
tory Show Decline in Production—
Cannery Man Says Help Is Great
est Problem.
Alaska’s salmon pack this year
amounts to 5,367,049 cases, an in
crease of 447,460 cases as compared
with the output for 1916, in spite of
t.:e fact that the central and western
-Ylaska sections this year fell short
)f their packs of the previous year.
The figures on the pack show that
outheastern Alaska this year packed
a total of 3,024,749 cases, or 801,091
more than 1916 when the production
was 2,223,658. Central Alaska this
year packed 737,300 cases, or 348,419
less than 1916, when 1,085,719 cases
were packed. Western Alaska pack
ed 1,605,000 cases this year or 5,212
cases short of 1916 when 1,61$,212
were packed.
The Chatham Straits section in
southeastern Alaska has experienced
two big years of salmon, and can
nerymen are beginning to think it is
the principal section for catching and
packing fish, says the Juneau Empire.
New Canneries Rumored.
Among the canneries which rumor
states will be established in south
eastern Alaska will be the North
Pacific Trading and Packing compa
ny, either at Hootz bay or Kelp bay;
the Wadhams cannery at Tenakee,
work on which has already been
started; the Fidalgo Island Packing
company, with a cannery, location
unknown; the Lisianski Packing com
pany at Washington bay, the Icy
Straits Packing company at Idaho
inlet.
xn auvuuva LUC L»CC p OCd
company at Cape Edwards is reduc
ing that cannery to one line and is
building a cannery at Port Althrop
where three lines will be installed.
Work on this cannery is under way.
William Semar and associates have
started work on a cannery at Sitka,
and it is rumored that another combi
nation of Juneau men is being formed
to put up a cannery some place in
Chatham or Icy straits.
A prominent Juneau cannery man,
n speaking of the industry, said:
“The canneries and their methods
)f handling fish are improving every
year. From the floor the fish are
washed into the elevator pit. They
are moved always by washing, which
necessarily cleanses them.
Difficult to Get Help.
“It is difficult to procure help.
Since the Chinese have been barred
from the country it has become hard
er and harder, because Chinese for
merly were employed almost exclu
sively. And the war this year pre
vented the young men that spent their
summers in Alaska from returning.
A great many have enlisted.
“Some plaint was heard about a
lack of shipping facilities this sea
son. This was not the fault of the
shipping men, however, because
enough ships were available. The
trouble was with the canneries, which
employ their full crews in packing
during the run, then engage them as
lacquerers, labelers and boxers. This
causes all the shipments to be pre
pared at the same time, whereas, if
part of the crew would perform each
task during the season, a steady flow
of salmon would result, which the
ships could easily transport.”
RAILWAYS AND CATTLEMEN.
EL PASO, Texas, Oct. 25.—Rail
roads are cooperating with cattlemen
in saving their herds in the drouth dis
tricts of Texas. Rains have been plen
tiful in the vicinity of El Paso but in
the Jecos, Colorado City and Odessa
country rains have been scarce. Trains
are rushed to these dry sections wheiv
cattle are dying, they are loaded and
brought to the rainy districts where
they are fed before shipping east.