COMPLAINS OF
MAIL SERVICE
TO IDITAROD
Among the visitors in Cordova yes
terday while the steamship Alaska
was in port was A1 Walsh, the well
known and energetic placer operator
of the Iditarod country, who spent the
day visiting with friends and in at
tending to matters of business.
Probably no man is more thoroughly
and intimately familiar with Interior
Alaska than is Mr. Walsh. He de
votes a large portion of each year to
the trail, and knows and is known
by practically every resident of the
great valleys of Interior Alaska—the
Kuskokwim, the Innoko and the Idit
arod. During the past season he has
added to his other activities an in
terest in a fish-packing industry at
Bethel, near the mouth of the Kus
kokwim, and speaks enthusiastically
of the outlook for that industry in
that region.
Mr. Walsh is on his way Outside,
and one of the objects of his visit to
the States is to interest the authori
ties in Washington in bettering the
mail service of that section of Alaska.
He is armed with strong protests
from commercial and other interests
of the Iditarod and Kuskokwim dis
tricts against the action of the depart
ment in abandoning the mail service
from Seward to Iditarod, and the rout
ing of mail for that section by way of
Cordova, Fairbanks and Ruby, and
these he intends to supplement by his
own views and experiences in an en
deavor to have the mail routed via
Seward again next year. Speaking of
the change he said:
“The people hitherto served by the
mail service from Seward to Iditarod
are greatly disappointed at the action
of the postoffice department in divert
ing the mail to the longer and more
circuitous route, and this disappoint
ment has been changed to indignation
by the fact that up to the time I left
Flat, on November 25, no Outside
mail had yet been received. It is the
general belief of the people that the
Seward route was abandoned through
lack of knowledge of actual conditions
there, such as that the trail was in J
had condition, that the roadhouses j
had been closed, and that the popu- I
lation had materially decreased. S
“The fact is that the Seward-Idita- •
rod trail is a splendid one, as is evi- J
denced by the fact that I myself made J
•
the trip from Flat to Wasilla, the enu •
of the railroad, a distance of 400 •
miles, in nine days. Last winter E. £
A. Beatty took over the trail a fly- J
wheel weighing 1,500 pounds, and six £
feet four inches in diameter, making |
the journey from Anchorage to Me- ;
Grath in thirteen days.- The late ]
"George” Riley took in by dog team j
over the same trail a shaft weighing j
1,800 pounds. Mr. Beattie has just ;
brought out from Iditarod 1.580 j
pounds of gold bullion, which he land- j
ed in Seward in fifteen days. J
“As to the roadhouses, we found j
them all running, and furnishing ex- •
cellent service, as usual. ;
“As to the alleged decreasing popu- £
lation, it may be said that there are j
quite as many people in the district •
as there have been for some years £
past, and that with the increased ac- «
tivity at McGrath, on Candle creek, •
and the recent quartz discoveries, it £
is more than likely that the popula- •
tion will increase from this time on. j
instead of decreasing. I look for a •
considerable influx of people into the £
district during the coming spring, and J
the whole region is bound to benefit •
•
thereby.” !
According to Mr. Walsh, large num- £
hers of citizens located on the Seward •
trail are now practically without mail •
service of any description. £
The distance between Wasilla, the •
end of the railroad, and Iditarod, the £
route taken by the mail carriers for- ;
merly, he says, is 400 miles, while •
the distance from Chitina to Iditarod, £
by way of Fairbanks, Tanana and •
Ruby, is in the neighborhood of a £
thousand miles. •
Besides the convenience of receiv- «
ing their mail by the old route many £
days earlier than by the present •
route, the operation of the mail serv- •
ice tended to keep the trail open, and £
thus was an added convenience to the £
Iditarod and Kuskokwim residents in •
their travel to and from the coast. As •
the government has spent compara- £
tively little money for roads in that £
section, they think that it is not un- J
reasonable to expect assistance in thus •
facilitating the means of travel in £
such a wild country. JL
—.____ _ _
r~.......
i ( # •
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