PROPOSED AIR
NAIL SERVICE
FOR ALASKA
In a recent dispatch to the Seattle
Times Jack Underwood, one of its
correspondents in Washington, D. C.,
says:
Airplane mail service between Se
attle and ports in Southeastern Alaska
is one of the probabilities of the near
future.
It is likely that the first experi
ments along this line will be made
next spring or summer, and if the
experiments prove successful in
Southeastern Alaska the service will
gradually be extended to Southwest
ern Alaska and probably to Nome and
Iditarod.
A number of conferences at which
plans for the project were discussed
have been held by postal officials, and
it may be said that it looks decidedly
encouraging for the installation of the
service within the next six months.
Seaplanes will be used in the first
tests, if the present plans are consum
mated, and it is not unlikely that the
first ship to be used in the service
will be built in Seattle. There was
a disposition on the part of the pos
tal officials to obtain seaplenes from
the navy for this and other services,
but experiments have proven conclu
sively that seaplanes and airplanes,
like other machinery, must be espe
cially built for the purposes for which
they are intended to be used.
A battle airplane, it has been dis
covered, requires so much alteration
to fit it for mail-carrying purposes
♦ Iiot tlio ovrionoQ ic alirinat !i e irrD'l f i
as that of constructing a new ma
chine.
Would Meet Inadequacy
For some time the mail service in
, Alaska has been inadequate. The first
class mail is carried by express and
second-class by freight. Under this
plan steamship operators naturally di
rect their vessels to call only at those
places where sufficient freight is of
fered, and many of the smaller towns
are left without mail service for
weeks at a time. No mail has been
delivered at Kodiak or points to the
westward since October.
Governor Thomas Higgs, Jr., of
Alaska has beep working on the pro
ject ‘of JfPpikhe or ■'SestpMhto'feiiif see^ ’
Ice to Alaska for some time, and yes
terday had a long conference with E.
N. Gott, vice president of the Boeing
Airplane Company of Seattle on the
matter. Another conference at which
postal officials will be present will
be held Friday.
A number of aviators in the service
here who were recruited in Alaska
say that one of the greatest obstacles
will be found in the Taku winds,
which blow with extreme violence dur
ing the winter months. Others, how
ever, claim that these winds will not
interfere to any great extent with a
seaplane such as is used by the navy,
and which must stand a test against
a sixty-mile wind and against a forty
mile sea.
The original plan of development
of the airplane service, according to
information furnished at the postofflce
department, was to gradually extend
the present service between Nev
York and Washington and betweei
Washington and New York and Chi
cago to points further westward.
The web of aerial lines planned bi
the department was laid cut In i
unit basis by Otto Praeger, second as
sistant postmaster general, and an ex
tension of the service from Washing
ton to Boston is now in preparation
This unit will later be extended tc
Montreal, in co-operation with the Ca
nadian government, and with that enc
in view a number of discussions al
ready have been held with Canadiar
officials to arrange the details. An
other line is planned to run southwest
from here to Atlanta. Dividing al
that point, Key West and New Or
leans will be served.
Another unit will extend almost due
westward from Washington, passing
through Cincinnati and St.. Louis and
terminating at Kansas City. Air lineE
will radiate from Chicago to Milwau
kce, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Omaha
Denver, Cheyenne, Salt Lake Citj
and San Francisco. From Salt Lake
City another line will connect wit!
Butte, Spokane and Seattle, and stil
another will reach from Seattle tc
Alaska.
Will Push Alaska Unit
Speaking generally, the plan was
to gradually extend the service from
Washington along the lines indicated
above, which would have placed the
Seattle-Alaska branch of the service
the last to be installed. The condi
tions of the mail service in Alaska
and the fact that at the best Alaska
lias only a steamship service, while
>ther cities have the advantages of
he quicker deliveries to be obtained
by railroads, has made the Seattle
Alaska unit among the first of the
extensions to be considered.
Although the plans have not been
fully formulated, an effort will be
made to make the Seattle-Alaska
service self-supporting. A rate of
15 cents a letter may be charged for
iir mail delivery from Seattle to Ju
neau, and it is believed that a num
ber of business men would gladly pay
Lhe extra charge rather than suffer
the delay which they must endure un
der the present conditions.
The present plans are to construct
seaplanes with a carrying capacity
jf 1,000 pounds, and these ships will
make three round trips a week to Ju
neau, calling at Petersburg, Ketchi
kan and Prince Rupert en route. The
trip from Seattle to Juneau can be
made in one flight with two stops for
fuel. Two planes will be needed in
the service. These details, however
are purely tentative.
Seeks Contractor
About the only obstacle in the way
of the immediate adoption of the Se
attle-Juneau service is the lack of a
contractor. The department naturally
would prefer to have the mail deliv
ered by contract, but being unablQ to
make suitable contracts for the New
York-Chicago service, the work is
done directly by the department Itself
The department owns the planes and
xmploys its own aviators. If unable
o make a suitable contract for the
Seattle-Alaska service, no doubt the
same plan of operation will be
idopted.
One round trip daily on the serv
ces alrerdy inaugurated is being
maintained, and the postoffice officials
xnticipate no difficulty whatever in
giving similar service on the units
west of Chicago.
An average of 15,500 pounds oi
’ mail Is being delivered between New
i York and Washington each month. I
■ The cost per ton mile of mall carried
by airplane Is $6.31. Thore are many
parts of Interior Alaska where the
1 cost per ton Is much greater, and it
■ is not at all improbable that should
■ the initial seaplane venture between
Seattle and Juneau prove a success
an airplane service between Anchor
age and Iditarod will be installed al
• most immediately.
TRADEJOURNAL
BOOSTSALASKA
MINING GAME
The Mining and Scientific Press ol
San Francisco devotes considerable
space in a recent edition to Alaska.
There are three leading editorials de
voted to this territory. J. L. McPher
son, manager of the Alaska bureau
of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce,
contributes an interesting article on
“Alaska’s Mineral 'Development Dur
ing 1918,” an “Occasional Correspon
dent” writes on “Mining Copper at
Kennecott, Alaska,” and F. Le Roi
Tr.urmond is the author of an article
on “Broad Pass, Alaska.” All arti
cles are illustrated with half-tones or
maps.
Mr. McPherson notes witji a spirit
of optimism the beginning of Alaska’s
crreer as a nroduoer of ahin.
ments of that metal having been re
ceived on the Outside frbm three
widely-separated sections o$ the ter
ritory—from near Ketchikan] from the
upper Copper river and trim Dime
creek, Seward peninsula, life says
that in spite of labor shortage, high
cost everywhere, and the enterprises
of war, there was considerable devel
opment in Alaska mining. jHe calls
particular attention to the] develop
ment of molybdenite by the Treadwell
company near Shakan, the beginning
of a tunnel to connect the workings
of the Kennecott and thi i Mother
Lode, Willow creek prodm tion and
the erection of a mill on i he North
Midas Copper Company’s pr jperty on
tile Kuskulana river. The jeginning
of coal shipments from Bei ing river
coal fields, and the incre ,sed coal
production of the Matann ka coun
try, are regarded as favor ble indi
cations for the future.
"An Occasional -04gr#*ondent"
says the country in the vicinity of
Kennecott offers plenty of induce
ments to investors and developers.
He says the Kennecott is making a
brilliant success. Its ore is of the
highest known grades, and, notwith
standing the high cost of labor and
production during the war, the cost
of production was only 8 cents a
pound. He sees a wonderful future
for this company and the various
properties it is acquiring.
P. Le Roi Thurmond describes the
Broad Pass country and givee a short
outline of its history, both of which
are hopeful. He sece a striking re
semblance between the Alaska range
at Broad pass and elsewhere and the
Southeastern Alaska country.
The Mining and Scientific Press
says there is great opportunity in
Alaska for exploration work by young
men with some capital and mining
knowledge, and a whole lot ot en
ergy. It thinks the development of
platinum, chrome, molybdenum and
other ores than the Alaska staples,
gold and copper, are suggestive of a
?reat future for this territory.
-♦
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CORDOVA. ALASKA
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