»>» ....
WHAT’S THE MATTER ;
WITH ALASKA?
... *
In the third of a series of articles
on “What’s the Matter With Alaska?”
Edmund Ellsworth Sumner in the
Railway and Marine News writes as
follows:
As this chapter is being written,
the cable carries the news from
Alaska that Secretary Payne, of the
interior department, and Secretary
Daniels, of the navy department, are
inspecting the Matanuska coal fields.
Incidentally it will be recalled that
Secretary Fisher of the interior de
partment, in the summer of 1911,
made a trip to the North, at which
time he investigated the various coal
deposits near the coast and penetrated
the interior as far as Fairbanks, this
at a time prior <to the appointment of
the first railroad commission by
President Taft. Mr. Fisher was ac
companied by a large retinue of
specialists, so the interior department
at the time was fully informed as
to the seriousness and extent of the
Alaska malady. Also incidentally, it
might be remarked that Secretary
Fisher was not the pioneer to go
north as for two decades representa
tives of the government and investi
gators had enjoyed the beautiful sum
mer excursion.
It is worthy of special note that dur
ing the past thirty years none of these
investigators have made the trip
north during that period from Novem
ber 1st to May 1st, when a large pro
portion of the population comes out
side and conditions are quite at var
iance with those of the long sunny
days of June and July. In the present
case, we can picture the reception ac
corded to Secretaries Daniels and
Payne and can accurately outline the
probable line of discourse at Matan
uska and Anchorage. However, it
might be well to state that the coal of
Matanuska is the same geological oc
currence as found and reported on by
all the other investigators for the
last quarter of a century. It has been
approved for use by the navy, for com
mercial purposes and for steaming
purposes, according to such- reports as
we have at hand.
ac Li uc mat a uvcxv auu a cuai
chute have been in the course of
erection at Anchorage, but were the
secretaries informed as to why simi- :
lar works were not,started at Seward,
the official terminus? The great
trouble with the snow during the win
ter will normally be encountered on
the line between Anchorage and :
'Seward and until snowsheds are fully
'completed, the line will be blocked as
was the case in December, 1918, when
it was not opened until the spring of
1919. Anchorage, by rail, could sup- i
ply coal to points up to the blocade
w’herever such blocade might occur,
but the snow shovels or rotaries with
engines, working from the Seward
side, would have to be supplied from
Seward.
In this same connection, were the
secretaries informed that Seward is ;
an all the year round open port and
Anchorage is closed during the late
fall and winter and early spring? So
if the navy is to be supplied with
coal as was the much repeated asser
tion when Seward was declared to be i
the official terminus at tidewater, how <
can the builders of the railroad justify
their seeming disregard of the offi- 1
cial order by practically ignoring Sew
—■■■»■« * ♦ » « *.
ard and throwing the bulk of the ap
propriation and construction energy
to Anchorage and the north thereof,
when Anchorage will at all times
be a closed port during the winter.
The crfcle dispatches state that the
secretaries were going to the Matan
uska valley and to the Susitna valley.
We can imagine the reception com
mittee showing them grasses and
grains “up to a man’s shoulders,” rut
abagas,, potatoes and other vegetables
larger than the best from California,
and even luscious berries. This is
all possible and any person with a
thorough knowledge of Alaska has
not only enjoyed a meal largely from
native products, but has seen these
products growing luxuriantly. In cer
tain limited areas in Alaska agricul
ture for years has not only been
feasible but it has been a demonstrat
ed success. In the summer of 1912,
one farm across from Fairbanks har
vested products to a gross value of
$23,000. But this was only made pos
sible because Fairbanks was a popu
lated mining center and the goods
were sold at prevailing Fairbanks re
tail prices of Seattle imported pro
duce.
This shows that if you have a con
suming population created by other
industry, the products of agriculture
will find a ready sale, but in the case
of the Matanuska valley or the Susit
na valley the other industries must
first be created thereby the demand
for the agriculture products will be
established. This industry must al
most wholly depend upon mining. It
is hoped that this is made clear. It
is granted that there are agricultur
al possibilities and one might go fur
ther and admit that certain products
that can be grown in Alaska are of
the best, but they must find a local
market and that local market must
be provided very largely by the devel
opment of mining.
The vegetables cannot be shipped
by rail and water 2,000 miles to Seat
tle to compete with Puyallup local
products or even California products.
Just as soon as Secretary Payne real
izes that by throwing open the terri
tory, by abrogating all of the Gifford
Pinchot theories and regulations, by
restoring the lands to entry for bene
fit of the pioneers on a line with the
rules and regulations governing the
settlement of the Western states,
then prospectors and investors may
be interested, at which time the de
velopment of agriculture can progress
simply because the farmers can sell
their goods to the miners. Whether a
man discovers a small mine or a
great mining syndicate locates a mam
moth vein, as long as stringent laws,
forest reserves, red tape and a dozen
other obstacles confront him, exten
sive development must of necessity be
delayed.
One would hardly expect to com
pare the richly endowed state of Cal
ifornia with Alaska, but one compari
son provides an excellent illustration.
Prom about 1780 to 1848 California
bad the same climate, the same rich
soi^ as today, but aside from the
small farms and enterprises conduct
ed by the Indians under the guidance
ef the Franciscan fathers, its agricul
tural development, today regarded as
me of the world’s marvels, was pure
ly local, or confined to the tilling of
in area adjacent to or immediately
surrounding the mission. It was not
.intil the discovery from the agricul
tural viewpoint. The primitive far
ners found that they could sell their
produce to the miners and prospectors
it the ruling San Francisco rate,
vhich to all intents and purposes was
ilrn fVi a wolft n 4 A 1 ~ ~
—wt a un waiiivo, xiiaoxva, xtx
1912, that is to say, the Fairbanks
price was made by the expensive
height haul from Seattle to Skagway,
:hence over the White Pass, down the
Fukon river and up the Tanana, while
the San Francisco selling price in
L849 was based upon the long sailing
ship volage from New York around
-ape Horn or the overland wagon
rip across the plains from St. Joseph,
Mo.
But, from 1849 up to the good year
Pf 1920, California as a whole has
been petted and fostered and a no
time during”its splendid career has
my rule or regulation" similar to
:hose which have blighted and held
pack Alaska been"*applied to any cit
izen or group of citizens or corpora
tion within the boundaries of the
3olden State. If a man found out
hat gold was discovered in Tuolomne
>r Dead Man’s Gulch, that a yellow
metal was his. If he found oil in
-oalinga, he dug for that oil without
!ear of arrest, trial and ruination. If
he learned that the repellant desert
; below the Colorado river could be re
claimed by irrigation, he took up his
160 acres, made good his claim, the
government furnished water, and in
a dozen years a mighty clock from
a gilded dome chimed the hour of
sunset, heard in a town of 10,000
souls, located in a spot once known
only to the scorpion, the -cactus or
the lizard.
But when it came time for Alaska
to be settled, the American pioneer,
representing the type of men respon
sible for building up this country,
was treated as a criminal and the old
land laws of the United States, which
had done more than any other thing
in the encouragement of settlers in
the West, became inactive or were
disregarded or superseded. Today, if
a syndicate or a company desired to
take up seceral thousand acres for
the purpose of developing a mammoth
industry, the red tape obstacles and
regulations would be such that dis
couragement would soon cause a ces
sation of any further attempt.
And so, these two secretaries can
not possibly improve the situation un
less they get to the root of the evil
which would restore the lands to
entry under exactly the same rules
and regulations by which the rest of
the country wms settled. Further
more, by March 4th next, both these
secretaries, it is expected, will be out
of office and what reports they make
willl be pigeonholed along with the
hundreds of other reports already ly
ing on the shelves in Washington
bureaus.
They will not return to Washing
ton until August and as the season
in Alaska will come to a» end by the
time congress assembles, it cannot
be expected that any action will be
taken.
But would it not be a splendid
thing if Secretary Payne and Secre
tary Daniels would jointly file with
congress an honest, manly, straight
forward report showing just what is
the matter with Alaska?
(To be continued.)
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*
Alaska
Steamship Company
Regular Sailings Between Seattle,
Ketchikan, Juneau* Cordova, Valdez,
Ellamar, Liscum, Latouche, Seward.
FROM SEATTLE SA!LS S0UTH
AUGUST 5 . ALASKA AUGUST 15
"AUGUST 12 .. ALAMEDA AUGUST 22^
AUGUST 19 .. NORTHWESTERN AUGUST 29
AUGUST 26 .. ALASKA .SEPTEMBER 6
Frequent sailings of freighters carrying explosives.
This schedule subject to change without notice.
F. B. TRACY, Agent
Alaska—Washington—California ALASKA ROUTE Jgpl
Safety Courtesy Service Speed
OFFICE EMPRE8S BUILDING
WEST BOUND SOUTH BOUND
LEAVE CORDOVA LEAVE CORDOVA
EVANS, AUGUST 16 WATSON, AUGUST 15
AUGUST 16—EVANS AUGUST 22—EVANS
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Phone 132—2
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__ ONLY CLEANING PLANT IN TOWN *
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Semi-Weekly Service Between Cordova
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THIS SCHEDULE SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE
dining car in connection with all regular
PASSENGER TRAINS BETWEEN CORDOVA
AND CHITINA
Freight received and delivered at Cordova Wharf from
9 a. m. to 5 p. m., except Sundays
and Holidays
Tickets on sale at Second Street Depot Office one hour
before departure of trains.
CALEB CORSER, Superintendent MARK McALLEN, Ticket Agent *
_____________________________________________ ■ ►
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However, the government railroad
track was laid to Chickaloon Aug
ust 25th, 1917, three years ago, and
as this coal was exploited as the
principle reason for building the rail
road, the secretaries should be in
formed as to why the mine has been
worked only in the most limited way
and why during the summer seasons
of 1918, 1919 and 1920, with the route
completed and the world crying for
fuel, no practical commercial devel
opment of the coal has taken place.
We are told by the engineers in
charge that the line from Anchorage
to Chickaloon is usual in physical
construction to the average road built
for similar purposes in the United
States. We know that there are cars
and locomotives on hand for several
steamships loaded with Panama
-equipment have been unloaded at
Anchorage, but did the management
of the railroad explain to the visitors
why it was that Seward, the official
terminus, had not been supplied with
a heavy stock of at least 5,000 tons
for Avinter use? The management
also might have explained that the
snow pIoavs on the Seward division
could not Avork during the great
blocade of the winter of 1918-1919 un- j
til a shipment of 1,100 tons of Cana
dian coal was loaded at Naniamo and
I
taken to Seward for that purpose.
T A « i- Ti_i- _ -1 _ J _ _l !