GOVT.RAILWAY
HAS DEFENDERS
ATANCHORAGE
The Anchorage Chamber of Com
merce has issued a lengthy statement
in refutation of the charges made
against Secretary of the Interior Lane
by James Wickersham, which is here
wish published in full as it will nc
doubt prove of much interest to our
readers:
If you want to know about the gov
emgment railroad being built in
Alaska read what the citizens of An
chorage have to say concerning the
Anchorage division, which comprises
280 miles of government railroad and
begins near the northern end of the
Alaska Northern railway and extends
to the summit of the Alaska range.
The most expensive work on this
division and probably on the whole
road is along Turnagain Arm and on
the branch to the Matanuska coal
fields, and this work has been com
pleted.
Track has- been laid and trains are
operating over 154 miles of new main
line as far north as Talkeetna, and 38
miles of branch line, making a total
of 192 miles on this division. This
does not include the many miles of
track in yards and sidings. In addi
tion 30 miles of roadbed is ready for
the track north of Talkeetna.
More than six miles ' of wooden
bridges have been built.
Twenty-four hundred acres of right
of-way have been cleared and
grubbed.
_, More than 3,000,000 cubic yards or
solid rock and nearly 6,000,000 cubic
yards of other material, including
loose rock, frozen material, earth, etc.,
have been removed.
Two hundred and thirty miles of
trails and 195 miles of wagon roads
were built to get supplies and oufits
to camps.
Approximately 350 miles of tele
graph and telephone lines have been
constructed.
More than 200 buildings, both tem
poray and permanent, have been er
icted to house employes and care for
applies. These buildings include the
meral office building; permanent
.Lspital with up-to-date equipment,
Having a capacity. far 64 patients;
-•'**i':.rwer houses, cMdistorage 'plant’, ’etc.,*
located at Anchorage.
Coal mines were opened at Eska
creek and Chickaloon by the Alaskan
Engineering Commission; equipment
was bought, houses were built, and
90,000 tons of coal mined and ship
ped from these mines in two years.
Temporay wharves and docks were
built at Anchorage over which 20,000
passengers and 188,000 tons of freight
have been handled in three years. A
permanent dock is under construc
tion.
Seven water tanks, five pumping
plants, three and one-half miles of
water mains, one and one-half miles
of srwer, and many incidentals have
been supplied and constructed, all ne
cessary adjuncts and required to car
ry on this work. There are now on
the Anchorage division twelve loco
motives received from Panama, all re
built and as good as new; five pas
senger cars; 421 freight and other
cars, besides five steam shovels, a
i.- -- - ——
number of cranes, pile drivers, tugs,
barges, lighters, etc.
There Is a marine ways for repair
ing and taking care of floating equip
ment.
There is also ample contractors’
equipment and tools, not only suffi
cient to complete this road, but hav
ing a salvage value when construc
tion is finished.
Since the first train was operated
less than three years ago, nearly
100,000 passengers and one-quarter of
a million tons of freight have been
handled over the rails.
What about townsltes?
Three townsltes have been laid out
along the government railroad in the
Anchorage division, and lots sold.
They are Anchorage, Matanuska and
Wasilla. In these townsites, there
have been 143 acres of land cleared,
ten miles of streets graded, nearly
five miles of wooden and 1% miles
of cement sidewalks, 7A4 miles of
water mains and 1Y* miles of sewers
installed. Payment for these Improve
ments is made from funds received
from lot sales and by assessment.
What is there at Anchorage?
There is a large public school build
ing, five churches, and some 890 pri
vately-owned stores and residences,
including several buildings that cost
from $20,000 to $55,000 each. The gov
ernment has a municipal building, a
federal and jail building,telephone and
electric building, post office building,
pumping plant, water tank, warehouse,
fire station building, cottages for fam
ilies of employes, living quarters, etc.
The sanitary conditons are excel
lent. There have not been any epi
demics of typhoid fever or other con
tagious diseases, except influenza.
The business men of Anchorage are
practically all Alaskans, men who
have been in the territory many
vph rn
The harbor at Anchorage is free of
ice practically eight months of the
year, which is as long a season as the
port of Duluth, which handles as
much tonnage as any port in the
T'nited States, and when permanent
dock facilities are provided, which
will be done at a very small cost,
ships can come to Anchorage every
month of the year without breaking
ice. Twenty thousand passengers and
nearly 200,000 tons of freight were
landed in this harbor without the ne
cessity of any dredging. There was
some dredging done last year in
front of the new permanent dock,
which will require a small amount of
such work—about 300,000 yards.
^Whgt about politic*?
‘■rThere W* ‘ bee ho politics in the
Alaskan Engineering Commission
here.
Efficiency, merit and loyalty to the
government are the qualifications re
quired to obtain work on the govern
ment railroad.
Has there been inefficiency or waste
in the construction of the government
railroad?
Evidently not, for the reason that
although labor and materials have ad
vanced from 33 1-3 per cent to 300 per
cent, the completed cost of the road
will exceed the estimate made In 1914
by only a little over one-fourth, so if
prices had remained at the same level
as when the estimate was made the
cost of construction would have been
below the original estimate. This also
is evidence that the project has been
prosecuted in a business-like manner
and shows conclusively the executive,
engineering and business ability of
Mr. William C. Edes, who has been
the chairman and chief engineer of
the commission since its organization.
At the present time the commission
is composed of one man only.
The men in charge of the construc
tion work under Mr. Edes are all
railroad engineers of many years’ ex
perience, drawn from such roads as
the Southern Pacific, the Great North
ern, the Northern Pacific and other
roads in the states.
We, the business men and residents
of Anchorage, who have been here
since work was started and have ob
served the work from year to year,
know that it has been carried on fit a
strictly business-like manner and that
there has been no waste or negligence
on this division.
Has the present constructed portion
of the railroad been of any benefit to
miners, prospectors and other resi
dents in Alaska?
It has. As an example: It formerly
cost more than 25 cents per pound to
move freight from tidewater at An
chorage to Chickaloon by pack train.
Now it costs less than one-half cent
per pound by railroad. It formerly
cost at least six cents a pound to
move freight from tidewater at An
chorage to Wasilla by dog-sled. Today
it costs one-third of one cent per
pound by railroad.
The railroad enabled farmers to lo
cate in the Matanuska valley and
raise potatoes and other supplies,
6000 tons having been produced since
the railroad started construction, part
of which has been sent to cities as
far south as Seattle, Washington,
The railroad" has a first class road
bed and track from the coal mines to
tidewater at Anchorage, and sufficient
coal-handling machinery and other
equipment on hand to load 2,000 to
3,000 tons of coal per day into ships
or barges.
Has any private monoply the cream
of the Matanuska coal field?
| Emphatically, NO!
There are Wo operators who have
units from the government in the
Matanuska coal fields. One operator
at the present time has suspended on
account of lack of capital; the other
would gladly exchange his unit for the
one the government has reserved and
is operating.
Has the railroad generally been lo
cated in the proper place?
We believe it has. It is the short
est distance from tidewater to the
navigable waters of the interior. It
has the best grade Within the Terri
tory of Alaska. It penetrates*a re
gion rich in natural resources.
The waters of Cook Inlet abound
with fish, and the fishing industry will
be an important ohe. The railroad
passes through 648,00 acres of agri
cultural land in the Matanuska and
Susitna valleys, in which sufficient
produce can be raised to supply the
whole territory. The railroad taps the
Matanuska and Nenana coal fields.
Adjacent to the railroad are produc
tive mines and many prospects of
mineral deposits.
In conclusion, businessmen and
residents of Anchorage submit, in jus
tice to the department of the interior
and the Alaskan Engineering Com
mission, that construction and opera
tion activities on the government
owned railroad in the Anchorage divi
sion have been directed and effected
intelligently, olflcinetly and economi
cally. v
ANCHORAGE CHAMBER OF COM
MERCE, F. W. REDWOOD, Pres.
Prices are coming down. So are
our ham and eggs. Now 50 cents at
the City Bakery. 2-6t
LAUNCH WAIF
Running between Katalla, Cor
dova, Valdez and Latouche.
Trips made whenever weather
permits.
MATTHEWS & ARNOLD
I
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