THIS ISSUE OVER 1,000 COPIES
Seward Daily Gateway
MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOLUME XV. NUMBER 226.
ALASKA, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1930.
PRICE TEN CENT!;
General Weeding
Needed, Ala ska Ey;
Plant New Crop
Editor’s foreword:—The Author of the following
article is a Pioneer Alaskan, coming North as a
child with his parents in 1900. He has resided con
tinuously at Seward since the town was founded,
except for several trips to the States for study
and pleasure. Born in California, he comes from
covered wagon’ stock, a grandfather fighting in
the Mexican War on California soil, 1840.
Mr. Brownell has always been interested in the
study of effects and their causes, both commer
cially, and socially, and this contribution is the
result of personal observation.
cm
The subject-matter of this article, (slightly alter
'd in wording only), was embraced in a letter to the
.• emitter of Senators, Messrs. Robert E. Howell, John
« mnas, John B. Kendrick, delivered to them upon
r. i r a nival n Seward, August 21, to investigate op
• '«w . -ervice and benefits to Alaska of the Govern
• n Railroad. This 170 mile system leads^ from Sew
/ti, on the southern coast, due north to I:airbanks, a
-wu in the heart of Alaska.
p<si> ovo■-* ten vears the system has provided reg
• ^rn^ero-er and freight service to three immense
. toon each"as large as the State of Ohio. It was built
oiV«*\nted solelv as a stimulant to the country’s de
() jean The erpccted results HAVE NOT COME;
he the railroad belt has declined, both in popula
te ’ development. It is the Great Alaskan Puzzle.
_ * 1 /'I _ ........ ... * i.JL ^ Z 1-1 no
nd
present Congressional Committee is another
. :.| find a solution.
, (;11;ng 'L \y • ’ 15 years a num
; ■!- of Congressional committees
o been sent up here to “inves
, They arc met at each
, by Chamber of Commerce
• hntees, usually small mer
y and lawyers, and railroad
-yes. who herd them from place
. : lace; a banquet here, a recep
■: there, private dinners,t etc.
• "in-r their stay they are seldom
- • u of hearing of the%General Man
.;-r, or one of his assistants, who
f;e. ah ho possibly unintention
ally, censors of all the committee
:-cs. and hears.
The General Manager is almost
... Potentate from the influence
. power he controls; by a simple
rdive order, from which there
i.o appeal.* he can make business
■: xi or bad in either one of the
.ree towns, or can nulify any plan
■i commercial development in the
r. ..road belt. For this reason all
business an n. town officials and
all railroad employees, have a
strong fear of openly critcizing any
thing that he may do. or policy
that he formulates. In fact, the
: people of the railroad belt are a
body of “Yes”, yes men." They
can not be blamed for this atti
tude. for too often in the past
have they seen people and towns
i suffer from the displeasure of an
official. The best illustration of
this is the result coming from an
tagonizing the most powerful
member of the government’s rail
road commission of three, who
took over the old Alaska Northern
Railway interest, and started ex
tending the then 70 mile road, on
to its present length- The result
of that antagonism was the build
ing of a new town, and an at
tempt to build a deep water harbor
The tributary country and harbor
possibilities of the place he select-.
ed, had no natural attraction, or
excuse, for even a small town, and
yet this commission member spent
millions of dollars creating the
town of Anchorage, and attempt
ing to make an ocean harbor there.
The railroad machine shops, exe
cutive offices, and fill the activity
connected with them, could have
been established and efficiently
operated at Seward for a 10th of
the cost of Anchorage. He accom
plished his purpose, and Seward
dropped from its natural pre
eminence as the ocean terminal, to
third place in importance. This is
no knock against the present town
of Anchorage, and is given only as
an illustration of the painful re
sults coming from offending a
head of the Government Railroad.
To hear any real complaint, or
real criticism, or remedial ideas, a
committee should grant interviews
in strict privacy to one person at a
time, viihout the vuvscnce of
anyone connected with the rail
road. That procedure is the only
.
and if not followed, all heard will
be hymns of praise for railroad of
ficials and local heads of other
government work. There is n.6
complaint against the personality
of any of these officials, criticism
is directed only against policies
'and plans.
Alaska did not need this railroad
at the time it was stented* and does
not need it yet, for ; oundational
development. If one-fourth of the
railroad’s cost had been spent con
structing a hard surface trunk
highway along this route, it would
have brought far greater prosper
ity and growth. Alaska is a long
way off from the point justifying
a railroad of this size. Since its
completion, both the ocean termi
nal and the interor terminal towns
have declined in population and
prosperity. Anchorage itself, altho
supported by the railroad payroll,
has declined also.
The only large development,
(and this not a permanent good to
Alaska) using the railroad, was the
gold dredging installation of the
Fairbanks Exploration Company.
• the heavy machinery for that
1 project is the only haulage show
ing returns the railroad boasts.
There was a shipment, expen
sive installation 'of coal mining
machinery by the Government
[ (now dismantled). Also ma
chinery for the Healy River coal
development. Other than these
mentioned, I do not believe any
other major development has oc
cured that could not have been
handled just as easy on a highway.
However, the mistakes of the past
cannot be undone, but should
help in formulating new policies.
The railroad has not brought in
the past, and is not bringing, or
stimulating, development and
growth of Alaska from its own re
sources, and any showing offered
as proof that it has, even if true,
is a very weak result, and failure,
for the $75,000,000 expended on its
construction and maintenance
during the past 15 years. IT IS
THEREFORE, A WASTE OF
MONEY TO CONTINUE THIS
I RAILROAD’S OPERATION, UN
LESS SOME METHOD CAN BE
FOUND, AND IMMEDIATELY PUT
INTO OPERATION, CAUSING A
; FUNDAMENTAL CHANGE IN AF
FECTS.
That is a very harsh fact, but
'true, and the sooner it is brought
into the light, the sooner will some
'successful remedy be found for the
painful situation. The Congression
lal committees and Presidential
investigators wno came nere in tne
past, failed absolutely to find the
cause, or remedy. Each time there
was much back-slapping, gushing
optimism, and prophesy; their ad
vent heralded as the start of the
new era. “Watch Alaska Grow'’
boom. But what came of it all?
ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, but the
waste of expense money- What
they see, what they hear, where
and how they spend their time, was
carefully supervised by interested
persons. Is it in human nature to
chow up its own faults, or failures?
General Manager after General
Manager has come and gone; each
has been heralded on arrival as
the long hoped for magician who
is going to transform the Alaska
winderness into a solid block of
farms blossoming with factories;
'"The Northland’s Empire Build
tier.” etc., etc. Each has
run up and down the railroad a few
times in a private car, told, their
Plans to the “Yes, yes men”, gone
to Congi*sS; for money to bring
the wonderful change about, and
then you hear no more except the
annual cry tor appropriation tu
feed the many people living off the
opera lions of the road. Is it in
human nature to say anything ad
verse, or detrimental, that might
stop the feeding of the cow that
gives the milk? It's time all the
camouflage was wiped off and the
bare facts examined. There is no
stronger truth in the Bible tharr
the statement, “By their fruits Ye
shall know them”. No policy or
plan of each succeeding manage
ment has borne any real fruit, and
10 years is sufficient time for at
least the blossoming stage. There
fore the strong statements, and the
radical remedies and changes of
policy advocated here are wholly
justified an:! cf merit.
If a real change IS wanted, I
propose the following:
TRUNK HIGHWAY
TEAR UP THE RAILS; LOWER
THE RAIL BED BY SPREADING
FOR WIDTH; SURFACE FOR A
HIGHWAY; AND CHARGE TOLL
ON BOTH FREIGHT AND PAS
SENGER TRAFFIC FOR MAIN
MAINTENANCE. I firmly believe
that if this was done, the resulting
affects would stimulate develop
ment of Alaska resources far more
than the railroad. A truck load
ed here in Seward could deliver the
goods right at the mine, prospect,
farm, town residence, without the
now extra handling. Then, all of
these many short highways would
be connected, making rapid inter
communication. If a man wants a
ton of freight at the end of one of
the many short roads leading to
the railroad, he ships a truck out
by train to do the haulng, leaving
it idle there when done, or send
ing it back by rail to the town, a
costly operation that discourages
traffic. On the other hand, if he
could run back and forth to the
nearest towns at will, he would
buy more and do more.
There would be no more expense
to the Government after the high
way was finished; a saving to the
Treasury of probably a million dol
lars for another 15 years. Conver
sion to the highway could be car
ried on from the north this way
without interrupting traffic, and
; with great rapidity.
If the plan to change the whole
railroad to a highway at this time
cannot be accepted, then convert
that section beween Mt- McKinley
Park station to Fairbanks, making
it the connecting link between the
already constructed 30 mile road in
the Park, and the present Richard
son Highway. If this is not done,
the railroad will m'*st assuredly
be paralleled by a highway in the
near future to make the link. The
agitation, promotion and govern
mental attention already given to
the proposed international high
way, (connecting British Columbia
southern Yukon Territory, and
eastern Alaska >, has reached such
proportions as to assure its con
struction in the near future. Tour
ist travel to Alaska then will al
most wholly be by auto, with the
terminal, Fairbanks. The fact
Mt. McKinley is the highest moun
tain on the North American con
tinent gives it an attraction far
more than it's beauty justifies, and
all tourists who came so close
at' Fairbanks, will eon. irmly ag
itate for a connecting highway un
til it was built, enabling them to
drive on down into the National
riuK,. je.Atjentilee eisewueit', uuuot
simular conditions, have alwo s
brought that result, and will in
evitably do so here. Under similar
conditions elsewhere, experience
has also shown, that a highway
:paralleling a railroad, where pas
senger travel is predominant, rums
the railway.
It would be wise to continue the
conversion on down to Anchorage,
making that town the end of the
highway, and the northern termin
al of the Government Railway. This
plan would stop the railroad deficit
and enhance the growth of cent a I
Alaska- It is quite safe to jay that
even the tourist travel coming into
Alaska would be greatly increased.
There is no freight traffic north of
Anchorage that could not bo han
dled by truck- Then, fleets of
trucks and buses would make th it
headquarters at Anchorage and
Fairbanks.
The ease of examining adjacent
tand when traveling in a private
(Please turn to Pape Two)