KLONDIKE GIVES WAY TO FARMING

...The best known of these la the famous Re-manza mine, in the Copper River district whld 1> probably the largest body of high grade WJ> per ore ever Discovered, scT*r*l other top par mines hitve been developed and Wfflfek along'lie coast, Huch rich copperjrwnflhai been found in the interior which may be developed as soon as transportation facilities are available...

...Alaska comprises 586,400 square miles of territory, with a coast line nearly 5,000 miles long, stretching from British Columbia clear around through Behring Sea to the Artie Ocean and thence eastward almost to the mouth of the Mackenzie River...

...While nothing ret has been accomplished gjtag this line, there can hi so fusttoa but (til the establishment ef such 1 teesndssbML •eatpos^d, ef men who TtnderstajM Aleafci $o4 lb keeds end can act prsmpUv ea the ape...

...This caused a world wide excitement -which, has probably not been equalled since the California and Australia gold rushes of some seventy years ago, and as the Klondike could be reached practically only through Alaska, attention immediately centered on that country...

...The government was powerless to curb the sugar profiteers...

...While the new Government railroad is a step in the right direction, it will be many years before it can be made to pay any return on the Investment, and for this reason it is impossible to interest private capital in Alaska railway enterprises...

...The Alaska Commercial Company at Sah Francisco had been early in the field exploiting the rich fur trade, including the famous Pribilof seal islands in Behring Sea, and in 1878 the first salmon cannery was built in southeastern Alaska, the pioneer of what is now Alaska's greatest industry...

...the even greater Fairbanks district were located 'and worked, and Alaska was definitely pal on the map as one of the principal gold producing countries of the world...

...If Senator La Foilette can find some way to untangle it and in so doing deliver the people from monopolies which are fattening upon the common necessities of the people, he will have performed a worthwhile service.—From Superior Evening Telegram, Superior, Wis...

...It took the might of the people, expressed in a nation wide boycott, to bring that trust to its knees...

...The greatest needs of Alaska today are cap-' ital, cheaper transportation and freedom from Government red tape and interference with its affairs, While it is not only possible but probable that further placer gold fields will be discovered, which can be worked by the individual miner with pick and shovel, as in the Klondike and Continued on Page 111 later at Nome, most of the mining prospects in Alaska today need considerable sums of money to develop them into paying mines...

...When the attorney general warned the Chicago packers that their contemplated combine was illegal and In restraint of trade, the packers politely told the attorney general to mind his own business...

...During 1921 the production of coal in Alaska amounted to 76,817 tons, mostly from the Government operated mines in the Matanuska district, but this was all consumed locally and it is doubtful if it will be economically possible, at least for years to come, to export Alaskan coal at a price which will compete with the British Columbia and Australian mines...

...It is conservatively estimated that the value of the fisheries, minerals, furs and other products since obtained from it ex-teed one billion dollars, and its future possibilities are almost unlimited...

...But there are many fine valleys and parts of the country lying between the Yukon and the Gulf of Alaska that have great agricultural and grazing possibilities...

...The two other principal railroads in Alaska are privately owned...

...But it must be remembered, that it was not until the late eighties that the Puget Sound country started to go ahead and, with this rich part of/our land but little known, it is not to be wondered at that faraway Alaska attracted so little attention...

...The coal people can defy the government when it wishes to examine their books as President Loree did a few months ago...

...Prospectors Were Busy DURING the next few years .thousands oi hardy prospectors swarmed through th( territory...

...Law Defining Monopolies IN A signed article in his magazine, extracts from which were published in The telegram, Senator La Foilette emphasizes the fact that monopoly is master of every product necessary to feed, clothe, warm, and shelter the human body...

...In addition to its road building the Government has just completed, at a cost of nearly $60,000,000, a railroad from Seward and Anchorage to Fairbanks, with a branch to the Matanuska coal fields...

...In spite of profuse protestations to the contrary, no sane man doubts the prices of practically all the necessities of fee are fixed fay the few men who con-Vol them* And the government appears powerless jSrStfalt keeps on passing the bock about it...

...With the naturally limited reso.v.ces of the inhabitants it has been possible to do little more than build roads in the towns, and transportation in the southeastern and southwestern districts has been largely carried on by water...

...and sessions have been held every two years since then...

...senators and four representatives being elected from each of the four judicial districts...

...The fishing industry, after reaching a record production of $41,492,124 in 1920, has seriously declined since then...

...Gold had also been found in comparatively small quantities, from time to time, in various parts of the territory, the discovery by Jack Juneau in 1880 leading to the founding of the town named after him, now the capital of Alaska...

...Some years later a leasing system was established for coal lands and in 1920 an oil leasing act was passed by Congress...

...To properly open up this great country Congress must appropriate marry mfflionj of dollars for railroads, wagon toads and ether necessary expenses, but it is sextain that the ultimate return from the territory win far exceed the sums so expended...

...Copper was also discovered in various locaU ties and several well known mines have beei located and...

...The, Sherman anti-trust law is enmeshed in a tangle of red tape...

...At the close of the Civil War, William H. Seward, then Secretary of State, conceived the idea of buying Alaska, or Russian America as it was then known, and found the Russians quite ready to dispose of it...

...become large producers...

...Some years previous a delegate to Congress had been provided for, the first one having been elected in 1906, but the governor is still appointed by the President...

...Hence many fine prospects remain in a state of suspended development...

...Can Increase Production IF some feasible method can be devised to obtain the capital necessary to develop the best of the many hundred' promising prospects in Alaska there will be a wonderful increase in mineral production during the next ten years...

...Pew of the original locators have the means to properly develop their discoveries...

...This led President Taft, on July 2, 1910, to withdraw all Alaska coal lands from entry as claims and a few months later oil lands were also withdrawn...

...The Steel trust can say to the President of the United States, "We can't abolish the twelve hour day as you request...

...Copper mining also has declined greatly, and the gold production, while slowly increasing, still is far below its former output...

...But the powers of the legislature are restricted mostly to local matters, the Federal Government retaining jurisdiction over mining, fishing, forests and undeveloped lands...

...The conclusions he draws are not less uncomfortable...

...The Nome gold district and, later on...

...The distances are great and the construction and upkeep of roads difficult and expensive...

...But a total of less than one thousand miles of railroad in a territory twice the Size of the State of Texas does not amount to much...

...These are uncomfortable facts...

...Some gold was being found along the tributaries of the Upper Yukon, but little interesl was manifested in the territory until the discovery, in 1896, of the far-famed Klondike gold field, in the British Yukon district, not far east of the Alaska boundary line...

...Minnesota's Answer...

...the larger capitalists are unwilling to invest their money until the presence of mineral in paying quantities actually has been proven...

...But the work done so far is but a drop in the bucket and large Federal appropriations must be made for many years to come, gradually, to furnish the roads necessary for cheaper transportation, so absolutely essential to developing the territory...

...The Federal Government recognized this situation some years ago by building a wagon road from Valdez, on the southern coast, to* Fairbanks, a distance of nearly 360 miles, and has aince kept this road in repair yearly, at heavy expense, as well as building shorter roads in ether parts of the territory...

...The attorney general cannot even get from the treasury department the information which it obtains from corporations, net even if that information would form the basis of suits under the Sherman law...

...Furs and Salmon r\ URING the first few years of our posses-*^ sion little interest was taken in Alaska by our Government or people and it was only on May 17, 1884, that Congress passed an act ere, ating the District of Alaska, with its capital at Sitka...

...So a treaty was drawn up, duly signed, approved by the Senate and ratifications were exchanged June 20, 1867, the treaty being proclaimed by the United States on that day...

...The main line of this railroad is 471 miles long and, including branches, spurs, terminals and sidings, it has altogether 601 miles of track...

...Bought For $7,200,000 ALASKA cost the United States originally $7,200,000...

...Ali Baba and his forty thieves have soft pickings...

...While building more railroads entails further large appropriations, there is every prospect that ultimately the Government will (ret its money back, and meanwhile will have developed Alaska into a rich and prosperous part of our country...

...But their chief interest was in the fur trade and they did little toward developing the country...

...rj1 HE first legislature met at Juneau in March, 1913...

...Much of the land is worthless, comprising great ranges of mountains, numerous glaciers and many swamps...

...Bought From Russia For $7,200,000 By THOMAS APPLETON THE visit of President Harding to Alaska has served to attract renewed attention from all over the country to our last undeveloped territory, its wonderful resources and its possibilities of a brilliant future...

...Coal was also discovered about this time in the Behring river and Matanuska fields and the controversy which arose over the claims in the former locality, led to a great outcry from all over the country that our last great coal fields were being stolen from the people...

...Looked at from a transportation point of view, Alaska is an extremely rough and broken country, interspersed everywhere by mountains, rivers and glaciers...

...Visited by Russians IT was first visited by the Russians, coming from the Asiaticccoast, during the early part of the eighteenth century, and was explored in a desultory way, a few hundred of them settling on the southern coast, with their headquarters at Sitka...

...Between the discovery of a promising prospect and its development to a point where largo capital is ready to go ahead with it, there is a gulf which it is difficult to bridge...

...They are the Copper River and Northwestern, running from Cordova to the Bonanza mine, a distance of 195 miles, •nd the White Pass and Yukon, running from Skagway to the summit of the White Pass, a distance of twenty miles, and thence ninety miles further through British territory to White Horse, connecting there with steamers for Dawson...

...Since the war Alaska has slowly recovered, but still is far from its pre-war activity...

...We would lose money...

...Under the act of August 12, 1912, Congress provided for a territorial legislature, consisting of eight senators and sixteen representatives, two...