The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1880-08-14
OUR UNKNOWN EMPIRE.

DR.. Sheldon .JackSon's fresh and inter
esting book on Alaska should put an end
to the ridicule that has been so persist
emily directed against the late Secretary
Seward because of his acquisition of re-
mote territory and its incorporation in
the Union. Instead of being an unpro-
ductive and useless ice-bound desert. DIR.
jackson shows from his own careful
observations, supplemented by the re-
searches of DR.. Dali of the Smithsonian
Institute; Mr.. Baker, of the Coast Sur
vcy; Professors Powell, Nourse, and 9TH
ers, that the southern portion Of the i'm
menSe tract, or nearly mOiety of the
600, 600 square miles comprised in Alaska,
is fertile and salubrious. and that its eli
mate is as temperate and more equable
than that of the Middle States. The
vegetable productions of the Northern
Middle States grow on its soil as luxuri-
antly an any where in the United States,
and its resources of every thing needful
for existence and commerce-of timber.
coal, copper, iron, gold, plumbago, and
other minerals-are, some of them, illim-
liable, and others sufficiently abundant
to give full employment to enterprise and
to insure prosperous future to the coun-'
try. In addition to the resources con-
tanned in or dependent upon its soil, the
seas that surround Alaska, the vast riv-
ers that penetrate it-one of these rivers
the Yukon, is over :, 900 miles long and
seventy miles wide at its mouth: and the
boundless forests that cover its noun
tains abound with seal. fish, and fur
bearing animals. which already give en-
ployment to large numbers and make an
important contribution to the commerce
and industry of the nation. Alaska is as
large as all of the United States east of
the Mississippi and north of Alabama,
Georgia, and South Carolina. It's ex-
pelago, is as far west of San Francisco as
the coast of Maine is east of that city.
It's extreme breadth from east to west is
,, 200 miles, and from north to south is
l 400; and its shore line up and down the
bays and around the islands is 5000
miles, SO that its coast, if extended in
straight line, would belt the globe. 1t is
the great island region of the United
States: its islands. over one thousand in
number, rise abruptly out of the ocean
to the height of one thousand to eight
Thousand feet, the channels between them
in some places less than 4 quarter OF a
mile wide, and yet too deep to afford
anchorage. This great archipelago forms
one of the most remarkable stretches of
inland ocean navigation in the world: its
island shores are bold and indented with
innumerable bays and harbors. They
have an abundance of fuel and water
and they afford perfect shelter from the
swells of the ocean. The voyager may
enjoy among them an ocean sail of 900
miles without encountering peril or even
sea sickness. Moreover, Alaska is the
great glacier region, some of its glaciers
being vastly greater and grandcr than
those of the Alps: and its hot and min
eral springs are on an enormous scale,
one of them being huge boiling and
steaming cauldron eighteen miles in Cir
cumference What with its wonderful
natural curiosities, its peculiar invita-
tons by land and water to pleasure seek
ing or scientific travellers, its illimitable
resources, and its strange native popula-
ton. Alaska offers great inducements for
travel, for pleasure, and for business, that
are not likely to be disregarded by the
entcrprising and adventurous.