Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-01-11

"Alaska seems to be a pretty large
country, Governor"
About as large as all the States lying
east of the Mississippi river" he laughed.
eyes, it is a much larger country, and
much more important one than is gen.
orally supposed"
"You have faith in its future, then?"
Eyes, great faith. l do not look upon
it as likely 70 be a place where many
people of this country will want to go
to live or to make individual fortunes.
But it has great promises Tor organized
capital, which can supply intelligent
management and machinery for great en-
terprises and employ the native labor tor
the details of the work. The seal fur
business. the hunting and fishing produc-
tions, tire timber of that richly timbered
section, and the mining possibilities make
Alaska an extremely important section
Of our country"
Are the mines going to attract many
individuals there, as did those Of Cal.-
fOrnia and COl0radO?'
E'NO; at least it is to he hoped they viii
not 1t would result not only in great
disappOIntments, but in great sufferin rs.
The situation there is not what it was in
the West 20 or 40 years ago. Then
a man could take his blankets and ac-
coutrements and toll along, lying down
and sleeping comfortably wherever night
severe, either cold or wet, and beside,
there is altogether different sort of mining
there. There seems to, so far as devel-
Oped, be but little placer mining, in which
man may Dig up dirt with a pick and
wash out gold with pan. On the con-
trary, the gold and silver seem to be in
quartz rock. l recently examined one
mine there owned by some California
parties, and found whole mountain into
which they had tunneled a long distance
"a whole mountain, mind you, OF gold
bearing quartz. They are constructing
for that mine the largest quartz mill ever
put up, and yet there will be enough of
this one mountain to keep them running
at least ten years as hard as they can
work.
''And are there more of those noun
tains, G0vernOrY'
Apparently. | took a trip among the
islands where this one is located, aud
though we could not conveniently land to
make any close examinations, we could
see with our glasses that many OF the
other mountains were Of quartz. and it is
reasonable to suppose that they may be
of the same sort, though any miner
will tell you that there is no certainty Of
it,"
But where is the labor to come from
to do all the work needed for developing
these mines and timber resources? The
Indians won't work, Will they"
Eyes. Seems strange, doesn't it? ] con-
fess that l who had been accustomed to the
ways of the Indians of the West generally,
was greatly surprised to find those Of
Alaska so different. They are not only
willing but anxious TO work. 1t is really
surprising to see the anxiety they have
for employment. And they do not tire of
it as the Indians of the Pacific country
generally Go. Those to which have been
accustomed usually work a few days
and then conclude themselves sufficiently
wealthy. Those of Alaska, however,
want TO earn money and learn to live like
white men. They want Boston clothes
and Boston houses aud all that sort of
thing. You see, they have three standards
there. that of the natives, which they
recognize as not up to those OF the whites,
that OF what they call the King George
men, and that of the Boston men. By the
King George men they mean the English.
whom they used to know during the times
of the Hudson Bay Fur Company; by the
Boston men they mean the Americans
who have visited there, and from whom
in the past fifteen years they have gained
q good deal OF valuable information,
besides some that is the reverse"
"Have they improved under the in
fuences of civilization, them"
eyes. The way in which they take TO
the methods of civilized life is quite graft
fying. They wear-those who can afford
to-as good clothes as the average white