The Iola register., 1886-10-29
OUR GREAT PURCHASE.
The Country Discovering the
Value of Alaska
"A Good Grazing and Vegetable District
Lumber, Fish and Furs the Great
Sources of Income-Coal and
Metals Found.

While much of the soil of Alaska is
undoubtedly fertile the statement needs
some qualification. 1t applies almost
wholly to the islands and coast line of
the south, and even there vegetation is
liable to suffer from excessive rains.
Grain is sripened with difficulty. but grass
.es and berries thrive almost everywhere.
On kadak Island fair crops of hay have
often been secured. Cattle and sheep
in considerable numbers have been
raised. The harder kinds of vegeta-
bles can be grown. Lieutenant Schwat-
ka, on his journey to the headwaters of
the Yukon, traversed regions where the
grass was five feet high, with dande-
lions as big as asters and buttercups
twice the usual size. In these regions
the hills at the same time were covered
half way down their rugged sides with
snow and ice. Berries were plentiful.
Governor Swincford, in a recent inter-
view. said white turnips had been grown
in Alaska weighing ten pounds and cab
.hages correspondingly large. The
country about Sitka is well enough
adapted, he says, to grazing purposes
to render unnecessary the Importation
of beef. This would be true were the
population large enough to secure the
admission of Alaska as State. He re-
ports further that FIVE miles above
Juneau City a man from Maine last
year raised and marketed sixty tons
of vegetables. Vegetables are said TO
have been raised as far north as Fort
Yukon.
From the lumber supplies of Alaska
great things may be expected in the
future. There are immense spruce
forests all along the southeastern coast.
Forests NAV indeed be said to prevail at
intervals throughout most of the Terri
tory as far north as the Yukon valley.
Hemlock spruce is plentiful. and in the
Yukon district the white spruce abounds.
The yellow cedar. which is the most
valuable timber of the country. is found
IN the southeast, where it frequently
sttains height of one hundred feet and
8 d:aEeter OF five or six feet. Cons D.
.trab!e shipbulding was carried on by
the Russians, and MIR. Bancroft thinks
it not improbable that shipbuilding may
some day rank again among the fore
most industries of Alaska. Coal and
iron are near at hand.
OF great Importance are the fisheries
of Alaska. Possibly the waters of this
region may some day become one of
the main sources of the worlds supply.
-Frsnl 5000 cases in 1880 the salmon
pack increased in 1883 to Sc. 600. a yield
worth about SlS0,O0O. In 1885 the pack
was 65.000 cases. The average weight
of salmon after being cleaned is Is
pounds. In flavor the Alaska fish is
equal to the Scotch and Norwegian,
which are the best in the world. The
supply is practically inexhaustible. On
the Yukon the run is immense. The
season lasts only about six weeks Sew
-eral canneries have been started since
the American purchase, and they have
been profitable. 1t is conjectured that
this industry may in time eclipse the
Columbia river enterprises altogether.
Salmon is the chief food of the natives.
who are thought to take from 1O, 900, 600
to 1900. 600 fish year, or three times
as many as are required to supply all
the canneries on the Pacific coast The
Russian company exported annually to
the Sandwich Islands from 100, 600 to
10000. Westward of Cook Inlet and
elsewhere there are extensive cod banks
probably the largest in the world.
The area already known is more than
100000 square miles. The take of cod
since 1870 has averaged about 500, 900
tisk year. Halibut, herring and mack