Morning journal and courier., 1888-01-23
Monday, January a. Isss.
sEQALASKA WORTH HAVING

E 1ss';gALASKA WORTH HAVING. aF It is becoming plain that this 'tYankee na- ton" didn't make g bad trade when it bought Alaska. Little is; generally known about the country yet, but evidence accumulates that Alaska is worth having. And judging from what the enthusiastic Governor Swine ford says about his domain the country is really rich one.
 Thus far mining and fishing are the two most prominent industries of the territory.
 The one developed mine of mineraI-b bearing
 vuartz is that on Douglas island, which has
 turned out more than $10O,0 in bullion every month. But other mines near by are
 being developed by eastern capitalists and reports of new discoveries of gold, both stfour'' and quartz, are F'being brought in continually from all quarters" i" the most inn portant being those in the Stewart river ter ritory and at the headquarters of the Yukon. Here, the governor says, the placer miners do not think it worth while to work at 8 bar that pays less than ten dollars day, and the great quantities found are to his mind incon- trovertible evidence of large quartz veins in the remoter mountains. Indeed, he re- gards the country as Zone vast gold mine" i" and the output of gold will be trebled if not quadrupled the coming year.
 In the matter of fisheries the governor thinks we did not pay more than a fraction of what Alaska is worth to us "were every other natural resource or element of wealth than it's cod banks wiped completely out of existence" Halibut are found in great abundance all along the southern coast, and salmon are innumerable. The creeks and rivers literally swarm with salmon in the spawning season; they are the commonest diet among the natives and can be had for the asking. The whole coastline of 25 0OO miles is Zone great reservoir of fish" and the superior to those of the North Atlantic. The Alaskan fisheries are in fact inexhaustible its forest wealth enormous, it's grazing lands of great area, and there is abundant oppor- tuRity for the cultivation of most cereals | save corn and of all garden vegetables. Even in the interior Yukon region the extreme cold of winter is counterbalanced by core spending heat in summer and the frost be l meath the ground keeps it moist and helpi PIouoCO a Adplo anu AedlLuy FSE0LdL1OQ | while in southeastern Alaska the extremes ol | temperature the past year-an unusually try
 ing one-have been 77 degrees in summer 1 and three below in winter. the mean annua
 being 43.2 degrees.
 But Alaska is not quite paradise, by Gov | ernor Swineford's own admission. The trai
 of the serpent is over it in the shape of tn, ! Alaska Commercial company. q do not I hesitate to aver," says the governor, ''that il ! would be better for Alaska, better for ths government, and above all far better for tht
 enslaved Aleuts that every fur seal in Alas
 kan waters should be exterminated at ont fell swoop than that such blighted monopo
 ly should be perpetuated. It swindles the
 native in the prices paid for his products, il swindles him in the exorbitant prices exacted
 for the goods given him in return and it has l boycotted and driven from the islands gov ernment officials who are too honesk to do iti
 bidding" These are strong statements, but | it has long been evident that the company needs some attention.
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