The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-08-11
ALASKA AS AN INVESTMENT.
II. s. Garfield in Tlmes-Herald.

Pretty nearly everybody knows what
Alaska cost us. William II. Seward
signed the treaty of annexation March
3O 1867. 1t was ratified on the 10th or
June of that year and the territory was
turned over to force OF United states
soldiers on oct. at Sitka. The town was
then called New Archangel. The price
paid was s7,2OOOOO. The 100000 was for
the land 1t Is not often that one hears
what the 5000, 900 was for. That sum went
to Russian trading companies who had
received concessions from their govern
ment. To them 1t was so much money
picked up in the middle of the road, since
II did not cost them anything, but they
were much out of pocket, all the same.
Because of this there is grumbling about
the Alaska sale in Russia to this day.
Often some fellow. whose father was a
fur trader, will get full of vodki and de-
nounce the "crime of ST." OF course,
they have not heard of the "crime of '73."
While the price paid for Alaska is gen
orally known, few people are aware of
the tremendous returns from the land of
snow and seals. 1t has paid for itself
many times over and it's career as rev.
enue producer is in it's infancy. The fact
is that Alaska has given back more than
its purchase price in whalebone alone.
The returns from this article were $1,000
900 in 1890. They are now something like
s9,000,000
Alaska has paid us to date $103 0O00 900.
This enormous sum has been derived
from furs, herring. salmon, cod, ivory,
whalebone and gold. At the time of the
last census the United States had taken
out $76,0O0,000. Since then we have been
enriched by S27,0OO,O00. OF this 20,0O0, 900
has been gold and the remainder from
other products. These are giant figures,
but they are the exact truth. The first
actual settlement of that wonderful coun-
try will begin next spring. The sum total
of what It will add to the worlds wealth
in the coming years passes conjecture.
1t will be a pile of money, mountainous
and sublime.
1t Is a singular fact that the existence
of gold in quantities along the tributaries
of the Yukon was known to a few men
century and a half ago. The truth has
been held back by the fur trading com
panes. They were not after minerals
and they feared the ruin of their indus
try, which was in itself gold mine
Trappers, explorers and men who lived
with the Indians we're forbidden to tell
what they knew on pain Of death. The
Russia Fur company did summarily shoot
one man who grew excited with drink
and blabbed. That death is still remem-
bered in Alaska, having been passed from
mouth to mouth, as is the manner of un-
lettered peoples. Other fur companies
have done nothing to develop the coun-
try and have kept their lips sealed. They
foresaw the effect of a torrent of immi-
grafton. Such things cannot be hidden,
however. The secret is out at last.
%
1t is a prevalent idea that the Alaskan
territory produces only gold and things
of the sea, but this is wrong. Even in
Klondike, which is far removed from the
notifying influences of the japanese cur
rent hardy vegetables grow in profusion,
although caulfower and asparagus will
not ripen. Hay is as high as a mans
head. When the country comes to be
better known it will be found capable of
making many things for humanity now
unthought of. Although, for some undis-
coverable reason, reports have gone
abroad that there is no game. the fact
remains that there is plenty of It. Moose,
elk and cariboo, or the American rein
deer, abound. Every river is stocked with
fish. No man should starve who has a
hook and fiint-lock musket.