The herald., 1897-11-12
Agricultural Alaska

To the Editor Of the Los Angeles Her
aid: MY attention was called this morn
ing to your article in the Sunday Herald
Of the 7th inst. concerning the agricul-
tural resources OF Alaska. In 1882 pub
lished at Victoria a pamphlet entitled
Travels in British Columbia and Alas
ka," in which wrote as follows: 1T is
as grand wilderness as lies under the
dome of heaven, and abounds in great
resources of fish. fur and minerals. the
utilization Of which will attract and sup
port scattering communities, but be-
yond this the immigration Of hundred
years will probably make but little
change in the face of Alaska. The
climate and soil of the south
ern coast especially is adapted
to the growth Of grasses, po-
tatoes. carrots, turnips, cabbages. ETC.,
but the area susceptible Of cultivation is
so extremely limited as to practically
exclude the agriculturist. Captain Oak
ford, collector of customs at Fort Wran-
gle, told me yesterday that he received
many letters from people in the east
who thought of coming to Alaska. One
man wrote that he was we'll provided
with agricultural implements, reapers.
mowers, etc., and wished to engage in
farming on a large scale. Such inquiries
indicate that erroneous views are enter
tanned abroad concerning this region.
1t Is scarcely possible to exaggerate its
resources of fish, and 1t is undoubtedly
the greatest range both as to number
and quality of fur-bearing animals in
the world, and also rich in coal, copper
and gold, but its habitable lands and
merchantable timber supplies have been
greatly overestimated. With the excep-
ton of few. hundred acres upon the
bottoms and deltas Of the rivers, 1 have
not been able to hear Of any tracts of
open, arabic country exceeding a few
acres in extent. And while the forest
area is so vast, only very small portions,
comparatively, are either fit or availa-
BILE for the manufacture of lumber. There
are small bodies Of enormous cedar or
cypress and scattering tracts of good
spruce, but probably IS per cent Of the
forest comprises stunted cedars, spruce
and hemlock growing upon scanty soil
and among the crevices of the rocks, in
many places dying for want of nourish-
ment. At Fort Wrangle 1 found Mr..
William Woodcock, who has been in
Alaska several years swearing over the
Rev. Sheldon Jackson's statement be-
fore congressional committee concern
ing Alaska, which lay spread out before
him.
Mr., Jackson says, in substance, that
the climate and resources of the country
are such that it is bound to have a large
population. whereas nearly all whom 1
have consulted, quite number of mi
ners, traders and others who have been
in southern Alaska from two to fourteen
years, are unanimous in the opinion that
the very reasons-the character of it's
climate and resources-which Mr.. Jack
son thinks offer inducements to immi-
grafton, will exclude it, except to quite
a limited extent. 1t Is difficult to under
stand how any man of intelligence and
honesty at all familiar with the country
could under any circumstances recon-
mend it for colonization by the American
people. Its fish, furs and minerals are
alone worth more than it cost and will
attract considerable settlements along
it's southern coast and hardy northern
ers will doubtless by slow degrees settle
in the vast and almost unknown inte-
rior."
~Two years later, in 1884, was en-
ployed by the government Of British
Columbia to explore the Queen Charlotte
islands, lying off southwestern Alaska,
and finding as the result of experiments
made by the agent of the Hudson Bay
company that no grain could be ma
tured upon them owing to the low sum-
mer temperature and lack of sunshine,
I reported against their occupation by
intending agriculturists.
NEWTON H. CHITTENDEN.
Redlands, Nov. 8, 1897.