The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1897-08-25
ALASKA'S FROZEN REALM
AN ARMY OFFICER GIVES HIS
EXPERIENCE.
Agricultural and Grazing Capabilities
of the Countrywide New Eldorado
will Prove Another California.

Capt. p. II. Ray of the Eight Infant
ry, u. S. army, has in the past spent
Several years in the Arctic regions,
and has done considerable survey and
Typographical work within the fro
zen zones. In recent interview in
Seattle the captain gave much infor-
nation with regard to Alaska.
The territory in the neighborhood
of the Youkon delta and for a con-
siderable distance up the stream, as
well as much of the shore line and in.
land, was stated by Captain Ray to be
of great agricultural and grazing pos
sibilities. 1t is of the same latitude as
England and affected by the same gen
eral conditions, one owing the mild
ness of its climate to the Gulf stream
and the other to the Japan current.
The climate of the parts of Alaska
referred to and of the Alutian Is
lands, Captain Ray characterizes as
being much better than that of Eng
land and the whole of the district.
he said, was better than the Scandi
navian peninsula. AS a grazing coun-
try, Alaska, or certain portions of it.
promise much, and Captain Ray says
that it is better, than the country to
the south of the Baltic, whence Rus
STA exports most of her cattle. There
is plenty of grass and timber,
the former being blue grass. making
a fine quality of hay for winter fod-
der.
Russian reports which the speaker
had had access to recorded that all of
the hardy cereals had been raised in
abundance during Russian occupancy,
and there is no reason why they will
not thrive as well now as ever.
When asked why misleading reports
as to the possibilities had been sent
out, Captain Ray stated that he be-
lieved the fur hunters to be respon-
sible for them. The advance of civil
ization diminished the opportunities
for fur hunting, and the hunters had
evidently discouraged settlement by
sending out statements concerning the
rigors of the climate and the unproli-
fic qualities of the soil.
The fisheries of Alaska are not ex-
celled anywhere on the face of the
globe, and his estimates of the fish
that must be in the northern waters
was made by the knowledge that the
millions of seals that he saw at the
rookeries in 1889 subsited on cod.
With the reduction of the herd the
propagation of the fish must have m
creased greatly. The country is capa.
BILE of supporting a large population
alone, and the fisheries offered an
other great opportunity. Up around
st. Michaels there is less rainfall thIn
at Sitka, with diminishing quantity
as the north was approached.
When asked concerning the TEN,
perature of the district between Icy
cape and Cape Sabine, where much to-
biographical work and surveys have
been made under Captain Rays direc-
ton, he answered that at a distance
of 500 miles further north than st.
Michaels the maximum cold had been
found in two years to be SO degrees
below zero, and the maximum sum-
mer temperature had been Sc degrees
above zero.
Captain Ray then gave an interest
ing description of certain anthropolo-
gical differences and the application
by the natives of dogs and reindeer
to their transportation. He laughed
at the government appropriation of n
fund for importing reindeer to Alas
ka from Siberia, saying that the rein
deer is as native to Alaska as to ST.
IBERIA, and that he had seen thous-
ands of them before any attempt waa
made on the part of the Rev. Sheldon
Jackson to have them introduced into
the American district.
Capt. Rays explanation of the eli
matte conditions and the agricultural
possibilities of Alaska earned close
interest on the part of his hearers.
and he answered the many questions
that were put to him readily, pointing
out on chart the places concerning
which there was an inquiry.