Arizona republican., 1899-03-19
ALASKAN OPPORTUNITIES
A Returned Miner Gives His Views
 of inc Northern Country.

The severity of Alaskan climate compelled Henry Smith to leave it about three months ago, and being practical miner of many years ex- perience he soon sought a new field for his business. He heard of the great opportunities presented by the unde- veloped mineral resources of Arizona and accordingly he came to Phoenix about two weeks ago.
 MT. Smith was among the first to go to the Klondike at the time O. the ex- citement, and he still retains his one third share of a large mine at Dawson.
 MT. Smith said yesterday that the newspaper reports had greatly ex- aggefated the wealth of the KlOndike yet he believed that the output of gold this year would reach over S2, ,OO0,O0O The mining at Dawson ! City iss all placer. Bed rock is lisually about twenty feet below the surface and from there the miners drift. Regard ing those placer diggings, MT. Smith said:
 While drifting at the placer claims the miners discover any amount of fos- sils and carcases of apparently tropical animals. It shows that at one time the Klondike was a warm climate. and the present change has been explained to me by scientists as being due to an alteration of the eccentricity of the earths orbit at one time While 1 don't claim to be versed as to the physical condition of the earth's sur face nor the causes of It's changes dur ing the different eras, 1 certainly be- came interested in indications of that kind in my travels north. At Sitka I 6iCaCyyOrn6 h.,,,, I and preserved along the side of bluffs 800 feet above the sea, indicating that the tract of land had been elevated at one time that many feet.
 And by the way" he continued Speaking of Sitka; people ordinarily nave wrong conception Of the place The climate is temperate, and although It undergoeS greater extremes. I should judge that it's average tenperature during the year IS about the same as that of Prescott. The summers are warmer than at Prescott and an abundance and variety of vegetables are raised. The town, numbering about TOO inhabitants. was settled by Rus sians over 300 years ago, and a church was built by them at the time It is called the Greek church. and it's pews are regularly occupied by very comedy Russian maiGens. The structure is without exception the most magnifi- cent church building I have ever seen.
 'Sitka is situated on enc of about 1000 small islands in that region The island is named the Baramoff and is over 100 miles long and from five to thirty miles wide. No one has ever crossed it for the reason that it is largely composed of immense glaciers, between which are chasms thousands of feet deep. The island is completely overrun with wild game.
 Land travellers have abandoned the road through Chilcoot Pass and they now go through the White Pass from Juneau to Dawson. The distance by land is about TOO miles, while the water route via St. Michael's on the Yukon winds around for over 5000 miles. Along the water route and about 1 300 miles before reaching Daw son, a great deal of native copper may be seen, and anyone who can stand the severe weather has an opportunity to work the deposits with large profit.