Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1899-03-03


| western boomer is Il perfervid en-
thusiast or Alaska is remarkable
country i'm other respects than klon-
dixie prices. When this territory was
first acquired the popular idea was
| that we had bonanza. should some
Yankee discover way to make val
| liable Greenland's icy mountains. but
for other than cold storage 1t was not
commonly supposed that there was
| much probability Of great development
| in that far northern region. Later. at
tention was attracted to the fisheries
and afterwards some mining properties
along the coast were developed. Then
came the gold craze and a'tide OF i'm
migration swept in that direction and
stopped not at the natural barriers OF
the coast but went inland and echoes of
their endeavors and successes reached
the outside world in greatly magnified
| form. But Governor Brady in a recent
interview was not disposed to dwell at
| great length on this phase of Alaskan
promise.
First he tells us that Alaska is the
natural aquarium of the North Pacific.
that the fishing grounds stretch a dis
lance nearly equalling that from Bos-
ton to San Francisco. that IF the peo-
pie of Alaska had nothing more than
the product of the sea they would be
weather. than the people Of Northern
Europe where a hardy. self-supporting
population exists" But the governor is
only just begun. He tells us that fine
timber. spruce, red and yellow cedar
and hemlock, covers the islands for
$50 miles. and owing to the wet moss
forest fires do not trouble. Perhaps
Uncle Sam won't be obliged to go to
Canada for his pulp wood after all.
Then when he turns attention to the
mineral resources he does not confine
himself to the gold production. present
or future. He says there are mountains
of iron, coal fields-"lots of them"-and
copper in abundance. Socially too. he
would have the world understand,
Alaska is no SLOUGH. There are dinner
parties. church sociables and a man
isn't shot or lassoed for appearing in
dress suit. Good people go there in
tending to make their pile and vamoose
but they end in sending for their fami-
lies. And here is the governors word
can get so many good things with the
same amount of effort, where mans
cup of happiness is so full, as at Sitka.
But he does say that many of the Fed
eral office holders in the territory are
no better than they ought to be and do
not, some Of them, stop short of wink
it.
Governor Brady really expands over
that feature of Alaska's remarkable
promise which seems little odd in
connection with the popular idea of the
cold weather that exists there. He says
among other things:
I'm Sitka such grains as barley, oats
and flax mature perfectly. Those of
us who have been up there for twenty
years or more know that all hardy,
small vegetables are success, because
we have raised them and are raising
them every year. Stock cattle. horses
and poultry of all kinds flourish. Thou
sands of tons of grass fall down every
year because no one cuts 1t. Last year
l built silo for my own cattle and
others are doing likewise. Heretofore
the heavy charges of transportation ex-
cluded us from the markets of the
world, but now we are beginning to
have a considerable home market.
There is no reason why Alaska should
not be a great dairy country and send
butter and cheese to the markets of
the states. Hogs do WELL and are fat
tened on peas, which grow in great
abundance. The great interior. from
the Yukon to the sea, Is susceptible of
great agricultural development. Last
season a lot of Swedes went into the
country to dig gold. They are now
sending for their families with the in.
tention of becoming permanent settlers.
In the region of Cooks inlet. they
found wild berries and wild red cur
rants hardly surpassed in size by our
own best horticultural efforts. In the
Peace River district on the Canadian
side, the people raise wheat that brings
the best prices in the home market and
which is grown on ground that is al
most eternally frozen. A day in that
section is equal to two of our days. and
wheat natures within a few weeks.
The long days are a sort of hot-bed
and force the growth with great rapid
ity. Tourists who skirmish around in
the inlets are prone to think that it Is
utterly impossible for anything to
| grow, but the interior is made up of
! vast areas of farmland from which
whole states can be carved out and
where people can find good farms
1t is almost refreshing to turn from
the apprehension we have over the
effects of the hot, rainy season, with
it's fevers and facilitating effects, in
some of our new possessions. to the