The Nome nugget., 1901-11-13
RESOURCES
 0F ALASKA Anterestisg Series ot Articles
 .0a .Ttis Section.
BY cAFfAIk SEEN
The First of tue Series Is Published Today, and tbe Others V i'll Follow in COurse-The Writer t:as Had a Long Experience in the Nerth.

,lSn series 6f ,iaftlcieS on the 'Re- sources and Future Industries Of Northwestern sAl&slsa;," the author be- ing Captain Conrad Siem. There is yprobably no man in Northwester,l Alaska better fitted to talk and write intelligeatly eE these subjects than eCapt. Siem. An experience extending over period ofslS ys@rs, coupled with q keen intelligence and facile pen, .renders him eminently fitted to deal with these matters in all their various phases.
 The series of articles, the frst of which is published today, by way of ,introductien, will embrace:
 Il. The Whaling Industry, two papers.
 ?. Walrus Hunting.
 3. Seal Hunting.
 1. Cod Fishing and Other Fisheries.
 j. Siberia and Northern Alaska.
 6. Furs and the Ear Trade.
 | Shore Whaling.
 S. pomesticated Reindeer and Their sRaising as an Industry.
 The first of these articles follows:
 1t seems, as it were, part of an im- mense design to further the spread of population and civilization thet gold has been scattered broadcast over the earth, to be feGndat the due time by ,inan. Looking back On the large west ward movement of population during the last century, we find that the dis covery of new gold fields was the prime incentive to that great march. The news of new find would spread near and far: the gold fever would possess ,che people, and on they r'vtnld rush to ..be new diggings in the wildepess-of course, never with the least intention to settle there, but just to exploit the rich, new diggings, and then to return fto their homes with their quickly gained wealth to life of ease between their old neighbors. Disappointment ywasalways in store for sthe many, and 'then in part ashamed, in pert made .l.nit to return home, they would settle, ;Znd tiring soon of the uncertain for tunes of mining they would begin t 2aake stock of the other resources of their new surroundings and their new country, and ere you knew it the wilderness became studded with smiling shsm!ets and happy homes: their re- sources would be developed; new in ,elustries would be established and the country would grow and prosper.
 That is all very fine,'" ] hear you say; -'so Wa- it in California; so in Aust ralia, etc.: but itneVer will be so in Alaska-in Nome."
 Your cry will be: "All that there is rto this country are its mines: when the sdiggirgs have been worked out and the gold exhausted all the people will leave and the country will go back to where it was before." That same cry was .heard intthe early days of California, sand as it proved itself wrong there, so will 1t prove itself wrong in Alaska.
 Long before an ounce. of gold had fbeen produced from the soil of Alaska its fisheries had yielded untold wealth. Witness,the fur seal and whale fisheries, the salmon canneries, etc. Millions upon millions ,have Pacific coast mer- Achants taken from these sources ewnheut even making or leaving a single permanent improvement in this country-just sucking the orange. It was contrary to their policy to en- courage the esta blishing of settlements here. To this dcy they carry their fishing and csunery crews out every fall, Mying them their wages under special contract to such an effect down below and carrying them up again in the spring, after an idle winter. These same fishermen, encouraged. and put in position to stay in Alaska the year ~seound, prospecting, taking up home eSteads in the neighborhood of the can' .neries end otherwise creating new ,yalues during the winter, would have furtheped the civilization and pros ..perity'of Alaska.
 The effect of this wrong headed tpolicy is felt today, and already Alaska has been compared to 8 srcked-out arrange. That, however, is far from .being the case. Some Of, the cream, rperhaps, has been taken, 'sbut there is splenty left, and now that our gold has sallured the people to our shores and Ines induced them to settle, these fish, ting and hunting industries will be taken in hand more end moee, and carried on by the citizens of Alaska fol 1, the benefit of Ala ka.
 (Continued on Page 4.