Evening star., 1901-09-28
ALASKAN PRODUCTS
Story of Their Development Since
Purchase by the United States.
PAID FOR THE LAND THRICE OVER
Gold Discoveries Have 7 aiken Name
and Fame Around the World.
AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES
Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star.

| Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star
SEATTLE, Wash, September 49, 1901.
When Russia offered to sell her American
possessions to the United States for cents
per acre, and the proposition was accepted
great many people thought Uncle Sam
had been taken in by the willy czar. The
bill providing for the appropriation was op-
| posed strenuously by such men as Wash
burn. Blaine. Logan, Calhoun, Butler, De-
lano and Morrill,; and even Daniel Webster,
| In his time. was opposed bitterly to the
idea Of acquiring this territory. The Lon
don Times, commenting on the transfer.
safdl IF the United States is contented
| to pay seven millions for this barren ter
ritory. the name of not one spot of which
is known to any but geographers and navi-
gators, we know of no power that be-
grudges her the privilege"
Although Alaska was very unwelcome
| when she came to US. and has been treated
| with scant consideration during the thirty
! odd years since she became our property
| she has paid for herself many times over
with her wealth of fish, furs and gold.
Since her accession the value of the prod
uct Of her fisheries has been over SO, 00o,-
600; of her furs. S34,OO0,O00. and the yield
of her gold mines, approximately, $4,000
0O0 One single mine-the Treadwell on
gold than the purchase price of the entire
| country, which was s,20o.0o0.
Notwithstanding all this, not an acre of
this immense domain has been SURVEYED at
the expense of the United States. The
country Is not open for settlement, under
the ordinary meaning of the term, and the
larger portion of its inhabitants have no
place which in reality they can call home
Provisions for acquiring title to non-min-
eral lands in Alaska have been too restric-
| tive, and involved too great an expense on
| the applicant, to be of much benefit to the
ordinary homeseeker. The law provides
that no homestead in Alaska shall exceed
eighty acres in extent. Considering the
| liberal policy followed by the government
In settling other portions of the country.
the reason for this restriction Is not ap-
parent. There was no restriction whatever
| in the number of acres one could acquire
| in the settlement of Michigan and Indiana,
| and in the middle west a settler could pre-
| empt 1G0 acres from the outset, 160 acres
more after a residence of six months beside
! a timber claim of 160 acres. In other states
| one could even acquire $40 acres in addition
| to all this in return for improvements, un-
| der the desert land act. Even these
| amounts are Insignificant when it is con-
sidered that two railway companies alone
| have been donated over sixty million acres
| of western land. But in order to secure
| even eighty acres in Alaska the settler
| must undergo the great expense of a prt-
vate survey. As an example, it may be
| stated that survey has Just been made of
| strip only 200 feet long at Karluk, on
| Kadiak Island. which requires the surveyor
| to make a trip of forty-six days at total
| expense of over $780,
VIM. l.. Distin, surveyor general of Alas
| ka, Is very plain-spoken in regard to the
necessity Of a more liberal law. He says:
| "A homestead grant should not be re-
strtcted to a smaller area than one hun
| dred and sixty acres anywhere, and es-
| pecially in a region like this which is so
| widely separated from other portions of
our country as to make access to it diff
| cult and costly. The expense involved in
reaching this territory is almost eQuiva-
| lent to the purchase price of eighty acres
| of unimproved lands in other localities
Certainly those who incur the expense Of
deprivations incident upon clearing their
claims and establishing homes In this re-
mote and isolated country, deserve a gen.
erous treatment at the hands of the gov
ernment as Is accorded to their fellow
citizens elsewhere.
Many Grievances Borne.
| Alaska has many grievances and has
suffered much from being underestimate.
The dimensions of the country are too
vast for conception without the aid of COM
parison. With its area of over 600 0OO
square miles, 1t Is larger than all that por-
ton Of the United States lying east OF
the Mississippi river and north of Georgia
and the Carolinas; and twice as large as
the Oregon country, which now embraces
the states of Oregon, Washington Idaho
and the principal part of Montana and
Wyoming. The governor in his ONCE at
his territory as he is from Eastport.
Maine; and the little Island Of Attu is
so far west that 1t counts its longitude
east of Greenwich. The length Of Alaska's
coast line Is greater than the combined
length Of the Atlantic and the Pacific sea-
boards. During a portion of the year news
travels very slowly across this great eoun-
try. The people at Nome did not hear
~ ha CT OIL of McKinlaV until Feb
ruary 8 of this year.
It Is quite likely. however, that Alaska
will soon have better communications. The
survey for the proposed Pacific cable from
Cape Fiattery to the Philippines via Alas
ka was completed this summer, and II the
enterprise goes through there win be sta
Dutch Harbor and Attu. If you draw the
shortest line between Manila and our coast
1t win pass through Yokohama, Japan,
Attu and Dutch Harbor. From the first
station at Sitka short branch is proposed
to Juneau, which Is the center of q fabu-
lously rich quartz field, and another to
Skagway, the entry port to the entire up
per Yukon valley and terminus Of the
this line over the pass would >pay for IT.
self during the first year of operation The
railroad now is doing a telegraph business
of more than 800 day, sending the mes
sages to the nearest stations In the states
by steamers, which necessftates hye
days delay. The building of this cable is
OF vital importance 10 Oniteu CtdtSs IN
terests Our governments ought to be I'm
close touch with 30 valuable a possession
as Alaska On one side Is Canada for a near
neighbor. with friction all along the bor-
der Russia Is neighbor on the other side.
and there Is impending friction on her
border Alaska has 10000 miles of Goldfish
banks. great salmon and halihut fisheries.
valuable fur seals that already have been
the subject OF International negotiation
and gold fields that have aroused the won
der and the greed OF the world Cable |
communication Is certain to prove an inn
portant factor in the protection and de-
velopment of this valuable possession.
ssLon II . Good Citizen.