The Indianapolis journal., 1902-09-21
THE WEALTH OF ALASKA
GOVERNMENT AGENT DESCRIBES ITS
VAST POSSIBILITIES.
Territory by No Means O Barren
Waste, but Capable of support
ing 100000 People.

There has just been received from c. G.
Georgeson. special agent for Alaska of the
Agricultural Department, a statement of
the agricultural resources of the district.
He says in substance:
He would have been considered a rash
phrophet who five years ago had the
temerity to predict that Alaska would one
day become a great and powerful State.
The change of opinion is due to the fact
that it has been demonstrated Alaska has
agricultural possibilities of high order.
Alaska has been maligned, abused and
totally misunderstood. 1t has already paid
for itself many times over and still we
have scarcely begun to realize how enor-
nous the resources are. What the profits
to the lessees of the sealing privilege have
been will probably never be made known,
but 1t is interesting to note that the rentals
received or due the government for the
lease of this privilege from 1870 to 1896
amounted to almost the original cost of
the territory. 1t is reported that more
than an equal sum has been taken from a
single mine near Juneau, to say nothing
of the millions taken out in other places
There never could be a greater miscon-
ception in regard to a geographical fact
snow-covered waste. AS matter Of fact,
one can travel from one end of the Yukon
to the other in summer and never see snow.
On the contrary, one will see q. tangle Of
luxuriant vegetation, large forests and such
| delicacies as wild raspberries red currants,
| huckleberries and cranberries in profusion.
| In places the grass grows as high as
| mans shoulders.
| People who got as far north as Skagway
| they are studying Alaska, when, as fact,
,ney nave not been within 200 miles of the
| 14lst meridian, where Alaska proper begins.
To get anything like correct idea Of
Alaska one must go inside.
Hardy vegetables are grown with marked
success all over Alaska south of the Arctic
| circle, except on the coast of Bering sea- 1
| have never seen finer potatoes, caulifower,
cabbage, pale peas, lettuce, and radishes
than have been grown at the experimental
stations at Sitka and Kenai.
AT Dawson the Chamber of Commerce
rooms display fine samples of barley, oats
NAL in all particulars, and grown there by
a local experimenter. AT Eagle L have seen
a luxuriant growth of sweet peas, poppies,
mignonette and a host of flowers in full
| bloom.
| GROWING WINTER WHEAT.
| Winter wheat seeded at Rampant, in lati-
tude IS, lived through the winter perfectly
under a good covering of snow Although
1
| zero, the wheat came out in the spring in
perfect condition and matured grain by
| August.
| - AT Sitka I have for three years past
grown fine spring wheat as one would
wish to see and barley and oats have been
| grown there successfully for four years
| These grains have been grown successfully
at the experimental station at Kenai penin-
| sula, where there are thousands of square
Hos nf oNd Lob 10 fnv- Co.
| grazing. At Fort Selkirk an American,
Frank Bach, and at Dawson, two brothers
named Morgan, also Americans, have Sc
! cured from the Canadian government tracts
| of upward of 100 acres each, which they are
| farming successfully.
Cattle are kept at every considerable set
| tlement in Alaska except, perhaps, Nome.
They all do well: The treeless region to the
westward of Sitka is especially well suited
to cattle. The Alaska Commercial Com
| pany has kept cattle, sheep and angora
goats at Kadick for many years The ma
| tives of Kenai and Nihichik, on Cook inlet,
have kept cattle for half century or more.
Mark E. Bray, an American miner, told
me he used five mules in his mining opera
tions on one of the tributaries of the
| Tanana. He abandoned them in the fall
when he went out, 1t being too expensive
to buy food for them in Dawson, where he
wintered When he returned to the dig
gings the following April he found four of
them alive and we'll; the fifth had been
killed by Indians.
There are extensive areas of grass land
in many parts of the interior. The distance
between Eagle and Valdes as the trail
runs, is 435 miles. Within strip of thirty
five miles wide along this distance it is es-
timated there are 100000 acres of pasture
| and farm lands.
The development of agriculture in Alaska
means the settlement and development of
the country. 1t means the making of
tion of wealth, the building of state
! An adequate food supply Is the first es-
sential to the growth OF population: to
prosperity, and IL this factor were lacking
in Alaska 1t would be doomed to remain
scantily populated territory. 1t is fortunate
for Alaska that she has agricultural pos
sibilities to an extent which will make the
fullest development of her resources prac-
ticable.
CAN FURNISH HOMEsTEADS.
Alaska can furnish homesteads of 800
acres each to 100000 families. She has
abundant resources to support population
of at least 100000. The development of
agriculture would reduce the cost of living,
make labor more plentiful and give rise to
better transportation facilities
When the fishing industry of Alaska is
developed it will engage the labors of hun
dreds of thousands who must be fed in a
large measure from the farms. The salmon
is as yet the only fish that has attracted
attention. There are thousands of square
miles of cod banks; the enormous halibut
grounds have not been touched. and the
myriad shoals of herring go by unheeded.
An oil and guano factory has been estab-
lshed at Killsnoo. little village near
Sitka, in which herring are used. There is
room for fifty such enterprises. The guano
sells readily for $50 ton.
With such facts as to resources why Is
Alaska not settled? Simply because set
tiers cannot get title to land. To get title
the settler must buy soldiers additional
homestead scrip. which can be located on
unsurveyed lands. This will cost any
where from s. to SIS an acre. Then he
must deposit IN the surveyor generals office
an amount which will cover the cost of
survey. Deputy surveyors charge SIS to $40
day and travelling expenses in Alaska.
The result of all this is that a piece of
raw land in Alaska will cost him much
as a good. improved farm in the States.
Such conditions are prohibitive and Alaska
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