Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1902-07-14
FROZEN NORTH"
YIELDS WEALTH
A Million Dollars a Month the
Product Of Alaska
Figures by the Bureau Of Statistics
Showing That the United States
Made a Very Good Trade With
Russia.

Washington, July "a million dol
lars II month is the estimate made by
the bureau of statistics of the present /
..alue of the market which frozen (
Alaska offers the producers and man !
u 1cturers of the United States.
Commercial Alaska in 1901" IS the !
title of a lnonogra pin just issued by the !
treasury bureau OF statistics. In II are |
presented some striking figures about |
this (until recently) little explored and |
little understood territory of the United
States. By reason of the application OF
modern systems OF travel and trans !
pol tation, Alaska is now as accessible |
as Arizona. Three days of travel by |
modern ocean steamers from Seattle, !
among the islands and along the coast
which forms the southeastern extern
sion of Alaska, lands the traveller
Skagway; twelve hours by rail over
the mountains carries him to the head
waters of the Yukon, where comfort
able and well equipped river steamers
carry him to the gold fields of central
Alaska or down the Yukon river, which
is naViga BILE for more than 1000 miles
at this season of the year. From the
mouth of the yukon another compare
lively short trip by steamer carries
him to Cape 1Iome. the latest and great
est of the gold fields OF Alaska.
Gold FISH and furs are, according to
this monograph, the principal indus
tries of Alaska at the present time,
and they send to- the United States
ST. .000, 600 worth of their products. SS,
000, 900 OF gold Sc, 900, 900 of fish, chiefly
salmon. and the remainder furs.
The cost of Alaska was $7.20O,o eco The
revenue which the government has de-
rived from it since it's purchase
amounts to over $1,000, 600, and the
value of the products are now twice
as much every year as it cost. The
total value OF the products OF Alaska
brought to the United States since its
purchase is according to the best es-
Inmates that the bureau of statistics
: is able to make) about S15G, 900. .00G. of
which $50, 900. 900 is precious metals, $50
0G0, 600 products of the fisheries, chiefly
salmon, and 5O,o00 COO more furs, chief
~ seal fur Probably 0000,00O of
American capital &c invee ed in Alas
kan industries and business enter
prises, including transportation sys-
tens. In the salmon fisheries alone the
compa MES engaged have a capitalize
ton of $22, COG, ,0OO, ana the value of
/
at S12, ,G00G00. In the mining industries
there are large investments. the great
quartz mill at Juneau being the largest
quartz stamp mill in the world, while
I several other quartz mills represent
large investments. With the inflow CT
/ capital, the development of transpor-
tatiOn systems and the gold discoveries
! has come the building up of towns and
/ the development o: cities with modern
! conveniences OF life. Nome city, which
! is located but Comparatively short
distance south OF the Arctic circle, has
now a population OF over 120C0; postal
| facilities have been so extended that
| the number of postoffices is now about
sixty. and mails are being regularly
delivered north of the Arctic circle.
Agricultural possibilities in Alaska
have until within Il recent period been
considered of but slight Importance.
As the country was explored, however,
! and its conditions Of climate and soil
studied, its natural products observed,
and experiments made with the vari-
Gus classes of agricultural productions,
il became apparent that the agricultu-
| raj possibilities of the country, and es-
pccially of the south and southeast,
| where the climate is modified by the
Japan current, We're of cOnsidera BILE
Importance in view of the practicable
ity OF furnishing at least a part of the
food supply of the population, which
the varied resources of Alaska seem
likely to sustain and make permanent
These observations and experiments
lead those who have participated in
them to the belief that vegetables in
great variety can be produced all
a1Cncr Ia IN, he
valley of the yukon, and by some the
possibility of the successful production
of wheat and oats is strongly support
ed. The grasses for the support of
cattle are abundant, and the expert
ments with live stock thus far justify
the belief that this feature of the food
requirements OF Alaska may be fur
nished by the development of stock
farms in the southern sections. In
the north vast areas are covered w, tn
q moss similar to that upon which the
reindeer thrives in other parts of the
Arctic regions, and in view of this fact
the introduction of reindeer from ST.
IBERIA was begun few years since, and
has proved extremely successful, about
5000 now being distributed through
noI Invest Alaska, and the experiment
has advanced sufficiently to justify the
confident belief that the reindeer will
within few years prove an important
feature in furnishing both the trans
portation and the food supply of north
ern and northwestern Alaska
The gross area OF Alaska is. accord
ing to the 1900 census, $50, ,SO4 square
Il miles. The governor Ct Alaska. in a
recent report. states that this is equal
to the combined area of the twenty
states OF Maine, New Hampshire, Ver-
mont. massachusetts Rhode, Island
Connecticut, New York, New Jersey
Pennsylvania, Delaware. Maryland,
Virginia, West Virginia. North Carolina
South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Ala
bama, Mississippi and TENNESSEE
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