The Alaska prospector., 1902-10-30
FAVORABLE REPORT
Cn the COPPER River Country by I.
w. Neal, of Agricultui al
Department.


the courtesy of j. ". Neal. tie
agent in charge OF the government
agricultural experiment station at
Cori,r Center, - take the follow
ing items from his first annual re-
port:
Having been appointed to the
Department Of Agriculture i'm Al
aska. | sailed from San Francisco
for VALDEZ, via S.tka, where / was
Joined by Fred +. RAIDER, and ar
irving at Valdez, we hired three
horses and an experienced packer
and arrived at Copper Center. 1O3
miles distant, on July Il.
"The trail from Valdez to the in
terror passes through a country as
beautiful as any in Switzerland,
and as grand as any among tie
Alps. The first land of interest to
the farmer is seen i'm the Tonsina
valley. However there is an abund-
ance OF grazing land all along the
trail, profusely set to red top nd
bunch grass, also there are MANY
flowers and berries of various kinds.
approaching the Tonsina val
ley. We came into u broad flat coun-
try. about eight miles from the
river. covered with small timber.
Tn. soil seemed shallow, though
rich nj the surface, and in many
clear places covered with grasses of
several species. The remainder OF
our journey 10 Copper Center, was
simply through continuation OF
fiat country. and as We advanced
the soil deepened and the vegeta-
ton became more luxuriant.
ION July 18th we began the task
OF selecting suitable grounds for the
proposed station. After exploring
the country for several miles, We
selected tract of 7.5 acres, which
seemed the most desirable. consid-
ering soil, elevation and exposure.
irrigation and accessibility TO the
government trail.
After establishing the East line.
We began clearing for fall seeding,
and small place for buildings.
The station is between the Copper
and Klutena rivers. about half a
mile Northwest OF Copper Center,
and embraces part OF the military
road. 1t is 1O3 miles from tide
water, 40 miles from the mouth OF
Copper river, and 1O4 miles from
its source.
''rhe valley is broad table land
OF slight relief, sloping with the
river and extending from the Mat
anuska plateau a; about 1000 feet
elevation, for more than 100 miles
down the river to Woods canyon,
where the valley floor is about 300
ice. above SEA level. This plateau
comprises about $4,000 square
miles of agricultural land.
The station consists of a success
sion OF benches, from few feet
above the river, to 200 feet, each
bench rising abruptly to its regular
height. The altitude OF the station
is 1850 feet.
"The prevailing vegetation
throughout the valley is spruce for
est. 1t is said these trees frequent
" reach diameter of three feet,
but near Copper Center the timber
is small. There are some birch,
alder and willow, and occasionally
the balsam poplar. But all these
occur as shrubs or underbrush. In
the vicinity OF Mt. Drum, am told,
the birch attains considerable
size. There are two species of will
low in all marshy or swampy
places. We also find the wild cur
rant, both red and black, the low
bush cranberry, grouse berry, blue
berry, swamp berry, moss berry,
and some others, the names Of
which | do not know. The red
raspberry is found for 60 miles
along the trail out from Valdez.
while we lind few natural mea-
dows near Copper Center, pros
pectors report "a number further up
the river. There is also a meadow