The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-11-14

of cinnamon bear which 1nnaD1tS the
island in considerable numbers. There
is reason to expect, however, that with
proper care and at moderate ex-
pense the expansive grass lands on the
lower levels will sustain large herds of
both sheep and cattle, and that the
industry will be highly profitable.
On these islands off the coast Of
southwest Alaska a new and peculiar
industry is found in the experimental
stage. Fox ranching is an effort to
restore an important natural resource.
At an expense of $3.50 a year for feed
for one of these animals, skins are OBJ
tanned from the blue and the silver
gray foxes valued at from $40 to $50.
The skins are rare now and more
valuable than the much priced pelts Of
the fur seal. Some of the animals for
stocking these ranches have been
brought from far off Attu at the ex-
IRENE western end of the Aleutian
chain. Whether this unique industry
Is to be successful and how
profitable it is likely to become have
not yet been satisfactorily shown.
u ROM Kodiak our course lay north
Il east 315 miles to Valdez. at the
upper end of Prince William
sound. Valdez is the future great city
presence Of the Spaniard. The Span
iards becoming jealous of the spread
| of Russian domination In the North
| Pacific, sent an expedition up into
| these waters in 1890, which penetrated
to the head of Prince William sound
and conferred upon the great glacier,
upon the front Of which the most am
| bilious town in Alaska now stands, the
name which the sanguine Inhabitants
| of the town think has something in it.
Prince William sound penetrates the
mainland for a distance of rs miles
and the ride up this grand estuary
affords a view of the finest scenery on
the whole Alaskan coast. Snow
capped mountains rise precipitously
on either side from whose white sum-
mits unnumbered glaciers slide slowly
and silently into the valleys between,
while from beneath these immense
fields of ice and snow beautiful cas-
cades break down over the mountain
fronts and leap from lodges into the
sea like showers of molten silver
! Only one glacier, the Columbian, de-
I llvers It's frozen stream into the sea,
but its cold and glittering front, white
streaked with deep blue. rises like a
solid wall straight across the valley
thru which it energies from the noun
tain slopes behind. The air is moist
with the constant melting of the snow,
and even when the skies are cloudless,
is filled with a soft. blue haze which
adds an Understandable charm to the
effect which the memory will recall
with never failing delight.
| " ALDEZ is a town of 1000 inhab-
i v itants built on a moran lying
across the foot of a great glacier
which comes down within four miles
of the town. AS one looks UP tow ard
that great field Of ice now resting with
it's foot against the morain he can be
pardoned if he should indulge in a
moments speculation as to what
would happen if that big glacier
4 should slip cog some night and
shove the moran out into the harbor.
said, that "just cause nothin' amt
ever got you faint no sign nothin'
amt ever goin' to git you,' but the
people of Valdez aren't afraid. Their
| principal business just now is waiting
/ for something to turn up and they go
on working at 1t without any appre-
hension about the glacier. The some
thing they are waiting for to turn up
is railroad. They have got there
first and they are holding what they
" regard as the key to the situation
the most practicable and perhaps the
port. from which a railroad can
Z. be built. from the south coast Of
Alaska into the interior. Their
hopes are conferred upon the construc-
ton of railroad from that point
northeast thru the Copper River val
ley, across the valley of the Tanana,
thru the Forty-rnile district to Eagle
on the Yukon. In 1898 the United
: States government sent a military ex-
petition into this country to explore
and open a military trail which should
! be made mail route from Valdez to
Eagle. Over that route mail is car
ried weekly during the summer on
!, pack horses.
: HoN. JOHN G. BRADY, governor
, i i of Alaska, when asked what
Alaska needed most. replied
!, THE great essential to the develop.
, ment Of Alaska is transportation.
And this is the fact which inpresses
the student of Alaska's future more
than anything else. He is especially
impressed with this thought aftel
having visited Yukon territory on the
: Canadian side, and having seen there
5 what has been done by the Dominion
/ government for the development O.
! it's most northern possession by the
$ construction Of wagon roads. One O.
! the most important branches of The