Rosebud County news. [volume] (Forsyth, Mont.) 1901-1906, 1903-11-19
new CHICAGO IN ALASKA
Founding of a Town on Coast
of Resurrection Bar
MANY BUILDING SITES SOLD.

Pioneers From the Western MetrOp-
oils Are Erecting Seward. Which
IL to BE a Railroad Center of the
Far North - Municipal Omcials
Elected-Country Abounds In Min
| erals and Game.
While Chicago was honoring the
memory Of the men who laid it's foun-
dations another band Of pioneers. bred
| in Chicago and aided by Chicago CAPT
tai, was forging its way through the
! forests of Alaska to found a new Chi
cago there. according to information
received in Chicago recently from a.
w. SwanitZ. in charge of the party Of
pioneers. says the Chicago Tribune.
The first clearings for the new city
to be erected by Chicago enterprise
were made on Aug. Is, when a score of
ChicagOans diSembarked from the
steamship Santa Anna. anchored in
Resurrection bay. A sign bearing the
name Seward" by which Chicago's
newest suburb will be known. was
nailed to the biggest tree in the forest
beside the bay, and the work Of laying
! out the little city and marking the
course of the Alaska Central railway
was begun Immediately.
The railway. which is to be built by
the pioneers from Chicago. will e--.end
from the south coast to the Tanana
and Yukon rivers. Il distance of 400
miles. penetrating to the center Of the
district
A few hours after the Chicagoans
had unloaded their tools. tents and sup
plies on the beach the forests were
echoing the ring of their axes Chicago
chain out. and before nightfall many
trees had been felled. At night a lot of
tired men had their first meal on the
spot where they expect to see the rise
Of the Chicago of Alaska.
a second steamer arrived in the bay
and dropped anchor. More people came
to swell the population of Seward.
They had heard of the building of the
Alaska Central railway and came in
search of work. Before another sun had
set the original band Of twenty persons
had been increased by seventy We per.
sons from Valdez and Stka. from Seat,
tie and San Francisco, from Portland
and Tacoma. The town was growing
with the rapidity of it's mother city.
temporary Judge and marshal. both
ChicagOanS, We're elected at noon on
the third day. and thus the community
was established under the unwritten
law, but recognized by the United
States supreme court. which, approves
the acts Of judges elected after this
manner. Since then several hundred
building sites have been sold. The
highest price paid for a single lot was
$1,000.
A saWmill is in operation. Piles for
wharf are being driven. A restau-
rant. grocery. Il meat market and
other shops have been established. and
horses have been brought into the city
from distant points and sold to the
settlers. The towns population on
Sept. | was 200. The people were
planting civilization where IA few
weeks ago the brown bear roamed I'M
disturbed.
The settlers are living on the same
kind of food that Lieutenant Swearin-
gen and John Kinzie thrived on ut
Fort Dearborn in 1903 bear and ven-
son meat
The residents say nearly every mile
of the surveyed line of the Alaska
Central railway reveals new resources.
Bear creek six miles out and Swan
river. fifteen miles from the BAY, give
fair returns in placer mining. Ten
miles farther north lies Renal lake.
nestled in the forest. with several rich
placers. Trail creek and the eutire
valley of the SuShitna is said to be rich
in pay dirt hydraulic and quartz LEDGE
opportunities.
When the SuShitna valley. 110 miles
from Resurrection bay. is once reached
1t is claimed that there is a veritable
storchouSe OF native minerals-not on
" gold. but copper, coal and iron
Government biologists are claimed to
have discovered tin float and platinum
in the rich valley.
The country abounds in game and
nsh. The creeks are full of salmon and
speckled and silver trout.
The woods and small barren places
are thick with bear. deer and moose.
grouse. wild geese and ducks. while
herds Of wild sheep are pasturing on
the upper mountain slopes. Vegetation
is rapid. The grasses in the valley. red
top prevailing. grow thick and tall. and
the ground can easily be cultivated. the
Chicagoans say.
"Some day" say the pioneers. Sew
ard will be the biggest city along the