The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1903-11-19
ALASKA'S FARMS
Offer Great Opportunities for
Industrious Home Seekers.
Fine Crops Grown There Cattle and
Sheep.


III the American farmers of the
Middle Western States who are emf
grating to the Northwest Territory
and Alberta in search OF new and fer
tile agricultural lands for settlement
only knew the vast and varied agri-
cultural possibilities of Alaska. they
would go to that country instead"
said Gov. John @. Brady, of Alaska.
while Alaska continues practically
unsettled and uncultlvated 1t is most
unfortunate for the United states that
our citizens should emigrate to Cana.
da to settle. for Alaska to-day offers
great opportunities for hardy and in
dustrlous home seekers OF the Amerl-
can frontier class"
Gov. Brady talked much OF the agrl-
cultural possibilities of the country Of
which he is the chief executive offl
Ger. For the last fifteen years he
has had his own garden at Sitka and
he takes much pride in the success
which has uniformly attended his gar.
dening operations.
I'VE hope to be able to make dis
play at st. Louis said he. (which
will do justice to the possibilities OF
the district, and II we are only able to
do that we will open the eyes OF the
farmers OF the Mississippi Valley with
wonder. Emlgrating farmers. instead
OF leaving the United States by thou.
sands every year to go to Canada, will
start going to Alaska in large num-
bers instead.
There is no longer any question
that all the harder grains, grasses
and vegetables can be grown in many
parts of Alaska with both success and
profit The experiments which have
been conducted in the district by the
Agricul ,ural Department and the OBJ
servations made by the departments
representatives leave no doubt as to
the adaptability of large sections Of
the district for agricultural operations.
The department has been carrying on
experiments in Alaska at several
widely separated points for five or
six years. and the results achieved
are astonishing. even to many of us
who have lived In the district during
all that period. At all of the half doz-
en- places where experiments have
been conducted the different varieties
of the harder grains have been sue
cessfully grown and ripened each
year, and this class OF experiments
has been so successful at some of the
stations that they have been discon-
tlnued and more doubtful or difficult
problems taken up.
"a great many instances have come
under my observation from year to
year which prove that both farming
and gardening can be successfully
prosecuted in Alaska. Last year
Mr.. Swinehart. who lives at Fort Sell
kirk on the Yukon River almost un-
der the Arctic circle, raised eleven
tons of potatoes on a small piece Of
ground. This spring he took nine
tons Of them to Dawson, where they
sold for Is cents pound, or $500 a
ton. The price was not considered
unusual for that season of the year,
as potatoes at that time were being
brought into Dawson from Seattle,
the last 400 miles of the journey be-
ing made by sleds. Mr.. Swinehart has
raised hay at his place for several
years and he never sells 1t for less
than 500 ton. In my own garden last
year | raised potatoes OF the finest
quality and excellent size, and they
kept well until some time after the
new potatoes were large enough to
eat this summer.
Three years ago last fall the
schooner Laurada Nome, bound frcm
Seattle with n cargo of horses, cattle
and sheep, was wrecked on st.
Georges Island, one of the islands of
the Pribilof group in the Behring Sea,
some 200 miles north of the Aleutlan
chain. The men on board succeeded
in getting the animals ashore and
they wintered there on wild grasses
without other food. The following
summer the sheep were taken away
and some of the cattle became very
fat and were butchered. The rest OF
the cattle and the horses are still
there and have never, since they
which they sought for themselves.
This is but one of many similar
Instances. Reports have come on the
best of authority of horses turned
loose in the fall by prospectors in the
interior who were out of forage, and
living through the winter, or in some
instances for two or three or more
winters, and becoming wild on the
range. The Russians brought speci-
mems Of small Russian cattle to the
country years ago and descendants OF
these are still to be seen at Afognik
and other places, and in many cases
they are permitted to secure their own
food through the winter seasons.
Sheep on Kadiak Island have winter
ed season after season on the grass
they could secure for themselves.
The action of Congress last winter
in extending the homestead laws to
Alaska has done great deal to pro
mote the agricultural development of