Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-11-07
THE DISPUTED STRIP
Alaskan Towns Whose Fate
Has Now Been Settled.
SKAGWAY AND DYEA
WHY THE FORMER WAS so
GREATLY DESIRED BY CANADA.
What We Secured at the Hands of the
Boundary Commission-The
Native Tribes.
SKAGWAY AND DYEA

Copyright 1903, by John Elfreth Watkins, jr)
| Written for The Evening Star.
| The Alaskan boundary tribunal determin-
ed the status of some 10000 square miles of
| territory and some 10000 human beings,
which had long trembled in the balance OF
| the territory We gained some 1900 square
miles. OF the men. women and children
who had been on the fence for SO many
years, we were awarded about all.
This victory cost about 160,000-SG0, 900
for the expense of surveying the southeast
ern boundary; 100000 in fees, hotel bills,
etc, of our commissioners in London. Dur
ing Grants administration an estimate
made by our officials placed the probable
| cost of surveying and marking the line at
| a million and a half of dollars.
Skagway and Dyea are to Canada the Bit
terest pills in the dose Skagway is the
! metropolis of southeastern Alaska. 1t can
boast of near thrice the population of Sitka
herself, and is exceeded in the entire terri
tory by but one other city-Nome, the great
gold town to the far north, on Boring sea.
Skagway Most Wanted.
Canada hankered after Skagway because
it is the key to the great Upper Yukon and
Klondike regions. 1t is built at the head of
Lynn canal, deep down in a valley between
two high mountains. 1t is a town of
wharves, for Lynn canal is the last arm of
the sea which reaches toward the rich gold
country to the north after the labyrinth of
sounds and bays opening from the Pacific
is passed What Canada longed for most
of all was outlet on Lynn canal. The
boundary which she claimed cut across that
body of water, halving it about forty miles
below Skagway. But the tribunal allowed
her ne'er an inch of salt water frontage in
the entire disputed area. So to reach her
gold country by any of the beaten paths
she must go through our gates. And
there's the rub
Skagway boosted of BIZ inhabitants in
1900, but the number is today more like
5,C00. The town is now the only railroad
terminus in Russian America. In the early
klondike times men pressing on to the rich
gold fields scattered their corpses along
Chilkoot Pass, to which Dyea the
key. In '9S an aerial railway was con-
structed over Chilkoot Pass to Lake Under
man, and this unique enterprise shortened
from month to day the time between
tdewater and the Yukon headwaterS. Less
than year later the first section of track
in the first railroad of Alaska was laid at
Skagway. This now extends northward
Ill miles to White Horse on a branch of
the upper Yukon, crossing the newly de-
termined boundary at the White Pass The
pushing of these transportation lines made
Cousin Canada'S mouth water more and
more. She Claimed not only the WhOIe
railway, with both termini, but the region
for forty miles to the south, suggested.
AS 1t is we have the southern terminus
and the road for twenty and half miles
northward. The remaining ninety and one
half miles are within her territory now.
So this is why Canada bankers for Skag-
way, the port of entry to the upper Yukon
and the Klondike.
Dyea the Deserted.
But why our kinswoman to the north
has included Dyea in her tale of woe
cannot be comprehended by men who have
lately been in that region. The sole re-
naming inhabitant of Dyea was recently
visited by some Indians, one of whom he
promptly thumped upon the head. For this
offense he was at last reports, still lam
gushing in the Skagway lookup. OF
course, Dyea was deserted when the rail-
way line detected all northern travel from
the Chilkoot Pass. A man in Skagway
who runs a kitchen-garden utilizes part
of deserted Dyea as a vegetable garden or
truck ranch. The streets of Dyea are
grown up with grass; the piers are washed
away and the windows of the houses are
broken. In 1900 the village had 261 fnhab
itants.
From Seattle Tacoma Victoria or Van
couver the average through time to Daw
son City, CanadaS mining metropolis, is
from five to six days in summer. To Skag-
way by steamer the time is three to four
days. From Skagway to White Horse, the
northern terminus of the railroad, it is
seven hours; from White Horse to Daw-
son by river steamers, in summer, it is 81
to 40 hours. The steamship arrivals at
Skagway average one boat per day of from
1,OG0 tons upward. The equipment of the
railway to White Horse is up to date in
every respect. During the summer sea-
son observation cars give the tourists an
unobstructed view of the magnificent seem
cry, which at some points rivals that of
Colorado or even the Alps themselves.
Northward by Rail.
Leaving Skagway at $50 am. ALASKA
time, one hour slower than PACIFIC timel