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

MAP OF PROPO
| a MONG the inducements to build
IN such a railroad, have referred
only to the mineral wealth Of
! the region to be traversed. All the
| testimony obtainable from residents,
| prospectors, military explorers, build
ers Of the government telegraph lines,
| mail carriers, agents Of the agricult-
| ural department and others best ac-.
quainted with the country, is to the
effect that there are large areas in the
Tanana and Copper river valleys
adapted to successful agriculture and
stock raising and that when transpor-
tation facilities have been provided
hundreds of thousands of acres of
rich soil will come into use, and fur
nish large traffic to a railroad.
Ex-Governor Leedy, Of Kansas,
| who had just returned from the Cop
per river valley, said to the senatorial
| committee at Valdez, that he had been
| obliged to pay 35 cents a, pound for
oats for his horse right on ground
| that would produce that article as
well as Illinois or Ohio. The govern
ment tests seem to show that beyond
/ question this portion of Alaska will
| produce forage for animals in great
abundance. But. the agricultural
| OIL Alaska Is announcer SLOES.
The government is not likely to sub
sidize any railroad in Alaska. Land
grants in countries whose chief known
| resource is minerals are not very prac-
ticable and a cash or bond subsidy is
not now a popular idea.
| What the government is more like
| ly to do and ought to undertake with
out unnecessary delay is the building
of a. wagon road over the route pro-
posed for the railroad, with branches
leading to adjacent mining camps.
Such a road would greatly stimulate
the development of the country and in
that way hasten the building of a
railroad.
The history of things at White Pass
illustrates this point. George A.
Bracket of Minneapolis demonstrated
the feasibility Of putting a wagon
road over the White Pass and showed
50 conclusively that the obstacles to
cheaper transportation than the pack
trail afforded might be removed and
the way opened for the easy entrance
of thousands of prospectors into the
.Klondike, that capital was willing to
follow and build railroad. The
same result may be worked out in sub
stant1ally the same way at Valdez,
while as a regulator of railroad rates
it would probably pay to maintain the
! wagon road permanently.
THE next question, of course, is.
i where is the money to
/ come from? Will the fed
eral government make the neces-
know that any reliable estimates of
] the cost have been made, but the mil
lion dollars expended by Canada in
five years for $50 miles of roads and
trails has provided $50 miles of good
d wagon road which probably absorbed
half Of the total outlay Across the
4 coast range and thru the inland range
greater difficulties are to be encoun-
tered on this Valdez to Eagle route
than on any part of the Klondike
system, but for the greater part of the
distance the construction of a wagon
road would be neither difficult nor ex-
pensive. Nor would it be necessary
for the United States to draw upon its
own revenues alone to provide the
money necessary. Alaska is already
paying into the treasury Of the United
States, and has been for years. a great
, many thousands of dollars annually
more than the government returns to
the district of Alaska in the form OF
public service of any kind. This sur
plus above what is expended on the
administration Of the laws made for
the district goes into the treasury OF
| the United States and is appropriated
to the general expenses of the gov
ernnen7. Mr.. Heilig, clerk of the fed
!, eral court for the central judicial dis
trict, told me at Rampant that there
would be available, if appropriated tc
road building, from the revenues OF
!. that judicial district for the year 1908
| la surplus Of 100000. That is 100000
: taken in one year in the form of take.
: from the very district which this pro
) posed wagon road would bisect, more
: than is expended upon such govern
) ment as the people Of Alaska have
i But whether the surplus revenues O.
Alaska are sufficient to aid MATERIAL.
j, in wagon road construction or no
!. the government at washington owes i
E to the people who are enduring thu
) | privations and hardships Of pioneering
: in Alaska to give them the transpor
/ tatlnn facilities necessary to the de
t Selopment of that great country al
1 Canada has done for the British Yu
} kon. we have a better country to de
!. velcp, and. the principle upon which
8 public money is expended upon rive
S and i1;lrbo, Improvements, upon thu
: weather bureau, upon the coast sur
: vey upon the mail service and il
8 other ways for the benefit of trade
/ and commerce ,justifies the use of {
L | few hundreds Of thousands where tn,
: benefits to be conferred are prospec
/ lively so great. If recent precedent il
l needed we have the action of tn,
t government in building roads in tn,
f / Philippines. They were constructs
t originally as a military necessity, blu
S | their value to the commerce of tn,