The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-05-10
THE CLIMATE OF ALASKA.
Some Parts are Semi Tropical and
 Have Winters Without Ice.
Washington Post.

Washington Post.
 What would you think if you were in Flu. rope and some one would ask you what the climate of the United States wasp asked Dr. Calell Whitehead. banker at Nome Alaska, at the Riggs. Alaska exceeds ths latitude by degrees all the territory of the United States east of the Mississippi River and 1t exceeds in longitude all the territory y by many more degrees. In geographical area 1t is about the same that portion of the United States. Thus there is as much diff ference in the climate there as there is here between Maine and Florida Your European fi~nd in assuming that Portland Me- and Jacksonville, Fla. were in the same belt. pos sessing the same climatic conditions, would not be as much in error as you would be in asking me what the climate of Alaska was
 Parts of Alaska affected by the Japanese current are semi-tropical. zero is rarely reached in Sitka and there have been Win. ters there without ice. The mean annual tenn. perature of Stka is the same as that of this city, Washington and the extremes of heat and cold much less While the Winters of that part of Alaska beyond the influence of the ocean currents are excessively cold, the Summers are correspondingly warm, afford ing climatic conditions favorable to the growth of farm and garden products. In all this interior country there Is tilabe land of fine quality and there is considerable tim Der I have seen spruce trees from eight to
 
 henllock and red and yellow cedar All the cereals except corn can be grown to perfec- tion and the yield will be large. Barley, oats and vegetables can be successfully grown. Wild timothy blue-joint and redtop grasses grow to a height of from four to six feet, going to seed in the middle of August, and this is a sufficient guarantee that wheat. oats. rye, barley and vegetables can be raised A dozen varieties of wild fruits insure the sue cess of domestic fruits. Red and black cur rants gooseberries. cranherries whortleber- ries and strawberries grow wild. the latter at taining great size. The soil will undoubtedly supply food for any population within reason which might find its way to Alaska. Successes have been made in agriculture in Canada and Russia under exactly similar conditions of soil and climate. There fig abundant pastur- age for cattle and sheep and innumerable streams furnish water. North from Valdez to Eagle a strip of land along the trail has been more or less investigated for thirty miles east and west. The total distance Is 45S miles. This area is south of the Yukon and is in reality about 600 miles wide. II is safe to assume that the soil is about the same and the climate not materially different from that we are familiar with. fine agricultural coun- try is thus susceptible to development
 The wealth of Alaska, however, is not con fined to its gold and it's agricultural products. There Is enough coal to repay the United States amply for its original investment The salmon fishing Is a great source of wealth, and besides there Is great abundance of cod herring. halibut and other fishes. Those well informed on the subject say that there are seventy-flve varieties of food fishes in the streams and lakes of Alaska. The fur trade is somewhat on the decline. but whaling con tinues to be a profitable business. There are mountains of iron and inexhaustible veins oi copper that are known and the country is tc a great extent yet unexplored The Klondike gold discoveries brought the attention of the public to the wealth of minerals to he found there, but little is known in the United States about the other resources, not much more than is known about the climate'