Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-06-11
AIaska's Latest Boom.

Alaska has a new metropolis. 1t is
hard work to keep track of that grow
ing country up in the northwest corner
of the continent. for it is fertile in sur
prises and the average American citi-
zen is far from realizing it's possibili-
ties. A correspondent, who is not adj
vertising any transportation line or the
country itself, but who endeavors to re-
late conditions as they are, says that
Alaska is this spring experiencing the
greatest boom in it's history. He writes
the Boston Transcript that every
steamer available for the Pacific coast
is pressed into service for the Alaska
trade and every vessel carries every
passenger and every pound of freight
for which she can find room" The
objective point to which the crowds are
hurrying is not one of the destinations
with whose names we have become
familiar through the adventures Oh
northern argonauts, but a new place
named Seward, which takes us back
to the negotiations, so criticised at the
time, but which have added new en-
pire to the old one. Very few in the
East have heard much about Seward
for the reason that it has been in rec
ognized existence only about a year.
1t is not alone the old lure of gold
that Is drawing people in that direction
the present season. There are also i'm
mense copper veins and tin mines, be-
sides oil wells and the Standard Oil
Company has already driven a stake liz
that region. Moreover, Seward is ex-
pected to be the entreport for great
agricultural section. In the valley OF
the Sushitna River there is fertile soil
enough to support an agricultural pop
ulation of a million. The climate is
described as similar to that of New
| York State, high mountains surround
ing it on three sides and shutting out
the cold winds from the north, while
the southern side is washed by the
| warm Japan current. The harbor is
free of ice the year round. while mag
nificent forests tempt the numbering in
dustry to extensive operations.
People talk of Seward as the coming
metropolis of Alaska. 1t certainly has
| the harbor to warrant such distinc-
ton. 1t is located on Resurrection
Bay, which is a mile wide at the en-
trance and extends eighteen miles in
land. being four miles wide at the up
rer extremity with depth varying
| from 200 to 1000 feet. 1t has been made
by the building of the Alaska Central
Railroad. now well on toward compile
| ton. A year ago there was only will
derness there. Today there are three
| hundred houses, with restaurants, ho-
| tells and a theatre. and new buildings
are in process of construction as fast
and still the demand far exceeds the
! supply. Already it is called a city, and
| near 1t is large waterfall. which it is
proposed to utilize not only for power
for lighting and transportation. but for
! a water supply as WELL
Not only is the new railway making
Seward, but it is powerful force for
the development of the whole Terri
tory. When completed it will take
passengers from Seattle to Fairbanks.
the heart of the interior gold fields, in
five days, for $145. Hitherto the same
Journey has taken from twenty eight to
thrty-three days at a cost of $685. to
| 5000. OF course. this saving of time
and expense with the constantly un-
folding new attractions at the other
end of the trip will wonderfully stimu-
late migration to the new Territory.
At the present rate of development
there will probably be another worlds
| fair, in sixty years or so. perhaps in
Seward, to celebrate the centenary of
the purchase of Alaska by the man for
whom the metropolis was named. a
transaction only second in national i'm
portance to the Louisiana Purchase.