Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-06-30

shoes They have no sledges nor reindeer,
and they are troubled more with rain than
ice. Even In southeastern Alaska. where
they occasionally get cold breezes from
the Arctic, the mercury seldom drops to
zero. and last year the lowest tempera-
ture at Juneau eight degrees above
that point.
Some Farming Possibilities
There are said to be excellent grasses on
many OF the Alaskan islands, which may
eventually be used for feeding cattle and
sheep. 1t is believed that the Galloway and
West Highland cattle can be acclimated
there, and also the black-faced Scotch
sheep. The Agricultural Department al
ready has four experimental stations. and
1t expects to open up farm in the Copper
river valley this summer, where 1t will
carry on experiments in raising grain. The
hay possibilities are said to be great. the
market being the towns and mining camps
which now largely supplied with stock
food at enormous freight rates.
Fruit experiments are also being carried
where three thousand seeding apple trees
have been started from hardy varieties
brought in from Minnesota.
Or Kadiak Island the climate IS l should
say, much like that of the Falklands. A
Seattle meat packer has several hundred
head of cattle and sheep there. and they
find their own food winter and summer.
AS to hay, it was raised last year as far
moving machine was among the articles
shipped there last season.
Can Raise Vegetables.
Near Wrangell they have produced eau
liflower which weighed over ten pounds,
and an Irish potato which weighed more
than seven pounds. All along the Yukon
there is no snow during four months Of
the year. The grass grows as high as your
shoulders, and there are wild raspberries,
crrrants, huckleberries and backberries
The sun puts in about eight hours extra
time there, and during those months does
twice as much work in any other part
of the United States proper. The Alaskans
say that the growth of the various crops
depends on the amount of sunshine, and
claim that their summer, with the long
days. affords much vegetable growth as
the northernmost parts OF our country
Seward peninsula Is to large extent a
timberless tundra. the ground OF which IS
frozen to an unknown depth. If few
inches of the tundra is scraped away the
ground will thaw out for two or three feet,
and vegetables planted in it will grow with
enormous rapidty. The thawing ice below
gives plenty of moisture. and the hot sun
makes nature jump.
In the Tanana valley which ends In the
Yukon, there Is a strip of land about sixty
miles wide and three hundred miles long.
1t is beautifully timbered in some places.
and in others grows wild hay so luxur-
iantly that man on horseback has dfti-
Guilty in getting through. In this valley
during the summer the sun shines all day
long. and the most Of the night, and the
people claim that their three months sea-
son is equal to six months anywhere else.
The same is true of the valley of the SUI
sitna, where potatoes, turnips. carrots and
cabbages are now grown with success. Tho
Tanana valley is as big as Iowa, and the
agricultural region of the Susitna is said to
be hundred miles wide and one hundred
and fifty miles long. It Is largely covered
with timber.
Alaska's New Railroads.
Considerable railroad building is now go
ing on in Alaska. The Nome and Arctic
railway is being operated for twelve miles.
and the Solomon river and Council City
railway almost as far. The road over the
pass from Skagway to White Horse has
length of one hundred and twelve miles,
and the Alaska Midland is projected but
not yet begun; 1t will go from koyukuk to
the Seward peninsula. a distance OF fif-
teen hundred miles. There Is also tho
Trans-AIaska Siberian road, which it is pro-
posed to build across Behring strait. so
that we may eventually go by rail- to st.
Petersburg and Paris.
One of the most important OF the railroads
now under construction Is the Alaska Cen
trail, which begins on the Pacific coast at
Seward and goes due north through the
heart of the country, opening up 10 set
Element and development an enormous ter
ritory. 1t will be four hundred miles long.
and will make accessible virgin~country
as big as all New England, New York,
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois
combined This is region of mines. timber,
and it is said of agricultural possibilities.
The road has already been built from the
Pacific ocean one hundred and fifty miles
northward, and there are eighteen hum
bred men at work now in the various con-
structfon departments. The payroll is about
SIPS 900 month and more than $4,000
per month has been spent during the past
year by the purchasing department The
first one hundred and fifty miles will be
opened to freight and passengers by July
Is 1906, and 1t will then have regular
steamship connection with Seattle.
FRANK G. CARPENTER.