The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1907-06-07
The TRUTH
ABOUT ALASKA

When Secretary Of State Seward. in
1867, bought Alaska from Russia, the
transaction was generally regarded
with disfaVor In the United tSates. Il
was considered a foolish waste Of
American money. and the only excuse
or explanation then offered was that
the payment Of this amount for that
frozen region was a mode OF compen-
sation to Russia for friendliness man
/ ifested and services rendered to the
United States during the civil war.
The native name Alaska meant
great land" 1t was said. and the Land
was without doubt impressively great
in area; but no one attached any value
to that half million square miles Of
supposed barrenness and snow and
ice, presumably uninhabitable by civ
ilized men and far removed from civ
ilized lands. 1t had been only a bur
den to Russia, and the car and his
men of state were glad to be rid OF it.
The seals and fisheries had been
source of some revenue, but not
enough to defray the cost of admin |
istration. Yet forty years later, in
1906, a small fraction of that great !
land" had produced in gold the sum of
Sos, 34S, 700; more than fourteen times
the amount of the purchase money.
Within the last ten years Seward
Peninsula alone has produced over
$S7 900, 900, about $7,50O,OO0 of which
is credited to the year 1906-more
than enough to pay the bin for the
Territory.
At first all of the gold mining was
done in the gravels of the creeks, but
during recent years the pan and the
sluice box of the placer miner have
in some places given way to the ore
mills of the lode miner, who has kept
pace with the geologist in his search
Tor the original sources OF the golden
sands and nuggets of the placers. The
search stil1 continues, as may be
earned from the United States geo.
ogical surveys report on the progress
If Investigations of the mineral re-
sources of Alaska in 1906, just pub
ished. This volume, which may be
btained on application to the direc-
or of the survey at Washington, d.
contains a cronoro1 account ~ thai
rogress of surveys and the conditions =
t the mining industry, by A. H.
crooks, geologist in charge of min
raj investigations in Alask, and
lumber of detailed reports on various q
ortions of the territory by other mem :.
ers of the force.
Investigations were made in south
astern Alaska in the Yakutat-Alsek ne
egion, about Controller Bay and Cook a.
llet on Seward peninsular, and in the
ukon district These Investigations lpo
ID not relate solely to gold, but COM pe
Used examinations of deposits of cop
sr, tin, and other metals, as we'll as pa
Ids of coal, seepages of petroleum, da
vailable supplies of building stone W. W
Id gypsum, and water sources for nj
acer mining. til
Less than one-fourth of the area of XII
e territory has been mapped and ~.
IS than one-sixth has been surveyed ha
1t is worthy of note that TIL
though nearly half million dollars ne
S been spent on Alaska surveys and -
designations, this is less than one bo
II Of one per cent of the value of the | U
Id output during the period covered ca
the surveys. -,
problems are still in mu
, forefront throughout Alaska.
service, both on the rivers ceH
l on the sea and its inlets, Is being
idly, improved, but except on few tai
'rt railways overland transporta- ~
a is still very primitive. The
LskaH road commission Is doingl
ch to help mining interests in
ious parts of this territory by high
Y and trail construction. Year by
r the demand for railway connec-
! of the inland region with open
.er becames more imperative, and
II such roads are built the interior p
he territory can be but slightly de- the
)ped. Cou