The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-02-18
Alaska's Vast Resources
Cold Copper and coa-eet TING Used to the Cold

the koyukuk; then the article will 20
On 10 tell about all the things that car
De raised in Alaska, and wind up with
d mint that maybe bananas and or
ahges can be grown as soon as we gel
70 Know the country little better
NOW, mat Is all rot; of course vegeta-
ton Will flourish there in the short
summer, and the soil is as rich as any
on earth because ii has lain fallow and
Deen added to by the humus of rotting
/ ieaFes and grasses Stree the dawn of
history; and things grow there very
/ rapidly because the sun shines in the
summer time for the whole twenty four
hours, and is quite as warm and effec-
tive as anywhere else. But we must
remember that Alaska is no better off
| IN that respect than Norway or Fin
land, and / have not heard of those
countries exporting tropical fruits or
vegetables; they even do not send away
very much cereals, or, indeed. anything
tnat grows in the ground. The fact is
they grow about what they need TO eat
and their resources, so far as they affect
the world at large. are in the direction
or their fisheries and lumber. We have
the advantage of these countries in
having not alone vastly more and bet
ter fish than they have. and immense
forests of far better timber. but we
have minerals the like OF which will not
be found anywhere else in the world
i have no doubt that eventually we
VIII grow all we want for our own use.
of the quick maturing crops. such as
vegetables and cereals. but we viii new
er mature fruit trees or grow corn be-
cause Of the shortness of the sum-
mers and the severity Of the winters
I'VE hear good deal. Mr.. Brogan,
about the cold winters of Alaska" was
suggested; -afs they as severe as they
are oftentimes pictured2"
Yes; / have seen the thermometer
register 70 degrees below up there, and
to that extent it gets pretty cold, but
you folk in Chicago can't appreciate
what that means; If IL gets 20 degrees
below down here you all but freeze 20
death; the difference Is one of humid
ity. With US the atmosphere is perfect
~ dry, and the colder il gets the less
the wind blows, so that when it gets
really cold there is never enough wind
TO blow out a match. and sometimes a
curl of smoke from the miners cabin |
viii rise . thousand feet and not spread
out six inches. Up there 30 degrees be- !
low is what we call shirt-sleeves wea-
Their, and very few men wear an over /
coat if il is warmer than 30 degrees /
below. OF course, they wear something /
over their ears and have on warm un- 4
AMI heavy footwear. Ones |
Ears Will freeze at 80 degrees below zero /
before he knows it. and many men had
heir feet frozen in the old pioneer
lays after getting them wet, because
he character of the cold fooled them.
That was why the papers used to be
'uli OF the terrible hardships OF Alaska
IND of the many who had lost their
limbs in the cold winter time. 1t was
good deal like getting use TO daylight
or tWenty-fOur hours in the summer
ime; men used to wear themselves out
before they would go to bed but all
hat is changed now, and we know how
o take the climate, and it is the finest
n the world when you get used TO it.
\ man can accomplish things up there
n the way of physical tasks that would
eem like miracles down here"