Valdez weekly prospector., 1909-01-28
MAJ. RICHARDSON SEES
 IAN ALASKA.,OF FARMS

AN ALASKA, OF FARMS
 Washington.--That Alaska is be- coming au agricultural district as well as gold producing one lis shown by the annual report of Major, w. P. Richardson, U. $. A., president of the board of road missioners for Alaska The report also shows that not only is the. permanent population of of4Alaskasincreasing, but.it is bring ingiwith it q greateranumberAo of fam iliesAwith an improvement.of homes, thescultivation of. gardens .and....felds and other evidences ofsa fixed habi- tation. E Ofsthe.-agricultural.possibili- tiessofsthelterritory .rMajorl Richard son says:
 "Thereishould no. longer be doubt in the mindsofIany.one that the ag- ricultural possibilities in Alaska are considerablesand that many sections of the territory never again be without.a .permanentsswhite popula- tion. Professor c. c. Georgeson, of the department of agriculture and in charge of the experiment. stations in the territory, informs me that he has not failed q single season for several years to ripen oats and barley in the interior (Yukon valley,) and he is satisfied that with sufficient fall of snow for protection during the win ter, which may ordinarily be expec- ted, hardy winter wheat will always mature. All matured grain is found to be fully as heavy as the best grain of the States. Grasses grow abund- antly, as do all the hardier vege- tables.
 '"rhe experiment. station at Kodiak has number of Galloway cattle, a long haired, hardy breed, which stand the climate well and which will be developed and intr oduced in other parts of Alaska" ...
 The output of gold for the season is estimated at nearly 5000, ,OOO, of which the Fairbanks district furnished about one-half. The total is slightly in excess of the output for the last year.
 An abundant supply of labor and favorable weather conditions resulted in satisfactory road construction. The increase in mileage for the year is given as follows: New wagon road, l83.2S miles; new sled road, 116; new trail, 1857. The total mileage is now: Wagon road, 451.OS; winter sled road. 396.9O, and trail 255.07.
 A further reduction of time in the transportation of the mails was shown during the winter, due to improve ment of the main overland route. The quickest trip from Valdez to Fair banks was six days and eight hours, made in the month of April. The average time from Valdez to Fair banks for the winter was eight days sixteen hours and twenty five min utes, against ten days twelve hours and ten minutes for the previous winter. One man, John Heston (with his own dog team), made the journey from Seattle to Nome in thirty days
  three days from there, at an average of little more than forty-nine miles per day This, so far as known, was record time for this long journey.
 An important line of water commu- nication through the country will come after the Alaska Central rail- road shall have been extended as far as Knik, at the head of Cooks Inlet, and after some further developments take place in the Kuskokwim and In noko districts. Both these conditions it is thought, will be fulfilled within another year. This route is the nat ural outlet to the coast for all regions to the westward, and the distance from Knik to Nome is about 400 miles shorter than the present route from Valdez via Fairbanks and the Yukon river. The Valdez-Fairbanks route is the most imp ortant line of overland travel. Tacoma ledger.
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