The Alaska citizen., 1910-09-12
ENORMOUS GUST OF.
 FREIGHT
EQUAL TO FIFTY PER CENT. OF ENTIRE OUTPUT OF GOLD
 IN ANY SEASON
RAILROADS URGENTLY NEEDED
Would Reduce Cost of Freighting to Interior Camps by at Least Fifty Per Cent.-Present Ocean Rates Not Excessive.

Writing on the mining industry of Alaska for the year 1909, Alfred II. Brooks. of the United States Geo logical Survey. says that the high cost of freighting supplies to the interior camps from the head of steamboat navigation is one of the most serious drawbacks with which the mining industry has to contend
 Proceeding. MT Brooks says
 No exact figures are available in regard 10 the amount of freight an nually shipped to the Alaska portion ably safe to say that this amounts 10 5000 tons and that ii costs over s2.500.O00 to land il al the end of steamboat navigation. The mine freight must be hauled by wagons or sleds. except al Fairbanks where there is q railroad. IL is esti mated that this haulage from steam CTS to the mines for the Alaska Yukon costs from $2OOo.OOO to $2. 800. 900 year The total annual cost of freight for the Yukon basin is therefore. probably between s4,50O GOO and 5000 .00U. or nearly 1O per cent of the value of the entire gold output It should be noted that these estimates of cost of freight do not include any charge for the transpor- tation of fuel, which is included ill the similar figures already presented on the commerce of Seward Peninsu- la. In the Yukon basin practically only wood is used. whereas Seward Peninsula depends almost entirely on coal brought from a distance.
 The data at nand seem to justi fy the conclusion that Alaska's all nual expenditure for transportation of supplies and equipment is be tween 8 .0OO. .OU0 and SS.UU0. 900. Prob ably 30 per cent. of this represents ocean freights. which must remain a fixed charge. even with the i'm provement of transportation lines in to the interior. It would appear that on 70 per cent. of this amount very material reduction could be brought about by the construction of railroads and wagon roads. A trunk railway into the Yukon. with q freight rate. for example, of 10 cents a ton-mile, should make a saving of at least 90 per cent. ill the cost of transportation of supplies and equipment to the Yukon camps. It should be noted also that, even were the freight tariffs by river and rail the same. there would be an actual money saving in shipping by rail, be cause of the losses entailed through the uncertainties and delays of the present system. Fairbanks freight via St Michael is now from six weeks to two months in transit and can be transported only between about the first of July and the mid dle of September Although the com paratively small amount of freight now annually carried into the Gu- kon basin may not seem to justify a railway, yet if line were con structed it would give an impetus to mining that would probably soon put the enterprise on paying basis.
 The great tax on the mining in dustry of Alaska caused by the pres ent system of transportation is strikingly illustrated by the fact that sure, paid indirectly-for every white man, woman and child living in Alaska and on Seward Peninsula is over $35o. As this figure is based on incomplete data concerning tonnage and on estimates of population it is only approximate, but it at least in dicates to what order of magnitude the true figures belong. If these estimates are correct, the amount paid for freight in the placer camps of Alaska is equal to nearly half of the Vdluc or the annual SOIo pro- duction. These freight charges are reflected in the high cost of all sup plies and of labor.
 All of this clearly indicates why only the richest placer ground is being mined and suggests that the present industrial advancement of inland Alaska is small when com pared with that which will take place when railway communication with tide water has decreased the cost of operating. While the Yukon and many of the tributaries are nav igable, and parts of Copper and Su- sitna rivers are available for small steamers, yet, as shown, this mode of transportation is both expensive and time consuming. It has served the purpose of the pioneer and has made possible the opening of the richer placer districts without the expenditure of the large amount of capital needed for railways But gold and copper lode mining, not to men,