The Chitina leader., 1910-11-12

fiation and bursting Of the seward bubble. Our ears have been at tuned to the funeral dirge of the passing Valdez. Her radiant star has declined and is rapidly descending into oblivion as gateway to the great interior. We have witnessed the unruly pillows of the stormy Pa cific sweep the Katalla project, the lamentable folly of Rogers, of the face of the map. One and all, built on foundations of sand, are being lost in the remorseless shuttle of Time.
 Cordova, the hand-maiden of des- tiny, is in the ascendant. To her is extended the palm of the Future. The Guardian of the Copper river way, her resplendent light reveals to men the route to and from the North.
 The Copper river way extends from Cordova at tidewater to Chitina at the confluence of the Chitina cut of and the main line of the Copper River & Northwestern railway, dis tance of 132 miles. The Chitina cut of wagon road is the link that con- meets the famous interior trail with the town of Chitina, the north en- trance of the Copper river way. It is here that the main line of the Copper River & Northwestern rail- way turns and winds its serpentine course up the valley of the Chitina on to the Bonanza mines.
 Following in the paths of Aber- erombie came one Major Richardson of the U. s. army. At his initia- tion Congress established a road commission, whose express end was the establishment and maintenance of wagon roads in the territory of Alaska. It was under the auspices of the commission that the famous route known as the Valdez trail was built. The story of the trail is the story of the North, that vast, myster- ious North of living history and of fiction. that wide and teeming North of today, that North of stampedes, pack trains and golden raids. Over this trail has flowed the migratory tides of humanity for the last de eade. We can recall in the days of it's glory, when heavy laden pack trains contended with the narrow de- files of Keystone canyon and negotl- ated the heights of Thompson's pass, as they made their undulating way over hill and plain. But the romantic pack train has given away to the To- comotive, that powerful agent of commerce, which thunders it's way down the valley of the Copper. The old trail has passed its heydey. It has given way to the new route, the Copper river way.
 Midway on the Valdez route at a point called Willow creek the trav- elers of the future will turn on their l course and pursue their way on the finished boulevard Of the Chit:na cut of for the short distance of 39 miles 1 to the town of Chitina. Here the snowshoe and the sledge shall be dis carded. Here the rigors and hard ships of the trail shall be forgotten. He shall find ample accommodations in commodious hotels. He shall find here the divisional point of great railway. Should he elect not to lay over, he may, without delay, board a through and up-to-date passenger train, which leaves daily for Cor dova, situated on tidewater.
 The Chitina cutoff is not merely project. It is solid aetuality, which the railway company, the Chitina Townsite company and the citizens of Cordova have pushed to comple- tion. To this worthy end the inter ests mentioned above, gave hberally of their cash. The Copper River & Northwestern railway company con- tributed s1,500, the Chitina Town site Company followed suit in like amount, while the citizens of Cor dova subscribed cash fund, making a grand total of nearly s6,000. Of this amount $500 was diverted for the installing of the Cordoya-Katal- la telephone line, leaving the ap- c,,v. af Snn fnr fha