Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1910-07-28
AardshIps Of Special Agents Who Haz.
aTded ---WondeIfuI Agricultural
Development Dogs Are Better
Than Horses or Reindeer.
nklkKki.6Et
CENSUS TAKING DIFFICULTIES.

&.
cial) -Census Director Durand has
received preliminary report from
, William A Mckenzie, one of the four
chief special agents in charge of the
recent census taking in Alaska. in
which the veteran census official re
ports the completion of the enumera
tiOn of his district and declares that
it would have been u physical i'm
possibility to have taken the cenSus
{ there at any other time than in mid
winter He modestly records, also.
THE hardShips and hazards endured by
) his special agents during the severest
winter ever known in the section OF
Alaska under his supervision.
During December and January last.
he states, the sun shone only from
one to two hours a day. The tenn
perature ranged between 30 degrees
and Y degrees, averaging 40 degrees
below zero, and the fine salt like
snow lay from 3 to 20 feet in depth.
The special agents used dogs and
sleds and, in covering the recording
districts assigned to them, many of
their dogs We're frozen to death some
agents suffered from frozen faces
and hands one was found four diff
ferent times almost dying from ex-
haustiOn and exposure. another and
his guide We're lost for days in rag
ing blizzard, being barely saved from
terrible death by rescue party;
another agent fell into deep and icy
water from which he was pulled only
in the nick of time; and other adj
nd anIIall,, I.n
gerous, were suffered by other agents:
but fortunately no lives were lost in
the enumeration of this chief special
agents district. The pay of these
men averaged Sc per day, with per
diem allowance of SO, in lieu OF sub
sistence, for time actually employed.
The Fairbanks District"
Mr. Mckenzie is a native of PrOvi-
dence, K. L., and for several years has
been connecter with the Census Blu
reau In an expert capacity, especially
on the subject of Alaska. His emu
meration district was the fourth and
embraced the famous "Fairbanks min
ing district" The others were the
Juneau" the Seward" and 1.-The
Nome" in charge, respectively, of
SHltl sopt'idl hStitso +h'ui'N Az
Thompson. Joseph FL Romig. and Will
liam T. Lopp
The headquarters of Mr.. Mckenzie S
district was at Fairbanks. and there
were twenty special agents. with
guide etc. under his control. The
district comprises about 100000 square
miles.
Director Durand arranged to take
the census of Alaska during the win
ter instead of beginning April 10. as
in the United States. as he was al
vised that the enumeration of Alaska
could be made in midwinter with less
difficulty and danger to the enunera l.
tors, and with greater accuracy as u
the actual count than at any othei
time of the year. Mr.. Mckenzie eS-
tabislled his headquarters at Fair-
banks September II, 1909. and. )uS'
seven months later, or on April ii last
his work all done. he left there over
the Valdez trail for Seattle.
He reports that the population OF
the fourth district is distributed over
nearly all the creeks and rivers IN 'he
district to such an extent that tht
agents We're obliged to cover ever!
stream and the intervening country IL
we'll He believes the enumeration
to have been well done, the few people
who were missed being known ah'
added to the schedules in seperatt
sheets. He says that. despite th'
unusual severity of the winter th'
agents kept consistently and con
scientiously at it until they completed
their task There was not a man WIG
did not take a pride in his work zee
anxious to create a record for traNei
Ing time: have a desire to enumerat'
all the people in the district assigned
to him; and wish to have to M
credit less loss of time because Oh eA
IRENE weather than any oil the o'"e
agents.
Dancers of travelling in Spring.
During April and May it is impossihi
to travel anywhere with any degree U
safety" writes Mr.. Mckenzie pecau
of the thawins of the snow. the over
flows in the creeks, and the sioasi nm
AWAY of the ice in the rivers. lfaVei
considered absolutely dangerous ana WI
not he undertaken by the men in I'M
country even for their own purposes.
1T would have taken four tunes
many men and certainly four 10 81
times as much money to have maoe IN
canvass in the. summer season III Auu ,
ton the canvass made during the sum
mer would have given to certain iocai'
ties an erroneous population seXistih
there four months in the year as agaihs
eight months elsewhere.
Mr. Mckenzie adds an interesting ue
scription of the picturesque charac'e''6
tics of each recording district. ana ans
gives a somewhat detailed account OF III
perils encountered by his men ~ VI
enumeration of the scattered popuiatioi
Wonderful Agricultural Development
Agriculture, although in its INFANCY
has attained wonderful proportions.
During the summer mohths III
ground in the Fairbanks district ana !
fact, all over interior Alaska thaws les
than 3 feet, and generally not more ina
Is to 70 inches. Everything grown an
harvested must be sown. grown an
harvested between May 20 and Septempe
l5 This condition of wonderful growt
Is brought about by the fact that u
Il. .NsAv