The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1910-02-02
ALASKA'S GREAT
COAL PROBLEM.
RoOseve|t's Conservation Order
Delaying Development.

LOCAL NEED SAID TO Be Acute
z. c. Hawkins, Engineer In CHARGE o,
the Copper River and Northwestern
Railroad, Throws Light Upon an Alb
surd situation-Payins $14 a Tor
For Coal When It Can 30 Mined In
the Territory For $3.50.
because AlaSkanS cannot mine any
OF their W excellent coal by reason
OF the conservation order of President
Roosevelt they are being forced to
make heavy drafts on the timber re-
serve, according to E. c. Hawkins.
engineer in charge Of the new Cooper
River and Northwestern railroad. who
has just reached New York to make
his annual report to the company.
Mr.. Hawkins is the engineer who
built the remarkable White Pass and
Yukon road. ar achievement second
only to the n he has now half finish.
ed for the Inorganic uggenheim syndi.
cate. He has some most interesting
things to say about the conditions in
the northland that have recently been
attracting public attention.
1.-THE local need for our own Goa is
ACUTE" said Mr.. Hawkins. I'VE feel
1t especially in III road construction.
but every n else feels 1t too. Peo-
pie must keep warm in Alaska, as
elsewhere, and it needs much fuel to
do 1t in winter. We pay $14 a ton for
British Columbia soft coal to use on
the railroad. and it certainly costs the
small consumer no less. Even this
has been unobtainable at times, and
we recently faced the necessity of
putting a large force to work cutting
timber for frewood to be used in keep,
Ing u five caisson and pier pumps
going and running the work engines.
At that We found it at times almost
to keep steam in our boil
ers. though the safety of much con-
struct1on and even Of lives depended
on it. With an almost inexhaustiblc
Of coal within a few miles of
our tracks we should be getting it for
about $3.50 a ton instead of $14. Ger
tainly without adequate fuel supply
the opening of Alaska with railroads
Is going to be very slow. 1t cannot be
And transportation devel-
opment Is the greatest need Of that
wonderfully rich territory.
The New Copper Region.
Nevertheless. the Copper River and
Northwestern is being forced ahead as
as possible. By the LIST of
next July it will have reached the
mouth of the Chitina river, 1873 miles
This means that the great
Kotsina-C hitina copper region-probu-
bly, the richest in the world, but 50 far
almost uneXplored-will be easily ac-
cessible to miners and prospectors next
summer, an event that Alaska is await
ing eagerly. This, practically the open
ing OF a new region for ingress and
has hitherto been most diff
cult. The development of this terri
tory means a large and continuous pro-
1uction of wealth for generations not
In n spot, but over a large area.
"The road is now carried to the
mouth of the Tiekel river. 1O2 miles
from Cordova, our terminus at tidewa- /
ter. In this stretch there is only one /
break-at Mile 40. where the line cross
es the Copper river between the two |
active glaciers. Childs and Miles.
1T has been necessary at this point |
to build a 1000 foot bridge of un-
strength and construction
to resist the ice flows. Just above the
bridge is a lakelike widening of the
into which the three mile front of
.hilds glacier volleys great bergs ali
summer long. In winter this lake is
frozen several feet deep. At the pres
ent time we are running trains over |
the ice on temporary tracks. so that
will be continuous to the end of
the line until the Spring breakup. The
three bridge piers have had a severe
this summer. The ice flow, as can
be imagined, is tremendous. The river
deep and swift and the force of the
big bergs afloat on it nothing short of
To resist this we have sunk
piers forty to sixty feet to bed
'ock, building them Of solid concrete, |
REINFORCED by heavy steel rails set up
a foot apart in the concrete. The
piers are further protected by the
heaviest kind Of concrete and steel
also sunk to bedrock, and are |
yet where there are bars in the river |
hat defect the biggest of the bergs.
They are ninety feet through from end
% end.
Bridge Building In Alaska.
''The steel superstructure of the
bridge we hope to have in place early
fall. by which time the line will
we'll on its way eastward up the
Chitina to the copper mines. This is
% be the first branch Of the road com-