The Alaska citizen., 1910-07-30
ALASKANS HERE ID.
 STAY

The following article is part of speech made in congress by Dele gate Wickersham on June 16:
 The people of Alaska are of that | type which in the days of 1S49 cross ed the plains of California and, re maining became the pioneers of the West. They are honored in the states of the Pacific northwest, where they laid the foundation of govern ment, built great cities and great CT states. Where they are known their worth Is appreciated and they are not barred from responsibility for deficiency in morals, courage or manhood.
 It is a mistake to suppose that prospectors and miners are entirely | transient, nomadic or migratory Nothing in the character of their calling renders them incapable of performing the highest and best pub lie services as citizens of the terri | tory. Those who crossed the plains in 1S49 and struck it" remained and built San Francisco. Their kind trailed through the mountain passes Of Montana and Colorado, and when luck led them to the pay streak and the mother lode, they built Denver
 Helena, Butte and Anaconda Wher- ever the prospector and miner in the
 west found the pot of gold in the wilderness he set his stake and
 brought his family to it, and became the foremost citizen of the camp. the town, the city and the state. | And of such is the prospector and
 miner in Alaska. His constant hope
 by day and prayer by night is that
 he may find the "homestake. With
 his pack on his back he trudges into
 the wilderness, bravely facing the
 rigOrs of the climate, the danger
 of mountain and stream, and the
 hardships of lonely life, ever seek ing the golden store which will en-
 able him to bring the far away fam fly to the land of his labors and
 his success, which then becomes his
 haven of rest-his home. He is
 not a transient by nature nor a mi grant by temperament. He is a labor
 ing man whose long trail ends at home and whose successes have built
 the cities of the West and added millions of wealth to the general
 capital of the nation. Those who
 migratory are ignorant of his char acter and the history of the West
 and know nothing of the best type lof men who made it. They do not appreciate the pioneer work which the prospector and miner did there the schools, churches, homes, col
 leges, towns, cities and states he has
 built. The prospector and miner in
 Alaska is the salt of the earth and
 deserves the sympathy and warm
 hearted support of Washington. In
 stead of denouncing him as a tran
 sient and migratory character un-
 worthy to intrust with the duty of
 pioneer work in nation building, con
 gress ought to emulate his civic vir-
 tues, applaud his work in Alaska,
 and give him sympathetic aid and en-
 couragement.
 | fnll ir,
 Washington this winter of the de
 crease of business and the dimin- : ution of population in Alaska dur : ing the last year, but before the echo of these tales of decadence had died away in the committee rooms the re
 turns from the thirteenth census
 were such as to justify the estimate of a 50 per cent. increase for the decade in the white population, while the receipts of the customs office showed a large increase in the trade of the territory. The present esti- mate of the white population Is be tween 42,000 and 45,000, though there is an estimated decrease in the In
 dian population, which was not uneX- pected, on account of widespread epidemic in the last decade. The re- turns of the census bureau show that the population of Alaska is more } or less equally distributed through out it's extent"
 Population is quite as permanent ; in Alaska as elsewhere, for Sitka was the capital of Alaska before As
 toria was founded. Unalaska, Kodiak and Sitka were established and per manent towns and marts of interna- tional trade before Jefferson pur' ' chased Louisiana. These towns and St. Michael, Wrangell and a dozen
 more were established trading cen ters before California was acquired and the great cities of the Pacific coast were founded. The first church
 es and schools on that coast, north
 of Mexico, were established in Alas
 ka, and some of those early establish ments yet modestly continue their la bors. Alaska has been under the complete dominion of civilization