Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1910-01-06
ALASKA'S Great
COAL PROBLEM.
ROOSeVe|t's COnse.. 'inl Order
Delaying OevoIOpMelun
LOCAL NEED SAID TO Be ACUTE

&. c.. Hawkins, Engineer in Charge of
the Copper River and Northwestern
Railroad, Throws Light Upon an Abb
surd Situation-Paying $14 a Ton
For Coal When 1t Can Be 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 Copper
River and Northwestern railroad. who
has just reached New York to make
his annual report to the company.
MI. Hawkins is the engineer who
built the remarkable White Pass and
Yukon road. an achievement second
only to the one he has now half finish
ed for the Morgan-Guggenheim 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 w coal is
acute" said Mr.. Hawkins. we feel
it especially in our road construction.
but every one else feels it too. Peo-
pie must keep war; in Alaska, as
elsewhere, and it needs much fuel to
do it 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 irewood to be used in keep
ing our five caisson and pier pump
going and running the work engines.
At that we found it at times almost
impossible to keep steam in our boil
ers. though the safety of much con
struction and even Of lives depended
on it. With an almost inexhaustiblc
store Of coal within a few miles of
our tracks we should be getting it for
about $3.50 a ton instead of Sl4. Ger
tainly without adequate fuel supply
the opening Of Alaska with railroads
is going to be very slow. 1t cannot be
otherwise. And transportation devel-
opment is the greatest need of that
wonderfully rich territory.
The New Copper Region.
Nevertheless, the Copper River and
| NORTH IvnctlJp iS hninf r fn1.cnl ohnoJ nc
rapidly us possible. BY the LIST of
next July it viii! have reached the
mouth of the Chitina river, 1873 miles
inland. This means that the great
kotsina-Chitina copper region-proba-
bly, the richest in the world. but SO 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 Il new region for ingress and
egresS. has hitherto been most diff
cult. The development Of this terri
tory means a large and continuous pro-
duction Of wealth for generations not
in one spot. but over Il large area.
The road is now carried to the
dAooSh oI ~ tl'SAs w. ~
from Cordova. our terminus ut tidewa-
ter. In this stretch there is only one
breaE-at Mile 40. where the line cross
es the Copper river between the two
active glaciers. Childs and Miles.
ut has been necessary at this point
to build Il LOGO foot bridge of u n
precedented strength and construction
RI paSiSf thn ioA HnuS T,1cf obnva tho
bridge Is Il lakelike widening Of the
river into which the three mile front Of
Childs glacier vulleys great bergs all
summer long. In winter this lake is
frozen several feet deep. AT the pres
ent time we are running trains yer
the ice on temporary tracks. so that
track will be continuous to the end of
the line until the spring breakup. The
three bridge piers ave had d severe
test this summer. The ice flow, as can
be imagined, is tremendous. The river
Is deep and swift and the force Of the
big bergs aloat on it nothing short Of
terrific. To resist this we have sunk
our piers forty to sixty feet to bed
rock. building them Of solid concrete.
Ny olSCA VI y w
right a foot apart in the concrete. The
piers are further protected by the
heaviest kind of concrete and steel
guards, also sunk to bedrock, and are
set where there are bars in the river
that defect the biggest Of the bergs.
They are ninety feet through from end
to end.
Bridge Building In Alaska.
"The steel superstructure Of the
bridge we hope to have in place early
next fall. by which time the line will
be we'll on it's way eastward up the
Chitina to the copper mines. This is
to be the first branch Of the road COM
pleted. and it should be open from the
J eastern to the southern terminus about
n year from now.
Another branch beginning at Mile
SO Of the main line on the Copper riv-
er and running about forty-eight miles
to the Boring river coal fields is sur
veyed, and a good deal Of the roadbed
is built. This branch could be built
2 l--l 49, --z L. - ---I