The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1911-07-28
MESSAGE ABOUT
CONTROLLER BAY
President Answers Critics Of
His Elimination Order.
THE "DICK TO DICK" LETTER.

OF SontTOlloT Day rNditOdut tESo'boHs
Says, Until Very Recently.
Washington, July 26.-President Taft
today sent to the senate a message
concerning the Controller bay affair
and the reduction of the area of the
Chugach national forest reserve to per-
init the Controller Bay Railway and
Navigation company to acquire land
on the bay to be used as terminals
for a railway line to the Boring coal
fields, twenty-five miles away. The
message is in response 30 a resolution
passed by the senate june 81 last,
which asked for copies of all depart
mental orders. maps, surveys, letters,
reports and Official documents In the
case. Copies of these documents ac-
company the message
The executive order Of Oct. %. 1910.
referred to in the resolution was in the
terms following:
CHUGACH NATIONAL FOREST.
ALASKA.
Under authority Of the act of congress
of June 1 1887 go Stat. II, at "a and S6),
and on the recommendation of the secre-
tary of agriculture 1t n hereby ordered
that the proclamation Of Feb, o. 1909. en-
1arging the Chugach National forest be
modified to reduce tho area OF such ma
tional forest by eliminating therefrom the
following described tract, containing ap-
proximately 1880 acres Of land, which
has been found upon examination to be
not chiefly valuable for national forest
purposes:
Beginning at point where the meridian
of longitude IA degrees minutes west
crosses the coast line Of Controller bay.
thence north along said meridian line to
the parallel of latitude at 60 degrees 10
minutes north. thence west along said
parallel to a point where the same crosses
the coast line at or near the mouth OF
Bering river and thence along the coast
to the place OF beginning.
The tract above described is hereby re-
stored to the public domain.
WILLIAM II. TAFT.
The White House. Washington. Oct. %.
1910
The president declares that the order
does not permit the Controller Bay
Railway and Navigation company to
secure a monopoly Of the Controller
bay harbor as, under the law, strip
eighty rods wide must be left between
each entry, having a frontage of 16O
rods on nayigable water. The law also
keeps the control of the shore, which
water and low water, under the di-
rection of congress. This provision,
says Mr.. Taft, fully protects the pub
lie and absolutely prevents any in
dividual or corporation from acquir-
ing a monopoly.
In regard to the "Dick to Dick" let
ter, in which there Is reference to
Charles Taft, the president denies that
his brother ever spoke to him con-
cerning Controller bay, Richard S.
Ryan or any grant in Alaska. He says
that the letter in question cannot be
found in the files of the government
and he refers to it as wicked fab
rication." He declares that his broth
er never heard of Controller bay un-
til the president sent him a cablegram
regarding the subject.
Possible Harbor In Controller Bay.
The message describes the location
of Controller bay, which was original
ly included in the Chugach forest re-
serve. For a time it was thought that
the water of the bay was too shallow
to make 1t valuable as a harbor, but
in 1907 a channel was discovered ex-
tending into the bay about seven miles.
The tract taken from the forest re-
serve by the presidents order covers
12,S00 acres in triangular form, the
side along Controller bay being be-
tween six and seven miles long, which
covers the channel mentioned.
The presidents message then says:
All the territory surrounding Con
troller bay was included in the Chu-
gach forest reservation in 1909 by a
proclamation of President Roosevelt
The Importance of Controller bay is
that 1t lies about twenty-five miles
from very valuable coal deposits,
known as the Bertng coal fields. Ka-
talla bay is to the west of Controller
bay and almost Immediately adjoins
It. 1t Is an open roadstead. upon the
shore Of which an attempt was made
BY the Morgan-G -Guggenheim syndicate
TO establish a railway terminal and
thence to build a road to the Bering
coal fields, already mentioned. The
attempt failed for the reason that the
breakwater protecting the terminals
was destroyed by storms and the
terminals became impracticable. Some
fifty miles or more farther west of
Katalla bay is the mouth of the Cop
per river, where there is an excellent
harbor, on which is the town of Cor
dova. There the Copper River rail-
road. owned by the Morgan -Guggen-
helm interests, has its terminals, and
the line runs to the northeast along
the Copper river and has nearly reach
ed certain rich copper mines in the in
terior. branch from this main line
is projected to the Bering coal fields
and is feasible.
When the channel In the Controller
bay was discovered Mr.. Tittman, su-
perintendent of the coast survey, as
A.. u