The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-09-20
FISHER FINISHES p1NcnoT.

Anate, President Taft sent q special
message to that body in July telling
the whole story about the elimination
from the Chugach National Forest in
Alaska of certain land fronting upon
Controller Bay, about which so many
false and misleading statements had
been made BY clifford Pinchot and his
allies 1t was most complete answer
to all the charges of maladminis tration
and unholy combinations that had been
made by Pinchot and the other espe-
cially self ordained defenders of the
American conscience, and 1t was so
regarded by nearly everybody except
Pinchot and his brigade OF sappers
and miners. Pinchot Immediately pro-
3ected himself into the situation, and
with loud lamentations protested that
the Presidents defense of his course
in the Controller Bay affair shows how
hard it is to make u good excuse for
@ bad mistake;" that at leaves the
root of the matter untouched" that.
''in spite of all explanations, the fact
lands around Controller Bay without
notice to the public, mas given the
interests behind Ryan an opportunity
to acquire the key to the channel Of
Controller Bay before the public knew
what was going on" etc. ETC.
What are the facts? When Mr.. Bal
linEer resigned his office as Secretary
of the Interior, after being bounded
for months by Pinchot and his agents
and emissaries, the President appoint
ed Walter L. Fisher. OF Chicago. to
take his place. There was great re-
joicing IN the camp of the Philistines,
the President had yielded TO their de-
mands, had found a man who could
not be swayed from doing his duty,
was out OF sympathy with Ryan and
the Guggenheims and all the rest of
the enemies OF the policy of conserva-
ton upon which Pinchot had fxed his
heart, was a bully fellow" after The
Coloners own style, and would md,
never fear, that the President had
played into the hands of the graspins
monopolies who were seeking to rob
the people for generations of the I'M
nense wealth stored up for them In
Territory OF Alaska. Fisher slipped
away from Washington about two
months ago on personal tour of in
spection. and the Pinchot crowd Of
alarmists chuckled over what they had
been assured he would find out in
Alaska. But what are the facts?
Fisher went right to the spot. and
after making thorough search of
the Controller Bay premises has re-
turned to the United States When he
reached Seattle, he told the enterpris-
Ing Post-Intelligencer OF that pro-
gressive town n fine story of his OBJ
servations and conclusions, He found
that Controller Bay is not a harbor.
nor is # he. Rey to anything except
a huge Ice field and marsh which is
valuable only as breeding place for
wild water fowl. There is not one
tree on the land eliminated by Presi-
dent Taft. and back OF the tract is a
glacier which extends up into the
Chugach Mountains. 1t is from three
to four miles from high water mark to
a point at which thirty feet of water
is available for shipping. and these
shadows would have to be trestled
with piiing from Puge, Sound, as the
local timber is Very poor in quality.
stnnted and brittle. The deep water
area is merely a channel, which is
neither definite nor permanent. Boring
River carries large quantity Of silt.
as do the smaller streams coming into
Controller Bay. The movement, Of ,his
SILT causes the channel in the Rav
to shift so much that no geodetic sur
"ey charts made at any considerable
intervals would be alike in marklns.
Its location. Then there are the ice and
the winds. Che so-called Ryan road
would reach no coal which could no
shipped out OF Alaska, even II II hac
q terminal from when skipping wera
possible. The cold truth is that no
development (ot the coal reaches abo,,,
"Hich we nave heard so much ana over
the loss of which pincnot mas been
with difficulty able to control his
tears) has oeen done winch would
permit OF placing valuation on the
field or any part of it The veins
are both faulty and contortcd, which
means dead work in mining, ana the
local timber is almost worthless for
permanent mine working The dc
posts in the Bering region have been
ground 10 powder by some slipping o.
the stratification, and for the mos; part
the field shows this characteristic. both
at the surface and beneath Coal car
be mined there with spoon. such
coal viii not STAND shipment" ant
go on.
And then Oh. then near what I'M.