The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-05-16

wv v - II Il
Panama Canal VIII Do-Ihe
Wealth of Alaska-An Investment
of Uncle sam, Patriarch, Which ftas
Already Paid Six Thousand FER cent
A Talk With DIR. Brooks, the
Alaskan GeoIogist.
Copyright, 1911, by FRANK u. oai-
penter.)
WASHINGTON, D. c..
T write today of one of the best in
yestments OF Uncle Sam, Patriarch.
Our fatherly relative Is a shreWu
sneculator. He makes millions in
real estate, and his chief land invest
ments have paid many thousand per
cent. The first was the Louisiana
purchase by which the French sold us
a territory ten times as large as the
State Of Illinois. That block Of land
cost about 3 cents an acre. 1t is now
worth $50 and upward per acre and 1t
annually yields crops to the amount
Of thousands of millions Of dollars. 1t
Is producing more thar a billion BUSH
els of corn and two hundred and nifty
million bushels of wheat every year
and is feeding live stock valued at
over nine hundred millions.
The Wealth of Alaska.
The purchase | speak of today is
that Of Alaska. Uncle Sam bought it
of Russia for less than two cents an
acre forty-four years ago. He has
already realized more than sixty times
the amour of his original investment.
and he does not yet know h he
owns. The land Is netting us 400
per cent every year, and it Will go up
to 1000 per cent in the future. We
paid for it a little more than seven
million dollars. We have already
taken out over four hundred millions.
We got more than the purchase price
out of the two or three little seal
islands. and the salmon fisheries are
now bringing in over ten million dol
lars per annum. The yearly output
Of gold Is close to twenty millions, and
by the end of this year we sha1 have
realized more than thirty times its
cost from the minerals alone.
These are big figures. but they are
only pin pricks on the surface of that
land of ice and snow. The most OF
the gold 80 far taken out has been
from placers and there are quartz de-
posts of incalculable value. Alaska
has copper beds which bid fair to flood
the markets Of the world, and it's coal
veins are estimated to contain billions
Of tons Of black diamonds.
With Uncle Sans PROJECTORS
During the past week l lave been
looking over the latest government in
y~estigations of this mighty property.
AS soon as it came into our hands
Uncle Sam sent his experts to explore
1t and for the past generation they
have been taking it up section by sec
ton. climbing the mountains and
tramping over the plains and plateaus,
making maps Of the land and pros
pecting for mineral wealth..
The greater part of the work has
been done by the geological survey,
which keeps three divisions Of men in
the field. One Of these, including
three parties. is devoted to mapping
the country and giving its topography.
It is making plans from which you
can tell all the hills and hollows, the
the valleys. Another division Is ex-
aiming the water powers, and a third,
and I should say, the most 1mpor-
tant Of all, is composed Of a dozen
different companies of biologists, who
are looking into the minerals n &C
cumulating data as to the coal, iron,
copper n gold which the country
contains.
The mineral branch of the survey is
now under the charge of DIR. Alfred
II. Brooks, who has spent more than
thirteen years in the work Of explor-
Ing Alaska, and who knows more
about the country h any other man
in tho world He has written a geo
grapAy ana geology Of Alaska, and
WITH MS SClei1Il1C assistants mas spent
about five months every year for the
past thirteen years in making explo-
r%ations. with a view to the mineral
wealth. His parties have gone
through the wilds on foot and in
boats, carrying their canoes from
stream to stream, and making long
tours during which their baggage has
been carried on sleds n drawn by
dogs. They have travelled to the head
waters Of one stream or river, then
crossed to the headwaters of another
and down that, until they have ex-
plored altogether many thousand
square miles. It is from talks with
DIR. Brooks hat I am able to give
much Of the information contained in
this letter.
Alaska From An Aeroplane.
In the first place let us take a flying
machinn uiatU nf A1aSlxo hnro onro