The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-05-14

river. then crossed to the headwaters
or another and down that, until they
have explored altogether many thou
sand square miles. II is from talks
With DR.. Brooks that am able to give
much of the information contained in
his letter.
AIaskn From an heropianc.
In the frst place let us take iiy-
ing machine view OF Alaska, have
, gone over the maps with the Geolo-
/ Sists, and the country is like nothing
nave ever imagined. We shall sup
! pose that we have taken one OF Uryilie
Nrights aeroplancs and have Sailed
across it from The Pacific ocean 10 the
| Arctic. and from British Columbia 10
Siberia in Russia. What a big land il
is! Beginning at the southeast on the
! Facthc. where the land joins British
Columbia, and flying straight north. we
go almost as far as from New York 10
Cincinnati before we reach the coast
of the Arctic Ocean. and from the same
point. dying westward. we should GO
700 miles before arriving al Bering Sea
Roughly speaking. Alaska would make
square with more than 700 miles on
each side. and still leave enough land
over TO form two States the size of
! New York
IL is almost as large as the combined
area OF GERMANY France and the Span
ish peninsula. and If il were lifted up
and dropped down on the United States
proper ii would cover all of the States
which border the Atlantic from Ma. ne
down TO Florida.
DR. Brooks tells me that Alaska has
in general about the same features as
the western half of the United States
1t is composed of three or four great
regions There are two ranges of
mountains UNFOLDING high plateau
| hetween them. with wide stretch Of
| Arctic plain "a the north The Suthern
mountains correspond to the Sierra
! Nevada and other ranges, which bound
I the western side of the Rocky Noun
tain plateau. North Of them is a
region Of plains corresponding to that
plateau. and on the other side isIa
great range OF mountains which cor
! responds 10 the Rockies, with plains
beyond like the great plains farther
south. The latter are the tundras OF
the Arctic slope. They are covered
i With "a thick growth of moss. which
ends at the sea and which for many
miles inland is bcdded on perpetual
| Ice. iI
The mountains are wooded. Those
al the south have a vegetation a S dense
as the junglcs OF tropical countries.
and 4 he whole southern slope has n
rainfall which i'll places aggregate more
| than 100 inches per year. Across the
mountains we find 9n arid region where
the rainfall is scanty. 1t is not as
dry as the great plains of the Rocky
Mountain plateau, but SO dry that the
vegetation is scrubby and the big trees
| disappear. 1t is through this region
that flow the chief rivers which are
fed by the SHOWS oil the mountains
The Yukon. which runs for 800 miles
from the Canadian boundary to Ber-
ing Sea. Is the largest and the kusko
liwim, which nows through the same
plateau farther SOUTH comes next. the
pla teau where 1t joins British Columbia
| Is about as high as the average alti-
tude Of the Allegheny Mountains. and
| II slopes from there north to the sea.
| - The Mighty Conl Reds.
or this rough territory DIR. Brooks
tells me that only about onc-hfth Of
| the whole has been geolos ically ex,
plored. The biologists have gone over
tho most accessible and most desir-
able parts of il and have tramped across
the other portion, ma king explora-
Tons here and there. so that in general
they know about what the country
I-eontains and have specific knowledge
of AZ least one-lfth OF III
y great part OF our conversation to-
day related to the coal fields. when
are now attracting so much attention
In the minds OF the people. DR.. Brooks
says there is coal all over Alaska, and
| that the beds are OF such an enormous
extent that they probably contain hun
areas OF. billions Of tons. and there Is
no doubt that they contain at the lea 81
100000. 900. This can he estima ted
by the fields which have been more or
less carefully tested, but it safe
tn say that al the minimum estimate
me coal amounts to i50.0o6,0o0 coo
IONS and that II may he many tines
| maj amount The coal resources are
,at eAcess OF those Of tile Appa