Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1911-07-27


and the reduction of the area of the
Chugach national forest reserve to per
NIT the Controller Bay Railway and
Navigation company to acquire land
on the bay to be used as terminals
for railway line to the Boring coal
, fields. twenty-five miles away. The
message Is In response TO a resolution
passed by the senate June q 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 IS. 1910
referred to in the resolution was in the
terms following:
CHUGACH NATIONAL FOREST.
ALASKA
Under authority Of the act of congress
= Of June 4 1897 go Stat, Il, at "a and 35J,
and On the recommendation Of the secre-
fary Of agriculture II is hereby ordered
that the proclamation OF Feb q. 1909. en-
larg1ng the Chugach National forest be
modified to reduce the area of such ma
tional forest by eliminating thsTefrom the
following described tract, containing ap
proximately 12seo acres OF land. which
has been found upon examination to be
not chiefly valuable for national forest
purposes:
Beginning at a point where the meridian
of longitude IA degrees s minutes west
crosses the coast line OF Controller bay,
thence north along said meridian line TO
the parallel Of latitude at 50 degrees 10
minutes north. thence west along said
parallel to q point where the same crosses
the coast line at or near the mouth OF
ter and al hG act
TO the place OF beginning
The tract above described is hereby re-
stored to the public domain
WILLIAM n. TAFT.
The White House. Washington, Oct. IS
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 barbor as. under the law, strip
eighty rods wide must be left between
each entry, having n frontage OF 16O
rods on navigabIe water. The law also
keeps the control Of the shore, which
includes the flats lying between high
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 a reference 10
Charles Taft. the president denies that
his brother ever spoke to him con
corning Controller bay. Richard s.
Ryan or any grant in Alaska. He says
that the letter in question cannot be
Tn . ,f . T. anF
and he refers to it as wicked fab
rication." He declares that his broth
er never heard of Controller bay I'M
til the president sent him 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 n time it was thought that
the water Of the bay was too shallow
TO make # valuable as a harbor. bur
in 1907 IA 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.SO0 acres in a triangular form. the
side along Controller bay being be
tween six and seven miles long, which
covers the channel mentioned.
The presidents messuE re then says.
All the territory surrounding Con I
trolIer bay was included in the Chu- /.
zach forest reservation in 1909 10y a I.
proclamation Of President Roosevelt /
The Importance Of Controller bay is
that It lies about twenty-five miles /
from very valuable coal deposits, 4
known as the Bering coal fields. Ka- 4
talla bay is TO the west Of Controller .
bay and almost Immediately adjOins .
e. IL is an open Toadstead. upon the .
shore OF which an attempt was made .
by the Morgan Guggeuheim syndicate ,
70 establish a railway terminal and .
thence to build a road to the Boring .
coal fields. already mentioned. The 7
attempt failed for the reason that the /
breakwater protecting the terminals
was destroyed by storms and the
terminals became impracticabie- 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 C uEgen-
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
terror \ branch from this main line
IS protested 10 the Bering coal fields
and Is feasible
When the channel IN the Controller
bay was discovered Mr.. Tittman. su-
peTintendent o< the coast survey. as
shown by his letter IN the record. was
OF opinion that Il was of great value
end ought TO be maintained as a IA