Putnam patriot., 1911-08-04
MESSAGE ABOUT
 CONTROLLER BAY
p;ssIdsnt Answers Critics of
 His Elimination Order.
rgf aDICK TO DICK" LETTER.

..-charles P. Taft Never Heard .co,trolIer Bay Railroad, President s,vs Until Very Recently.
 ,r..binrton. July 26.-President Taft sent to the senate a message .oarning the Controller bay affair .ba reduction of the area of the rsusach national forest reserve to per .ba Controller Bay Railway and ,,-,qation company to acquire land tbo bay to be used as terminals railway line to the Boring coal l s.a. twenty-five miles away. The ..s.sge is in response to resolution ..ssad by the senate June 27 last, rh,ch asked for copies of all depart nontal orders. maps, surveys, letters, ...or.s and official documents in the ,..a Copies of these documents ac- company the message.
 Tho executive order of Oct. 2S, 1910, ..t,rrsd to in the resolution was in the terms following;
 cureACH NATIONAL FOREST,
 ALASKA.
 ,,sar authority of the act of congress z. Tnne 1897 60 Stat, Il. at 34 and 36), "a m inc recommendation of the secre- ., of agriculture 1t is hereby ordered .s., tba nroclamation of Feb. 23 1908, en- --5.g the Chugaeh National forest be -ssi6ed 10 reduce the area of such na- ..s,.I forest by eliminating therefrom the sHovine described tract, containing ap- .,vir,atelr lgS50 acres of land, which - bsan found upon examination to be -, cbiaav valuable for national forest purposes: ,s longitude IA degrees minutes west 1-5sses the coast line of Controller bay 5snoa north along said meridian line to ss paralel of latitude at 60 degrees 10 r,g,es north, thence west along said .grallel to a point where the same crosses ,sa coast line at or near the mouth of rsring river and thence along the coast inc place of beginning
 Tba tract above described is hereby re- .,oYed to the public domain.
 WILLIAM H. TAFT The White House, Washington, Oct. 2S ,m il' "'''
 The president declares that the order es not permit the Controller Bay hallway and Navigation company to secure monopoly of the Controller oy harbor as, under the law, strip ighty rods wide must be left between aeh entry, having frontage of 160 ods on navigable water. The law also eeDs the control of the shore, which hcludes the flats lying between high Eater and low water, under the di- ectiOn of congress. This provision, ey Mir Taft, fully protects the pub and absolutely prevents any in. FduaI or corporation from acquir- Lg a monopoly.
 h regard to the Dick to Dick" let ', in which there is a reference to hares Taft, the president denies that s brother ever spoke to him con. ening Controller bay, Richard $. yal or any grant in Alaska. He says bat the letter in question cannot be und in the files of the government, ld he refers to 1t as a wicked fab cstOn." He declares that his broth never heard of Controller bay un- the president sent him a eablegram garding the subject.
 Possible Harbor In Controller Bay. lhe message describes the location Controller bay, which was original included in the Chugach forest re re For time 1t was thought that water of the bay was too shallow make II valuable as harbor, but iTl channel was discovered ex- dhg into the bay about seven miles. tract taken from the forest re 7e by the presidents order covers su acres in a triangular form, the along Controller bay being be- cen six and seven miles long, which CTS the channel mentioned.
 le presidents message then says:
 the territory surrounding Con- er pay was included in the Gnu forest reservation in 1909 by a aaMation of President Roosevelt
 importance of Controller bay is
 lies about twenty-five miles very valuable coal deposits, Sa as the Bering coal fields. Ka-
 pay IS to the west of Controller
 ana almost immediately adjoins an open roadstead. upon the ol which an attempt was made ut Morgan-Guggenheim syndicate esaollsh a railway terminal and
 e to build road to the Boring
 aelds. already mentioned The IN Jailed for the reason that the A@ater protecting the terminals
 ueStroyed by storms and the
 1al. became impracticable. Some
 mics or more farther west of
 4d pay Is the mouth of the Cop
 Rer' where there is an excellent
 @ on which is the town of Cor
 Aaefe the Copper River rail
 owned by the Morgan-Guggen-
 interests, has it's terminals. and
 que runs to the northeast along gpper river and has nearly reach
 '4ln rich copper mines in the in-
 branch from this main line 9eted to the Boring coal fields r feasible.
 a sa lhe channel in the Controller f. s Discovered MT. Tittman, su Q ea''enF of the coast survey. as $ " hls letter in the record. was r' aAon that it was of great value Q nll 70 be maintained as a na-
 'auon because or It's proxIm- A Ae eoal fields. His letter was
 uy the secretary of com
 lld labor to the secretary of
 slor' who invited the comment Ifeetor of the geological sur
 -aae officer replied that the
 vas poor one and that it Iho VI De as good for a naval res