The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1912-03-25
RAILROAD ACROSS ALASKA
Secretary Fisher Would Use Equip
ment From Panama Canal

Washington, March 23.-Secretary
Fisher of the Interior Department
will, within a few days, have ready
Tor Congress a report which will deal
with the question of cutting Alaska
in two by means of a new railway and
Of using the construction material
md equipment of the Panama Canal
TO do it, The proposal is to use the
material that was employed in build
ing the Panama Canal to construct a
road to the Matanuska coal fields in
Alaska, which will simply divide the
territory in two. He has turned over
to Brigadier General Marshall, retir-
ed, former chief of engineers, U, S, A.
who is now detailed to duty under
the secretary of the interior, an in
ventory of all the material available
on the isthmus, and General Marshall
is at work on the plan of building
the proposed road with the material
and construction equipmentnow grad
uallygoing out of commission at Pan
ANA.
Secretary Fisher will urge that the
force of engineers and the purchased
equipment at Panama is precisely
what is required for the work in Alas
ka, and that no better plan can be
adopted than to place the project in
the hands of the army engineers who
have made such q signal success of
the work on the isthmus The total
value of the material that could be
turned over to Secretary Fisher at the
time of the purchase was, roundly,
$16OOO,OOO.
There is far more material in Pan
ANA than would be needed for the
Alaska road. There are more than
375 miles of rails and ties. The rails
are good seventy-pound rails. There
are also rails for probably as many
more miles of narrow guage road b.
yond the coal fields On the isthmus
are forty locomotives that could be
used on the new road and 500 cars
These cars are of various patterns
very few of them being passenger OF
! box cars. The greater number are
fiat cars which could be converted
| into coal cars without much cost. The
principal item of cost lies in the nee
essity to change the guage from the
! ive-foot track used in Panama to the
standard guage suitable for hauling
coal, which is four feet eight inches
1t would cost $50 car to cut dowr
their axles for the standard guage
The expense for changing the locomo
tives, which cost on an average o.
about $1,000, is estimated to be $500
Secretary Fisher believes that thu
government should have two objects
in view in building the new roads
to open up the coal field at Matanus
ka by road from Seward, It's miles
to the coal fields, and then by runninl
, on to Fairbanks and finally to the Tia
mana river, which runs into the Yu
kon, and thus would effect a line o
communication with the river through
the length of Alaska and bring to tn
government road vast amount o
freight. The secretary has fixed Of
Seward as the terminal at deep waite
because IL has one of the anest hal
bors in Alaska where the entire nav
could assemble in safe anchorage
The possibilities for the defense 0
the place are all that could be desil
ed. Seward, unlike many towns o
Alaska, has available ground for do
velopment Other points are crowde
between the mountain and the shore
and at some places glaciers threaten
the interruption of business in a wa
that investors are unwilling to rlsl
Secretary Fisher takes the view tina
the Guggenheim syndicate, having be-
gun to develop its own investments
will go forward with its road. an
thus the region will have the advar
tage Of two lines of railroad and tn
smaller investors will be enabled I
operate.