Valdez daily prospector., 1912-01-25
NORTHERN HIGHWAY PLAN.

America. All these countries arc
 m the same zone, and have sim
 liar problems to solve reSpectine communication. Road building in
 each country is pursued under
 somewhat similar conditions. Like adversities in many, if moi most, instances confront the pco- pie, and the problem of road building in such regions is per maps the greatest of all in the struggle to make the land one of homes and industries.
 Compared tO other countries. hussla is roadlrss. This cnndi- 1Ion has initiated against the op- "nlng of Russia Io a vast degrcp
 It has set back for centuries por- '"'hS "I hiSsIa. On" reason giv- 'Il for tn" lack of road building lh hld"r Russia was the fact thai fIN"rS being covered with ice. and ground with SHOW half inc yc,r afforded all the lranspurIniion wanted. But now Russia has awakened. With the rest of inc world, she sees she cannot afford |" spend her life waiting. Rus- SIa has devised a systematic plan of road building.
 In Alaska and northern Canada several millions have been sDcnt m road building. but the work has h'rn dome on no general plan Now the slnw-goiny Russian aWak'S from his Icihargy. and comes forward With a plan which Tor magnitude and system ccIip- sos anything his Canurk nr Yam kr" friends have promulgated. The Russian plans fo make roads i on the scheme of linraI miIragr haSed on the acreage. and io have i every man and horse in the cnliin- i try which inc roads DrnrIraIc | contribute ln the work. Yukon l and Alaska are plOdding on in thc | old haphazard method of getting appropriations from year i0 year. | The cZar plans t0 lay out whole sale scheme, and to do il up thor | nughly. His semi-Arctic realm is one of the greatest portions of the earth. and the road work | planned is nothing short of col | ossal. There arc some 4f,OOO miles of railway Tn RuSisa, and not Onc-third that figure of met alcd roads. The roads are. even more markedly than the railways. which of late have begun to con- Sidrr economic and commercial l needs, strategic roads from the ! center io tn" confines of the rm- | pirr. If iS the intention of the | council of ministers lO set about | r"mrdyiug liiS defect. and il is 1 hoped [" r"ru"v" il before the next ! h"radr. \ brginning iS io be , made With European Russia on- ly. leaving all Sihrria. central As | "a and such for later work. The | prOpOrtIn ion of IinrHI miles of road , To Suuar" nilrS uf territory. ac- 1 r"rhinT to the proposals .bcfO ! lhc council of ministers. is to be : aS one tn len. In France the pro- ! portion ~i one iu one. and in the ! worst provided European colIn- | try il i> mol less than one io eight. l Therefore, Russia iS aiming at much Jess than other countries 1 already have. and for tho most | part hay" had for many centuries.
 Tn make il ten years the iG5,- GOO miles of roads required is one of those gigantic measures of re- form comparable only to inc agrarian settlement scheme on which tho present. government of Russia is steadily engaged. The money cost of constructing for EurOpcan- Russia alone sucicicni roads to provide ono lincal mile 10 ten square miles of country is estimated al little under two hun drcd millions sterling, a sum far beyond inc capacity of Russia to provide for this purpose in mon cy. But if Russia has not the money, she undoubtedly has the men. and Lhcsc have nowadays plenty of spare limo. holidays and Inc like, SO that the rmincnlly practical plan of lhr council of ministers is lO gel these roads made in Inc course of Inc next de- cadc by requiring local labor and resources lo give up SO much Olh-
 crwiSc wasted lime to lhc task, materials being supplied where
 found on Ih" spot.
 II is roughly estimated that not moro than half week year from lNnrA t1nn nnI hnrun in rllrnl