The Alaska daily empire., 1913-11-14
Alaska, The Land
 of Wonders
By HENRY O. SMITH.


 missioner for Alaska, who made many friends in Juneau while here with the patrol boat Osprey, has returned to the States, carrying back with him some fine impressions of the country. These impressions for a featured arti- cle in the Robinson Constitution, print ed at Robinson, Crawford County, In diana, consisting of a page boost for the North from which the following extracts are reproduced:
 Alaska is the Zenith of the natural resources of the earth! The Alaskan is the salt of the earth And though he indulged, occasionally, a little too freely in the eliXer of life, and may get slightly pickled, yet he has the Aurora Borealis to illuminate his path and in the main he squares his actions with the North Star whence the needle of the compass of all good mariners point.
 We take pardOnable pride in refer ring to the State of our nativity, by stating that when God made Illinois,. He did a mighty good job of it, but when he made Alaska He made won ders. In this respect Alaska is the climax of His creation. While on board the State of California on the way up, a lady with her two daughters from New York City wrote the follow ing telegram to her husband, You must see Alaska; meet us in Skag- way" and delivered it into the hands of F. E.. Parsons, who was. going to get off at Juneau for delivery to the cable office This was the opinion of a lady of refinement from the second city of the globe, and who had travelled all over the world and many times had toured Europe and beheld the wonders of the Alps A raw Irishman who ar, rived in this country was equally amazed and enthusiastic when he saw such great evidence of gold on the one hand and the lofty snow capped noun tains covered with evergreen on the other. which caused him to give forth the spontaneous ejaculation, Faith and it's a land of gold and Christmas trees"
 Alaska is a land of millions. Every year gold worth millions is mined. The pack of salmon runs into millions. The same is true with halibut. Mir Wilhe manager of the New England Cold Storage of Ketchikan, informs us that their pack of halibut alone reaches twenty million pounds per year The pack of salmon each year more than doubles the price paid by the United States to Russia for Alaska, October, 1867. In the interior of Alaska, the Secretary of the Interior has lately made the revelation, that 5ixty-five million acres of grass as high as your waist and my head awaits the sickel of civilization. This season marks the introduction of the first binder in Fair banks where it is being used to har- vest oats and hay. All kinds of gar dening can be proftably carried on in Alaska and no where does the straw berry and red raspberry grow larger and more prolific.
 Again We repeat, Alaska is a won- derful country. Think of it! We look upon Illinoins as one of the big States of the Union and yet is would require almost even States the size of H. inois to embrace the Territory of Alas ka. The coast line of her fisheries, in- cluding her islands, reaches a distance of 25 or 30 thousand miles, a distance greater than the combined coast line of the United States and all her navi- gable streams. Yes, think of it! The traveller moving Westward along the coast line of Alaska will change the hands of his watch one hour earlier. three different times.
 Harry Raymond One of TuDaou,e