Douglas Island news., 1914-09-30
Alaska. Terra Incognita

even Co Ala8kaus. mere are meu "uO have lived nearly a score of years in this territory who are still unconscious of what Alaska holds. There are men who have spent many years in Nome wbo are as far from knowing Alaska as if they had never left Seattle. There are men who have lived in the south east for more than 8 score of years who know no more about Alaska than round tripper from New York. There are men scattered along the Yukon riv- CT for two thousand miles who would probably go back east and describe Al aska as a land of low grade plscers, flat bottomed steamers, polling boats and hsh wheels. There are men on the Al aska Peninsula on whose minds Alaska is impressed as a region of tundra, ptarmigsu aud Russian half breeds. And there are men on the Koyukuk who see in the territory nothing but spotted diggings, roadhouses and mala- mutes.
 There are men who are not Alaskans who come to Alaska for a week or two and then go out and write book about it. They usually get off the steam boat at Skagwsy, go down the Yukon, buy few pictures at Dawson, an Indian cu- rio at Tausua, an ivory crib board at Nome and go back to Washington or New York knowing more in their own opinion about the territory than Alas ka's guardian angel himself They tell the president what is best for us and shat we do not know what is best for ourselves.
 The reason for all this is that Alaska is a mighty country and with resources, climate and people that are mighty va 7ied in various respects. To know the natives scattered all over the vast spaces it is hardly enough that you have bought a parka from an Eskimo and heard him haggle over the price. To know the agriculture, possibilities it is not enough to visit the Glory hole at Treadweu. To understand the quartz outlook it is not enough to walk up Dome creek aud see men shoveling into sluice boxes from a dump. You must live for years iu each district of Alaska and you must watch the climate for macy seasons aud you must take part in the quartz and the placer mining for long weary months before you begin to gain an insight into the real signi6- canoe of each condition and each cir cumstance.
 There are men on Seward Peninsula for instance, who have never seen Sew ard and who could never be made to believe that Alaska can be a great az ricultursl country. Over there they raise few vegetables, of course, and some fDe vegetables, but the idea of great fields of growing corn, smiling gardens, acres in extent, miles and miles of rich grasses and, above all, farm houses, is one tbat appears Co be only the stuff that dreams are made of, when 1t is harbored in relation to Alaska.
 People by the millions are living in some of the crowded centers of the worlds population who, without know. iug it half the time, have hardly enough to eat. There is not one of such fami lies who could not better their cOudi tion even now by having a few acres of land up here. No doubt that hardly looks reasonable to those who are able to make good livings in cities and such folks would consider the thought of living on an Alaska farm as equivalent to bauishment, but there are many others in this world of ours to whom the greatest blessing on earth would be knowledge of the opportunities offer ed here. To know this one should have seen the poverty that exists in other lands and seen the millions who could be saved from semi slavery by just such information.
 And some day farmers will begin to And their way in. When there is a rail. road and when the coal is opened and the quartz lodges are being operated, there will be people to eat the produce of farms One industry will help the other and each will supply to the other the fuel of the fire of progress, and thus will both grow together and thus