The Alaska citizen., 1914-06-01

ises to energetic, economical young men than any other place. is the of Fairbanks, George Morrison Smith whose business experience here and on the Outside makes him compe- tent judge in such matters.
 The young men in their teens, who are earnest and ambitious. can find in this new country a rare op- portunity to grow. MT. Smith asserts. He believes that the future of Alaska is one of agricultural as well as mining development, for he believes that far down in the earth, deeper than any mines have been dug here yet. there are big rich veins of ore which are sure to be uncovered in time.
 By leading MT. Smith on in a con versational way, it was found that he is a native of Portland. Oregon, where he was born on December 14, 1873. His father was an Oregon pioneer, having come to Portland as early as 1862, when much of the site of that city, which is now one of the most rapidly growing municipali- ties in the West, was covered with trees and stumps. MT. Smiths fath- CT was contractor and builder and when the present councilman of Fairbanks completed his schooling, he learned to work with his father eight children in the family, five boys and three girls.
 In 1882. MT. Smith spent his first summer with his folks at Long Beach, Washington, which was then growing into summer resort. Three years later, MT. Smiths father con cluded to move his family to Long Beach, where he did much contract work in building new homes there Thus, in the winter time, the young man worked with his father as d carpenter and in the summer, when the people flocked there for their vacations, he worked in a store clerk ing.
 It was then that he met F. R. Peoples of this city, for the first time, and the friendship that started then has since continued. Mr Peo- ples came to Long Beach on behalf of business firm, and the two young men saw much of each other. though it is probable that at that time they never imagined that later they would both be in business in a city so near the Arctic circle as is Fairbanks.
 gained his first real business eX- perience, not mentioning his clerk ship there, for he conceived the idea of earning money for himself, though quite young, by doing a small busi- ness on his own account. There was no financial necessity for his taking up any work of that kind, bu; as a child he had delighted in the privilege of selling newspapers on the streets of Portland and he want ed still further to satisfy his ambi tion of accomplishing something by his own volition.
 Accordingly he made arrangements with a bakery at Astoria little way down the coast, on the Oregon side of the Columbia river, to send him a small boat-load of bread and pies each day, and these he sold on commission, driving into the coun- try with them, and sometimes not completing his daily task until 9 o'clock at night. He made such a success of the work that the Long Beach bakeries tried to put him out of business, and failing to accom- plish that, the one that finally as sumed all the local baking, entered into deal with him to sell it's bread, instead of his patronizing the Astoria establishment.
 In 1897, MT. Smith applied to big dry goods firm in Portland for job as salesman, and was success full. About year later he left that store to enter the employment, at an advanced salary. of one of the biggest department stores in Port land. He remained in that position until 1901, when he went to Eugene, Oregon, to become the general man. ager of store at that place.
 A few months later he found that near Eugene was an excellent piece of timberland still unclaimed, and he filed on it. He still owns it, and he says the requirement of that land was one of the best things he ever did.
 It is probable that he would still be living in Eugene, were it not for girl in the case, whose home was in Portland. Anyhow, he soon re- turned to Portland and resumed his