The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-06-14
ALASKAN RAILROAD
 ISA GIGANTIC TASK
Far Surpasses Panama in
 Engineering Difficulties
MOUNTAIN OBSTACLES
Will Have No Fever Problem, How ever-Great Government Project Will Amply Repay Every
 Cent Put Into It

The greatest engineering feat in the history of the world is about to be started, says the St Paul (Aiinn.) Pioneer Press. Many wonderful en- gineering feats have been accomplished In the building of railroads throughout the world. but none compare to the feat or constructing the government rail- road across the Alaskan heights to the valley of the Yukon. Alaska is locked Tor many months of the year The mouth of the Yukon is closed to com meree throughout the long Arctic night.
 when gold was first discovered In Alaska the rest of the civilied world wondered at the stupendous task before the gold miners who sealed the heights at Skagway and Wild Horse Pass. Poe try and prose of the DOS teem with tales of the frozen north. The prob- lem or the gold seekers was a simple one compared to the problem of the railroad builders.
 When President Wilson signed the bill to spend sS5.000, 900 for the con struction of railway into the interior or Alaska recently. and conferred with Secretary of the Interior Lane. who, by nature of his position, will have charge or the work, citizens of Alaska re- Joiced. The new railroad means pros- perity to Alaska is the belief of the res idents of that northern land
 Give Land to Railroads
 In the early days when the gosrrn- ment wished to develop the west it gave away large areas of land to the rail- roads on condition that they would build railroads across the desolte waste. ihat policy had much to do with the building up of the great west. The pres ent method Is cheaper from a money spending point of view The lands the railroads obtained are now worth many times more than the cost of construc- ton of the railroads The railroads have been accused of becoming monopolies. They have been accused of not serving the best interests of the people.
 With government-owned railroad, politicians will strive hard to, use the railroads for the intersts of their friends. The difficulties new communi- ties Tn the west had with railroads will not be met with in Alaska. Government ownership of railroads has at last be- come reality on small scale. Or. rather 1t will become reality as soon as the government engineers can get to work and complete the big task
 When the railroad builder went into the west and sealed the passes of the Rockies and the Sierras he was hailed as d conquering hero. Another b,Stiing nero Is Colonel Goethals, who Is com pleting the Panama canal. But the greatest engineer is yet to come. There Is considerable talk that Goethals will be assigned to the Alaskan job If he IS put to work 1t means bigger task than any he has yet undertaken.
 Must Fight the Heights
 That Goethals has been considered for the place and may be appointed goes without saying. He Is the most trusted engineer in America today. But the task he win encounter should he go to Alaska will be far different from that he en- countered in Panama. The biggest job in Panama was the fever. The fever drove the French from the isthmus and the fever was conquered there before anyone started earnestly on the big ditch.
 In Alaska there will be no fever prob- lem, but there will be the problem of fighting the heights. Alaska is not bar ren. frozen region. It is productive, and will some day be able to sustain a con- siderable population. But Alaskas inte- rior Is fenced in on the south side by great mountain barrier. This mountain barrier contains such peaks as Mount Mckinleyf the loftiest peak in America. It contains Mount St. Elias and Mount WrangeH. The mountains are always snow-capped Even the passes are treach- erous and dangerous
 It will be picturesque spot through which to build railroad, but at the same time it will be dangerous one High mountains are glorious to look at, but hard to run railroads across When the sun sinks low in the winter, ice forms on the ridges and northern slopes Work cannot be pushed all the year around.
 A visitor to Alaska Yn the winter time n n m lah Co n. dova by steamer, and then follow the government sledge road across the passes to Fairbanks and other interior cities.
 Gold Made Alaska
 Gold is what made Alaska. People were slow to go there before the news came that sawmilr operators in the Klondike had made a wonderful strike. The first miners were placer hunters. They have been hunting gold in Alaska. for years. It was known long before tbe Klondike discovery that the region was rich in gold, but 1t was not known how rich Suddenly the cupidity of men was aroused with the stories of gold in the far north. Reports came that the mother vein" of all the earth had been discovered.
 The first miners were placer hunters. They washed over the surface and pros- pected far and wide. Then came the dredge hunters. who dug up the river banks. Now the real gold miners are in the territory. Alaska is far from being thoroughly explored. There are hundreds or men in that frozen region enduring all kinds of privations, scaling high peaks and overcoming all kinds of obstacles of nature to find the yellow metal Prospec- tors will work for time for someone else to get some money in order to go into the interior to prospect. Prospectors sell themselves to richer men who grub stake them and then turn them loose to hunt for gold in the far northland. These prospectors then divide their profits with the men who staked them.
 Picturesque Gold Hunters
 These gold hunters are the most pie