The Alaska citizen., 1914-06-22

" Ieu lle 1AldSkd LuSlnteflnS com mission was being organized. the government wanted men to take
 harse of the work of laying out lines for the new railroads who were familiar with the Northland. They had already appointed an army en- eineer and noted railroad engineer as members of the commission, and to complete the commission by the appointment of another man, they wanted an engineer who knew some thing of Alaska and the conditions prevailing here.
 It was only natural in such case, that the name of Thomas Riggs, Jr., who had pioneered in Alaska and was familiar with the Alaska boundary survey, should be mentioned That is how MT, Riggs happens to be in Fairbanks now at the head of the railroad survey work in the Interior.
 MT. Riggs was born in Howard county, Maryland, 1873. His educa- ton was gained at Dresden, Ger many. at the Emerson institute in Washington. D. C., and at Prince ton university, where he was grad uated in 1894.
 A careful observation of MT. Riggs would convince anyone that he is just the kind of man who would enjoy pioneering. He has light hair, blue eyes and the slim igu~e that combined generally indi- cate the energetic, nervous tempera- ment that can not be satisfied with ambitionless routine. But, of course, this is not a character study of Mir, Riggs.
 In July, 1897, three years after he graduated from Princeton. MT. Riggs first came to Alaska. The pioneer ing he experienced in the four years he spent in mining, prospecting, and even working for wages as a day laborer with pick and shovel, prov ed to be in strong contrast to his years of college life, but it proved in a way to be the most important part of his life's training. For q time he worked on Dominion creek, near Dawson. and later he took wood contracts there
 All that Mr Riggs gained in those four years was his experience, which prepared him for the important du- ties that came to him later, and that are now before him.
 In 1901, Mr. Riggs went to San Juan county, Utah, where he be- came the superintendent of a gold mine Two years after he took up that work, the mine was sold, and Mr Riggs was looking for new job.
 His next work was that of aXman for survey party running the llliC bCt"SSh eiiS AiAN~>' States and Canada from the sum- init of the Rocky mountains west to the Cascade mountains. For this very ordinary and hard work he re- ceived the big salary of but $50 month. but he stayed with it, and a few months later he was advanced to the position of traverseman. In the summer of 1904 he was made transit man, that is, he was promot- ed to surveyor, and the winter fol lowing he began work in surveying the reclamation ditch for the gov ernment from the Colorado river, at Yuma, Arizona.
 From the ditch survey work, MT. Riggs was transferred back to the Canadian boundary survey in 19O5, when he was made chief of party that run the survey westward from the top of the Cascade mountains. The following year, MT. Riggs joined the Alaska boundary survey, start ing near Yakutat bay, which is in the vicinity of Mt. St. Elias.
 This work consisted of running a line northward from Mt. St. Elias on the Hist meridian to the Arctic ocean. The line was finished in 1912, and the following year-last year-was spent in inspection work along the line.
 How and why MT. Riggs came to be appointed member of the Alaska Engineering commission was told at