Williston graphic. (Williston, Williams County, N.D.) 1895-1919, 1914-02-05
RETURNED FROM
ALASKAN TRIP
REPRESENTATIVE OF MUTUAL.
LIFE TELLS OF EXTENSIVE
TRIP THROUGH NORTHLAND

LIFE TELLS OF EXTENSIVE
TRIP THROUGH NORTHLAND
William II. Clapp, Inspector from
the home Office of the Mutual Life In
surance Company of New York was
in the city the first of the week on his
way home. Mr.. Clapp was one of a
party of one hundred and twenty en-
joying an eight thousand mile trip
through the Northland last summer
as guests of the Seattle Chamber OF
Commerce, and his story Of their five
weeks spent in that country is very
interesting. The party left Seattle
about June 21st and did not return un-
til the last of July. They went by
steamer from Seattle stopping at
such points as Prince Repert and
coast terminal Of the Grand Trunk
Pacific; Metlakalta, the scene of the
Famous Rev. Duncan's labors with
the indians; Wrangell, Petersburg,
Juneau, where are located the famous
Treadwell copper mines, Haines.,
Skagway, White Horse, Fairbanks,
Tanana, Dawson, Nome, and other
points of interest. In speaking of the
country, it's scenery, ETC., Mr.. Clapp
said the trip was one of the most in
teresting he had ever enjoyed. AS the
party advanced northward the days
increased in length until when at Fair.
banks they encountered continual day.
The sun did not set until after twelve
and was only down little over an
hour and a half He said the veget-
able growth here was very rapid and
| heavy. Crops matured in sixty days
which was made possible by the con-
tinual warm weather and sunshine.
When at Fairbanks the temperature
was SS. In spite of this warm wealth
er the ground never thawed out over
two or three feet. Contractors were
busy laying water mains when the
party reached this city and on account
of the ice and frost in the ground
steam pipes had to be laid along side
the water pipes to keep them from
freezing And this only a few feet
below the surface while on top it was
very warm and the grains, grasses.
and flowers were growing rapidly
The entire tour through Alaska was
by boat and after a 2545 mile trip
along the rivers the party embarked
! dI IOG. MlCIdGlS Oll LllG tOCCdllcE
Northwestern. From here they journ-
eyed north and west stopping at
Nome, and then on to Cape Prince of
Wales and the Diomede Islands.
where they were in sight of Siberia.
Returning south they visited st Law
renee Island the home of the reindeer
and then the Pribiloff Islands where
! they saw thousands of SEAL The boat
followed the coast line homeward Wis
iting many points of interest. At
Sitka Mr.. Clapp said the flowers grew
in profusion and were very beautiful
While on the northern part of the
sea journey it was continual day and
there were as many people on deck at
two and three o'clock in the morning
as in the afternoon. In speaking OF
this Mr.. Clamp said "We seemed to
need very little sleep. not near as
much as at home and our journey
here was one continual round of pleas
ure, each guest taking an hour or
two sleep as they felt thew needed it."
His statements about the gold min
ing would wipe out the fairy stories
told of the easy finds so often report--
ed. He said the gold mining there
was practically all dredging and i'm
mense machines were necessary to
make this successful. There are how
ever immense coal fields undeveloped
and if The coal proved of good quality
then immense wealth was locked up
here awaiting development. This
said Mr.. Clapp would be about the
! only thing that would tend to make
the government railroad to be built
there a success The entire west needs
cheaper coal and Mr.. Clapp believes
when this road is built the coal mines
will be opened up and cheaper coal
will be the result. This coal could
be brought by boat to Montana. While
on their ocean part of the trip and
while visiting one groun of islands
thew saw British boats unloading Aus
tralian coal for use in the U. S.
revenue cutters.
Fairbanks, Nome and Juneau are
the three largest cities and Fairbanks
has only population of $500 while
the other two have but 5000 each. At
Fairbanks the President of the Cham
Der of Commerce of that City stated
to the visitors that unless they were
given relief, (meaning railroad)
their city would be off the map inside
of ten years. During the summer
months mail is delivered by boat bur
in the winter dog teams carry it over
thousands of miles and during this
period the mail carrier only has to
carry a limited number of pounds,
hence only first class mail is taken in.
Subscribers to magazines and other
reading matter of like class don't see
any Of them from about, September
until the rivers open up again In the
spring.
Alaska. said Mr.. Clapp. only has a,
population Of sixty four thousand and
when you consider that half of this
number are natives you only have lett
thirty four thousand whites. During
the last ten years Alaska has lost in
population one hundred.
NEW RAILROAD MAP
We received few days ago the