The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-06-11

| upon railroad construction. It is the | fisheries. MT. Seward was told when in 1 Alaska that the money value each year | of the fisheries was likely to become ap- proximatey equal to the money value of | the gold mined each year. In 1912 the money value of new gold produced there and the money value of the fisheries were almost exactly equal The fisheries ex- | ceeded the gold In money value by about s1500O0.
 A Railroad and the Railroads 1 Some years ago what was believed to , be valuable copper properties came into | the possession of New York citizens who l did not possess capital sufficient to de- lyelop these properties. They were To-
 cated, according to reports, near the cop per center and were presumed to be as valuable as were the so-called Morgan properties These men viisted Boston in l the hope that they would be able to per l suade some of the Boston capital inter- | ested in copper to assist them in the development of the property. They were
 told that there could be no doubt of the l enormousness of copper deposits in lower | Alaska, but at that time it was not so much a copper proposition as 1t was a railroad proposition which would compel consideration. If capital could be found
 which was willing to invest in the con- struction of a railroad which would fur 1 nisli communication between the copper 1 fields and the seaports, then there would l be no difficulty in persuading Boston capital or other capital to under take the development of copper properties. | In the recent report which was made | by Franklin K. Lane, Secretary of the Interior to President Wilson, there Is 1 clear intimation that MT. Lane fully realizes that at present the proposition l in Alaska is a transportation rather than a mining proposition.
 l Private capital has been found for the reconstruction of two railroads of consid- l erable length in Alaska, one of which ex- | tends from Seward, a point upon the | coast which William H. Seward visited | after he retired from the office of Sec retary of State, to Kern Creek Another runs northerly and then eastery from 1 Cordova on Prince William soundlt to the l Wrangall mountains and a littleebeyond whereby communication is obtained with | a portion of the copper regions. The l building of this railroad was one of the marvels of railroad construction. Diff culties inconcevably great, some of them due to climatic conditions, some to ice, 1 were overcome The construction of the | railroad cost through exposure and over l work the lives of two of the contractors who had undertaken the work.
 These furnish, however, only insufficient 1 transportation. There are several other l railroads contemplated, one of which runs northerly toward the Nome peninsu- l la, others northeasternly and one Is con | templated running from Haines on l Chatham strait-which bounds on the l east the island upon which Sitka is To- cated and which, if completed will be in- ternational in its character, since it will l cross a part of the Yukon district and Il do turpa n | the American territory and that of Can | ada, will run due northwesterly to Hali- l fax. There are two short railroads which run on the Nome peninsula northeasterly. MT. Lanes recent report to the Presi- dent is spoken of in this city as docu- I ment of the highest importance He ap- pears to take the same view of the future of Alaska which some of the business statesmen after they become familiar l with the territory, have recently done. He is convinced that Alaska has poten- tialities which if they are availed of
 will be sure in a future not distant to l justify the intrusion of the territory among the states of the union.
 The natural resources of the Alaska peninsula are stupendous. They are not 1 confined to mining copper or gold, or to II the fisheries. Alaska may be made to yield large quantities of mineral oil Under proper development the United
 
 or along the coast abundant supply of potash, a commodity for which this coun- try furnishes very great market. In or .l der to take advantage of the opportuni- I ties for the production of great wealth Il which Alaska offers, the Secretary of the [, Interior reports that there should be inn
 mediate action which will lead to the speedy construction of railroads through
 out the territory and also to the develop
 ment of very rich coal mines. It may be that if Congress acts upon the Secretary $ ] advice as 1t has already in part acted we shall have the first general demon stration of government owned and possi- bly government operated railroad lires on large scale in Alaska. Mir. Lane as- serts that the counties of the states in the . past have been and are now building roads, not with intent to secure revenue but for the general good If the govern mcnt can undertake the building of hgh-
 ways 1t certainly can in reason, in MT
 Lanes view. undertake the construction of trunk lines which will make 1t possible
 to develop to a high degree the wonderful
 natural resources of Alaska. MT. Lane
 has learned from personal experience and
 observation what the extent and the value
 of coal fields in Alaska are. The low
 grade of coal of central Alaska can be Iproiltably and economically utilized for
 the creation of electric energy and fol
 the wise distribution of lighting, heat
 and power.
 MT. Lanes plan. if it is adopted by
 Congress, would in the end make Alaska
 pay back out of her own resources what
 ever liberal advance may be made to hei
 by the government for the improvement
 of her territory. For, with a little fore
 sight the coal and oil. phosphate and
 timber resources of the territory can be
 in MT. Lanes opinion. transformed into
 green fields and sufficient amounts oi
 electric power.