Judsonia weekly advance., 1915-06-16


 of the part he took in running the Alaskan-Ca- nadian boundary line, finished but two years ago
 Associated with MT Riggs in the railroad sur Vey were Lieut.. Frederick Mears of the United States army and William C. Edes. As a result of the work done last summer and data previous ly gathered in the same territory by other ex- petitions of the coast and geodetie survey the route now to be followed is to in part along the Susitna and the Cantwell rivers and through the foothills of towering Mount Mckinley The experts predict great prosperity for the whole territory and declare that the ultimate cost of $26800,000 for the system complete will be am ply compensated for by reason of the resulting benefits
 Whatever may be the ultimate economic sig nfcance of this governmentowned railroad in Alaska, there should be no question about our present interest in the work done in running the preliminary survey and that which will later follow as tt seei ras are led farther and farth CT northward in that rugged region
 From past experience, it has been amply es- tablished that surveying in Alaska is apt to he full of thrills First, the open season is a short one and great deal of action has to be crowded into brief period by the surveyor His is not the task merely of the explorer who pushes ahead by the shortest route to his objective but instead is that of choosing the easiest gradients for the intrusive locomotive, spanning the short est valleys and bridging the rivers or torrentia streams where the foundations the approaches be built for the least amount of money con- patibe with present strength and durability.
 Some of the most towering peaks in North America in southern Alaska, and from their snow-cad shoulders in the spring and sum- mer the waters flow seaWard in great volume and with much violence. Then the stricken timber is washed down into the flooded channels, and this wealth of logs rushes onward like veritable avalanche when the way is clear, or, what is even more menacing, these millions of mighty sticks jam in some pass penning up the waters and themselves until ruptured by the titanic forces they have halted for the while, Then the jam is broken onward tears the roaring stream and the whirng timber until the broad reach of some wide channels robs the tor rent of it's turbulent fury.
 The surveyors have not only to avoid these dangers in planning the right of way and the points for bridging but their work will demand that they actually of these streams when blazing the way for the line, The waters are icy and the currents swift, while of rescue apt to be woefully scant.
 MT Riggs nas given spectacular tn- stances of tts hazards confronting the civil engi neer in that part of the world, and what has been experienced ,n the past up there is pretty good index of tho difficulties to be faced in running the line inland tsom the rail head of the existing road II mitss long. which will form the nucleus of this greet government undertaking. But torreptial rivers loaded with millions of logs are nos the only forms of titanic masses with which the railroad DullQer III AldSkd Has lO count Thece are the slow marching but ire sistbly advancing mountains of ice, the glaciers, and some of these have taken possession of the very valley4 through which the railroad engineer would preferably choose to lead his line. Indeed. the Copper River and Northwestern railroad in Alaska gives pretty good notion of some of the difficulties 10 be faced by the surveyors and pro- vided for Hy the government when 1t comes to actual cony.ruction That road Is 195 miles long and yet ir that distance there are nearly 275 trestles bridges. tunnels and fills. Indeed. there are sections where a mile of construction has cost as much $200,O00.
 There is steel bridge fanked by two glaciers that cost a million and half dollars to build. and before bit of that structure was reared the engineers spent three years in studying the peculiarites of those moving mountains of ice One of the most serious phases of Alaskan sur vey work is the problem of transportation As MT Riggs says, There is food to be carried for the party which is big item, and oats for the horses At some time during the life of the Alaskan boundary survey every known form of transportation in the North was used. In sum- mer we have been known to adopt the Indian practice and pack dogs One year, at the close of the season, practically all our horses had died. and we iourneyed down the White river for distance of 190 miles on rafts.
 "Early one May start was made from White-