The Alaska daily empire., 1915-05-29
IMP MISSIONS
OF ALASK KA

N A L EA g AA A $ < BY REV. A. H. ERICSSON. IN THE <
 WORLDS cRlslsl Z
 One of the first impressions aside
 from the purely scenic and ecatatic
 which comes to visitor in Alaska, ,is that t is 8 land of wonderful re-
 sources. Minerals Of all kinds are locked up in Alaska's lofty mountains. 1 Copper gold tin, coal gysum and oth-
 CT minerals abound, but to drill and tunnel the mountain, to construct
 railroads and tramways; to build 1bridges. mills and other pharphernalia
 essential to mining, requires Che in. yestment of enormous capital Mile lions of dollars must be put in before
 millions can be taken out Until this lis done, Alaska will not be the coun-
 try for the poor man. A study of the Treadwell mines on Douglas island
 and at Juneau soon indicates to
 thinking mind the vast investment
 Of capital for the operation of the
 plant
 Fishing is at the present Alaska's principal industry Salmon and hali-
 but abound in her waters and fish
 canning employs many thousands
 of hands each season. The so-called
 Thlinget Packing company have just
 closed work for this season with a record of 125.OO0 cases of canned sal.
 mon. This is only one company Of the many and Illustrates the magni- tude of the fishing industry in Alas. ka.
 We hear much said about agricul- tural possibilities In Alaska and it is thought, and believed by some, that when the proposed railroad is built
 in the interior that Alaska will fur
 nish opportunities for contemplating farmers. Alreadyp there are hundreds of people on the ground who have gone to the interior with this object in mind, but it is evident that Alaska can never be a land of farms. The land is too wet and cold and the frost is so deep that the short sum- mer does not thaw 1t out. A fellow passenger who has tried farming for many years up there tells me that it0 is simply impossible Alaska has al wonderful future # the capitalists of the world will turn their hearts that way. but 1t will never be land Of prosperous farmers to any large ex- tent: little gardening here and there will be all While this is a great disadvantage to the country it does not initiate against its future greatness,for 1t has unlimited resourc. es aside from that and in that re- spect Alaska is unique
 As to climate Alaska has many varieties. The general impression is | that Alaska is land of glaciers and perpetual snows. In a sense that is true; the glaciers are certainly there and the snow also but the glaciers l are local and the perpetual snow abides in the mountains at very lofty heights. A glacier is an interesting sight to a tenderfoot' The living glacier is one that is fed each year and which also gives away Of its icy store. Icebergs are often seen in Alaskan waters. They break away from these huge bodies and often are a menace to navigation. On this voy age our good captain found it too dangerous to proceed on account of the abundance of ice on our first night out from Juneau The "dead' glaciers are those which have ceasedl to be active and are decreasing in size each year. It was the writer's l privilege to visit one of these. In Southwestern Alaska Che weather ln. clines to be rainy in fact, there seems l is more rainy weather than anything l else. In Ketchikan twenty-eight in.l ches of rain fell during July last year. In some interior towns there | is more sunshine and in the North | the winters are long and cold Al fellow passenger tells me that he has seen it seventy below zero and 1 he does not know how much colder l for that busted the machine" But Alaskans do not mind the rain. Every ! enterprise is carried on as though ! sunshine was eternal. The childrenI play out in the rain and are healthy l and happy But having would be rather dull business here, for hay ! would never make, and nature has also prohibited that work as there is little or no land for hay production.
 One more impression and that is the religious one. Some one has said | that Alaska is country "forsaken by God but the writer's impression is that God has wonderfully remembered Alaska and has enodwed her with wealth My observation has taught me that Alaska is land | in which man has committed the sad sin of forsaking God. In the Alas kan capital had time to visit two churches and found attendance dis. small in both and ] was informed that saw the average The preachers and laymen both told me that when people headed for Alaska they started out in quest of gold and forgot to serve God. A Salvation Ar- my official in Wrangell told me that he considered religion at low ebb in Alaska and he had been there for