The Cordova daily times., 1915-04-22
THE WAY FUR SHELTER
 AT CORD0VA


 Cordovans:
 Construction of big shelter at Cordova in which the coal from the Boring river field will be utilized. Is indicated in a dispatch from the Times Washington correspondent this afternoon. The message states that the Alaska Engineering Commission has decided to make survey from Mile 39 on the Copper River & North western Railroad to Trout Creek and from Controller bay to the same point.
 This means that the Boring river field will be opened to development. In fact some claims in that region already have been patented and appli- cations for leases of others are being considered by the interior department.
 The work of running the lines, which have already been traversed by Lieutenant Frederick Mears, one of the members of the Commission, will begin within thirty days.
 Capitalists are ready to begin the construction of a smelter at Cordova as soon as the coal is available. The estimated tonnage of the Copper Riv- CT valley is 4,6O0 tons a day. Part of this would have to be developed by the construction of feeders to the Copper River & Northwestern line.
 w. c. Edes, chairman of the Al aska Engineering Commission, made it plain at Washington today that he has no hope of completing the con- struction from Ship Creek to the Matanuska this year. Light trains will be operated on the Alaska North ern as far as Mile 45, and a small amount of repair work will be done. All supplies and equipment for new construction will be landed at Ship Creek and distributed at different points along the beach by barges.
 May Cause New Naval Test
 The fact that the line to the Der ing River field is to be surveyed is of vital interest to Alaskans, and it may lead to new naval test of the coal from this field It is we'll known that 100 tons of this coal taken out In 1908 and used by the battleship Ne braska was pronounced by naval ex- perts as good steaming coal. When the government expedition took out test supply it was turned down. There has always been a suspicion in the minds of Northerners that the latter test was not a fair one, and
  that a lot of rock and other waste matter was put into the sacks with the coal. In the event the Boring River fiends are opened the Matanus- ka field will have a strong competi- tor, as the haulage distance favors Boring River field by several miles, unless the Matanuska coal is shipped from Ship Creek.
 George c. Hazelet, president of the Cordova Chamber of Commerce, who was we'll fortified with tonnage sta tistics, last winter took up with Secre- tary Lane and President Wilson the matter of developing the Boring River field Hazelet reached Seattle from Washington this morning.
 Tt seems to me-" he said, that the place to build a railroad is to the point where the tonnage can be ob- tained. We have a tremendous cop per producing area behind Cordova. Much of it is comparatively low grade, and will have to be smelted in Alsa- ka It is not rich enough to stand the transportation charges to Tacoma or other smelters on the Pacific coast. |
 Must Be Brought Together
 ''If we can get the Boring River fuel we don't care where the railroad goes. ! In order to get full development we must bring the coal and copper to- gether at some convenient point. We cannot import the Matanuska coal to Cordova at a profit by making two nor can we carry the copper ores to the Matanuska coal. We can, however, very profitably bring the Boring River coal and the copper together by short hauls. If we can get the Boring River coal we'll put up smelter at Cordova. If we can't we'll have to plug along as we are doing now, allowing our low grade ores to be thrown on the waste dump"