The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1915-06-19

III mite states coast ana &C.
odetic survey. Mr.. Riggs was selected because
of his familiarity with the region and on account
Of the part he took in running the Alaskan-Ca-
madam boundary line, finished but two years ago.
Associated with Mr.. 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 geodetic survey. the
route now to be followed is to run 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
$26,SOG,O00 for the system complete will be am
ply compensated for by reason of the resulting
benefits.
Whatever may be the ultimate economic sig
nihcance of this aforementioned 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 the steel rails are led farther and farth-
er northward in that rugged region.
From past experience, it has been amn1v 10
tablished that surveying in Alaska is ant TO ba
full of thrills. First, the open season is a short
one and a great deal of action has to be crowded
into a 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 torrential
streams where the foundations or the approaches
can be built for the least amount of money COM
patible with present strength and durability.
Some Of the most towering peaks in North
America are in southern Alaska, and from
their snow-clad 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 a veritable
avalanche when the way is clear, or, what Is
even more menacing, these millions of mighty
sticks jam in some narrow pass, penning up the
waters and themselves until ruptured by the
titanic forces they have halted for the while.
Then as the jam is broken onward tears the
roaring stream and the whirling timber until the
broad reach of some wide channels robs the tor
rent Of its 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 cross some of these streams
when blazing the way for the line. The waters
are icy and the currents swift, while means Of
rescue are apt to be woefully scant.
Mr.. Riggs has given US some spectacular in
stances of the hazards confronting the civil engi-
neer in that part of the world, and what has been
experienced in the past up there is a pretty good
index of the difficulties to be faced in running the
line inland from the rail head of the existing
road, II miles long, which will form the nucleus
of this great government undertaking.
But torrential rivers loaded with millions of
l VI o1N ACN NHS SINg $1,000 N@ $4,000
with which the railroad builder in Alaska has to
count. There are the slow marching but ire
sistibly advancing mountains Of ice, the glaciers,
and some Of these have taken possession of the
very valleys through which the railroad engineer
would preferably choose to lead his line. Indeed,
the Copper River and Northwestern railroad in
Alaska gives a pretty good notion OF some OF the
difficulties to be faced by the surveyors and pro-
vided for by the government when 1t comes to
actual construction. That road is 1876 miles long
and yet in that distance there are nearly 275
t~restles. bridges, tunnels and fills. Indeed, there
are sections where a mile of construction has
cost as much as 100000,
There is a steel bridge hanked by two glaciers
that cost a million and a half dollars to build,
and before a bit of that structure was reared
the engineers spent three years in studying the
pecullarities of those moving mountains of ice.
One Of the most serious phases Of Alaskan sur
vey work is the problem Of transportation. AS
Mr.. Riggs says, There is food to be carried for
the party, which is a 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 a
distance of 1870 miles on RATS.
Early one May a start was made from White